Did you immediately feel ‘lighter’ after giving birth?

[Bubblewrap22]

Nearly 40 weeks and I am so done with being pregnant. It goes without saying I can’t wait to meet our little (or big!) son but I’m also looking forward to being able to walk again without wadding. I feel like I’ve been waddling since 28 weeks. I’m so so large. I didn’t realise at the time but I was actually ‘ skinny’ before being pregnant and now I can’t even feel my collarbone.

Did the ‘emptying’ of your baby immediately after birth give you a feeling of being lighter? And the loss of placenta? I know swelling and general weight can take much longer but I’ll be happy if I can just actually walk and exercise again without feeling like a sumo wrestler.

Anyway - nearly at the finish line and so excited. They say walking encourages labour but I can barely walk to my kitchen without feeling like I need to sit down

I don’t remember this, there were about a million other things to be thinking about instead.

1000%! I skipped down the corridor both times despite the c section scar. It takes a fair while to get back to where you were but the minute they come out, its incredible how much lighter you are and feel.

I felt lighter immediately- I could breathe again, lie on my back (bliss!), SPD symptoms reduced. Definitely felt better straight away. But looked the same! I had a friend who said how ‘svelte’ she felt after birth, then got a shock when she looked in the mirror, haha.
Good luck OP.

Thank you! Oh yes, I can’t WAIT to be able to sleep on my back again, I didn’t realise what a privilege it was

Yes it was weird - I had bad PGP both times and it improved so much straight away. It felt weird to walk for the first day or two because my stomach muscles felt like jelly and I had to get used to my centre of gravity being back to normal.
It took a few days for water weight and stuff to go and obviously takes a while for the bump to completely go because your uterus needs to shrink back down - but yeah I did immediately feel “not pregnant” again

No i felt worse... my stomach was deflated yet wobbly and jiggly. The baby was a big firm bump.
But I was fairly overweight when I got pregnant.

I could breathe and eat much more easily though!!!

I was so shell shocked when my oldest was born in didn't really care about what I looked like until at least 6m post partum

I don't think I noticed immediately, but definitely within a few days. Especially after DS1 - from being weighed at admission and again at check up a week later I'd lost 20kgs! (Mostly fluid from PE, I peed like a horse for days.)

I felt like a supermodel 😂

God I have no idea! Was in so much pain from infected episiotomy / trying to establish BF / having not slept for 3 day labour... I looked pregnant for a good few weeks after wards, I can see in photos.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t. I’d expected to be straight back to normal. I even packed a pair of size 10 jeans in my hospital bag to come home in! In reality I was left with an enormous deflated balloon half-filled with jelly around my middle for the first couple of months. But that was after having a 10lb+ baby.

Christ no, felt worse for months…everyone’s experience is different.

Not lighter as such, but I didn't have indigestion for the first time in about 6 months, which was nice.

(Baby was in a weird position, so I had a head pressing against my stomach)

Wow! 20KG!! Are you Octomum? 😃

I didn’t really, c section recovery made me feel a bit fragile and stiff and then i had gained so much weight vs prepregnancy that i still feel quite lumbering a year later. It’s improving as I get stronger and (slightly) slimmer but it was a surprise to me how different my previously athletic body felt and behaved postpartum.

Immediately? No not at all. I had a section and was in such agony plus lying down for hours that there was no sense of ‘emptiness’.
A few days later when I felt more alive there was obviously a noticeable difference compared to living with a baby in your belly!

Not as light as I hoped and still looked very pregnant for a few weeks, I did notice my face deflating from the puffiness I had overnight though which was welcomed.

I cannot put into words the intense relief after giving birth. Some people find postpartum hard with all the bleeding, cramping and stitches but to me it's nothing in comparison to being pregnant. I am always so relieved not to be pregnant, not to feel sick, not to have heartburn, not to be so full of baby.

There's definitely some recovery needed but it's so much better than being pregnant in my opinion.

My main instant was, I can breathe again. Actually take a big deep breath. And my acid reflux was gone. I spent a week in hospital following a difficult birth and definitely remember waddling for the first few days, but my stomach pretty much went flat straight away. I could see my toes and lie on my back and bend to pick things up. It's amazing all the things pregnancy restricts. Fingers crossed all goes well and your baby makes an appearance soon.

Yes. It feels really weird actually, like you've got a big empty bag hanging off your front, which you essentially do! Your centre of gravity shifts back and it's disorientating for a couple of days. But once everything has shrunk back down, you should feel normal again.

Not lighter as such but definitely more comfortable. Both of my babies were long and high up so just breathing was an effort, I had two easy births so had no pain after and just felt much more comfortable. Flabby and wobbly as hell but I could breathe so I didn’t care!

Good luck.

Thank you! Yes I’m also looking forward to no heartburn. I’d never had it before and it really is just like being on fire :(

I know! Sometimes my husband will ‘take the weight off’ by gently lifting up my belly from behind and when he drops it back down you can really notice the AMOUNT of extra weight that changes your shift of gravity

Your centre of gravity changes. (cross-posted)

Certainly it’s all the fluid too don’t forget. Enjoy your little one xxx

I can’t remember that but I do remember that all the unpleasant elements (eczema, sickness) immediately disappeared.