Pregnancy and Body Image

I recently read this post from the Huff Post, whose author, a mom of two and one on the way, talks about how she refused to let her body insecurities put a toll on going to the beach, putting on a swimsuit and playing with her children at the beach and making memories with her family.

I loved this post for two reasons. One, I love the beach and I am looking forward to sharing that love with my own daughter and creating beautiful memories with her, but second, because pregnancy has definitely changed my body in ways that I never thought it could.

I have to admit that as the weeks passed by I began to feel a bit insecure that my pre-pregnancy jeans did not pull higher than my knees no matter how hard I tried. My body began to expand and itch and now I cannot even walk for more than 10 mins without some part of my body aching. My feet do not fit into my shoes without leaving marks and I even had to take off my wedding ring because it was cutting my circulation. Please understand that this is a not a 'Woe to me!' post. No. These are things that I had read and knew that happened to women when they were pregnant, but as this being my first pregnancy, when my body started changing it was shocking!

I want to be honest with myself as well as you and say that for someone who is constantly posting pictures of myself on a blog it is a bit scary to think that my body probably will never be the same as it was when I hadn't been pregnant. And that's not to say that now that I'm a mom I'm just "letting myself go" which is probably what my 'before pregnancy me' would've judged. No. It's just that now I will be carrying the mom marks on my body as a reminder of my journey. However, I have made a vow to myself that I will not let those marks and body changes to ever stop me from doing what I love. Like putting on a swimsuit to play in the water with my daughter, or dressing fashionable, or even stopping me from taking pictures for this blog.

I want to embrace every bit of what it means to be a mother. I will put the responsibility on myself to live a positive example of body image to my daughter. And to live a healthy lifestyle for my family and myself, without comparing myself to others and their own personal journeys. And finally to enjoy and embrace and never take for granted the amazing blessing that it has been to carry my child in my womb.