Pregnancy is a life-transforming journey and while there is so much changes that happens during this time, you cannot always be prepared for everything. Here are 10 surprising facts that you did not know were true during pregnancy.

The Nesting Instinct

If you have seen animals look for paper scraps, or take fur out of their own body or collect small twigs and stem to build a nest for their upcoming babies, even if the animals are domesticated, humans do the name. Humans do not take fur or hair out of their body, but we too experience a powerful urge to prepare our home for the baby. We clean it, decorate it and thanks to modern homes, we can now baby proof it do!

Mommy Brain

This happens in the first trimester, when tiredness, morning sickness and other symptoms can make the mother feel worn out and mentally fuzzy, often called the mommy brain. The National Institutes of Health also notes that cognitive function decline in the third trimester of pregnancy, leading to memory problems.

Mood Swings

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and pregnancy share several symptoms, such as breast swelling and tenderness, hormonal fluctuations, and mood swings. If you’ve experienced severe mood swings due to PMS, you may notice an intensification of these emotions during pregnancy. It's common to feel joyful one moment and tearful the next as your body adjusts to hormonal changes.

Breast Growth

An increase in breast size is one of the earliest signs of pregnancy apart from your missed period. It happens in the first trimester due to the higher levels of hormones like estrogen and progesterone. The growth continues throughout pregnancy.

Skin Changes

Have you heard about pregnancy glow? This happens because pregnancy women have an increased blood volume, this happens to provide extra blood flow to the uterus and other organs, especially the kidneys. This greater volume brings more blood to the vessels and increases oil gland secretion.

Hair and Nails

During pregnancy, many women notice changes in their hair texture and growth. Hormonal shifts can make hair grow faster and reduce hair loss. However, these changes are typically temporary, and many women experience some hair loss during the postpartum period or after they stop breastfeeding. In some cases, hair growth may also occur in unexpected areas like the face, belly, or around the nipples. Additionally, hair texture can shift, becoming drier or oilier, and some women even notice a change in hair color.

Nails can also undergo changes during pregnancy. Increased hormone levels may cause nails to grow faster and become stronger, but for some women, nails may become more brittle, splitting and breaking more easily. Like hair changes, these nail changes are usually temporary. If your nails are more prone to splitting or tearing, it’s helpful to keep them trimmed and avoid exposure to chemicals in nail polish and nail polish remover.

Your Feet Grow

If you have heard about it, then you already know that it is not just the clothes that do not fit you, it is your shoes too. Extra fluid in the pregnant body also leads to swollen feet. The joints also tend to be looser during pregnancy.

Joint Mobility

Your body also releases hormones like relaxin that prepares your body, especially the cervix for the birth. This loosens the ligament in your body, which may make you less stable .

Varicose veins, constipation, and hemorrhoids

Varicose veins, common in the legs and genital area during pregnancy, result from blood pooling in veins enlarged by pregnancy hormones. They often disappear after delivery. To prevent them, avoid prolonged sitting or standing, wear loose clothing and support hose, and elevate your feet when seated.

Hemorrhoids, which are varicose veins in the rectum, may develop due to increased blood volume and uterine pressure. They can cause pain, itching, bleeding, or stinging, especially during bowel movements. Constipation, caused by hormonal changes and uterine pressure on the large intestine, can worsen hemorrhoids by straining during bowel movements.

Prevent constipation and hemorrhoids by eating a fiber-rich diet, staying hydrated, and exercising regularly. If needed, consult your doctor about stool softeners, laxatives, or creams for relief.

Labor and what goes out of your body

When you are in labor, your amniotic sac, that has fluid that surrounds the baby, breaks or ruptures, which is what is also known as water breaking. For most women contractions start before their water breaks, if not, then the doctor may have to rupture the amniotic sac, in case the cervix is already dilated. Some women may feel the urge to pee, while for some it may feel a trickling their leg.

A child's lungs continue to develop well into adolescence, laying the foundation for respiratory health throughout life. When children grow up with smaller lung capacity, it means their lungs are unable to reach their full growth potential.

This can affect how efficiently the body takes in oxygen and may influence physical stamina, exercise tolerance and overall well-being. While the consequences are not always immediately visible, lung health in childhood can shape respiratory health decades later.

