Ronda, 34, started out by explaining that her two stepsons asked her how she was going to feed daughter "Po" (La'akea Makalapuaokalanipō Browne) on the airplane during an upcoming trip to Hawaii.
"And I was like "uhhh, same way I always do," she wrote of her response. "Then it occurred to me that they probably never seen anyone breastfeed before and weren't sure if it was appropriate in public."
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She then continued to throw down the facts about why nursing in public is no big deal in blunt, Rousey fashion. "Motherhood's some bad**s, primal, beautiful s**t that shouldn't be hidden," she stated. "It still blows my mind that my body assembled this little person, pushed her out and now makes everything she needs to thrive."
Rousey concluded the post by reminding everyone that breastfeeding is something to celebrate, not hide. "It's really nothing to be ashamed of, it's something to brag about," she wrote, finishing her post off with the hashtags #normalizebreastfeeding and #proudmama.
This isn't the first time Rousey has gotten real about motherhood. Just ten days after welcoming her daughter, she shared an unedited image of her postpartum body along with a message that she is in no hurry to get back into shape, despite the fact that her mother started training six days after her sister was born and won the US Open Judo a mere six weeks later.
Rousey opened up about her pregnancy in a July 24 Instagram post. "I wish I could say that pregnancy feels amazing, that I've never felt more powerful as a woman. But it feels more like my organs are being crushed by the miracle of life. I've never felt more exhausted, unmotivated or aware of gravity. Some days I have to lay on my side for hours just to comfortably breathe. There's no break, it's a grind, I'm just trying to get through one day at a time," she admitted.
RELATED: 5 Times Ronda Rousey Got Real About Her Body
She also confessed that the "looming task of giving birth is intimating as hell" and that she was "not so much afraid of the pain of labor as intimidated by the recovery."
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]]>It was September 2020, and I wailed as I stared at her body on the ultrasound monitor. My husband, Thomas, watched by video from the parking lot because he was not allowed inside the hospital due to the pandemic. "I was just stuck there," he recalls. "I felt helpless."
I Developed Asherman Syndrome After a Miscarriage—It Threatened My Fertility, and It Might’ve Been Preventable to remove fetal tissue after a miscarriage—as well as to remove retained placenta after a birth. During a D&C, the contents of the uterus are emptied with a suction device, or a combination of suction and scraping with a sharp, spoon-shaped tool called a curette.
Having a D&C after a miscarriage feels like a consequential event. It is the medical equivalent of a burial. Many people who have one allow the hospital to discard the remains, but we needed a path to healing, so we asked my doctor to preserve them so we could cremate her and plant her ashes along with a tree.
Everyone at the hospital treated the surgery as routine. Even the generic consent forms, with only vague warnings of the risks of a D&C, implied that what I was about to go through was ordinary.
While I waited for the surgery, the nurses encouraged me to try to get pregnant again, and they told stories about the "rainbow babies" they had following their own miscarriages. My doctor added that the ease with which I conceived Mara boded well for my fertility.
Two weeks later, after a quick pelvic exam to make sure I was fully recovered from the surgery, another ob-gyn in the practice said I could start trying for a baby after my period came back—a time frame that nearly every article online claims can take between two to six weeks.
But my period never returned.
My missed periods offered clues
Each month, I felt signs my period was coming. I was bloated, and I had cramps that were more intense than I had ever felt before. But I never saw anything more than a few drops of blood. I didn't need a tampon, or even a pantiliner. It was as if my period was trapped inside my body.
I took to Google for answers. Over and over, there was only one explanation for my missing period: a disorder called Asherman syndrome.
Asherman syndrome is characterized by scarring, or "adhesions," inside the uterus or on the cervix, and it's often caused by trauma during surgery. Many cases of Asherman syndrome arise after a D&C, I learned. Common symptoms include scant or missing periods, known as amenorrhea, and cyclical menstrual cramping that can at times feel more intense due to trapped menstrual blood. Many people who develop Asherman's cannot conceive, and those who do often miscarry.
Diagnosis and treatment of Asherman syndrome often require multiple surgeries with a procedure called a hysteroscopy, in which a thin lighted tube helps visualize the uterus. Meanwhile, the doctor snips away the adhesions with a small instrument, such as microscissors.
