I was going to add my thoughts on the aesthetic changes to your body that pregnancy can cause to my previous “Body Matters” post but the whole feature would have been way too long. Just to stipulate before I begin, everyone is different, I can only give the details of what happened to me personally (and what didn’t – even though I was expecting it).
Pigmentation (Melasma Gravidarum/Chloasma)
I suffer from this anyway, in summer I wear factor 50 on my face, giant sunglasses and a hat yet I still manage to develop weird dark patches regardless, particularly around my eyes and on my forehead. When I found out I was expecting it was August, I already had some brownish blotches and I assumed they would get much worse as the months passed. I was wrong, they cleared up completely. No I don’t understand it either. Except to conclude perhaps it is my contraceptive pill that is in fact causing the Chloasma.
Instead the line that runs vertically up your torso during pregnancy (the Linea Nigra) on me was incredibly dark. Like Mahogany. I wasn’t expecting that. Almost 10 weeks after Mabel arrived it hasn’t faded particularly much either and ironically is far more noticeable than my c-section scar.
Has this happened to anyone else?
Dry And Sensitive Skin
This is my skin type so I just expected the redness and flakes to increase ten fold. The redness wasn’t too bad as it happens, I had to use very gentle products though and endeavour not to introduce new things (I had a super flare up whilst on a break in Paris at 16 weeks and looked as though I had sunburn, I just couldn’t resist the pretty bottles of glowing promise from the French Pharmacy!)
The dryness however was quite uncomfortable, there were even a few occasions where I would wake up in the middle of the night and go and apply more moisturiser, so tight and itchy was my epidermis. The positive side to all this is that my scalp was distinctly lacking in natural oils too, meaning I could go without washing my bonce for four days at a time (I usually cleanse my locks very other day.) This was a godsend as I reached 35 weeks and beyond, just standing up in the shower was a chore and I felt like I would lose my balance at any given moment.
My skin is still incredibly dry now, I’m on the hunt for a super serum to wear under face cream (any recommendations are as always, appreciated.)
Stretch Marks (Striae Gravidarum)
As per above, I was very conscious that I had to ensure my limbs and expanding bump were as supple as possible (you can read about my products of choice in my maternity survival pack post) as everyone knows a drier skin type ages faster than someone with an oily complexion. With this in mind (and the fact that several folk whom I didn’t even know very well, some that had not even had children themselves, were only to forthcoming in advising me that stretch marks are basically a given…) I prepared for my particular epidermal infliction to be the ideal foundation for those pesky marks.
Perhaps it was my dedication to lotion application, or genetics (in which case I guess I need to thank my Mum and her gene pool) or just sheer luck, but I seem to have avoided them altogether. I also think trying to be as healthy as you possibly can and not gaining weight excessively (and thus stretching more) must have a positive impact.
For anyone that’s worried about them I think the initial angry redness disappears fairly soon after birth, I have seen a friend’s and they are so faint, teeny tiny silver lines.
Obvious Veins
Due to the increased blood flow to your baby veins all over your body will become far more apparent during your pregnancy. I joked to my husband that I resembled an A to Z, my chest in particular was like an incredibly difficult to follow road map.
The blue-ness has all but disappeared but I am left with a few spider veins across my thighs, James has said they are barely noticeable and I’m sure with a bit of fake tan they will be but, I’m considering investigating some kind of laser treatment over the coming months, do let me know if you have any knowledge of their removal/can recommend a practitioner.
Swollen Feet
Oh. My. Gosh. My feet at times were so swollen they looked like a pair of trotters. I felt like one of the ugly sisters trying to shove her great big man foot into cinderella’s sexy slipper on the occasions I attempted to wear some of my favourite shoes.
My feet are still not back to normal, apparently your feet can actually increase in size permanently due to pregnancy…um, is that true?! Do I need to mourn the loss of my peep toes forever?!
Hair Loss/Gain
Apparently your hair can become all thick and bouncy and L’Oreal advertisement like during pregnancy, mine didn’t do anything, no especially glossy locks for moi. However, the weeks following Mabel’s arrival my eyelashes started to fall out. Yep, I had actual bald patches in my lash line that I filled in with liquid liner.
I’m pleased to report they have since grown back and my flutter has almost returned to normal (with the help of my favourite £1 mascara obviously), I am yet to discover why this lash loss occurred. Weird.
