The Post-Partum Body

So since my post on weird pregnancy symptoms is by far and away the most popular post ever, on my wee blog (50% of all traffic, thanks to accidentally hitting on a popular search term), I've been meaning to write a bit about what's happened since.

• Regarding what I wrote about hair loss: during pregnancy I may or may not have stopped losing hair. About four months after I gave birth, WHOMP out went half my hair. Seriously, there was so much hair falling out of my head that DH and I were worried I was going bald. The hairstyle wasn't noticeably affected, to me at any rate. Ask my hair stylist if you want to know for sure.
• All that stuff I mentioned about darker body hair and moles: no change. Ahem.
• Belly: still no stretch marks, but poochy and jiggly. I haven't done a lot to try to change it. I've been exercising intermittently and eating like I'm still pregnant but with the addition of a moderate amount of wine... so... no change expected.
• Breasts: fourteen months of breastfeeding and every once in awhile, I look in the mirror and say 'hey I've finally got the cleavage I've always wanted. Meh.' 
• Lady bits: the small tear took longer than I expected to fully heal. And by fully heal, well, I'm not going to explain that. But it was six months or so before... I was going to say back in the saddle but that's not quite right. Sad face.
• Behind the lady bits: also, the side effects of my intestinal slow down took a long time to heal. I wouldn't say things are totally back to my pre-pregnancy state even now but thankfully a lot better. 
• Birth control: around one year post-partum, menstruation returned for me (thank you lactational amenorrhea!) so we gave up the condoms (yay!) and I went back on the pill. Or rather, I thought my period had returned. So far she's made only one appearance. At any rate, being back on the pill has changed my...
• Skin! Nasty old adult acne that I used to get while on the pill, if not using retinol, is back with a vengeance. Ah well.

A couple notes on the post-partum mind:

• I was never much for horror and suspense genre entertainment. I find it totally unwatchable now. I am writing this with an episode of Bones running in the background. The storyline involves a kidnapped 8 year old boy. I can barely tolerate it and it helps to be distracted by writing this and watching the twitterstream flow by. I'm just watching for the shots of DC. I should watch Legally Blonde or something instead. Blog posts about miscarriage and sick children are pretty much guaranteed to get me bawling.
• Don't get me started on long distance commercials. I will cry at the drop of a hanky, or the sound of a kid saying 'Mom?'
• Pre-birth, I gave myself a manicure every Sunday night, and a pedicure every two weeks. I think I've half heartedly painted my nails three or four times in the past year. I miss it but I often can't be bothered. 

Poor kidnapped kid in Bones had a finger cut off. I want to throw up.

Speaking of nauseated, after almost a year of unplanned bedsharing with the baby, I love it. It made life easier and mornings are so snuggly and delicious with the baby right there. She wakes up in such a happy mood. Oh right, on nauseated: I just feel sad for the babies being left alone to cry themselves to sleep every night. I wish I could snuggle them all. 

Some of these things have been a surprise, some not so much. All of them, I hardly notice, especially when I'm schmooshing my baby girl!

What has your post-partum or post-adoption body, mind and life been like?

Late Pregnancy Symptoms - Some Weird, Some Less So

I think I just like using the word weird.

At any rate, I'm now 36 weeks pregnant - crikey, that went by fast! What's changed since the last post on dealing with the funny pregnancy symptoms? Very little.

Both the "typically first trimester" symptoms of morning sickness and metallic taste in my mouth have receeded but not completely gone away.

One new one is that my hair or my scalp I suppose, is really oily all of a sudden. I normally wash my hair twice a week and the stretch from Wednesday to Sunday is really getting questionable. I'm not sure if I were 36 weeks pregnant in the winter, that this would be such a problem, but it's hot here and I don't think all the sweating is helping. I do think the rate at which my hair falls out may have slowed - or it may only appear to have slowed, since I got it cut in Barbados and it looks like less in the tub hair trap... Yum!

My heartburn has only gotten worse. I've also talked to enough moms who took way more than 4 Tums/Rolaids per day and ended up with healthy babies that I've stopped worrying about it on the few days that I have taken 4 before lunch... I've also finally been told that I can take one proton pump inhibitor, Xantac. Argh. I should really complain more. I think I just haven't wanted to be the whiner so I haven't bitched and moaned about the heartburn enough to be told this earlier.

Still no stretch marks. A few funny little purple veins on the belly, that might be baby varicose veins, but they don't bulge or hurt so I'm not going to worry about them. The skin on my belly sometimes looks a bit red so I keep moisturizing and it seems fine.

Potential TMI alert on paragraph below!

Speaking of varicose veins, after my bout of intestinal distress back in March, I grew myself some really nice varicose veins of the bum, aka hemorrhoids. Yuck! Unfortunately they've never gone away. Apparently as well as coming along with the constipation and whatnot, their presence is also often attributed to the weight of the baby and her accoutrement on the intestines. After the first couple weeks, they no longer itched and burned, which is alright. However, now with the size of my belly combined with these buggers, it's sometimes hard to reach to clean effectively after a BM. Hoping that makes sense without being excessively graphic?

TMI alert off.

Ooh, one new pregnancy symptom: I'm really irritable. So irritable. I get now why women take time off work before the baby comes. It's not to get the house ready or rest. It's because if you don't, something might fly out of your cranky potty mouth that could get you fired. I'm trying to keep a lid on it. Fortunately I love my job and work with great, competent people, so there's not too much of a reason to lose my grip at work. Poor DH though. He gets all my crazy, rather unfiltered.

