S2 E10: Postpartum Recovery: All That Happens to Your Body During Pregnancy & What Happens After Birth (#45)
Summary
Taylor Rae Roman hosts the final episode of the season, focusing on postpartum preparation and recovery, sharing her personal journey with body image concerns during pregnancy and the postpartum period. She reflects on finding peace with her changing body during pregnancy, while addressing the pressures of "bounce-back" culture and the importance of understanding that postpartum recovery extends beyond the typical 6-8 week period. Taylor provides detailed insights into physical changes during pregnancy, the birth process, and immediate postpartum recovery, covering both vaginal and C-section deliveries. She also explores postpartum preparation strategies, including cultural traditions from her Puerto Rican, Dominican, Chinese, and Korean heritage, while emphasizing the need for support systems and boundaries with family. The episode concludes with Taylor's personal reflections on preparing for motherhood and her approach to mental and physical health recovery, explaining her motivation for creating the podcast to offer accessible, relatable information to expectant mothers.
KEY MOMENTS
Introduction and Personal Reflections on Pregnancy and Postpartum Concerns - 00:00:07: Taylor Rae Roman introduces the final episode of the season, sharing her personal journey with body image during pregnancy and her concerns about postpartum recovery.
Understanding Postpartum Period and Depression Statistics - 00:04:25: Taylor explains the standard postpartum period definition and provides statistics on postpartum depression, including that 50-75% of women experience postpartum blues and 10-15% develop postpartum depression.
Physical Changes During Pregnancy Trimesters - 00:09:31: Detailed breakdown of physical changes across all three trimesters, including hormonal changes, body transformations, and common symptoms experienced during pregnancy.
Birth Process and Immediate Postpartum Recovery - 00:13:33: Taylor discusses the physical aspects of childbirth and immediate postpartum recovery, covering both vaginal and C-section deliveries.
Cultural Traditions and Postpartum Support - 00:18:44: Taylor shares her exploration of cultural postpartum traditions from her Puerto Rican and Dominican background, as well as her husband's Chinese and Korean heritage.
TRANSCRIPTION
Hey, hey, welcome back. My name is Taylor Rae and this is on The Outside. Hello friends, it is our final episode of the season. I cannot believe it and I should be living my best postpartum life by the time this airs, which is absolutely crazy.
In today's episode, we're talking about all things postpartum. We're going to cover some info and stats on postpartum to get us started, then changes that happen to your body during pregnancy, what happens to your body during labor and delivery and immediately after, the basics for postpartum physical healing and preparing for postpartum beyond the physical.
Being postpartum is something that I think about a lot as I get to the end of my pregnancy. Some of my fears that I recently spoke about in therapy were about my changing body. I have found it to be honestly pretty easy to be kind to my body during pregnancy and that is surprising because growing up I was an actor, I've been a model, I've been a fitness trainer and a content creator and pretty much every job I've had for my entire life has been about what I looked like and about what my body looked like.
I have definitely struggled with so many downs when it comes to how I feel about my appearance. So, by no means am I just a superhuman person with perfect self-esteem, but what I will say is that while being pregnant, I found so much peace in my body.
Don't get me wrong, I had a couple of days. down days as well. But I found so much peace in my body because it was doing something so amazing. Like right now I feel my baby's kicks in my belly and I look in the mirror and all I see is a home for my son.
And it has been really easy to be kind and not judgmental to myself because I understand all that my body is doing and how honestly incredible it is. And that has brought me, like I said, so much peace.
But when it comes to postpartum, I worry that I won't have that kind of grace for myself because it will no longer be my son's home, right? It will be just mine. He'll be out in the world. And when people see me, they won't be impressed that a pregnant woman is doing XYZ.
They won't be high fiving and smiling and cheering me on because they see my pregnant belly instead. what will they see? What will they think? I worry about that. I think about that. And I think about how I will see myself.
Of course, we're inundated with this bounce back culture, especially with social media, the before and after pictures, the before and after reels. And I mean, I can't help but wonder, will that be me?
Will I look like that or not? How long will it take me to get back to my pre-pregnancy body or will that ever happen? These are the questions that I think about. And on top of that, I think about how will my relationship be with my husband?
How is he going to be able to show up for me? What's that going to look like? And how will my relationship be with my parents? How are they going to show up for me? And my friends, am I going to be forgotten?
What am I going to miss out on? There are so, so many questions that come with postpartum. But what I will say is I am so deeply looking forward to meeting my son and becoming a mom. And at the end of the day, that's honestly what is carrying me through with positivity and excitement.
