While everybody thinks children are wonderful, not much is said in birth announcements about the physical cost to the mother for bringing bundles of joy into the world. The toll? Stretched and distorted breasts, bulging stomachs, weight gain on the hips.
And that’s just on the outside. While the uterus is usually about the size of an orange, a baby stretches it against the abdominal wall. As the baby grows and forces the uterus against the inside of the muscle wall of the abdomen, those two vertical muscles, the so-called “six-pack muscles” get stretched apart and elongate, resulting in a bulge of the lower tummy that cannot be fixed with diet and exercise alone. Once that happens, only surgery can bring the muscles back together again.
So, it’s perhaps not surprising that there’s been a boom in mothers wanting surgery after childbirth in order to return to their original body shape. So many, in fact, that the trend is being called a ‘mummy makeover’.
“The boom in mummy makeovers is accelerated because more women are having children later in life after they have completed their educations and got a good start in business or the professions,” says plastic surgeon Kim Edward Koger, M.D. in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Many women feel psychologically affected after childbirth because they have gained weight. Many feel undesirable, unmotivated and frustrated, especially if they are working out regularly and still can’t shed those pounds. More and more the answer lies with a trip to the surgeon.