When you think about pregnancy, there is a lot of things to plan out. You start planning when you want to get pregnant, you go shopping for pregnancy clothes, you get pregnancy pictures taken, you start gathering up things you'll need for when baby(ies) get here, you decide how you want to deliver, and then you try to be prepared for delivery, for bringing baby(ies) home, and how the heck you're suppose to take care of a newborn (or 2). What I don't think many people really plan for is what happens to your body post partum. Especially if it's a first pregnancy, you have no idea what you might look like after you've carried a baby in your belly for 9 months. Sure you might think, "I'll definitely have some extra pounds that I'll want to lose, and I hope I don't have any stretch marks". Or at least, that's pretty much the extent to which my thoughts about went.
But your body is not the same as it was before you were pregnant, nor will it ever be. You may see all these teeny tiny women just a few months post partum who look like they've never even given birth-I guarantee their bodies are different, even if you, from the outside, can't tell. I also know that a lot of people can struggle with body images post partum as well.
There are a lot of encouraging blog posts out there relating to positive images of the post partum body. Two of my favorites are found here:
Inked in color's "shape of a mother" & Mama Mandolin's "Not Afraid"
Both of these mamas talked about how they are not ashamed of how their bodies look after growing 1+ human beings. It made me think, and appreciate my body as well. The little bit of self-consciousness that I struggled with for not having my pre-baby body back was gone. My body did an awesome thing. I carried 2 babies in my belly at the same time for 9 months. My babies were carried completely to term (a good statistic for twins), and they had no complications at birth. They were born healthy and perfect.
My belly was stretched out like crazy by the end of my pregnancy. If you saw me in person while I was pregnant, you know just how big it was. So to think of the way it started out, how big it actually got, what it accomplished in the midst of growing so large, I have nothing to be upset about. Sure my body is different now. My boobs are different, my rib circumference is different, my stomach shape is different, my ab muscles are different (still working on getting trying to get those back!), and of course there is that dang c-section scar. but it's ok. Because my body did something awesome.
So below are a few photos of how my belly looks now.
But your body is not the same as it was before you were pregnant, nor will it ever be. You may see all these teeny tiny women just a few months post partum who look like they've never even given birth-I guarantee their bodies are different, even if you, from the outside, can't tell. I also know that a lot of people can struggle with body images post partum as well.
There are a lot of encouraging blog posts out there relating to positive images of the post partum body. Two of my favorites are found here:
Inked in color's "shape of a mother" & Mama Mandolin's "Not Afraid"
Both of these mamas talked about how they are not ashamed of how their bodies look after growing 1+ human beings. It made me think, and appreciate my body as well. The little bit of self-consciousness that I struggled with for not having my pre-baby body back was gone. My body did an awesome thing. I carried 2 babies in my belly at the same time for 9 months. My babies were carried completely to term (a good statistic for twins), and they had no complications at birth. They were born healthy and perfect.
My belly was stretched out like crazy by the end of my pregnancy. If you saw me in person while I was pregnant, you know just how big it was. So to think of the way it started out, how big it actually got, what it accomplished in the midst of growing so large, I have nothing to be upset about. Sure my body is different now. My boobs are different, my rib circumference is different, my stomach shape is different, my ab muscles are different (still working on getting trying to get those back!), and of course there is that dang c-section scar. but it's ok. Because my body did something awesome.
So below are a few photos of how my belly looks now.
As you can see, the middle of my stomach is a little more wrinkly, with some extra skin from all the stretching. I'm a little more rounded and squishy in the middle. And the scar. I hated it at first, but it's a good reminder. It's my little reminder of the day my babies joined me in this world, and that, was the Best Day Ever.
