Mentally and physically, pregnancy can have a lasting impact on a woman's body and those changes don't stop once the baby comes.
After childbirth, women continue to experience a number of changes and some of them are straight-up weird.
I know. It's not fair. We just want to nap — is that so much to ask?!
Researchers found that the amount of gray matter in a mother's brain increased after giving birth.
These extra cells and nerves help her respond to her baby's needs and learn the necessary skills to be a mom.
Swollen feet are common during pregnancy, but after giving birth, some women find that their feet are permanently changed.
That's because the hormone relaxin, which loosens ligaments, could cause your feet to spread out.
That means it's time to buy some new shoes in a larger size, moms.
Everyone loses around 50-100 hairs a day, but during pregnancy, this stops leading to that luscious pregnancy mane expecting moms love.
Once the baby is born, hormones will trigger your daily hair loss, but since it's been a few months, all those extra hairs will come out, too.
It sucks, but thankfully, it only lasts a little while.
Researchers from the University of Sussex found that new moms temporarily have a lower voice than they did prior to childbirth because of hormone changes.
Lower voices also tend to sound more mature, which could be why women subconsciously speak in a different tone.
Those hormones are at it again!
Thanks to a rollercoaster of hormonal changes, new moms could find themselves with acne or other skin conditions.
If you are breastfeeding, remember to stay hydrated as this can do wonders for your skin and help combat acne.
Even if you shed all the baby weight, your pants size might be altered forever thanks to your bundle of joy.
Relaxin could be at play again, but your body might also just start depositing extra fat cells there. Great.
Breasts tend to get bigger during pregnancy and in the first few months following birth, especially if a woman chooses to breastfeed.
Once the breastfeeding stops, women could notice a dramatic reduction in their breasts and... sagging.
It's important to note that breast sagging isn't caused by breastfeeding, but rather by the dramatic weight changes and the loss of functional tissue once nursing ends.
Growing a tiny human and sporting a baby bump for months leads to a separation in the abdominal muscles called diastasis recti.
With the help of specific core exercises, moms can strengthen these muscles once again and eliminate the gap.
This mom was pregnant with triplets(!). The photo on the right was taken four days after she gave birth.
