Mom Bod Anxiety Needs To Go

We give birth, and society tells us our bodies are supposed to look exactly the same as before.

Then it happens. We get big. We become round. Our legs are attacked by cellulite on all cylinders. We are pushing, OMG MY INSIDES. PLEASE, GET THIS BABY OUT!

Then we have this beautiful baby with cherub cheeks cradled in our arms.

But our bodies, well, they feel like we just got hit by a car— twice. Like the car decided to reverse to see what it hit and accidentally ran us over again.

And then it’s time to nurse this baby. JUST WHAT WE WANT TO DO.

When we get home, we look in the full-length mirror for the first time and realize:

“OMG, WAS I REALLY PREGNANT WITH TWINS AND ONE IS STILL IN THERE?” Why the heck do I still look five-months pregnant?

That’s when we realize, man, our bodies are never going to be completely the same–and we get some mom bod anxiety.

Mom bod anxiety is:

“I hate how this looks on me,” we say, staring into the mirror in a huff, peering at this new butt we have. IT LOOKS SO BIG AND NOT IN A PERKY CUTE WAY. We sulk and put away the jeans that used to be our go-to.

Mom bod anxiety is looking at what once were abs that’s now flabby skin—and wanting to plan a funeral to mourn the loss of those beautiful abs because we feel THAT sad for the loss of what once was.

Mom bod anxiety is going swimsuit shopping and seeing every blemish, stretch mark, scar– and putting that suit back on the rack.

Mom bod anxiety is when we keep looking down at our shirt to make sure we didn’t leak milk. It’s feeling a constant state of engorgement that makes us uncomfortable all the time.

Mom bod anxiety is when someone throws us a compliment, and we throwback “well, you should see underneath my clothes—everything is all over the place.”

And it’s hard not to be like this because society tells us to get our bodies back, and fast!

To overcome mom bod anxiety, we need to accept SOCIETY AS UNREALISTIC by:

getting rid of our pre-pregnancy body goals—because no matter how much weight we lose our bodies will never be exactly the same; owning our new bodies, by appreciating all of the amazing things they do; and thinking about what we want our children to value and making THAT perspective shift.

Early motherhood is a hard season.

We give birth, which is HARD– and postpartum is even harder—between healing, lack of sleep, and figuring out our new babies.  So, let’s normalize cutting ourselves some slack instead of “bouncing back.”