Our “mom bods” perform miracles

After two pregnancies, my body has changed a lot. When I look in the mirror, I see myself, only in a different guise. My once tight belly has given way to a “mommy tummy” with tiger stripes, and I am now about 30 kilos heavier. My beautiful, long and slender legs have given way to cellulite and now look more like sausages… and let’s not even mention makeup to present a pretty face.

To be honest, I find these things a lot less important! In fact, my dressing table has turned into a diaper changing table! My priorities have simply changed.

Postpartum recovery is not easy

Becoming a mother was quite a shock for me. Where once the universe had revolved solely around my own needs, I now had the responsibility to keep a human alive! I had to undergo not only a physical transformation, but also a spiritual one! Postpartum recovery is not easy.

Finding a new balance for body and mind

I had to find a new balance for my body and mind, in which I could give my children the best version of myself. By nature, I am a perfectionist and fear of failure is a constant companion. Well, it was a big problem for met at the beginning of my motherhood. As you can imagine, fear of failure is not really an asset if you have just become a mother. This is how I developed postnatal depression. I just couldn’t meet my own expectations. Of course, the hormones and the new body also played a major part in this situation.

Motherhood is a learning process

But suddenly, after having been a mother already for some time, I saw the light: I had a beautiful daughter! (In fact, two daughters by now). I began to understand that motherhood is one big learning process. Yes, you have your baby, and you are a mother, but that does not mean that you know how to do it right away, and let’s be honest: there is no such thing as a perfect mother!

I started to appreciate my body

When I finally allowed myself to feel a bit more relaxed about motherhood, I started to enjoy my children. I began to appreciate my body and all its imperfections. My body is scarred – but by the two biggest loves of my life. Physical evidence of the trauma my body had to go through to create these little human beings! To be honest, I don’t want to go back to the days without tiger stripes on my stomach, because that means that I would have to go on living without my kids.

It doesn’t have to be all perfect!

Of course I feel insecure sometimes when I am out and about with my kids looking quite disheveled! Especially when I run into acquaintances just when my toddler girl has smudged snot and sticky food all over my clothes or when I forgot to insert breast pads for the umpteenth time and show large wet patches on my T-shirt! Or when I no longer fit in my swimsuit and discover that I am now a size 46. But hey, that’s life, and life is not perfect!

For all women with tiger stripes, loose skin, sagging breasts, mommy tummies or a bigger size: you are beautiful! Let’s enjoy this new phase. Let’s embrace and accept our mom bodies. After all, they wrought miracles!