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If you get a heart injury or liver damage during pregnancy, fetal stem cells rush to the site and turn into heart or liver cells to repair it. Researchers found male DNA in moms’ hearts decades after they had sons. Your baby literally becomes part of you and patches you up from the inside.

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“During pregnancy, your baby isn’t the only one getting stuff from you. You’re getting baby cells in your brain, heart, and lungs. And they stay forever.”
Scientists found that fetal cells cross the placenta and set up shop in mom’s body. It’s called fetal microchimerism.

Here’s why ;
1. Your baby pees into your amniotic fluid… then drinks it.
From week 20, your baby swallows 500-1000ml of amniotic fluid per day. It’s made of their pee. That fluid helps their lungs + digestive system practice. Then they pee it out again. It’s a closed-loop water park in your belly.

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You bleed for 6 weeks. On purpose.
That’s lochia. Not a period. It’s your uterus shedding the lining + the placenta site wound. Day 1-3: bright red, like a heavy period. Day 4-10: pink/brown. Week 2-6: yellow/white. Your uterus is healing a dinner-plate-sized open wound inside you. The bleeding means it’s working.

Wild fact: You’ll lose about 500ml of blood during birth + lochia combined. Your body made 50% more blood during pregnancy just for this.

“Everyone talks about the pain of birth. Nobody talks about the reconstruction that starts the second baby is out.”

DO YOU KNOW??
Birth is not the finish line. It’s day 1 of a 12-week demolition + rebuild project. Your doctors call it the “postpartum period.” Moms in Nigeria call it omugwo. Science calls it the 4th trimester. All the same chapter.

What’s actually happening in your body:

1. You bleed for 6 weeks. On purpose.
That’s lochia. Not a period. It’s your uterus shedding the lining + the placenta site wound. Day 1-3: bright red, like a heavy period. Day 4-10: pink/brown. Week 2-6: yellow/white. Your uterus is healing a dinner-plate-sized open wound inside you. The bleeding means it’s working.

Wild fact: You’ll lose about 500ml of blood during birth + lochia combined. Your body made 50% more blood during pregnancy just for this.

everyone forgets this one,
After baby is out, your uterus has to contract again to clamp down and deliver the placenta, and then keep contracting to stop bleeding. Those are called afterpains. They feel like strong period cramps, and they’re actually stronger with your 2nd, 3rd baby, because the uterus is a bit more stretchy.

Breastfeeding makes them spike, because suckling releases oxytocin, which is the same hormone that makes the uterus contract. So yes, that first breastfeed can hurt your belly. It’s a feature, not a bug — it’s shrinking your uterus back down.

Afterpains are normal uterine contractions that occur for a few days after childbirth as the uterus shrinks back to its pre-pregnancy size. While they help prevent excessive postpartum bleeding, they can feel like strong menstrual cramps and often intensify while breastfeeding due to oxytocin release.

Why They Happen Involution: This is the natural process of the uterus shrinking. It contracts tightly to close off blood vessels where the placenta was attached.Breastfeeding: Nursing or pumping releases oxytocin, which triggers these contractions, meaning you will often feel cramping immediately after or during a feeding session.

What to ExpectIntensity: First-time mothers may barely notice them, but they tend to become stronger and more painful with each subsequent pregnancy, as the uterus has to work harder to tone up.Duration: They are usually at their worst during the first 2-3 days postpartum and typically subside within a week.

How to Find Relief Heat: Apply a heating pad or a warm water bottle to your lower abdomen.Pain Medication: Over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen or acetaminophen are generally effective and safe while breastfeeding.

Empty Your Bladder: A full bladder can push the uterus out of position, increasing cramping. Try to use the restroom frequently.

Massage: Gentle massage of the lower abdomen can help ease the pain.Movement: Getting up and gently walking around as soon as you are cleared by your provider can help with cramping and digestion.

1) Position matters. Baby facing back, “sunny side up,” presses on your spine. That’s back labour, and it hurts differently — constant back ache between contractions.

2) Fear-tension-pain loop. Adrenaline tightens muscles and slows oxytocin. Calm environment, a trusted birth partner, dim lights, water, movement — all of these lower adrenaline and let endorphins rise. Your brain makes its own morphine during labour, levels peak right at birth.


3) Pain is productive. Unlike injury pain, every contraction is doing a job: open, move, birth. That’s why the pain stops the minute baby is out for most people. The job is done.

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It’s muscle cramps, times 100.
Your uterus is a smooth muscle the size of a fist before pregnancy. By 40 weeks it’s watermelon-sized. To push baby out, it contracts to squeeze the cervix open from 0 to 10cm.
That contraction cuts off its own blood supply for 30-60 seconds. No blood = no oxygen = pain. Exactly like a leg cramp, just… in your core. When the contraction releases, blood rushes back, and the pain fades. That’s why labour pain comes in waves, not as one constant burn.

