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.

Nope can't sneeze or trampoline with full bladder - but who would anyway ?

@Floopyandtired

I looked like a melted ice cream

😱😱😱

(I am almost 19wks)

All this talk of getting our bodies back losing weight , - wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a culture/ society where this wasn't a norm or expected goal?

I gained more weight in the first year PP than I did during pregnancy. I found breastfeeding exhausting and made me constantly hungry! When sleep is interrupted it's easy to go for carbs and sugar as snacks to perk you up too. Once I was back to work I got into a more normal eating pattern, not back to pre pregnancy weight even now though and Ds is two. I did used to go to the gym 4 times a week though and I've had no time to do that

Pelvic floor strong as ever though!

Straight after - jelly wobbly mess. I felt like I had no balance either which was bizarre.
Now nearly 9 months pp I look exactly the same apart from having MASSIVE arms and one stripy stretch marked leg 🤷‍♀️ Also now weigh less than I did before I was pregnant (9.5 stone). I think my hair is also thinner than it was.

To the outsider my body is the same as before and was pretty much soon as she came, jeans on day 4pp. However Iv suffered with internal scarring issues which Iv had to have surgery on recently 18m pp.

Even though my youngest of 2 is 10 now, the stomach will never be the same. I actually find that if I go below a certain weight, it looks really bad naked, all wrinkly and loose, even if clothed I look better slimmer. I don't think there's any solution to that really, other than perhaps minimise your weight gain in pregnancy

Wrecked.

I was really, really shocked at what it looked like and wasn’t prepared for it.

I still looked pregnant for about 3 months afterwards.

I didn’t really have any stretch marks while pregnant, but they all appeared afterwards .

My previously perky b cups which hadn’t grown at all in pregnancy were enormous and veiny when my milk came in.

I was a tall, willowy size 8-10 pre pregnancy, and had expected to ‘snap back’ quickly, but it took me a year to lose my baby weight.

I was really down on myself looking back, as without being conscious of it, I think I really had imbued the idea that I should be looking fabulous pretty quickly.

Dc1- fantastic . despite a 2nd degree tear . By 6months pp I was the Lighter than pre baby!

Currently 7months after dc2 emcs and I look like a deflated balloon with elephant arms. Breastfeeding seems to have made me put on weight but I’m alive so oh well 😂

My post-pregnancy belly wasn’t visible under clothes after 2 months. But it felt very wobbly for much longer. I would say it took 1,5 years to get back to how toned it was before.

I had my first baby at 27- she weighed 7lb 6oz. I pretty much snapped back to my original shape, no bloated stomach, boobs stayed the same. I had a 2nd degree tear which was stitched and healed fine. Everything down there felt and looked normal. Was feeling back to normal by about 2 months post birth.

Had my 2nd baby at 30. She weighed 9lb 9oz. Boobs are bigger now and droopy, my belly feels and looks larger, no matter what I try. Had a second degree tear, it wasn't stitched correctly and the opening of my vagina does not feel or look the same. Also think I have some mild prolapse but I'm putting off going to the doctors. My second child pretty much ruined me and that's what I say to people who ask when I'm trying for a boy.

I was a bit flabbier and larger breasted in the first year with mine - I was breastfeeding and not really trying to slim down. A load came off naturally in the first couple of months after the births, so we aren't talking about lots of extra weight.

I did not have stretch marks.

I am as slim as pre kids, but my boobs are a bit smaller. The skin on my stomach is definitely less firm, but not too bad. I'm not into loads of exercise but rush about a lot and I do yoga regularly.

Each pregnancy I put on nearly 4 stones in weight! I was quite small to start though.

My youngest is nearly 4.

