For nine months, you have housed and fed that beautiful littlebundle.
For nine months, that beautiful bundle has been readjusting,realigning and redesigning your body.
'And then somehow, magically, in six weeks (after the baby'sbirth), you're suppose to be back to normal,' said Beth Racine, 27, amother in Mundelein.
'And after you have the baby, somehow everybody makes you feellike you don't have the right to complain. It is a woman's role tosuffer and suffer in silence. It's just not reasonable.'
Racine had more problems than most. After the third child, herrecovery was just not progressing. She was dragging, she wasconstantly befuddled and she could not lose weight.
'I called the doctor, and she made me feel like ahypochondriac,' she said.
But Racine knew something wasn't right and insisted on a thyroidtest. The test showed her problems were not in her head - they werein her thyroid - and easily taken care of with medication.
Physiologcal complications in women after childbirth are theexception rather than the rule. Rough estimates show that Racine'sthyroid condition occurs about one or two in a hundred.
But there isn't enough research to give exact estimates.
'We do know there is a direct association between some problemsand pregnancy post-partum,' said Dr. Linda Hughey Holt, head ofobstetrics and gynecology at Rush North Shore Hospital and a motherof three. 'There is a percentage or two getting thyroid problems,the same with autoimmune system problems, probably about 2 or 3percent that get gallbladder problems, and muscular skeletal problemsmay be aggravated.'
'And it also looks like from 10 to 15 percent of women getsomething more serious than `baby blues' and fall into post-partumdepression,' according to Dr. Camilla Ashley, a psychiatrist atIllinois Masonic Hospital's Women's Health Resources center.
And while Holt agrees that most of the problems are'self-limiting,' she adds: 'The real problem is the focus (of thehealth community). Once the baby is out, obstetricians have atendency to discard their involvement with the mother, and complaintsand problems get discarded.'
Racine's story is an example of how women's post-partum healthhas been ignored. Most people - even those who were well-read onpregnancy - do not even know there is a chance of these otherproblems occurring.
Just about everything you have always wanted to know about awoman's body during pregnancy and childbirth can be found in a book, a magazineor a video these days. The store shelves are packed.
But once that baby is born, everybody is looking at baby, andnobody is looking out for mom.
'And in obstetrics there is this external structure that inessence tells women they are going to be back to normal in sixweeks,' Holt said.
In a normal delivery, which is a misleading reference itselfbecause births are as individual as the mothers, doctors usuallyschedule a followup visit for a new mother at about six weeks.
At this time, a woman's organs are mostly back in place, theepisiotomy well on its way to being completely healed and the uterusalmost back to normal size, according to Dr. Laurie Sherwen, anassociate professor in nursing at Thomas Jefferson University inPhiladelphia.
But combine the physiological recovery with emotional stress andfatigue, along with the hormonal changes that occur during nursing,and total recovery is highly unlikely in this short a time.
Still, six weeks has come to signal the end of recovery - andmany women are expected back on the job.
'Everybody wants to believe this,' said Nina Barrett, a motherand author who tried to offer a clearer picture of pregnancy,childbirth and recovery in her book I Wish Someone Had Told Me.
'And a lot of the books and articles just help perpetuate thismyth of this magical six-week period.'
The result of these unrealistic expectations is more stress andmore problems for the new mother. It is a vulnerable time for mostwomen, and even the strong at heart find themselves not questioningauthority.
'So many see their lives are not running as the experts say, andthey feel that they are the problem, they are not in control,'Barrett said.
'We are just now coming to understand making those transitions -nonpregnant to pregnant state and then to post-partum - is just a lotmore complex physiologically and psychologically than we thoughtbefore,' Sherwen said.
So, what does all this mean to the 'normal' woman?
'First, there is no back-to-normal after having a child becauseyour life has changed so totally,' Holt said, adding that it takesabout a year to adjust to the emotional and physical changes.
And even if you eliminate the emotional component, Holt said,'The physical adjustment is extended into at least the first sixmonths.'
Don't expect to bounce back in six weeks. Some women can get agood figure back quickly, but for many it will take time.
Ironically, at the same time the medical profession isdiscovering it is healthy to gain more than just the formerlyrecommended 25 pounds during pregnancy, society is still certain anyyoung woman should be taut and tight even if she's a brand newmother.
Just don't expect to return to the same state. Because youwon't.
It doesn't mean you can't diet and exercise yourself into goodshape. But things do change, such as vaginal and abdominal tone aswell as breast density. And those changes become more pronouncedwith each birth.
Most women will be tired, depressed, confused and achey for awhile, but if the pronounced symptoms continue past six weeks, callyour doctor.
And when you call, call your internist or family doctor ratherthan your obstetrician, who is a specialist and should not be reliedupon for general health.
Don't accept a categorical dismissal from a doctor - 'Oh, that'snormal, you just had a baby' - if you feel that there is more to it.
'It's really a funny thing, how screwed up we are as a society'said Dr. Mayer Eisenstein, medical director of Home First HealthServices in Skokie. 'Women as a general run are not complainers, soif they complain, you as a doctor should listen. . . . But mostdoctors have a patronizing attitude to women in general and pregnantwomen especially.'
