First published December 27, 2018.
Pregnancy is many things at once: exciting, uncomfortable, emotional and, at times, absurd. Nausea that ignores the word “morning”, a bladder that needs a bathroom every half hour, cravings at 2 a.m. and strangers who comment on your bump are all part of the experience for many people. Memes are one way expecting parents cope with it. Laughing at a picture that says exactly what you feel can be a relief, and sharing it can be easier than explaining a tough week.
Below are 25 of the funniest pregnancy memes, each with a short note on the real experience behind the joke, plus a few facts and a myth that needed correcting. They are meant to make you smile, not to replace advice from your midwife or doctor.
Why pregnancy humour helps
Most of these jokes work because they exaggerate something real. Around 70 to 80 percent of pregnant women have some nausea, sleep gets harder as the bump grows, and plenty of people feel more forgetful than usual. A meme turns those frustrations into a shared experience: if a stranger online feels the same way, you are not alone.
Humour also lets people say difficult things lightly. “I’m fine” and a picture of a slumped Sphynx cat can be an honest answer to “how are you feeling?” when a long explanation would be too much.
A word on the jokes that are about other people
Several memes target the comments pregnant people hear: questions about the due date, opinions about food, touching the bump without asking. They are a good reminder for everyone else. Do not ask someone if they are pregnant unless they have told you, and ask before touching a bump. When in doubt, a simple “how are you doing?” is always welcome.
Pride, cravings and surprise announcements
1. A very proud otter holds up its baby under the words “I made this”. It is how many new parents feel when they introduce their newborn: a mix of pride, disbelief and exhaustion. The photo of a mother otter with her pup has been reused for this joke countless times.
2. A husband texted his wife at 36 weeks to ask how she felt and received a photo of a hairless Sphynx cat sitting slumped with a round belly and a withering look. At 36 weeks most pregnancies are only a few weeks from full term, and the reply needs no words.
3. A pregnant woman asks her husband to put the Oreos where she can’t reach them, so he puts them on the floor. Bending down late in pregnancy really does become hard as the bump grows, which is what makes the joke land.
4. In the middle of the night a pregnant wife sends her husband a page from a book claiming that among the Huichol people of Mexico, a father once sat in the rafters during labour with a rope tied to his testicles so his wife could share her pain. Fathers taking part in birth rituals, called couvade, is documented in several cultures, but we could not confirm this specific Huichol story in reliable sources, so treat it as folklore. Credit: batgaz.
5. Searching “new mom” brought up a series of photos of a small dog with a red ribbon tied around her middle, posing like a glamour model. The joke is about the gap between styled maternity photos and how most new parents actually feel.
6. A pregnancy test with a curved handle is meant to keep your hands dry. The caption’s answer: if you are not ready to get pee on your hand, you are not ready for parenthood, which any parent of a toddler will confirm. Credit: eileenmichellem.
7. A still from the US sitcom Modern Family shows Sofía Vergara and Julie Bowen in a car, captioned “I have two brains in my body, but I’ve never been so dumb.” Forgetfulness during pregnancy, often called “baby brain”, is one of the most common complaints people joke about.
8. A quote card credits comedian Ali Wong with a joke about resenting her husband for asking her to do the dishes when she is busy “making an eyeball”. Wong filmed her 2016 Netflix special Baby Cobra while seven months pregnant, and her pregnancy material made her famous.
The questions people ask, and the myths they share
9. A cat sizes up a pregnant woman’s belly and declares it might like this baby; in the second picture, a toddler is lying on top of the same cat. Pets often need time to adjust to a new baby, so it can help to get them used to new routines before the birth.
10. The full version of the opening chart. Ten silhouettes show a pregnancy from the first weeks to full term, and every one is labelled “no”; the only “maybe” is a woman lying on her back, apparently in labour. The etiquette rule it illustrates is simple: unless someone tells you they are pregnant, do not ask.
