Tightening of Baby Belly

The first time I experienced tightening in my abdominal area I thought the worst and that something might be wrong and I was cramping. I called the doctor and he said that it was normal and this was due to my ligaments stretching as my uterus began to expand. If I remember the doctor referred to it as round ligament pain. Later in my pregnancy I had a lot abdominal pain mainly because of the horrible gas I was having which wasn’t fun at all.

Near the end of my pregnancy I did experience Braxton Hicks contractions which is another major factor to tightening and feeling like your belly is hard.

Really only thing I can say on this is that it’s normal to feel tightening in the abdominal area but if you feel like it might be something more serious consult your doctor

-E
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I didn't feel much tightening in my baby belly till around 35-36 weeks pregnant. I too thought there was something extremely wrong. It got to the point where I could hardly move and hardly walk. Dean & I went to the hospital only for them to completely avoid telling me what was wrong and had me hooked up to the monitor for 2.5hrs.

When I went to visit my OGBYN not to long after my visit I explained the pains I was having. He could see the concerned look on my face. I was relieved to find out that the tightening and pain I was experiencing was only my baby girl lowering her head into my pelvis getting ready to be born. He explained that the pain was because you have two bones on each side of your pelvis, once a baby is engaging, those bones get pressure put on them because of the babies head and start to slowly move apart.

I was relieved when he told me and once she was fully engaged, or at least to my knowledge, the pain went away and I had a very low dropped belly

-X
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I was told early on that your belly stays small during your first pregnancy and it takes much longer to show you're pregnant. Wrong! My belly began to stretch and grow super fast. Toward the end of my first trimester, I could feel how tight it was getting. The skin would feel tight and itch, the belly itself would be so hard. I honestly felt like I could feel the muscles themselves stretching!

I had a great deal of odd little pains, cramps, and aches. Sometimes I would feel a sharp stabbing pain, then it would shift to a dull ache all over. I spent days on the internet researching and told myself "it's just round ligament pain." I was having such odd sensations that I did bring it up to my OB/GYN and she was not concerned in the slightest and said it's normal!

6 months later and I can still feel so much stretching and adjusting from my lower pelvis right up to my ribs.  I've noticed now that the yoga I've been doing and the extra little stretches when I'm uncomfortable accompanied with lots of water has helped tremendously. My belly still fluctuates between being super round and hard and tight to a little more relaxed and soft to the touch.

-K

Belly Piercings

I myself have a few piercings. 8 in my ears, one nose, and one belly button. I can't wait till I can get a few more in my ears and maybe a few in some risky area's. But as for the belly button piercing I am in such a loving relationship with it.

Before becoming pregnant I had a decent body, and loved when summer came to wear bathing suits and change my piercing to cute dangled ones. Gave me a little push on body pride. I never thought much about what I'd do with it once I become pregnant but now, I'm here today, at 36 weeks and still have my piercing in.

I had upgraded to an extended piece of jewelry since I knew my belly was going to grow at about 25-30 weeks pregnant. I have a fear of it closing up and don't really want to go through the whole piercing process again. It wasn't a horrible experience, just would rather not. Now that my belly is much bigger, making the choice to switch it out was a relief.

Before I did the switch, i knew it was time to get a more relaxing jewelry in. The top hole was starting to get a little on the red side. I believe it was from my skin now stretching and my jewelry not being the right size anymore.

Photo from https://www.pinterest.ca/sanchez1_1913/piercings/?lp=true  

I do recommend looking into getting an extended piece if you have become pregnant because it most definitely is more satisfying to have the relaxation on the actual piercing hole than keep a tight smaller one in.

Emma Dufficy from Baby Center UK also recommends switching to a plastic barbell. With "these flexible bars [they] can bend as your belly expands and you can also wear them during ultrasound scans"*

If you do decided to take out your piercing, I also recommend that you push your jewelry threw your piercing everyday so it doesn't close

So if you're considering getting a belly button piercing and may wonder what to do once you become pregnant, you have no need to worry because there is alternatives you can do once the belly grows

* https://www.babycentre.co.uk/x543048/can-you-wear-piercings-during-pregnancy

-X

Maternity Wear

During my pregnancy I was all about comfort and what could fit. Before I was pregnant I was all about the short shorts and cute little tank tops. I mean a girl has got to show off her assets, right!! When I got pregnant for the first few months I tended to stay with the same type of outfits, but as I got further along and began to show my shorts began to not fit anymore which upset me.. I Looked Fat! My mom ended up taking me maternity clothes shopping I think when I was about five months along. I ended up buying a few pairs of stretchy yoga pants which later on became my best friend. I had to buy large undies also since my butt was getting bigger. Also had to buy a whole new set of bras as my boobs began to grow more and more. Wired seemed to hurt and felt weird so it was all about the sports bra most of my pregnancy. Many nights I would end up sleeping in one of my boyfriends shirts cause they were big enough to fit around belly plus I sweated a lot at night so wore something that could easily slip off. As for a bikini I didn’t care at all and would wear one no matter what. As my pregnancy went on I learned to embrace my bump and flaunt it when I had the chance. So if I went to the pool or beach and I had the chance to show off the curves I would

-E
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To me, hearing or seeing some women not wear maternity clothes makes me wonder if they're aware that their baby can feel the pressure on the belly.

For myself, sadly, it took too long for me to finally get maternity pants due to some things going on in my life. But the moment I did, I felt amazing! No more pressure on my uterus, I could bend down with almost no signs of struggle, and felt comfortable beyond belief.

