What happens to your body after the birth?

[Neverknowing]

Hey guys, I wanted to start a really honest thread about what it's like after giving birth. There's so many things no one tells you about pregnancy which would have been helpful to know before hand (heartburn, skin tags etc) and I'm wondering what I've not been told about what it's like after ?!

I felt amazing after giving birth, really euphoric and cheerful!

Really numb and weird down below. Poured warm water with some oils in it over myself every time I had a wee!

A pmt type feeling for a couple of days until the milk came in. At which point I looked as though I had had breast implants, so solid and round they were.

Body looked like its pre-pregnant version again after some time had passed - for a while (a year maybe) it was definitely a different shape (less waist definition) but yep, it can go back to normal.

One breast was the "bad one" for feeding and I dreaded feeding from that side for a couple of weeks. Lansinoh is great if you get sore nipples.

I didn't feel sexy or sexual for ages. Really, ages. Some do though, I guess!

When I had to get up a couple of times a night to feed, I would look at my partner snoring away and feel really annoyed with him, even though I didn't actually want or need him to be awake.

The love for the baby was overwhelming. I knew that I would love my child, I didn't know that I would fall in love with her. Every day I was excited to get up and see her.

You may lose the urge to pee for a few months, I used to make myself sit on the loo and then would do a full pee, but hadn't even felt like I needed to go before that. Your legs will be a bit wobbly on the first day or just the first few hours after.

When your milk comes in and for the first month or so when your boobs are full they will feel like rock and quite sore.

Tiredness will feel pretty overwhelming.

You will also feel quite bruised and tender.

My tummy went down quite a lot within the first month.

So worth it though :)

Lean right forward when you pee, I did it so my hands would be on the floor, stopped it hitting the few stitches I had down there.

Shakes immediately after birth.

Trying to shower with my hand in a plastic bag due to the cannula in my hand.

Having my first pee into a cardboard tray for the midwife to inspect!

Urinary incontinence for a day with DC1, faecal incontinence for a week with DC2.

Afterpains like labour for a week with my first, but much milder with my second (whereas DSis said hers got worse with each birth).

Night sweats for weeks.

Bled for 4-6 weeks.

I'm sure there's more!

Oh yes the sweating! I had to sleep on a towel, the sweat was pouring down my face like Christy Moore for weeks.

I agree with the belly button thing. First time my stomach went back to how it had always been which was pretty flat. This time I'm not so sure it will tbh but that's ok.

I've had two assisted vaginal deliveries and each time I've felt like I've been run over. My whole body hurt. I'm 4 weeks postpartum and my core still feels unstable. If I walk too fast it feels as though my uterus might fall out

You also pee like a horse post delivery as your body gets rid of the extra fluid.

There's also quite a lot of faffng around with bleeding, keeping stitches clean, washing after going to the loo, leaking milk etc.

Pregnancy and birth are the biggest physical challenge a body can go through and the key is to rest.

The upside is the rush of hormones in the first few weeks help you deal with it all.

The constipation. That first bowel movement was like giving birth all over again.

Oh, and I remember waking up soaking and inking I had sweated everywhere. But it was breast milk that had leaked heavily and had trickled around and pooled under my back... Got some sleep bras after that, with pads in.

thinking, not inking!

if you have a csection they will want you out of bed, showered and practically dancing around the ward as soon as possible.

csection healing wasn't nearly as painful as i thought it would be and in fact by the time ds was ten days old i kept forgetting i'd had it and moving around too fast and wrenching the scar.

if you aren't breastfeeding your boobs will go back to normal relatively quickly - mine took about two weeks.

my stretch marks have faded a lot and are silvery now as opposed to red - nearly a year on from birth. my body shape is pretty similar to how it was before but a little squishier in the belly region. i've always been an hourglass shape and i seem to have kept that shape, just a slightly softer version

your hair will fall out in a serious way from about 2-7 months postpartum. backcombing and batiste volumising dry shampoo are your best friends at this stage

That spd doesn't go after birth and you may end up needing crutches months afterwards.
That breastfeeding can hurt like mad even if you're doing it right
That your hair can still be falling out a year after birth
I'm a total wreck - I had a hard pregnancy and I don't feel physically recovered more than a year after birth.

I wad very lucky as many folk said and I went back to shape very quickly, about a week, God only knows how as I am a lazy pig!! Hence why my friends told me I was very lucky!! But my hair was the issue! After the first, suddenly conditioner wouldn't wash out, you know the way your hair goes after you haven't washed it out properly and you try to blow dry it, well it was like that after that smallest drop used. Then I started noticing it falling out, this is 6 months after giving birth! I felt like I had a receding hair line, but after taking a few hairdressers I was reassured this was normal!! So my advice would be, avoid scraping your hair back when you can't be arsed washing it and invest in some cans of dry shampoo!!! my DH only now admits how bad it was, almost 2years after. And to confirm my suspicions my mum has pointed out it's happening again!!!

