- It lasted for about a month during which time I cried
to my husband because I thought,
"Oh my gosh, my butt hole's never gonna be the same,"
but it is normal again, I think.
(funky upbeat music)
Hi, I'm Danielle.
I am 40 years old
and I have two children, age eight and six.
I had a really hard birth, pregnancy especially.
I had a condition during pregnancy called P.U.P.P.Ps.
It is a reaction rash to your pregnancy
and the only cure for it is birth.
I would sleep packed in ice because that was the only thing
that would kind of make it not itchy.
It's incredibly itchy and uncomfortable.
I'm Chandler, I am 33 years old
and I have one daughter who's two and a half years old.
When I found out that I was pregnant with Brooklyn
I was super excited.
My husband and I spent a lot of time
trying to figure out what the color the nursery should be
and all those things, all while I gained
so much weight in my pregnancy.
I gained 92 pounds
so I looked like a double chinned beached whale.
But I ended up having Brooklyn in June
and there was so much that happened
after Brooklyn was born
that I just didn't even think about it.
My name is Krista.
I am 31 years old and I have an 11 year old son.
I had a very easy pregnancy.
It was kind of a breeze.
I had never had like the morning sickness
and the typical things you think of that happen.
Everything went downhill after
and everything changed.
My name is Crystal.
I am 32 years old.
I have three kids.
My first pregnancy with my son was pretty tough,
I was just very exhausted.
What I really wasn't expecting was what comes next.
They don't tell you about the recovery,
they don't tell you what your body is trying to do
to get itself back to the way it was.
Things that you wouldn't think would happen
actually happen to you.
It's mind boggling.
- Hi, I'm Jeannie.
I'm 35.
I have twins who are 17 months old.
I found out pretty early on that I was having twins
so I started showing pretty quickly
but all things considered
I think I had a pretty easy pregnancy.
It got really hard when the babies were born, however.
My boys are two hours and five minutes apart.
I pushed them both out.
It's a miracle.
They came into the world with a bang
and then from there it was hard.
(light instrumental music)
- It's not like they get puffy,
it's like they literally grow.
They literally grow a size.
So, my feet started before pregnancy at a seven and a half.
With the first pregnancy they went up to an eight.
And then they actually did kinda shrink down.
But then after the second pregnancy
they grew to eight and a half
and they stayed that way for a while,
so I bought all new shoes in an eight and half
and then they shrunk down to an eight.
So, final size is I am a size eight shoe.
- I used to be a size, anywhere from seven
to seven and a half.
During pregnancy it was, I had to jump into an eight
'cause they would become a little bit swollen.
And after pregnancy my feet stayed at an eight.
I expected my feet to swell, but I didn't expect for my
feet to actually stay bigger.
Most of my sandals I was able to keep
but my shoes I did have to buy bigger sizes.
- I've heard that your feet can grow
but I was hoping that it wouldn't happen to me.
I even wore the hard arch supports that you get
from the pediatrist that they mold your feet and make.
Before pregnancy I was a size nine.
I'd been a size nine since, I don't know,
I was 12 or 13 years old.
So, I've accumulated a lot of shoes in that time.
I'm a size 10 now, so that's two sizes bigger
than what I was.
I refuse to get rid of my size nine shoes yet
even though I should.
I guess I need to buy more size 10 shoes.
(light instrumental music)
- So, one of the things that I wasn't expecting
was a started to gain weight in other areas of my body
that I normally haven't in the past.
My lower abdomen area I now have a mini kangaroo pouch.
And I'm not sure that that will go away.
Also, underneath my arms just from stretching
from gaining so much weight during pregnancy as well.
I've tried to exercise so I do a bunch of different
crossfit and HIIT training classes to try
and really work those areas.
I'm not really sure if they'll ever go away
but again that's just a part of pregnancy
and embracing my post partum body.
- Well, obviously your stomach doesn't immediately go down,
that's a totally gradual process
but I'd been someone that gained weight more in my hips
and I have a smaller upper body and that stayed the same
but I never would gain it in my stomach.
It was always pretty flat and now,
everything goes to my stomach and it's annoying.
