My Mom Blog

Let’s talk about bodies, baby.

Not the instagram bodies. Not the “I’m 6 weeks post-partum and here I am with abs.” Not the perfectly posed in low light without a single stretch mark, loose skin, or even a rogue hair.

I’m talking about our bodies.

The ones that grew an entire human (how badass is that). The ones that we thought would look exactly the same after as it did before. The ones that sometimes we love, sometimes we struggle with, and sometimes we look and say “Whose body is this?”

No one can prepare you for what happens to your body after you have a baby. Everyone will tell you, “your body is doing something amazing.” And it is, but when the baby comes..

With a flip of a switch, here comes the pressure to “bounce back”. Everyone expects your body to go exactly to how it was before. Lose the baby weight, fit into your pre-pregnancy clothes, get your stomach back. Get your body back. It was shocking to me how many people commented on how I looked post baby. We just went through 10 months of growing a human inside of our bellies, calm down people and stop commenting on our bodies.

But, despite all the comments, the pressure by society, or even myself sometimes. I don’t think that I want my “old” body back.

Now, hear me out. Do I miss it? Well, sure. Clothes fit differently now. There are days I look in the mirror and have doubt. There are days I notice the changes in my stomach. It’s okay to admit that.

Appreciating what your body has done doesn’t mean that you have to love every change. I can be both proud of what I’ve done and still have days that I don’t feel confident.

But, on those days, I remember this “new” me has done some pretty awesome things.

It grew my son. It carried him. It got me through a difficult pregnancy. It helped me get out of bed even though I’d love to lay there a little longer after a long sleepless night.

I have carried my son even when my arms are tired. It has carried me even though my left side from my spine to my toes has nerve damage.

It has kept going. I have kept going.

There isn’t one acceptable way for a woman’s body to look. Not before kids, not after kids, not at 25, not at 35, not at any age. We deserve to exist without constantly feeling like our bodies are projects hat need to fixed,

Things to ask yourself instead of listening to others who ask “how much weight did you gain, can you fit into your old clothes, and when someone tells you to bounce back.” What can your body do?

Can my body carry my child?

Can I chase my active toddler?

Can I get stronger?

Can I get places?

That’s a very different way to look at yourself. You stop seeing your body solely as something to be looked at and start seeing it as something that carries you through life. How incredible is that?

I’m still me and I’m still going to have those thoughts. But I’m trying to be kinder to the woman looking back at me in the mirror. Because she deserves that.

So, let’s talk about bodies, baby.

Let’s talk about the stretch marks, loose skin, the scars, the weight that doesn’t come off as quickly as you thought it would, the clothes that fit a little differently.

*This is my body now* It has carried me here. It has carried my baby. It’s still carrying me forward. Let’s all be kinder to ourselves and also to other moms.