By Stephanie Green
One of the hardest aspects of motherhood is the acceptance that life will never fully be the same. Some women survive the ordeal with their pre-baby body intact, while others end up feeling “ugly” from the drastic changes that come with birth and breastfeeding.
New Chapter
Life in parenthood is not the easiest, but it is surely the most rewarding. Sometimes this new, rewarding chapter comes with physical changes. There is no need to hate yourself for the changes that your body made in order to deliver and feed your child. Instead it is important to think of these changes as beautiful – after all, you are generally the same person. Many people have issues embracing change because it is different, difficult, or perhaps even frightening.
Strength in Change
Your body may have under grown dramatic changes, if only for an important reason. If you choose to breastfeed, you can relish in the beauty that is feeding your child with this new body. You may have a higher tolerance for pain, you may start dealing better with having little or no sleep at night, and you may even feel stronger, lighter, or bolder. The point is: these changes differ from woman to woman and the one similarity that they share: they are strong and positive changes.
Fall in Love Again
This new love is not simply about your romantic partnership, but how you will love yourself. You may feel as if you are an entirely different person, that it is terrible that you’ll never fit into a size 3 again. It is important to tell yourself that you grew and gave birth to the love (and loves) of your life, and that your body was the key component in this.
Most importantly, you have not become a different person. You have crossed into a new chapter of life, but you are still a writer, teacher, nurse, business woman, and whatever you were before your child was born. There is strength in change, and change sometimes means supplementation and not merely replacement.
