每日英语听力

当前播放

Papi酱复出,水果姐爆照,新手妈妈们的真相


The real postpartum body


Body Aches

全身酸痛


- Labor

生产/产程


- Uterus

子宫


- Abdominal pain and cramps

腹部疼痛和痉挛



Saggy Breasts

乳房松弛下垂


- Nursing

哺乳



Pronounced Stomach Pooch

腹部隆起

Stretch Marks

妊娠纹

Varicose Veins

静脉曲张


- Dilated blood vessels

血管扩张



Back Pain

背痛



Urinary Incontinence

漏尿


- Pelvic-floor muscles

盆底肌


- Bladder control

膀胱控制



Thicker Thighs and Legs

臀腿部变粗

Constipation

便秘



Hair Loss

脱发


- Hormone levels

激素水平



Melasma

黄褐斑


- Hormonal fluctuations

激素水平波动



Anxiety

焦虑


Baby blues/Postpartum depression

产后情绪不稳/产后抑郁




Reasons for


negative comments


Media admires women who quickly ‘get their bodies back’ and shames those who don’t.

  Our idea of ‘what is NORMAL’ is warped.


Pressure on women at all stages of life to fit into one very specific idea of attractiveness.


The historic discomfort with female bodies relating to childbirth.


Just another a form of Body-Shaming.



What new moms need is support in the form of postpartum care, childcare, maternity leave, and solid mental health care.



第395期节目全记录文本


Hi, everyone and welcome back.  Today I would like to start the episode by talking about two celebrities. 

The first one is internet celebrity comedian Papi酱.

A couple of days ago, she released a new music video, announcing her come back after childbirth. 几天前, Papi酱刚刚发布了自己的新的说唱mv, 高调宣布产后回归.  Just a few months ago, she posted a quite realistic picture of herself as a new mom on social media and got quite a bit of negative comments about how exhausted she looks, how she lost her shine. Now in her new music video titled “Papi Is Back” using her signature brand of humor, she is telling a lot of home truth about the joy and challenges of a new mom.

The other celebrity I would like to mention is Ketty Perry.  The 35-year-old pop star shared on social media, again, a quite realistic picture of herself five days after childbirth and caused quite a stir. 

一向以性感著称的水果姐 Ketty Perry在产后5天就在Instagram上面发布了一张非常真实的素颜照. In this picture, Ketty Perry is in a nursing bra and big pants. Her hair is messy and she is not wearing much makeup.  Her belly is still big swollen. It almost looks like she is still pregnant. 

In other words, she looks exactly like every other woman who has just given birth.  And again, she got a lot of negative comments about how unattractive she looks, asking her why she would want to post such a picture, saying that she turned from a fun, sexy pop star to a boring mom. 

And sadly, among all those negative voices, a lot of them are from women themselves. The thing is, nowadays with all the media hype, with all the advertising and with celebrities showing their perfect body not long after childbirth. 

We start to forget that this is not the reality, or at least not the majority. So today's episode, let's talk about the real postpartum body--the body after childbirth. And this episode is dedicated to all the wonderful moms who are listening to this show, their caring partners and anyone who care. 今天的酒馆里我们就来谈谈产后的真相.


Carrying a baby for nine months and then pushing it out of you will have tremendous impact on your body.  And most new moms will experience a range of changes starting with body aches. 首先就是全身的酸痛, 英文里把整个生产的过程叫做 labor.  It is hard work because all the pushing and contortions of labor, it's very natural for moms to feel achy, exhausted and washed out. And ask the uterus contracts back to size, many women would feel abdominal pain and cramps. 刚经历过生产的女性, 因为子宫需要重新收缩到原来的尺寸, 所以很多人都会出现腹部的疼痛和痉挛. 

The next one is saggy breasts. 胸部会出现一定程度的松弛和下垂. Once pregnancy and nursing ends, most women lose breast volume, their breasts become smaller.  In most of the cases that'll call some sagging.

And in the next one is pronounced stomach pooch.  依然会有隆起的腹部.  This one comes as a surprise for a lot of people who never had the experience, but because your belly undergoes more changes during pregnancy than any other body parts, it doesn't immediately go back even after childbirth. 

It can take as long as six weeks for the uterus to revert back to its old size, which will reduce the size of your belly. But because of all the stretching during pregnancy, it might never really go back to what it was before and is perfectly natural. 

The next change is stretch marks, 妊娠纹. These thin scars on the stomach, hips, breasts or butt usually start out red and then they become lighter within a year. Apart from stretch marks, as many as 40% of pregnant women will experience varicose veins. 还有40%的孕产妇会出现静脉曲张. That's because of dilated blood vessels. The next common complaints for women right after childbirth is back pain because it takes time for the stretched abdomen muscles to become strong again. 

Your body is putting extra weight on the muscles of your back. 因为腹部肌肉需要修复, 所以背部肌肉会承担更多的负担. This can lead to a backache that goes on for weeks after giving birth.

The next change is often embarrassing for women to talk about.  This is urinary incontinence, which means you have a hard time controlling your bladder. This is because the weight of your baby put a string on your pelvic-floor muscles. 因为孕晚期对于盆底肌的压力很大, 所以刚生产过的女性对于膀胱的控制会因此减弱. 

Moreover, many women would get thicker thighs and legs. That's because during pregnancy very often a woman's activity level and nutrition levels go down.  And these factors will make you gain weight and the extra fat usually would go to your hips and thighs. Many new moms would also experience constipation due to weakened Ab muscles. 同样因为产后腹部肌肉变弱, 所以不少女性也会有便秘的症状. 

