How did labour and pregnancy change you?

[graziemille567]

Read this article yesterday and was fascinated by the changes some women had experienced: amp.theguardian.com/society/2019/oct/20/i-had-to-get-to-know-my-body-again-readers-on-how-birth-changed-them

So I wanted to ask - how did birth change others? I know for me I was exceptionally lucky in that during pregnancy my skin, which had always been prone to spotty outbursts, miraculously improved to the point that I didn't have any spots at all. 5 years since pregnancy my skin only ever flares up if I use particular products - otherwise I could not be happier with my skin and how it looks. I can only assume that my skin issues prior to falling pregnant were in some way hormonal and that the pregnancy 'unblocked' whatever was causing the issue, if that makes sense!

Watching with interest -
I am currently pregnant & want to know what I might have in store...

Bump!

I had HG so my teeth are wrecked from the exposure to stomach acid. I have had 11 fillings (previously no fillings) and I still have one more to do. I had an elective section so I have a scar but no birth injuries. My breasts have gone back to normal totally.

I feel I got off very lightly, partly lucky and partly my birth choice.

My stomach was back to being totally flat hours after the baby was born. My uterus just contracted immediately it was amazing. So my body looks no different from before. I did however have a 2nd degree tear so just getting used to being intimate again after 3 months and it's difficult.

My eyebrows are fully and darker - very welcome. My boobs are bigger but I’m still feeding so expecting more changes when I stop. My periods came back exactly 4 months after I had her and they’re now pain free, lighter and shorter which is literally life changing after 25 years of agony, vomiting, fainting and awfulness. Don’t know if that’ll last bit fingers crossed.

I had an EMCS and had a whopper of a hip to hip scar which I don’t love but it’s fading with time and it doesn’t make me feel queasy anymore. No stretch marks at all for some reason - my mum never got any either so pure luck.

When I was pregnant, despite the endless face sweats, my skin was incredibly dry from head to toe and it’s back to normal now.

Pregnancy also helped my skin, and my hair too actually. Both times I had basically no spots and my hair stopped getting greasy and was much easier to style nicely. Neither stayed as good as during pregnancy but were definitely better than before I'd ever been pregnant.
I'll always be in awe of my skin stretching so much and yet not getting stretch marks.
The biggest change was without doubt mentally more than physically though.

Oh I forgot about boobs! After I finished breastfeeding DC1 they shrunk down so much they were practically inverted, I was gutted! Hoping when DC2 is weaned they'll keep at least a bit of shape this time.

Ooh, I got no hay fever or hives when I was pregnant! Hives have come back but not as often as before.

My skin was great while pregnant. Since giving birth and not being currently on birth control it is very uneven in tone and not great. Lots of baby hair now, and I also started getting my first white hairs while pregnant (probably just coincidence!)

Physically my stomach snapped back literally hours after birth, which was amazing. Boobs were great during pregnancy and while breastfeeding, but since stopping breastfeeding just feel like little empty sacks. Sex still doesn't feel the same to me sadly.

I gained stretch marks, and lost hair. Huge amounts of my hair fell out when DS hit about 3 months old. I'm now pregnant with number 2 and it's just starting to come back, but more wavy and flyaway than before, and more grey sadly.

My hips seemed to get wider too. But that might just be where I never quite lost all the weight before getting pregnant again. We will have to see on that one I suppose!

Had c sections so pelvic floor seems relatively unscathed but even then if I'm really desperate for a wee, it's more likely a little will escape!

Obviously my incision but it's small and fairly neat. No real overhang.

Boobs are much more empty after breastfeeding. Not saggy and look ok but smaller.

The worst one is that I now occasionally get cold sores and I never did before having my first baby. I must have had the virus but it was dormant before.

I had the same as one of the women in that article in that my body hair stopped growing in pregnancy, which was weird in a good way. I've never heard of that happening to anyone else before, so it was interesting to read that.

In pregnancy I had great skin and was lucky enough to avoid stretch marks completely. My feet & fingers swelled with DC1, but not in subsequent pregnancies, and went back to normal soon after the birth.

Apart from that, I think my body is pretty much the same as before having babies apart from having bigger boobs, they never went back to their previous size after breastfeeding.

I think I got off very lightly really, pretty much unscathed. I had trouble free pregnancies & straightforward deliveries and I don't think of my body as having changed much at all.

My hair!!!
It was always so so thin and fine.
Then pregnancy was amazing. The enormous postnatal aged was epic. But now it's so so much thicker and fuller than it was before!

*post natal SHED
🤦🏻‍♀️

During pregnancy my hands were so swollen! And I did get stretch marks on my thighs and hips, and under boobs. As soon as I had DS by Emergency CS my swelling went, the stretch marks faded and I was back in my size 6-8 a week after birth.

I still have the belly line , which I hate, hoping that goes soon. He's 7 weeks today.

A little over hang over the scar but nothing j am worried about. Luckily he was so far down the birth canal by incision is low.

Apart from both dcs ripping their way out, it's not the same as before... I was so swollen with ds2 my feet are half a size bigger. My hands are also bigger, so I can't do my party trick of fitting my fist in my mouth.