To ask how your body was postpartum

[wickerly]

I'm due in a couple of weeks and really curious to know how quickly others felt they were back to normal and did you ever look exactly the same? How long etc?
Also did anything help? and just what to expect really. I know everyone is different I'm just interested in some experiences.

Immediately after birth I was pre pregnancy weight, must have been all baby!

Weight gain in the 20 months since which I'm struggling with. Also heavy DS has basically broken my back.

Felt normal after about a year. I had a c section. Still losing hair

I do agree within @Winterwoollies with my experience and those who I know.

I was already a healthy weight to start with, I kept active and ate healthy during my pregnancy, non of this eating for 2, after my birth my stomach stayed swollen for about a week then went back down, the skin was a little more slack.

I had to have stitches so was not moving much after, I also breastfeed I was advised that helps flatten your stomach (not sure if it's true, but it happened to me). But I probably ate a much more high calorie diet while breastfeeding but it didn't increase my weight.

I used a good cream as soon as I found out I was pregnant, it was a boots own cream, I think, but I don't have one stretch mark luckily.

I felt normal after about 2/3months body wise.

I have friends who were slightly over weight to start with, there diet wasn't great through pregnancy so put a bit of extra weight on and really struggled to shift it.

Bloody brilliant! I have PCOS and insulin resistance, so pregnancy and up to 6 months post birth was the only time since puberty I have been naturally slim. I even ate toast a few times a week without piling on the pounds!

@TheRosariojewels genetics play a part for sure. But with that in mind (this is quite outing), my twin has stretch marks on her tummy but I don’t. She still has cracking boobs and I don’t. Mine went flat and soft. I FF and she BF.

I’m really into fitness though and she wasn’t. I was exercising until the day I had my baby and didn’t put on much weight. This is not boasting, as I’ve said on previous threads I had near constant growth scans (baby was fine). She didn’t and put on a little bit of baby weight and got stretch marks. I had some other issues, hence seeing a physio, and it was she who told me the way you treat your body during pregnancy has a huge impact in recovery afterwards. 🤷🏻‍♀️

In other words OP, everyone is different and your body will behave exactly how it wants to.

Went down two cup sizes. Forever have pain in vagina and csec scar. Cervix is now perpetually.low so sex is even more uncomfortable than it was before. 7 years on and 3 csecs for me. I have friends who have perpetual wee accidents, perpetual pain, feel "looser", etc.

DC1 - absolutely fucked. Totally broken and my hips got bigger and wider and have never shrunk back despite me being 1 stone lighter than pre pregnancy.

DC2 - back in pre-pregnancy clothes by 3 weeks and feeling about the same as pre kids. DC2 was a c section!

With DD1 I was back to my normal size (6) within a week. Stomach completely flat, no stretch marks. The only difference was big breastfeeding breasts.

With DD2, I was back in my clothes within a month, my stomach is still flat and looks smooth, but if I push the sides together it goes wrinkly.

About a year for me, not just how I looked but how I felt.

Probably a combination of how you were pre pregnancy, how much you ate during pregnancy and generally how your body responds to pregnancy.

I had strong abs pre pregnancy, I’m tall so barely showed until 24 weeks. I felt nauseous and really went off my food at the start then just felt full and uncomfortable after a few mouthfuls later on. I gained a stone.

I was back to normal at 6 weeks, I can remember being pretty depressed at 3 weeks post birth and feeling fat as my belly was still flabby but it had gone by 6 weeks. I started yoga again at 4 weeks and I think that helped alongside breastfeeding.

Ultimately you have no idea how your body will respond!

I didn't have stretch marks on my belly but it was what I can only describe is it being like a water bed for a few months, all soft and wibbly. Could push my finger into my stomach and it would pretty much just sink right in.

I didn't feel normal for a few months tbh my vag took a beating with labour, forceps and being cut, and the whole experience took its toll mentally. Gained weight after then eventually back to the pre pregnancy figure in about 2yrs, minus the youthful tight stomach.

My DC’s are 14 & 17 so the changes are permanent. I went up a cup size with each pregnancy, so from B to DD. My rib cage expanded, from 36 to 38. My nipples were innies, since breastfeeding DD for 13 months they are most definitely outies. Weight wise there isn’t much difference. My abdomen was more rounded and sticky out for a few years with an overhang, but really that’s gone now, probably because I do lots of swimming (well, I did pre lockdown). I reckon that went about 5 years after DD was born. Very few stretch marks. I felt quite different and not myself for a long time after each birth, but the feeling did gradually go, perhaps after a year or so after each birth. Breast feeding was difficult, my boobs engorged beyond any bra size available for a few weeks and were so painful, but they did calm down around the time of the 6 week check-up, I remember because I thought I’d discuss it with the doctor but didn’t as the problem disappeared just before the appointment.