So that's what I'm hanging on to. Before we dive in to our final episode of the season, I want to remind you that I'm not a doctor or a medical professional. Everything I share in this episode is based on my personal experience and research.
Always check in with your doctor or a qualified healthcare provider before making any decisions about your health, pregnancy, or preconception journey. Let's get into it. Postpartum refers to the period of time after a person gives birth.
It typically lasts for six to eight weeks during which the body recovers from pregnancy and childbirth. Now, while this is the standard definition, so many people would argue that six to eight weeks is just not enough.
Now, within six to eight weeks, what is true is that the uterus shrinks back to pre-pregnancy size or close to pre-pregnancy size. Incision healing, if you receive a C-section, it takes about six to eight weeks to heal while internal healing can take several months and much longer.
In six to eight weeks, estrogen and progesterone, which drop drastically after birth, leading to emotional shifts and physical symptoms can begin to stabilize. So all of that happened in six to eight weeks, roughly, but a lot of things take much longer.
Postpartum depression can develop any time within the first year postpartum. So that's obviously a way longer window of time. Many physical aspects don't recover for six to 12 weeks, and a full recovery, especially when it comes to your pelvic floor and core, can take up to a year.
Hormonally, levels fluctuate for several months, and again, it can take up to a year to fully balance. Identity shifts and emotional wellbeing, adjusting to motherhood, this can take months, this can take years, right?
Because this depends a lot on support, on lifestyle, on personal factors. So all in all, while the postpartum period is typically referred to as six to eight weeks, I think so, so many of us would agree that it is so much longer.
So please be kind to yourself, give yourself grace, and know it takes time. You built a human, your body went through such a transformation, and then it went through all of the craziness of childbirth, which I'm sure will be beautiful, incredible, amazing, but also a little traumatic, also a little bit shocking, like I've never given birth before.
So yeah, I'm definitely expecting some shocking elements to happen, and we have to recover from all those things mentally, emotionally, and physically. When we talk about postpartum, we of course cannot forget about postpartum depression.
So let me just give you some information and statistics around the postpartum period. Postpartum depression is classified as a mood disorder that can develop after childbirth. Postpartum blues are reported by 50 to 75% of women, which experience mild mood changes in the first few days after childbirth, while postpartum depression affects about 10 to 15% of women with a higher risk for those with a history of depression or anxiety.
And of course, a lot of this is self-reported, that statistic. Lastly, postpartum psychosis is a rare but serious condition that affects about one to two per 1,000 women. But I know that there have been a lot more stories.
on social media and in the news around postpartum psychosis. I, of course, am so happy that these stories are coming to light. They're becoming less stigmatized. They're something that we were talking about more.
And these are all things to very much have at the forefront of your mind for your partner, for your support person, for your therapist or a mental health professional in your life, for anyone that is in your support team to be aware of, to be able to look out for, and for you to feel that you can have that open communication with them.
I have talked to my husband about the fact that I definitely have had anxiety my entire life, which he knows I've managed it. really really well in the last few years, I could say that I would almost consider myself a person that doesn't have anxiety because I have a great therapist and I've been able to really manage any of those symptoms and haven't felt anxious this pregnancy, which is absolutely wild to me and I'm so grateful for.
But I talked to him about the fact that postpartum anxiety is definitely something that's real. I talked to my therapist about it and I can only be as prepared as possible without support system. So that's something that I definitely want to encourage you to think about and to talk about with the people in your life.
Of course, if you suspect you have postpartum depression or anything that I mentioned, you want to seek professional help immediately from your doctor, a mental health professional, support from family, friends, or support groups, never staying silent, always making sure that you are reaching out.
Okay, friend, let's get into some of the physical changes that happen during pregnancy. If you are not far along in your pregnancy, maybe you're just trying to conceive, maybe you're in the beginning of your journey or you're in your first or second trimester, maybe you haven't experienced all of these changes yet, but babes I have, I'm experiencing them all.
There's a lot that happens. So in the first trimester, you have a hormonal surge, of course, an increase in estrogen and progesterone. That's when you're feeling that extreme fatigue and exhaustion, maybe morning sickness or nausea.
You also have a heightened sense of smell and taste changes in the first trimester. You have tender, swollen breasts. They really start changing at this time. You'll also already start having increased urination as the uterus expands.
First trimester, I honestly was peeing more than I am now in my third trimester, which I feel like isn't the most common anecdotal story that you hear, but first trimester, I was peeing 24 seven. Mood swings and emotional changes will also start and bloating and constipation are also starting in the first trimester.
I swear I was already showing like a pregnancy like bump by 10 weeks. Could it have been bloating? Maybe, but it never went away. I never, it never decreased. It only increased from there. So that was definitely something I experienced.
