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Will I get stretched out down there?
Your body is capable of some amazing things and the star of the
show during pregnancy is your vagina. Somehow, your lady parts
manage to stretch out and allow approximately 6 - 9 pounds
of baby to come out of it. Will someone please give your vagina
an award?
But the question you’re probably wondering is, will my vagina
reclaim her old look and feel after childbirth? This is hard to say
definitively and will depend on some external factors, such as
genetics and how proactive you are with getting it back to its
normal size.
Evolution has allowed the muscles in the vaginal wall to relax and
open up during sex and childbirth. After intercourse, the vagina
naturally contracts and tightens again. However, with childbirth
this may not be the case. In younger mamas ( think 20s and early
30s ) with first time births, you’re almost guaranteed the vagina
will go back to its pre-baby tightness. However, the older you are,
the more chance it will remain slightly looser than before. Much
of this has to do with the natural progression of age. You see,
ageing fatigues the vaginal muscles, as does multiple births.
Think about an elastic band: every time you pull at it, it loses
some of its shape.
However, if this worries you then you can take some measures
to bring your vagina back to its pre-baby size. Regular Kegel
exercises are highly recommended by experts to tighten the
pelvic floor muscles. Kegel exercises can be done anywhere and
anytime. The mechanism for Kegels is basically just squeezing
the same muscles you would use to stop yourself from peeing
mid-stream for about three seconds. Repeat 10 - 15 times, few
times a day. Becoming a mama changes you in many ways and
your vagina will be much like its old self eventually, but until then,
embrace the change and congratulate it for its amazing feats.
Vicky, Middlesex
“
It
’
s literally impossib le to
sn e ez e without p e eing mys e lf
”