Once the glow starts to fade after a pregnancy for a woman and the hormones are slowly leveling out, our bodies are supposed to go back to normal. However, there is one step in there that is missing between our “pregnancy stage” and the getting back to normal stage; there is the post partum phase. What is this very important phase?
Firstly, in this stage, for some, a woman’s beautiful, soft skin starts to dry out and small blemishes will start to appear. The lovely, shiny, much longer and lustrous hair starts to fall out in the shower. The healthy, long nails that gave us bragging rights when other women ask “are those really yours?” now become dry and brittle and break off at different lengths. (I’m still clinging to about four long ones, which will have to succumb sooner or later, lest I become dubbed as Edward Scissor hands in the future.)
But mostly apparent and most disconcerting, is going from a big, beautiful pregnant woman to just plain big. I’ve watched my stomach shrink over the past three weeks, and I’ve counted the pounds I’ve been shedding every day (yes, every day) but suddenly, as though my luck just ran out, the scale stopped moving. I’ve even tried different scales, but you can’t hide from the truth, and that ugly truth is that it would appear the rest is left up to me to lose.
I’ve gained 50 pounds in total, so that leaves me with a whopping 30 pounds to lose on my own. My husband says that I am beautiful and that this post partum phase is a very natural thing my body is going through. What he doesn’t seem to understand is that it doesn’t matter to me what label you put on it, when I look in the mirror I see fat. I feel like every time I leave the house without my new born, I should be explaining myself to the cashier at the grocery store “I don’t REALLY look like this – I just had a baby three weeks ago!” or rationalizing to myself that it doesn’t really matter that much that I still only fit into three pairs of pants that I wore DURING the earlier stage of my pregnancy.
The truth is the weight will eventually come off it’s just the work involved that scares me. I gained even more with my son the first time and I did eventually lose all the weight, and then some, – it just took a year. To add to my frustration, is that the doctor has told me no rigorous exercise for at least six weeks. Also, I am to continue to have more calories, as I am breast feeding. I know people tell me that breast feeding is supposed to take off weight; however I think my body must be an exception to that rule.
I think the answer lies in the notion that after our bodies have gone through so much trauma (which it truly has) that right now is its resting time, and nature intended it to be that way. And like it or not, I know my body does need the resting time to restore itself before undergoing the strenuous exercising and dieting that I am so desperate to undertake.
I have two beautiful examples of what my body is capable of doing and that is pretty amazing. I think that deserves some down time for me before I forge head on to more work for my body. I should stop obsessing over what I cannot change at the moment and just enjoy the resting time. As the old saying goes “If life hands you lemons, make lemonade,” so make mine with extra sugar….at least for now.
Kelley Scarsbrook is a Stay at Home Mom, and writes a syndicated column called "Mom at Home" for Black Press in White Rock, BC. Kelley is also owner of "Yes You Can Be a Stay at Home Mom Consulting Services" which provides inspirational workshops and consulting services for women looking to become Stay at Home Moms, and home-based business start up. You can visit Kelley's website at http://www.thestayathomemother.com to sign up for monthly tips and upcoming workshops.
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