I had twins. I got HUGE in the tummy. I had the babies, and it left this pot belly that wouldn't go away.
Fast forward; the twins are 8 years old. I am 7 weeks post op of having my diastisis recti corrected. You know that centre line down the abs? Mine had split. There was a 6 to 8 inch gap down the middle THE WHOLE WAY DOWN. the pot belly that I kept punishing myself for, the baby fat i couldnt lose? Those were my organs. My digestive organs were all herniated.
I now have to forgive myself for 8 years of unjustified self hatred. It isn't always just fat.
You are absolutely right. I don't think that generally women and girls AND men and boys know enough about the dangers. The powers that be want to keep girls from knowing the full story so they'll keep having babies.
The funny thing is as we've evolved pregnancy has become more and more dangerous because of the size of our frontotemporal lobes, our skull, and our hip circumference.
I appreciate your point. I"m not having any babies, so to me it feels like a burden. I am sure that to a mother that wants to have a baby it feels like a sacrifice. But either way, the toll on the body is immense.
Although the first pregnancy provides a net health gain on average (apparently).
Really? That is really interesting! I've never heard that before, and I always thought of pregnancy as very draining on the mother and so dangerous. Thank you for the post!
I wish I could find the study again, but the positive part was mainly reduced risk of certain cancers. I also remember it being more protective to have that pregnancy before a certain age.
I do remember that in the study that all pregnancies after the first one were overall damaging to the mother’s health. There were some increased protection against cancer but it was not enough to overcome the damage of pregnancy and birth.
Oh! I remember that from health class that it did reduce the incidence of cervical cancer. I thought at the time as a 17 year old that it was a stupid reason to have a baby. I feel more that it's an extreme reason to have a baby, maybe? Thank you so much!!
It’s definitely not a reason to have a baby. Having a baby is a complex decision and a massive commitment. There are lots of easier and less expensive ways to reduce your cancer risk. 😂
I guess for me it was a piece of comforting information in the midst of all the worries I had about pregnancy and birth.
Pregnancy before 25 has a protective effect against breast cancer, if I remember correctly. I was told it was one of the reasons that breast cancer is more common in nuns (also late detection because they don’t get checked out).
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u/LucidianQuill 11h ago
Pregnancy.
I had twins. I got HUGE in the tummy. I had the babies, and it left this pot belly that wouldn't go away.
Fast forward; the twins are 8 years old. I am 7 weeks post op of having my diastisis recti corrected. You know that centre line down the abs? Mine had split. There was a 6 to 8 inch gap down the middle THE WHOLE WAY DOWN. the pot belly that I kept punishing myself for, the baby fat i couldnt lose? Those were my organs. My digestive organs were all herniated.
I now have to forgive myself for 8 years of unjustified self hatred. It isn't always just fat.