The Unexpected Thing That Happens To Your Body When You’re

Weight gain, morning sickness, mood swings, and swollen feet are a few of the more common things that come with being pregnant. There’s also a bunch of old wives’ tales that linger in the air whenever you walk into a room filled with other mothers, older women, and distant relatives, but we tend to ignore those (for the most part).

But now there’s another thing that’s more common than once thought:

Pregnancy Nose.

If you hadn’t heard of this before, it’s actually a real thing. According to gynaecologist Dr Goh Shen Li, “fluid retention and swelling can affect the nose [and] some expectant women may notice an increased roundness in the cheeks.”

Angela Wilson-Liverman, a professor of clinical obstetrics and gynaecology, further explained to Today, “Hormones of pregnancy — specifically estrogen — increase blood flow everywhere, but especially to mucus membranes of the body. So that increase in blood flow can cause swelling in those areas, or puffiness, which can make the nose appear larger on the outside.”

If you’re worried that your nose has suddenly “Pinocchio’d” sideways, take comfort in the fact that you’re not alone. Hilarious Twitter user and model Chrissy Teigen has brought pregnancy nose to the spotlight, tweeting about it to her 10.5 million followers.

https://twitter.com/chrissyteigen/status/991436104841637888

As it turns out, plenty of women experience this, with users tweeting their similar stories to Chrissy.

I had the nose too. I could look down and see the big swollen thing on my face all day. It will go down. Hopefully, it will go down to normal. Mine didn't. It's still bigger than it was. Good luck with that. Hugs

— Mary Egan (@cajunqueen58) May 6, 2018

Girl you look good! My pregnancy nose spread to the west coast and I live in Ohio! Your in the home stretch!#Weloveyourfam

— cassie (@cassie77253591) May 4, 2018

@chrissyteigen during my pregnancy my mom kept telling me my nose gained water weight! I didn’t believe her till I lost all my water weight!

— AKA Felica (@AlyshaHovdestad) May 5, 2018

According to Dr. Goh, both your cheeks and nose will “return to normal within six months after delivery,” so there’s no need to keep a contouring kit on hand forever.

But maybe for a few months, just to be safe.

Cover image by @frkeinevoll – Bubz Wonderland