Having kids is not just about feeling bliss that you are a mother now, but is also linked to bodily changes women have to go through. So, we listed five odd things that can happen to your vagina after you have kids.

1. The colour of your vagina changes

For all women, being pregnant and subsequently giving birth is not a small deal. All kinds of things about our bodies change and some of those changes can be quite shocking.

Some of the changes that happen to a woman's body after giving birth may be quite shocking if you don't know what's normal and what's not.

But relax, in most cases, changes that happen to your vagina after giving birth are not permanent as they will return to normal after a few days, weeks or months.

One of these impermanent changes is the colour of your vagina changing to a darker colour right after giving birth. This is totally normal and expected as there is a lot of blood activity around this area after giving birth.

Drawing from the study reported by the National Institute of Health, there's no need for concern if the region just outside the vaginal canal, encompassing the labia, clitoris, and the perineum (the skin between the vagina and rectum), undergoes changes in color after childbirth. It's expected that the vaginal area will gradually regain its natural shade, growing brighter and eventually returning to its normal hue as your post recovery days’ progress.

The colour of your vagina should get brighter and brighter and return to normal as the days of your recovery go on.

2. You struggle with urinary stress incontinence

Just by the name, urinary stress incontinence, you may get an idea that this is a super terrible stress condition after giving birth. But don’t stress out just yet (pun intended) because this condition is not like what you think.

Urinary stress incontinence typically affects one in three new mothers who have just given birth. Due to the extreme pressure on the vagina during delivery, your pelvic floor muscles have now become weakened.

And as such, you find it quite hard to hold yourself back from leaking urine during unexpected times.

For example, new mothers who have just given birth may be surprised to find themselves peeing their pants just because they are sneezing, coughing, or laughing.

This urine leakage is not a serious health issue, just a bit annoying and can be quite embarrassing in public. With Kegel's exercises, this can be reversed over time.

3. The smell of your urine becomes stronger

After giving birth, there is a lot about your vagina that can change. And a lot of the time, these changes can be quite unpleasant. One of these changes involves the smell of your urine becoming much stronger than usual.

This is not necessarily a sign of an illness though. It is just that at this time your body will shed lochia. Lochia is just like vaginal discharge but this is a special one after giving birth.

As per article published by Live Science, it's entirely normal for the odor of your urine to become stronger, so there's no need to overly worry or assume that something is amiss. After childbirth, this change is attributed to your body shedding lochia. Lochia is similar to vaginal discharge but is specific to the post-birth period.

The odour is very strong and the first three days after giving birth, the colour of your lochia will be dark red. Because of this process, your urine may also smell stronger. This whole thing can last for up to 6 weeks or even 8 weeks.

Although it is unpleasant and uncomfortable, this is very normal and will go away when your body regains strength.

4. You often deal with vaginal dryness

During pregnancy, your body goes through a lot of hormonal changes to accommodate the fact that you have a baby in your belly right now.

And as such, when your body has done being pregnant after the delivery process your body will again go through some changes to readjust itself.

Your body will change its hormone production, again and again, to return to its normal state of being not pregnant. With all of that said, by this process, you will often find your vagina and vulva feel dry every so often.

It is a known fact that the vagina gets dry when hormonal changes are taking place, which may make penetrative sex bothersome.

Drawing from the study outlined by Health, after giving birth, you might experience vaginal dryness. This is a result of the changes your body undergoes during pregnancy. The significant hormonal fluctuations occurring throughout pregnancy and post-childbirth contribute to this occurrence, leading to vaginal dryness. However, there's no need to be overly concerned, as your hormones will gradually normalize over time, leading to an improvement in vaginal dryness.

You don't have to stress about this whole thing though, as your hormones will sooner than later return to normal and your vaginal dryness will improve. This whole thing also applies even if you had a C-section.

5. You experience perineal pain

During childbirth, it is quite common for the vagina to tear. When this happens, there can be a lot of pain and discomfort even after the whole thing is finished.

Perineal pain or postpartum pelvic pain is common in women who have given birth via the vagina. The vaginal tearing that happens during delivery may need weeks to heal and during this time, the vagina can feel a lot of pain and discomfort.

Depending on the severity of the tearing, this pain may even need months to fully heal. There are certain ways you can relieve perineal pain, for instance, you can apply an ice pack to the region that feels painful.

You can also try to slowly and gently take warm baths. Your doctor should be able to also give you an anaesthetic spray to reduce the sensations of pain from the swelling and tearing.

Wrapping things up, five odd things were listed that could happen to the vagina when women have babies. The information we provided can help you understand more about your anatomy and how it works after giving birth.

Affecting Female Libido After Menopause

There is a great debate out there regarding sex and menopause, and opinions regarding the same are equally divided. Is having sex in perimenopause and post-menopause really necessary? Do women have the libido drive needed to sustain intimacy after menopause?

Women of all ages have varied views regarding this subject. Even though it's an urgent concern, the jury is still out there. First, every woman holds her personal opinion on it.