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Labour pain is productive pain. It’s not injury pain, like a broken bone. It’s your body working exactly as designed. Each contraction is 1 step closer to done. And between contractions, there is literally zero pain. Your body gives you a break every time. So labour hurts because your uterus is a beast, your pelvis is opening like a door, and your baby is pressing every nerve on the way out. It’s not punishment. It’s power. Brutal, beautiful power.

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”What surprised you most about labour pain? First-time moms, what are you scared of? Moms who’ve done it, drop your best pain tip 👇”

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Labour Pain Is Not What You Think It Is”

“Labour doesn’t hurt because your baby is tearing you open. It hurts because your uterus is the strongest muscle in your body… and it’s doing deadlifts.”

Alright let's look at The science, in human language:

1. It’s muscle cramps, times 100.
Your uterus is a smooth muscle the size of a fist before pregnancy. By 40 weeks it’s watermelon-sized. To push baby out, it contracts to squeeze the cervix open from 0 to 10cm.
That contraction cuts off its own blood supply for 30-60 seconds. No blood = no oxygen = pain. Exactly like a leg cramp, just… in your core. When the contraction releases, blood rushes back, and the pain fades. That’s why labour pain comes in waves, not as one constant burn.

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You grew a whole new organ for 9 months. Then yeeted it.

The placenta is the only temporary organ humans make. In 9 months it grows from a few cells to 500-600g of tissue with its own blood supply. It acts as your baby’s lungs, kidneys, liver, and immune system all at once.
DO YOU KNOW:
At birth, it detaches and comes out. In some hospitals, if you don’t ask for it, it gets treated as medical waste. Yet this organ filtered 50+ liters of blood per day to keep your baby alive.

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What do you think about this?
Comment below

That's lovely, God is awesome

LordIsaac:
I just look at female goats, cows, and even dogs giving birth to multiple offsprings, and I say God is wonderful!

During pregnancy, your body releases a hormone called relaxin. It loosens the ligaments in your pelvis so your pubic bone can separate by up to 9mm and your tailbone can swing backward. That’s how a 3.5kg baby fits through an opening that started at 10cm.

In Portugal, doctors used to cut 63% of women during birth.
Then they changed ONE policy: "Only cut when absolutely needed."

10 years later? Episiotomy rate: 21%.
Birth outcomes? Same or better.

Meanwhile, some countries still do episiotomies in 100% of first births. Taiwan. Yes, 100%.

WHO says the rate should be <10%. Ask your hospital what theirs is.
If they don’t know... that’s your answer.

Now this is it: Warm compresses alone cut severe tears in HALF. No scissors needed.

CTA: "What’s the episiotomy rate at your hospital? 👀 Drop it below."
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“It’s all in the delivery” — controlled crowning matters
Rapid delivery of the baby’s head is a big tear risk. Providers can help by coaching “breathe, don’t push” as the head crowns, allowing skin to stretch gradually. Some use hands-on techniques like perineal support or the “Finnish grip” to ease the head out. Episiotomies used to be routine to “prevent tears,” but we now know routine cuts actually increase severe trauma risk. They’re only recommended for specific cases like fetal distress.

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Blessing, 28, was booked at a public hospital in Abuja for her first baby in March 2025. At 35 weeks, her biggest fear wasn’t labor pain — it was the stories from her sister and cousins: “They cut me.” “I couldn’t sit for 3 weeks.” “Sex hurt for months.”

Her midwife, Nurse Comfort, had other ideas. “We don’t do routine episiotomy here anymore,” she told Blessing at antenatal. “But you have to prep too.”
So how did blessing prepare?
From 35 weeks, Blessing’s husband helped her with perineal massage every 2-3 nights. Olive oil, 5 minutes, gentle U-shaped stretches. “It felt weird the first time,” Blessing laughs now. “By week 3, it was just part of Netflix time.”

That’s exactly what research supports. Antenatal perineal massage from 34-35 weeks is shown to reduce episiotomy by 21% and severe tears, especially for first-time moms