Carpel Tunnel Syndrome
All of the changes I have mentioned above are pretty superficial in the grand scheme of things, I am so grateful for having such a beautiful healthy baby that a few broken veins and puffy feet are a small price to pay.
Carpel Tunnel Syndrome has been by far the worst post pregnancy condition, no-one told me about it, in fact I don’t think I had ever even heard of it. It essentially causes pain and numbness in the hands and fingers, having done some research post diagnosis it is suggested that 50% of pregnant women suffer from it, news to me.
I found it incredibly debilitating, the c-section already meant restricted movement, particularly in the first 2 weeks, carpel tunnel meant I didn’t feel confident even holding Mabel at times and that was incredibly upsetting. I was continually dropping things and finding it difficult to do even the simplest of tasks.
Although it has improved in the last few months my hands are still not quite right (I know – brilliant news for a blogger…) so I am currently considering physiotherapy.
Have any of you had carpel tunnel or know anyone that has?
Please feel free to ask any questions about anything at all covered in this feature (or anything I may have missed) and I’ll do my best to provide a response.
Thanks for this post, it’s nice to hear some honesty about how rubbish being pregnant can be, although overall I enjoyed my pregnant, it was pretty from at times! I suffered from a couple of these symptoms when preggo – firstly the not so serious one! My linea nigra was SO dark, and I got it all round my belly button too! 8 months later it’s faded a lot but not completely, I’m assuming that it’ll go eventually. At 6 months I was convinced I’d have it forever so I would say don’t worry if you think yours will never go! I also got carpal tunnel quite badly, but during pregnancy for the last 3 months (as well as the joyous SPD or pelvic girdle pain and incredibly swollen feet, all at the peak of the heat wave last simmer), however my carpal tunnel disappeared on delivery day, which was most welcome. I do feel your pain as it’s a rotten condition so I hope yours get better soon, hopefully one day you’ll wake up and it’s gone, it seems like it works that way! I got a few stretch marks but some we’re caused by the “rummaging about” trying to get a 10lb baby out of my tummy during an emergency c-section, and on my thighs from where my legs ballooned afterwards! Phew, looking back that seems like a long list, however somehow I still maintain I had a reasonable pregnancy, despite people telling me otherwise!
Sorry for the typos – that should be “pretty grim” in the first para!
I feel the same Sophie, I had a pretty good pregnancy really, but I guess when you add up all the little things they do….add up! I’m glad your Carpel Tunnel has gone, I’m hoping I will literally wake up and it will have disappeared. x
Another great & honest post, nice to hear I’m not the only one. I had really dry skin during all of my pregancy & still do now 9 months on. I’ve found using Vaseline intensive rescue relief & repair balm a life saver for the body & Elemis fresh skin (teenage range!) super boost moisturising serum for under a face moisturiser helps keep the dryness away!
Ooh Elemis! I used to use their face cream, thanks for the tip 🙂
I’m thinking of taking omega 3 supplements, see if that helps with the dryness x
Gosh we do put our bodies though a tough thing being pregnant don’t we! I’ve a few friends who have been pregnant at the same time as me and between us we seem to have covered a huge range of odd conditions. My Linea Nigra only appeared in the last couple of weeks I think and is still really obvious now 7 weeks on. My best friend just had an operation to have veins removed which had been really bad during the pregnancy and another friend has been suffering horrible back problems – I’m grateful mine seem so easy to deal with in comparison! I suffered with terrible headaches through the second trimester but otherwise had a fairly easy pregnancy. However, I’m battling the weight gain that has only started since giving birth. At 34 weeks I had the most amazing meal plan designed for me by a friend who was just qualifying as a nutritionist so for the last few weeks was packing my body with amazing vit rich foods. I cut out sugar and I’d already quit caffeine because I can’t even stand to look at one of my usual 18 teas of coffees when I’m pregnant (how does coffee suddenly smell so repulsive to the pregnant nose?!) so I felt amazing and had hardly any weight gain. However, since having Niema I’ve hit the tea bags, chocolate stash and haribo hard to keep me going through the sleepless nights. We also had about 2 weeks of friends bringing round meals for the family so that we didn’t have to cook…which was amazing but I’m sure that each of those people brought a cake… and I don’t let my children eat much cake – so its gone somewhere else… I daren’t think about that much more in case I actually work out that I’ve consumed 14 cakes! 🙁 … ohhh maybe. Time for a herbal tea and a rice cake then…
I do think the stretch mark thing is genetic. I have a couple of silvery wisps on my hips from growing as a teenager but non at all from 3 pregnancies. I was faithful with the almond oil through 2 of those but far more lazy on the middle one. My skin is certainly not ‘bouncing back’ at 34 as quickly as it did when I was 24 but still no red lines. (Yep – thanks mum!) I’ve not noticed any lovely thick hair either but I expect it will still all fall out in clumps in the shower when I stop the small amount of breast feeding I’m managing to do. Wow its a good job these little precious people are completely worth it!
