My Body and I : Post- Partum

Picture: 4days Post- Partum

Remember how I said I was so in love with my pregnant body?

Well, things did not go that well postpartum. Not well at all! At least for the first 2 to 3 weeks.

Due to some complications I had to have an emergency C-section. And because of that I end up with water retention. I was swollen! My face, my arms, my thighs, my feet were huge. On top of that I had no strength in my core and my abdominal muscles were so stretched out they were useless. My whole body was in pain.

Needless to say the sight of my immediate post-partum body hurt me. When i saw myself in the mirror I cried for hours. It was hard to explain how I felt. Every time I tried to explain my feelings to my mom or the nurses I would burst into tears. My feet got up 3 sizes and i could not walk normally.

When I got l home it was worst because I had no nurse to tend to me and my mom could not take care of me and the baby at the same time. I wanted to be mobile, to be able to take care of myself at least, to be able to lay down to sleep ( i slept seated for a week). My only consolation was seing my baby girl. But all she did was sleep for the most part

What made me accept my body and pick myself up was Baby 🍍 Dr’s visit when they told me she lost too much of her birth weight and gave me a week to bring it up before they prescribed her formula.

I did not want formula for my daughter, I was determine to breastfeed her. So I did what I had to do for my milk to come. I could not let my dislike of my body be the cause my baby did not get the best nutrition. Breast is best so I had to put my baby 1st.

I drunk tons of water, ate everything the internet and people recommended for lactation, put on my belly binder, wore compression socks and forced myself to walk a little more everyday. Not only did my milk came more than enough, I also started to see changes in my body a week later.

The change was so drastic that 8 days later when I went for the weight check with my baby, she had gained back the weight she lost and packed on a few more ounces! But the most funny part was the nurse asking me for the baby’s mother. She said I did not look like i had just given birth and even more like someone who had a c section less than 2 weeks ago because I looked good and was flat!

Her words made me so happy! Although her definition of flat is far from mine, I was feeling better in my skin and had accepted that I was not going to have my 6 packs back that soon.

All this to say to my pregnant friends and mothers, we dont have to be hard on ourselves. We created life, we carried a whole human and we should cut ourselves some slack. Also each person have their own body type. So comparing your body to mine or someone else’s will only hurt you more and keep away your joy. We’ll eventually get our pre-pregnancy body in due time. I still have a pouch and I’m 5lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight. But I stopped caring!

Let’s enjoy our babies and love them a little harder. Time goes by so fast!

Anpil lanmou pou nou!