I had wanted to weigh myself the next day after delivery in the hospital but they didn’t have a scale. How could they not have a scale?!?! I couldn’t be the only person who wanted to weigh myself right after delivery to see how much weight they had lost!? I was so curious as to how much just losing the babies, placentas, etc. was equal to! I remember the next day after delivery looking down at my legs and feet exclaiming, “My feet! Those are my feet!” They were so swollen for so long during my pregnancy, that seeing them “normal” was like seeing a long lost friend again! I was so excited! I could wear more than my one pair of flip flops again! I also realized that I hadn’t even comprehended how swollen they really were until I saw them normal size again! I swear I must have glanced down at them hundreds of times that day in complete awe! (I know you think I’m crazy – but seriously, trust me – it was a dramatic difference!!)
Okay, I’ll brag about one more fact and then bring myself back to reality with a downer fact!! So after losing the 41 pounds, I went on to loose 9 more pounds in the next month after delivery. That means in one month after giving birth to twins, I weighed 9 pounds less than when I first became pregnant. And that I lost a total of 50 pounds in 4 weeks!!! I really don’t exactly know why I lost that much and so quickly. I’m sure breastfeeding helped. And the fact that I weighed more before I got pregnant perhaps from all the fertility medications I was on. And that I ate healthier during the pregnancy. (Oh who am I kidding? I had ice cream almost every day!) But before you get too jealous, I have gained back 4 pounds very fast since quitting breastfeeding and pumping!
Okay, here’s the big downer so you don’t get too envious of me. Even with all that great weight loss, (and I can’t believe I am telling this to the world) I have a huge gut that is saggy and stretched and covered with oh so nasty stretch marks all around my belly button protruding outward in all directions. Yuck. And my belly button has turned into a concave valley. (It’s the weirdest thing ever! If you are brave enough to see such a sight, ask me because I may be okay with showing you!)
During a cesarean birth, the cut is made into the abdominal wall and then the muscle is pulled apart to reveal the uterus. The uterus is then cut open and the baby is pulled out between the muscle fibers often causing stretching. That stretching is what makes it difficult to get your stomach back into good muscle tone afterwards. My OB said if I want it to go away, I’ll have to do some major working out. Boo hoo! This is because my "gut" is basically my stretched out muscles. Therefore, if I work on those muscles, they will shrink back in and the gut should disappear. The body is an amazing thing! (And if you know me, you know how much I love to work out...ha ha!)
I was out of maternity clothes after one month, but I still wear my “bella band” (a seamless band that is tight and can hold up your jeans without being buttoned!) because I can’t button all my regular jeans. And who knows if I’ll ever be the same size again. I think I'll be wearing that bella band forever. (Oh, the joys of your stomach being stretched to all ends during a pregnancy with multiples.) Those boys better appreciate me and what my poor stomach went through! If they ever give me grief, I may just have to show them my belly war wounds and say, “look what you did to me!” HA HA HA HA!
Even though my body has changed in wild ways (people had warned me about them, but I didn’t believe it until now!) – I am thankful for this blessing. (I’ll spare you from going into detail about what other ways my body has changed!) Yes, they are my war wounds and I will learn to appreciate them. Like I was ever really going to wear a bikini again anyway, right?
And even though I still look 20 weeks pregnant...(seriously...my stomach still looks like it did when I was about 20 weeks along!) I will be thankful (most of the time!)
This photo was taken the night before the babies were born on September 12th. We had no idea that the next day I would deliver! I couldn’t even fit into pregnancy clothes anymore. As you can see, my gut is clearly hanging out! (Speaking of which, I don’t know why they don’t make pregnancy clothes for those pregnant with multiples. If I bought bigger sizes to fit my belly, it was way to large everywhere else so I couldn’t wear those either.) So, needless to say, I was ready to get those twins out of me. I’m not sure how much more I could have really stretched without popping!
And this photo was taken on September 9th. I’m not sure how many inches around I measured. My plan was to measure it before delivery, but in all the craziness, I forgot!!