The odds of getting pregnant for people with Asherman syndrome depend on the severity of the scarring. Even after treatment, many people face higher pregnancy complication risks, and some have trouble rebuilding a healthy endometrial lining, which is vital to becoming and staying pregnant.
Most online resources, including the National Organization for Rare Disorders, state that Asherman's is "rare." Still, I wondered why no one had warned me about the potential complication from my D&C.
Finding a doctor who listened to me
In December 2020, after three months passed without a period, I contacted the doctor who performed my D&C. Her office did not see my problem as urgent, and I could not secure an appointment for several weeks. When she finally saw me and I told her I feared I had Asherman syndrome, she seemed unconcerned. She downplayed my symptoms, saying she doubted I had Asherman syndrome because a vaginal ultrasound to examine my uterine lining showed I was technically menstruating and therefore still ovulating. She even suggested that stress could be the culprit.
I suspected she was wrong. Perhaps she knew it, too, because she referred me to a fertility doctor who ran tests to rule out other possible diagnoses. After ultrasound technicians discovered they couldn't pass a catheter through my cervix during one test, I followed my suspicions.
I searched for Asherman specialists and found James Robinson, MD, a gynecologic surgeon at MedStar Health in my home city of Washington, DC. He diagnosed me in just one telemedicine session and scheduled me for my first of three hysteroscopies, based on my symptoms: I had no period since my D&C, I had cramping every month, and I was not able to conceive. For the first time, I felt like someone was listening to me.
Asherman’s was not so rare after all
"Your story I hear every single week," Dr. Robinson told me in an interview a few months later, noting that most of his patients arrive like I had: frustrated that no one warned them of scarring risks from uterine surgery.
I joined an online support group for women with Asherman syndrome, where I saw my own story reflected in their experiences. Like me, their doctors didn't believe they had Asherman syndrome, and they had to hunt for specialists who would take them seriously. I started to suspect that Asherman syndrome was not so rare.
"After almost a year of pain and amenorrhea, my ob-gyn still insisted I could not have Asherman syndrome," Marisa Ruiz of California, whom I met online, tells me now. "By the time I finally saw an Asherman specialist and was diagnosed, my uterus was 70% scarred shut."
Charles March, MD, formerly with HRC Fertility in Pasadena, California, who had treated more than 3,000 patients with Asherman syndrome before retiring last year, has long sought to make the case that Asherman syndrome is not rare. He points to multiple studies, which have shown that the incidence of developing adhesions can be in the range of 13% to 46%.
One systematic review concluded that one in five women who had a miscarriage developed intrauterine adhesions and found that the D&C procedure was a risk factor for developing scarring. The risk for adhesions is even greater for those who've had multiple D&Cs, as well as for those who have retained placenta or experienced a later-term pregnancy loss.
"Doctors don't know, and they aren't taught in medical school or a residency very much about the condition," Dr. March tells Health, adding, "I think the whole culture has to change."
Asherman's also may be becoming more common because scarring risks increase with age, according to Australia-based gynecologist and Asherman specialist Thierry Vancaillie, MD. "The incidence of Asherman's has increased, and that is mainly due to the fact that in the modern world, pregnancy is delayed and most women are of an older age," he tells Health.
In a study he led that was published in 2020, Dr. Vancaillie urged doctors to consider Asherman's as a possible diagnosis "in any woman with a history of miscarriage or postpartum curettage who then fails to conceive again."
What I wish I had known before my procedure
Through my own research and talking to experts and other women with Asherman's, I discovered a few things I wish I had known before I consented to a D&C.
For starters, the D&C is considered a "blind" procedure, meaning it is performed by feel, without any tools to help doctors see what they are doing. This persists even though modern devices such as ultrasound and hysteroscope are available to help doctors visualize the uterus both during and after surgery, to make sure they are removing all of the pregnancy tissue while avoiding any damage to the uterine lining.
A "blind" D&C increases the risk that pregnancy tissue can be missed, according to Dr. Vancaillie, and having retained fetal products or placenta is "the number one risk factor for developing scar tissue." Checking that the uterine cavity is empty should be done, he says, adding that uterine imaging should be a "minimum" standard.