In the second trimester, you may have an energy boost. I know I did and I love that for me. The belly is growing as the uterus expands. Skin changes, like stretch marks, you might have darkening of the line down the center of your stomach, especially if you are a more melanated person because it is colored by melanin.
So if you have a darker skin tone, you may see a darker line down the center of your belly. Also a pregnancy glow, so love that for us. This might also be a time where you're seeing changes in the shape of your belly button.
Your hair and nails might be growing, mine did. So that was very exciting for me. It also might be possible to experiencing some thinning in some cases. Nasal congestion and increased mucus production is starting.
I was using those breathe right nasal strips my entire pregnancy after this. Heartburn and indigestion are coming hot in the second trimester. Round ligament pain and stretching sensations is so accurate.
Changes in balance and posture due to the shift in weight. And lastly, in the second trimester, you may also experience baby's first movements. Finally, in the third trimester, we have rapid belly growth and honestly increased discomfort.
My belly is so, so heavy right now. Shortness of breath as baby crowds the lungs. The acid reflux is only more intense because there's less space for your organs. You may have swelling in your feet, your ankles, or your hands.
Braxton Hicks contractions, which are practice contractions. Pelvic pressure as baby drops lower. For me, I have a lot of kind of soreness in my inner thighs, especially when I am sleeping. Frequent urination and disrupted sleep.
Back pain, hip pain, and sciatica because your ribs are expanding and your pelvis is also expanding. I was able to wear a lot of the same, like underwear for my entire pregnancy. And now as I get to my final weeks, it no longer fits because my pelvis is only getting wider, getting ready for baby to drop down.
You may experience colostrum leaking from breasts, which is pre-milk. And nesting instincts start preparing you for labor. So these are all of the physical changes that are happening from beginning to end.
to end of pregnancy. Now the birth process and what happens to your body immediately after giving birth, we just continue on this journey. So during labor and delivery, you may be having a vaginal or a C-section.
So that is definitely going to depend on how you deliver your baby, on specifically how that's going to impact you physically. But no matter what, you are still thrust into the first trimester and the reality of postpartum recovery.
Immediately after you give birth, the uterus starts contracting back down. You have post-birth bleeding, which is also called Lokea, and this can last several weeks. It can really last up to two months or even more.
You should be checking in with your healthcare provider to make sure that you are on track, that you are not passing any clots that are super big and really just trusting your instincts. If you think you're bleeding too much, definitely get it checked out.
But know that there's a lot of blood that does come out. That's what I hear. That's what I hear and that's what I'm emotionally preparing for. So that is your post-birth bleeding. And this also happens if you have a C-section.
So don't be surprised. It is not only if you have a vaginal delivery. You'll also have hormonal shifts leading to mood swings and the start of milk production and potential breastfeeding if you've decided that you'd want to breastfeed.
When it comes to postpartum physical recovery and healing, for a vaginal birth, you wanna really focus on perennial tears, stitches or soreness. So really that perennial healing. Your pelvic floor discomfort.
So exercise might aid in recovery of that. And by exercise, I definitely don't mean anything like rigorous cardio or weightlifting, no, no, no, but more like a pelvic floor therapist or focusing specifically on pelvic and core strengthening after childbirth.
You might also experience hemorrhoids. So managing that pain and discomfort. Friend, knock on wood. I've never had a hemorrhoid in my life. And I'm so scared because the girls are scaring me when it comes to hemorrhoids.
But you know what? If I get it, I get it. I'm just like everyone else. We'll see what happens. But managing the discomfort of hemorrhoids and also again, managing postpartum bleeding. You may see on social those absolutely like next level postpartum diapers that you see people making, that they have like the witch hazel pads and the ice pack and the spray and the foam, like all of those things.
you know what, if that is what's going to help, then that is what I'm gonna do. For C-section recovery, we have an overlap with plenty of these same areas of concern, but you're also healing from abdominal surgery and incision care.
So making sure you listen to your doctor, you take your pain medicine, if that is what is prescribed to you and that is on track for what your care team is prescribing, managing again pain and movement limitations and also thinking about scar care and massage for healing.
Some general postpartum healing challenges might be breast changes like engorgement, leaking, nipple pain, and clogged ducts. Of course everyone has a unique breastfeeding journey based on what they decide.
Postpartum contractions as the uterus shrinks. So as your uterus shrinks back down to size from a wound about the size of a dinner plate back down to its pre-pregnancy size you are going to feel some contractions.
