Looking back on my care in my pregnancy, I have come to realize that my OB did not tell me the information I needed to know. I am not saying I was mistreated because he did treat me well, but my care was not optimized for my health. My education as far as pregnancy nutrition was, “you should not gain more than 30 pounds in your pregnancy according to your bmi”. Even with adequate exercise and good eating habits we can’t always control how much weight we gain in pregnancy. What weight you gain is what your body needed to grow your baby. OBs need to stop the weight gain shaming during pregnancy. They really should just make sure you are getting the nutrition you need and getting some type of exercise, such as walking or swimming.
Proper birth education. Especially for first time moms. Offering some type of resource for local birthing classes. Most hospitals offer a birth class but this information was not given to me. I had to ask the nurse about local classes. She only told me about the hospital classes and not of any other local classes. A lot of doulas offer in-person classes and I was able to find one. My birth ended in a cesarean. I wasn’t given any information to take home with me on care for my incision. Nor was I given any information on how to strengthen my core after my incision heals. At my 6 week appointment there was no conversation on what postpartum will look like. I had no idea how long it could take for my body to return to somewhat “normal”. They only administered my birth control and sent me on my way. Several weeks later I was still experiencing extreme pain with intercourse. I knew that it was not normal. I talked with a nurse and she told me they would refer me to a pelvic floor therapist. I had no idea you can have pelvic floor dysfunction when you’ve had a cesarean. In fact it happens because of the scare tissue in your uterus. It’s now been 18 months after having my baby and I am still experiencing hormone imbalances. My OB did not tell me that I could experience hormone imbalances for up to 2 years after birth. I wasn’t diagnosed with Postpartum depression until I was 7 months postpartum. I suffered for 7 months and I thought what I was feeling was normal after having a baby. In conclusion ask your OB more questions. Here is a example list of things you should ask your OB.
Nutrition Education
Local Childbirth classes
Pelvic floor dysfunction and who to go to for therapy. You can start when your pregnant
Education on healing timeline after birth and education on your core strength
Education on understanding hormones during pregnancy and postpartum
Nutrition while breastfeeding
I would highly recommend hiring a doula during your pregnancy. They can provide you with the resources for pregnancy, birth and postpartum. They will offer childbirth education and newborn care, and any other support you need. My name is Willow and thank you for reading my first blog post!