Gosh, there really are so many things we put our bodies through, I forgot a about the headaches but I had them too, in the second trimester, I put it down to dehydration.
The meals being provided are so welcome, but you are right, the cakes come too!!!! I think you are allowed, especially in the first few months after birth, we worked so bloody hard after all 🙂
My sister had really bad carpal tunnel with her second and it did go off after the birth but was so bad! My husbands a physio I’ll see if I can get any tips for you lovely but I know you can have a release done under local anaesthetic, day case if it’s persistent and doesn’t go. You have to be on light lifting duties for a few weeks though after (like nothing heavier than paper some people say!) xx
If you could ask about the physio Alex that would be super, I really don’t fancy the op, Mabel is a right chubba (!) and I would be so upset if I couldn’t lift her properly. x
Will do I’ll get back to you when I speak to him this evening I’ll reply on here! Xx
Ok, well not great news. He said if it is definitely a proper carpal tunnel syndrome there isn’t a huge amount you can do! You can get splints to wear either at night if that’s when it’s worse or day too. Avoid flexion at the wrist, and if it doesn’t settle down over time (he said it normally does if it’s pregnancy related) then the release fixes it and you have physio after that. Apparently it’s due to the changes in the ligament structures during pregnancy. Sorry there isn’t much more!
Thanks Alex, I’ll book an appointment to have it looked at, so annoying! x
Ok, so I’m a long way from being pregnant… Well maybe not that far, Im getting married in August (thanks to Rockmywedding for loads of ideas btw!), but neither of us want a baby straight away. However We’re hoping that it will happen in the next few years. Regardless, I love reading your pregnancy and baby posts! Its so interesting to hear frist hand what it’s really like & how you delt with things. So keep them coming! Im bookmarking them in the hope that one day theyll be put to good use!! Xxx
Ps/ hope your CT syndrome goes soon xxx
That’s sweet! Glad you are enjoying them regardless and so exciting for your wedding! x
I got stretch marks. I don’t think it is genetic, my mum and my sister don’t really have them. I think it’s just down to how elastic your skin happens to be, and how big your baby gets! Mine was a whopper at 10lb 9oz and I got the stretch marks at about 34 weeks. At the time I didn’t really care, I had slathered on the oil and cocoa butter so I felt I had tried to defeat them as best I could. It’s now that my tummy has gone back down that they have left their legacy behind – the actual marks are just silvery and you wouldn’t be able to see them unless you were looking very closely, but the texture of my skin is now quite rumpled and wrinkly. I certainly won’t be partaking in the crop top trend, I wouldn’t let it stop me wearing a bikini on the beach though (I’ve seen worse than my bikini body!).
What I wasn’t expecting – I had uncontrollably itchy forearms, they went bright red and felt hot all the time. I had to constantly apply calomime to soothe them. I had a blood test to check it wasn’t liver dysfunction which can happen in pregnancy and can be dangerous. It wasn’t, luckily, but was really annoying for a while until it disappeared and suddenly as it had begun.
The worst body issue though was SPD. I had never heard of it until it happened to me. Your ligaments loosen in pregnancy to allow the pelvis to expand and let the baby out. With some women they loosen so much it makes the pelvis unstable and causes pain. When I say pain, I mean excruciating, hit by a bus pain, that makes it impossible to do every day things like rolling over in bed, standing on one leg, walking a short distance, standing for any period of time. It kicked in at 20 weeks and just got worse as the pressure on my pelvis increased. It really irritates me to hear ‘pregnancy isn’t an illness’ when actually it can bring some awful illnesses with it and usually there is little that can be done. I had a support band to wear for walking but it massively restricted my mobility and I had to take early maternity leave. If I have another it will happen again, probably from an earlier stage, so it will effect the timing of future pregnancies as well as I won’t be able to pick up my son.
