There are things that happen to our bodies during and after pregnancy that women are often embarrassed about and ashamed of. But ladies, there’s no need to be, it happens to the best of us! Growing and carrying a baby is a blessing and what our bodies are built for. We should never be embarrassed about what happens in the process. It’s all part of the journey.

So what might happen to me?

Well, ladies, yes you might get piles. Luckily for me, it’s not something I suffered with in either of my pregnancies (phew) but very common. There’s a lot of pressure down there so you can understand why it happens. Don’t be alarmed if it happens to you. It’s normal. Unless you’re like Lucy from Mrs H’s Favourite Things, who according to her midwife, had piles that would be visible from space, then I’d be worried! 😉 Ha. What an awful and ridiculous thing to say. To to be fair, once you’ve had a baby you definitely find things less and less embarrassing so I’m sure Lucy got over it.

You might get stretch marks. Big ones, faint ones, purple ones, silver ones. On your belly, on your bum, on your boobs, on your legs. You can use as much stretch mark cream/oil as you want (which may improve them) but if you’re gonna get them, you’re gonna get them. Again, I’m a lucky one and only got them in places that didn’t bother me, however the midwife who checked me when I was in labour with Lamb kindly pointed out I had “a lot of stretch marks” on the back of my thighs. Yeah, thanks. She’s lucky I didn’t kick her in the head. I already hate my legs as it is and now I hate them even more. But, they are my markings from being pregnant and I can deal with that.

We all hope and pray it doesn’t happen to us, but yes you might have a little accident in your pants every now and then. Our muscles down there go through a lot and can struggle a little due to the weight of the baby. Then once the baby is here our lady bits just might not be the same and little accidents just can’t be helped. To avoid embarrassment invest in some decent incontinence pads and carry on as normal. No one will ever know. Poor Chelle from The Lifestyle Log struggled when she had morning sickness during pregnancy and had a little accident from all of the retching. But hey, now she has her beautiful boy so who cares about the little accidents.

I’m sure most women struggle with this after giving birth is constipation. Yes ladies, you might struggle to go. After Lamb was born it took me 8 days to go and that was after taking a double dose of Senekot (herbal laxative) and after BB it took me 7 days but this time I didn’t need any extra help. Jenny from Great North Mum describes it wonderfully. “Oh, the agony of going to the loo after suffering a severe tear! Terrified of popping stitches with a number two, and the indignity of pouring a cup of warm water over your bits just to have a wee as the stinging is unbearable otherwise. I would be in tears every time. Makes me shudder now just thinking of it!” Going for the first time after birth is probably the one thing new mums worry about the most, but once you’ve been it’s really not that bad! C’mon ladies we’ve given birth! We got this. 😉

Another embarrassing one from Jade who blogs at Raising The Rings, ladies yes you might struggle with wind. “I could not hold my trumps after Toby. Literally any movement had me letting rip. I remember I farted so loud in the middle of the night when Toby was a few days old my OH said “that’s my boy” and I had to confess it was me!”

Not only babies get nappy rash. Poor Lauren from Belle Du Brighton found wearing maternity pads after giving birth during the summer months a real struggle and ended up with nappy rash herself! “I got nappy rash from wearing maternity pads for so long in a heatwave. The post birth bleeding lasted for weeks but the nappy rash was 10x worse. Sudocrem all round!” I’ve also heard of women getting heat rash under their breasts due to sweating so much in those first months. So ladies, you might get heat rash.

Finally is something every new mum will experience, you might bleed heavily. Kate from My Family Fever was told at her antenatal class that the bleeding after birth would be ‘like a period’ but it was much worse. She thinks its important for mums to be to know how heavy the bleeding can be so they aren’t surprised when it happens. It certainly wasn’t like a period for me either. During the bleeding you might also experience the loss of blood clots, which is also normal if they are small. Poor Hannah from Budding Smiles had a really scary experience. “I lost a blood clot a couple of days after Toby’s birth, I was in the loo at Kiddicare and thought I was dying because it was so huge. I had to ask a cleaner who came in to go and fetch Phil because my phone was dead so I couldn’t call the midwife to see if it was normal or not”. Luckily it wasn’t anything to worry about, but if it happens to you and you’re worried then don’t be afraid to call you midwife of health visitor.

The aim of this post was to 1. make new mums/mums to be aware of the ’embarrassing’ things that may happen to them during or after pregnancy, and 2. show you it’s totally normal and every mum has their own experiences with it, some better than others.

You can easily be prepared for any of this to happen by making sure you’re stocked up on useful products.

1. Senekot is great for constipation and fine to take when breastfeeding.
2. Incontinence pads will catch those accidental leaks.
3. Maternity pads look bog and scary but I had to two at once so don’t be alarmed at their size, you’ll need it.
4. Sudocrem is magic. Nappy rash, heat rash, whatever. It should be in everyones cupboard.

I want to thank the lovely ladies who took part in this post to help normalise the things our bodies go through during/after pregnancy. There’s really no need to be embarrassed, we’ve all been there.

