Any long-term effects after childbirth?

In My Humble Opinion
41

Badtz, mostly like a second, but without the clearer recall of the last time. I only know one other person (IRL, I know more internet-wise) who had that kind of span between kids. So this is info based on a small sample. They generally said the labors were still shorter than the first time (but not necessarily easier), but they had forgotten so much about pregnancy that they constantly went around saying, Oh, yeah, I forgot about this, too. The other issues were mostly the same as for second (or in some cases, third) kids, and/or were more related to maternal age.

Oh, and so much for my strong maternal stomach. One major bout of Gabriel throwing up last night (plus additional minor ones later) killed my non-gagging streak. Post PB&J and watermelon-flavored jello. And just for fun, my son prefers to throw up on me instead of in the toilet. (Put the towel on your shoulder, mommy, I haveta throw up!) Whee… I didn’t join him, but boy, cleanup was not fun. Lucky epeepunk is staying home with him today.

Sample of why we go through all this (for adam - and BTW, I loved pregnancy and labor, too - giving birth was a revelation of self):

I remember when he was very little, he laughed and burped after nursing and shot milk out his nose. Far from being upset about this, he realized that the resulting sinus inflammation allowed him to make a buzzing noise by exhaling through his nose. So he spent the next 10 minutes going: BBBBBBBzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (giggle) BBzzzzzzzzz (laugh) BBBBBBzzzzzzzzzz BBBzzzzzzzzzzz Bzzz (squeal and laugh). What could have been gross or distressing was actually a source of delight. His utter joy at being able to make this new sound, and the laughter it produced, was infectious at such a deep level that it cleared all the dust out of my soul. We laughed and laughed and laughed, until I couldn’t even think - total Zen state of joy and mirth.

Having him climb up on my lap (at 15 months old), when I’ve just come home from a business trip, I have the flu, I’m tired, cranky, I feel miserable and look worse… and there he is, gazing at me, then he reaches up and pats my cheek very gently and says “bu” - his word for beautiful. I look and feel like shit, but he thinks I’m beautiful. BEEP, attitude reset.

Even the tantrums are interesting. When he gets worked up, we tell him (patiently) to calm down. Once epeepunk suggested he should take a deep breath before trying to say what he was screaming. The next time I suggested he calm down, his face turned red and he yelled, “I don’t WANT to take a breath!” I am developing great lung control learning how to not laugh out loud, as he gets mighty offended if you laugh in his face (not surprisingly). The boy charms me even when he’s angry.

Short form: There’s so much more joy and laughter in my life with him in it, I can’t imagine going back. And yes, we’re planning to do it again.

42

Is that what happened to me?! I always wore a 7-1/2, and now I have to wear an 8. (“Now” being relative, my “baby” is 16! LOL.)

As to the OP, no lasting problems. I have stretch marks and saggy boobs. (I’m 42.) I breast fed, but I’m a 42-DD. I think it’s just the gravity/age thing. I had a c-section, but the scar doesn’t bother me at all, as far as sensitivity. I have the slight incontinence problem too, but that’s pretty recent. I had no idea there were so many of us with that little problem! I’ll do my kegels tonight!

43

I had the foot thing too–my feet grew a half size with each baby. If I have many more, I’ll have to start shopping at shoe stores catering to drag queens.

44

I dunno if I’d go through it again. Pregnancy wasn’t horrible, but I had so many negative issues surrounding the pregnancy (I was 18 and my boyfriend, the baby’s father, left me) that I can’t recall being very excited about being pregnant. My experience with childbirth was, compared to many other people I’ve talked to, relatively easy, but it was still nothing I’d care to go through again for a long time. I pushed so hard during the labor that the blood vessels on my face broke - I had tons of tiny red dots all over my face and upper chest. And I wasn’t prepared for the physical aftermath. So would I say I loved pregnancy, loved childbirth? Enh, probably not. Not anxious to do it again.

But the boy. He is magical, amazing, wonderful, bizarre. Everything that I felt the first time I held him was overwhelming. I forgot that I was without partner, forgot that I had no job or means to raise him, forgot that I just went through hours of searing and intense pain, and just marveled at the mewling little purple boy in my arms. Even now sometimes I’ll just stare at him, and try to take it all in, hoping I can remember him this way forever. There’s no way you can be ready for the feelings of fierce protectiveness for them, loneliness when they’re not around, jubilation at their every small triumph, empathy for their little defeats…I sure wasn’t. I do know that I’m nowhere near the same person I was before I had him, but I like me a lot better this way.

45

This is a truly useful tip! I went from size 10 to size 11 shoes with my first son. I was scared to death they’d get even bigger with my second child. Still an 11—whew! It’s very hard to find size eleven. I should find out where drag queens shop…really!