Gosh Kathryn that does sound terribly painful, and must be such a concern when considering future pregnancy. It’s so individual isn’t it, there are those that don’t really suffer at all (I consider myself one of the luckier ones) and those that have to deal with things like SPD.
I’m currently not following the crop top trend either (!) but do hope to wear a bikini soon (ish!) … I keep pushing the summer holiday idea back and back, at this rate we’ll be going away in December…
Thanks for sharing Charlotte. I find it very comforting to know other women have the same issues!
My Linea Nigra was exactly the same, didn’t fade till around 16 weeks postpartum. I found when I started using a sea salt scrub on my belly it really helped it to fade.
Can totally sympathise with the swollen feet. Mine actually did go up a shoe size….thought that was a myth! They didn’t look swollen but my regular shoes were definitely on the tight side. I remember standing in Topshop exclaiming at my husband “they must have changed their sizing, there’s absolutely no way my feet have grown!!”, all the while trying to ram my feet in every available shoe in my regular size ugly step sister style. Don’t worry they do shrink back. Mine did around 12 weeks postpartum.
I didn’t know about Carpel Tunnel Syndrome either. Poor you! I got Restless Leg Syndrome. It’s supposed to stop immediately after pregnancy but I’m now over 6 months postpartum and every night at around 11 it strikes, this horrible urge to move my legs around and stretch them out.
Ah the joys of pregnancy. Still, I wouldn’t change a thing, as it was all necessary to bring about my gorgeous baby boy 🙂 xxxx
Thanks for the scrub tip, I did notice more fading after my last attempt at exfoliation actually, I guess like any other skin it should turnover and renew.
Maybe I have only a few weeks to wait then until my shoes might fit, hoorah!
Restless leg syndrome?! Oh my goodness! I did get bad cramp on occasions and had to go for a midnight wonder to the kitchen (which usually involved a trip to the cupboard with the biscuits in….) x
My mum got lots of stretch marks during her 2 pregnancies but my sister and I didn’t get any. However we did both use mama mio lotion! I had a whopper too (almost 10lb) so I went pretty huge! Nope I didn’t get the luscious hair either it just went fluffier than usual! Great. Although I too didn’t have to wash it often. My ‘line’ stayed for ages. In fact it’s still there 13 months after but it’s very faint and I don’t think anybody else would even see it so I’m sure yours will fade eventually but may never complety go. I got very itchy legs through pregnancy. I scratched them raw in my sleep one night so got e45 cream which helped. I also had back pain on one side just under my right shoulder blade which started around 3 months in so it wasn’t due to the size of my bump. I have no idea what caused this and my doctor couldn’t help. It went as soon as I gave birth. Weird! I think my face has changed too even now I’m back to my pre pregnancy weight. It definitely has a massive impact on your body having children but it’s just so worth it! Mabel’s cheeks are amazing by the way!
Ha ha thanks Lucy, her cheeks really are spectacular!!!
I’m glad you’ve said that about your face, do you mean it’s still kind of rounder? Mine is too, but I quite like it, I did go a bit gaunt a year or so back when I was particularly slim and think it looks much better now.
The back pain was a killer, I hadn’t expected that either x
Yes slightly rounder in the cheeks which makes quite a difference to the overall ‘look’! Not necessarily a bad thing just something I wasn’t expecting! Hopefully it will keep me looking younger for longer!
Thank you for sharing Charlotte. I do love these preggo posts. This was so nice and reassuring when every other Google search for a pregnancy symptom results in a scary amount of over opinionated folks decaling that you must go to A&E immediately!
I am just entering the second trimester and I have been so thrilled that my nausea seems to be easing but unfortunately it seems to have been replaced by horrible headaches on/off all day. It seems like if it isn’t one thing its another – and I still have 6 months to go! Still though, as uncomfortable as this experience is proving to be, I am incredibly grateful to my body for growing me and my lovely husband a baby of our own and I can’t wait to meet the bean at Christmas time! xx
It’s been interesting to see James’s reaction to everything, he has been very proud and supportive of the way I’ve handled it all (even though there were days I didn’t think I was handling it well at all!) I’m sure your husband will be exactly the same – so grateful for a new addition and for you going through the nine months to carry him/her.
