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My Relationship With My Pregnant Body

My Relationship With My Pregnant Body

Posted on: Sunday 22 May 2022



When I first got pregnant I was obviously aware that my body was going to change quite dramatically and I was totally okay with that; I was growing a real life human inside me and that's all I was really focussed on. I was expecting to get a baby bump, I was expecting to put on a bit of weight and I was expecting stretch marks to appear among numerous other changes. I remember saying to Matthew 'I don't care what happens to my body as long as we have a healthy baby' or something along those lines.


The above stance was all well and good, but these were my thoughts before said changes actually started to happen. When they do start to happen they seem to happen rather suddenly. What this made me realise was, that despite never being 100% happy with my body, I'd actually grown to accept it and to accept what I saw as 'flaws' (in inverted commas because what even is a flaw apart from our own perception of ourselves?) and was happily living my life without giving much too much thought to my body and what it looked like. I count myself lucky that I felt this way, although I wish I'd known I felt that way at the time because it sure was one long journey to getting there. 


Don't get me wrong, I love my baby bump, mainly because it's got my baby in it! It's a very comforting thing to have and I can't keep my hands off it, especially when the baby is kicking. I suppose the only way I can describe my relationship with my pregnant body is complex. I both love and hate it. 


I love the amazing things that my body is doing, although I'm not a huge fan of how it's making me feel. I feel comfortable at home with my belly out watching and feeling little kicks through it, but I feel uncomfortable and self-conscious in most of my clothes when I leave the house. I have days where I feel amazing in a floaty dress and like I actually have that pregnancy glow then there are days where I can't find anything makes me feel like myself.


There's a lot of guilt that comes with not feeling completely happy with my pregnant body, mainly because I feel incredibly lucky that my body has been able to begin creating a baby, but also because I know there are people who struggle with their body image every day regardless of whether they're pregnant or not.


I guess in summary, it's easy to say you don't care what happens to your body because it's creating a baby, but in reality it's completely normal to feel all sorts of things about it when it actually happens. I know this is only the start of my body changing, and that it will change yet again once the baby is born so for now I'm simply cutting myself some slack and allowing myself to feel however I'm feeling.

Comments

  1. What a lovely post Amy, pregnancy does mean that your body will go through some dramatic and quick changes! x

    Lucy Mary

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    1. Definitely, it all happens so much quicker than you expect it to (even though you know how long pregnancy is haha) xx

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  2. Being pregnant is no joke. Your body changes so quickly so you are so aware of it! It just FEELS different, doesn't it? It's hard to ignore. Then the extra hormones don't help! i used to have my belly out all the time at home too! I was pregnant during lockdown though so didn't go out much.

    Corinne x
    https://skinnedcartree.com

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    1. Yeah it's so mad isn't it! Haha I love having my belly out at home xx

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  3. Even though I've never been pregnant I have so much respect for those who have. Not only are you growing another life, but the constant battle with body image, hormones etc. An incredible yet hard journey x

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  4. It's such a massive change going through pregnancy, I became much more body confident after my first and even though I knew what would happen second time round, I've still felt super self conscious about how much my body has changed again this time! I'm hoping I get that confidence back again afterwards x

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    1. Ah that's interesting you still felt the same second time round, glad you got your confidence back afterwards though, fingers crossed you do this time round too! x

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  5. So relatable! It's such a conflicted feeling. I wrote a similar post when I was pregnant with my first. I feel quite similar since having my children too. My body's done something incredible & I love it because of that, but I also have days where I don't like what it looks like. It's such a difficult but incredible journey. X

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    1. I haven't even begun to think about how I'll feel afterwards! I think like you say it will always just be conflicted! x

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  6. I absolutely get the conflicting feelings about your body. I've had two babies now and between one thing and another I'm definitely going to need to have surgery in the future. My body did this amazing thing bringing both boys into the world but it's kind of messed with my insides along the way and so then I don't like my body for that. I don't always like how it looks/feels now - Rex is almost 2 and I'm still not entirely happy but I do try to focus on that wonderful achievement. Now that we're here in CPH, I do do more cycling so certainly the extra exercise has helped along the way (but that's not a 1 size fits all kind of fix)

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    1. It definitely is a really conflicting time and I'm sure those feelings will continue into post-pregnancy too!

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