Few women contend that they still exhibit high levels of libido after their menopause. However, the majority alludes to a decline in their sexual urges.

Understandably, female libido after menopause can take a drastic decline. Some women found that they don't even contemplate about sex as much as they used to do in the prior years.

On the other hand, a few confirm that they still have a sexual urge. Unfortunately, these desires aren't as high as they were previously. Besides, they can't ignite high passion women need to enjoy sex to its fullest.

What causes a decline in female libido?

There is nothing particularly wrong with both these sets of women. The decreased libido is due to the lowered levels of three crucial sex hormones estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.

These hormones play different roles that when meshed together improves the woman's overall sex experience. Estrogen heightens sensitivity during the sexual act. Progesterone, on the other hand, maintains high libido, while testosterone is also essential.

Testosterone, which is a male hormone, increases the sexual urge and helps to lubricate the vagina. Naturally, therefore, any reduction in any or all of these hormones impact on a woman's sexuality.

Stress Is Affecting Your Sex Drive And What To Do About It?

Avoid Taking Excess Caffeine

Another way to remove stress and increase sexual drive is to avoid taking caffeine in excess. Although drinking caffeine may boost your libido, yet drinking it in excess may cause a disturbance in your hormone level. In simple words, taking much caffeine may increase the level of stress hormone and affect the quality of life you are spending. Instead, taking much tea can relieve your stress and make you active and thoughtful. Therefore, try to avoid excessive intake of caffeine to maintain cortisol level in the blood.

Also taking much caffeine may also increase your blood pressure and ultimately cause cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, make it a routine also to take only a cup of coffee daily. This will regulate your blood pressure, maintain hormone level in your body and help you to avoid stress. Taking a cup of caffeine in the morning helps you throughout the day to maintain good sexual health.

Female libido after menopause undergoes various undesirable changes. These include mood swings, hot flashes, and depressions. But lack of proper lubrication leads to a dry vagina and a thin and rigid wall, which dips a woman's urge to sex further.

Apart from these problems, women also face the enigma known as self-Image and confidence decline, which play vital roles in a woman's sex drive.

If the woman feels that changes during her monthly periods are uncomfortable, then she may not be interested in sharing these physical changes with her partner. Even though menopause eliminates the risk of pregnancy, it also brings about the loss of passion.

Weight gain, changes in the skin, and breast size and shape alterations can affect a woman's desire to have sex. If increased heft makes it difficult for such a woman to perform her partner's prior preferred style then she becomes uneasy during the act.

Moreover, some women find sex enjoyable during and after periods. Thus, lack of periods during menopause deprives the woman from these high sex drives, even though they feel free for their partners to ejaculate in them without being worried about conceiving.

Decreased libido is not at all a problem if the woman is entirely satisfied with her newly lowered urge. But if this new change comes into the way of personal relationships, then it's time that one should seek for medical help.

How do you treat libido issues?

There are a few ways in which we can treat the effects on female libido after menopause:

• Lubrication: During intercourse, lubricant can reduce the pain and enhance the pleasure, thus increasing the female libido after menopause. Though it won't provide a long term solution, it usually comes handy.

• Hormone ointment: Hormone cream that mainly contains estrogen can be applied to the vagina, which leads to pleasurable intercourse and helps to reach orgasm quickly.

• Hormone Replacement Therapy: This is one of the most successful menopause treatments. It doesn't increase the libido by any chemical or biological means but helps to reduce the undesirable symptoms which occur due to menopause.

• Testosterone Replacement Therapy: A new research has come up showing the vital role of testosterone in a female sex's drive. A new testosterone patching method has come up, which can increase the women's sex drive up to 75%, but still, these patches aren't approved. In its place the testosterone therapy is available, and its side-effects including cancer risk, the rapid growth of hair, and the deepening of the voice.

• Yoga: Yoga is another alternative method to ease the problems caused by menopause symptoms during libido enhancement treatment. Yoga provides flexibility and calmness. One should consider taking herbs to enhance the female libido after menopause.

One Food You Are Eating That Could Be Killing Your Sex Drive

Shrimp

It is an admitted fact that almost all human beings are exposed to about 10 pesticides daily while eating various kinds of foods. Medical science has proved that most of these pesticides affect the endocrine system in our body which is associated with hormonal balance. The disturbance in the endocrine system causes problems in sexual fitness because estrogens and testosterone are also the two sex hormones working under this system.

To prevent discoloration of shrimp and increase their taste, 4-hexylresorcinol is being applied to it all over the world. Similarly, there are many other kinds of seafood that are preserved with certain pesticides. All these foods prove harmful for our sexual system because of being loaded with pesticides. The hormonal system is disturbed by 4-hexyl resorcinol and affects sexual powers. Therefore, it is also important to look for organic seafood instead of eating these pesticides loaded foods. This will increase your sexual vitality and strengthen your personal relationships with husband and family members.