Body Changes Before & After Birth

The Effects of Pregnancy: What impact your baby could have on your body

By T. S. Mills-Faraudo

Jenni Sherri! Said her body will never be the same afterer giving birth to her two children.

The 34-year-old San Lorenzo mom was plagued with one problem a" er another during both of her pregnancies, and she doesn’t believe her body could handle having more children.

She developed preeclampsia, a condition in which the mother’s blood pressure skyrockets, typically during the last trimester, putting both the mom and baby in danger. On top of that, she vomited throughout her entire pregnancies, her allergies to chemicals got worst, she still has some incontinence and when her kids were born she had problems lactating.

“Brushing my teeth made me throw-up,” she said. “The throwing up was so violent that I had no control over anything. This wasn’t just morning sickness.” No one knows why some women feel horrible while pregnant, while others feel fabulous, says Cynthia DeTata, co-director of obstetrics and gynecology clerkship at Stanford University School of Medicine.

“It does not seem fair, does it? At the very least, women can take comfort in knowing that all of these changes stem from a hormonal environment that supports a healthy placenta and baby,” she says.

Typical Changes During Pregnancy:

Nausea.

Morning sickness, which doesn’t necessarily always happen in the morning, is usually the body’s way of fending o! Toxins with either nausea or vomiting in the early stages of pregnancy, says Regina L. Arvon, associate director of prenatal diagnosis at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.