With Mother’s Day creeping up, and with me being me, one of the first things I think of AROUND Mother’s Day is what happens to moms, physically to generate new life. Women are amazing! Moms can do anything! Yayyyyy moms! Yayyyyy!
And yes, but also - WOW does the whole thing fuck with you physically. Every Mother’s Day I mostly stand in awe of the marvel that is pregnancy and birth. The ways we stretch and balloon, and balloon, and BALLOON before ripping apart or being ripped apart, and sewn back up again. AND THEN! Expected to “bounce back”.
The pressure to lose weight after babies is such a tired topic, and I’ve written before about my body issues before I had kids, but still there’s a lot to talk about. I feel a confidence in my body I’ve never felt before, despite being softer than I used to be. Still though, I set the bar pretty low as far as body confidence goes, and I haven’t gotten totally comfortable with my post-kid body. My stomach, no matter how much I exercise, feels like a king size duvet cover on a twin size comforter. My outer layers of stomach feel disconnected from the muscle beneath - you know what I mean? I had a c-section when I had my first kid, and it left a thick keloid scar about 5 inches long. And of course my boobs - we already covered that.
But, as ever, it’s a journey, and the journey has a story (what I tried, what didn’t work, what did, and what I will not do…), so here it is.
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