Be gentle with yourself momma
I’ve said it before and I will say it again, nothing could have prepared me for what pregnancy would bring or life postpartum. In a perfect world, I would have delivered my bright eyed adventurous baby boy into this big world, and I would have walked out of the hospital with the same body I had prior to giving birth or better. But, the crude reality is that I didn’t. I left the hospital with stretch marks in places they should not be, and even more on my stomach from my body stretching, and conforming to carry and mold the most amazing human being.
And here I am, looking at this amazing body of mine ashamed and unhappy at what it’s become as a result of the miracle this body has performed
Mothers so often bare the shame of looking at their bodies after birth with disdain and disgust as if these bodies we have been gifted with are not awe-mazing.
I’m 19 months postpartum, and just now coming to the consensus that I really have got to ease up some and cut myself a lot slack. First of all, I had a not your average pregnancy; my pregnancy was riddled with specialist appointments pretty much every week, plenty of poking and prodding, lots of tears, fear, and pain. That caused my ideal pregnancy plan of working out and staying active to be put on the back burner. So for that I have to ease up a bit, because those were instances and problems that were completely out of my control. What I could control however during my pregnancy and for the last 19 months of life postpartum was what I put in my body and my exercise regimen which has essentially been null. I can also control how I view myself, how I view this body that God used to bring life into this world. At the same time that I am learning to be gentle with myself and the changes in my body postpartum, I have to also take responsibility and commit to making healthier choices.
I’m making healthier choices, not so that I can get a “perfect body” but so that I can simply be healthy.
As always thank you for reading.
