Tell INNOVO™ what no one warned you about pregnancy & childbirth. Win £300 Voucher. NOW CLOSED

[RebeccaEMumsnet]

In order to celebrate the launch of their alternative solution to pelvic floor strengthening – Innovotherapy – INNOVO™ want to hear the effects of pregnancy on your body that took you by surprise as nobody warned you about them.

Here’s what INNOVO™ have to say: '"Motherhood can be such a blessing and change your life in ways you never imagined, however it is filled with many shocks and surprises. Some good and some not so welcome, such as a those ‘little accidents’ that we all try and hide.
Unfortunately a weak pelvic floor and the resulting incontinence is often part and parcel of pregnancy however it doesn’t have to stay that way.
Innovotherapy is a non-invasive way to restore your pelvic floor, treating the primary cause of urinary leaks rather than just masking the symptoms. Using a hand held controller that is attached to a two part garment, Innovotherapy sends targeted impulses via conductive pads (attached to your upper thigh and buttocks) to safely and effectively activate the muscles of the pelvic floor. It is a proven technology which has been designed to optimally strengthen your pelvic floor allowing you to return to return the more important things in life, such as your little ones.”

You can read more about the product and advice on pelvic floor strengthening here.

So, what unexpected effects did pregnancy and giving birth have on your body? Did anyone tell you to expect urinary leaks after having a baby? Did you consider the importance of toning your pelvic floor? Were you surprised by any other physical effects that nobody warned you about?

INNOVO™ would also love to know about any unexpected positive effects of pregnancy and giving birth. Does parenthood make you feel like you can take on the world? Do you now feel like you are more focused on what matters most?

Whatever the unexpected effects of pregnancy and childbirth were for you, post your story below. Everyone who adds a comment will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

The aftereffects...weight that never shifts, sagging, and ginormous feet.

I just wish I had been told by someone to wear a bra 24/7 whilst pregnant. My boobs are ruined.

I wish I'd known about prolapses and excess spitting, also that each pregnancy would feel quite different (and I'd have different problems with each). I didn't realise how much more tired I would be having my last baby in my late thirties rather than the two I had in my early twenties. On the upside, I was far less uptight about the third pregnancy.

how hard it is to bring up kids! haha

Didn't think my stomach muscles would separate. Makes exercise harder for me, so I'll always have a big mum tum!

After the horror stories I had heard about childbirth, I didn't expect to have two near-perfect childbirth experiences. Nine hour labour for my first, 30 mins pushing and a three hour labour with my second with 5 minutes pushing. Second degree tear with both, but healed fine. No intervention, and just gas and air for pain relief.

On the flip side, I really found pregnancy difficult. Much more so than most of my friends. My 34H boobs in the summer months did not help.

No one warned me how I would feel after birth. All the NCT classes and books focuses on the labour itself. I was so shocked to feel like I had been hit by a bus after and it took me by surprise.

How hard it is to get comfy in bed

That my dolly mixture sized nipples would turn into door knobs post pregnancy and breast feeding, and that they would remain this way forever

Many of the above. And heartburn too.

Positives

• fabulous skin and hair (I normally suffer from full body eczema) thankyou extra hormones, twas wonderful. The hours after the birth are good, you're still on a high and your body doesn't hurt too much

Negatives

• that I would have to start borrowing Bigfoot and the Hendersons shoes. Someone came in overnight and swapped my feet for a large man's, I swear.

The next day after the birth the hormonehigh wears off and the damage will be apparent so have a comfy cushion ready for the sore bits and painrelief AND yes, those exercises were important if you ever want to sneeze in public again

ohh and all that lovely thick hair you accumulated will falout in DROVES, but do not be alarmed, it calms down

That pregnancy is the last time for a very long while that you will get called by your actual name. As a fairly forthright feminist-about-town, I was not prepared for being referred to as 'Mum' by GPs, midwives, health visitors, nursery workers, etc etc.
So very odd to be reduced to one's reproductive function.

First trimester my ears were sensitive to lie on at night, I'm guessing to do with extra blood. Also my appetite got smaller but sweeter.
And I had less leg hair!

I was fortunate enough not to have any pelvic floor issues after my 2 DC - both c-sections. I know that they say that incontinence etc. can occur after any type of birth, and that it is pregnancy itself which causes issues, but come on... Surely it is far, far more likely that all the stretching, pushing and tearing that goes on will leave you far more likely to have problems!

What I didn't know:

• C-sections are not in any way an 'easier' or less painful method of giving birth overall. I was in utter agony after DS1 for weeks - could barely move, cried in pain, developed a huge haematoma (mahoosive football sized thing like a blood blister all around my wound and vulva). I fainted with pain several times. Grim. I couldn't believe anyone would have a c-section by choice!

• Sweating copiously all over when pregnant, mostly in the crotch area though. Had to change clothes a couple of times daily as soaked through. Nice.

• Hair loss post birth. I knew this was possible, but I lost so much that you could see my scalp shining through my thin combover, and my hairline receded right back. Not a good look. Turned out I was iron deficient and also B12 deficient which took a while to rectify.

