About a week ago, I went into my OBGYN for my yearly check up, and I was reminded about a whole bunch of things that I needed to bring up to him about my depression medication, ask some questions about irregular periods, and find out a safe solution for my blood sugar to make sure I have enough energy to get through the day. When I was driving there, I was shaking my head at how DIFFERENT these appointments are now that I've had babes, because my body is so. different.
As mamas, I think it is so important to listen to our bodies, and feel comfortable talking about those things with our family and our doc. Sometimes we can forget that everything isn't going to work exactly the same as it did before we had our baby. Or even the way that it worked before having your most recent baby.
There are a couple things that I think get pushed to the back of our mama burners and that we tend to ignore, even though they may be making our lives harder. Here are a few things I think every mama should feel okay talking about:
Weight
The fact of the matter is, if you're in the throws of having babies and expecting babies, and raising babies, your weight is probably going to be all over the place. And here's the thing: No one should expect from themselves or anyone else that they need to be the same size they were before having babies, but it is also okay if you feel like your current weight is holding you back and you're struggling to get to a healthy weight. At this most recent check up, I talked with my doctor about solutions to the fact that I haven't had luck losing weight, and need help with my metabolism after having kids. I worked those solutions out with my doctor, and it felt GOOD to have someone explain to me that my body isn't going to respond to the same methods I used before having kids, and gave me some tools to help make it easier for me to get where I want to be: a healthy, happy, mama!
Energy
This is probably something that mamas don't want to bring up to their doctors, because, hello... you're a mom and if you're not being woken up at night, you're probably chasing around your kids all day, or you're working and getting home and doing housework and mama life and wrapping all that into one day means you are running on E all the time. But it's okay to talk about your lack of energy with your doc, and find out if how you're feeling is normal, or if there is something that's happening after having kids that is affecting your energy levels. I have a history of thyroid problems in my family, so it was important for me to do some tests to find out if there was an imbalance going on that was making me tired all the time, or if there are other things I can be doing that will help me not be in that perpetual state of yawning all day. Even though we're all in this tiring mama journey together, it's okay to talk about it if you feel like you can't keep up with your littles.
Depression and Anxiety
Hormones are weird, and our bodies sometimes do a crap job of keeping them balanced. And our bodies after babes are going through so many changes that our mood and emotions and our mental health is kind of all over the place. Even if you never had any problems with depression or anxiety in the past, even if you never thought of dealing with the types of feelings that made you want to stay in bed all day, or the kind of anxiety that kept you up all night, you still might. After having my son, I realized really fast that my mood and mental health was not in a good place, and I got help for my depression. After having my daughter, I realized that even on the dose I was on since having my first, I needed a higher dosage to help me feel like I was at a safe place emotionally and mentally. Our moods depend on so much, and there are countless factors that can contribute to a healthy mind and body, but we should never feel scared or embarrassed to reach out to our husband, or our mom, or our bestie, and especially our doc if we feel like life could be made a little bit easier if people knew what we were dealing with.