Oh the joys of pregnancy!

Trust me, there are so many countless joys of creating human life, but along with growing a fetus comes many changes physically, mentally, and emotionally.  It’s easy to talk about how we as pregnant ladies feel about our epic mood swings or our constant urge to go the bathroom.  Heck, give us any birthing related topic and we’re not afraid to preach the miracle of life to just about anyone that will listen.  But there is one aspect of pregnancy that many women fear, struggle with, and even become depressed over that is much harder to vocalize – that being the drastic way our bodies change in those life altering nine months.

I’ve been pregnant for a little over seven months now and every single day, my body has transformed in some way.  The obvious element of a growing stomach is a given, but things that I didn’t anticipate to happen with my body happened. The back of my thighs may be showing some cellulite, my boobs are bigger than they have ever been, my arms and legs went from toned to soft, and my face is fuller. Sure, some of this can be avoided but I’d like to think I’ve been pretty darn healthy with this pregnancy so far.  I work out 5 days a week, I eat a healthy diet, I avoid the late night snack binges, and I drink gallons of water.  But after all of that, my body still endured some change in places other than my stomach.

How do I feel about all of this?  Well – I’d like to tell you I’m 100% okay with everything and that I’ve embraced every beautiful change in my body.  But truthfully, some days I have a harder time with it than I’d like to admit.  I think a problem we face as women (especially pregnant women) is constant judgement.  We are judged when we are too thin, we are judged when we are too fat, we are judged when we work out too much, we are judged when we don’t work out enough – it never ends!  So the one time in our lives when we are expected and supposed to gain weight, we are still judged, mainly by ourselves.  Couple weight gain with intense mood swings, irrational emotions, and insane hormones and you’ve got yourself one big mess. Okay, not really but you get my point.  There are definitely days when I feel like a huge mess and other days I absolutely love everything about being pregnant – the big butt and all.  But my point is this.  It’s OKAY to feel uneasy about your changing body andit’s OKAY to talk about it.  It doesn’t make you a bad person nor does it mean that you care more about your image than your unborn baby’s health.  Some people may tell you otherwise, but the truth is it does suck sometimes.  You have very little control over your body and that can be scary. If you need to vent, by all means go for it, but do try to confide in people that you know will understand.

This wasn’t intended to be my own personal venting session because honestly, I’ve been feeling pretty great about my (large) belly these days.  Do I miss feeling sexy or proud of a fit body?  Of course, but if I had to gain 100 pounds in order for my baby to be healthy, I would without a doubt.  I’ve put my body through some pretty intense roller coasters throughout my life but in the end, my goal was to always be healthy.  When I look at myself now I realize that as a woman, I’ve achieved the ultimate goal of health.  So sure, I may be 25 pounds heavier, I may be squishy in places I use to fear, and I may even have a stretch mark or two, but when it comes down to it, I couldn’t be more proud of this body and I know one particular little guy that is definitely happy to be living in it.  And that is really all that matters.

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