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 ?!

The biggest thing is that it's different for everyone. So, your best mate might get boobs that go up three sizes and yours go down one. You might hear everyone talking about bladder weakness and have no problem yourself, but have terrible piles. All the skin on my belly scabbed up, including inside my belly button, where it had all stretched almost to tearing, and no one told me about that one!

I had my boy by c section 14 months ago, and my body is pretty much exactly how it was before pregnancy now, just thinner and with slightly bigger boobs. So it's not all doom and gloom!

My first wee after a c section lasted for absolutely ages. It's almost as my bladder could finally empty itself properly and I was loosing so much liquid after water retention problems for months.

I still have loss of feeling around c section scar after ten years.

I went to a dance class and the teacher said 'come on, suck your tummy in!' And I was already doing my best to suck it in but my muscles are not in touch with my brainpower anymore.

Boobs reinflated slightly but not much.

Bags under the eyes don't go away!

I still have pigmentation marks on my left cheek, which really come out in the summer so have to be careful.

I have to say (and please don't hate me), my body has pretty much gone back to how it was pre-kids. My belly button is a bit stretched though.

SPD went instantly, I could walk without crutches for the first time in ages.

Yes to the first poo, I remember holding onto the nearby sink and the bathroom door incase I exploded - I didn't its fine, just feels really weird at first but goes back to normal quickly.

If you have piles the midwife may check - Then in my case bring me the prescription of preparation H Just as my inlaws where visiting, could see MIL physically combusting with the gossip to get out and ring everyone she knew to tell them I had piles!

Try some arnica tablets for your hospital bag, my nan always swore by them and I felt them really helped, had 5 stitches and didn't once get this burning when peeing thing people talk about.

Your stomach will deflate over a week or 2, and depending how big your bump was you will feel like a supermodel. I look back at pictures and wonder what the hell I was wearing. I thought i was a size 8 - I was a 14 wearing the skimpiest of vests with huge boobs but felt so skinny!

Oh and my left boob is slightly bigger than the right as that was the boob of preference when BF'ing both of my kids for some reason!

Good news - I didn't continue to look pregnant, my tummy went down very quickly, but is still saggy and mum tum 10 months later. First poo wasn't an issue and I only bled, very lightly, for 10 days. Peeing didn't hurt despite the mega fuck-ton of stitches and horrific bruising (midwife said I looked like I'd been kicked by a horse).

Bad news - urine and fecal incontinence requiring lots of physio, still not 100%. Still feel like my body isn't my own I feel like my consciousness has been transferred to something else. It doesn't feel or work like it used to let alone look like it. My hips will always be bigger. I was swollen for days after birth - due to the amount of fluids they pumped in to me (to avoid a blood transfusion).

A deflated balloon! One of those giant helium ones... is what I felt like. BUT I was so lucky not to get any stretch marks or after pains... couldn't sit comfortably for about 2 ish weeks (forceps delivery). Everyone is different.

I went back to pre baby weight within a couple of weeks or so. I didn't get any stretch marks on my belly, although it has more of a 'wibbly' texture than before, but my boobs are absolutely ruined! Not only are they covered in stretch marks, they're also two sizes smaller, saggy, wrinkly and empty-feeling. I'm only 26!

Other than boobs I'm not too unhappy with the changes.

I was so thirsty in the days after giving birth that water tasted like elixir. I was in hospital for 3 days post birth and I necked water like it was going out of fashion.

I did not realise how big my boobs were til I confidently put on a blouse one day and the closest the buttons could get together was 4 inches apart.

I gave birth on the Thursday and my belly button reattached by the Monday but yy to being a different shape. Trousers fit well round the bum but dig in at the waist or well round the waist but saggy round the bum. Not sure which is best...

My hair did not fall out in droves til 6 months pp then boy did it fall out! Now I know why loads of mums cut their hair short!

Your rib cage and hips can expand during pregnancy and never go back to their original size. It's not a weight issue. It's just that your shape changes.

Night sweats afterwards for a few weeks.

Your ankles can swell up even more after birth for a few days. I had to wear those lovely compression socks for a week.

completely exhausted and shattered like I've never felt before. My whole body was hurting. A massage wouldn't even make it better, it was just so so sore!

My vagina was very painful (second degree tear). I couldn't sit properly and for the first 2-3 days it was extremely painful to walk too.

My vagina has gone very loose now (noticed when we have sex). I think DP finds it difficult to 'come' inside me :(

My stomach didn't feel like it was anywhere near normal until 2 years later. Not even exaggerating and my stomach is still riddled with stretch marks and the skin is flabby from where I accommodated such a large baby!

Ah yeah and my hips are 2 inches wider than before, not really moaning about that though DH likes it. Lol.

Lots of lovely things to remind myself of before my third arrives next week!

Yes to the peppermint tea! I nearly went to a+e thinking I had dislocated/damaged my shoulder in my sleep the pain was that bad until midwife told me it was probably trapped wind!

If you have to spend any nights on the maternity ward they will be the worst nights of your life! The anger and resentment I felt towards other mums and their screaming baby's while mine was sleeping peacefully was shocking!

You may have thoughts of murder when your up feeding baby at 3am and OH is sleeping soundly with not a care in the world!

Waking up in puddles of milk around day 3/4 when your milk has come in over night, then looking down at your chest and realising you look like Katie price!

