What Was The Most Unexpected Part Of Pregnancy Or Giving Birth?

It's no secret that pregnancy comes with a looooong list of potential side effects that can range from surprising, to frustrating, to downright dangerous. But no two pregnancies look the same! Each pregnant person experiences their own unique side effects, which may also be different each time they're pregnant. What an unpredictable journey!

Perhaps you were really surprised by the amount of extremely vivid dreams you had during pregnancy. Most mornings, you'd wake up remembering at least two of your dreams from the previous night in great detail. They ranged from really bizarre, trippy scenarios to full-fledged nightmares. You found it exhausting after a while and felt like you weren't getting adequate rest.

Maybe you could tell you were about to go into labor with your second kid a few weeks early because you got the same spontaneous burst of energy you had right before labor began for your first kid. It was like a sudden flash of electricity through your body that made you super fidgety and inspired you to do lots of cleaning and organizing. It also made you have a hard time falling asleep.

Or, maybe your sense of smell became super-human during all three of your pregnancies. You knew other women who definitely experienced heightened senses of smell, but yours was on another level. You could smell someone using hand sanitizer three rooms over or could tell when your neighbors down the street were baking brownies. You were like a bloodhound!

What was the most unexpected part of pregnancy or birth for you? Tell us in the comments or share anonymously using this form for a chance to be featured in a BuzzFeed Community post.