So that's something to be aware of and not shocked by. Postpartum hair loss is something that a lot of folks experience. Sleep deprivation is of course going to come as you adjust to baby's schedule.
What I'm excited about is my friends have told me that newborn sleep is better than third trimester sleep because third trimester you're just so uncomfortable that the quality is terrible but with a newborn you would least get good quality sleep just shorter.
Again friend I don't know if that's true. I will update you when I experience it myself but these days sleep is rough for me so I'm just hanging on to that that shred of hope. You'll also have some digestive changes like constipation gas and bloating.
Of course everyone always recommends taking a stool softener immediately after you give birth so that is something to also be thinking about and those hormonal shifts and emotional changes are of course a challenge for everyone but definitely some folks experience it more intensely.
So just going back to what I said in the beginning of the episode making sure that you have that support system as best as you can. Now when it comes to preparing for postpartum beyond the physical there are so many things that we can be thinking about.
For me I'm looking into cultural traditions so my husband is Chinese, Korean, and Puerto Rican. I'm Puerto Rican and Dominican in China. They have confinement, which is a period of time where you stay home, you drink hot, healing foods and broths and teas.
You have specific herbal foot soaks. And these are, you know, there's tons of other traditions that I've been looking into, talking to my husband's mom about, and just thinking about how I want to incorporate them.
As someone that's Puerto Rican and Dominican, I've also been looking at all of the traditions that come from the islands that my family grew up in. My parents are both immigrants, so not too far ago, not too far behind.
And my aunts even participated in a bunch of these traditions, which is really fun to get to talk to them about and get some more insight on. And looking up these cultural traditions is making me really excited to think about how I can make this postpartum period just a little bit more meaningful and a little bit more fun.
Unfortunately, I lost all four of my grandparents by this age. I'm very lucky that I did get to know them all growing up, but because of that, I feel like it's really something that's in my heart to practice some of these traditions.
Like I was looking up all of the kind of warming and healing foods that are recommended postpartum and thinking about, wow, my grandma used to make me that and telling my mom, okay, I'm gonna need you to make this for me because, you know, grandma used to make it for me, but now it's you girl.
And this apparently is what I should be eating postpartum. I know I'm gonna be crying a lot of tears into those bowls of food, but I think this is like a really beautiful way for me to connect it to my family and my culture and my history, and also to like bring in my husband's culture and his history a little bit too, because at the end of the day, we're raising a son that is half me and half him.
So looking into those cultural traditions has been so much fun and also makes me a little bit emotional. When it comes to mental and emotional health and how we might prepare as best as we can, we can think about how to recognize symptoms for something like baby blues versus postpartum depression.
Of course, there is gonna be so many ups and downs when it comes to bringing a new baby home, especially if it's your first, but not only then because your life is changing. So baby blues might be what you're experiencing, but it also might be something more serious.
So knowing what the differences are, understanding how to manage expectations to avoid anxiety and overwhelm, and the importance of rest, boundaries, and asking for help. If you can go to therapy, if you do go to therapy, this is not the time to stop.
My therapist has said, we'll find a way, we'll make it work, we'll work it around your schedule with the new baby because this is a super vulnerable time for new parents. Postpartum nutrition and self-care is another area that we can think about.
Foods that support recovery and milk production, hydration and replenishing of lost nutrients, and thinking about like, how are we getting food, right? Are we planning on cooking every single day? Because to me, that seems like a lot.
So I'm looking at meal delivery, I'm looking at. asking for support from my mother-in-law and my mom to help cook for us. And I'm thinking about also batch, cooking, and freezing some meals for us that we can have super quickly at home.
So food can be such an area of stress from what I hear and also just from what I can imagine. Honestly, I get stressed on what to cook on like a regular day of the week. So imagining how I'm gonna feed myself through this time can definitely feel overwhelming, but we have to stay nourishing our bodies, especially if you're breastfeeding, you gotta make sure you're nourishing your body, but also just the fact that you're recovering from something huge,
which is childbirth. Gentle movement and healing exercise, as I was saying, like pelvic floor, core, working on those things to start feeling your best self and really just getting your body to a place that feels good and strong.
Those are things that we also want to start thinking about in this postpartum period. And the last few things are setting up support systems. So really talking with your partner on what the expectations are during this postpartum time.
Who is going to be home with you, if anyone? How is your partner going to balance work and home? Are you going to work? And if so, at what point? Who might be taking care of baby? What does that support system look like for you?
Are friends and family around to support with meals, errands, or newborn care? Or maybe you want to get a postpartum doula or support group or a point person that can make sure that they're helping you with anything that you might need around the house or with baby, whether that be a nanny, a nurse, or another kind of caretaker.