The type of instrument used in a D&C also matters. A D&C performed with a vacuum-like machine that creates suction, for instance, is less traumatic to the uterine lining than a sharp curette, according to multiple experts, including the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. "There are very few indications for a sharp curettage," says Dr. Robinson.
The best option after a miscarriage is to try using medication to empty the uterus because it is the least risky, Dr. Robinson says. If that is not possible, he recommends the hysteroscopic removal of pregnancy tissue because it allows for "direct visualization" and lets the doctor empty the uterus with precision, without scraping or suctioning the entire lining. If operative hysteroscopy is not possible, then Dr. Robinson suggests the next-best option would be a suction curettage.
Discovering what happened during my D&C
I was dumbfounded to learn that a D&C could even be performed blindly. It seemed like common sense that performing any surgery by feel is a bad idea. I wondered whether this happened to me, so I requested my medical file and saw for the first time a description of my surgery.
There, I read how my baby's remains had been removed, both with suction and by being scraped out of me with a sharp curette, until I was empty inside. There was no mention of a hysteroscopy, let alone basic ultrasound.
I became curious about what kind of guidance ob-gyns were getting about best practice standards for a D&C, so I contacted the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). ACOG is the largest medical organization in the US for ob-gyns, with more than 60,000 members. The group is responsible for issuing practice guidelines that, while not mandatory, are influential in establishing standards of care.
ACOG sent me a copy of its guidelines on the management of early pregnancy loss. To my surprise, I discovered they are, at times, out of step with what some of the world's leading Asherman syndrome experts are recommending.
ACOG's guidelines do promote suction curettage over sharp curettage. But rather than urging doctors to largely avoid sharp curettage due to scarring risks, they state that suction is "superior" to sharp curettage alone and that sharp curettage "does not provide any additional benefit" when used in combination with suction in a first trimester loss.
The guidelines are also silent on the risks of a blind D&C. They do not address ultrasound-guided surgery, let alone superior alternatives such as operative hysteroscopy, despite evidence it could reduce scarring risks because it allows a doctor to visualize the uterus while being more precise in removing retained pregnancy tissue.
ACOG also claims that developing adhesions from a D&C is "rare," even though research suggests otherwise.
In response to my concerns with ACOG's guidelines, Christopher Zahn, MD, head of the ACOG practice committee, provided a statement to Health. In his statement, he acknowledged that the impact of Asherman syndrome on patients is "significant," but said evidence "does not support the routine use of ultrasound to guide the evacuation of the uterus," noting that it could "delay" care. An ACOG spokesperson added that while experts may have their own recommendations about the use of ultrasound during a D&C, ACOG is an evidence-based clinical organization that must "make its recommendations based on the available peer-reviewed published scientific literature, reflecting the entire body of evidence."
Putting my grief into action
After reviewing ACOG's guidelines, I felt so concerned about what I considered—based on my own experience and the medical research from Asherman experts—to be their shortcomings that I banded together with some women I met online and wrote a petition urging ACOG to update its standard of care for a D&C.
In it, we asked ACOG to "make the ultrasound-guided D&C the standard of care, in cases where a hysteroscopic resection or miscarriage management with medication is not available or appropriate," and stop referring to Asherman syndrome as "rare."
The petition, which I sent to ACOG this past June, garnered 128 signatures from patients with Asherman syndrome from around the globe. An ACOG spokesperson said later that same month its practice committee would review it.
It also sparked the interest of a group of women in Australia and New Zealand I met online who, like me, suffered from Asherman syndrome. Using the petition as inspiration, they sent a similar request in September to the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, asking for the organization to help improve how Asherman syndrome is diagnosed, treated, and managed.
While Asherman syndrome is not always avoidable, there are things I think doctors can do to minimize risks. They should use less risky surgical tools, anticipate possible scarring, and follow up after surgery to detect it. Above all, doctors should not brush people off when they report possible symptoms—like my doctor did to me.
Dr. March told me the myth that Asherman's is rare continues not only because of a lack of education about the condition among doctors, but also because patients who develop it often fail to report the negative outcome to their ob-gyns.
Inspired by his words, the next day, I wrote a letter to the doctor who performed my D&C to let her know about my diagnosis from Dr. Robinson. "The intrauterine and cervical adhesions I developed from the D&C have been traumatic for me to endure and it has cost me seven-plus months of delays in my journey to become a mother, when time is not on my side," I wrote in that letter.