“It’s all in the delivery” — controlled crowning matters
Rapid delivery of the baby’s head is a big tear risk. Providers can help by coaching “breathe, don’t push” as the head crowns, allowing skin to stretch gradually. Some use hands-on techniques like perineal support or the “Finnish grip” to ease the head out. Episiotomies used to be routine to “prevent tears,” but we now know routine cuts actually increase severe trauma risk. They’re only recommended for specific cases like fetal distress.
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Your pushing position changes tear odds more than you’d think
Lying flat on your back = most pressure on the perineum. Upright positions like hands-and-knees, side-lying, or squatting with support can reduce severe tears because gravity helps and you’re not pushing “uphill.” Water births also help — warm water softens tissue and supports weight. Ask your provider ahead of time which positions they’re comfortable supporting. A warm compress held against the perineum by your midwife/doctor during crowning also reduces 3rd/4th degree tears by ∼50% in trials.
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Baby’s size could be influenced by
several factors of which some may be
controlled while some may not. For
instance, a woman that is diabetic may
find it difficult to get her baby’s weight
within the brackets of an average
baby’s size above. We shall still come to
that.
But then, if you are the type that wants
your baby to look so big at birth, you
should rethink or you get ready for
some body damages.
What is even the need for a big size
baby? ….
So you can post on Facebook or other
social media platforms and receive
wonderful comments while you still
suffer the pains?
Just a few weeks ago, a doctor friend
was telling me of a lady who gave birth
to a baby girl that weighed over 5kg. Of
course, it had to be by C-section. The
baby was looking like obesed. Another
lady also had has with 4.9kg, and the
boy was looking like one big daddy with
potbelly. Some of those funny pictures
you see the internet are actually true.
But have you ever heard that someone
won an award for a big baby? There
could actually be such, but does it
worth the pains? So why suffer
unnecessarily? By the way, big baby
doesn’t mean healthy baby

NORMAL BABY SIZE!!
(weight) at delivery is between 2.5kg
and 3.5kg.
Through scan you can always tell your
baby’s current weight. Knowing your
baby’s weight will help you know when
to adjust.
Some ladies go for scan few weeks to
their EDD and when the scan result
shows their baby is weighing very low
(maybe 1.9kg or 2kg), the quickly start
eating uncontrollably, and in a matter
of a week or two they baby has
doubled in weight. Now they don't
know what else to do and they end up
suffering injury at childbirth. Please,
avoid that mistake...it is one of the
pitfalls that make birth process difficult
for most women.
I'll be listing some factors that influence your baby weight/size shortly.
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If you have given birth before and
had tear or episiotomy, it is
important you try and prevent
having it again, or at the least,
minimize it.
If you keep allowing it, you'll
WEAKEN the muscles of your vagina
walls that help you hold back urine
or stool (faeces), and it will be too
bad that you may start wearing
pampas. The condition is known as
anal or bowel incontinence.
And in case you are a first time mom
or you didn't have cut in your
previous childbirth, please, examples
of others are better teachers than
your own painful experience.

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Why Do I Even Need This?", You may
still want to ask...
You see, nothing is really a problem to
be concerned about if it does not pose
any threat to lives and the things we
value.
Avoiding injuries at childbirth will
exempt you from some of the
complications a woman is most likely
to face if she should have a major
injury at childbirth, whether it’s vagina
tear or episiotomy.
By birth injuries, we are specifically
referring to episiotomy and vaginal
tear, and every risk associated with
those.

Nine months (about 40 weeks) of
pregnancy is more than enough time to
have gotten yourself prepared for a fun
day at labour. The question is: What
have you been doing all these while
you’re pregnant and how sure are you
that such is both accurate and
adequate?
Truth is, childbirth is
obviously never
going to be easy,
YOU ONLY HAVE TO
GET SMARTER.
The MORE SKILLFUL
You Get At It, The LESS
STRESSFUL For You.
So you have to believe that normal
vaginal delivery is possible and that
you have your share of that.
With this belief, it becomes easy for
you to start exposing yourself to the
how.
I can even say that you believe in that
possibility already, otherwise you
wouldn't spend your precious time
reading this.
I'M EMMANUEL I DO PROVIDE VALUABLE KNOWLEDGE FOR SAFETY CHILDBIRTH DELIVERY.
STAY TUNED FOR MY NEXT POST, YOU CAN FOLLOW NOT TO MISS OUT.

BACK PAIN DURING
PREGNANCY
One of the changes that your body goes through which you
feel and maybe bothers you the most is back pain, specifically
lower back pain.
Now lower back pain happens for a number of reasons one of
which is, as your abdomen grows it grows mostly forward
pulling your centre of gravity forward to a place where it's
not usually supposed to be.
Now this pulls the back vertebrae forward a little bit also
causing a stress that you wouldn't have if you weren't
pregnant.
Another reason for this pain is also a hormone called relax in,
that your body releases during pregnancy.
Now it's released to help the joints of your pelvis get a little
bit looser as the pregnancy progresses but it also affects the
vertebrae of your back, once again helping them push
themselves forward putting stress on unwanted parts of your
back of your back.
One of the best ways to deal with this while you're preparing
for pregnancy is doing stomach exercises like platies and
other exercises of that sort that can really help your
supporting muscles and improve your back pain during
pregnancy