Pregnancy
Anonymous Mom: I Don’t Believe In The ‘Post-Baby Body’
Anonymous Mom is a weekly column of motherhood confessions, indiscretions, and parental shortcomings selected by Mommyish editors. Under this unanimous byline, readers can share their own stories, secrets, and moments of weakness with complete anonymity.
Like almost everything else related to my pregnancy, I did extensive Google searching and reading. I was trying to mentally prep myself for what my new “mommy body†was going to look like because I did not want to be caught off guard or disappointed if things were not quite how I expected after delivery. Essentially, I was preparing for the worst and assuming that my body would look something similar to “the blob†once little Jackson was born. I spent some time trying to mentally prepare for this and come up with a “plan of attack†if this be the case.
About a month ago baby Jack-Jack (as we have been calling him) was finally born. At first I was hesitant to look at myself and for the first 24 hours I avoided all mirrors — this was not too difficult in a hospital. A wise nurse told me to give it two weeks before weighing myself. This I found funny; I wasn’t very eager to jump on a scale.
At the 48-hour mark, of course, curiosity got the best of me and I was standing in the bathroom, poking and prodding my squishy belly.
Fact: post-baby tummies resemble deflated beach balls.
However, aside from this I was more then pleasantly surprised. I emerged from the bathroom thinking “it is not a bad starting point.”
This was approximately six weeks ago, and although I have had my fair share of moody moments over my new tiger stripe stretch marks, everything else has pretty much gone back to normal. In fact it has gone back to normal so much that I almost feel guilty talking about it.
You see one thing I learned while researching the postpartum period is that some women struggle for years to get their “body back.” In most cases health, genetics and other factors can make it extremely difficult. Me, I actually feel slightly misguided in what the realities of a “mommy body†are because I look at myself today and I am fairly flabbergasted that I look this good a month after popping out one of those precious bundles of joy. Everything I read or heard had told me otherwise. I was bracing for disaster, selling myself short. I had premature low self esteem!
