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

No one told me about the hormone crash you experience shortly after giving birth. Also, for second pregnancy how much your pelvic floor would be affected from the first. Cough = wee

No one told me (I expect because it's not the same for everyone) that I'd be more focused at work and stress less about what isn't done. I can actually switch off now I have a child

How bad morning sickness can get.
That mentally I couldn't quite get my head around the idea that an actual tiny human being would come out from down there....
How much you can love/adore your baby pre & post arrival & how wonderfully giddy/high it makes you feel & heart sing.

The fact that morning sickness doesn't just stop at midday but goes on all day & sometimes for the whole 9 months.
Piles😢😢😢
The irational fear of pooing while in labour
Heartburn
after you've had your baby you'll always have to wear a tena pad every time you go play on a trampoline with them!!
But when you feel your baby kick nothing or no one can describe how wonderful & special that feeling in.
& yes childbirth is extremely painful, but also exciting & scary & funny & nerve wracking & every other human emotion there is all at the same time

The pain !!!!

The weird hallucinations of disaster, for about eighteen months after birth.

Yes to the pelvic floor, though people do tell you about that one now. Only one child and mine is fairly shot still, though better than straight after birth.

The split stomach muscles or whatever they are.

The most surprising thing for me at the end of it all was that there was.... A BABY!!!!

I had been pregnant for nine months, had spent 30-odd hours in labour, but I still could not have been more surprised that suddenly there was my DD, tiny and screaming and utterly perfect. And real! :)

The midwives told me to pack plenty of snacks to keep my energy up during labour but not one of them told me I wouldn't be allowed to eat them once I was transferred to the birthing suite DP ate all the lovely stuff I had bought and if I'd known I would've stuffed my face before letting them move me at 3am!

Nobody told me I wouldn't be able to feel when I needed to wee for days afterwards and these days it's harder to go!

That my feet would grow and not shrink back. I have rows of shoes that I can't squeeze my trotters in to anymore!

No one told me that morning sickness could last 9 months!
That you could give birth in just 10 minutes with no prior contractions or warning!
That to succesfully breast feed, you may have to sit there and breast feed solid for days at a time doing nothing else to increase your milk supply.
Or that 10 years later - you could still be trying to fight to loose your baby weight! :)

How everyone seems to have an opinion about your pregnancy.

How bad the heartburn would be during pregnancy, how scary it is to go for a number two after giving birth, how empty you would feel after giving birth, and how nervous you feel when you arrive home with your first newborn !

I wasn't prepared for just how exhausted I felt in the first trimester.

When giving birth, during the pushing phase you might poo - embarrassing but it is apparently common! I am a bit of a prude but during birth you just don't care any more it is so primal. If I am honest I found giving birth brutal and couldn't buy into positive pain etc.

No-one ever mentioned how much I would change mentally. Nothing can prepare someone for the changes about to happen when a newborn baby enters ones life. All through pregnancy I just wanted to hold my baby and when I finally had my baby, I didn't know what to do! I was terrified! Now he's nearly 5, I wish I could do it all over again and just enjoy spending time with him as a baby instead of constantly worrying.

That labour can be heralded by vomiting and diahorrea. I was really worried and rang the midwife and she then informed me it was a totally normal start to labour.

There were no disposable nappies when I had my kids and nobody told me about the bucket of smelly terry towel nappies that would be hanging around in the kitchen for days on end until there were enough dirty ones for a wash .... Phooey! It was rank at times. :) ... Mums today don't know how lucky they are to have disposable ones.

No one warned my how much my breasts would leak, I could feel them getting fuller and fuller, even though I wore breast pads, they would often become full and wet. It left me not wanting to go out in public for long periods, Although I loved breast feeding my baby, and he is a very happy, and healthy young man, the thought of wet t shirts still makes me feel uncomfortable.

That it is entirely possible that if you have a vaginal birth and your second stage is fairly quick it is likely you will empty your bowels just beforehand or (in my case) as you give birth!!! Mortifying

Sleepless nights for the first six months.

The complications you can face once you are pregnant and how things are taken out of your hands so quickly leaving you to put your trust in the professionals.
How very frightening it can be, especially when things begin to go wrong!

thet my feet would go up a size and a half

Leaking boobs

That you will wake at night with the worst pins and needles!

Pretty much everything 🙈

Nobody mentioned the nasty consequences on the body such as sever constipation and pee-ing issues!