Setting up that support system, I think is so key because I know it's not something that I want to be dealing with after baby's already here. So I'm talking to my mom about when she's going to come. I'm talking to my dad about when he's going to come visit.
We have our doula who also does postpartum and lactation care. So I'm so excited for that. And then we also have another care person coming from Borham in New York City for their Borham at Home program, who's also going to come and do some overnights with us so we can see what that is about.
I never thought that I would have a overnight. you know, night nurse or a nanny. It's not something I ever grew up with or that I know anyone that's grown up with that, to be honest, in my adult life I do, because I live in a completely different area with a lot of different folks that are not necessarily the same people that I grew up with or within the same community that I grew up with.
But I don't really think that that's the direction we wanna go in, but again, who knows? I feel like so much changes when you become pregnant and I definitely have no judgment for anyone that decides to go that direction.
So I'm excited that we are gonna have that extra support, that we are gonna have an overnight for a few days because getting that extra sleep sounds amazing to me. And setting that up now before babies here is bringing me a lot of peace of mind.
All in all, if I'm just, you know, speaking from the heart on how I am preparing my postpartum time, I think the most important thing for me was communicating with my husband on what my boundaries are, making sure that, for example, we wanted our moms to get vaccinated with the Tdap vaccine that our doctor recommended and that was something that we really felt passionate about.
We told them they were all happy to do it. So things like that, making sure that our wishes are respected. I also know that I don't really want any visitors and if anyone's visiting, I want them to wear a face mask for those first few weeks and any of my friends that are planning on coming already know that and we're managing their expectations and making sure that our wishes are respected.
I have grown this baby in my body for nine months and at the end of the day, I'm his mother. If no one else is going to protect him, like it has to be me. There's no one else that is going to do it. There's no one else that can speak for him.
There's no one else that can protect him. and this is what my job is. So I know that protecting my mental health, caring for my body, recovering as best as I can, and setting myself up for success is only going to make me a better mom for him.
And that's really how I wanna start this journey into parenthood. I cannot imagine how tough this is going to be, but I'm so, so, so excited for this journey. Now, friend, if you've made it through all 10 episodes this season, I hope that you've learned a lot.
I really tried to pour all that I learned and all of the resources that I gained into this season. I felt like there were so many podcasts that were by. OBGYNs or medical professionals, but a lot of them felt really vague or they were jumping around a lot.
I couldn't really get tangible prescriptive information on what should I do and what should I be looking out for. A lot of them have hundreds of episodes, so I couldn't really find my groove on where I should be starting and what I should be listening to.
And I'm not gonna lie, some of them were probably medically and informationally amazing, but it was giving boring. It was not giving me what I really wanted it to give. And so I started this season with the hope that I could just share some of the insight that I have gained and some of the questions that I have had answers, not as a doctor or medical professional, but as a person just like you looking for answers and looking for guidance in this new chapter of my life.
So thank you so much for following along, for listening along, and I can't believe we made it to episode 10. You can follow me everywhere at @taylorraeroman, of course, there's a full transcription of this episode along with citations on my website and all of those links are available in the show notes.
Now it is time for me to focus on motherhood. So we'll see what comes next for the pod for season three. I honestly have no idea. So you'll be learning when I finally figure it out. See you out there.
REFERENCES
Cleveland Clinic. "Postpartum Depression." https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9312-postpartum-depression.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Depression Among Women." https://www.cdc.gov/reproductive-health/depression/index.html.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Identifying Maternal Depression." https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/reproductivehealth/vital-signs/identifying-maternal-depression/index.html.
National Institute of Mental Health. "Perinatal Depression." https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/perinatal-depression.
Farrar, D., et al. "Postpartum Anxiety." In StatPearls. Treasure Island, FL: StatPearls Publishing, 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519070/.
PostpartumDepression.org. "Postpartum Depression Statistics." https://www.postpartumdepression.org/resources/statistics/.
Postpartum Support International. "Perinatal Mental Health." https://postpartum.net/perinatal-mental-health/.
Abbasi, S., et al. "The Relationship between Infant Medical Problems and Postpartum Depression." Journal of Affective Disorders 172 (2015): 219–222. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032714008271.
Disclaimer: The information shared on On the Outside is for informational and educational purposes only. I am not a doctor, medical professional, or licensed healthcare provider. The content of this podcast is based on my personal experiences and research, but it should not be taken as medical advice. Always consult with your doctor or a qualified healthcare professional before making any decisions related to your pregnancy, health, or well-being. Every pregnancy is unique, and what works for one person may not be right for another.