I also provided her with a link to an article that Dr. Robinson wrote to help educate doctors more about Asherman syndrome, and I urged her read it.
In her response, she said she would read Dr. Robinson's article, and she wished me luck on my "journey to a happy and healthy pregnancy," but she did not acknowledge the trauma I endured. That was the last time we communicated.
The grief that grips you after a miscarriage is a powerful force. In my case, I allowed it to take over, and I consented to the D&C without asking basic questions about the procedure or my own doctor's experience performing it. As hard as it may seem in that moment of pain, I now urge women in my online support groups to make sure they do their research first before agreeing to the surgery.
"All patients should be inquiring of their surgeons: 'Do you do this frequently?'" Dr. Robinson says. "If you start asking questions about the risk of adhesions and you start being blown off… you should probably seek a second opinion."
My journey continues
It took me more than six months to get treated for Asherman syndrome, robbing me of time I could have spent trying to conceive as my 40th birthday approaches.
On the seven-month anniversary of my D&C, I returned to the hospital again. This time, I was there to undo the damage. I drifted off to sleep, terrified of what Dr. Robinson might discover, yet hopeful he could remove the scarring that had prolonged the pain of losing Mara.
When I awoke, I felt like I had just downed 10 margaritas, but my mind could only think of one thing: "How bad is it?" I asked my husband.
He told me the news: The scarring was minimal. The majority of the scarring was in my cervix, and my lining was not damaged. Dr. Robinson felt confident in my prognosis. Compared to many people with Asherman syndrome, I was lucky. I covered my face, and I cried.
My journey to becoming a mother is not over, and it won't be easy. But now that I am armed with more knowledge, and my scarring has been cleared, at least it feels a little bit less bitter.
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"My body has felt like a stranger's for a long time. I uphold myself to honesty to the point of over sharing sometimes but this feels important," Halsey continued, explaining some of the revealing photos they opted to share with fans.
"The first picture on this slide is days after my baby was already born. A lot of people don't know that you still look pregnant for a while after," they explained. "It is still changing and I am letting it," Halsey continued, admitting that they have "no interest in working out" right now. "I'm too tired and too busy playing with my darling son."
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"I do not want to feed the illusion that you're meant to feel and look 'great' immediately postpartum. That is not my narrative currently," Halsey stated, getting to the heart of the message.
"If you've been following me because you're also a parent and you dig what I'm doing, please know I'm in your corner. I will never have my 'pre baby body back' no matter how it changes physically because I have now had a baby! And that has altered me forever; emotionally, spiritually, and physically. That change is permanent. And I don't want to go back!"
RELATED: Halsey Bares Breast on New Album Cover to 'Celebrate Pregnant and Postpartum Bodies'
This isn't the first time the "Manic" singer, who uses she/they pronouns, has been transparent about the realities of motherhood. Even prior to welcoming their son with partner Alev Aydin, Halsey put normalizing motherhood on their agenda when revealing the artwork for their upcoming album "If I Can't Have Love I Want Power."
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"This cover image celebrates pregnant and postpartum bodies as something beautiful, to be admired," Halsey explained about the photo, sitting on a throne with a baby in their lap and a breast exposed. "We have a long way to go with eradicating the social stigma around bodies & breastfeeding. I hope this can be a step in the right direction!"
A month following their birth announcement, Halsey flaunted their tiger stripes in a photo dump on social media, captioning the August 8 series of snaps, "Well….this is what it look like 🧸."
Halsey has also shared a few photos nursing the newborn, including one on August 3 in honor of National Breastfeeding Day.
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Chrissy-Teigen-Opens-Up-About-Miscarriage-on-Instagram-GettyImages-1131950478 revealing that she had suffered a miscarriage following a hospitalization for bleeding due to a "weak placenta."
"We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain that you only hear about, the kind of pain we've never felt before," she wrote in a caption for a series of photos from the hospital. "We were never able to stop the bleeding and give our baby the fluids we needed, despite bags and bags of blood transfusions. It just wasn't enough."
Since her loss, Teigen has been open about her family's difficult journey. In February 2021, she posted photos from when she was 10 weeks pregnant with Jack, the baby she lost. "If he were like Luna and Miles, I'd probably be holding him as we speak," she wrote. "This month is a rough reminder and to be honest, I thought the worst was over but I guess life and emotions aren't on any sort of schedule."
