Pregnancy heralds the inaugural life chapter called “paying way more attention to someone else’s body than your own.” That double pink line is like a starting pistol to the next months of scouring books, articles and apps for lessons on what is happening to the body rapidly growing inside of you: how it is developing, feeling and moving; what best to feed it; and how best to ensure it becomes a MENSA member/president/astronaut/cancer-cure discoverer.
I was fairly prepared for understanding how my baby was developing and how, in turn, my own body would be changing along with him in the process, but what I was not prepared for was the litany of truly bizarre, silly and downright uncomfortable bodily changes that occur immediately postpartum.
“During the postpartum time, some of the things that I see make a big difference in physical recovery begin with expectations and prenatal planning, such as giving oneself adequate time for rest/recovery and not trying to bounce back too quickly post-birth, excellent nutrition tailored to postpartum wellness and bodywork/mother-roasting treatments,” doula Becca Gordon, who has attended over 200 births and counseled 100 families with postpartum support, tells SheKnows.
Here is what pop culture ensures we all dread as a result of childbirth: weight gain impervious to diet and exercise, stretch marks evocative of a tiger’s coat and a besieged vagina only Elastigirl would recognize.
The following is a list of what they don’t tell you might happen — every last one of these has either happened to me or to various women I know.
1
/13:
Leaky Breasts
1/13
:Leaky Breasts
2
/13:
Changing Nipple Shapes
2/13
:Changing Nipple Shapes
3
/13:
Night Sweats
3/13
:Night Sweats
4
/13:
Body Odor
4/13
:Body Odor
5
/13:
Feet Size
5/13
:Feet Size
6
/13:
Emotional Changes
6/13
:Emotional Changes
7
/13:
Incontinence
7/13
:Incontinence
8
/13:
Hemorrhoids
8/13
:Hemorrhoids
9
/13:
Skin Tags
9/13
:Skin Tags
10
/13:
Bleeding
10/13
:Bleeding
11
/13:
Teeth Gap
11/13
:Teeth Gap
12
/13:
Hunger
12/13
:Hunger
13
/13:
Hair Loss
13/13
:Hair Loss
Source: Read Full Article