Post Baby Bodies
Grace
Pregnancy and giving birth obviously take a huge toll on your body. When Parker was born I had a 4th degree tear, so recovering wasn’t fun. I am very, very fortunate though that I did heal up pretty quickly and I didn’t really have any complications with healing. Some aches and pains I had after birth (besides my pelvic floor trying to figure out WTF just happened) were neck pain and leg pain. My neck pain was from breastfeeding and carrying Parker mostly with my left arm since I’m right handed. My leg pain was some weird nerve stuff and I’m not really sure what exactly it was that caused it, but physical therapy did the trick and fixed a lot of back and leg issues I was having. When Parker was around 4 months old, I started getting a tingly left hand. I went to get a massage and my amazing massage therapist worked her magic and fixed my tingly/numb hand in just one session.
A few weeks postpartum I was sooo ready for my clothes to fit again because I missed non maternity clothes and just wanted to feel cute again. My hips were still wide and I still had a postpartum belly because it takes a while for your uterus to go back down to its normal size so my jeans didn’t fit. I feel like it was kind of affecting me mentally because I just wasn’t sure how my body was going to be post birth, but at the same time I really didn’t care, I just wanted to wear cute clothes again haha. Cody was super sweet and got me a few pairs of jeans that fit me and that made me feel better.
It was interesting though because I was losing weight after Parker was born and I thought it was just from breastfeeding since it burns some calories. I started getting worried though because I was losing way too much weight. You might be thinking oh poor you, you lost too much weight after you gave birth but honestly it was scary and not cool. It was because of my postpartum thyroiditis that I didn’t know I had yet. My body was constantly in fight or flight and I couldn’t hold onto any nutrients because I was using every ounce I had for milk production. People were commenting on my body about how “I looked great” but I really didn’t. I was 20 pounds lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight. I hadn’t been that light since I was a sophomore in high school. No one my height and with my body type needed to be as light as I was. On top of this, I wasn’t eating dairy because Parker was in the middle of her cow’s milk protein allergy. It was so hard because I was trying to eat a shit ton of calories to try to gain weight, but was limited and had to really watch what I was eating because dairy is in so many things! Luckily, my thyroid started fixing itself and I stopped breastfeeding so I was able to start gaining weight and feel like I was getting to a healthy place.
Having a baby is such a whirlwind and it’s hard not to miss what your body looked like pre-pregnancy, especially in the early days of postpartum if you just want to wear your old clothes. I just recommend taking your time and easing back into working out if that’s what you choose so you don’t hurt yourself and don’t rush things. Listen to your body and try to take care of it. Also, give yourself some grace considering everything it just went through. Lastly, if things feel weird, talk to your doctor about physical therapy or get things checked out!
Meesh
Getting a feel for your body takes time after having a baby. I started seeing Karlie at around 4 weeks postpartum for postpartum chiro. She is the BEST and have recommended her to all my pregnant friends (Seattle girlies- go see her!). She was able to help with core strength and just new mom-questions I had about healing and getting my strength back. At around 8 weeks is when I started feeling up to “working out” and by working out, I mean walks, and light yoga and mat Pilates. I was excited to finally be able to move my body and start wearing real clothes! My belly had gone away, albeit, still a little loose, but I was able to start dressing like me again. I was about 1-2 sizes bigger than I was pre-baby but oddly enough, I had more confidence in my body than I did before being pregnant. I think I respected my body knowing what it had just done and was still doing. I had to purchase new jeans, which I was okay with, but by springtime I was able to fit back into my pre-preg jeans. I wasn't in a huge rush to get back to what I was, but I was eager to heal my body and get my strength back. At about 5 months PP, I signed up for my local hot yoga studio and started going 4x times a week. This really helped with my mental and physical health and gave me an hour or so to myself. To me, loving my post-baby bod has been a journey. Even 2 years later, as I write this, I still see that little pouch that has stubbornly decided to stay and some days I hate it and some days I don't mind it. I think that's part of being a woman. Something that helps me is that I’ve been loving following influencers who have different body types and styling clothes. It helps me see the beauty in bodies and how each of us are different <3.
Mon
I was excited to move my body and workout again but since I had diastasis recti (abdominal separation) I had to take it really slow. A month or so postpartum I started following my chiropractors postpartum workout plan (check out Karlie here!). It was really helpful and after doing the program I was pretty much able to return to normal workouts, except running. It was frustrating to start from scratch and not really have any stamina or core strength but I just took it really slow and less than a year postpartum I was able to run a 5k turkey trot!
I really try to not have a negative body image but obviously we all do at times. I don’t mind my c section scar but I hate the skin that sort of flaps over it when I sit down. What helped the most with that was doing c section massages. I just would YouTube them. It also helped my scar feel a lot better and not so thick. My best advice is to focus on your health and not your body. Your body carried a child or two, it’s amazing and you don’t need to meet some unrealistic “post baby bod” societal standards.
