My baby was about 3 months old when I realized that my temples were a bit farther back than I remembered.  I was losing my hair!  Horrified I scoured every available source I could find for information.  Usually at any given time up to 15% of your hair is in a ‘resting’ phase; which means it is about to fall out and be replenished.  Estrogen during pregnancy causes less ‘resting’ and thusly, less shedding.  After birth your estrogen levels fall and then so does your hair!  Be patient, your hair is supposed to return to its original glory in about a year.  At 9 months, I’m seeing some regrowth but I am not yet back to full.

Another byproduct of pregnancy, apparently my gums have receded up over my k-nines, exposing the tooth closer to the root.  So now when I brush, or get food up in there, my tooth complains bitterly.  ‘They say that it will go back to normal after a while but I see no changes, boo!

My nipples will never be the same again I can tell you that!  I never had to think about them before but now that I’ve had a child they’re doing all sorts of strange things.  Like occasionally acting like giant white-heads.  Ew.

It could just be that the ligaments holding my pelvic joints together are still stretched out from my body’s pre-birth preparations.  I’ve been told that it will dissipate, sooner if I find the time to strengthen my core.

My feet have grown!  I could kick myself now because I knew women’s feet swelled and yet I still bought a brand new pair of shoes while I was pregnant.  Brand new and hardly worn, they’re sitting at the back of my closet until my feet decide to shrink down again… sigh.  It’s the pregnancy hormone Relaxin, the same hormone responsible for Pelvic Girdle Pain (the pain that can occur while the pelvis prepares for birth) that’s responsible for the loosening of the ligaments in my feet.  And *sob!* it’s permanent!  Even more horrifying?  My feet will keep getting bigger with every pregnancy!  If I take a walk on the beach people will be looking for Sasquatch.

Were we really expecting it to go away?  Only starlets with money to burn can afford to get rid of their leftover tum flab.  I know I don’t have the available funds to hire my own personal trainer, so I’m afraid that my loosened abdominal muscles are just going to have to stay loosened.

Purple-ish and plentiful and about 3 inches up over my belly button.

I’m blessedly free of this problem, but I do work with a woman who keeps extra undergarments in her trunk for accidents.  All it takes is one unexpected laugh or sneeze and she has a leak.  And this is a decade after her last baby!  If you are having continued trouble with incontinence don’t despair; solutions are only a doctor’s consultation away.