“So, what really happens to your body after having a baby?”
Innocent question asked by a good friend who is in the beginning of her first pregnancy. Oh, the innocence! I would say that this friend is essentially me pre-pregnancy- late(r) 20s, very few friends with children, and the notion that your body just bounces right back because Heidi Klum’s and Sarah Michelle Gellar’s bodies totally did.
I can only speak for myself, but reality for me post-baby has not been the “bounce back” that I had quite hoped for. I do only have an extra 10 pounds left on me- the rest kind of came off on its own, thankfully. I will be taking an amazing bootcamp class, Booty Camp Fitness, twice a week in April and am sure it will take care of that issue.
However, as I told my newly preggers friend, there is a huge difference in the way my body LOOKS now.
I can honestly say, almost 11 months after having The Boy, that my body just looks and feels different. I proceeded to list the differences for her:
I have a stomach gut.
I have cellulite.
I have stretch marks.
I wear a different bra size and a way different jean size (except in those awesome stretchy jeans that I can still squeeze myself into!!).
I have beautiful varicose veins that bulge from my legs.
I sometimes pee just a tiny bit when I laugh too hard (TMI?).
She was wide-eyed when I was done. I could almost hear her saying, “is it too late to change my mind?”.
After an awkward silence, where I’m sure she was trying to think of ways to make me laugh just to see if that whole pee thing was true, she asked if I minded all those changes.
Truth? Ya, I mind the changes. I mean, I didn’t imagine my body looking like this almost a year after giving birth. I guess I just expected that it would look exactly like it did pre-baby, thanks to my years of diligent gym-going and no-carb eating.
Reality? I’m learning to be ok with all of it. A teacher I worked with, about 40 years my senior, told me that after having my baby I would have badges of honour that I would wear with pride. She was wrong. I’m not quite there yet, nor do I ever think I will fully be.
But can I accept these changes? Maybe. Slowly. Everything but the pee.
I feel for you. My body after my baby is completely different. I’ve been lucky enough lose the 70lbs I gained during my pregnancy, but my boobs are GONE!!!!
I dropped most of my baby weight within a few months… thanks to a lot of walking and some soccer playing but I wasn’t expecting to lose 5lbs of boob! I went from a generous C-cup prior to pregnancy, to a D-cup during pregnancy, to a DD-cup when I was nursing…. now I’m barely a B-cup!
My brests were not fantastic before baby, but during and after when I was nursing my husband refered to my “porn-star boobs”. Now…. we don’t talk about it. That is the one thing I really miss from body-before-baby!
Well I was hoping (ok praying) that my bust size would change after breastfeeding two children, each for a year.
Guess what?
NOTHING.
I’m still a 34a.
A little disappointed..but not on those days when I dont have to wear a bra (tmi??).
I only have the one kid – but my friends with two would SO agree with Nancy. None of them seem to be bothered by their body changes at all. I had great fears of what would happen with my body – one of my sisters will tell you all about her pee problems – so I did kegels constantly and they helped (so did a 5lb baby). I remember my friend April saying – don’t sweat the stretch marks Sara, we are the girls that could toss back large pizza’s in university – it’ll all pay off now and those skinny chicks will get the stretch marks (she was ENTIRELY joking…but it sort of worked that way…).
The gut… mine is still there after 20 months of giving birth. Although it shrunk quite a lot thanks to Bootycamp, I still have to hide it under my pants (which is why I avoid anything low waisted now).
I made amends with my stretch marks… I use to buy Bio oil like crazy, but now I give up in making them go away faster because only time can fade it.
I love urbanmoms! How come I never came across it before?
I find that I am a lot more square. I’ve always been curvy but some days I feel like my waist is non-existent – rather than a pear, my body is a rectangle!
After baby number 2 (if you have a second), your body won’t bother you so much. After my first I had only a few stretch marks but they bothered me to no end. They also faded in time. After my second I had major stretch marks and even though my stomach is disgusting now, I’m strangely not as bothered this time. I think I’ve just come into my own as a mother. I accept who I am, where I came from and where I’m going with my new role. It also helped me to have a super supportive spouse who, for whatever reason, thinks I’m sexy with or without the stretch marks. 😉
Have any of you tried kegels? There is still hope for gaining back that muscle tone that helps with the bladder leakage. Also not waiting until you feel the urge to go before going. If you let your bladder get completely full it is more likely to happen.
Post baby/breastfeeding I weighed about 5 lbs less than I did pre-pregnancy. No one ever told me this would happen. Although my body has completely changed in many ways such as a not nearly as “toned” tummy, stretch marks, and vericose veins. I think that some changes should still be celebrated…such as more toned arms and legs from toting my almost 2 year old around. Some women have fuller breasts post-pregnancy and enjoy that. For me it is the complete opposite – even less than I started with but hey atleast I don’t have to wear a bra anymore!
BAH! Good point!! I will practice my jumping jacks ASAP! I never even thought of that.
I came to the realization that my body would never be the same VERY quickly after my first child’s birth. I also came to a realization shortly after that. I was completely changed and different on the inside, so why not on the outside too?
Now a year after my second child I have about 5 lbs to loose until I weigh what I did before my first child was born. That is only a number on a scale though, my body composition is much different. That’s OK, the only thing that really bothers me is the occasional pee leakage. And a heads up, Sarah – if you are taking a bootcamp class, you may be required to jump around a lot, that is a huge part of the bootcamp class I am taking right now. I don’t pee when I laugh, it happens when I jump… I hope I don’t have to elaborate any more and that you get the picture… Try it out at home with a bunch of jumping jacks before the first class just to be sure!!
I’ve been saying to myself “I should have done this in my early early 20s and I would have bounced back much quicker” BUT I wouldn’t have been ready for the responsibility of raising my son at that age either. As for bouncing back… the only thing bouncing is my belly flab!!! I really hate it to be honest and I have a nice “overhang” that fits in well with my much much older fellow aquafit members (they are 60+)… But then again the overhang does a fine job at hiding my 6 inch C-section scar… 🙁 Anyway, I must say that I’m a changed woman, inside and out. I have serious separation of my abdominal muscles so as for flattening my stomach again I have to be extrememly careful not to do more damage in the process… and I truly think I will never get back to my pre-baby body… definately not before my next pregnancy.
We can walk around trying and pretending to accept this new body image and try our hardest to get back in shape but at least for me I walk around dreading wearing anything but comfy pants… unless I invest in a girdle…
yes, I try to avoid sneezing if I have a tiny inclination that I have to use the restroom. Coughing… just the same.
I too am starting to embrace post-baby body, like my hips. They hold the little guy in place as I’m bending down picking up random objects or climbing stairs. I think if you have a supportive husband that keeps telling you how great you look, it helps. Plus, having friends or strangers dote on how cute your baby is, it makes you feel good (if only because they’re not looking at your thighs)