if this is even possible after pregnancy :)

How long did it truly take you to get your hormones back to a normal level. My daughter will be 6 months on the 1st of Aug. Should I be back to "normal" yet? My periods are so icky now and I am really affected by the PMS lately--Before Sophie, I would get the cramps, but never lots of them, moodiness, emotional, fatigue, heavy flow and low libido? Are these the hormones??? I still have that linea nigra running down my lower abdomen, for goodness sakes! When does that go away???!!

Thanks ladies,

Rachel

sorry, i don't have any answers for you, but i too would like to know when the linea nigra goes away. mine is sooo dark, i fear it may NEVER go away!

Everyone is totally different when it comes to this subject!

I take after my mother with my metabolism, body shape, weight, and also the fact she never recieved any stretch marks; even after four kids.

I had my daughter four months ago and as far as weight I was back to normal in two months, maybe two and a half months. With hormones I was okay after a month and even then they weren't bad. I would cry because I couldn't pet my beautiful cat as much because I had to hold my daughter so much and it was also a shocker to me getting up many times during the night to feed her and she already knew her days from nights!
Four months later I feel frusterated or stressed at times but I don't think it has to do with my hormones.

I was lucky in the period area.....I blead for two weeks or so after the baby came and four weeks after that I had a normal period and the same four weeks after that and then this month I started my pill again.

Are you going on a BC method? It may help regulate something if not just your period! Everyone is so completely different like I already stated, but you sound normal :)

I forgot to add my line went away at about three months after I delivered. It was weird too because suddenly I skin was very dark brown in the belly button and it was crusty and I had to pick the color off of my skin.....apparently the pigment "drained" itself there and came out into my skin where I was able to scrub, pick, and brush it away.

Hi Rachel,

Hang in the girl. You did not mention in your post whether or not you are breast feeding. I breast fed for 7 months and nothing was normal during that time. I had no period, I cried a lot and I still had the linea nigra. I weaned my boy at 7 months because I went back to work. After that, it still took 6 weeks for my period to come back.

In my book "The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy" the author says it takes at least a year to get back to somewhat normal. Your body shape has changed too and may not ever come back, even if our your weight goes back to the same weight as before you got pregnant.

Enjoy your baby. Don't worry about your weight and shape. If the hormone thing is driving you crazy and you are not breast feeding, you may want to go on birth control couple of months to get you back on course.

Good luck. I can tell you that my boy is now a year old and everything is SO much easier now.

-Jen

I'm 11 months PP. I breastfed exclusively until DD was 9 months & started weaning. Weaned off at 10 months. DD will be 11 months old in 1 week.

No menstrual cycle yet.

I recall my line was pretty faded out at 6 months. It's now 11 months and it's gone.

After delivery, I didn't start feeling normal (hormonally) until a solid 3 months PP. I think back and will say that 6 months PP I felt even better. 9 months was another milestone of feeling better. It takes a long time.

I gained 70 lbs during my pregnancy and have lost 61 lbs now. For me, losing the weight has been the biggest factor in making me feel back to normal.

Second biggest factor has been DD learning good sleeping habits...so I have been sleeping well too. When I started sleeping longer & better, my outlook on everything changed for the better.

I feel the same as Gayle....
at 3 months I felt better, then right before 6 months - my period (I cried for days)... it wasn't even my first cycle... I never breastfed. for some reason I wasn't me at all- I was a raving witch and cried and cried on top of it. I have been going thru a lot of stress during my pregnancy and after the birth... and had just gotten good news finally on what I was stressing over - and then I was mean and crying during my period!!! nuts I was absolutely crazy.... but now that my daughter turned 6 months yesterday .... I feel better now... but I know that at 9 months I will feel even better...

It just takes time.. and SLEEP is a HUGE help... right now I am going thru teething with my daughter and not getting good rest - and If I were sleeping better - OH I would be feeling all that much better!! I think it takes about a year as well. ;)

Friday

Thanks Ladies,

Yes, I should know that it will take some time...I was thinking about going on BCP but don't like how I feel on it either :) So, I just need to give my body time...the stretch marks will fade, the lines will fade, the pounds will shed............just in time for the next pregnancy!:dizzy:

Take care,
Rachel

I was also wondering about when to expect some of the 'old me' to return...

My daughter is almost 6 months and I generally feel fine. She's been sleeping welll so far (except now!) so I have been fairly well-rested too. I haven't been exercising yet but plan to do it shortly (need to lose my pre-pregnancy extra pounds!).

But I am often moody and a bit oversensitive at times, and my libido seems a memory from the past...The latter really worries me! I thought I would be back to normal by now. My husband is patient despite our minimized sex life, but having had a previously very healthy one, I'm worried about this sleepy sex drive...Of course, it only now occured to me that it might something to do with hormones?

Anybody experienced this for this period of time???