You find out your pregnant, and you spend your time learning all you can about becoming a mother and preparing for your child but what about postpartum preparation? Why are we not told about the things to come after having a baby? We are basically told to “just heal.”

According to huffpost.com, “The consequences of healthcare providers spending relatively little time with postpartum women have been well-documented in terms of missed mental health diagnoses, but the longterm effects on women’s bodies are also profound ― and often overlooked.” 80% of women who have vaginal deliveries experience tearing of pelvic skin and muscles. As a result, women can develop pelvic organ prolapse- essentially your organs fall out of place. France is giving pelvic health the attention it deserves with physiotherapy, which strengthens a new mom’s pelvic floor. America is behind on preventative care and obviously disinterested in the health and care of postpartum families.

So, you might find some of that information boring but it’s true! I had a c-section delivery so my experience from a vaginal is different. I was not prepared to have a section and what a recovery might consist of. The initial delivery seemed pretty easy because you feel nothing but afterwards boy do you feel it!!!! I have a list of a couple of things I was not prepared for postpartum.

1. Hair loss…. Like y’all, I mean…. the hair loss is UNREAL!!!!! I was told my hair would fall out, but I brushed it off like yeah ok my hair is gorgeous right now and will never fall out. Boy was I wrong!!!! It’s crazy how much hair I lost! I was literally going bald on 2 spots by the temples on my head. Now, I have crazy wild hair growth all around my face. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!
2. Sciatic pain- So, what is sciatica? From whattoexpect.com, The sciatic nerve, the largest in the body, starts in the lower back, runs down the buttocks and branches down the back of the legs to the ankles and feet. In most cases sciatica — sharp, shooting pain, tingling or numbness that starts in the back or buttocks and radiates all the way down the backs of your legs — happens when this nerve gets compressed by bulging, slipped or ruptured discs, arthritis, or by a narrowing of the spinal cord (also called spinal stenosis). But rarely, women experience sciatica as a short-term side effect of pregnancy.During pregnancy, you can get sciatica from weight gain, baby shifting, expanding uterus and growing belly. My pain would occur when I would get out of bed in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. The pain would shoot down my leg, and I would have to hold the bed before I continued the journey to relieve my bladder. Before pregnancy, I never knew what sciatica was, but you best believe I do now.
3. As a result of my sciatica, I have Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction. During pregnancy, women’s progesterone levels are extremely high. The changes in progesterone cause laxity or loosening of ligaments and joints throughout the body. I wish I would have known this was happening and how to treat it during pregnancy. I suffered so much pain Sutton’s first year of life, and I had no idea what it was. Finally, about 13 months PP (short for postpartum) I was in so much pain I couldn’t sleep or move… I was FED UP with the pain in my lower back and hips. I went to see a chiropractor and it gradually got better. I would recommend going to a chiropractor during pregnancy to keep your hips in line. It probably would have saved me so much pain. I quit going and the pain came back (I will touch base more on my chiropractic journeys in a few).
4. C-section recovery- so, like I said earlier, I was not planning on a c-section so the recovery was foreign to me (side note- I have never had surgery in my life). Cesarean delivery is a major surgery.

With baseball, we are hopping from city to city. So, I’m forced to find new doctors with every move. However, I find it a good thing because each chiropractor has a different method of care. I’m currently in Fresno, CA and on chiropractor #4. So let me just do a quick recap:  I started out with chiropractor #1 at home… then moved to a PT at home… then tried another chiropractor at home… moved to West Palm Beach, FL to find chiropractor #3 and now in Fresno I’m on chiropractor #4. Once we landed in California I knew it had all flared up again. My sacrum started back up hurting and a huge knot in my glute and then it all starts back up again radiating up my back into the neck and cranium.

I was DONE!!!! S talked to his trainer to get me an appointment with a specialist for an MRI to see what the heck is wrong with me.

When your in pain you can’t think straight, you don’t feel well, your depressed and tired. As a mom of a very active toddler, I don’t have time for any of this! I decided to go ahead and go into a chiropractor here because the specialist can’t get me in for a week. I tell chiropractor #4 everything that I’m dealing with. He tells me I’m uneven, my hips are both titled, my sacrum is titled and my neck is locked up. You know what other conclusion AFTER 2 DANG YEARS we come to???? He starts to push down on my abdomen and finds knots of scar tissue. So what does this mean? I know your wondering… The scar tissue is pulling down on my back, which in return pulls back on my sacrum causing pain. Now, why wasn’t I told this 2 years ago? Why is there no postpartum care for mothers who have no idea how to care for their postpartum bodies? I think about how I have suffered since my third trimester and how all this could have been prevented.

I know not everyone has rough postpartum recoveries, but I did and I’m still recovering. I felt crazy at times because no one understood my pain; I lived in silent pain because I thought it would just go away. At times, I can’t even stand up straight. My hips constantly feel locked up and hurt like I did an intense Crossfit exercise. I couldn’t sleep at night from the throbbing pain and when I would wake up, I felt like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. When I tell you I felt like a 70 year old woman, I’m not kidding!

I also want to share what I was told by chiropractor #3 who works on expecting moms. She told me that Sutton probably kept flipping at the end (head down 35 weeks, breeched 36 weeks, head down 37 weeks and flipped again at 37 weeks and 3 days and my water broke resulting in a c-section) because my hip was tilted. When this happens the baby can’t get their head down because the bones are hard, therefore resulting in having to have a c-section. MY MIND WAS BLOWN!!! How many moms have I heard had to have a c-section because the baby just wouldn’t come through… what if this is why?

Now that I know what I know, chiropractic care is so important for expecting and postpartum moms. I hope my experience can help another mom who is going through similar pain. You’re not alone! Find someone in your area who can help you work out that scar tissue postpartum. I shook it all off during my pregnancy; I was like “Hey, I’m going right back to normal afterwards you just watch.” God laughed at me, but I know He has a reason for me going through this roller coaster. My child is worth every bit of pain I have gone through, but as his mom, I have to be healthy in order to give him the best part of me! We must take care of ourselves too.

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Thanks for reading!

 

Xoxo,

HC