And as many as 10% of women experience hair loss, as a result of a drop in hormone levels. 产后因为激素的下降, 10%的女性还会出现脱发的症状. Up to 70% of expectant moms get melasma or the so called mask of pregnancy. 有70%的女性在孕期都会出现黄褐斑Melasma. This is again due to hormonal fluctuations. 同样是因为激素出现波动.

And apart from all these physical changes, new moms often experience changes in energy level, a fair bit of anxiety, baby blues, or even postpartum depression.  除了身体的变化, 很多时候新手妈妈还会感觉到焦虑, 产后情绪不稳, 甚至出现postpartum depression, 产后抑郁. Now all of these we just talked about are very realistic postpartum changes. Some moms out there might say, I've never experienced this. This never happened to me. But keep in mind that these changes are realistic.  But they also vary from one woman to another depending on your age, genetics, the amount of weight you gain and the type of care you receive.

But if all of these are really realistic changes that might happen to any women during pregnancy and after childbirth, then why is our society so negative about the reality?

The first reason might be the media influence. If you look at the media hype today and the celebrities, we are admiring people who quickly get their bodies back and shaming women who don't. All of your moms out there, I'm sure you have experienced some form of stress and pressure to get back to the state you were in before pregnancy. And we have all these media articles and celebrities, telling us how some women manage to get back their perfect body within a few months.  And they say: what's your excuse?So our idea of what is normal is actually warped. 由于媒体经常会鼓吹某些明星或者健身达人, 在几个月甚至几周内就恢复了产前的身形. 所以很多人会把作为正常的标尺.  In reality, this is simply not the case.  This is why it's so important for celebrities like Papi酱 or Ketty Perry to share the reality side of it. 

The second reason is, in general, there is ever increasing pressure on women at all stages of life to fit into one very specific idea of attractiveness. 在中国这个idea可能就是少女感.  A lot of the times even as women ourselves, we would associate our value with that idea of attractiveness.

The 3rd reason might be, many people just feel really uncomfortable with real female bodies, especially when it's linked with pregnancy and childbirth. Because historically, childbirth is seen as something that needs to be hidden from people, be kept out of public.  And with that logic, the realistic body of a woman right after childbirth is seen as something that needs to be hidden away.

And all of these negative comments might just simply be another type of body shaming.  And some people might even make the excuse to say that they are making these comments to push the mom to work harder and get her body back. But what a new mom really needs is support in the form of postnatal recovery, childcare, maternity leave and solid mental health care. 

而一个新手妈妈, 她真正需要的是在产后修复、照顾孩子、产假以及心理健康等等方面的关怀, 而不是那种打着为你好的幌子而进行的body shaming. But the positive side is according to some recent surveys, an increasing number of women start to like their post pregnancy bodies, because they feel more powerful and confident in their looks. 

And if you are a new mom and you are struggling with the pressure to get back to your old body, look deep inside at your own biases and reconsider your definition of self worth. And if you are in a toxic environment, try to surround yourself with people with positive energies, even if it's just a support group online. And maybe it's time to admire your body for its strength, power, and grace. You have just done something absolutely amazing and your powerful body shows that. If you decide to lose the baby weight and stay healthy, enjoy those exercises instead of punishing yourself with them. 

Because like Papi said in her new video, she said: I'm still me and I'm not me. I'm not a person I used to be. I'm not afraid of growing up. I'm stronger. And the next part of life is even better.

In the end, let me give a special shout out to one of happy hours old friend静雯 who has just become a mom.  最后把一份特别的祝福送给酒馆的老朋友老粉静雯,她刚刚晋升为母亲. She has always impressed us as a very smart, driven and independent woman.  And now she is even more confident and more beautiful, just like all the wonderful moms out there listening to this show, 最后我们用静雯的歌声结束今天的节目. 

Here's her powerful voice, enjoy. I'll see you next time. Bye. 


Some people live for the fortune

Some people live just for the fame

Some people live for the power, yeah

Some people live just to play the game

Some people think that the physical things define what's within

And I've been there before, and that life's a bore

So full of the superficial

Some people want it all

But I don't want nothing at all

If it ain't you baby

If I ain't got you baby

Some people want diamond rings

Some just want everything

But everything means nothing

If I ain't got you, yeah

Some people search for a fountain

That promises forever young

Some people need three dozen roses

And that's the only way to prove you love them

Hand me the world on a silver platter

And what good would it be

With no one to share, with no one who truly cares for me

Some people want it all

But I don't want nothing at all

If it ain't you baby

If I ain't got you baby

Some people want diamond rings

Some just want everything

But everything means nothing

If I ain't got you

Some people want it all

But I don't want nothing at all

If it ain't you baby

If I ain't got you baby

Some people want diamond rings

Some just want everything

But everything means nothing

If I ain't got you, yeah

If I ain't got you with me baby

So nothing in this whole wide world don't mean a thing

If I ain't got you with me baby


— If I Ain't Got You






12

听见更精彩的故事

遇见更广阔的世界

英文小酒馆,致力于打造沉浸式英语学习社群。无论是微信社群、有声节目、线上活动和课程。我们都全心全意为爱好英语的你带去一份专属于英语的快乐。


微信公众号:璐璐的英文小酒馆

璐璐小助手微信号:luluxjg3

查音频节目文稿,了解广阔的世界。

跟随我们的脚步,体会英语的温度。



下载全新《每日英语听力》客户端,查看完整内容
点击播放