Pregnancy Mystery # 4563 Revealed

Pregnancy Mystery # 4563 Revealed:
You won't actually go bald when your lush preggo hair starts falling out

Flashback: November 2006. My baby is three months old, my body is starting to resemble that what it once was (not counting the 20, ok 30 extra pounds…), I’m SLEEPING, and I’m thinking how great it is to finally be over all the weird stuff that pregnancy does to your body.

Then my hair started falling out.

I’m not talking a few extra strands. I’m talking about CLUMPS. I whip open Google and search on “alopecia + post partum” and find “you might experience some hair loss in the months following pregnancy.” Some?! At this point I’m fairly confident I’ll be bald by Christmas.

I chat with some friends. No one had their hair fall out in clumps. What the hell? I start to wonder what I’ll look like with scalp showing through my thinning hair. I'm reading up on other potential causes: vitamin deficiency, kidney issues, hypertension.

Then I noticed the hair loss staring to slow down after about a month. Yep. Weird. So, by the time Rachael was five months old, my hair wasn't coming out in clumps any more, and what I was left with was wavy and about five shades darker than it was.

Fast forward: August 2009. My baby is three months old, my body is starting to resemble that what it once was (not counting the 20, ok 30 extra pounds…), I’m SLEEPING, and I’m thinking how great it is to finally be over all the weird stuff that pregnancy does to your body.

My hair is again falling out.

At least I knew to expect it. It doesn't make it any less strange, losing clumps of hair with every wash, dry, and style. But I'm not freaking out.

I am sure that it's weird crap like this that motivates new moms to write books. They are convinced it's their obligation to tell (warn?) the world of what to expect from your forever-changed, still-morphing body. I know I've inhaled books like that...the "girlfriendy" books that deliver straight talk on pregnancy-induced hemorrhoids, acne, joint pain, nursing. I think there's a huge market of insecure new moms just looking for someone to say "yeah, it happened to me and I lived through it..." I was desperate to find a passage in one of these books that read "...my hair fell out in clumps and I'm not bald." Never did find it.

Other than being entertaining, these books didn't do a damn thing to prepare me for what my life would be like after bringing home my beautiful girls. All you really need is a whole lot of confidence, which is unfortunately in poor supply for the average new mom. I know I had zero confidence when Rach was wee. What probably needs to be published for new moms is a new book with just three sentences: You're doing FINE. You'll be FINE. Your kids are FINE. Oh, one more: You WILL sleep again someday.

But feel free to call me if you're absolutely convinced that you'll be bald by the time your lush preggo hair falls out.

;-)