The Aftermath
As promised, this post is a follow up to my posting yesterday (or was it two days ago? I lose track now…) on my c-section. The changes to my body during my pregnancy were really difficult for me for some reason. I’ve never been particularly concerned with how I look, but seeing myself look so different was really hard. I’m happy to report that I am feeling much better about myself now, and that when its all said and done, the weight and body changes are just all part of the ride.
Immediately after my c-section, I expected to see some major changes in my body. I wanted to drop the weight the minute I got off that operating table. I wanted the swelling to go away the instant I held that baby for the first time. I wanted my face to deflate the second they shouted, “Its a Boy!” Sadly, none of those things happened.
They pumped me so full of fluids when I had my surgery that I actually swelled even more than I had during my pregnancy (if that’s humanly possible). So, in the first days after I had the baby, I was actually a little bigger than I had been during the last month of my pregnancy. I believe this is at least 65% of the reason they keep you heavily medicated in the hospital. Otherwise, you’d have a bunch of pissed off new moms walking around what is supposed to be the happiest wing of the hospital…
So, here we go with the dreaded pictures.
(Hang on a minute while I take another shot of vodka…)
This is me after one week. Notice the LARGE, LOOMING, EVER-PRESENT belly. When I rolled out of bed on Day 7 and still had this tummy handing off of me, I cried. Really. Everyone told me my entire pregnancy, “Oh, its all baby weight! It’ll come right off!” and here I was a full week out and nothing was moving.
(Note to self: Avoid anything sleeveless for the REST OF YOUR LIFE.)
I also thought my swelling would go down. Turns out that didn’t happen right away either. Check out these hobbit feet:
And as if the hobbit feet weren’t annoying enough, my face suddenly swelled up like a balloon. Awesome for all those pictures when the baby was born, let me tell you.
So, I didn’t just pop the baby out and suddenly shrink back down to my normal size right away. But it gets better every day. I am now 2 and a half weeks out and I just had my first visit to my doctor’s office today. Since I don’t own a scale, this was my first time knowing how much weight I had lost… (drumroll, please)
I’m down 25 pounds in two weeks. Now, before all you crazy pregnant ladies out there start hooting and hollering, let me put a caveat on that. My doctor said the reason my weight loss was so drastic was because I swelled abnormally large during my pregnancy. So most of my weight loss was water weight from my legs. But still. Its 25 pounds that I’m not carrying around anymore and that makes me pretty damn happy.
(Also, a side note thanks to a lovely reader’s comment. I am not nursing, but nursing is supposed to take off even more weight. So take that into consideration, too, if you’re out there in Preggo Land trying to guesstimate your post-pregnancy weight loss. You could lose even MORE! And THAT is worth a hoot and holler!)
Today, this is what my stomach looks like: (excuse the photography – Chris is back at work, so I had to take these myself…)
I still can’t fit into my pre-pregnancy pants because I have another 20 pounds to lose before I’m back to my pre-pregnancy weight, so I’m wearing my maternity clothes still. But with my incision still being sore, the loose clothing is actually really nice.
My feet, ankles, and calves have returned to their normal size, too, and that is awesome! I haven’t seen them this small in 6 or 7 months. I look so dainty now! Well…compared to what they were before.
The weirdest part about my feet though is that they swelled so much during my pregnancy that the sides of my feet actually have very small stretch marks on them! Isn’t that crazy?!??! I had never heard of that happening to someone before! What a weird place to get stretch marks.
And speaking of stretch marks, I am happy to report that mine have faded a LOT. I still have them and they are still pretty freaky, but they aren’t bright red like they were before I had the baby. Sadly, my belly seems to have…well…gone to crap. When you are pregnant, your skin stretches out and so even when you lose that weight from the baby, your skin is still wobbly and jiggly because it hasn’t shrunken back up yet. I think this is the part that I am most uncomfortable with right now. My belly is mostly gone, but the skin has just sort of mushed up in a big, wrinkly puddle. I look like a basset hound. Or one of those jello molds at Christmas. I hear that the skin will tighten back up again with some time (…and a boat load of moisturizer with Vitamin E), but for now it still kind of freaks me out to look at it. So, I usually don’t. Why stress myself out?
(And, no. I will not post pictures of my stretch marks. There’s not enough vodka in the world for me to take that picture…)
Well, that’s about it. All in all, I still look like hell. But its only been 2 weeks and I can see enormous change already, so I’m just going to give it more time. Good news is that it can only get better, right?
Well, until I have another baby… But, as Scarlet O’Hara always said, let’s think about that another day.
30 Comments
deepa
This is VERY heartwarming. I have about 4 weeks to go and am already looking forward to getting rid of all this extra weight. I know my back is looking forward to it too…
I am glad you are seeing results and are feeling better:)
momiss
Mother of 4 here, the last 2 were twins and my first (only) c-section.
The bad news is that the stretch marks may not go away and your feet will probably always be at least wider, if not a size bigger.
The good news is that you will lose the weight, but more importantly, you will not realize it or CARE, because you will be so busy with your little one.
It was hard for me to ever go back to tight clothes…good luck with that. I have a feeling you are about to develope a strong addiction to yoga pants!
Welcome to motherhood. You haven’t mentioned nursing, but that is the quickest way to lose the weight.
BFF Emily
YOU LOOK AHHHHMAZING!!! 🙂 Woo hoo!!! Keep it up, hot mama! xoxo
Kim
You look amazing! I can only hope that I look as good as you once I have a baby!
