Week 26: Loving your pregnant body

I’m starting this post with a bit of honesty. Like the average American woman, I have struggled most of my life with loving my body. You know, the overcritical thoughts, the frustration of trying on five outfits just to feel like nothing looks good, and the constant wondering if maybe this week will be the week you stick to your healthy diet and exercise routine. I know it’s not just me! Well, having a baby sure changes your body in a drastic way. The growing during the pregnancy and then not quite shrinking down the same afterward. Still, after I had my daughter I made the decision to love my body.
You see, when I saw my daughter for the first time I realized how truly miraculous it was that my body made her, a sweet little tiny baby girl. My perspective shifted drastically from wanting my body to look the women in a photoshopped magazine, to feeling like Wonder Woman. The 12 months between giving birth to my daughter and getting pregnant again flew by. They were filled with cuddles, learning to become a mother and very minimal working out. Sure, I exercised occasionally and we were out an about all the time, but I didn’t have a morning gym routine or a twice weekly yoga class. I was fine with that, though, because the thought of missing my daughter roll over for the first time or take her first steps made me not want to leave her even for an hour at our community gym.
When I saw those two little lines on a pregnancy test for the second time, the thought popped into my head that I didn’t “get back my pre-baby body.” Then I laughed because I’m not sure if that’s even a real thing. I did manage to lose all of my baby weight, but my body was a little squishier than it used to be. You mamas know what I mean. Well, after I got over my constant nausea and made it into the second trimester, I knew I needed to make the effort to love my pregnant body. After all, it was literally creating a miracle, again! So I decided to start documenting my bump every week, no matter what, and posting them to my blog. Whether I felt sick, tired or like a whale, I wanted to honor my body for what is was doing.
In fact, this week my dressing the bump photos are of me in a bathing suit. Now this is something I probably would have never done before I had kids and my body was “in shape.” Though, I made a choice to not shy away from embracing the reality that it is summer—my family loves the beach, and I finally found some non-frumpy maternity bathing suit bottoms. If any of you who are reading this are pregnant and the reality of your growing pregnant body is weighing on you (no pun intended), I hope that you can find the courage to begin to love your body too, because, let’s be honest it’s pretty amazing!