Teigen says the emotions continue to surface as she reflects on her post-miscarriage body. "I would be lying if I said this did not majorly suck. Not only are you ummmm extremely, diabolically sad at what could have been, but you have this daily reminder every time you look in the goddamn mirror."
So far, the post has more than 630,000 likes, with hundreds of comments from supportive fans and celebrities. "Ugh the pain that keeps on giving. We love you," wrote model and actress Brooklyn Decker. "You are beautiful inside and out," Paris Hilton encouraged, followed by a kiss emoji.
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]]>The guidelines come just weeks after the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) updated its guidance to make a "strong recommendation" that pregnant people get vaccinated against COVID-19.
A big question many pregnant women have is…why? While the CDC has strongly urged all Americans over the age of 12 to get vaccinated against COVID-19, it particularly stresses how important it is for people who are immunocompromised to get the shot.
Does the new guidance mean that pregnant women are immunocompromised? It's actually a little more complicated than most people realize. Here's what you need to know.
RELATED: COVID-19 Vaccines May Not Work as Well for Immunocompromised People—Here's What We Know So Far
What happens to your immune system when you’re pregnant?
During pregnancy, certain parts of your immune system are enhanced while other parts are dampened to allow you to grow and protect a fetus inside you.
"During pregnancy, there are many immunological and physiological changes that occur," women's health expert Jennifer Wider, MD, tells Health. "The immune system is often in flux and as a result, pregnant women may be more vulnerable to infections, including viral respiratory infections like COVID-19."
These immune changes are perfectly timed to help protect both you and your baby, while allowing you to carry the baby to term, suggests a small study from 2017 published in the journal Science Immunology. Experts back the study results up.
Are-Pregnant-Women-Immunocompromised-GettyImages-1132546763 , MD, ob-gyn at the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies in Orlando, Florida, tells Health. "In the beginning, there's a pro-inflammatory state, which is helpful for implantation. Then it goes into an anti-inflammatory state, which is helpful for the growth of the baby. In the third trimester, it reaches another pro-inflammatory state to prepare for childbirth."
RELATED: If You're Immunocompromised, You Are at a Higher Risk of Coronavirus—Here's What That Means
What does it mean to be immunocompromised?
A person who is immunocompromised has a weakened immune system, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). These people have a lowered ability to fight infections and other diseases, which can be caused by certain diseases or conditions like AIDS, cancer, diabetes, malnutrition, and certain genetic disorders. Immunosuppression can also be caused by some medicines or treatments, including radiation therapy, organ transplant, and anti-cancer drugs.
So are pregnant women immunocompromised?
Not exactly. "It's kind of nuanced," David F. Colombo, MD, a Michigan-based ob-gyn and division chief of maternal fetal medicine at Spectrum Health, tells Health. "The answer is no, but with an asterisk. Your immune system just works differently when you're pregnant."
"I don't think we should officially call pregnant women 'immunocompromised'—as for example, women who have cancer and are getting chemotherapy, or folks who are born with immunodeficiency diseases," Mary Jane Minkin, MD, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive sciences at Yale Medical School, tells Health. "However, many folks think of pregnant women as somewhat immunocompromised because they are 'tolerating' a foreign presence in their uterus." A baby has genes from a totally different person as well, Dr. Minkin points out, and a pregnant person's immune system system has to be able to tolerate that on an immunological level.
"Pregnant women are considered to be a 'special population group' due to the state of the immune system during pregnancy," Dr. Wider says. But while pregnant women aren't immunocompromised per se, "a pregnant person's body is undergoing immune system changes and is not operating the same way a non-pregnant person's is," Dr. Wider explains. As a result, she adds, "her body cannot defend against infections in the same way."
In terms of COVID-19, Dr. Minkin says that pregnant people are susceptible to serious illness for reasons outside of their immune response. "One problem with COVID and related illnesses that has nothing to do with the immune system is that pregnant women have this 'thing' in their abdomens that pushes up the diaphragm, so lung space is compromised," she explains. "If a pneumonia sets, in they will mechanically have worse problems ventilating."