Once the babies had been born
my stomach is still, the skin is still stretched out.
It looks like crepe paper.
I don't know if it's ever gonna go away.
I tried wearing a corset, but that is just more torture
than I'm willing to endure to alleviate the situation.
(light instrumental music)
- So, my skin before pregnancy was pretty normal.
And then I had some things
that kinda lasted after pregnancy.
I started getting sun spots that wouldn't go away.
So, I have a dark spot on my nose,
a dark spot right above my lip, which is super fun
'cause it always looks like
I have just the beginning of a mustache.
I have been treating them with a lightener but
it seems to like brush away makeup as I'm putting it on.
It's like, "Nope, I wanna shine, nope."
It's a good time, yeah (laughs).
- I'll get dry patches on my face.
I sleep with like serums on my face trying to alleviate
that symptom of post pregnancy.
(light instrumental music)
- So, now let's talk about varicose veins.
Real deal, they happen.
I have a lot on my lower leg.
Those are things that not only show up during pregnancy,
but tend to not go away after.
So, now I'm conscious about how my legs,
when I'm crossing my legs and things like that I'm like,
"Ew, what is that?"
My varicose veins are not painful,
they're more just visually annoying.
I haven't thought about getting them removed.
They just kind of are a part of my post partum body.
- I have a few behind my legs which is really weird.
It's not that it's uncomfortable, they don't hurt,
but it's just that they're there.
You know, they make you feel self-conscious about yourself.
I don't feel comfortable wearing shorts anymore.
It's not something that I need to absolutely change
or get removed, I just know that they're there.
(light instrumental music)
- Hair is another thing that changes.
A lot of hair falls out and you'll get hair growth
coming back in so I would get frizzies along my scalp line
and then when I would put my hair up
I would have bald spots.
I think it took like a full year
for my hair to come back.
- Oh, my hair loss.
Oh, my goodness.
I first noticed my hair falling out after I had my son.
I'm surprised I'm not bald yet.
It feel like it falls faster than it grows.
I went to go get my hair cut one time just to get a trim
and my stylist noticed that I had a big bald spot
in the back of my head.
- I actually have had to resort to extensions
which I have I now because my hair got so thin
it was actually coming out in like gobs almost.
And my hair was already pretty thin to begin with
and like really fine,
and then after I had my son it just kept like coming out.
- Something that I wasn't prepared for was
all the hair that I had had lasered off in my 20s,
spent a lot of money, time, it was painful,
it all grew back.
So, under arm hair, bikini line.
It's kind of a bummer
that I endured that torture for nothing.
I don't know the exact cause, I assume it's hormonal
but it doesn't seem to be changing
so I guess I'll just have to shave.
(light instrumental music)
- While you're pregnant your breasts tend to get bigger
to get ready for the milk to come in.
Once the milk comes in your breasts get even bigger.
They change in size throughout the whole breastfeeding
process and then what no one tells you is that afterwards
your breasts shrink in size when you're done breastfeeding
and then gravity isn't your friend
so they get a little droopy.
Post partum breast soreness is similar
to when you have your period on the inside
but it's an on the outside thing because
you are constantly breastfeeding on demand,
and you're pumping and your nipples
and your boobs are being pulled.
You're like essentially a cow.
And you're just feeding on demand
so they end up just getting sore not only on the inside
but also on the outside.
And there's some irritation so you're constantly
thinking about nipple shields and what nipple cream to use,
what bras should you be wearing.
How can you get easy access to just pull the sucker out?
Like, all that kinda stuff.
- I have always had smaller boobs
and I decided to give breastfeeding a go.
Just try it out.
And it was horrible, I couldn't produce enough milk,
I was actually like pumping blood.
So, I went through this process where I was like
creating milk and it would get like engorged
and so my boobs were huge and it was awesome
but then I wasn't producing enough
and so I was having to supplement with formula anyways
and so I just had to quit.
I only did it for like four weeks I think,
or something like that.
After I quit it hurts because the milk dries up
and it's like very, very painful and your boobs
are like rock hard, like when you touch them.
So, then after that they just (blows raspberry) poofed
and deflated into nothingness.
Sometimes when I put on a sports bra it's just
like nothing is there.
