Pregnancy is an amazing experience that many women are grateful and excited to experience. You’re creating life, you’re bringing this new gift into the world and you get to help them grow into an amazing person.

Everyone knows the basic pregnancy symptoms and signs, and some of the common irritating ones like morning sickness, exhaustion and constant hunger. There are lesser known symptoms that many women experience that aren’t discussed enough and I was lucky to have experienced ALL of them in both pregnancies. Here is a list of less common yet still irritating pregnancy symptoms.

Bleeding Gums

My gums began bleeding immediately in my first trimester. When you’re pregnant, your body produces up to 30% more blood that is now circulating through your system. Your body’s gums and teeth are very sensitive, but even more so whenever there is excess blood pumping in your veins. It’s common to have bleeding between your teeth during just regular brushing or when you floss as well. It’s important to take special care of your teeth during pregnancy because your body requires many additional nutrients to feed your growing baby.

Leg Cramps

Most common in the third trimester, leg cramps or spasms commonly known by the name “Charlie Horse” can occur at any point during the day. There is no definitive cause for leg cramps, and many factors are thought to contribute to them such as fatigue, dehydration, lack of potassium, over exertion and tight muscles. They can be so painful that they can wake you up out of your sleep.

Mood Swings

Hormones wreak havoc on your body throughout pregnancy, and they can affect your moods. A lot of people will experience heightened irritability, uncontrollable laughing or sobbing, rage and many more emotions that don’t seem to be controllable. You can swing from being excited and thrilled about something, to be enraged about it and then sobbing about it the next. It’s confusing for both the mother to be and for everyone around her. Totally normal!

Insatiable Cravings

Sometimes there are cravings that are SO overpowering that you need to have them right then and there. There used to be an old wives tale that said that if the mother to be didn’t get what she craved, the baby would come out with a birth mark shaped just like the food she craved. Cravings are perfectly normal and healthy, as long as you don’t over indulge in the “bad foods.” Enjoy this part of pregnancy! No one dares deny a pregnant woman cake.

Insomnia

Sometime within the late second trimester to the third trimester, a lot of women will experience pregnancy insomnia. They will wake up at 3 am and be unable to get back to sleep for an hour or two. It’s irritating, frustrating as hell but totally normal. Some say it’s the body’s way of preparing for the newborn, otherwise known as the fourth trimester.

Do you experience any of these symptoms? What other symptoms have you experienced? Let me know!

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor so if you experience any of these, contact your health provider.