Mom Bod

Everyone has a different image that pops into their mind when they hear “mom bod”. I will admit that I was scared of my body changing when I got pregnant and didn’t know what to expect. I knew my body was going to do whatever it needed to do to grow my baby.

I didn’t have any real symptoms until I was almost 10 weeks pregnant, I went from not feeling pregnant at all and worrying about it daily, to full blown non stop nausea, could only eat scrambled eggs and bean and cheese burritos and could barely stomach water most of the time. From that moment on, I was at awe of what my body did. Being pregnant was the hardest thing that I had gone through up till that point in my life. It was truly a magical time as well, I suddenly was part of a secret club that I didn’t know existed till I started showing.

At first I just felt bloated, then suddenly my belly popped and I was so proud of my little bump. It wasn’t big enough to wear maternity clothes, but big enough where none of my pants fit and I had to get creative at hiding it at work. The first 4-5 months were a blur of extreme tiredness, my ever changing body and the growing excitement of welcoming a baby into our family.

Overall my body took to pregnancy quickly, I had crazy hormone fluctuations, but also had that pregnancy glow everyone talked about. The first baby kicks literally woke me up and I have never slept the same since ha!

By the end of my pregnancy I barely fit into any of my maternity clothes, my back hurt, my breasts were huge and I honestly couldn’t believe at how big my belly had gotten. I had documented my entire pregnancy, but in hindsight didn’t take enough candid belly shots. When I was younger, I thought that once the baby came out, my belly would just shrink back to its original size. Little did I know my uterus would be the size of a watermelon and take months to go back to normal and the weight wouldn’t just melt off overnight. I also took postpartum belly pictures to remind myself how far I came after having a baby. I wore maternity clothes for months after and none of my pre-pregnancy clothes fit right, but I had never been more comfortable in my skin and loved myself more than after giving birth.

A woman’s body is nothing short of amazing, growing my children and being able to birth them will always one of my best moments. I will forever be in awe of my body and being able to grow and feed my babies for over four years straight now. I took these pictures right after my 6 week check up after having my first. I could only fit into maternity pants or leggings, I loved my body but felt out of sorts. Summer was in full swing and I couldn’t fit into most of my bathing suits (you could see my butt crack in these bottoms!) and the ones I could I wasn’t quite comfortable in. Truthfully I was harder on myself the second time around, I felt more pressure to get back to normal as so much of my postpartum journey the second time around was more of a roller coaster. I had stretch marks on my lower belly, my hips widen more than the first time around, my wedding rings hadn’t fit in almost a year and I had two babies vying for space on my lap non stop.

Today I look back at these pictures, only a year and maybe 10 or so pounds and it seems like a million years ago, yet not even that much different. Half the time I look at myself in the mirror I see the body my babies gave me, my mom bod will never look the way I did before I had kids. For that I am forever grateful because my body gave me them and I’m forever indebted to my body for that.

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