When will the aches and pains of pregnancy go away?

[saranga]

I mean, how soon after birth will I get back to feeling normal and have my body act as it used to?

I'm 33 weeks and hating this last stage. I feel out of control, got at, like an incubator and am thoroughly fed up with nothing working as it should (like it used to). It's a normal, healthy pregnancy, but I want pre-pregnancy me back.
Gods, I never knew this would be so hard.

[saranga]

Oh, and to top it off, I think my partner thinks I'm regretting getting pregnant. I'm not. I want this child (so badly, so much so that I don't think I can talk about it) but I hate being pregnant and I feel thoroughly aggrieved that we can't produce babies in birthing matrixes or test tubes. I feel dehumanised by being pregnant, it's shit.

[saranga]

AND I went to my first ante-natal class last night and every other woman there looked happy and excited. I feel shit, which is making me think I'm a bad person/bad mother.

[TheNewSofa]

I had a dreadful pregnancy and birth.

Had put me right off doing it again.

In my case, i was free from pain when my dd was 8 months old

[saranga]

8 months? Christ, you poor thing :(

[squizita]

I know what you mean about how it's different when you're not doing it the 'natural' way. Mine is naturally conceived but kept going with daily blood thinning injections: the worry and discomfort are something always at the back of your mind but you're not allowed to complain because of course it's a wonderful thing.
Or rather, it's a wonderful thing and I've found some people don't want me to complain because it's easy to pity me and see me as different if I keep my trap shut and act like an angel on a charity appeal.

Yeah, you can definitely want the baby and not like the hassle of a more complex conception/pregnancy. DEFINITELY.

[saranga]

I haven't had a complex pregnancy though. It took 6 months to conceive (but that's not long), it's a bog standard, normal pregnancy, I just don't like it.

Some people seem surprised when I say this. Usually those that said they really enjoyed being pregnant, as if it's weird that others would feel different.

[PenguinsLoveFishFingers]

Well, pre-pregnancy you doesn't totally come "back". The likelihood is that your body will be, or feel, different in some way. Not necessarily bad stuff. But, for example, my hips stayed wider even after I lost all the weight and my feet changed shape a bit. I think it's best to accept that even a healthy pregnancy takes some toll on you.

But outside of that, a lot depends on how the labour goes if you've had a healthy pregnancy. I was mostly back to normal within a few weeks. It took quite a while to lose all the weight, and obviously I was knackered. But in the scheme of things, only a few weeks until I felt like things were getting back on track.

[saranga]

I don't mind my hips getting wide or my feet changing shape. I want an end to the aches and pains, and not being able to breathe, or turn, or bend over. That stuff. Thank you.

[PenguinsLoveFishFingers]

If you have a straightforward birth, bending over, breathing and turning could be less than 24 hours . I feel your pain. I'm 40+9 and make 'oomph' noises constantly!

[Cookiepants]

I ENDURED my pregnancy 41 weeks of sickness , SPD, separated ribs, palpitations and blackouts .

I skipped out of the hospital (same day discharge) feeling lighter than air! I'm the only one of my friends who preferred labour to pregnancy. So you may feel better quite quickly.

Bit sore today as had to have a filling where the morning sickness made my teeth crumble

Congratulations on your baby, as soon as you see them this will all seem like a bad dream.

[saranga]

I really hope so!

Thanks people.

[Bifauxnen]

When they move out

[squizita]

Someone recently told me that along with things like your hips, breasts, feet, stomach, pelvic floor (which I knew) ...some mums never get rid of the constipation. This scares me most! Is it common? I find it really painful.

[PenguinsLoveFishFingers]

Squizita - I haven't ever heard of that one sticking around [schock]. I'd always assumed it was a combination of hormones and physical lack of space for your bowel at the end.

In my case, what stuck around was hips, slightly larger rib cage (very slightly), wider feet and, erm, a bit of pelvic floor 'issue' (nothing life changing, and I'm working on it. Damn those forceps).

[squizita]

Phew Penguins re the constipation. Sorry to hear about the pelvic floor problem, hope you've been given good support/help medically!

I have two extremes of RL info. My mum ...amazon tennis playing woman who would make Mr T seem feeble, coughed out twins ("they made me have an epidural because of blood pressure, they did that in those days" I'm too tough for pain ) and told me I 'should' be OK.
And ... some friends who inform me of everything that can go wrong even if it didn't actually happen to them personally! Nice!

Ah the joys!

[PenguinsLoveFishFingers]

To be honest, I've been shit about accessing physio because it was such a drama in London and it's more 'avoid trampolines and cross legs to sneeze' than anything awful. But my new area seems far more clued up so I'm going to keep an eye on things after this baby finally makes an appearance.

People love to give advice and scare stories don't they

[squizita]

Everything is drama in London, especially West London I find.