Experiences in the first month vary. You may feel fatigued, nauseous, bloated. Your breasts may feel tender. You may crave certain foods, but food aversions are just as common.

In the second month you may feel dizzy, irritable. You may experience mood swings. By the third month, your appetite will probably increase. Veins thicken in your abdomen and legs.

In the fourth month, any nausea you felt may decrease. Or increase. Or you may feel nauseous for the first time. Your ankles and feet may swell. Experiences vary. You may have trouble concentrating.

By the fifth month, you will likely feel the fetus moving. Leg cramps are not unusual in the sixth or seventh month, and you may have difficulty sleeping. Braxton Hicks contractions begin. You may dream of the baby. You may feel giddy. You may feel like crying. You may cry.

In the ninth month, contractions may wake you.

In the eleventh month, your sleep will almost certainly be disrupted. You may experience mood swings, nipple soreness, pain.

In the thirtieth month, arguing and tantrums are common. You may feel tired, irritable, irrational.

In the 200th month, sleep disruptions often return. You may lie awake waiting for the phone to ring. If you sleep, the phone may wake you. You may imagine that you hear a key in the door. Anxiety is common. You may experience mood swings. You may dream of your baby. Experiences vary.

Return to Bruce’s column.

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About the Author

Bruce Holland Rogers

Bruce Holland Rogers has a home base in Eugene, Oregon, the tie-dye capital of the world. He writes all types of fiction: SF, fantasy, literary, mysteries, experimental, and work that’s hard to label.

For six years, Bruce wrote a column about the spiritual and psychological challenges of full-time fiction writing for Speculations magazine. Many of those columns have been collected in a book, Word Work: Surviving and Thriving as a Writer (an alternate selection of the Writers Digest Book Club). He is a motivational speaker and trains workers and managers in creativity and practical problem solving.

He has taught creative writing at the University of Colorado and the University of Illinois. Bruce has also taught non-credit courses for the University of Colorado, Carroll College, the University of Wisconsin, and the private Flatiron Fiction Workshop. He is a member of the permanent faculty at the Whidbey Writers Workshop MFA program, a low-residency program that stands alone and is not affiliated with a college or university. It is the first and so far only program of its kind. Currently he is teaching creative writing and literature at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary, on a Fulbright grant.

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