Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Pregnancy symptoms

OK, this can
probably be directed towards those of you who already have had children...
but my experience is limited


I am not really happy with the descriptions of pregnancy "symptoms" within fandom, generally a lot of stories cite Lois (or whoever) experiencing "flu-like" symptoms

My experience of the Flu (which I have had countless times) involves mainly head-aches and a congested nose, along with a fever if I got one
this does not really fit with my concept of symptoms experienced during the first trimester of pregnancy

I remember my mother being a bit tired, but mostly nauseous...
(although my youngest sibling is 13 and I was only 9 at the time so ...)

now I know that women have a wide variety of experiences as we are all a widely varied bunch... so I would love to find a whole range of experiences from all of you...

I also know that a lot of women LOVE to share their experiences. so I was hoping that I could use your passions for YOUR CHILDREN and your writing to help me out a little

I have read *Text Book* descriptions about *Possible varieties* of early pregnancy experiences... but these are so dispassionate that they almost makes them useless for my purposes (writing my own experimental fics)

I would be grateful for any opinions on the matter that any of you can offer
Yours, your wife's, girlfriend's, mother's, father's, aunt's, sister's.... any experiences described by you would be great,

(of course as I am currently studying bioethics)
I guarantee you my utmost degree of respect for confidentiality
I promise not to divulge to anyone any of the identifying information (names, and locations of pregnant women)

and would advise you that should you be sharing experiences not your-own, that you keep that information to yourself as no-one would want to be surfing the net to find private information shared in such a random place as this forum...
I have no way of telling who's experience it was (yours or your Uncle's boyfriend), and nor does it matter to me...

I am adding this note not to boost my post numbers, but to put an aside into the topic....

As I said before, I promise not to divulge any of the information given in good faith by the generous people writing in this topic


I do not promise, however, that I will produce a story for general readership within the forum. As I am heavily set in writing for a scientific audience, I am currently trying my hand at a lot of practice stories...

A lot are rewrites of your original plot ideas anyway, with my own touches added * (IE I do not use any of your words, but all my own, just your plots...), * and hence I feel it unethical (to say the least) to publish anything like that. these are mainly to help me practice character development... some only really go as far as rewrites of specific scenes...others may be rewrites of original fiction published by reputable authors with the characters replaced by our favourites... and yet others are rewrites of other television show episodes, or movies again with the characters replaced by L&C...

Copy-write issues set aside for now, these stories will most probably not see the light of publication even within this forum as they were intended as exercises, and I would much rather wait until I have something I really LOVE myself before I even dream of showing it to a beta...


Taking everything into account, your personal stories would be of great use to me literarily speaking (LOL pardon the pun, I meant in my literary development). And may or may not be used in publication only within this forum,
and should this happen it would be only after consultation with you, and after I receive your feedback so that I would only publish with your aproval...knowing my exact words beforehand...


Lenny Benny Canary
author of the longest asides, PS's and NOTE's in history...(the history of fandom at least)

I had the pretty typical symptoms: Extremely nauseus/queasy (as in all day 24/7 ALL 9 months!! Whoever called this morning sickness was deluding themselves!), and pretty tired (although I don't recall if that was during the 1st trimester as much as the 2nd and 3rd). But we had been trying for quite awhile, so were very much looking for any signs. I never really did the puking thing, nor had any significant cravings, but my eating patterns changed incredibly: didn't want to eat anything (in fact I lost 20 lbs the first trimester), and when I finally did, not much that I typically enjoyed tasted good. I ended up enjoying foods that I hadn't previously enjoyed (ham, shrimp). Saltines and pretzels were my constant companion from the moment I woke up (literally... they sat next to my bed) until I went to sleep...it was worse the 1st half of the pregnancy, but never really left until I gave birth.

It was the same for both pregnancies for me.

Hope this helps some!
Jo

The main thing that tipped me off to my second pregnancy was that I'd spent days feeling really horrible, nauseous & sick but *without* any cold symptoms. I could not stand *any* pressure around my waist, so pants got unbuttoned very early on.

I had "morning sickness" in the evenings. I'd be okay first thing, but start feeling queasy before lunch, and forget about dinner. I never knew how much I might be able to eat; somewhere along the way my stomach announced very clearly that if I took one more bite, it was all coming back up. I was also very sensitive to random smells, like peanuts.

Also, for first time pregnancies especially, certain baby-feeding parts of a woman's anatomy can get really sore and tender

PJ

I've never understood those people who go the whole nine months without realizing that they're pregnant. Personally, I had it figured out before I even missed my period (and we had only been married two months at the time and the LAST thing in the world I wanted was to have a baby). I'm really rather clueless most of the time - it takes a lot for me to sit up and take notice.