Finally, I go back and forth on this mini-series of pregnancy symptoms / side effects / manifestions. I don't like calling them symptoms as I don't think I'm sick, nor side effects because it's not a drug... though I could make an argument for bottling and selling some of the hormones. Manifestations I only just came up with and it sounds a little woo woo out there.

Dealing with Pregnancy Side Effects

I can't pretend to be an expert on dealing with the symptoms or side effects, as this is just my first time through it, but I'll share what's worked well for me.

• Metallic taste in mouth: Trident chewing gum works for me - I haven't had much luck with other types of sugarless the flavour away. Yes, I am still having the metal taste in my mouth. I'm in the third trimester for goodness sakes!

• Morning/whenever sickness and nausea: eat something! It's counter-intuitive, but it really helps to eat a small amount of carbs. I was good friends with the whole wheat saltine. Except when I'm nauseated because I forgot to not brush my tongue in the morning. I haven't figured that one out yet. Yes, I'm in the third trimester and still somewhat nauseated in the morning. There are worse things...
• Intestines moving too slowly: I've switched to Citra-Natal, a prescription prenatal vitamin with a stool softener and a more easily digested form of iron in it. I've also continued to eat loads of raw fruit and veggies, and drink loads of water. I alternate between prune and apricot juice - I can't find unsweetened apricot juice though, which makes me cranky(er). Finally, I've significantly reduced the amount of cheese and bananas I eat. All put together, I'm more regular. Thank you, PTB.
• Sinus congestion: I got nothing. The neti pot? Fun to use and I do believe there are health benefits, but the congestion just comes back within a few hours.
• Back pain: gentle, pregnancy modified yoga and seeing my chiropractor once a week. If you're pregnant, it's important to find a chiropractor who has done a course in obstetric chiropractic: not all of them have. I have read that my chiropractor can help reposition the baby if she's almost ready to come out but in a breech position.
• Heartburn: Tums is my friend and constant companion (with a bottle in my desk, another in the loo at home, and a packet in my purse). So is sitting upright after eating, and eating several small meals instead of one big one, but sometimes I both have heartburn and feel hungry. Go figure.
• Pregnancy brain: One word: BlackBerry. Don't know what I'd do without it, other than buy an iPhone.

Here's a new one: I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions for at least a couple weeks and just figured it out, oh, you know, yesterday. Thank you WTEWYE! I was reading ahead to the 28 - 32 weeks section, where they mention that sometimes your uterus feels like a rock for a little while and then it stops, and identifies these as BH contractions. I had no idea. They also mentioned that they can start as early as 20 weeks... but don't mention it in the book until 28? Sigh. Editors are great.

At any rate, I haven't got anything in particular for dealing with the BH contractions - they're not painful (yet), just weird feeling: I look like I have a melon stuffed up my shirt, but now my belly feels hard, like a melon... and then it goes away. I actually thought, before I got this label for it, that the baby was doing backflips or something, and just taking up a lot of space.

The hairiness? I shave the bits I normally shave and ignore the rest. The belly touching hasn't got out of control yet.

Actually speaking of WTEWYE, I love that every month/chapter starts what what to expect this month, and is mostly physical stuff but also some mental/emotional stuff too. The last couple months, boredom with the pregnancy has been listed, which just blows me away. I feel like I'm just really getting into it now and enjoying that I'm really showing. I think the whole thing has been fascinating and (largely) wonderful. The only boredom I'm worried about is that not everyone else around me is finding my pregnancy as endlessly fascinating as I am!

Let's hear some other good tips for managing the pregnancy side effects you've experienced!

Photo credit: Eric Gjerde

down for a few days; possibly TMI for the faint of heart

So I was laid up with an unexpected issue last week...

Everyone says that some constipation is normal during pregnancy, and I've been doing what I can to manage it. But something happened last week - or rather, things stopped happening... Tuesday I was uncomfortable. Tuesday night I couldn't sleep more than an hour or two at a time, for the pains in my abodomen. Wednesday, I called my midwife and she suggested another remedy in addition to what I was already taking. She also agreed with my step-mom that cheese and bananas are to be eliminated. Sigh. Done.

Thursday, I wasn't progressing and sometimes literally doubled over in pain. My midwife had me call the GI specialist I had seen last year to see if I could get in to see her for a consult. The GI didn't want to see me - when she heard my situation, pregnant, no bowel movement, she sent me off to the ER.

At the ER, I got sent to Obstetrics, where for a few hours, DH and I waited around, drank ice water, and answered the same questions over and over. Nothing since Monday. Pain, intermittent, sharp, here and here. Baby's fine, 22 weeks. Sure, let's listen to her heart just to be sure. First baby. The tenth or so person to see us essentially said you're pregnant and no spring chicken, take another remedy, you're going to be fine.

That wasn't what I wanted to hear, but she was right. At least in as far as the final remedy pushed things through, and when I saw my midwife on Saturday, she agreed that I might just be in for a somewhat uncomfortable (that is, painful) pregnancy. Things seem to be back to pregnancy-normal with regard to my digestive system now, and I'm still in some pain. We figured that there are a couple other causes for that pain: round ligament pain and fibroids. (My ultrasounds have shown that I have a couple of fibroids, and I think everyone with a uterus is supposed to have round ligaments.)

So there we go - I'm fine and looking sparkly again (said one of my staff, thank you!) and I'm working on redefining what feeling good means...