Body Image After Baby

I regularly see pins on Pinterest circulating around that say things like 'get your pre-pregnancy body back!', or claiming that they can get you back in shape FAST! Well, I'm not convinced that pregnancy is something that one can recover from quickly. It is pretty darn taxing on the body.

On a bad day, I used to be a bit self-conscious about my body. I was too short, not curvy enough, not toned enough and all of that jazz. How silly of me. Especially since I was always able to physically do what I wanted to do.

Pregnancy has taught me to be proud of my body. While pregnant I weighed more that I ever have in my life. I could not see my toes. I physically couldn't run, and had to take frequent rests on a hot day or while walking (for those last few weeks), but it was the proudest time of my life. I was growing a healthy baby. I gained a smidge more that what is considered "normal" weight gain during pregnancy, but I'm pretty sure it was normal for my body. Now that pregnancy is long over, I am still proud of what my body did. I grew a human for goodness sake! I have plenty of signs from that pregnancy. I'm still carrying around a few extra pounds. I have very soft skin on my belly and a few stretch marks in various places. But I am proud of them. I am no longer worried about what other people may think of my body, because I have finally realized that it is mine to take care of.

That isn't to say I'm not looking forward to dropping those last few pounds. I'm sure I'll shed that last little bit when I stop breastfeeding. But it has much less to do with my weight (our scale doesn't even have batteries), than it does about the way I feel. My body IS mine to take care of, so I will. I am much more grateful that I can run now that I have been too big and too sore to do so. I am aware of what I put into my body because I am still nourishing another. I want to stay healthy so that I can be an example to my daughter.

 And when she learns where her belly button is, and I show her mine, I will be proud to show her the stretch marks from when I got to carry her.

5 Months Old

She found her feet this last month. That means she'll never have two dry socks on her feet again, ever. Not that socks stayed on very well before, she inherited my loooong and skinny feet. In the last month, we have conquered: a cold, two four-hours flights (like a champ!), first bites of rice cereal, and grabbing those feet. she has also rolled over a total of 4 times on her own, but that was 5 weeks ago and she refuses to try again. We are also up to a total of 5 nights of 12 hours of sleep. Not in a row mind you, total. That isn't too bad considering all the time zone changes and the coughing and sniffling we've done. I'm crossing my fingers that we may see a few more long nights of sleep. :)