What a lovely Christmas present!!! x
I know two people who have had the op for Carpal tunnel, they were really glad they had it done! Maybe try physio first though. Sounds painful.
I also had a C section (unplanned!) and have a question for you & your lovely readers! Does anyone have any recommendations for affordable cream to use to minimise the look of my scar? It’s only two weeks since so I won’t use anything quite yet. I know I should be proud of it but for sheer vanity wouldn’t mind helping it heal nicely! Thanks!
Hi Melissa
I too had an emergency section with my son in 2012 & am currently 29 weeks with number 2. I had numerous problems with my scar hence I had the same worry & thought it would end up much bigger & redder. I am please to report it didn’t & soon faded to a thin silvery line that I hardly notice. Though I did moisturise it regularly with whatever body lotion I had at the time & massaged it frequently once it had finally heeled. I’d read somewhere that this helps to prevent adhesions to underlying tissues, improves blood flow etc to help repair. Uncomfortable as it was sometimes I do think it helped. Congrats on the birth & I hope your recovery is a speedy one!
Lovin these posts Charlotte, they’re my fave
Thank you so much for the advice! I would never have thought of massaging it! Hope everything goes well with baby number 2 Rachel x
ISheild Clinical post surgery balm is amazing, and i’m pretty sure you can use it on an un healed wound. It’s not cheap (£42), but it’s a large tube and works well.
Thanks Ali, will look into that. Maybe an investment worth making! X
I’m using it on my face at night now, and because of it’s skin renewing powers, it’s actually made my fine forehead lines disappear! In ONE WEEK! India Knight wrote a review of it for the Sunday Times, I believe you can find it online. Hope it works for you! X
I think I need some of this….. x
Loving all these suggestions! I haven’t used anything specific as yet, just my regular lotion. I do plan on applying a healing rose oil though once the redness dies down a bit x
I’d not heard of rose oil either – a quick Google search tells me it’s pretty good stuff! x
Hi Charlotte,
The thing that totally floored me about pregnancy was the feeling that I had absolutely no control over my body. I found it uttery wonderful, exciting and weirdly scary at the same time.
I too get Melasma and am that person on the beach with thick white cream under my eyes and massive shades, but it didn’t get any worse during my pregnancy. I got the very dark belly line, the veins, the thick hair as literally not 1 strand fell out my whole pregnancy then came out in clumps afterwards until it returned to my usual rubbish thin barnet.
The thing that was most unbearable was the restless legs, it was horrendous I would have taken hearburn over that any time!
But pleased to say my body has 99% returned to normal other than a wee bit of wrinkles skin above my belly button and the odd panic at a big sneeze ;))
Yay 99%, I’ll take that please!
I am at times a control freak, and I found pregnancy oddly liberating, there was absolutely nothing I could do except stay as healthy and happy as possible for the health of my baby which was fine by me 🙂
Love your honesty in these posts. Its not the prettiest experience is it?! Not too sure about this whole ‘glow’ thing! Seems to me it only occurs for a rare week or two in the second trimester after the initial tiredness and before you become huge! I too believe stretch marks are genetic as luckily I didn’t get any (neither did my mum with 4 kids!) although did apply lots of coco butter which may have helped. Randomly I didn’t get swollen feet (lots of propping up of feet on chairs) but did get fat calves. I was horrified when I couldn’t do the zip up on my winter boots. Luckily my second pregnancy was during the summer so I could live in flip flops. The other random thing was that never in my 30 odd years have I had nose bleeds but with both pregnancies I had a sudden horrific nose bleed at 8 months and then never again. Very odd. All good fun! x p.s. My favourite serum is Clarins Hydra Quench. Expensive but so gorgeous and lasts for ages so I can justify it.
I forgot about hand nose bleeds!!! Had a few if those too, scary at the time, also bleeding gums, I was afraid to clean my teeth to hard (!)
I had the big calves to go with the big feet towards the end, not my sexiest moment.
