Can we talk about the body changes that happen after pregnancy? And not the stretch marks or the baby weight — though those are real too — but the deeper, medical stuff that nobody seems to warn you about. The things that quietly change who you are, physically, long after you’ve left the delivery room.
Because here’s mine: my first born was a big baby. And she literally broke my back.
“My back reminded me, every single day, that I was no longer what I used to be.”
Before, During & After
Before and during my first pregnancy, I had no issue wearing heels. None at all. In fact, I wore them throughout my pregnancy — and yes, people would give me that look. You know the one. The “what the hell was she thinking” look. Which, honestly, I didn’t mind at all. My body, my choice. My preference over what people think has always mattered more to me.
But after giving birth? I couldn’t wear heels anymore. Not just as a preference — I physically couldn’t. I couldn’t stand for too long before my back would remind me, firmly and without apology, that something had shifted. That I had been changed in a way that wasn’t visible to anyone looking at me, but that I felt every single day.
The Conversation We’re Not Having
This is something I feel is not talked about enough. Or maybe I just haven’t come across someone who has expressed their experience in this regard — which is almost worse, in a way. Because if no one is talking about it, new mothers go through it alone, wondering if something is wrong with them, wondering if this is just their new normal with no explanation and no community around it.
So consider this me starting that conversation. My daughter is everything — she is worth every single thing my body went through to bring her here. But I also think I’m allowed to say: this happened to me, it changed me, and it deserved to be acknowledged.
If your body has changed in ways that go beyond what the baby books warned you about — a back that doesn’t work the way it used to, hips that shifted, joints that ache, things that simply feel different — I see you. That’s real. That matters. And it deserves a conversation.
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Has this happened to you? 🌸
I’d love to hear your experience. Drop a comment, share your story, or reach out — let’s have the conversation that nobody else is having.
Written with love & a sore back · The Journey · Pregnancy. Motherhood. Parenting. · 2026