With my first I was 35 and a small size 8/10 before pregnancy but I ate and ate and ate and didn’t exercise at all during pregnancy so was pretty chunky. After about 10 days the puffiness had gone and I was fitting into some normal size 12 clothes. I’d say it took 4-5 months to get back down to a size 10 (no dieting or anything but breastfeeding helped!) and I didn’t actually ever get back to doing any serious exercise and have never made the effort to diet so I do have a bit of a squidgy belly but nothing that looks bad clothed! And I had a c section but there is no overhang (I suspect there would be if I put on weight!).

Oh but my boobs deflated and got all crinkly after breastfeeding.

C section, I was 40. Probably around a year, but I’m very squeamish hated the jiggling so wore a belly band after. I think it helped massively! I always used to wear a bra to bed until recently too. I didn’t breast feed as had no milk until day 4 and baby wouldn’t latch by then.

DC1: I felt like I ran a marathon with no training whatsoever! For the first 2 weeks I wanted to stay in bed. I wasn't in pain, I just felt exhausted. It didn't help I lost a lot of blood during the delivery so my iron levels were awful. It took me about 6 weeks to start feeling like myself again.

DC2: Within 1 week I felt back to normal

After DS1 I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight within a weight. Not mega skinny size 10/12, I breast fed and he was a hungry baby, so I lost a further stone. I put a small amount back on then fell pregnant with DS2. After DS2 I lost a stone a half of the preg weight straightaway but the other half stone took 4 months. I then lost a bit more cause of breastfeeding. Stayed small until they the DS's were 7 and 4. Now I weight a good half stone more than pre-pregnancy, but I'm also nearly 15 years older. Longer term, my feet are a size bigger, I have got a a bit of a Mum tum, one boob is bigger than the other and my pelvic floor isn't what it was. Think I got off quite lightly all in all.

My stomach quickly went back flattish I guess as I did a lot of swimming while pregnant right up to the end, but you could and can still years later tell that the skin was stretched. It's not hugely noticeable but when I see people who have lost a lot of weight quickly my stomach has the slight look of that. My boobs are smaller and not such a good shape (although they got huge when my milk came in).

I went back to looking like my normal self quite quickly. Was always quite slim (size 8) and it took about 2 months to return to it. However, I did have quite bad anxiety at that time so think that’s why and went onto anti-depressants which affected appetite. Not because I’m particularly lucky going back to my pre pregnancy weight!

A postpartum body is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.

It doesn’t matter though, your new little baby becomes the most important thing and your body image just falls off of the importance scale.

I had more stretch marks on my belly than I thought, because I couldn't see them. They've faded now, a year on.

It took me a few months to get back to my pre pregnancy weight, but that was with eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, and exclusive breastfeeding. Then i carried on eating whatever i wanted and also it was lockdown and i put on another couple of stone

DC1- broken, totally broken. As in did not function as it should. I needed 18months of physio to get back to near normal and in that time gained lots of weight as I couldn't exercise and the sleep deprivation meant I craved sugar. It was awful. My hair fell out (as in bald patches, not postpartum hair loss) and I was both physically and mentally unwell. I've never got back to pre kids in terms of hip size (my bones spread, I've been 1stine lighter than I was pre kids and my hips are still bigger) or bodily function.

DC2 - back in pre-pregnancy clothes by 10 days postpartum and completely back to pre-pregnancy self by 5 weeks, minus half a stone.

DC1 was a vaginal birth, DC2 was c section.

Am currently 13 weeks post partum. Put 2 stone on in total and stayed active throughout pregnancy. Am now 2lbs above starting weight, but it is redistributed. My boobs are bigger, my waist a bit thicker. Breast feeding has helped. I am still losing weight. No stretch marks. My ribcage might be a bit bigger. Generally I look exactly the same just bigger boobs and a flatter bum at the moment.

It doesn’t matter though, your new little baby becomes the most important thing and your body image just falls off of the importance scale.

That wasn't true for me. I felt like a shell of myself and like I no longer existed as a person because people told me that what happened to me and the resulting injuries and side effects weren't important, because DC was ok. To some people their postpartum bodies DO matter. And that isn't wrong.