However, the changes brought by pregnancy aren’t always silent or beautiful

However, the changes brought by pregnancy aren’t always silent or beautiful. | Leah Newhouse

Dr. Lucy Antolin WilkinsonPalma 10/03/2025 09:54
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Anyone who has been through pregnancy will tell you that it leaves its mark in unexpected ways.
Even as someone who’s spent a lot of time looking at pregnancy from a medical perspective, I’m still regularly surprised by the depth and complexity of the changes caused by pregnancy. One example is this. DNA – the famous double helix – encodes our genes, and is contained in every cell in our body. However, pregnant women don’t only have their own DNA circulating in their bloodstream. Traces of their unborn baby’s genetic information leak across the placenta, and are therefore also found in the mother’s bloodstream.

Studies have found that traces of the baby’s DNA linger in the mother’s bloodstream for years afterwards in the form of a rare type of blood cell. One study even found a baby’s DNA in its mother’s bloodstream 27 years after it had been born (by which time, one presumes, the baby in question was fully-grown and perhaps even a parent themselves). How beautiful that mothers don’t simply pass on their genes to their children, but also carry their children’s DNA within themselves for decades. However, the changes brought by pregnancy aren’t always silent or beautiful. The opposite, in fact. Pregnancy and childbirth are physiologically gruelling processes which can leave women with significant long-term health issues, many of which are under-recognised and under-treated.
While the nine months of pregnancy are a whirlwind of appointments, tests and monitoring, postpartum care for many ends abruptly at around six weeks after giving birth. This does very little to help with the swathe of conditions which, while related to pregnancy and birth, show themselves months to years afterwards.

Why does pregnancy have such an impact on the body?

It’s not just about a baby growing in the womb: the body changes radically in order to accommodate this. A pregnant woman has about one and a half times as much blood as a non-pregnant person, her heart works harder to pump all of this extra volume around the body and her energy expenditure is similar to that of an endurance athlete.

The hormonal changes of pregnancy are also dramatic. For example, the ‘female’ hormone oestrogen increases to over one hundred times the value seen in non-pregnant women, before crashing back down to its original level within weeks of birth. Other hormones including progesterone and prolactin also see enormous changes, and things only really stabilise once breastfeeding is over.
And finally, the baby’s grand entrance takes its toll. Birth injuries are common, and Caesarean sections – a life-saving yet major abdominal surgery– account for a growing proportion of births.

Complications months and years later

When postnatal care ends, life as a new mum is only just beginning for most women. One study found that complications of pregnancy beyond this point were common, especially mental health and pelvic floor issues:

  • 32% had low back pain
  • Up to 31% had problems with continence
  • Up to 24% had anxiety
  • Up to 17% had depression
  • 11% had perineal pain

Other, less common long-term issues can also be related to pregnancy: Thyroid issues, nerve injuries, PTSD and even certain heart conditions. Pregnancy can also give us a glimpse into a mother’s future health. Conditions like gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia are linked to a higher risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease later in life, even decades down the line.

Finally, mental health issues are common in the months and years after birth, partly due to those dramatic changes in hormone levels we discussed earlier and the complex ways in which oestrogen works within the brain. However, the challenges of being a new mum can also contribute. Being sleep-deprived, in pain and struggling to find any time for basic self-care can all take their toll, as can having experienced a traumatic birth or high-risk pregnancy.

What can we do about it?

So where do you start in approaching this problem? Extended postnatal care? Pelvic floor physio for every new mum? While those things would be great, a good place to begin could actually be a lot simpler. We need to listen to new mums, and we need to help them feel empowered to talk about their problems. We need to stop shrugging off major issues as ‘part of the deal’ when it comes to motherhood. After all, many of the problems that come in the aftermath of pregnancy are treatable with physiotherapy, medication, or simply time and support.

Event on Wednesday, March 19

Free wellbeing event for mums in Mallorca. Join Dr Wilkinson and Siofra from Clifton Pure Physio for a free information event. Topics covered include breastfeeding, contraception, postpartum health and physio essentials. Children welcome.

Wednesday, March 19, 11am at Kimpton Aysla Mallorca, 37 Avinguda del Golf, 07180 Santa Ponsa
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/entradas-wellbeing-event-for-mallorca-mums-1257908089959

References

  • Bianchi DW, Zickwolf GK, Weil GJ, Sylvester S, DeMaria MA. Male fetal progenitor cells persist in maternal blood for as long as 27 years postpartum. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Jan 23;93(2):705-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.2.705. PMID: 8570620; PMCID: PMC40117.v
  • Jee SB, Sawal A. Physiological Changes in Pregnant Women Due to Hormonal Changes. Cureus. 2024 Mar 5;16(3):e55544. doi: 10.7759/cureus.55544. PMID: 38576690; PMCID: PMC10993087.
  • Lo YMD. Discovery of Cell-Free Fetal DNA in Maternal Blood and Development of Noninvasive Prenatal Testing: 2022 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award. JAMA. 2022;328(13):1293–1294. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.14982
  • Caitlin Thurber et al. Extreme events reveal an alimentary limit on sustained maximal human energy expenditure.Sci. Adv.5,eaaw0341(2019).DOI:10.1126/sciadv.aaw0341