# Quasi-myths or I just think they are and have been proven? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 12, 2018, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quasi-myths-or-i-just-think-they-are-and-have-been-proven/817819 "2018-07-12T23:09:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quasi-myths-or-i-just-think-they-are-and-have-been-proven/817819/1 "2018-07-12T23:09:05Z")
1. Terminally-ill animals, including humans, experience a brief respite…to find a place to die.Now, I haven’t seen humans slink off to do so, but thats still my theory. 2. Pregnant women DO have a glow about them. And its so people will be more inclined to protect them. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quasi-myths-or-i-just-think-they-are-and-have-been-proven/817819/2 "2018-07-12T23:44:47Z")
Very sick or badly wounded animals will often try to find a hiding place where they can recover (or die). They do this so they are not discovered and eaten by a predator while too weak to escape. There is often a period in pregnancy where your skin looks really good. There’s also other periods where you are pasty and blotchy. I don’t think it is for any social purpose, it is just the play of hormones. People are inclined to protect pregnant women because we are social creatures who raise children as a collective effort. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quasi-myths-or-i-just-think-they-are-and-have-been-proven/817819/3 "2018-07-13T04:19:04Z")
OK, I’ve got one: I’ve heard a quasi-myth that pregnant women have a “nesting” instinct right before they go into labor. I noticed this with my wife – after weeks spent mostly in bed or on the couch late in her pregnancy (and feeling miserable), I found her up one day running around the house organizing things. This included her cleaning out the bedroom closet for some reason. A few hours later she went into labor. I wasn’t going to look this up to see if was true or not, but I couldn’t resist. Here’s a [link](http://americanpregnancy.org/planning/nesting-during-pregnancy/) (which refers to the nesting instinct being connected to the onset of labor as an old wives’ tale). ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quasi-myths-or-i-just-think-they-are-and-have-been-proven/817819/4 "2018-07-13T05:17:31Z")
I was gonna post about the nesting instinct. I wasn’t sure what the OP was asking though. ETA it happened to me, 3 times. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quasi-myths-or-i-just-think-they-are-and-have-been-proven/817819/5 "2018-07-20T22:37:22Z")
Thought of another one…our heads bleed so profusely \* cause…they’re our heads!! For Christs sake get help!! \*Think when you were a kid and fell off a swing set backwards and scraped your head on gravel. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quasi-myths-or-i-just-think-they-are-and-have-been-proven/817819/6 "2018-07-20T22:56:33Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Thought of another one…our heads bleed so profusely \* cause…they’re our heads!! For Christs sake get help!! > > \*Think when you were a kid and fell off a swing set backwards and scraped your head on gravel. Partly because there’s a lot of blood there but also our big bulging crainia hold cuts open and make it harder for them to stop bleeding. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2018, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quasi-myths-or-i-just-think-they-are-and-have-been-proven/817819/7 "2018-07-21T02:40:07Z")
> [@robby](#): > > OK, I’ve got one: I’ve heard a quasi-myth that pregnant women have a “nesting” instinct right before they go into labor. I noticed this with my wife – after weeks spent mostly in bed or on the couch late in her pregnancy (and feeling miserable), I found her up one day running around the house organizing things. This included her cleaning out the bedroom closet for some reason. A few hours later she went into labor. > > I wasn’t going to look this up to see if was true or not, but I couldn’t resist. Here’s a [link](http://americanpregnancy.org/planning/nesting-during-pregnancy/) (which refers to the nesting instinct being connected to the onset of labor as an old wives’ tale). But how does this connect with an insistence that EVERYBODY ELSE does that cleaning, not her? With yelling? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2018, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quasi-myths-or-i-just-think-they-are-and-have-been-proven/817819/8 "2018-07-21T02:45:55Z")
Okay, but it was years between when Oldest was born and The Evil Twins were born, and when they came they were my problem until dawn. I think I may have been used. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2018, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quasi-myths-or-i-just-think-they-are-and-have-been-proven/817819/9 "2018-07-21T02:51:23Z")
If Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. That’s how. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2018, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quasi-myths-or-i-just-think-they-are-and-have-been-proven/817819/10 "2018-07-21T02:54:36Z")
My wife had the glow but she didn’t have any nesting phase. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2018, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quasi-myths-or-i-just-think-they-are-and-have-been-proven/817819/11 "2018-07-21T15:13:10Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > If Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. That’s how. And if grandma ain’t happy, RUN!