My husband and I were at the pool and I had challenged him to a race. It was unfair, because I had been on the swim team in high school and college and he had only a long ago stint in the Navy. I'd kicked his butt many times before but that morning my a** was dragging and I was overwhelmed before I'd even reached the middle of the pool. When I went to drag myself out of the pool I darn near fainted, I was so dizzy.

I told myself it was the flu. It was awfully close, but suddenly smells bothered me. My nose had become hypersensitive. I could smell the burning oil on the car's engine, someone cooking eggs next door and just walking into our local convenience store sent me running for the nearest garbage can to heave my guts out. I was working part-time at a bar and the combined smells of cigarette smoke and alcohol meant that I spent at least a portion of my shift in the bathroom. My breasts felt all swollen and tender. I was nauseated constantly - morning, noon and night.

After a week of that (and still a week away from being due for my next period), I took a home pregnancy test that came out positive. I went down to the Health Department and they tested me too. They didn't want to at first when I told them that I wasn't even late yet. But, son of a gun, their test showed positive too.

And that was it. I did get flu-like symptoms after a couple more weeks. I had a runny nose nearly the entire length of my pregnancy. I never get headaches, but I had them with frequency while I was pregnant. The second time I was pregnant (I miscarried) it started out the same way. I knew I was pregnant before I ever even missed my period, although I wasn't nearly as sick and horrified by odors the second time around. Just dizzy and vaguely nauseated with very tender breasts.

Hope that helps.

The first time I started getting nauseous and vomiting a few days before I found out, which was my biggest clue. The all day sickness lasted the first 4 months. It was pretty constant. Had a lot of headaches, aches and was definitely more sensitive to smells.

This time I was midly sick for the first 10 wks or so. I am always exhausted but that could be cause I'm chasing my toddler around all day. Lots of minor aches and pains. I also cannot stand any pressure on my stomach. It's really uncomfortable. Oh and did I mention the constant stuffed up nose? I had that last time too.

Jackie

Each time it happened to me (I've been pregnant six times, with twins the last time) I didn't notice anything at first except being very tired. Then, somewhere around six weeks, I began to notice that I was mildly nauseated most of the day. Riding in a car made me extremely motion sick unless I was driving. I only actually threw up once or twice, but I was usually nauseated just enough that nothing looked good when I went shopping for food, so usually grocery shopping was an abject failure unless I sent the husband. From the second month on, I had ferocious headaches that were caused, my doctor said, by hormones. After the fourth month those went away.

For the first two pregnancies the nausea lasted almost the entire time, letting up at maybe a couple of weeks prior to delivery. The remaining four lasted the traditional six weeks and then went away, at which time my appetite increased dramatically. My usual food craving for all of them was chocolate, except for a few incidents when I absolutely had to have chiliburgers. As for the stuffy nose: back then I usually had a stuffy nose anyway because I had hay fever a lot of the time, so it may or may not have affected me. I wouldn't have noticed. The thing I recall the most vividly was being tired all the time.

Nan

you are a brave and loving woman.


James

I had incredibly easy pregnancies. Mostly I was just tired, tired, tired during the first trimester. (And did I mention tired?) I had no nausea at all either time, though certain foods that I had formerly liked suddenly had very little appeal. I couldn't stand the thought of broccoli, for instance, whereas normally I like it. I also craved eggs, as did my sister. We both ate scrambled eggs practically every day for the whole nine months. No other weird cravings that I remember, though there were a few other foods besides broccoli that were on the banned food list. Now I can't remember what they were, though. I also remember some breast tenderness early on, but really, that's about it as far as symptoms go.

My first pregnancy occurred after several years of infertility, so I was seeing a doctor regularly and found out I was pregnant before I had any symptoms. My second pregnancy was a total surprise ("shock" might be a better word, actually) when the first baby was only seven months old. My first hint was when I carried him a long distance one day and had an unusual lower back ache. He was kind of a chunk, though, so I shrugged it off. A week or so later, though, I just knew. I can't tell you how since there weren't really any definite symptoms, but I was absolutely convinced I was pregnant and really only took the test to convince my husband. I just knew I wasn't the only one in my body anymore. I continued nursing my son through that second pregnancy, but I did have to supplement some with formula since the pregnancy hormones kind of play havoc with the nursing hormones. So I guess decreased milk production was a "symptom" of the second pregnancy.

Other than that, I coasted through both times with the tiredness early on being my only real symptom. I loved being pregnant .