11. This viral headline claimed a giant panda in China faked pregnancy for better food and an air-conditioned room. The panda, Ai Hin at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Center, did show signs of pregnancy in 2014, but experts later explained it as pseudopregnancy, a hormonal state common in pandas, rather than a clever trick.
12. An advert for a home pregnancy test shows a delighted couple, but the cropped photo makes it look as if the woman is already heavily pregnant, prompting the famous “confused Nick Young” reaction meme. Timing is everything in advertising.
Labour jokes and life after the birth
13. “Get pregnant, they said. You’ll glow, they said.” A round-bellied orangutan sits in the grass looking anything but radiant. The “pregnancy glow” people talk about is real for some and absent for many others.
14. Two young men try a device that is said to simulate labour contractions with electrodes on their abdomen, and quickly end up groaning on the bed. Clips like this were popular around the time, though no gadget can reproduce the full experience of giving birth.
15. A reversal of the classic “man flu” joke: labour hurts so much that a woman can almost imagine how a man feels when he has a fever.
16. On the left, Catherine, Princess of Wales, waves outside the hospital in a red dress just hours after giving birth to Prince Louis in April 2018. On the right, Sylvester Stallone as a battered Rocky Balboa represents how most people feel after giving birth. Credit: andthentherewasmum.
17. A man’s girlfriend reportedly forgot about a booked maternity photo shoot, so he posed for it himself with his shirt open and his belly out. Whether staged or not, the photos poke fun at the very serious poses of maternity photography.
Nausea, food rules and the endless tiredness
18. “Can’t eat because of nausea. Nauseous because I can’t eat.” Pregnancy sickness affects an estimated 70 to 80 percent of pregnant women, and despite the name “morning sickness” it can strike at any time of day.
19. Actor Ken Jeong squints at a tiny scrap of paper labelled as the list of foods that are safe to eat while pregnant. The list is longer than it feels, but there are real restrictions, such as some unpasteurised cheeses and raw or undercooked foods, so ask your midwife or doctor for the up-to-date advice where you live. Credit: preggofuntimes.
20. A very large cat lies on top of a smaller one under the caption “third trimester sex”. Late pregnancy changes what is comfortable, and the joke is mostly about logistics and size.
21. A little girl at the beach declares that she wants to take a nap, then wants to take a nap right here, then lies face down in the sand. Third-trimester tiredness often feels exactly like this.
22. Kim Kardashian sips her wine slowly while a first-time parent-to-be explains that parenting will be easy because babies sleep a lot. Newborns do sleep many hours a day, but in short stretches around the clock, because they need to feed often. Credit: thebabymemes.
23. A polar bear cub rolls around helplessly on its back, captioned with the struggle of finding a comfortable sleeping position while pregnant. Many people find side-sleeping with pillows the most comfortable option later in pregnancy.
24. Stewie Griffin from Family Guy poses dreamily with a hand cradling his round belly, captioned “how girls pose when they are only five minutes pregnant”. It is a gentle dig at very early bump photos.
25. A cat sits upright on a bed, staring into space, perfectly capturing the moment after a shower when you need a pep talk before you can face getting dressed. Small tasks really do take more energy in late pregnancy.
When it is not funny
Not every pregnancy is easy enough to joke about. Severe vomiting that stops you keeping food or fluids down (a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum affects roughly 1 to 2 percent of pregnancies), bleeding, strong pain, reduced baby movements or feeling low and anxious for weeks are not things to laugh off. If something feels wrong, talk to your midwife or doctor; that is what they are there for.
And if you are sending these memes to a friend who is expecting, let them set the tone. Some days they will want to laugh, some days they will want to talk, and some days they just want someone to bring snacks to a place they can reach without bending down.
Sources: memes credited to their posters where known (batgaz, eileenmichellem, andthentherewasmum, preggofuntimes, thebabymemes) and as collected by Bored Panda; Wikipedia: Morning sickness; Wikipedia: Couvade; Wikipedia: Ali Wong; Snopes: Did a panda fake pregnancy?.
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