Here's How To Know If Your Boobs Are Going To Be Huge During Pregnancy

I am not gifted in the boob area. I barely fill out my "barely B" cup bras and usually there's twice as much padding in my bra as there is boobs. For a period in the mid-aughts, I even wore a water bra. (That is, until it sprung a leak on the train.) When I got pregnant, I expected some extra weight up-top, but it wasn't to be. I was bummed, but it wasn't the end of the world. So will your boobs will be huge during pregnancy? If you know what to look for, you can find out.

Your breasts begin to get larger almost from the word go, according to Kids Spot. The nipples and areola grow, too. If you notice early on in your pregnancy that your breasts are feeling particularly heavy or itchy, this is a sign your breasts might balloon up a size or two during your pregnancy. Also, if you have large breasts before you get pregnant, you're likely going to continue along with that trend, your breasts becoming even larger with each passing month of pregnancy.

Or, if you're like me, your breasts might not change very much at all while you're pregnant, but they might expand exponentially when your milk comes in.

I gathered up a fun survey of real moms, all of whom got some mighty size increases in their breasts during their pregnancy, to find out the signs that your boobs will get huge when you're pregnant. They are surprisingly specific.

Elizabeth Stattemier, 32, tells Romper, "My boobs felt like they had red ants crawling beneath my bra for the entire first trimester. By the third trimester, I'd gone from an A cup to a C cup, and by the time I delivered, I was a full D. I don't know how much of that was pregnancy, and how much was from the 50 pounds I gained when I had the triplets, but they were downright obscene." Note to self: get pregnant with triplets, gain a set of twins.

My best friend and platonic soulmate, Amy Cissell, 40, tells Romper, "That’s actually how I figured out I was pregnant. By the time I’d missed my first period, I’d gone up a cup size. I went from a DDD/F to a J during pregnancy, and they never got smaller again than an H/I." Now, my breasts are sensitive, but to know you're pregnant because you go up a full cup size is pretty intense.

When it comes to the stretch, sometimes it's more of a burn than an itch, according to new mom, Ashley Marshall, 29. "The skin felt like it was under warm or even hot water most of the time. It was really weird, and my nipples weren't affected at all. I went from a D cup to a G cup almost overnight. It wasn't great." She says people asked her if she had work done before she announced she was pregnant because her sports bras (she's a personal trainer) were no longer fitting as they should.

One thing several of the women noted to me is that they experience growth during their cycle when they're not pregnant, too. Some get bigger breasts while they're on their period, and some of the women I spoke with get bigger as they ovulate. Their breasts are already prone to change, unlike mine, which only shift when full. Perhaps, the malleability displayed during their non-pregnant times is a precursor for what's to come. No matter what though, all of us noticed one thing: breastfeeding only made them bigger. It's quite the thing to behold.

Your breasts may get huge, or they may stay pretty stable — it's all the luck of the draw. But you can take note of itching, burning, or early growth, and see if that affects your breasts' future size.

Check out Romper's new video series, Bearing The Motherload, where disagreeing parents from different sides of an issue sit down with a mediator and talk about how to support (and not judge) each other’s parenting perspectives. New episodes air Mondays on Facebook.