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What Happens to Your Body During Pregnancy

2. You might notice changes in your skin pigmentation.

As your pregnancy progresses, you may notice melasma, or pregnancy mask, appearing as a darkening of the skin on your cheeks, upper lip or forehead. It resembles a mask because the brown discolouration is often symmetrical and appears on both sides of the face, although it usually disappears post-pregnancy.

Around the second trimester, you might also see a dark, vertical line running down the middle of your stomach. Linea nigra is caused by pigmentation in the skin occurring where your abdominal muscles have had to stretch and separate slightly to give your baby more room as she grows. Like melasma and any other areas of increased pigmentation due to pregnancy (nipples, moles and freckles), this darkening of the skin usually fades within a few weeks after delivery.