What Can Affect Lung Growth?

Lung development is influenced by several factors, beginning even before birth. Premature birth and low birth weight can affect early lung growth. During childhood, recurrent respiratory infections, poorly controlled asthma, exposure to tobacco smoke and prolonged exposure to air pollution may also influence lung function.

Nutrition, physical activity and genetic factors can contribute to differences in lung capacity between children.

How Can Smaller Lung Capacity Present?

Some children may have reduced lung function without obvious symptoms. Others may show signs during physical activity or respiratory infections.

Parents may notice:

• Breathlessness or unusual fatigue during play or exercise
• Difficulty keeping up with peers during physical activities
• Persistent cough or recurrent wheezing
• Frequent respiratory infections or prolonged recovery after illness

These symptoms can occur with several respiratory conditions, so they should not automatically be attributed to low fitness or smaller lungs.

Can Lung Function Be Improved?

Management depends on why lung function is reduced. When asthma or another airway condition is present, appropriate inhaled medicines can help control inflammation and improve breathing. Children with specific chronic respiratory conditions may benefit from supervised breathing exercises, respiratory physiotherapy or pulmonary rehabilitation.

Where poor nutrition or inadequate growth is a contributing factor, nutritional support may also be recommended. The focus is not simply on increasing lung capacity, but on treating the underlying condition and helping the child achieve the best possible lung function for their age and health.

What Can Parents Do?

Several everyday measures can support respiratory health while the lungs are developing. Regular age-appropriate physical activity, adequate nutrition and sufficient sleep are important.

Eliminating and reducing exposure to cigarette smoke, indoor pollutants and poor outdoor air quality can also help immensely. Recommended vaccinations and timely treatment of respiratory infections may further reduce the impact of preventable illness.

When Should Lung Function Be Evaluated?

Persistent respiratory symptoms, repeated chest infections, unexplained exercise intolerance, or a history of premature birth may warrant medical evaluation.

Depending on the child's age and symptoms, assessment may include a physical examination, oxygen measurement, lung function tests such as spirometry and Forced Oscillometry testing to identify the underlying cause and help determine whether medication, respiratory therapy, nutritional support, or other interventions are appropriate. In addition, sometimes undetected cardiac issues could be contributing and need attention and evaluation.

Protecting Lung Health Early

Childhood is an important period for establishing lifelong respiratory health. Minimizing exposure to harmful pollutants, encouraging physical activity and addressing respiratory problems early can help children reach their individual lung growth potential. The aim is not simply to measure how much air the lungs can hold, but to ensure they function as effectively as possible throughout childhood and into adulthood.

Food plays a very important role in this, as the saying goes, “we are what we eat”. Staying close to home-cooked, uncomplicated food is the key rather than app-based fast-food cravings.

(By Dr. Viny Kantroo, Senior Consultant, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi)

Rare infections transmitted from a pregnant woman to her baby may be linked to a higher risk of autism and intellectual disability, according to a large new study.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden found that children with congenital TORCH infections had about three times the risk of autism compared with children without these infections.

What Is TORCH?

TORCH refers to infections that can be transmitted from mother to foetus during pregnancy, including:

• T = Toxoplasma
• O = Other (including infections such as syphilis):
• R = Rubella
• C = Cytomegalovirus (CMV)
• H = Herpes simplex virus

These infections can cross the placenta and infect the developing fetus.

“It is important to emphasize that it is unusual for these infections to be transmitted from mother to child. They account for a very small proportion of all cases of autism in the population, but for those children who are actually affected, we see a clearly elevated risk of both autism and intellectual disability,” said Reneé Gardner, a researcher at the Department of Global Public Health at Karolinska Institutet.

Also read: Stem Cell Therapy For Autism: What India’s New Advisory Means For Patients

TORCH Infections And Autism Risk

Published in JAMA Pediatrics, the study analysed data from 3.7 million people born in Sweden between 1987 and 2021. Of these, 975 had a diagnosed congenital TORCH infection. The participants were followed for up to three decades.

Compared with children without a congenital TORCH infection, those with one were:

• About three times more likely to be diagnosed with autism
• More than seven times more likely to have an intellectual disability
• Up to 30 times more likely to have severe to profound intellectual disability

What Did The Sibling Comparison Show?

