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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

How does it feel when you suddenly don't have a baby in your tummy?

85 replies

bumperlicious · 24/03/2007 09:25

I know that sounds like a really weird question, but after carrying this LO around for 9 months I am wondering what it will feel like when suddenly there is this big empty space.

Also, just so I can get a sense of perspective, how long before your tummy 'goes down' and you no longer look pg?!

OP posts:

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mears · 26/03/2007 00:24

I really missed the movement. Was a fat blob for weeks but didn't care as i nurtured my newborn

VeniVidiVickiQV · 26/03/2007 00:25

Still quite big, but very wibbly and felt funny, because it was no longer taught like a drum.

nightowl · 26/03/2007 00:41

remember standing outside the hospital about a day after i had dd talking to my friend, poking my stomach and going "look, LOOK..why hasn't it gone down?".

must have been hormones, i mean, she was my second baby so i did know you dont flatten out straight away (or in my case, at all, ever).

themoon66 · 26/03/2007 00:50

I remember lying on my back and wobbling my weird jelly belly. Strange empty bag sort of feeling.

twentypence · 26/03/2007 01:04

To get out of the birthing unit and to the car park involved going down stairs. I didn't have the balance to do that I found.

I still had phantom movements especially in the bath - which suggest some of my baby movements were the stretching of my uterus.

It didn't seem weird to still have a belly because I had got used to it.

octopussyinyummyeastereggs · 26/03/2007 01:09

I cannot wait to lie on my tummy

also strangely - felt like all my organs were falling back down into place - where they were pre bump!

Bump slowly went down over a month or so

macneil · 26/03/2007 06:26

As soon as I'd given birth, I was overwhelmed by the non-nausea, because I'd felt sick throughout pregnancy, and started eating like a maniac, with a kind of crazed glee. My bump went down pretty quickly, although wasn't really like pre-pregnancy, but seemed very small in comparison to what it was, and then shrank without much effort very quickly after that. But now it is still very soft and spongey, even though I'm about the same size and shape as I was (about 6 pounds heavier, and no muscle).

Now, the weird part is I didn't miss the movement at all! I was so used to the kicks, the hiccups, and just looking at a giant bump and feeling it move around. I'd really bonded with the little bump-person, too, I used to talk to it and think about it, and naturally protect it with my arms. As soon as she was born, and I had a c-section that I paid very little attention to, so no real reason to feel like I'd gone through the birth process in a wholly involved way, I didn't feel an absence, didn't wonder why everything felt strange, because it didn't. Not for one second. Not even waking up in the morning. Indeed, I have repeated this to people I know so much that they've been bored into avoiding me in case I tell them again.

macneil · 26/03/2007 06:29

(Oh yeah, also share jalopy's urination enjoyment. Not just not needing to pee until I was good and ready, but when ready, the reassuringly vast amounts.)

cathcart · 26/03/2007 07:26

I was really lucky and lost my tummy in a week! (although I haven't exactly got a six pack if you know what I mean . Amazed as I normally struggle with my weight a bit but definatly think the 24hours a day of bf helped!

As soon as I'd had my dd I couldn't even remember what it was like to have a big hard bump and feel all those movements and funny feelings. Even now (7wks on), when I'm still trying to take it all in, I try and imagine feeling my dd inside and the feel of my bump under my hands - but I can't, it feels like some very distant past life.

Good luck with yours Bumperlicious!

kittywaitsfornumber6 · 26/03/2007 07:47

It's lovely not to have heartburn. to eat a decent sized meal, have a good wee, like on your tummy. You can't really relate what was inside to what's come out though, i agree with that certainly. I suppose post baby flab depends on how many kids you have, how much exercise you do and how many cakes you eat

talcyone · 26/03/2007 08:15

With ladyoftheflowers, odd, lonely at first.
Had the phantom movements also.

talcyone · 26/03/2007 08:17

Only for a while though
sorry, sound like a misery guts don't i?

BigEggLittleEgg · 26/03/2007 08:30

Mine went down really quickly (although did reappear a bit due to family size tins of M&S biscuits). However i REALLY missed it for a few weeks as loved my pregnant belly and I looked at heavily pregnant women enviously for a while, despite being overjoyed with my new DS.

FioFio · 26/03/2007 08:32

This reply has been deleted

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squeakybub · 26/03/2007 08:44

This reply has been deleted

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Highlander · 26/03/2007 16:07

bloody marvellous feeling, both times. The heartburn just disappeared

I didn't look PG after 2 weeks

BabyMadwithBump · 26/03/2007 16:44

Fat, tired, jelly, saggy, empty, hole, light, odd shape, but fab to sleep on my belly again and your body is your own again! So why oh why, AM I doing it again!?

Cakehead · 27/03/2007 13:35

Feels lovely - can reach over and put socks on again. I remember being astonished that tummy was flat (yes, lots of loose skin etc)but the joy of sleeping on my tummy again the first night my DD was born. Ah bliss...

TeeCee · 27/03/2007 13:38

It feels like a sack of jelly! It's great to be able to put socks on, tie shoelaces, sit up in bed after being lying down all night in any position you goddamn please!

If you breastfeed it helps to pull your stomach back in. The first few days / weeks of feeding you get crampy pains as baby feeds from you and that's everything being pulled back in.

goingfor3 · 27/03/2007 13:40

You can move really easily in bed!

I found it really sad not being able to feel kicking, it's something I really missed.

Mumpbump · 27/03/2007 13:47

I really missed my bump. It made me sad that I wasn't carrying him any more and I was horrified at how my tummy looked. Can't remember exactly , but it definitely took a few weeks to start to shrink and a few months to get back to anything approaching normal...

CorrieDale · 27/03/2007 13:49

It was great! Even though you miss the kicks and squiggles, you have your own baby to cuddle instead, which makes up for it. And it's such bliss being able to roll over in bed without having to hoick the bump over with you.

I never really lost the bump, but then I've always had a bit of a pot so I'd have been amazed if I had! But i just looked overweight, not pregnant!

Olissa · 27/03/2007 16:17

I had such bad wind after my CS I felt like the baby was still in my tummy! It felt like movement... it looked like the baby was still in there for a few weeks afterwards as well.
Maybe it was to give me time to adjust?

bakedpotato · 27/03/2007 16:22

I totally noticed the bump going. Was one of the strangest thing about the birth for me.
One moment rock-hard stomach, the next, soft and pillowy like pizza dough

Twinmummyx2 · 27/03/2007 18:39

awww..i remember that feeling...it was very sad..... and i felt so cold..i loved being pregnant...so it was sad to see that chapter close..but another exciting one follows.

Ollisa-i had bad wind after my c-section too, it was so bloody painful..my first c-section was fine but 2nd one i was sterilised and i think thats what done it for me.....it was horrible to move....i kept asking for more pain relief just for that....i was really paranoid that one wrong move and it would all come out with lots of bad noise ...in the middle of the ward...but thankfully it never did...lol

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