To think pregnancy ruined your body?

"bounce back" 🤢 come on is it 2005?

It's more the point that stretch marks, loose skin etc aren't a 'ruined' body. It's just a different body. Not having them is no better than having them.

I've had four (the latest one only 4 weeks ago, age 35). I've bounced back every time. I believe it is genetics

This thread reminds me of a knob head woman I had on Facebook, note the word 'had'.

Gloating about how easy her kids are and how she can't relate to the women who've struggled through the 6 weeks holidays and they must be shit parents. Lots of laughing faces.

As the parent of one child with significant special needs and another one going through the assessment process now.. I just wanted to chin her tbh.

OP - learn from this thread and stop being such a tone deaf, braggy bore.

Oh piss off @Poppins21, great that you’re looking and feeling great. I meanwhile look something reminiscent to a slightly melted ice cream.

Yes, tho with monitoring things like the placenta not detaching, can be relatively easily sorted.

I didn't do any of the stuff you did and I bounced back quickly. Some people bounce back quickly. Some people don't. It's luck of the draw and people feel differently about their body looking certain ways. No one size fits all at all.

I'm 33 weeks pregnant with my first baby at the age of 38 and this post has done nothing but fill me with additional anxiety and dread that I may never get my body back. As if I wasn't feeling worried enough already. I don't think it's healthy to start threads like this.

Thanks for that OP.

Oh as if this is about the NHS, this is nothing to do with maternity services. It's about you thinking you're so attractive and putting down women whose bodies didn't bounce back into their pre pregnancy jeans. What this thread has done is highlight that you have a horrible attitude.

I just never cared. I had toned abs before and now I don't but I honestly don't care. I'm just happy that I'm healthy and not in pain and that I had my wonderful children.

I’m still struggling to understand what poorly funded maternal healthcare has to do with you having bigger boobs, no stretch marks and pre pregnancy jeans back on a few weeks after birth?

Its interesting you talk about bodies being “ruined” but and now you are trying to link it to healthcare but your post is all about looks.

No my two pregnancies (in my 40s) and sections didn't ruin my body. However in my first pregnancy I did develop type 1 diabetes so in that sense it had a profound affect.
But no stretch marks (despite first one being over 10lbs and send one just under), no boob deflation. I have a stomach but that's due to me being overweight!

Yes totally. Emergency caesarean and horrible overhang that 23 years later I still hate. Even when I lost loads of weight it was still there.
The stretch marks didn't really bother me so much.

Anyone talking about horror stories - has it occurred to you maybe those women just don't want you to have to face what they had to face completely unprepared?

Did you breast feed? Did your section affect your stomach muscles? I want my 6 pack back after.

I wish I would have heard more horror stories when I was pregnant! I had DS at 34, complicated pregnancy and then the high rotational forceps after a 52 hour labour.

If I had not have given birth at St Thomas’ with a top OBGYN, we would both be dead. As it is, I was one of those who had to have reconstructive surgery straight after the birth and was dually incontinent for 6 months afterwards. I got no after care as I was in central London and was expected to self fund everything.

Also my DS is disabled as a result of birth damage but I chose not to sue the NHS as I am lucky to be alive. I didn’t suffer any PND and was mentally very strong throughout. I was super fit and healthy before the birth BTW.

My lovely husband has stayed with us despite no sex life and the last thing I’ve thought of over the last 13 years is how my body looks.

Oh I also developed RA after multiple pregnancies resulting in miscarriages before my DS. Which they now think was the cause of my complications. I still work full time but don’t have the energy to really exercise much.

Happy that you had a good experience though OP. Not everyone does, and it is not their fault. Just saying. Stay strong out there sisters.

Reducing other women's experiences to "horror stories" is pretty offensive too.

My body didn't change very much after the 1st baby. However, another 2 babies later - it's not looking great.

Im now 50 and its 18 years following my 1st birth. I'm slimmer now (size 12) but my breasts are still a G cup! I'm more of an apple shape too which started quickly after having the children , rather than menopause.

Tbh though I'm not sure if this is due to 3 children/pregnancies or years and years of slight self neglect (as most mothers do as they put their children first!). I didn't have time to exercise/rest/sleep/focus on diet as I did previously.

I'm not bothered though. I've never aimed to be model like in appearance. I'm slim and enjoy good health - except for a bladder/bowel prolapse which I can manage.

My focus now is trying to get my body to a place where it will be strong for old age.

I loved what pregnancy did to my body, I felt wonderful (if tired - anaemic). Body the same as was before, although not been back to the gym or running much. But my downstairs is a mess.

No body is ‘ruined’ by pregnancy and birth. It may or may not be changed and it may or may not be injured.

But OP’s not talking about birth injuries, which actually do hamper function in day to day life. She’s talking about stretch marks and deflated boobs.

And who decided stretch marks and deflated boobs are ‘ruined’? Men did obviously.

The focus of your OP was bigger boobs stretch marks, getting in pre-pregnancy jeans straight away and having a high sex drive during pregnancy, and to spread that message so women need not be so afraid of ruined bodies.

What the flip does that have to do with funding NHS maternity services?

You’re trying to change the narrative now and it’s not working.

Just other people's bodies then?

I agree the medical profession needs to do far more. But that doesn't mean women shouldn't be talking about their experiences. You had a better experience than you were expecting. Bit weird that you don't see that as a positive.

I think women need to be more honest with each other about pregnancy, childbirth and child rearing, not less. Maybe there would be less post natal depression when women realize the reason they're finding it hard, is because it is hard. If all the women around them have given them a sanitized version of what becoming a mother is like, no wonder it hits them hard and they feel like a failure.

Maybe on the whole women are sharing the truth more these days, and that's why fewer women are choosing to do it. Because not everyone "bounces back" and if you did it's more down to luck than anything else.

Nature does not even expect 100% survival from pregnancy. Survival of the fittest is what drives evolution. So yes of course giving birth can go wrong and hurt mother or baby.

I think your post is smug and tone deaf.

There are lots of women who suffer significant birth injuries, from pelvic floor dysfunction to complete 4th degree perineal tears leaving them doubly incontinent.

Yes pregnancy can and does ruin your body. Some women are lucky, many are not.

I'm not really interested in how you didn't get stretchmarks or how great your body looks. Good for you. Bore off.