There is a photo of me from 2018, that every time I look at it, makes me smile. It’s just me. Being a mom. I was feeling good, had lost weight, was eating healthy and felt so proud of all the hard work I had put in. Verona was just a little over a year old, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was finally getting back to my normal self again. About a month after this photo was taken, I found out I was pregnant with Vivienne…
I bring this up not because I was upset about having another baby, but to shed some light on the physical toll pregnancy and child birth can have on your body. I’m not saying it’s not worth it, but for me, knowing what the next year and half would entail made it a little scary to think about. Here I was, feeling the best I have felt in YEARS, tons of energy, starting to see definition in muscles, yet bracing myself for the inevitable hyperemesis gravidarum journey, bedrest, exhaustion, weight loss, pelvic floor dysfuncion, not to mention the belly and back pain. Okay. That’s enough complaining.
It’s been two years since that first photo was taken. In that two years, I’ve been pregnant, had a baby, breastfed said baby for a year, chased around older kids, stopped coloring my hair, but most importantly… kept a promise to myself that I would one day get back to a point where I felt as comfortable in my skin as I did in that first picture from 2018. And here we are.
Proud of the person I see in the mirror, flaws and all. Thankful for a body that carried and gave birth to three beautiful blessings. Even with the loose skin & stretch marks I’m comfortable in my skin.
Being an example to my children to teach them to love & respect the body that God gave them is something that isn’t always easy, but is so important to me.