Pregnancy also causes a "tremendous strain" on your cardiovascular system, with pregnant women pumping an increased volume of blood. If a woman has an underlying heart condition on top of pregnancy and then develops COVID-19, "she will be in a very bad way," Dr. Minkin says.
RELATED: What Is a Weak Immune System? Here's How Doctors Explain It
What can pregnant women do to stay healthy?
Dr. Colombo stresses the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19. "The biggest risk to pregnant women right now is catching COVID," he says. "The vaccine is safe; COVID is not."
There's also this to consider, per Dr. Minkin: "Besides protecting the woman, there is evidence that [the mom] will pass on some antibodies to her baby."
It's also important to wear a mask when you're indoors in areas where there is a substantial or high rate of COVID-19 spread, wash your hands, and practice social distancing, Dr. Wider says. "Taking these precautions will go a long way in keeping a mom and her baby safe," she adds.
Overall, Dr. Greves says she advises patients to be "as careful as possible, because there are other infections floating around other than COVID-19 or the flu." But, Dr. Greves says, pregnant women also shouldn't panic over this. "Recognize that you're doing all you can do and try not to be too anxious about it," she says. "If you're doing all you can, enjoy your life and the beautiful baby growing inside."
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But it was the fifth photo—a close-up of Halsey's stretch marks underneath her belly button, that people were especially happy to see. "Wear those tiger stripes proud mama!! Love to see it 💫💓💓," one person commented. "THANK YOU FOR POSTING YOUR STRETCH MARKS!!!!! 🔥," another said. "I love love love that you posted ur cute little stretch marks. I'm 31 weeks pregnant and I keep getting paranoid I'll get them and having to remind myself it doesn't matter," someone else wrote.
RELATED: Halsey Bares Her Breast on New Album Cover to 'Celebrate Pregnant and Postpartum Bodies'
This is not the first time that Halsey has taken steps to normalize postpartum bodies. On July 7, the "Bad at Love" singer revealed the artwork for her upcoming album, posting a photo of herself sitting on a throne with a baby in her lap and one breast exposed. "This cover image celebrates pregnant and postpartum bodies as something beautiful, to be admired," she wrote in the caption. "We have a long way to go with eradicating the social stigma around bodies & breastfeeding. I hope this can be a step in the right direction!"
The album as a whole, she said, is "about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth." "It was very important to me that the cover art conveyed the sentiment of my journey over the past few months. The dichotomy of the Madonna and the Whore. The idea that me as a sexual being and my body as a vessel and gift to my child are two concepts that can co-exist peacefully and powerfully," she wrote in the caption. "My body has belonged to the world in many different ways the past few years, and this image is my means of reclaiming my autonomy and establishing my pride and strength as a life force for my human being."
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]]>One way people around the globe honor WBW is by sharing their own breastfeeding journey. Everyone's journey is different, and the thousands of posts hitting social media this week show just that. Some posts highlight the joys of breastfeeding, some highlight the struggles—and some do both.
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Other moms opened up about their own breastfeeding experience. While each post is unique, they all have this in common: they are vulnerable, they are honest, they are powerful—and they were all published in the name of normalizing breastfeeding.
RELATED: This Breastfeeding Mom Had the Perfect Response to Critics Calling her an 'Exhibitionist'
Each year, WBW has a theme. This year, two themes emerged. One is about how "breastfeeding contributes to the survival, health, and wellbeing of all," while the other focuses on the need to protect breastfeeding worldwide. That means making sure breastfeeding accommodations are made for nursing moms, and that they're not subjected to judgmental stares.
RELATED: A Swimsuit Model Just Walked the Runway While Breastfeeding Her Daughter
This is important, because breastfeeding in public is not always considered acceptable. Zoe Allamby of Orlando described a negative experience she recently had in a doctor's waiting room with her daughter: "I started to [breastfeed] with her burp cloth covering her face and I couldn't help but notice the stares I got as I began to feed my baby. At first I thought I was being paranoid but I looked up and down several times and saw the repeated uncomfortable stares :/. Why is it so taboo to do something that women were made to do."
Other moms shared more positive experiences, including Laura Bingham, from England, who said that while "breast feeding twins is in no way dignified as I have to get my whole chest out," she hasn't had "any nasty looks when breastfeeding in public."
