Post Baby Bodies

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Women are often very proud of our growing baby bumps. So we should be! We’re doing an amazing thing! Watching our bellies grow as our babies develop is such an exciting time.

We often (but not always) feel empowered when we’re pregnant. We’ve taken two single cells, joined them together and created a whole new person. We found a soul from somewhere in the universe and gave it a beating heart and a mind of its own.

For once we’re eating when we want to and what we want to. Worrying less about how many calories we put in because we know our baby needs nourishment, enjoying food because we can.

We can’t wait to meet our baby. There is nothing better than seeing your baby for the first time; taking in that smell, that face.

The first few days are a blur of nappies and night feeds and sore nipples and exhaustion. We haven’t got time to get dressed let alone notice the huge change our body has just gone through.

One day we somehow find time to look in the mirror. We decide we might try on those pre pregnancy clothes. Surely we can get back into them now. We’re greeted with loose skin, the clothes don’t fit. Not only do our pre pregnancy clothes not fit but we can’t even get them much further than our knees let alone round our hips or waist! What happened? Did we really gain this much weight?

We feel shame. We cry. How could this happen? We were going to spring right back into shape. Other people do it so why can’t we? We hate our new bodies.

Celebrities in magazines get their bodies back within 6 weeks! What’s wrong with us? Why can’t we do it? Well they have personal trainers waking them up at ungodly hours after they’ve been up all night with their babies so that they can please us.Their pictures are airbrushed and edited until they're unrecognisable. I've never met a celebrity but I'm fairly sure the reality is very different to the glossy mag!



Other people do not spring back into shape (apart from a very few select ‘lucky ones’).

It is unreasonable to expect any woman to spring back into shape. You grew a baby. Is that not the most amazing thing in the world? Be kind to yourself. The media is not kind to women. The media makes out like getting your pre pregnancy body back is a bigger achievement than having a baby.



Is that really what it's become to be a woman? How thin you can get? How good you can look? Never mind growing a new person and nurturing them with your body. No the real achievement is looking like nothing ever happened to you!

I don't think so!

I know one article is not going to restore the self esteem of millions conditioned to believe their worth comes from the size on their clothes (I know, I'm one of them) but let's start changing the way we think about our bodies because we're amazing! Just look at those big eyes staring up at you and see that you're the world to them, wobbles and all!

{Why I Don't Love My Stretch Marks}

#Mothering
#Feminism
#Health



%matterhatter