As someone else has said, every pregnancy is different.

I am currently eight months pregnant, have been pregnant before, and pretty much every woman my age I know seems to be pregnant right now, so I can give you some insights, but I'd like to also say a few things about research and writing.

Research

You say you're 'not going to leave home just to meet one' - but a lot of good writing relies on doing good research and sometimes that involves leaving the house.

Visiting a Moroccan market if that's what you're writing about is going to make your writing far more rich than just reading about what one is like on the Internet.

By contrast to actually having to travel across the world, there are pregnant women all over the place, wherever there are humans, so this is surely one of the easiest things you could 'properly' research - i.e. by finding some and talking to them. I'm concerned that you're not willing to put in at least that amount of effort.

Writing for effect

As there are so many varied pregnancy experiences, this is a fantastic opportunity for you to pick and choose the experiences that suit your character, story and plot.

For example, if things are going well for your character, then their pregnancy could be going very smoothly, but if things are going badly they might be exhausted, sick and aching.

Furthermore, the parts if pregnancy that affect them best / worst can reflect their character. Are they vain? Then perhaps they are obsessed with how 'fat' they look, the weird dark line that now stretches up their belly, how they might be left with stretch marks and an outy belly button and deflated boobs (all actual things).

Or are they used to always being very active? In which case the extra weight and fatigue could also lead to frustration and irritation as they find themselves physically unable to do what they used to.

Pregnancy

Okay, finally I'll get to pregnancy itself. Here are some of the things you may or may not have read about - based on my own experience and that of pregnant friends:

Sometimes you get really weirded out by the fact there is a human - an entire human - growing inside your very own body. The more you think about it, the freakier you realise it is.

You have weird nightmares about losing / dropping / hurting the baby, but it's usually not a normal baby. It's hairy like a gorilla or only an inch big (so you lose it down the back of the sofa) or made of jelly.

You spend a lot of time worrying whether your bump is too big or too small. And complete strangers find it appropriate to comment on the size.

EVERYBODY asks if it's a boy or a girl.

By the time you get to eight months you've forgotten what it's like to not be pregnant.

Feeling the movements inside you - kicking, hiccoughing, squirming is the most awesome thing in the world, and like a little secret between you and the baby that is very constantly happening, and other people don't realise when you're having conversations with them.

Obviously there's tons more, but hopefully that will be of some help.

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