I have been reflecting on the changing body image women have to learn to embrace when they have a baby. Frankly, it’s hard not to right now. In a world that places so much emphasis on being extremely thin, it is hard to fully accept the fact that your body is going to be stretched to oblivion. And if that isn’t enough, once the baby is born we must deal with the extra weight and stretched out, wrinkled, and scarred skin that is left behind.

Yes, most of us get back to (or at least in the neighborhood of) our previous weight and shape, but sometimes I wonder if the damage done to my psyche is reversible.  How do I appreciate my fluctuating shape, even when I am less than pleased with it?  I guess I’m trying to start with acknowledging the fact that my body was designed to be flexible and that is something our society often ignores. 

Media hardly portrays pregnancy fairly.  There has been a lot of focus on celebrity pregnancies in the last couple of years but when you can afford to buy designer maternity clothes and have people to dress you and make you look perfect it is easy to make pregnancy look like a snap.  And when you can do the same in the ugly fourth trimester (the several months following the birth) then those of us who are mere mortals and are dealing with sleep deprivation, baby spit-up, floppy stomachs and leaking boobs run out of patience with our bodies really quickly.  We can never measure up.  If we pay too much attention to the media it is easy to believe that women go from 80 pounds to 8 months pregnant over night and snap back to their previous shape faster than you can say “cluster feeding”.  But the reality is that with this changing shape and it’s ability to create life, are months of akward, in-between stages where I am unsatisfied with my body.   Of course, my husband would question whether I ever actually leave these phases of dissatisfaction.  I suppose that is a challenge to me to gain an appreciation for myself, regardless of which part of “The Amazing Elastic Woman” routine I am currently performing.