~A~

*PR Collaboration

Congratulations! You’re having a baby! And aside from the fact that a few months from now you’ll be holding that bundle of joy in your arms (woohoo!), you’ll also get a lot of time off work! (Double woohoo!)

But on that note, if you’re not working, you’re going to have less money coming in (unless your employer offers full pay during maternity leave). Eek! And baby things aren’t cheap, are they?

Well, don’t panic! Help is here. I’m going to give you a little help and advice on how you can start saving so that you can keep the money worries at bay when the baby arrives.

Maternity clothing – I’m afraid you’re going to get a teeny bit bigger(!) so you’ll need clothes to fit your ever expanding belly.  The problem is that buying maternity clothing is a minefield. Most brands only sell it online which means you can’t try before you buy and a lot of the ranges are incredibly uncomfortable. As a result, many mums-to-be end up buying a lot of items they don’t get to wear. My money saving tips here are as follows:

1. Don’t dismiss your current wardrobe. Your favourite jeans and trousers won’t fit you but any loose fitting shirts, tops and dresses might. I was able to wear a lot of my existing wardrobe until month eight.
2. New Look offers some of the best maternity jeans and leggings on the market and Gap’s maternity/nursing tops are very flattering and comfortable. Why go expensive when you don’t have to?
3. Be realistic about your style limitations while you’re heavily pregnant. You don’t need to look like a million dollars every day so all you need is a couple of simple tops and jeans/leggings and you should getaway with your existing jackets, scarfs and wraps.
4. Borrow maternity clothes from any of your mates that have recently had children. I’m not asking you to share their big pants but there may be a few nice shawls or tops that you could borrow to save you buying your own.

Building a baby fund – Set up a savings account as soon as you can. This is where you’ll put any money you’ve saved for your new arrival. And to save this money, here’s what I recommend:

1. You’re no longer drinking booze or smoking so whatever you used to spend on that per month (and be honest!) should go into the baby fund. Also, get your partner to cut back on his drinking and smoking too and that baby fund will grow even faster.
2. Shortly before the baby is born, you’ll go through a nesting phase where you’ll have strong urges to clean and sort the house out. Rather than doing this late in your pregnancy and causing yourself an injury, do it now. With a little help, you may find a pile of things that you can sell to make some money.
3. Change your eating out habits. DON’T eat out less often as it’s important you make the most of your ability to go out before the baby arrives, but instead use vouchers when you eat out. Then put the money you’ve saved in the baby fund!
4. On the subject of eating, now that you can’t eat certain foods, use the change of diet as an opportunity to review the way you do your food shopping and cut down on your food bills. For help, I have a guide here. Again, what you save each week, should go into the savings account.
5. Having a baby is a new and exciting experience and there is a temptation to buy a ton of baby books and guides to help your through it. My recommendation is not to do this. Speaking from experience, even though I bought lots of these books, I found the most valuable information came from the internet or my mummy friends. Save your money. A good website for help is http://www.babycentre.co.uk
6. Review your direct debits for membership fees for gyms, fitness classes and other clubs or teams. I’m sorry to say that once the baby arrives, you’ll be far too busy to make use of these for a while so it’s best to cancel them as soon as you can and save that money.

Getting the home baby-ready. There are a lot of things to buy in preparation for the baby’s arrival but how do you avoid spending a fortune? Here are my tips:

1. For the nursery, you’ll need a cot, black-out blinds, a wardrobe and a changing table. Review eBay for any nearly new items (you don’t want anything that’s not in great condition) and then I recommend obtaining the rest of the furniture from Mothercare, Toys-r-us or Ikea. They are the cheapest brands and the former two often have discount vouchers so keep your eyes peeled and get ready to buy! For the black-out blind, you are spoilt for choice when it comes to low cost options, but again, look out for sales so you can buy it when it’s at its cheapest.
2. Take control of the baby shower. Your friends and family are likely to want to celebrate your new arrival with a party or with gifts. Rather than going somewhere swanky, host something small at your mum’s or best friend’s house to save everyone money and then they can spend that instead on something you will need for the baby. You can set up a little gift list of small affordable items such as nappies, newborn clothes, baby wipes, changing mat and other bits and pieces so that you’re stocked up for the first few weeks.
3. Join your local mums group on Facebook. Not only will you get lots of support and advice, but you’re likely to also get offered a few helpful items that they no longer need such as pregnancy pillows and moses baskets!

Once the baby arrives, a whole load of new costs will arrive, so check out my guide on acquiring these things simply and cheaply here!

I hope this little guide has helped you. Now sit back, put your feet up and enjoy the peace and quiet. You’re growing a little person and need to take it easy!

Thank you so much to Hannah from Feast Style Thrive for sharing this extremely helpful post. 

To get more of Hannah’s tips, check out her blog http://feaststylethrive.com. You can also follow her on Twitter at https://mobile.twitter.com/HannahLisaBrice and on Facebook at https://m.facebook.com/Feaststylethrive/.