Since "we often hear all about the negative side to nursing in public," mom Rosie Robinson "really just wanted to share the positive as well." When her son, Jonsi, got hungry at the store, Robinson asked an employee if she minded if she fed her son. The employee's response: "You never have to ask to feed your baby, a fed baby is a happy one. You feed if you need to." "In that moment I just felt so pleased, she understood!," Robinson wrote.
RELATED: This Mom's Photo of Eating While Breastfeeding Is Going Viral Because It's So Relatable
One mom, Delaney, took to Instagram to celebrate herself. Her husband did the math and figured out that Delaney had breastfed their son for 764 days and produced 13,752 oz of breast milk in that time. "Every breastfeeding journey deserves to be celebrated. If it's one day, one month, one year — breastfeeding is work and your efforts deserve to be acknowledged!," she wrote alongside a picture of her feeding her son.
"I am so proud of myself for honoring my body and providing for my son in the way that felt best for me. So today I celebrate me. I celebrate my body, my boobies, and my perseverance…," she continued.
Terri-Ann Michelle has a message for women who are "new to this whole breastfeeding thing" and might be having a rough go of it. The mom of three got real in her Instagram post, writing about how breastfeeding led her to have bleeding, cracked nipples that were "almost bad enough that I thought one more feed might make them simply fall off."
"It's not supposed to be easy. And you're not a failure. It's a marathon you could have never trained for," she wrote. "Whatever stage of this journey you're on, just know one thing – You are incredible."
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Halsey-Breastfeeding-Photo-GettyImages-1185290194 , with a photo of herself holding her child, with her boyfriend, screenwriter Alev Aydin, by her side. "Gratitude," she wrote in the caption, "for the most 'rare' and euphoric birth. Powered by love."
RELATED: 10 Reasons Breastfeeding Is Good for You
Just a few weeks before she gave birth, Halsey made headlines for her pregnancy when she announced the artwork for her new album, "If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power," on Instagram. On the album cover, she's dressed in royal garb, her left breast is exposed, and she's holding a baby on her lap.
"This album is a concept album about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth," she wrote in the caption. "It was very important to me that the cover art conveyed the sentiment of my journey over the past few months." She added that the art was meant to show that women can exist both as "sexual beings" and "vessels" for children. "My body has belonged to the world in many different ways over the past few years, and this image is my means of reclaiming my autonomy and establishing my pride and strength as a life force for my human being."
She went on to say that the purpose of the album art was to celebrate postpartum bodies as "something beautiful, to be admired." And she explained that normalizing acceptance of those bodies was part of her mission: "We have a long way to go with eradicating the social stigma around bodies & breastfeeding. I hope this can be a step in the right direction!"
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]]>However, all three issues plagued me for months. I knew my meals were not the cause, as I had always eaten a high fiber diet full of grains and vegetables. But I found myself making multiple (and highly uncomfortable) trips to the bathroom each day.
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Why do bowel movements sometimes change after having a baby?
A change in bowel movements is very common after giving birth. "There are several reasons why women have alterations in bowel movements after having a baby," Rita Knotts, MD, gastroenterologist and assistant professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health, tells Health. "In the immediate period there is of course soreness and pain, which limit the ability to bear down and therefore the ability to evacuate."
Dr. Knotts says that certain medications meant to alleviate postpartum pain can add insult to injury. "Pain medications are also frequently used during and after birth, which can make your bowels slower, resulting in constipation," she explains.
Keep in mind that your pelvic floor muscles just squeezed out another human, and they need a lot of recover time. "Your bowel movements greatly depend on the integrity of your pelvic floor, which just went through something major," she says.
Hormones play a role as well. "Progesterone levels are higher during pregnancy, which helps maintain the pregnancy but also slows down your entire GI tract," says Dr. Knotts. "This also leads to pelvic floor changes."
Those pelvic floor changes often result in constipation, which in turn causes hemorrhoids during and after birth, Gabrielle Sandler, MD, ob-gyn and clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at NYU Langone Health, tells Health. Hemorrhoids can also be a side effect of diarrhea, which can cause anal irritation and discomfort.
RELATED: Mom Shares Photo of Her Postpartum Body to Send a Powerful Message About Self-Love
How many women does this affect—and why is nobody talking about it?
