5 Unexpected Ways Childbirth Changes Your Body

I was 24 years old when I gave birth to my first child. I never knew how much my life was about to really change.

I knew that there was this new little person that I would become responsible for, but I didn’t understand the breadth of it all. I was no longer Raki, I became B’s mom. That’s literally what kids called me. My body was no longer mine, during or after my pregnancy.

Here is the tale of five unexpected ways your childbirth changes your body.

Skin

As you can imagine, the skin has to change a lot (especially the stomach) as your pregnancy progresses. Some people are blessed with skin that bounces back, some find products to help reduce or eliminate stretch marks, or you might end up having them for the rest of your life.

It’s basically left up to genetics, and there’s not much you can really do about it. Stretch marks happen when the collagen and elastin in the skin stretch to the point of no return.

Hair

I normally prefer to wear my hair short. During my first pregnancy, my hair grew tremendously. It was so healthy. So, I just let it grow. During my second pregnancy, it became coarser and was more difficult to manage. I guess as you get older, as hormones change, and with subsequent pregnancies, the effect on your hair can be different.

Most women have fuller, shinier locks during pregnancy. After delivery, your hair should return to normal. Higher estrogen levels keep your hair from falling out at its normal rate.

After pregnancy, when estrogen levels drop and return to normal, your hair may shed, within one to five months following pregnancy. Your hair will likely return to normal within 6-12 months.

Feet Size

My mom told me that when she was pregnant with me that her feet grew a size and a half – she went from an 8-1/2 to 10. Thankfully I didn’t have THAT experience. I already wore a size 9-1/2 to 10 before both pregnancies!

We’ve all heard about how swollen the feet and ankles get during pregnancy, but there is a chance that your shoe size may change, too. Changes in your hormone levels cause muscles and ligaments to also change in preparation for labor. This results in inflammation in the lower extremities.

Fertility

Although there is an old wives’ tale (or urban legend) that you can’t get pregnant right after having a baby or while you are breastfeeding, you can.

Actually, many say that the trick to getting pregnant is – having a baby. Doctors say you are much more fertile right after giving birth, especially if you are not breastfeeding or do it minimally.

Your ovaries are suddenly working overtime within weeks after your baby born. Because you may not get your period for a while after giving birth, you won’t have a concrete way to track your ovulation cycle.

Try the Knixteenboyshort (my favorite style of female underwear).

So, be sure that you’re taking precautions if you are not planning to get pregnant right away. Every woman’s hormone levels will fluctuate differently.

Bladder

During pregnancy, you’ll be running in and out of the bathroom like crazy, but bladder control issues can follow you after birth, too.

A weak bladder occurs when the muscles in the pelvic floor are damaged, and this happens during pregnancy and childbirth due to the hormonal changes and extra weight.

Don’t be surprised if you find yourself literally RUNNING to the bathroom more often after your baby is born, too. This condition is also referred to as stress urinary incontinence (SUI), and it could cause sudden release of urine while participating in everyday activities like laughing or sneezing.

More people with bladder leakage are in their 20’s than their 80’s. Do you think that might be because many moms are in their 20’s when the begin having children? 😉

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If you’ve been wondering what to wear for bladder leakage, searching for tips for bladder leakage, shopping for bladder leakage protection or incontinence protection, you don’t want to miss out on the Drop your pants for underwareness movement!

Depend wants to make sure that everyone knows:

• The average age of someone with bladder leakage is only 52!

• More people with bladder leakage are 50 or younger than 60 or older!

• Depend is entering year three of Underwareness, a social movement and charitable cause to break down the bladder leakage stigma. As part of Underwareness, the Depend brand is:

• Depend is putting their money where their mouth is. What’s the best way to encourage people to show their support for women with bladder leakage? For every photo and video shared using #Underwareness and featuring Depend products, the Depend brand will donate $1, up to $3 million, through 2016 to fund charities that advance the research and education of bladder leakage.

What was the most surprising change you experienced after childbirth?