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 ?!

It's like one of those slo-mo videos of an iceberg collapsing into the sea. Emotionally and physically I'm pretty much unrecognisable.

Yeah it's relaxing of the joints. Just like the relaxing of the pelvic joints. Makes the bones spread.

Oooh, I didn't know that!

I agree the post birth shower is reminiscent of that scene in Carrie 🙊

I no longer have a waist.

I feel I need to provide some balance to the 'back to my pre-pregnancy flat stomach a few weeks / months afterwards' type posts above!

In my experience after each of my two pregnancies my post-baby weight settled at around half a stone heavier than I was pre-pregnancy, so now weigh a stone more than before the pregnancies. And this is with pretty much the same amount of food & exercise that I did before. Pregnancy just seemed to reset my basic weight at a higher level, if you see what I mean!

Normal is different for every single person.
I was in my pre pregnancy jeans the same day with all 3 babies. Not a boast, just pointing out that that is some people's 'normal' too!
Yes to the horrendous wind (I had VB all 3 times!) for weeks after and I also had crippling backache after all 3.
Major fear of pooing is quite usual I think!

As well as lots of the fairly normal ones people are mentioning, I had a couple of weird ones! About a week after my first birth all the skin on my feet peeled off in one big sheet, like I had used one of those footner socks. After the second birth, both my legs were covered in tiny little pimples. Very strange. I didn't get piles though, and the first poo was fine, it was like I had lost all sensation in that area, which was fine by me.

Long term, six years on, mostly things are back to normal. My feet are a size bigger, and my knuckles are wider, I can't wear my wedding ring. I'm a little thicker round the middle, but that's because my abdominal muscles separated and I have done nothing about sorting it out, it's too much faff. It's only in the last six months or so that the slight saggy-ness of my boobs has gone, and my stomach, which was never flat, has at least returned to its normal texture. Facial hair is a bit of an issue, but I don't know if that would have happened anyway!

Meh it all passes and you can feel quite amazed at what your body can do! I had a VB with episiotomy and had fecal incontinence for months but eventually healed. It was horribly debilitating though. And pregnancy induced arthritis in feet

But the spd vanished and so did the nausea! And it all passes

Everything felt very 'wobbly' for quite some time after I gave birth. I was really surprised but I don't know why because obviously everything is stretched so tight in the last bit. I got pretty bad piles and obviously the stretch marks (if you get any) are a stinker but soon fade. Oh and now I come to think of it I woke up absolutely soaking in sweat quite a lot after having my DD and also the my nipples leaked when other people's children cried.....even though I wasn't breastfeeding!! Oooooooh the glamour - it's great!!

Your fanjo will be very bruised after. Maybe even for 2 weeks!

When my milk came in, it was HORRENDOUS! My normally tiny boobs grew so big and hurt so much, I was unable to lie on my side in bed or use my arms to move from lying down to feed. Get some cabbage ready and waiting in the fridge, it really helped.

Your head will be a mess, this lasted for weeks for me.

Your hair will fall out.

Your heart will burst!

My hair fell out at 6 months post birth, not in the weeks after as I thought would happen. Its never been the same since either; its flatter, drier, limper, duller, straighter. Nothing seems to make it look nice anymore! Hairdresser said its another thing to blame on the hormones!

When my milk came in, Christ I could have made a career out of my boobs.

Oh the bleeding after c section - the midwife made me a path to the toilet with big pads on the floor as it just leaked out of me when I got up! OH had to clean me up bless him.

My feet were enormous when I came out of hospital but were back to normal after about a week. I thought I was going to be stuck with fat feet forever!

I didn't experience after pains at all apart from a few stomach pains the morning after. I don't know if that was stopped by the painkillers but I don't remember experiencing those.

Severe night sweats and shrinking legs and arms as a result.
Very scary first few poos, brace yourself, but it has to be done. Eat lots of fruit to make it easier.
Extreme hunger first few days (or maybe that's cos hospital food was so bad?)
The post birth bleed I didn't find too bad, except the one time it almost stopped then I soaked a pad in an hour. I went to hospital after that but turned out it was all fine. Apparently my womb had 'relaxed' a bit then closed up again.
That internal examination was awful 😰

The piles. Oh God the piles. Took surgery to sort it out.

My hips still click when I walk up stairs more than a year on. And i have stretch marks and a big scar from the c section but I don't really mind either of those.

I was shocked at the pain afterwards. Take plenty of paracetamol!

My coccyx felt like it had snapped off.
My fanjo was huge, swollen and black and blue.
My boobs were agony when the milk came in, so much so I was in tears about it and spent days with ice packs down my bra. I got stretch marks on these 3 days as my boobs were so huge, none during pregnancy though.
I also got stretch marks from my fanjo to the tops of my legs
The first poo was almost as bad as birth itself.
My hair also fell out

However, long term not much has changed. The stretch marks have faded, I'm back to my pre pregnancy weight, my boobs have stayed up and my stomach is flat. The only thing that remains is some extra weight around my hips that wasn't there before, baby is 6months now!

That labour can be quick, and that after my vaginal births I had no stitches and could have ridden a bicycle the next day.

Before I receive death threats I'll just state that I seem to have a permanent metabolism shift though. I don't think I'll ever be smaller than a size 16 again.

17 days post partum here and aside from a bit of a wobbly belly, everything back to normal .
I was terrified of being cut, having stitches and never being the same again, sometimes, you need to be more worried about what will happen to your butt!

Puffy stomach, breastfeeding boobs, no stretchmarks.

The worst thing was probably my fanjo post episiotomy, which was very sore and I had a series of problems with cysts over the first year which were very uncomfortable - that's not very common though, my GP had not seen it before. I used to get air in there very easily as well, which was embarrassing!

However, 2 years on and apart from that I can feel a little scar where my episiotomy was I am pretty much back to normal.

I had a giant baby (10lbs) it took 2 hrs in the 2nd stage to deliver him. This left me feeling sore and brused in my fanjo area and I had a small tear. Also had the worst piles ever. Sitting down was uncomfortable and I dreaded going to the toilet!
On the plus side, I was ravenously hungry and as pregnancy had affected my taste buds, all the food tasted as it should again - absolutely delicious!

Oh yeah, and I had terrible constipation for the first few weeks.

I should add that 5 years on, my body is better than ever, (except for a slight wobble on the tummy and some stretch marks.)

After both pregnancies I had really lucid dreams for a couple of nights after the births. In one particular dream my dp was strangling dsd, it was awful and didn't feel like a dream, even after I woke up I lept out of bed to save her.