Sh*t No One Tells you: Pregnancy Edition

My not so glamorous pregnancy story

Judgy Pug is judging the fact that a lot of pregnancy stories that aren’t happy aren’t talked about- Photo by Author

My story is vastly different than most pregnancy stories. I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. I have collagen that sucks at being collagen. In other words my body has a mind of it’s own. I dislocate and sublux joints like it is going out of style. I injure myself walking, I break bones when I shouldn’t. I bruise, I bleed, I have a crap immune system.

Basically nothing works well. It is extremely hard for people with my condition to carry to full term, we face different challenges during and after pregnancy, but those challenges can be and are faced by people without the condition as well.

When I was 14 I was told I would never be able to get pregnant, I would never have kids of my own. I asked to have my tubes tied to prevent this. So imagine my surprise, at 27, in the middle of grad school when I found out I was pregnant.

I had been sick, and miserable, and out of work for 3 weeks. I couldn’t stand up without wanting to vomit. I couldn’t shower without almost passing out. I couldn’t stand movement of any kind. I didn’t want any food. Then I only wanted Wendy’s. I thought I had a weird flu, or that my Celiac’s was acting up, or that it was just my dumb body. (Ehlers-Danlos does weird things, including screwing with your appetite).