That was the case with Chris (names and identifying details have been changed for privacy), a mum in Madison, WI, who had her first baby by C-section at 27. She had intercourse again when her son was around 7 weeks old. “I felt pressure — not from my husband, but I felt like I was supposed to,” she says. “Some of my friends said they were so excited to be having sex again that part of me probably felt, well, what’s wrong with me that I’m not excited?” Chris says her desire was almost zero, sex hurt a lot at first, and she had to wear a bra. “Or else milk would squirt all over him. He was not into that, although I’m sure there’s a market for it,” she says. She did enjoy the feeling of closeness with her husband that came with having intercourse, though, so they consciously pursued intimacy. With lots of lube and practice, things felt physically normal after around eight months. (With her second child, a vaginal delivery, it took about a year for her to feel into it again.)