Being pregnant you’ve noticed so many changes around your middle, but you probably weren’t thinking about or planning on the changes down below in your toes and feet. Yes, toes and feet. Throughout your pregnancy the body creates a hormone that allows the joints around the pelvis to loosen and allow the baby to travel down through the birth canal. This hormone that allows this to take place is called, “Realxin.” And rightfully so! Besides prepping the body to have a baby Relaxin causes a loosening in the ligaments around the toes and feet causing the bones in your foot to span out. Coinciding with Relaxin and foot spanning, the body retains more water while pregnant which can cause swelling in the foot and ankle. Thankfully extra water retention and swelling goes away after delivery, although shrinking back into the fitted high heels might be something of the past. While that baby bump is gone, it can be common for moms to bump their shoe size up from a half size to a whole size bigger. It may not be all bad to trade in those fitted high heels for a pair of good, comfortable athletic shoes to soon start chasing that busy baby of yours!

Resources:

http://www.babycenter.com/404_i-think-my-feet-have-grown-is-this-possible_9428.bc