Live embodied physical therapy

From what I can tell, most people feel this way.

And let me tell ya, it’s a shame.

So, I’m devoting a whole segment of blog posts to this problem with the hope that a few mom’s find themselves saying that a bit less and feeling less confused about their postpartum body.

This post is devoted to what your body feels like after birth: the squish, the leakage, the soreness.

Your babe is now on the outside of your body, and your cute (and equally uncomfortable) baby bump is gone. You’re belly is squishy and swollen, and you might ask yourself

“Wait… Do I even still have abdominal muscles?” So I want to talk about what happens to your belly muscles after birth.

It’s probably no surprise to hear that the muscles are stretched out, after gracefully creating room for your sweet babe. But what does that mean?

When your abdominal muscles are stretched for so long and to such an extent, they will take a little bit of time to recover and return to a normal length. Until then, they might not work quite as well which can make it feel difficult to get out of bed, lift your baby from the crib, and do simple tasks that you could do in pregnancy. I know that can feel bizarre and maybe scary, but it’s a normal part of recovery. Muscle tissue takes about 6 weeks to fully heal, so in that time it’s important to be kind to your body, rest, and be gentle with movement and exercise. BUT: that doesn’t mean all movement and exercise is bad. It’s good. Very good! And that’s what our postpartum recovery class covers- a gentle safe plan to aid in recovery following birth.

A little note on belly binders/braces… (I get asked about this a lot so I figured I’d “go there.”) I have complicated feelings on these products. I think they can be harmful by feeding into the idea of the “bounce back” body… the notion that wearing them will “shrink” your belly and help “slim” down after birth. I really hate that idea and I think the culture of expecting bodies to be skinny after pregnancy / birth is extremely harmful.

The notion of a body “bouncing back” after birth is a fallacy. It’s just not biology, it’s not how bodies work.

My other qualm with these products is the physical implications they might have on your core and pelvic floor. Like I described above, your belly muscles are stretched and not working properly after birth. And it makes sense to assume a brace or support would help… and in some certain cases… it does! However, if you don a brace and have constant pressure on your belly, that puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on your pelvic floor (think of a tube of toothpaste, when you squeeze the tube, the toothpaste has to go somewhere). And that’s a problem because your pelvic floor is also not in tip-top shape after birth. So you are applying excessive pressure in and down in your abdominal cavity, and the pelvic floor is unable to respond. This can lead to complications in healing and intensify symptoms that are associated with high pressure on the pelvic floor (like prolapse, leakage, etc).

However, there are some ritualistic practices that involve belly binding (such as, Bengkung Belly Binding) which can be beautiful and nurturing for new moms. My prime concern is wearing a garment that constantly puts pressure on your abdomen, which could potentially inhibit your pelvic floor healing.

So… if you choose to belly bind or wear a brace. Please make sure its not too tight and not restricting your movement or causing symptoms in your pelvic floor/bladder/bowel/perineum.

Next (and last topic for now)… the pelvic floor.

If you’ve experienced a vaginal birth you understand the humbling feelings in your crotch afterwards.

You might have caught yourself saying “what on earth is going on down there?”
And that makes sense, because honestly. A lot is going on down there.

Similar to the changes your belly muscles underwent during pregnancy, your pelvic floor muscles and vaginal tissue stretches *a lot* during a vaginal birth. Which is awesome, but it also means that they similarly need some time to recover. Until then, your muscles might not feel connected to your brain… I often describe this feeling of “being offline.” And while they’re offline, they don’t work as well as they normally would. So that can result in lots of bladder leakage, inability to hold gas (don’t apologize to your fam… you literally just created and birthed a human), and maybe even some bowel leakage.

I know these symptoms can feel scary, but they are usually temporary. And like my suggestion for your belly muscle recovery, you want to be kind to yourself and move in gentle ways. Again, that doesn’t mean that you can’t start a recovery plan if you want to… but following a specific early postpartum plan (like ours ;)) is important. Being on your feet for long periods of time in the first few weeks can cause the symptoms to worsen, so be sure to take breaks, enjoy snuggling your babe on the couch, and delegate house tasks to others. After a few weeks, the muscles recover and you’ll start to see a shift in your ability to hold your pee and farts!

So in summary… it can feel like a lot is going on with your body. And that’s because it is. So if you are currently pregnant and not sure what to expect in postpartum or if you are in the thick of it now… I hope this post helps. And I hope if you read this and are experiencing any of this after childbirth, then you will feel equipped and empowered to care for yourself.

Cheers to bodies doing amazingly difficult, magical things.

Sam