Learning to cope with body changes.
It is not a great time to keep tabs on exercising and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Now imagine if your body also had to go through a time of significant physical change as well. If you have hang-ups about what pregnancy will do to your body, I feel you. As months come and go, it may seem hard to keep up with all the changes your body is undergoing from head to toe. You may find difficult to adjust to your changing, growing body. You start worrying whether you will ever manage to get back your pre-pregnancy body shape or if those stretch marks that started popping up will stay with you forever.
But let's focus on the bright side. Our bodies are amazing and capable of achieving a miracle! Stretch marks can actually fade with time and eventually you won't even notice them. Thanks to your body's ability, something miraculous is happening inside you so try not to ruin it with bad mentality. You may not feel good with your body image every single day, aches may start being a bit more persistent, you will feel heavier and bloated most of the time, but know that you DO actually look beautiful. Believe in your partner's words when they tell you how good you look, on your friends and family kind words about how you still look so flawless in that dress with just a bit of a belly. You may not be lucky enough to get the actual pregnancy glow, but it's still OK. Happiness radiates its own glow!
Unfortunately, weight gain during pregnancy is unavoidable. It's one of every new mother's biggest fears, but it's also a fact that you already knew in advance. Your focus during your pregnancy needs to stay on the overall health and wellbeing of your little one and of yourself. Every woman is different, and will eventually gain weight differently. I remind myself every single day not to fall into the trap of doing comparisons. The important thing is to choose quality over quantity, especially when it comes to the food you put in your body. It should be rich in nutrient in order to satisfy the needs of both you and your growing baby, because at the end of the day the overall health of you both is what matters the most.
Are you impatient enough yet? Some days it could feel like a pregnancy would last for ever. Time passes so slowly, especially the first 12 weeks, but at the end of the day it's only 9 months of your life. Once the baby is born, your body will start a full recovery. It will contract back down to its original shape if you are lucky -or close enough- and your baby bump will gradually disappear along with some of the weight you gained during this time. Women' bodies are designed in such an incredible and perplexing way, the least we can do is learn to love our bodies. You are not fat, you are pregnant! And let's remember, our bodies are not the only thing that will never be the same again after these 9 months.
It's OK not to feel excited and WOWed the whole time.
It's OK to worry about silly things.
It's OK to feel overwhelmed and have your lows.
It's normal to feel unhappy about your body image at times,
but remember it's only temporary.
If not, it's not the end of the world!
So before the beginning of a new pregnancy, let's start working on it. Let's accept the fact that us and our life will never be the same again, and this will only be for the best. I love my mum a bit extra for believing in the guilty little pleasures in life. For never refusing a delicious meal over anything. For her, great food and great company are the two life's simplest yet great pleasures. If you enjoy something there is nothing guilty about it init? So let's ditch the shame! At least this is what I will do :)