Hedra,
Thanks for the warning about B-6 and reduced milk production. I think that, in my case, it wouldn’t be a problem. I have overachieving breasts. My son approaches my left boob with caution, as it regularly tries to drown him. I have a very forceful letdown reflex, and I still need to wear nursing pads at all times for leakage.
::stops to check self for Holstein spots::
:wink:

46

I asked my dentist about why all the sudden my teeth have gotten bad and she sad is was from getting sick all the time and some pregnant women can’t stand the taste of toothpaste let alone get the tooth brush in thier mouths without gagging.
As for the diabeties thing, I had large babies. 9lb.3oz, 8lb. 11oz, 10lbs 8oz, and my smallest at 8lbs. 3oz. She was so small I was almost scared to hold her!
With my third I had to take the long glucose test. Came back boarder-line, and was told to watch my sugar. Now I look like a junkie from all the holes in my arms. I think I am having diabetic problems now, and I will get that tested along with my Thyroid upon alot of advice in MPSIMS.
I have streatch marks.
I am a migraine suffer, but suprisingly enough I didn’t have them while pregnant.
Anybody else have a hard time keeping hubby away from the breast milk? He thought it was too cool.
I did have a hard time breast feeding and I started with my third child. I felt I would have enough time with my first since I was still in high school and working, and with second, my his father didn’t want anyone looking at my breasts. Jerk!
I felt so bad since I am fairly well endowed and couldn’t produce enough to feed them.
I had no stiches, but long labors.
I have had to deal with pnemonia, trying to keep glasses on two of them, a son with a platlet disorder which lets us take nice little trips to the university hospital for four hour iv’s in a two year old child (who is now four and we are still doing this) and my oldest son hit by a car. Oh, both boys had tubes in their ears.
While delivering my third, it took two doctors to pull him while I pushed. The nurse said that she bet I didn’t do that again for a while, and I was pregnant again three weeks later.
One more thing is this past week I have delt with five sick kids. My step-daughter brought it from her house last weekend, and then it went down through the troops. Now that they are all on their way to healthy, I am getting it.
I also have a hard time watching show or movies that bad things happen to kids in. Sleepy Hallow was one of the bad ones.

Good news ladies! I actually went down a shoe size. I went up a half with every child, and now I am going back. There is hope. That, and I heard that your hips go back a touch five years later. Of course I waited five years between sets of kids, but now I only have two years to go and no more pregnancies.

47

Stretch marks? Got em, not just on the tummy, but on my breasts and butt, too. They’ve faded a lot, and luckily the ones on my tummy don’t stretch up very high so I can still wear low riding pants, if I chose to.

My hips went from boyish to womanly. Even if I starved myself, I don’t think my hip-bones would allow me to fit into size 7 jeans anymore. I’m not sure if that was the baby’s fault or if I grew since I was a young mother.

The incontinence has gone away, thank god. I never go hemerhoids either, and am absurdly proud of that.

Breastfeeding? I was rehospitalized with an uterine infection a week after my son was born and he was bottle-fed during that time, and afterwards he never took to the nipple very well (little ingrate prefered the rubber kind! ;)) After three months we finally gave up and used formula, since the pumping wasn’t working either. Did anyone else have that problem? I’d feel so low, pumping for 1/2 hour and just getting an ounce or two.

Post-Partum Depression? Honestly I don’t know if it was true post partum depression or just exhaustion. I had very little help from my husband’s side of the family; he was working all the time, his mother was nuts and the rest didn’t care. My family was all in Germany at the time, and my friends were clueless (remember I was very young). I did have several days just walking the baby around the apartment crying my eyes out.

However, now that he is older, I think I’m a lot calmer and better able to deal with stress than before I became a parent. It’s probably a mixture of maturing and motherhood.

Weight Gain? I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight (though the weight was distributed a lot differently!) by my six week check-up. The pounds have crept on over the years, and now I weigh the same as I did right before he was born! Yikes! I think it’s a combination of losing my youthful metabolism, eating more regularly & better, and cutting down on my activities. I was underweight before, so now I’m up to normal weight for my height (5’10, 155lbs)

Feet? Yup, bigger and wider. I went from a 8.5-9 to a 9-9.5, and I also sometimes have to buy wide widths.

Do it again? Sure, why not? :wink: Seriously, I love my little boy to death, and although I wish the circumstances around his birth were different, I can’t say that I regret it.

48

my midwife (I think) pointed out that the pevis is TWO bones, not one - is is joined in the front with a band of connective tissue, which gets softened by your hormones during pregnancy. Your pelvis actually can flex quite a bit when the connective tissue is softened. Well, post pregnancy, the connective tissue solidifies again, and whatever position those bones were in at that point (thanks, gravity!) is where your hips end up. The bones actually end up in a different position than they had been, which is why your hips get bigger, and why they will never be that small size again. (I have wondered about whether you could wear some kind of truss post-pregnancy until they firm up, but I can’t imagine caring enough to bother until too late…)