Five things not even your bestie will tell you about childbirth

Chances are there’s an elephant in the room and its name is Post Partum Trauma.

With picture-perfect mommy blogs that make life look like one big slumber party, we forget that motherhood isn’t always pretty. It can be hard, confusing and outright painful.

Why doesn’t anyone talk about this? Why do you feel so unprepared? Why has the nursery rug been ripped from underneath your feet? People tread lightly around most visceral experiences, including those baby books that make no mention of this.

Here are five need-to-knows of life post-birth:

1. It can take longer to recover than you think. Bruising, swelling and sore muscles are natural parts of the birth process. Your uterus has stretched and reshaped itself to make room for another human and then to push that bundle out. While you’d love to “bounce back” in weeks, that’s not always possible. It took your body nine months to create a miracle, it’s only natural it might take just as long to recover, even without complications.

2. You could separate your pubic symphysis. We know we’ve got to make room “down there” for the magic to happen, but some of us are prone to pubic bones separating too far or unevenly. Ouch. This can cause pelvic pain during almost anything: walking, getting in or out of a car, or getting jiggy with it. The culprits are numerous and include hormones, improper posture, or birthing a large baby. It can also be random so let’s be prepared rather than counting on lady luck. With the right practitioner, this can be easily corrected.