I wish I had been told how odd my body would look post partum it looked square and like it didn't belong to me
Don't fret you won't go back to normal quickly your body has done an amazing thing
Enjoy the baby xx

Not good! Bigger rib cage, smaller breasts (I hate this!), prolapse, vagina feels totally different (not in a good way!), chunkier round the middle. On the good side, I breastfed and felt back to normal weight in a matter of days.

I'm a stone heavier than pre pregnancy but I felt too skinny before so I'm quite happy with it. Boobs are the same size-ish but a little less firm than before. Stretch marks have gone (I only had them down 1 side, weird!) And I have a little roundness to my tummy under my belly button. But overall I'm happy (1 year PP)

I was back in size 6 trousers the morning after I gave birth, but I didn’t put on any weight other than the baby. This is genetic I think as my mum was the same. My stomach looked like a deflated balloon however for about 2/3 weeks after wards, up close.

I’d say my hips are slightly wider now, not a clothes side wider but wider non the less. My stomach muscles have never fully joined back up, despite physio (although you can’t tell). I have excess skin on my stomach, which isn’t noticeable unless you knew me before I guess. My boobs are smaller (or were, I had a boob job after my A cups turned into nipple only after my second).

I can’t jump on a trampoline anymore without pissing myself (which unfortunate I didn’t realise until I was at jump nation with my son in Feb).

The worst part, is I had a tear, and the nurse stitched me up a bit strange and I now have a little flap of skin that hangs out of my vagina. Not irritating but I know it’s there. As it causes no issues and is purely cosmetic then the Dr won’t remove it.

I also have piles.

Joy of being a woman.

I’m almost 11 months pp, I lost the weight quickly and no stretch marks. I’d say after 4 months I was exacty the same as before with the exception of boobs as still EBF.
I gained very little though thanks to GD and I was back mucking out horse very soon after birth. BF all day and night also helped!

Straight after DD was born the one thing I remember was how blissful it was to be able to lie back without the weight of the pregnancy bump.

What you won't want to hear is how quickly I pinged back into shape. More by luck than anything else. I BF DD, and could feel my uterus contracting. By day 10 it had reverted back to its original size. I was back in my pre-pregnancy jeans by week three, and by week 6 my body didn't feel it has given birth.

Nothing about me has changed - feet, rib cage and pelvis the same size, no difference in my plumbing, boobs still small and perky.

I had DD at 41 so I don't know if that made any difference.

My stomach is a different texture, my nipples stayed twice the diameter, I wouldn’t trust my bladder on a trampoline although it’s better that it was. My body just moves and handles differently so it was like getting used to a new one but it did stop my ibs for a few years so every cloud. DD is 5 now.

Ps I didn’t poo for the first 5 days, partly due to fear, partly due to low appetite. I was also sick about half an hour after the birth. Finally, breastfeeding maybe me insanely thirsty, like someone had stick kitchen roll in my mouth.

I was 27 when I had my son. I am a size 8-10 now whereas I was a size 6-8 before. I think my hips are wider than they were.

Amazingly, I managed to escape without stretch marks and when I am running regularly, my stomach is relatively firm.

I do have a c-section scar though and still have little to no feeling around it. Sometimes, if I cough/sneeze hard, I get awful pain in my scar apparently it's scar tissue.

I would say I didn't feel 'normal' until 12 months after the birth but it was long and traumatic. I have friends who felt normal much more quickly!

I've only got 1 DC, had her in December when I was 33.

Weirdly, I put no weight on during pregnancy (due to morning sickness) and after having her I combi-fed so breast feeding helped maintain my weight. When I gave up breastfeeding at 3 months (but carried on eating A LOT!) I then put on half a stone! (This did coincide with lockdown too!)

Oddly, I also have no stretch marks. I'm not sure if it was anything to do with me moisturising and using body oils nightly from 5 months pregnant onwards. I have tiny stretch marks on my thighs from weight gain and loss when I was much younger.

Other that that, my stomach hangs slightly lower that it used to, my waist isn't as defined as it was, my stomach and hips are softer and my boobs definitely hang slightly lower (34E)

@Ginfordinner I was 41 too! Wonder if being older helped? I’m still BF so not sure how the boobs will end up but the rest of me is exactly the same. Very pleasant surprise!

I was as flat as a pancake the day after I had both of mine. However, once I gave up breastfeeding (which burns calories and tightens stomach muscles) and started binging on junk food I very much have a "mum Tum" - I've always eaten crap and never had this body until I had kids, though I suspect it's less to do with childbearing and more to do with age

After the birth I was peeing loads, I'd retained so much water. Nobody else in the ward ever seemed to go, I was up every 30 mins! I was very anaemic and had awful headaches. Very heavy lochia. Stomach like a deflated balloon. Hair fell out. Awful postnatal anxiety.

Now, I feel pretty much like I never had a baby. I'm a bit fatter, but I'm just greedy. I don't have stretch marks or saggy boobs. My pelvic floor is fine, I can jump on a trampoline. So I suppose, I was a car crash for a few weeks after the birth but almost went back to normal after a few months. Youngest is 6 now.