Okay

I had to ask my husband about relaxin.  I suspected when I read your
question,      , that it probably wasn't as simple as: the relaxin is gone so
now the ligaments should be fine.

He tells me that "newly formed collagen contracts over a period of 6 to 8
weeks."  Collagen is found all over the body in connective tissues.  In bone,
skin, in tendons, ligaments and cartilage. And in the connective tissue
surrounding your organs.

Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine tells me that differences in
connective tissue have to do with the size and orientation of  the collagen
fibers in them, how they're organized. p. 1680-1
Also, that relaxin is "produced by the human corpus luteum as well as by the
decidua".p/1820-1


So this how it might go.  Just as calcium is laid down in bones, but then
taken up and utilized, and then new calcium incorporated in a bone, so to
does the collagen that forms ligaments get laid down periodically. It does
not turn over very frequently and perhaps only when it has been "wasted."  .
 But when it is, new collagen is laid down to replace that which is "lost."

So new collagen that might be laid down during pregnancy does not contract
over a period of 6 to 8 weeks because of the presence of the relaxin.  When
the relaxin is no longer present then the collagen slowly contracts,
eventually making the ligaments shorter.  But the process takes time and it
takes longer both for the new collagen that is incorporated in the ligament
to shrink and for the older collagen which was under the influence of the
relaxin to shrink.  It could take months.  It has nothing to do with bfg or
relaxin after the birth, just the slow change back to a ligament that has a
greater mix of contracted collagen.

 Is it possible that maybe this is what the therapist meant but just didn't
explain it clearly enough to the mother?  Or did s/he really convince her
that bfg produces relaxin?   I've sometimes been frustrated that I've not
 been there myself to gather information and hear exactly what's being said.
 It's frustrating sometimes to try to help mothers when the info is second
hand.  I don't know in this situation.  It sure sounds as though this mother
was somehow convinced that her bfg is interfering with her recovery!!   I
hope she is able to get the right information.  Perhaps you can convince her
to ask for clarification.

I made the mistake of rototilling my garden when I was 8 months pregnant with
my daughter.  I felt healthy, I'd done it before, and after all, weren't my
muscles what were being used?!

Well, I stretched my pubic ligaments.  I sat down on my sofa after the
tilling and then found I couldn't get up again.  I had to be pulled to my
feet.  There was enough change in my pelvic structure that the muscles just
weren't doing the trick. Possibly my sacrum [bone at the base of the spine
that forms the back of the pelvis] got wedged strangley.  This lasted a few
weeks and was helped by chiropractic treatments while I was still pregnant.
 If the mother is amenable to chiropractic treatments she may find them
beneficial..

Good luck, Marie.  I hope this is helpful.
Mardrey