ad // My Relationship With My Post-partum Body

This post contains gifted items.

I really wish body image wasn't even a thing, that it simply wasn't on anyone's radar. We should all have healthy relationships with our bodies because bodies are amazing things. The fact that my body keeps me alive and ticking over every single day, never mind that it grew and gave birth to an actual human, is incredible. If we focussed on how our and others bodies feel rather than how they look then I'm sure we'd all be much more content for it.

Pregnancy made me realise that I'd reached a level of acceptance with my body that I hadn't been aware of. While I wouldn't say I was 'happy' with my body, I had learnt to think and care a lot less about it so when it began to change (quickly!) during those months I found it harder than I thought I would to come to terms with. That in itself brought out a little inner turmoil because it was difficult to validate those feelings when I also felt like I should simply have been grateful to be growing a healthy baby.

The same can be said for now; I find it hard to validate my feelings about my body because it grew me a happy, healthy baby boy who is an absolute dream. Add to that the fact that my body falls within what is classed as 'normal' within societal standards and I should count myself one lucky lady. Easier said than done though isn't it? 

Rewind to my case for body image not being a thing; thoughts and feelings about my body seem like an utter waste of brain power when I have an actual small human to look after and think about. Yet in those thoughts creep, like ivy; however hard you try to keep on top of it there's never enough time to prevent it from completely taking over your garden. I'm moving around in this body that is so familiar yet also suddenly completely foreign. I'm having to re-learn to love parts of my body that were once my favourite, while parts of me that I'd struggled to love for so long have changed too.

It baffled me how often my body was the first thing to be commented on after I'd given birth. People obviously meant well and I'm sure plenty of people would be delighted to be told how great they look post-partum, but it would leave me feeling a little awkward; I was well aware that, with clothes on, it did indeed look like I had 'snapped back', but I certainly didn't feel that way and I couldn't help but wonder why it actually mattered. If I didn't look like I'd 'snapped back' would I somehow have failed? The pressure to look good as a new mum is real, but then what does looking 'good' even look like? We're all fighting against some societal beauty standard that shouldn't even exist.

On the flip side, I would never have posted photos like the ones in this post before I was pregnant so in some sense having a baby must have made me more comfortable in my body, perhaps even only subconsciously for now. I look forward to the day when my conscious side catches on and I can hopefully live in blissful acceptance of the body that gave me my son.

Thank you to Peachaus for giving me the confidence to take these photos with their bamboo underwear set. The fact that I can show off my post-partum body and be sustainable at the same time makes me very happy!