The 38 weeks of pregnancy took me on a rollercoaster of mixed feelings and emotions, and I must admit I was looking forward to not being pregnant anymore. On the practical side, even though my pregnant belly was small by most standards—it didn’t pop out much—I still carried a 6.1 lbs. and 45-centimetre tall baby, and I was pretty uncomfortable during the last few weeks.
I kept on going to yoga until I was 37 weeks pregnant and I took long walks but I was getting more and more sore and tired towards the end. I know I’m lucky I was able to stay active throughout my pregnancy and that I didn’t experience any issues, but boy… no longer being pregnant feels great.
I had heard horror stories about what to expect in the postpartum (i.e. after birth) stage but again, I guess I was lucky, it was (and is) a good experience, albeit a strange and sudden one.
One minute your belly is huge and hard (and I mean hard as a rock with the contractions!) and the next one, it’s empty—“jelly belly” the nurse called it. The first day after giving birth, I still had a bit of a pregnant belly but it quickly disappeared—much faster than it came considering it took me nine months to grow it! I didn’t have any stretch marks and I didn’t experience lingering contractions or pain in general despite having a second-degree tear—again, I’m counting my blessings.
On a lighter note, I (re)discovered 10 things that feel great when you are no longer pregnant!
- You can drink as much as you want and don’t have to pee constantly since there is no longer a mini-baby jumping on your bladder.
- Waxing your bikini line becomes much easier again. Bonus: you can also bend to wax your legs and cut your toenails!
- You feel lighter when you walk and don’t have to puff like a polar bear when climbing the stairs.
- You can get out of the bed (or sofa, or whatever place where you passed out) easily. You can also turn over in bed in one smooth motion.
- Your stomach is flat (or flatter) and you have big boobs. As opposed to having a huge belly that makes you look flat-chested, regardless of the actual size of your breasts.
- You can lie on your stomach and stretch your spine. Boy, it feels wonderful!
- People no longer attempt to rub your belly (or if they do, you are hanging out in the wrong place).
- Doctors and healthcare providers in general lose interest in you; only the baby matters. Fine by me: I was getting tired of handing out urine samples like Halloween candies.
- No more Diego Maradona-like kicks under the ribs or in the bladder. Yay!
- After wearing either maternity clothes or the same few items that fitted your pregnant belly best, you get a kick of rediscovering your old clothes. Walking into your own closet feels like walking into a store—“hey, I didn’t remember I had this pair of jeans!”
Did you feel the same after you had your baby?
I guess you are lucky, my mom used gain so much weight during her pregnancy that she had a hard time shedding the baby-weight afterwards !
Yep, every woman is different!
Nice photo of you ! It looks like you did recover pretty fast, I’m happy for you. Though you said “You feel lighter when walking” and I’m not so sure about this if, as you said, Mark only falls asleep in your arms 😉
I was expecting the worse from the “postpartum” stage but I was lucky. Best thing with Mark outside of my body is that Feng can help! 😆
“I mean hard as a rock” <– not a word I thought would be used to describe a woman's anatomy 😀
"No more Diego Maradona-like kicks" <– HAHAHAHAHAAHAHA
You wouldn’t want to know how I described my anatomy back then 😆
Another hilarious post. I first saw the picture, and wondered, really, you already look that good after just giving birth? Awesome!
And yes, if people are still trying to rub your belly even if you’re not pregnant, then you definitely are hanging out in the wrong place!
Finally, it’s all a matter of perspective isn’t it, flat stomach makes average boobs look big! 😛
I was lucky I guess! I really didn’t know what to expect but it turned out better than I thought. I tried to stay fit during the pregnancy, which probably helped as well.
Zhu, you look amazing!
I’m blushing now 🙂
I can’t believe how good you look after just having had a baby. The other moms must be green with envy!
I’m blushing, thank you! I don’t mean to brag, every woman is different. I was surprise myself how fast my body went back to “normal”.