Read More: Donald Trump Wants Childhood Vaccines Split Into 5 Shots To Prevent Autism: But Is There Evidence?

The researchers also compared children with TORCH infections with their unaffected siblings to assess whether shared family factors could explain the findings.

The results were similar, suggesting that the associations were not explained solely by factors shared within families.

No clear association was found between TORCH infections and ADHD or obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, children with the infections had poorer academic performance on average, even when they did not have an autism or intellectual disability diagnosis.

Can TORCH Infections Be Prevented?

“Although these congenital infections are rare, some of them can be prevented, which makes them important from a public health perspective,” Gardner said.

The researchers also noted that rubella has virtually disappeared in Sweden following the introduction of national vaccination program. The prevention also depends on the infection:

• Toxoplasmosis: Avoid raw or undercooked meat, wash produce and take precautions when handling cat feces.
• Syphilis and other infections: Pregnancy screening and appropriate treatment can reduce transmission.
• Rubella: MMR vaccination before pregnancy can prevent infection.
• CMV: Good hand hygiene and avoiding contact with young children's saliva and urine can reduce exposure.
• Herpes simplex: Identifying and managing genital herpes during pregnancy can reduce the risk of transmission to the newborn. Caesarean delivery may be recommended in some cases when active lesions are present during labor.

We may now have a clearer explanation behind ‘mommy brain’ or ‘momnesia’. Walking into a room and forgetting why you went there or losing track of a conversation is not simply a side effect of becoming a mother.

A new study has discerned a possible explanation for the phenomenon commonly known as “momnesia,” “pregnancy brain” or “mommy brain”. The findings were published in Science Bulletin.

According to the study, persistent high levels of estrogen during pregnancy may disrupt a particular brain circuit involved in memory.

Researchers found that high estrogen affected communication between the hypothalamus and hippocampus, two brain regions involved in regulating different aspects of brain function, including memory.

What Is “Momnesia”?

Pregnancy-related forgetfulness is generally considered to be temporary changes in memory and cognition during pregnancy.

Researchers say forgetfulness can become noticeable in late pregnancy stage and may continue well into the postpartum period before improving.

Women may have trouble recalling names or words, keeping track of events or completing everyday tasks.

According to the author of the study Dr Zheng Sun of Baylor College of Medicine, about 80% of pregnant women report these changes. The researchers say that this condition does not appear to be a decline in intelligence or cognitive ability.

According to Reuters, Dr Yanlin He, another study leader, said, “The important point is that pregnancy does not simply make someone ‘less intelligent.’ The effects appear to be more subtle and specific to certain cognitive tasks.”

Also read: Vitamin D & Pregnancy: Could Vitamin D Deficiency Increase Risk Of Premature Birth?

Link Between Pregnancy Hormones And Memory

During pregnancy, estrogen levels increase drastically and reach its peak during the third trimester.

The researchers focused on estrogen receptor alpha in neurons located in the lateral hypothalamus. In experiments based on mice who were exposed to high estrogen level conditions like in pregnancy, these neurons became more active.

Those neurons send signals to the hippocampus, a brain region crucial for memory formation. The researchers found that increased activity in this region suppressed hippocampal activity and impaired performance on memory tests.

When researchers switched off the hypothalamus-to-hippocampus pathway, the memory problems in the mice were prevented. Activating the pathway, meanwhile, impaired memory even without elevated estrogen.

Removing estrogen receptors from the hypothalamic neurons also reversed the estrogen-related memory problems in the mice.

Also read: Preeclampsia May End With Pregnancy. Your Heart Risk May Not

Does Pregnancy Actually Make You Forgetful?

The researchers also assessed memory in 70 women, including women at different stages of pregnancy and women who were not pregnant.

Memory problems surfaced during late pregnancy stages and were linked with higher circulating estrogen levels. The researchers reported changes across several memory-related tasks.

But it is important to note that the researchers did not directly measure or manipulate this specific brain circuit in pregnant women. That means the human findings support the mechanism observed in mice, but do not prove that exactly the same circuit causes memory changes during human pregnancy.

The study has cemented evidence that many pregnant women experience forgetfulness, but it does not mean pregnancy causes permanent memory loss. For most women, pregnancy-related forgetfulness generally improves after childbirth.