Comments on: Momversation: Post Baby Body

By: anna

anna — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:05:09 +0000

Though I’m not ready to have a child yet, I click on the Momversations because I’m interested in Maggie’s viewpoint. Then, I have to sit through the blonde woman, who always manages to annoy me; I hit mute until she’s gone. Anyway, it would be great if Maggie just did a stand-alone (sit-alone?).

By: Ruth

Ruth — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 02:44:10 +0000

i have had conversations like this sprung on me from my cousin, sister, and mother-in-law.

as someone who is not pregnant but is hoping to have a family some day, sometimes hearing about the horrors of pregnancy, birth, and childcare seem to be part of an elaborate biological hazing process. oh what? you think baby socks are adorable? let me tell you about the difference between cutting and ripping, and which is better. and why you should have a breast pump on the top of your baby list. early. still this onesy is cute? yeah. thought so.

ech…part of me just doesn’t want to know.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:06:49 +0000

Loved your segments — overall very entertaining piece. I also REALLY appreciate that you went “there”. (Especially after reading the shock and horror reactions in a couple of the comments above.) I only wish someone had mentioned this to me 5 years ago. It seems like it would be valuable information to know, in advance, that “she” would soon be someone else afterward. I swear, up until my daughter was about 2, my vajayjay was practically a stranger to me. It took seemingly forever to understand (or even recognize) her again — and I’m still not 100% familiar. I understood and accepted that there’d be hordes of physical, psychological and physiological changes, but I never imagined needing to be reintroduced to my very own nethers… Thanks so much for divulging the truth for the rest of us!

By: Maggeh

Maggeh — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:15:40 +0000

Alllllllright, y’all. This is what I get for trying to be delicate.

First, I should say that, for me, sex afterward isn’t really different, so maybe don’t bother worrying about that unless it happens. In fact, pregnancies are like fingerprints, no two are the same, so don’t bother worrying about _any_ of it unless it happens.

The topography euphemism was meant to convey that your outward-facing parts sometimes look different afterward. You swell a lot giving birth, and lots of women end up with stitches, so the outside of your vagina (the parts you can see by holding a mirror up to your crotch) can look and feel different. Sort of like if you didn’t order a nose job, but woke up with a new nose. Except it’s your vagina.

I think it was so upsetting to me because the area has enough nerve endings that millimeters of difference felt really exaggerated. Sort of like how the nerves in your mouth react to tiny changes in your teeth or how a tiny, sore bump on your tongue can feel so huge.

Overall, pregnancy and labor weren’t nearly so big a deal as I expected, I wasted a lot of energy worrying. But I was grateful to the friend who mentioned the topography possibility, because I didn’t feel alone and freakish when it happened.

Now, if it happens to you, you won’t either right? Right!

By: denise

denise — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:31:15 +0000

yes, as someone who hasn’t had kids, what is the topography change? isn’t there a “tightening up” thing they can do when stitching up the episiotomy? (sp?)

By: Lauren

Lauren — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:43:41 +0000

waiiiit a minute…. what do you mean the topography changes? what are we talking here? I know that’s asking for graphic details. But that is where my record skipped and im like WHO?! And is the sex afterwards just different? Or what? Is there lost sensation? What’s the sitch?

By: rubydellson

rubydellson — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:14:25 +0000

I would love for you to elaborate on the “topography” comment, Maggie. I am 6 month preggo w/ first. Please spell it out for me. I want to be prepared.

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:49:04 +0000

The minute I heard the girl/woman comment I thought, “Uh-oh. There will soon be a Hitler reference!”

I agree with the above commentator who thought she was only trying to empower birthing moms about their bodies. Could she have been a little more sensitive to women who didn’t give birth? Sure. But I’ll cut her some slack.

By: Maggeh

Maggeh — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:18:32 +0000

HMH, I’m glad to hear you say that, because I loved how I looked pregnant too. I just found the whole thing hilarious and amazing. Pregnancy was a lovely time for my body in lots of ways.

S.E., exactly. Women have such complex relationships with their bodies. One five minute video isn’t going to begin to scratch the surface.

Kimberly, I appreciate your restraint. High fives all around.

By: HMH

HMH — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:03:49 +0000

at 6 months pregs, i gotta say i pressed play on this with a little trepidation. affirming, though. i’m already finding a few body issues pop up with stepping on the scale and seeing an extra 20lbs, but i’m also loving the extra roundness and fullness and just going with it. truly.