7 Things they don’t tell you about Post-Pregnancy

If you’re anything like me (and a large population of new age women), you prepare yourself for being ‘pregnant’ without realizing that this does not prepare you at all for being a mother. The result is a post-delivery period filled with a mixture of feelings – both emotional and physical – ranging from shock to elation, to just plain frustration.

Sure they tell you about sleepless nights and diaper changing marathons. But here are a few things I wish I had known prior to hurtling into this fragile phase:

1. Pregnancy has you at the top of your game when it comes to food habits. You’re eating everything healthy and nutritious, and more than your fair share at that. What they don’t tell you is that once your baby is born, you have to take more care of your health, lest you get sick, because then who will take care of the little one who is entirely dependent on you? So forget about that junk food frenzy you were fantasizing about, and don’t even think about getting soaked in the delightful first rains of the monsoon.
2. You should include a weights regime in your fitness plan before pregnancy. Before you know it your baby will be 5kg and carrying that load around on one arm for three hours, when he refuses to sleep any other way, is not easy. So start doing weights now.
3. Newborns are such noisy sleepers. Whoever coined the term “sleeping like a baby” probably never watched one sleep. They grunt and squirm and wriggle about, and then fall back asleep again. So if you’re not already up feeding, or rocking him to sleep, you’ll be startled awake wondering if the strange sound he just made is anything to worry about.
4. Recovery takes time. Even with a natural birth, don’t expect to be superwoman and just bounce back to your normal energetic self. Your baby was inside 9 months, at least give yourself a couple of months before you start to feel fabulous again.
5. Routine is not a word you can claim in your vocabulary anymore. Do you moisturize after every shower? Not anymore. Do you eat something as soon as you wake up? Think again. Get used to eating only after the baby is fed, showering at midnight, and brushing your teeth at four o’clock in the afternoon.
6. You can’t have bedtime conversations with your partner until the little one is asleep. Babies can hear and sense everything, especially an argument or stress. Even when they’re 3 weeks old.
7. The realization of “parenting” is a daunting one, which doesn’t hit all of us instantly. Bringing up a little person into this world, making him a good human being and citizen of society – well that’s something I doubt anyone can prepare you for.