post-baby body

At 34, I have four children. I stopped triathlon training when pregnant with my last baby. I have always been fit, and always put on between 15 and 28kilos for each pregnancy. I never cared so much about weight, I believed that I was the incubator for my baby and just let my body do what it needed. I was in the hospital coffee shop with a girlfriend and my baby one day after my last caserarian delivery, we were approached by a mother and her two teenage girls, the mother congratulated my girlfriend on the birth of her baby and I was asked when mine was due....it set the tone for comments over the next eight weeks. I was in a chemists shop and the pharmacist asked me when my baby was due - I was holding a week old baby!! I could be pushing my brand new baby at the shops and strangers would ask me how hard is it to be pregnant so quickly again....It sucked, I stopped counting those comments after I reveied 14 unsolicited nasty remarks from strangers. Nobody wants to be large after the birth of a baby, if supermodels get six weeks to get back into shape, can't I , an ordinary working class woman, with a career, study, home and children take just a little longer???? It is not women who put pressure on themselves, it is all of the jerks and thier dreadful rude comments. A sleep deprived new mother does not need to be told anything other than "you look wonderful, your baby is beautiful" etc. If you don't have anything nice to say....P.S. My latest baby is almost four months old and I am still a size twelve, I feel unfit and unattractive, I have veins, stretch marks and sagging breasts, I don't have time to dye my grey hair or apply eye cream, I also have four beautiful children and a wonderful husband who loves all of me, for my real body and the life that it has given. I will lose the weight, in the june mid semester break I will have more time to exercise and nurture myself, until then I am thankful for my health.

antenatal depression

I was pleasantly surprised to read in the papers this morning that the Australian Government has finally decided to recognise post-natal depression as a serious reality of motherhood and as such, are going to screen new mothers starting in 2008. The statistics tell the story: 1 in 7 mothers will develop depression, often which goes undiagnosed. Now, this is all well and good (any recognition of motherhood is a step in the right direction). But (and there is always a but..) I am interested to know why no one ever talks about antenatal depression. Mothers are not only getting depressed after birth, they also get depressed during pregnancy.

Antenatal depression affects between 7 and 20% of pregnant women and quite often women who are depressed during pregnancy (at least 40%) are more prone to being depressed after the birth as well.

One young mum in my study was diagnosed with antenatal depression about 24 weeks into her pregnancy. Not particularly thrilled to have her body changing, feeling 'fat' and lonely, this woman went to find help and to her surprise could not find any. All of the support groups in Melbourne cater to postnatal depression so she was forced to hire a private psychiatrist for treatment.

As a result of all the associated hormone changes, feelings of fatigue and body image anxiety during pregnancy, antenatal depression is often very difficult to diagnose. However, women must be aware of the signs of depression not just after they give birth but most importantly during pregnancy.