Thanks for the Hydra Quench tip, I need something to stop this bloody dryness! x
LOVE this post, and everyone’s honesty. It’s great to hear so many people talking openly about it all! At 29 weeks, I have had (touch wood) a pretty straightforward run of things so far, the only little niggles I’m experiencing at this stage are:
1. Restless legs. In the evening it feels like I need some sort of let-stretching machine to get rid of the antsy feeling. The Husband loves me thrashing around like a woman possessed on the sofa!
2. Ditto for cramping. Terrible cramp in my hands, especially my left, when trying to hold things tightly, and in the arches of my feet and calves (and cankles… : (
3. Indigestion / Heartburn. You can guarantee that at about the same time as the restless legs kick in (pardon to the pun) at 8pm, I will have the pleasant sensation of needing to vomit fire. Swigging Gaviscon Advance out of the bottle to alleviate this seems to be working – just a tip ladies, don’t pay £7 a bottle, get your doctor to prescribe it and claim in for free on your NHS Maternity exemption certificate!
Oh, and Charlotte – what is it with the nosebleeds?! Especially in the shower? Literally looks like a scene from Psycho most mornings….
xxx
Not meaning to hijack the thread, but I’ve just read a *very* interesting article over at the Guardian about careers and babies that has quoted Kirstie Allsopp and caused quite a debate amongst myself and a few friends…
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/jun/02/kirstie-allsop-young-women-ditch-university-baby-by-27
Interesting, I heard her say that “at 35 your fertility falls off a cliff” phrase on question time, Jeez, I better get a move on if I want more littles then…..
She does make some valid points though.
Maybe this could be a discussion post all of it’s own?
There has been an outcry about what Kirsty said but I totally get her point. I love how she says women are expected to climb the career ladder, bag a perfect man and have a couple of babies all in 15 years. When you put it like that……
I don’t agree with everything she says but it’s definitely a good discussion point. X
I really didn’t mean to hijack things! An interesting discussion point though, that I think a lot of us would have an opinion on considering our place / situation in life etc 🙂
Not quite a body change as such, but 2 weeks postpartum and suffering from the most hideous night sweats. It’s the most disgusting thing. Please, someone tell me they’ll stop soon!
I got them too Anna! Not nice but yes they do stop but probably not for a few weeks yet. Sorry! x
Very common Anna – it’s your body getting rid of all the excess fluid along with the anxiety of having a baby apparently. I used to keep a spare nightdress/PJ’s at the end of the bed so I could change and it was a case of new bed linen pretty much every day. Rubbish and time consuming but it does improve and eventually stop. x
I also suffered from the delightful carpal tunnel syndrome when I was pregnant with my first daughter. I didn’t have it as badly as you’ve described Charlotte, but I did keep waking up in the night in lots of pain. I ended up wearing wrist supports/splints to bed which I did find really helped. I had also expected it to magically disappear as soon as bubba was born, but it didn’t! Thankfully it did go after a while (sorry, I can’t remember how long after) so don’t give up hope yet that it won’t just disappear overnight soon! And the other good news is that I didn’t suffer from it at all with my second pregnancy, which I had assumed I would.
Emma that’s good to know – they do say every pregnancy is different but at least I’m more experienced/know what to look out for now x
It’s crazy what our bodies go through. 6 months on I’m amazed at how remarkably things go back to normal…I had a pretty dark linea whotsit which has totally faded away now (phew); I had the bleeding gums too (yuck!). My skin was actually way better when I was pregnant, maybe from the excessive amount of water I drank or the lack of premenstral hormones which always seem to be the cause of my breakouts.
The weight falls off eventually, and I’ve been lucky to avoid the dreaded stretch marks too. The only thing I’ve been left with is spider veins behind my knees which do annoy me but it’s a small price to pay. Would love to hear about it if you do get them zapped!
Hooray for the fade, I scrubbed mine like mad last night (!)
My skin on my body, although dry (and veiny!) had a lot less eczema patches than usual, especially for winter, I’m normally covered in it.
I wonder if it was all the extra fluid consumption, I was really thirsty during pregnancy. I’ll let you know on the spider veins! it’s funny, in some lights you can’t see them at all, maybe I am just being incredibly um…vein (excuse the pun) x
Aren’t we just amazing really? I still can’t believe my body was able to do what it and then go back to almost being normal again?!