Peeing after is theeeeee most painful thing ever.
Also, I seem to remember being so excessively sweaty for a couple of weeks. Disgusting :)

I never got stretch marks.

I had huge breasts pre children and after BF 2 babies, I dropped a couple of cup sizes, they are no longer glorious!

Pelvic floor/ bladder absolutely fine.

Overall am slimmer than I was pre children, think I used to sit about reading or drinking beer in pubs, no time for that now and am always running around after them.

As others say it is totally worth it.

Good idea for a thread OP.

I'm a bit scared, but it's good to know this stuff.

I'm 37.5 weeks so probably should have read about this stuff already.

Pain from trapped wind after section was seriously bad! And I felt it as referred pain in my shoulder. I had no idea this was even possible! Peppermint essence helped.

Any bras that fit you now may not be big enough once milk comes in.

I was ravenous the day after giving birth. Like, not just hungry but could actually eat constantly and still want more. And thirsty! Get all visitors to bring you food and drink

Same amarok, I'm 39 weeks but I feel like even with all the reading they don't tell you all the details? It's good to hear from real people.

Aha bants I guess it's a great excuse to eat lots of chocolate. I'm planning on getting my partner to bring me Nando's too
I hope to move as soon as I can after my cesarean, I think I'll want to be out of the hospital.

I've just read that and thought it's very negative, if you want to know what happens to your actual body is this,

Your heart grows to most amazing loving and yet the most terrifying organ in you! You will never know you could love another the way you can until you met your baby! It's f**king scary! You will worry, you will question everything!

I'm sure that every mum on here will admit that all the stuff that comes with having a baby, a millions times out ways having that baby!!...... until teething!!! That is the worst shit no ones ever tells you about!! That will effect your WHOLE life!! Sleeping and waking! But it's too late by then, you already adored the wee monster!!

Nobody told me about post partum constipation. I had no idea this could happen to me, never ever had any problems in this area before. Basically I needed a poo for about a week, felt like I needed a poo, sat on the toilet for ages, nothing came out but still needed a poo. Eventually I did a poo approximately the same size as the baby (8lb10). I didn't get piles in pregnancy, didn't get piles in childbirth, got piles from that giant solid shit that took about 30 minutes to pass.

With my 2nd child I took great care to eat plenty of prunes, raisins, dried apricots etc after birth and successfully avoided the baby sized brick in my arse.

I didn't get stretch marks with either & my belly has never been flat so no marked difference there.

My first was born with forceps under epidural and I had coccyx pain for weeks, second in a pool with no intervention and no long lasting pain.

When I think back to post child birth, my overwhelming feeling is thst I seemed to leak from every orifice. Clots, milk, sweat, tears. I remember feeling I would be able to cope much better with my newborn if body didn't feel like I had been run over (forceps delivery)

Also, the knackered adrenalin state I was in. I wanted desperately to sleep, but was on high alert to make sure ds was okay ans so I couldn't relax and switch off enough to rest properly.

Lastly, when I got discharged after 4 days, I went to the supermarket and ended up sobbing in the car because the world was just so bloody big and scary. I felt vulnerable with ds because there was so much that could hurt him. I used to be a nanny,so genuinely thought I would be okay after the birth - these things came as a huge shock to me!

DS was an extremely challenging forceps delivery - should have been a cesearian but he got 'sucked back up' so they got out the salad tongs. I couldn't sit, stand, lay down, get in and out of the bath, get in and out of a car, go up and down stairs or even walk with anything close to comfort for 6 weeks.

I bled for a month, heavily but not excessively so.

I didn't shit for a week and that first poo was eye-wattering!

My canula puncture got infected.

After birth I shook for around an hour and then threw up. A combination of shock, fear, episiotomy.

My fat fingers stayed fat forever. I can't take my wedding ring off! My feet went up a size and I had to chuck all my lovely shoes. I didn't snap back into my old clothes at all. My skin tags are gone but i have a million little moles that stayed!

On the bright side, I didn't get stretch marks. I didn't have weird hormones after 3/5 days. My hair didn't fall out - in fact it was its glossiest thickest ever for about 3 months after birth.

DS is 5yo.

On negative side, things rather different in the under carriage department after a VB. On plus side, flat nipple now sorted after BF, and many more orgasms during sex!

The tummy thing freaked me out, I went to brush my teeth that night and it just wobbled like crazy. More or less back to normal 4 months on. You will feel like you have been hit by a bus, I never imagines I would feel so stiff and sore. I smelt like milk, the room smelt like milk, my husband smelt like milk lol. I was panicking it wouldn't go away, but it did within a week.

The after pains for me were the worst. I had them with DS1 but they were manageable, after DS2 they were such agony that I was weeping every time he nursed.

Also that first look down in the shower after DS1 freaked me out. It looked like a fire cracker had been shoved in my vagina and exploded! And I only had a minor episiotomy!

Years on though (Ds2 is 2 1/2) and I'm pretty much back to the way I was. Weigh less than before pregnancy, smaller boobs than my previous 32E knockers, no stretch marks etc.