A lot of my tops are still the ones I had before which I actually love. I wear the shirts or tank tops that aren't suffocating and hard to breath in, but show off my baby bump. Sometimes a mom-to-be just has to show the world that she's got a bun in the oven

The bras! I hate wearing bra's with wires now, actually tends to leave me with bruises where the wire is located near your armpit, so I switched to bralettes. Most of the time if I can get out of even wearing a bra, I most definitely would rather not be.

All I want to do is to go swimming. Extremely, badly. I myself, don't find it appropriate to go to a public pool in a two piece, but again, this is just my own opinion. If any mom's have, I give huge props to you. I still have yet to find looking in the mirror in a two piece bathing suit, on me, a satisfying sight.  Being 36 weeks pregnant, the belly's getting a little on the big side. Once my daughter is born, and she's old enough to take her first swimming lessons we will be at the pool, hopefully, every second day. I love the look of one pieces now-a-days and of course adore two pieces, so hopefully I can get this mama's body into either of those come summer.

-X
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I always heard people make comments about when you have a baby belly, you need to have maternity wear. I never listened thinking that it was a waste of money and you could work around your athletic wear but Lord was I wrong. I ran into a lot of issues with pains the longer I wore pants due to the pressure that my pants were putting on my belly. When I stopped working, I didn't even bother wearing pants to be comfortable.

One day, I needed out of the apartment so we took my gift cards that I had gotten over Christmas to Target to spend it on whatever I seem fit. After almost an hour walking around the store without choosing anything, we came across the maternity section. Since we didn't have any plans, we thought what the hell, let's try something on and see what the big deal was. In the fitting room, I pulled up a pair of jeans and oh my God...... I was in heaven. They lifted my belly, which is pretty low to begin with, and took away a lot of pressure.

As of going off the same list of favorites as the rest of moms have done, I unfortunately can't give a lot of feedback with that just yet but hopefully soon!

-D

Random Touching of Belly

I think this is one of the weirdest things, but sometimes can be the cutest at the same time. When I was pregnant I remember going out for dinner or anywhere and wondering if people were looking at me. I remember a few times at a mall ladies would ask if they could touch my belly and if the baby was kicking. I thought this was weird sometimes that random strangers were wanting to touch my belly and occasionally parents asked if their kids could touch it. I do remember one specific time that I was in the food court and a group of, I believe they were high school boys behind me in line were whistling and said “Dang momma I wanna feel up that belly!” Gross!!! I mean come on guys get a life. That’s inappropriate and frankly super weird and awkward. I think the only time I actually enjoyed anyone touching my belly was either my boyfriend, or when we were volunteering at a retirement home with church. All the ladies there were talking about how adorable I looked and was glowing. I think I was about 5 months if I remember during this time and they all wanted to feel the baby kick. It was adorable. They all had smiles and giggles that day. If I could put a smile on their face, it was worth the awkwardness.

How many of you ladies have had this happen? Though it may be weird and awkward, sometimes it could make someone’s day and put a smile on their face!!💕 just be careful who you let touch it🤗

-E
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Compared to my fellow mommies, I haven't had much problem with people touching my baby bump. No weird encounters with a stranger, thank goodness. The only thing I've had an issue with is my own mother. Once I started to show she was all over my belly when talking to people. Sometimes people I didn't even know. She would say things along the line of "Yep, this is my grand-baby" or "see how big she is?". Sometimes she would even lift up my shirt (thank goodness I had an undershirt on most of the time). I love my mother, and tell her many times that its weird, but I guess she's excited. This will be her first grandchild. I've never had people come up to me and ask "can I touch your belly?", it's always been me asking if they want to feel or want them to poke it because she's pushing her body against my belly.

There's no way I've been the only one that's been able to avoid this awkwardness. Let us know if I'm not alone 

-X
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At only fourteen weeks pregnant, you would think that I wouldn't have a lot of run-ins with this already but you would be surprised. According to my OB, I look like I am more like 17-20 weeks so I have a nice bump going. That being said, I have had family, friends, and even a couple strangers try to touch me. When I started showing, right away my mom would put her hand on my belly which, for someone who isn't the touchy type, it made me feel really awkward. Personally, it might have something to do with the underlying self-esteem issues I have had since I was a kid but that just makes it more rude to be touching me.
The weirdest encounter I have had so far was in a Walmart produce section. This older lady (possibly a little older than my parents) came up to me and asked how far along I was. My first thought was, how rude, asking a woman how far along she was not knowing if she was even pregnant to begin with. I told her anyway, trying not to come off rude myself, and she smiled and said that her daughter-in-law was a few weeks ahead of me. I told her congratulations and tried to go back to picking out a few tomatoes for that night's dinner and all of a sudden, I feel something slide across my stomach. The lady was touching MY bump! I really hate to be confrontational toward anyone but after catching me off guard, I jumped back and yelled, "Do you mind?" She felt really bad after my reaction and partially so did I but I was really upset. She stammered, "I-I'm sorry... My daughter-in-law doesn't live around here and it's my first grandchild so I am missing out on all of these precious moments" which made me feel even worse about how I reacted. I apologized and pretended to understand. As much as I hated it, I let her touch my bump again and answered her questions about how I felt and if I knew the gender yet. After talking for a few minutes more, we parted our own ways but I knew that I made her day.

I guess sometimes we have to choose our own battles....

-D