Did your hips get bigger?

[mmaramba]

I hope so!



I'm not even TTC yet, but just curious...

I've heard lots of women say that their hips expanded after their first children. Not just fat padding, but bone structure? Permanently? IDEK.

Any truth to it? Midwives' experiences especially appreciated!

I'm curious because I have big, big hips, relative to my waist, and I like it like that. Right now they're about 45" around-- my waist is 30". I always assumed my belly wouldn't tighten up completely after I had kids, and that's fine with me, as long as my hips grow just as much!

Anybody want to weigh in on this important issue?

[harli]

Both my belly and hips returned to normal size after having each of my two kids. My breasts....well that's a different story.

[Alyantavid]

Mine did. And it's apparently fairly permanent since my youngest is 4 and they haven't shrunk. It does make me curvier, which dh loves. I don't mind that much, my unflat stomach bothers me more than the wider hips.

I don't know how much wider they were, I don't remember measuring (or at least what the measuremnt was) before I had kids, but I think now they're at 34".

[CrazyCatLady]

After three babies my hips went from 32" to 33". So yeah I guess there was a change, but it wasn't significant like I always read about.

[Veritaserum]

I think I may have gained an inch in my hips. My rib cage definitely expanded. Even weighing less than I did when I got married, I couldn't fit it due to a larger rib cage and larger breasts.

ETA: By "it" I meant my wedding dress. My bra band size went up from 30 to 32. My hips went from like 35 to 36".

[homemademom]

Mine did after the initial baby, though I don't know by how many inches because I never measured. All I know is that I could never fit into my same pre-preg jeans, even when I lost all the weight. However, this time, I'm going to wear this: http://www.upspringbaby.com/index.ph...&products_id=7 Not what you need or want, OP, but for the ladies that do, the testimonials have sucked me in!

[WifeofAnt]

I think that Shrinkx might be the only thing that gets me back in my size 3s after this baby is born. I really don't care for the wide hips look personally and I definitely don't feel old enough to look like someone's mother!

[mmaramba]

Wow-- 32-34" hips? There's literally 17" between my hip BONES on one side, LOL.

I'm not sure if it makes sense scientifically, but I thought I'd ask. I know that when I was 17 and mostly done growing, I had a 28" waist and 40" hips, but by age 30, with the same or smaller waist, I had 42-43" hips... But how much of that was fat and how much bone structure, I couldn't tell you. Just curious...

[bluebirdiemama]

Originally Posted by harli

Both my belly and hips returned to normal size after having each of my two kids. My breasts....well that's a different story.

same here. my hips grew, and they were big to begin with. neither returned to quite the size they were (I was really small) but I am about the same proportionally

[etsdtm99]

my hips got MUCH bigger during pregnancy and right after birth but mostly shrunk back after several months, maybe a year.. they may have stayed a ltitle bigger but i was wanting them back to normal so.. lol

[mum4vr]

Yes, mine def did, and I have lower body fat now than I did then, so it's not that

hips were 36" then and are 42" now. Waist was 24" and now is 26"-27"

my "baby" is 9yo, so I think they're here to stay...

I like it-- works for me

blessings

[crystal_buffaloe]

My hips are the same size, I think (judging by pre-pregnancy jeans), but my butt shrunk somehow ... and that's not a development I'm happy with.

[lach]

I had a tough pregnancy with #1 and was 15lbs below my pre-partum weight within about a week after giving birth. And still managed to be up a pants size (16 from 14). So I don't have the before and after measurements, but YES for me. It was crazy.

[MyFullHouse]

My hips have never gone back to completely normal after birth. My longest time between birth and a new pregnancy has been 3 years.

It's (so far) never been drastic enough to really notice in the mirror, but I've definitely noticed in my jeans. After baby #4, I lost more weight than ever, and wound up having major issues when it came to waist band vs. hip room in my pants.

When full-term, my hips are almost ridiculous, and I'm very grateful for that.

[GoBecGo]

Mine did. I lost weight with #1, and a lot more after, and though i wore the same size i'd gone from round from the front and from the side to broad from the front and narrow from the side, albeit in the same clothes.

[MegBoz]

I heard one woman say this - that as her pelvis expanded to allow room for baby (which I know happens - the pelvis is built to expand like that & that's part of why we have the hormone 'relaxin' in our systems 3rd tri - it relaxes the joints to allow for such expansion.)

Anyway, she said after birth her hips NEVER went back as small again. I hate to say it, but she's pretty overweight, so I'm really tempted to think, 'How do you know?' it's really hard to judge the size of your hips if you have all that extra body fat around you - how can you say, "My hips can't get any smaller than this."? Not trying to be mean, just questioning her theory that her hips "can't go back to the size they were."

Didn't happen for my sister, mom & I. We all have hour-glass shapes, fairly big butts for our frames & small waists. I was able to fit back into pre-PG size 6 clothes (Well, it took a while! but I got back there!)

[Hey Mama!]

Ugh, I am fat and I know for a fact my hips are wider then they were before I had children. Fat people can be in tune with their body shape, even if it is rounder than yours. Before having kids I had pretty much the same bust, waist, and hip measurement. If I was skinny I would have had a boyish figure. Now my hips have spread from 3 kids and have stayed that way. According to a kindergartener last year, I'm tall and shaped like a rectangle

[candycat]

Uhm yeah they got HUGE. I'm big boned but not heavy, does that make sense? Like my bone structure is very curvy to start out with but I don't have a lot on me. I always say I look like a flatfish - look at me from the front and I look like I'm a pretty big girl. Look at me from the side and I look like a pretty skinny girl. It's odd for sure. My hips were ridiculously out of proportion to the rest of my body (and ironic - I had teensy babies! 5 and 6 lbs - but super easy births).

Now 2.5 years on they've shrunk SOME but not all the way. I'd say they're about halfway between where they were pre-kids and at their widest. My breasts on the other hand have gone back to normal, minus a teensy bit of perkiness.

[CrazyCatLady]

My hips are the same size, I think (judging by pre-pregnancy jeans), but my butt shrunk somehow ... and that's not a development I'm happy with.

Me too! I totally lost my butt during my third pregnancy and it has yet to return. I am a personal trainer though...I suppose I could exercise it and see what happens (but I haven't yet).

[MegBoz]

Originally Posted by Hey Mama!

Ugh, I am fat and I know for a fact my hips are wider then they were before I had children. Fat people can be in tune with their body shape, even if it is rounder than yours.

That makes sense.

I think it was her statement that "My hips will not go back down" that I questioned. Your "hip" measurement includes your butt - and most women hold fat in their butt - so I think it was more that I questioned her saying it is impossible for me to get the circumference of my hips down to what it was pre-birth. As I said, without getting down to at least a healthy weight range, how could she be so sure that it is entirely impossible to regain her pre-birth hip measurement? Even if the hips are bigger than they used to be, relative to the waist size.