A Woman’s Body After Birth: Unexpected Changes

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Very little is written about the changes in a woman’s body after birth. As many of the changes are ‘messy’ or make women feel embarrassed, woman are reluctant to discuss them, even if their closest friends. In the first of a multi-part series, Jodi Cleghorn looks at the immediate changes a woman may experience after birth, many of which are unexpected.

Unexpected Changes

There are many things that women don’t expect after birth. The first is just how tired and sore they are. “I was exhausted,” says Elizabeth of her two drug free births, “and every part of my body hurt for the first 24 hours.” Women find it is difficult or painful to move and having an epidural or major abdominal surgery makes it impossible to move independently in the hours and days after birth. Bones and joints receive the physiological equivalent of an earthquake; pelvises and hips feel open, the sacral area aches or is painful. “You could see my hips expand to fit my son’s head through,” says Nickole of her second birth. “(Afterward) I remember my hips feeling really loose, like they’d expanding so far and then snapped back.” Then there are the knees and wrists that take the lion share of the weight when squatting, kneeling or birthing on all fours.

As the uterus begins to reduce in size, there are after pains, which can be as intense as or more painful than labour contractions. “I had intense after birth pains,” says Elizabeth. “I found these really hard to deal with. I cried. I was really pissed off about them as I just didn’t feel like they were ‘fair’.” Some women experience a heightened sense of smell, noticing in particular the smell of the lochia, breastmilk and the scent of the baby’s head. And finally there is the ‘belly.’ “I always wondered what happens to your belly after the baby came out. I was curious, so I wasn’t grossed out by my jelly belly,” says Julia, mother of a two year old son. “My father-in-law commented, a few days after the birth ‘You look like you are still pregnant, when is this one coming out?’ Lucky I don’t have body issues.”

While every woman’s journey is her own, the intensity, duration and feelings a woman has towards the immediate changes after birth are what makes her experiences uniquely her own. The length of labour, the type of birth, size of the baby and the general health and physical strength of a woman will impact to some degree on the extent of post birth changes she has immediately after birth.

Jodi Cleghorn is a mother, writer and editor, feminist and social geographer.  Jodi is the co-author of Reclaiming Sex After Childbirth: the survival guide with Annie Evett, who she co-owns the Reclaim Sex After Birth website . Jodi lives in Brisbane, Australia with her partner Dave, son Dylan, the fish of Bo and Keats the Cat.

This online article is based on an extended piece “The Path Less Trod: exploring a woman’s post birth body experience” published in Down to Birth magazine, Issue 74, 2008

Yoni Yearning and Checking Changes are used with the permission of Annie Evett

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