My Linea Nigra (by the way, how VERY odd is this?!) didn’t disappear fully until about 2 months ago… 10 months after giving birth. I thought it would never go. But now I’m kind of glad it has.
I never knew about Carpel Tunnel being a side effect. I have a friend who had it really bad and she had surgery to correct it… So I guess if it gets truly unbearable that could be an option… Alternatively just teach Mabel to type sharpish!
One very weird thing that happened to me (and actually a friend of mine) during pregnancy was that a wisdom tooth started to grow. As soon as Leo was born it stopped! What on earth is THAT all about?! So now I sort of have a quarter of a tooth through that’s just sort of sitting there.
The hair thing is a strange one… And a very irritating one. I can’t say my hair didn’t fall out when I was preggers and I can’t say that it started to fall out again once I’d given birth but something weird has happened. I have all of this new, what I would call ‘baby hair’ all around my hairline. This means wearing my hair up looks ridiculous because these short pieces of hair just end up sticking out here there and everywhere. NOT a good look.
All in all I think I got off pretty lightly. I suffered with terrible pelvic pain during my pregnancy and never thought that would go away but touch wood, since about 3 months after giving birth the old hips are back to their normal selves and have shaken about the dance floor a few times… Just to test they still work properly you understand not for any sort of personal baby free time enjoyment 🙂
My SIL had really strong stretch marks and was part of a BUPA clinical trial of some sort of fandango laser surgery to reduce them. I’ll check if they ever mentioned anything to do with veins to her.
Great post Mrs O and I’m glad you aren’t feeling the strains of pregnancy too much after having your beautiful little girl xx
A clinical trial? did it work? sounds very…scientific!
This pelvic pain sounds awful, I’m glad I got away with that. My hips hurt a lot towards the end, especially in bed, I just couldn’t get comfortable.
I am yet to venture on the dance floor, really must sort that out pronto! x
I have to admit that I hated being pregnant – it felt like a neverending list of ailments taking over my body! One positive that I wasn’t expecting though was that my eczema completely cleared up. Normally I am allergic to nearly all shower gels and shampoos and get horribly sore eyelids butthis cleared up and I could even wear eye shadow! I’m now 7 weeks post partum and sadly its all back to normal.
I have wicked stretch marks though – sprouted a few at 36 weeks but they erupted after the birth as my stomach shrank and they are still really red. Slathering on the creams and hoping they fade…
I wonder why the eczema clears up so well? if only they could “bottle it” and sell it as a cure, sure is more effective than steroid cream!
I don’t think there is anything wrong with admitting you didn’t enjoy pregnancy, some folks have a really had d time of it.
Try Boots own no colour/fragrance shower gel, it’s amazing and super cheap x
It’s strange isn’t it? The doctor told me that for 50% of people there eczema stays the same, 25% get worse and a lucky 25% have it improve! You’d think they could work out why – I’d pay a lot for that cream!
Thanks for the shower gel rec – its so difficult to find them not crammed with chemicals. Will give it a go.
I too had horrid carpal tunnels pain, overnight during late pregnancy then unable to hold the baby once he was born. The wrist splints help tho are quite hot and sweaty overnight! Took around a couple of months to go. I saw a chiropractor who really helped. She suggested ice packs on my wrists (over the veiny bits) for 10 mins every hours or so. Sounds excessive but I swear it helped. The numbness was caused by swelling (everything swells when pregnant! ) causing pressure on the nerve so the ice eased it.
Hi! I was wondering if ur melasma stayed cleared up even after you delivered?? My melasma went away while I was pregnant & then came back after I delivered!
Dermalmd lightening serum does work! I’m an esthetician always looking for affordable, effective skin care. I have some leftover melasma from pregnancy & older acne marks that I wanted to be lightened & could test this on. I can see a good amt of diff in the post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation left by the acne & the melasma on 1 cheek is basically gone, the other quite a bit lighter. I estimate I’ve used dermalmd serum about 3 weeks now, which if u know about skin turnover, most lightening products do not produce full effects till the 4-5 week mark because that is how long it takes newly produced cells 2 reach your skin”s surface, so I expect more results in the coming weeks. I’m glad 2 find a good alternative to hydroquinone.