Caroline

Both of my pregnancies were so different from each other. The first was the easiest. I had a lot of nausea with both in the first trimester. During my first pregnancy, I craved cheese early on, then suddenly one day I couldn't stand it. I wasn't able to eat cheese for the rest of my pregnancy. During the second pregnancy I had an aversion to Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, mostly the types of pop I drink on a regular basis. I was suddenly drinking grape soda (Yuck!). The second time around I had a lot of heart burn and hot flashes. The hot flashes were so bad that I would wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat and have to change the sheets. I've heard that some women miss being pregnant after having their baby, that may have been a little true after my first child. But after I had my second child I was jumping for joy that it was over. My second pregnancy was the worst.

For me, the I had the nausea and tiredness right at the beginning - in fact, my friends and I joked that I either had the flu or I was pregnant. That lasted about a month - sensitive to smells and cranky as all get out (not a good combination when you work at a restaurant.)

After I got over that - I had incredible energy levels. We were living in an old house that we'd been upgrading and I went in and started on the baby's room - out to the studs and joists! My hubby had a hard time believing it - I was months away from nesting and still working!

Everybody had been telling me how tired I was going to get and that I should quit work - so I turned in my notice (every two weeks and then I'd take it back) I finally actually quit a month before my due date.

And just to let you know - doctors get seriously weirded out when the baby's late. Tests, more tests and tests to double check the first tests.
And mine just didn't seem to get it when I kept telling the poor kid (well, he WAS younger than me!) that the baby wasn't ready cause I hadn't started nesting.

Oh, my baby starts grad school in September.

LOL, cute...
HEY... "This Time" ????... congrats Jackie (I don't regularly check the off topic board so don't know if it is general knowledge or not...)


Dandello: This is because it can actually be dangerous for the child to be too far over the due date...
My cousin's aunt (if that makes sense, my mother's brother in-law's sister...) , whom I am not close to so I don't know much details, gave birth to a still born baby boy after the doctor's insisted her due dates were different (and they changed the estimation of the dates a couple of times). The simple answer is he was over cooked

Thanks to al of you already (I think it has only been 3 hours or so since I posted the question...)
I am actually surprised as to how many of you are reporting the stuffed up nose, because no-one I know had that and this was what confused me with the whole "Flu like symptoms" description... but not to say you are abnormal, just a new concept for me, that's all...

keep 'em coming please, the more people who write, the better my knowledge is, and I would bet that others may be able to benefit as-well...


To NAN: My mum had 9 pregnancies (I came 3rd)... I will never, ever, ever, tell anybody that I disagree with my mother's (and father's) decisions to give all 9 of us life...

I love all of my 6 brothers and 2 sisters equally, and could never choose between keeping one or another...

I am grateful to my parents for them all. Your decisions were equally brave (but so are these decisions made by all parents, of 1, 2 or 20 children), and as such I would love for you to receive this gratitude in leau of my parents

for it is very rare that any person could face the philosophical dilemmas involved in disagreeing with their parents' choices, and hence would find it equally difficult to broach the subject even in support of their parents...

from my experiences I love to think that every child mentioned in these posts loves their parents and siblings in the same way.....

Well, I'm on number 4 and everyone kept telling me it must be a boy b/c I was sicker, but I don't buy that.

The first time, I was tired. So very tired. I could sleep 14-15 hours at night and take a nap in the afternoon. Especially the first trimester, but throughout.

The second time, I was less tired, but slightly queasy from time to time - threw up once, but was sick too.

The third time, I was nauseous every evening. If I hadn't eaten dinner by 530 or so, I had to MAKE myself. I knew I wouldn't throw up, but ugh. And less tired.

This one... I've been VERY tired and have thrown up more than I care to think about [including last night... I'm 21 weeks people!]. Sometimes I'm nauseous and then... but mostly it's an EXTREMELY sensitive gag reflex. Even sitting wrong and make me start to heave sometimes. Either way, it hits at random times. I've only [officially] gained 5lbs with this one [wouldn't it be nice to get out of this with only 10lbs or so?!?!]. And the 'baby feeding body parts' are EXTREMELY tender.

The first sign I was pregnant with the last two was spotting. I'm very irregular and with #3, only about 9m post partum with only one real cycle. I started spotting, took a test, very faintly pregnant, blood test came back barely positive, blood test came back less positive and they said it was a miscarriage, blood test at follow up came back *more* positive and two weeks later saw a heartbeat. I was nauseous and extremely emotional that whole time, but I think that was at least partly due to stress. I'm convinced I lost a fraternal twin...

This one is giving me fits with... is it still PPD if you're pregnant again? And weird dreams. Crazy ones and trouble sleeping. Night sweats [not to the point of changing the sheets though], indigestion, ....