Feeling beyond the point of exhaustion but unable to sleep for staring at your baby while they are sleeping soundly!

Having to hold a pillow over your stomach to cough/sneeze/laugh after a csection. You will feel like your insides are going to fall out for a couple of weeks.

I am now wondering why I am putting myself through this again

Such a good thread! I am 36 weeks and so swollen I have had to stop wearing my engagement ring :( will the swelling go down? I am worried the ring will never fit me again, even though it was half a size too big only a few weeks ago!! xx

I had a second degree tear with DC1 and I still remember that first look in a mirror down below and seeing a gaping chasm If you need stitches, they don't sew you up as tight as you were before ( that urban myth about 'an extra stitch for the husband' is exactly that - a myth. It does however mean that if and when you have another baby, you don't usually tear or if it does it's only superficial.
Pelvic floor muscles have never gone back to how they were before the tear although they do improve with exercises over the first few months after birth. I don't do trampolines or bouncy castles.
Belly button never went back completely and became more of an 'outie' with each subsequent pregnancy.
You never know how you're going to feel: I was in shock for the first few minutes after my first birth. The midwife asked if I wanted to hold my baby and I said for DH to hold him as I just needed a bit of time to adjust psychologically as well as physically.

Baby almost 12 weeks old and just I feel like myself.

Wearing jeans one size bigger, hair falling out, but I feel better than I've felt in a year! I have been cheerfully kicking pre-teens off their screens and out for longish walks (the baby is in the sling). The older kids asked if I could delay this post-baby return to self until after the half term as they have been enjoying the benign neglect.

I was kind of hard on myself to speed recovery in the first 4 weeks, and that seems stupid now. It will happen in good time.

Piles! Has anyone mentioned that already? If not piles, piles, piles. You learn to live with it.

I loved my pregnant body . I didn't feel 'fat' at all with DC1. I started out skinny and loved that I actually had hips and a bum and boobs, and that my bump got really, really big .

Having always been a skinny minnie, I was confident I'd shed the baby weight quickly . It took 18 months to shift the weight, and to be honest, nothing could have prepared me for how bad I would feel about my body post-birth .

I had an emergency section and I still looked bout 5 months pregnant for nearly a year afterwards. The scar healed and faded quite quickly, but I was left with very deep, colourless stretch marks snaking up from the scar, and once the weight came off my belly, my lower belly was deflated looking and crepey. It has never recovered, despite exercising regularly. It was a shock for someone who favoured 'belly tops' and low rise jeans in my 20s!

On the bright side, it didn't get any worse with DC2 , and the weight came off quicker second time too. And now, almost 8 years post my last birth, I actually like my figure more than I did in my twenties, funnily enough. I am a size 12 and actually have breasts and a bum, and I quite like the softness of my body.

I also wish I hadn't felt quite so down about how I looked after my first baby was born. I feel quite sad that I sent so much time worrying about it .

I weighed fractionally more when I got back to my home bathroom two days after the birth than on the day before the birth, despite losing the weight of the baby, placenta, blood, etc etc. I have no idea how that works. It did start falling off (as wee and breast milk!!) almost immediately from then on though.

I've had two 'natural' births. I'm going to disagree with some of the more negative posts as I haven't any stretch marks from pregnancy, my body has not permanently changed shape and my pelvic floor is still functioning. The first poo afterwards was also fine.

What did happen was piles - tick. Lots of swelling down below that took a good while to feel normal again. My breasts are definitely less pert (breastfed both although they say the damage is done in pregnancy anyway), and obviously the post pregnancy bleeding that goes on for around two weeks.

Just be prepared for a period of time where you are bleeding one end and leaning milk the other. At one stage I got out the bath as the baby was crying, I had blood trickling down my legs and my let down kicked in so milk running down my stomach. I felt I was permanently sticking absorbent pads places. Otherwise I really am pretty much back to normal, DS 2 is 8 months now.

Anyone mentioned the explosive farting yet??!

For weeks. Real stinkers, every time I moved, without warning. You really have to have a family who find it hilarious as otherwise you feel fairly grim.

My stomach/uterus went back quickly both times (terrible after pains almost as bad as the labour itself though). I didn't get stretch marks but I did have quite small babies (6.5lbs). Belly button is still an innie but is definitely shallower. I lost 3 cup sizes of boob over 2 pregnancies and the skin on my tummy is a bit crepey but it could all be worse. One upside was that I became better at distance running- don't know if it somehow altered my hips/ pelvis or something

Planned c section and for weeks after I kept getting this feeling like someone was pouring hot water on my legs. I also experienced a lot of pain as they put the spinal in in one hip and I can still feel it a year on.

I sweated like a pig for about two days - as in dripping off me in hospital. C section was terrifying in theory but actually not that bad in practise. I hated the injections I had to have after but the section itself was actually liveable and I've recovered pretty well. I have a numb section on my tummy and an overhang but DS is only 8 weeks so lots of time yet, massive pants will do in the meantime.

Tummy was like a dropped baked Alaska for about a week but it's started to settle down, I have a lot of spare skin but I don't look at myself and want to cry. I've accepted the changes, stretch marks and wobbly bits. My boobs are a sad state - They were never huge but now they just feel like sad empty bags! Not very perky but again there's time.

Didn't poo for a week and it was a happy day when I finally did lol.

My focus is my little one right now. Changing my body can wait a little while