My Body, My Self
Ready for something awkward? Okay!
Let's talk about bodies! Let's talk about post-pregnancy bodies! Let's talk about my post-pregnancy body!
My eternal provacateur (provacatress? provacatrix?) Catherine writes here about her body two babies later, and as she pointed to bellies being posted here and here (which reminded me of the bellies posted here), I figured now is as good a time as any to make public the postpartum belly shots I've been keeping private on Flickr.
I've been keeping them private for what is, I think, an unusual-when-talking-about-mamabellies reason. It's not because I'm embarrassed or disappointed or repulsed by my new shape--and I'm not posting them now because I've overcome being embarrassed/disappointed/repulsed. I've kept the photos private because I'm amazed and humbled and, okay, embarrassed that my belly has looked as good as it has first one and then two and now almost three months after giving birth, and I can't help but feel like all the "show us your postpartum body" projects out there aren't for people like me. Maybe it's because I do it too: when I see the occasional skinnybellies on those sites, I sneer and think "This site is not for you" and go looking for darker stretchmarks, deeper wrinkles, more "real" photos of "real" women with "real" bodies.
But now I'm one of those postpartum women and as "real" as I can be, even without a single stretchmark and only the faintest of wrinkles way below what any bikini bottom* would reveal, and regardless of the dialogue that surrounds these revelations, I think there's some value in my being able to say now, like others have said before, "This is me."
A month after her daughter was born, Metalia said what I want to say better than I can say it here. You can't see her original photo and caption unless you're a Flickr Friend, but the gist is that she thanked her (smokin' hot) body for sustaining a healthy pregnancy and for bouncing back so well and so quickly all on its own. Like her, I'm lucky to have been thin all my life and have never faced a lot of the body issues that so many women deal with. Even now, when I'm still ten pounds out from "normal" and nowhere near squeezing my butt into my old jeans because the cellulite has creeped down my thighs to my knees, I know that I'm still lucky, and that, for me, is worth acknowledging, if not also celebrating.
So, here's a recent photo, eleven weeks postpartum, in the leather belt that snapped apart when I leaned forward off the couch for another handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips. It's not the shape I expected, nor is it Hollywood, but it's me and I'm grateful and I'll never take it for granted.
*Simon's work's summer party is being held at a waterpark this year, and although we had quite the discussion over To Bikini or Not to Bikini my 15-weeks-pregnant belly last year, this time around I think I have a plan: I'm going to buy a new bikini and it's going to be red.
Your post-pregnancy body is thinner than my never-pregnant, marathon-running body. Le sigh. But you look GREAT!
are you fishing for compliments? you must have very good genes. i've never had a full term pregnancy and my food belly is bigger than yours in spite of daily crunches. you look absolutely great and i'm glad you're happy with your new shape.
people like you and metalia shouldn't feel bad about looking smokin' hot just weeks after giving birth! just because you had it easier than most doesn't mean you should keep the pictures private! every body is different...and yours = awesome
I hope Wombat will have matching red trunks!
If you ever feel like making some serious money, I think you should isolate & clone your post-pregnancy recovery DNA and sell it to the masses, because you look AWESOME. Not even the hint of a muffin top! How are you doing this, woman?!
Having recently seen you in a bikini, I feel like I can now say to you that you look amazing. In fact I didn't think about it until now because I kind of forgot that you had just had a baby but damn. That's all I have to say about that.
Damn, woman! Your body does pregnancy (and post-partum) very well. I know I posted one time about a woman at my gym with a similar ability to bounce back so quickly; you and metalia are not the only ones out there.
You look great. I have a snap-back midsection, too. I look better now after two babies than I did in HS. Except for the stretch marks, but I had those in HS too, so maybe who cares!
You go with the red bikini, girlfriend!
Lookin' good! Wait. That sounded creepy. I didn't mean for that to sound creepy.
Well, at least you know how lucky you are! You are indeed smokin' hot and I am mega-jealous of your no-stretchmark-having. Thank those lucky stars and get the brightest red bikini you can find!
You DO look amazing.
I followed Catherine's (And Linda's, and Kami's) lead as well and posted mine today.
Hooray for bellies!
You go girl. You look great! I have been amazed at the speed in which the body heals and transforms, both in growing a baby and coming back after it's been born. I'm 4 months post-partum from a 9 pound baby and I'm one pound from my pre-pregnancy weight.
I hope you'll let us post your belly picture, Leah! We've had a few other mamas with thin bellies (this is probably the most commented on: http://thebellyproject.wordpress.com/2009/02/03/40-years-old-3-pregnancies-3-babies/) and I'm loving it! Our blog is about honoring and acknowledging the amazing natural range that exists in our bellies, not a place to come and mope that we're not skinny enough! It's about loving who we are, and our bellies as an integral part of our bodies that helps to tell our stories. So by all means, share and share alike!
WOW. You look beautiful! Good for you to embrace what you've got! I looked better a few weeks postpartum than I do now, nearly one year later. Damn PPD made me lose the weight and the SSRI's made me gain it all back plus some. Hopefully I will get my butt in gear and start moving to get it all off. I have no pictures of that belly and do not plan to post them if I found some. You go.
I was the same way, although I don't think quite as quickly. I actually weighed like 10-15 lbs. LESS after having a baby than I did when I got pregnant (again, not right away, but after about 9 months or a year?). I don't know if the same thing is going to happen after #2, though :)
I guess I'm way out of the loop because I just went and read the post and comments on the To Bikini or not to Bikini and it surprised me. Two weekends ago, I went to the beach and there were all sorts of pregnant bellies in bikinis. I never would have even thought about it before you mentioned it, I'd have been like "who cares about if it's pregnant or not? As long as there aren't copious rolls, I'm wearing a bikini!"
It's just easier to use the bathroom that way.
Anyway, congrats on the postpartum belly looking as good as it does =) I'll be quite pleased if my belly looks that way later too.
Having spent some time on L&D, I must say that there are soooo many women who bounce back pretty quickly (one, amazingly, within 1/2 hour of birth, I kid you not), and have no stretch marks, etc. I think that there are a lot of people out there like you who also don't share their photos for fear of being seen as showing off. But I think showing your photos helps people like me who are not yet moms and would like to hope we have a chance of not looking completely different afterward.
Thank you, everyone, for making this awkward post worth it.
I'm a few days late to this comment party, but let me just say Thank You! for giving us ladies who are contemplating pregnancy a little bit of hope that bringing a new person into this world doesn't always mean the loss of a hot bod!
Okay, so that belt must have been a size 2T to snap on that super teeny waist! You look great!
Good for you! And your body!
No need to repeat that you look GREAT. What was your secret to this "no stretchmarks" belly? The only person I know that had such wonderful postpartum skin used some kind of cream formulated for horses... no joke...
Thanks