POST PREGNANCY
“Don’t work out so you can love your body. WORK OUT because you love your body.”~Lauren Bergsalio
These past nine months my body has endured so many changes. I made a baby! Now during my almost second month in my postpartum journey, after having my fourth daughter, I’m learning to embrace these hips that I’ve never had, and boobs that are a cup size bigger, and loose skin. I think it’s important. But that wasn’t always the case. Let’s rewind to 9 months ago. I, being a former track athlete found it easier to bounce back after having 3 daughters, 2 of them being 14 months apart. But does this mean I was completely happy with how my body looked or that I loved my body 100%? Not necessarily. The truth is I wasn’t. When others looked at me they would make comments like,”Your body looks great!” Or “You look amazing!” But internally I was going through it. I was exhausted, with leaking breasts, and an untoned body I wasn’t used to. Let’s not forget about breastfeeding, which is a story of its own, and can leave you feeling frustrated, exhausted, and mentally drained. Everywhere I went I would think others, especially if I would see a toned woman walking through the grocery aisle, were focused on my not so (once) toned body and belly. As women, we all do it, no matter how toned we once were/want to be, especially if we just had a baby. I too, went through my emotional roller coaster of quickly succumbing to society’s judgment of what I call, “the bounce back timeline!” When in reality all women are different and each one of us has different timelines and handle postpartum differently.
Fast forward to today, I love every stretch mark-yes I have them! You can find them along my waist and in the front around my belly button. My four year old calls them “Mommy’s squiggly-beauty lines”, which I find hilarious yet assuring that she sees me as her Mom not by how my belly looks. She still thinks I’m beautiful. I love my loose skin. You can find that around my backside and waist. No, my body isn’t toned as it once was and that’s ok; It will get there, when it gets there.
I love my one cup size up boobs which all my girls say look like two rocks, one medium sized, one big. They’re so brutally honest with me, which allows me to be brutally honest with myself. It reminds me to take life a day at a time.
My 7 year old took this picture yesterday after our evening stroll with my newborn and I embraced it, and shared it not because I think kids take the best pictures(because they do:-)) but because though my body isn’t where I want it to be yet, I will get there.
I want to help build, uplift, inspire women to feel their best not just externally but internally as well and to look their best, no matter their shape. So, to that woman who doesn’t see herself as beautiful, you are. To that mom(s), who like me just had a baby, and are taking steps to get back to some form of normalcy, be still.
We are all different. We all have things we don’t like about our bodies or wish could be improved but I’m here to say that we need to STOP being so hard on ourselves and be thankful for this body who once carried a life, (in my case four), and take deep breaths and daily steps to reach our ultimate physical goal. But most importantly internally love and embrace our time with our newest addition while loving ourselves, & our bodies exactly the way we are now not comparing to how we used to look.~WE