Upon further research, I was relieved to see that I wasn't alone in my postpartum digestive issues. According to Dr. Sandler, FI (fecal incontinence, or the inability to control your bowels) affects approximately 7% of all women after a delivery, with 50% of women experiencing constipation immediately after delivery and 24% continuing to experience it at 3 months postpartum.
In an ideal world, your ob-gyn should be warning you about these issues. While some women (myself included) might be embarrassed to bring them up, it's very important that we do. The good news is, Dr. Knotts says these bowel changes tend to go away fairly quickly: "Most of the time, the symptoms aren't chronic. Most resolve after a few weeks as your body recovers from childbirth."
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How doctors treat bowel issues after childbirth
With attention, time, and patience, bowel changes after childbirth should disappear. Here's what doctors recommend:
Hemorrhoids
Dr. Knotts suggests treating hemorrhoids by increasing dietary fiber and water intake, as well as using stool softeners (such as Colace or Senna). Hydrocortisone creams and suppositories, as well as sitz baths, can reduce the swelling, discomfort, and itching.
Constipation
General recommendations for postpartum constipation prevention include eating a high fiber diet and drinking plenty of water, according to Dr. Sandler. Some additional treatments that can be helpful include fiber supplements, stool softeners, and/or a laxative (such as Miralax). However, stool softeners and laxatives should not be taken for an extended period, which can lead to dependency and decreased bowel function. Follow the instructions on the package when it comes to how long to use.
Fecal incontinence and diarrhea
Treat these issues with fiber supplements/bulking agents, like psyllium, and anti-diarrheal agents, such as loperamide, says Dr. Sandler. Starting pelvic physical therapy at four to six weeks after delivery (and continuing for least five months) has also been shown to be effective, Dr. Sandler adds.
RELATED: 7 New Moms Get Real About How They Learned to Love Their Postpartum Body
What you need to know
Being a new mother is challenging enough, but when we know what to expect, it makes for a smoother transition. Had I known about these issues, I would have been better prepared.
But after I educated myself about their treatment, I found relief. For my first few months after giving birth, I relied heavily on fiber supplements and laxatives, which made going to the bathroom much more comfortable. I also treated my hemorrhoids with pain relief creams and the use of a sitz bath.
Before you head to the store to buy over-the-counter treatments, you should have a conversation with your doctor about what might work best for you. Your doctor might point out some lifestyle changes that can help, Dr. Knotts says, explaining that decreased physical activity after delivery can contribute to digestive system problems.
That said, it's important to speak up if you're uncomfortable, says Dr. Sandler. "Yes, this an issue that you and your doctor should discuss prior to birth, given how prevalent it is. If your doctor does not bring this up, you should feel empowered to start the conversation."
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]]>According to PEOPLE, the Vanderpump Rules star took to Instagram over the weekend to tackle rude comments about her postpartum body that she received on photos of herself and her husband at the Los Angeles premiere of Midnight in the Switchgrass.
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The new mom went on to say that "every body is different" and "every pregnancy is different"—and that she's proud of what her body has done. "It gave me the best blessing I could ever imagine [and] on top of it all I felt great this night," she wrote.
Cartwright isn't the first person—and definitely won't be the last—to clap back against the postpartum "snap back," or the assumption that after giving birth a person's body should immediately go back to how it looked pre-pregnancy.
In June, How to Get Away With Murder actress Aja Naomi King shared a photo shoot of her postpartum body shortly after giving birth. "No, this is not a pregnancy before picture," she wrote in the Instagram post. "This is the After. After days of labor. After experiencing what felt like my insides being ripped apart, no lie. After experiencing the unimaginable beauty of childbirth, this is what is left behind. This gorgeous body!"
And it's not just Cartwright and King who experience this part of postpartum life—in fact, it's very common to still look slightly pregnant after giving birth, Christine Greves, MD, a board-certified ob-gyn at the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies, previously told Health. "It takes time for the body to return to its pre-pregnancy status," she said, adding that even the uterus doesn't shrink back to its former size immediately.
Another thing to consider: Aside from the size of the uterus, it can also take a while for a person's body to lose any extra weight and fluid from the pregnancy. "The average person gains 25 to 35 pounds in pregnancy and not all of that is fluid or the baby," said Dr. Greves. "It takes time to lose that as well."
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