Dad Bod, Mom Bod

Hi!

You may have heard of the ever trending "Dad Bod". Suddenly it's becoming hot for men to don the not so perfectly chiseled physic of a fresh daddy. For those of you dads out there you know it's for reals. The sympathy eating with your pregnant wife, the cooped up take out nights with your new family (too tired to cook) and potentially the stress eating and no time for the gym. Heck- I am NOT judging this. It's the truth for a LOT of people and I think it should be celebrated.............

BUT - what the heck is going on with the world if we can't also celebrate "MOM bod" ?!? Why shouldn't mom bod be a sought after destination in terms of body?! Just think about what we have to go through to get this elusive Mom Bod! We actually GROW a human and our bodies change for some seriously miraculous reasons. Curves, breasts, that "glow", luscious locks.... I could go on. Instead of mom bod being celebrated, mom bod is well.. it can be shamed and make women feel a sense of embarrassment. This is awful. I could go on now to talk about how women feel pressure to look a certain way due to celebrities, social media and unrealistic advertisements, but I won't because there are lots of articles that talk about this. Instead, I'll talk about the fact that it's SO different for everyone - some women can fit back into their clothing again right after the baby comes out and others can't. The point is that both womens bodies changed during their pregnancy and they likely both feel very different after pregnancy. Different is BEAUTIFUL people -- hello, it's what makes the freakin' world go round!

So now I'll share a story. When I got pregnant everyone LOVED to tell me what it was going to be like.. right down to how much weight I would gain. I was a pretty small person and so according to everyone, including the internet, I would gain around 25 lbs. HA-HA-HA. I can laugh about this now. And legit- some women only gain like 20-25 lbs. But for me, this wasn't the case. I gained double that. YEP.. about 50 lbs. Big difference- right? And the thing is- at the end of my pregnancy I really loved my bump and the way my body looked! Gaining 50 lbs had nothing to do with beauty and it shouldn't have- I was growing a freakin' baby! When I tell people how much I gained, they don't believe me either. So, let this be a lesson to you all --- commenting on people's weight is not necessary and how the heck would you even know what's relevant. 50 lbs. on me was my normal. 20 on another woman is their normal and then the hundreds of thousands of women who are somewhere below, above or between those numbers. Our bodies do what they gotta do and we gotta love our MOM BODS for it!

So that was during pregnancy. I will now talk about post-pregnancy. Like I said before, there are women who fit back into their clothing very quickly after baby arrives and then there are women that don't. I think we need to give ourselves some love and appreciation here. I remember the weeks following Nora's birth, thinking about how I felt so uncomfortable in my own skin, how I felt more confident with my body when the baby was inside of me. There was so much change happening around me being a new mom and on top of it all I didn't feel like myself. I had basically 10 months to develop my bump and grow to love it and then in just over a day I'm left with.. "this". I'm not sure what I had expected as I knew everything would change after having a baby but I guess I hadn't quite considered that I would need to show myself grace in terms of my body. I remember reading something on Instagram (god love the tribe of amazing mommas out there) that said it takes the uterus MINIMUM of 4 weeks to shrink back to it's normal size. Wow, did I need to hear those words. My boobs were swollen and trying to regulate themselves of milk production, I was bleeding, I looked tired, my clothes didn't fit and the lack of sleep was making me grumpy about it all. The emotions were real, they were mine and looking back I wish someone had told me:

You'll be rocking your granny panties for almost 2 months- buy cute ones. You'll be wearing your maternity clothing post-baby - FACT. High waisted leggings will be your friend (like a hug around your belly). Your uterus takes AT LEAST 4 weeks to shrink back up. Your boobs will be huge, they will be sore, they will leak. You will gain weight- that's part of having a baby- but who knows how much you will gain- just know that your body does what it has to do. Rub your postpartum belly the way you rubbed your pregnant belly - it produced your beautiful baby and you have a LOT to thank it for. And of course -- Love On Your Mom Bod, because well, it's the only one you've got! I know that last one is easier said than done and I certainly didn't love my mom bod at first. But, hearing about others journeys I have learned to try to love mine. I still haven't lost all the baby weight, I am still breast feeding and I am still tired. But for me right now my priority isn't fitting into a tight dress or string bikini - it's about me, my baby and my family, how we are adjusting and our health and happiness.

So I'll be over here .. loving my Mom Bod and I hope you'll join me and love yours too!

xo

The #YGK Mom

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