As for the wrinkly belly — I have heard body wraps are an good, easy way to tighten the skin. They are also supposed to help with stretch marks. Just a thought 🙂
Deb
WOW! Look at the difference in your feet! They have to feel so much better now. I just can’t get over the difference. I know you showed us the swelling before but we didn’t have anything to compare it with. Thanks for preparing me for that part of pregnancy when my time comes! I can’t believe a person can lose 25 pounds in two weeks. It seems unreal, but exciting, hehe.
Catherine
You look amazing!!!
Lori
You have inspired me to post my own post-pregnancy belly photos! I will do that soon!
I have about 20lbs to lose too–but sadly I haven’t really lost much weight than the initial 20lbs I lost during delivery. And I am now convinced that this “breastfeeding helps you lose weight” thing is nonsense. Yes, I am breastfeeding but also sitting on my ass watching crappy daytime TV so they sort of cancel each other out, I guess.
Ashley
Girl you look great!! I love how real you are about everything! That paper man should change his mind about what he wanted to put in that paper 🙂
DeAnna
The lovely Materinty/health Nurses tell you things like oh well give your body at least twice as long as it took to gain the weight to lose the weight. Two kids later, now I know that is crap! After the first pregnancy the weight took me 6 months to get back to pre-pregnancy weight..now I didn’t have a c-section, but had about 90 stitches, I learned from that was to take it easy so your body can heal faster!! After the second pregnancy the weight took a little longer, but when it came off it came off. Looks like your quickly on your way to fitting back into those pre-prego clothes.
The Rambling Ewe
You are one brave woman! And yes, your feet are looking lovely. I remember after my last one was born, I was so thrilled to finally have my body back! It’s a good feeling. I’m sure the rest of the weight will come off soon enough. 🙂
Marla
Wow. That is quite the change. I’m totally impressed!
Gina
I gained 74 lbs with my son. He is six months old. I was discouraged after I gave birth, because I had only lost 10 lbs…then a few weeks I was down 25 lbs. Well, right now, it has been 6 months, but I’ve lost 44 lbs so far. so, I still have 30 more lbs left to lose, but it’s being done. Good luck and keep your head up.
PS- I am a personal trainer, and work out a lot….and still, it has taken this long to lose the weight.
Lindsay
You look really awesome after only a couple of weeks! As far as the saggy belly goes, a friend of mine who just gave birth is trying out the belly bandit:
http://bellybandit.com/
Whitney
Girl you look great!!! I lost 27 my first 2 weeks-all water weight too. Red heads must swell more than other people!! Not fun!! I stare at my feet all the time. So pretty now!
Camille
Oh, yay! I’m glad you’re feeling more like your normal self. Hobbit feet would get to me, too, after an entire pregnancy. Go you!
Claire
I read and love your blog every day but this is my first comment – just to tell you how amazing you’re looking.
Also, you should check out http://www.theshapeofamother.com to see just how normal your belly is and how proud you should be of it 🙂
Hallie
Let me just say first off that I am TOTALLY ok NOW that I was a young mom. Then, not so much…prego at 18 and giving birth at 19 is not what I had planned. But it is what it was.
But there are perks to having a kiddo when you are barely donwe being a kiddo yourself. NO STRETCHMARKS. NO VOMITING. NO NOTHING.
Not that I’m advocating for young parenthoood. Not at all cuz it was hard. But my skin?? Stretchmark free!
Hallie
Chloe
You look great!! 🙂
mom of one
You are a brave woman! You look great! Don’t stress about the weight… it will come… off.. ! He looks adorable and what’s twenty pounds when you have that face to look at…
Ps- formula… have you signed up for the coupons on the website?… go to the website of the formula you are using and sign up to receive the coupons.. HUGE money off! and then go to Sam’s Club or BJ’s or whatever wholesale club you have and its an even better deal… just a tip…
Mindee@ourfrontdoor
You look gorgeous. I am relieved that your feet are back to normal. I was worrying about them. Hopefully your shoes fit again?
I got stretch marks on my calves from water weight. I kind of hate them.
Summer
If it makes you feel any better, I went to the grocery store about 2 weeks after having my daughter.While in the checkout line, a kindly gentleman told me I could go in front of him, then proceeded to ask me when my baby was due – with my obviously newborn baby in her carseat IN THE BUGGY!!! I went home and competed with her for the loudest wails for about an hour. But it gets better…, and it’s totally worth it. =D
Shaye
Congrats on that beautiful baby boy..and your swelling going down! And you look great.. Dont fret too much!! Enjoy that baby! Have a great weekend..
Donna
You are doing wonderful! It will take awhile for the tummy to go back. I am (and have been) at my prepregnacy weight for probably 8 or 9 months (my daughter will be one in a little over a week). My clothes however do not fit like they used to, but they are getting better. It just takes a little while and a lot of exercise!
Jenn
I think you look fabulous! Is it too personal of a question to ask about the breastfeeding? Were you planning to breast feed and it didn’t work out? Or was formula the plan all along? Just curious.
Emily
I think you look great! 🙂
Ginny
You look fabulous, darling! 🙂 Let’s talk soon!
Sarah @ BecomingSarah.com
You look great two weeks out! If I lose over half of my pregnancy weight in two weeks, I’ll be a happy momma too!
Lana
I love the pyjamas, they’re great. I am inspired by your feet’s metamorphosis also 😉
Krista
I had someone ask me if I was pregnant again while my small 6 pound newborn sat in his carseat at my feet in the doctor’s office just 3 days after he was born. She even proceeded to pat my stomach and say she didn’t remember it being like that.
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