Ah the joys of pregnancy .
Carol
ETA: This time I've had a cough almost continuously. It started in Nov. and was finally diagnosed as bronchitis after I was pregnant but before I tested [but suspected so...]. It never went away and was diagnosed as 'almost bronchitis' again in Feb. Still have the cough, though it comes and goes now, instead of literally living on Robitusin and cough drops.

I have ZERO experience (and am thankful for it ), so I can't offer any practical info on the details, here. Besides, you're getting plenty of good advice on that from those in the know.

But I just wanted to say that I would imagine that when authors equate pregnancy symptoms to the flu, they are probably talking about stomach flu, (what we in the UK tend to call gastric flu) which does have the symptom of nausea/vomiting attached, rather than the coughing and sneezing version. Using that, I imagine, to confuse the issue and have Lois (and/or Clark or anyone else) assume that she's throwing up because of stomach flu and not realising she's pregnant till later.

It's a common plot device to muddle the pregnancy waters used in movies and TV shows, too, I've found. So not an uncommon red herring for authors to use.

Although, whether or not anyone in real life has ever confused the two is quite another matter.

LabRat

6 pregnancies, Nan?

No wonder you write Next-gen stories like the Dagger and Home series so well.

Did you base Lois' final pregnancy (and experiences with that) in the dagger series off your final one?

I think it's gone past "red herring" and right into "tired cliche" Anytime a female character feels sick (or faints), I'm convinced they're pregnant.

Btw, do people here have trouble with fainting? I only did once, with my first pregnancy -- I was eating New Year's Eve dinner at my in-law's house. *Big* party, ~50 people, family and corporate officers. I was 5 months along, so I thought I'd be okay, but while I was eating I realized it wasn't a good idea. I got up quickly to run for the bathroom, but the getting up part made my head swim, so it was a race to get to the bathroom before losing consciousness. I barely made it, and I think I puked & passed out pretty much simultaneously. Some ladies I didn't even know helped me clean up, and I spent the rest of the evening lying down.

Btw, for me, pregnancy puking is ... well, let's just say that before then, I'd never experienced projectile vomiting My *tongue* would hurt, after, from the strain. Seriously weird.

PJ
whose oldest "baby" just turned 10...

I didn't notice Heartburn anywhere but I skimmed so if it's been mentioned nevermind, but I had HEARTBURN so bad with my second pregnancy I often ended up throwing up, even if I hadn't eaten any thing.

My first pregnancy I got hot a lot right from the beginning. That's when my hubby would tell me I was "GLOWING", yeah, from like a billion degree temperature!

To beethoven,

It was never a question of loving my kids, although I could tell you some hair-raising stories ...

The middle one was the biggest handful -- she rebelled against everything and fought the rules we laid down tooth and nail. To escape her oppressive parents, she enlisted at 17 in the Marines. By the time she graduated, of course, she was eighteen, and then found out what real discipline was. Interestingly, she re-enlisted at the end of her hitch, and finally left after a total of seven years. She's married to a Marine, and they have 2 kids of their own.

Fortunately, no one ever criticized us for not considering an abortion, even when I turned up pregnant with twins at 38. If they had, they'd have gotten an earful, as I'm sure they knew. Those twins graduated from high school last June, and now I spend 3 days a week watching my oldest daughter's kids, also a boy and a girl, while their mom and dad work.

No, Woody, I didn't base what happened to Lois on my last pregnancy. The idea hit me when I was writing the story because of that scene where Lois is dreaming about dozens of kids while she's trying to interview Queen Elizabeth and the Pope and the kids are multiplying geometrically. I had almost no trouble with my twins. I looked like an elephant, and my feet hurt a lot, but other than that, no trouble. They were born 4 and a half weeks early, which isn't unusual, and they didn't even have to stay in the hospital. They were 6 pounds 2 ounces and 5 pounds 4 ounces respectively, and gave me less trouble than some of their older siblings. We even went to Disneyland when I was six months along, and except for the fact that I wasn't allowed on any of the really fun rides, I had a great time.

On the other hand, now you probably know why I picked my sig line.

Nan

PS: And no, Pam, the only time I ever fainted in my life was when a cat bit through my thumb nail. And I wasn't pregnant at the time. <g>

Some previous threads which may be of interest:

Pregnancy complications

Morning sickness

Everything other than morning sickness

Are you pregnant?

Pregnancy and the indicators of

My sister-in-law did. She had low blood pressure for most of her pregnancy. She ended up wearing support hose a lot, and having to sit down in her job because she was told to stay off her feet. During their wedding (can you guess why they got married? ), fainting was a big worry. Luckily she got through it.

As for cravings, my mom craved crunchy foods when she was pregnant with me. The crunchier, the better. Luckily, Doritos had JUST come out.

I don't have any pregnancy stories myself, but give me a few years...