I thought Kim Kardashian's ultra-trout-pout was the strangest pregnancy symptom I'd ever read about, but Kristen Bell may have her beat with her so-called "Mommy voice." Apparently her voice dropped a few tones right before she had her daughter Lincoln Bell, which became obvious because Bell was voicing a character in the upcoming animated film Frozen. Bell says,
The pregnancy did change my voice. It made it deeper. There were more womanly tones when I did one recording while I was extremely pregnant. After I had the baby, I had to go back and re-record those lines so they matched. There was something more ‘Mommy’ about my voice and we had to fix it. It was one of those hormonal things that happen, I guess.
Fuller lips? A huskier, more womanly voice? (Why did I get stuck with the unattractive pregnancy symptoms, like nausea, gas, skin tags, and cankles?) It makes me wonder, are there other totally oddball pregnancy signs I've never even heard of before?
There are plenty of physical signs of pregnancy that I'm either personally familiar with or have heard referenced time and time again. For instance: upset stomach, a super-enhanced sense of smell, restless leg syndrome, congestion, hemorrhoids, exhaustion, headaches, nonstop peeing, giant hooters, itching, constipation, food cravings/aversions, larger feet, heartburn, skin tone and texture changes, hair growth, bleeding gums, clumsiness, a metallic taste in the mouth, 'pregnancy brain,' and excess saliva.
Gosh, anyone else humming "Your Body Is a Wonderland" right now?
Anyway, despite that startlingly long and yet incomplete list, Kim Kardashian was the first person I'd heard of with "pregnancy lips." (Frankly, I'm still not 100 percent sure I buy that explanation, but whatever. For the sake of this discussion, I'll give her the non-filler benefit of the doubt.) Bell's deeper "Mommy voice" during pregnancy was brand new to me, too.
I asked my Twitter network whether they'd experienced any outside-the-box (er, so to speak) pregnancy symptoms, and the answers truly surprised me:
Does pica count? They were paving our road. I wanted to take a fork to it. — Cyndy
I knew I was pregnant the second time when I could hear EVERY TIME my heart beat. The entire pregnancy. — Mrs. Commoner
Excessive earwax. Like, flowing. — Lynette
I also (OMG) had a raging diaper rash (not yeast infection! Straight-up diaper rash) on my lady bits. Dr. said 'it's sort of common' but no one I talked to knew that to be a pregnancy symptom. — Samantha
I have this thing we call Fire Ears (bright red, swollen, hot) and they were pretty much on fire my third trimester. — Daisy
One of my armpits turned brown. Just one. — Anne
With my first two I had an intolerance to raw onion. Made my tongue & lips itch & tingle any time I ate it. — Elsha
Insane carpal tunnel. Couldn't type, had to wear wrist braces to be able to sleep. — PinkHerring
My hearing got super sensitive and I couldn't stand music/listening to the radio. — Jesse
I became violently, weirdly allergic/intolerant to dairy. Couldn't even look at it. Went away as soon as I delivered. — Jonna
Tonsil stones. AGH GROSS YUCK. Only while pg. — A'Dell
Lumps in my jaw. Went away after delivery! Pregnancy is so magical! — Jess
I developed a streak of red hair that faded a few months after my son was born. — Valerie
Hives! Constant persistent hives. — Awkwardlysocial
I smelled phantom cigarette smoke for weeks. SO weird. — Melissa
Crazy, right? Who knew there were so many bizarre pregnancy side effects that never make it into the "What to Expect" books? (Also, I had to look up "tonsil stones" aaaaaaand let's just say my acid reflux doesn't seem so bad in retrospect.)
Did you have any rare or super-strange pregnancy symptoms?
Image via mestreech/Flickr
