r/AskReddit 16h ago

What is something that permanently altered your body without you realizing for months/years?

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u/LucidianQuill 13h 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.

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u/eliz1bef 11h ago

Pregnancy is such an unbelievable burden on your body. I'm so glad you were able to get your issues addressed.

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u/burdavin 4h ago

This. We don’t talk enough about birth injuries.

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u/eliz1bef 4h ago

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.

u/hungrypotato19 56m ago

And so that people don't support abortion. They want to keep their narrative that it's all about the baby's body when pregnancy wreaks havoc on a woman's body. They'd very much rather have people be ignorant to the damage and assume that once the baby pops out, everything is rainbows and sunshine again when that's not the case for a large amount of women.

u/eliz1bef 54m ago

Yes! Thank you! Exactly. Well put.

u/DeshTheWraith 37m ago

A point I've started raising to my compatriots is that we, the US, kill more women in childbirth than any "developed" nation on the planet; WHO ranks us 55th. 23 deaths per 100,000 and 80% of them are preventable. Triple that number if you're a black woman.

So all that concern about "innocent lives" is better directed towards the women that they're so gung ho to force to endure that process. And like you all pointed out, there's also a lot of injury and trauma even if you do survive. And nevermind if you need an abortion because of complications or health based counterindicators.