7 Things No One Tells You About Sex After Childbirth

My husband and I spent a lot of time during my pregnancy reassuring each other that we didn’t have to change just because we were having a kid. Before we’d gotten pregnant, we were fairly open-minded sexually and we didn’t see why we’d have to give that up with parenthood. At first, maybe, because we’d be pretty tired. But doctors give the okay to get back on the horse (so to speak) six weeks postpartum — and that seemed like an eternity.

My pregnancy certainly kept us in that mindset. After the utter exhaustion and starvation of the first trimester, I felt hale, hearty, and horny. My body was flooded with hormones and I was ready to rumble. Until I got too big to even sit up properly, we had a pretty steady sex life. Then, I gave birth and everything shifted.

It’s not that sex stopped. (We actually had sex even before we were supposed to, five weeks after our baby was born — and yes, I had an episiotomy.) It’s that it changed. Sex has been part of my life since I was a teenager and I was pretty confident that I knew what it felt like and how to do it. I was wrong. Ahead, seven things you may not know about sex after childbirth — but should.