Any day now and the doctor says that my son will join us in this world. The excitement has been building and I’ve read up on everything to expect while expecting, but this week is the first that I’ve ever actually begun to wonder what to expect when I’m no longer expecting.

Babycenter.com wrote a very interesting article this week about the changes that will occur with a woman’s body after she has given birth, everything from how much weight will she lose immediately to how soon her uterus will shrink and why is she losing her hair? Yep, that’s right…apparently one question does indeed deal with the fact that a woman will lose some of her hair after giving birth. Personally, I have a lot of hair to spare, but the thought of it thinning is a little worrisome almost to the point of feeding my vanity monster.

Everyday I’ve found out something new, something unexpected, and something that usually elicits a groan of discomfort or at least anticipated discomfort, from me. I’m assuming that every mother at least knows what to expect and that what I’m about to share is not new knowledge. Unfortunately, there are a lot of new mothers and mothers to be out there who haven’t the slightest thought to some of these uncomfortable and even embarrassing situations. I’m not going to address all of them in this one blog, but there are a couple that I wanted to highlight.

I’m already to my wit’s end these day when in comes to my bladder and my constant need to pee! And here’s the real kicker, I feel like my bladder is going to explode every thirty minutes, but when I get into the bathroom there’s hardly even a drop of pee that comes out of me! It’s almost as if the bathroom visit was a colossal waste of my time. At least I know that I have to pee because according to babycenter.com, for the first few days after birth I may not even know that much! What?!?!?! Apparently my bladder will become less sensitive.

Great! Just what I need is a reversion back to my childhood when I can no longer control my urge to urinate. I’m already worried about my husband waking up at night to find that I’ve wet the bed. On the plus side of things at least this should only occur within the first few days after pregnancy so I won’t have to worry about any embarrassing mishaps while at work!

The next thing that caught my attention has to do with my vagina and perineum. Where my sex life (or lack thereof since becoming pregnant) is concerned, I have experienced a few ups and downs over the past nine months. I have had weeks of sheer exhaustion to the point of literally passing out right after work which obviously inhibited my desire to have sex, to a few months where I craved it more than food, air, sleep, basically anything. On those months, I think my husband definitely started out taking advantage of the new side of me, but then he started using excuses to quiet my insatiable desires.

Of course with the last few weeks, I haven’t had much of a desire as I’ve found myself completely uncomfortable in so many ways. I can’t even sleep at night without constant leg cramps, foot cramps, bad dreams, and even the incessant need to pee. I can’t even really sit at my desk anymore without having trouble breathing or when I first stand up the pain felt within my groin muscles where the excess weight of my child is stretching them beyond oblivion. Obviously my comfort level has declined fast.

What I was hoping for is that my sex drive would come back after birth and while I haven’t read anything to the contrary, the little bit of information on babycenter.com about my vagina and perineum really agitates me already.

After giving birth, a woman’s vagina will be swollen and even possibly bruised. It is to be expected since you are squeezing something the size of a melon out of the size of a pea hole. This part did not shock me, but what did concern me was that my levels of estrogen would be so low and even more so if I breast feed to the point of dryness in my vaginal area meaning my husband and I will have to invest in lubricant. While I’m sure that doesn’t really concern him, it still bothers me. It’s already bad enough that I’m 36 years old and that over the course of the past few years I’ve already started noticing an increase in dryness within that area especially when I have the desire to have sex, but now it’s going to be even more amplified. It’s just more frustrating than it is worrisome. And like I said, I’m sure my husband won’t really mind.

These are just a two of the topics covered in this article:
http://www.babycenter.com/viewArticle.htm?articleId=1456740&scid=preg_2_20110901%3A2
You’ll find a lot more interesting things and for those of you who are already moms perhaps you’ll be able to embellish upon some of these concerns and what your experiences were like for the rest of first-timers. It’s an interesting read and I highly encourage you check out the article. You can visit Babycenter’s website directly by clicking on the link on my homepage. There’s a lot this site has to offer. A lot more than I ever thought I would want to know.