Post-Pregnancy Bods: Some Thoughts

Don't worry. This isn't a post complaining about my body, or the weird (and gross) things that happen after having a baby. I remember hearing some of that at a baby shower before I was married and thinking, I will never have children. I will say, it's not as bad as it sounded then. No, this is my thought about how our focus should not be on the body after pregnancy, at least not in the way we generally concern ourselves....so keep reading. :-)

I had a thought yesterday about the focus we place on post-pregnancy bodies. A woman was commenting on some of my dancer friends and how you'd never know that any of them had had kids. Normally, I wouldn't get all up in arms about a comment like that, but it caught me off-guard this time because she was saying it to kids. In all honesty, I think she realized it was a weird thing to say to a group of kids, because she kind of hesitated trying to transition from that comment to the actual point she was trying to make. Nonetheless, it evidenced the fact that as a culture, we focus a lot on a woman's post-pregnancy body. How long it takes for her to get back into her old jeans, pre and post pregnancy weights, etc. etc.

I thought about the message that was already being given to these kids. When a woman is pregnant, she is fat, and if she still looks fat after she has a baby, that is bad. But if she can look like she never had a baby, that is good. So I thought about what message these kids SHOULD be getting from watching moms who have had babies and then still gone back to dancing. This is the message I hope I can share with girls, whether they be my own daughters, or my students, or my nieces...

I wished that instead of celebrating how these women had "gotten their dancer bodies back", we could be celebrating the fact that their bodies are capable of creating life and then returning to full dance activity. That these moms have the support of husbands to allow them to experience both the joys of motherhood and still enjoy the passions that filled their lives before having a baby.

I really do feel blessed to have the opportunities I do to continue dancing and even helping to grow a small dance company here. I know I wouldn't be able to do it without Dustin's support (not to mention the sisters and sister-in-laws that babysit for me). I've tried to reduce my time outside the home so I'm only doing my most favorite things right now--so I can have more time to do my most favorite thing, which is spend time with my family. I never really pictured that becoming my most favorite thing, but babies really change your heart. (Husbands do it, too--but for babies, you are irreplaceable. If you aren't mom, no one else is being mom) And I know I'm a lucky girl to "have it all" even if some of it has to be in very small doses.