• I was like a yeti pre children. I had to wax/shave a lot to stay hair free on my face, chest, legs, stomach, arms and bikini paragraph. Since birth of DS1 (now 10) it's very different. I realised I hadn't shaved my legs since last summer the other day, and I don't think they need doing again yet!

• Once the baby is born, people will not make a fuss of you and take care of you like they did during pregnancy. As long as the baby is fine, no one gives a toss how you are. Any complaint you make about feeling ill, in pain, finding feeding hard, only getting 2 hours broken sleep a night for months on end will just be met with a 'look' meaning 'What did you expect would happen when you had a baby?'. It's very hard sometimes to get even medical professionals to take serious problems seriously - everything is explained away as just 'one of those things that happens after birth sometimes'. No - I needed surgery on my back, I was severely deficient in several things, and my son had severe reflux!

It's great that some focus is being put on pelvic floor issues here as I had to push so hard for YEARS to get tested for some things and get treatment after birth (espec the pelvic girdle pain I still have 11 years on, that I was assured would go quickly after birth). As soon as you say something began when you were pregnant, doctors' eyes glaze over and they don't know what to do with you.

Pregnancy: I didn't realise "morning" sickness could last the entire pregnancy. I coped at the beginning thinking it was "only" for 12 weeks but then it didn't pass. It made me feel like there was something wrong as I wasn't expecting to feel that way.

Birth: I didn't know induction was such a slow, boring process. I thought you went 2 weeks overdue, went to hospital, got induced and had your baby that day. I had no idea it was much more complicated (and boring!) than that!

Pregnancy - hair loss was my first "sign" I was upduffed then Suddenly thick shiny hair for the next eight months.
All day nausea only tempered by ice lollies at 6:30am on the train station platform.
Finally being able to eat at 3pm and running to Morrisons to buy a party pack of mini pork pies (craving the salt)
Buying three maternity tops and leggings and living in them for the last four months.
Being told to start pelvic floor exercises by a chum - downloading the NHS app and getting "time for your squeezy!" Reminders.

Birth-
Don't write a birth plan
Seriously, don't bother.
If you have a few contractions on the sofa, get DP to stand up first and grab a towel. (I stood up and waters went "sploosh")
Don't be polite about pain and feelings or urges. Otherwise you will have a midwife yell at you for pushing when you're not ready to or in the right room to!
(I was, baby was born ten mins later. No time for any pain relief or water birth.)
The midwives in labour and delivery are wonderful.

After Birth -
Tea and toast, it's like a medal.
Being left alone in a room with your new baby will have you and DP giggling in awe because the whole thing is so surreal!
You will be riding high after birth and quite happily entertain family and friends and regale them with your birth story (whether they want to hear it or not and you will be mortified after realising how open you were to the parents in law..)
Suddenly wanting everyone to sod off a bit and leave you to it.
Day after birth someone will make you laugh and you will wee a bit, then you remember those pelvic floor excercises.....
When your milk comes in so do the baby blues.
You will cry because breastfeeding is hard work. (Still fucking struggling eleven weeks on.)
You will cry when you realise you still need to wear the maternity clothes.
You will cry when you see how awful you look on babes first photographs.
You will cry weeks later when you realise there are only four photos of you holding the baby and the kid is now 11 weeks old. (Because you yelled "Don't get me in it!" Whenever anyone came to take a photo)
You will cry when DP has to go back to work.
You will cry because your stomach and boobs are now big and floppy (though my boobs inflate on hourly intervals.)
You will cry when the baby grows out the first size of baby clothes.
You will cry
You will cry
you will cry

I still have the squeezy NHS app. I would reccomemd doing your squeezy routine every time you feed your baby a bottle or boob, or every cup of tea you make while the kettle boils.

Epic post

that reading the news would be emotionally draining - while reading almost every story my first thought is how can I protect my kids from this sort of thing.

After number 2 my underarm hair stopped growing!

Three things I didn't expect...
Morning sickness that was in fact all day and night and didn't go after the first trimester.
Insomnia in the final weeks of pregnancy.
Varicose veins including 'one down there'

No one told me how bloody tired I would be when pregnant. All the time. That no one cares what is on your birth plan and how painful it is sitting down or going to the toilet afterwards.

However everyone seemed to want to tell me how terrible childbirth is, yet I had two relatively short easy births. It is painful but it does stop quite abruptly.

Piles

I wish I'd known about the afterpains.

Breastfeeding does help uterus get back to normal.

Since pregnancy i get wind in my back!

I really didn't know just how much I would bleed after and for how long.
The skin tags and dark nipples were a shock too. Also how much boob leakage waaaay before baby came!

Night sweats - even 5 months later i get so bloody sweaty! I wake up for the night feed drenched, then freeze and have to get back into the cold wet bed.

How much you bleed after - i bought a pack of maternity pads and thought i wouldn't get through them all, how wrong i was.

Weewaspie see your GP. My night sweats post partum didn't stop. Turns out it was my gall bladder