Pre-partum vs Post-partum Body: What's the difference?
I recently found this blog. Women post before and after pictures of their pre and post partum bodies. It's the feel-good blog of the week. After looking at it, I've come the conclusion that I've had a postpartum body much longer than I've had children. I've always had a big saggy belly and chunky thighs. Many women have extra skin around their bellies after a baby. With the exception of a few stretch marks, I look pretty much the same. I was not Kate Winslet before the babies, and I am still not, but at least the body I ended up with isn't really a surprise.
At some points in my life my rounder bits have been the bane of my existence, but now I just want to be healthy and active enough to chase my kids around. And my body is perfect for that. It aches at the end of the day, but I am so grateful for my health. It's not something I take for granted. My son is named after my beloved Cousin Eric who died of leukemia at the age of 26. Watching him go through parts of that made me realize that I was such an ass for obsessing about an extra 20 or so pounds. There are such worse ways our bodies can fail us than to want to carry extra weight. Of course there's still a voice in the back of my head that says: Why can't I be one of those healthy women with a hot body? I tell that part of my brain "Shut up! This body is useful and glorious. Look at the children it produced. And get me a brownie while you're at it!"
I find this line of thinking very productive for my body image. I'm sure Kaylee will struggle with this as I did, but I'm hoping she'll have options to move her body that I didn't have. The only exercise I did willingly when I was a kid was hiking, canoeing and horseback riding. None of which you get to do frequently when you live in the city. Hopefully she'll have something like that, and I'll have the time to really make it feasible, whatever it is.
Speaking of Kaylee, the "stay at home" gig is so-far-so-good. It will change dramatically in September when Eric starts preschool. He'll be with me from 1:00 PM on instead of being in daycare all day. It will be very challenging, but this time is very important and I'm excited about it.
I will hopefully start writing more soon. Kaylee has developed EBP, also known as "Extra Blog-sensory Perception; A condition where you wake up and yell the minute your mother starts to do anything remotely creative on the computer. She does let me shop in eBay though. Oh well, it's a start. She's down for her long sleep now, and I can hear her getting restless as I type.
Grrr Argh.
I recently found this blog. Women post before and after pictures of their pre and post partum bodies. It's the feel-good blog of the week. After looking at it, I've come the conclusion that I've had a postpartum body much longer than I've had children. I've always had a big saggy belly and chunky thighs. Many women have extra skin around their bellies after a baby. With the exception of a few stretch marks, I look pretty much the same. I was not Kate Winslet before the babies, and I am still not, but at least the body I ended up with isn't really a surprise.
At some points in my life my rounder bits have been the bane of my existence, but now I just want to be healthy and active enough to chase my kids around. And my body is perfect for that. It aches at the end of the day, but I am so grateful for my health. It's not something I take for granted. My son is named after my beloved Cousin Eric who died of leukemia at the age of 26. Watching him go through parts of that made me realize that I was such an ass for obsessing about an extra 20 or so pounds. There are such worse ways our bodies can fail us than to want to carry extra weight. Of course there's still a voice in the back of my head that says: Why can't I be one of those healthy women with a hot body? I tell that part of my brain "Shut up! This body is useful and glorious. Look at the children it produced. And get me a brownie while you're at it!"
I find this line of thinking very productive for my body image. I'm sure Kaylee will struggle with this as I did, but I'm hoping she'll have options to move her body that I didn't have. The only exercise I did willingly when I was a kid was hiking, canoeing and horseback riding. None of which you get to do frequently when you live in the city. Hopefully she'll have something like that, and I'll have the time to really make it feasible, whatever it is.
Speaking of Kaylee, the "stay at home" gig is so-far-so-good. It will change dramatically in September when Eric starts preschool. He'll be with me from 1:00 PM on instead of being in daycare all day. It will be very challenging, but this time is very important and I'm excited about it.
I will hopefully start writing more soon. Kaylee has developed EBP, also known as "Extra Blog-sensory Perception; A condition where you wake up and yell the minute your mother starts to do anything remotely creative on the computer. She does let me shop in eBay though. Oh well, it's a start. She's down for her long sleep now, and I can hear her getting restless as I type.
Grrr Argh.
posted by Margaret at 10:49 PM
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