- You just learn to be topless all the time
especially with twins 'cause you have one baby
on each nipple, I called them my little barnacles,
my little human pasties.
- Nipples are a whole nother thing.
Your nipples not only grow in size,
but they change in color and it is the weirdest thing ever.
I remember calling my husband into the bathroom
and saying like, "What is happening?"
'Cause my nipples were, A, so big and they were like
outlined with a dark color
and the reason being is it's almost like creating
a target for the baby so the baby knows where to go
when you're breastfeeding.
And what's weird now is that my boobs are,
you know, a little bit shriveled and gravity
is not my friend is that my nipples are now shaped weirdly.
They're like more of a oval than a circle,
so goodbye nipples.
I'm not gonna tell anyone that I did this video
now that I'm embarrassing myself so much.
(light instrumental music)
- Okay ladies, let's talk about hemorrhoids.
I pushed for three hours to get my two babies out.
Like I was pooping.
So, I got hemorrhoids.
I didn't even know what it was until I experienced it.
I could only describe as like feeling like I had
a wad of toilet tissue in my butt
while I was walking around trying to take care of my babies.
It lasted for about a month,
during which time I cried to my husband because I thought,
"Oh my gosh, my butt hole's never gonna be the same."
But it is normal again, I think,
I never really paid attention to it before,
but it feels normal.
That's my hemorrhoid story.
You heard a lot about my butt hole (laughs).
- Your bladder control changes.
So, if you need to go to the restroom you should go
because if you laugh unexpectedly, sneeze unexpectedly,
get scared unexpectedly,
sometimes a little bit will come out.
I think it does get a little bit better,
but even like today, when I have to go to the restroom,
I go to the restroom because I know that there's like
a little bit of a chance.
- After I had Evan I literally would wake up
and there would be like a pool of sweat.
And I wouldn't be hot.
It would be a perfect temperature.
Sometimes I would even be cold and it would be like
that cold, sweaty feeling.
It was so gross.
I was having to like wash my sheets every single night.
We put a fan on me and it took forever
for it to balance out.
- For me the biggest thing that's changed
is my mental, like mentally.
If something happens to me
who am I gonna leave my kids with?
I have to talk myself into going places
'cause I'm just nervous.
Like, what if I get into an accident on the way over there
and then I'm there and my kids are like, "Don't leave me."
It gets to me because
I need to like make sure everything's okay
for me to be able to be here for them.
Physically, like, okay we can get better,
we can lose the weight,
we can find something to do with your hair,
but mentally I feel like that just doesn't go away.
(upbeat music)
- It's weird for me to talk about all the negative things
that happened after pregnancy or even during pregnancy
because I felt so lucky to just be pregnant at all.
My husband and I had a hard time getting pregnant,
so I was so grateful to be pregnant,
to even have these two little things that are my babies
that look like half me and half my husband,
I'm so grateful and I'll forever be grateful for that.
So, I don't know if I'll ever be 100 percent who I was
before pregnancy but I know that the person that I am now
is the best person that I've been my whole life
and I'm so grateful for everything that I've experienced,
good and bad.
- So although I did have a little bit of a struggle
with post partum body image,
being able to watch my daughter get the nutrients
that she needed to be a thriving newborn baby
and making sure that I was just believing in myself
and knowing that I was gonna be an awesome mom
was the best part of post partum for me.
- So, after going through all those body changes
it's obviously taken time to get to where I am now
and I feel like I am more comfortable and confident
in my body that I was before I was even pregnant.
So, now I look at things like stretchmarks and I'm just
proud of them because my body was literally able to house
a human and obviously it gave me the best gift ever
which is my son.
- I wouldn't change anything.
I have three beautiful kids that I love so much.
I love my family and it's all worth it.
- I think kinda the coolest part is watching them grow.
They look up to me as their mom
and people tell them all the time like,
"Oh, you look just like your mom," or,
"You're so pretty, you're so cute, you look just like mom,"
so I have to be good with myself in my skin
and feel comfortable in my own body
because they're learning from me.
Whatever marks they left on my body, they were all worth it
'cause I have them.
(upbeat music)