Psalm 139:14

For you formed my inward parts; 
 you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 

Psalm 139:14

Pregnancy can take you from one extreme to the next, with your body and the way you view your body. 

Personally I felt gorgeous my entire pregnancy until the last couple weeks. I know not everyone feels this way, but I had never felt so beautiful.

It's after pregnancy that I'm having trouble loving my body. 

I was on a roll right after delivery. I lost all my baby weight in 3 weeks tops. It just fell off. I did no special dieting, infact I was eating everything in sight and I was feeling pretty good. Then about 2 months in I started gaining again. It is pretty shocking since you always hear how breastfeeding helps you lose so much weight, but lately the opposite is true for me. It's so difficult to see the scale go so low, just to watch it go back up. It's also frustrating because lately it seems I'm starving at all hours of everyday. I can't seem to get enough, so I can only assume I'm not eating the right things to fill me up. So I've decided to try and rework my diet while still keeping up milk supply. Also it's time to get walking, it has just been so hot this summer and I've been so tired I haven't been able to push myself to excercise at all. 

All that is well and good but how do you learn to love yourself in the process? How do we look at the outer shell and see the woman inside? God says we are perfect. We are exactly as HE wanted us. Why can we not feel that acceptance? How do we stay grounded while we step into the truth? Let me know if you find the answer, I'm still working on it myself. 

I felt so wonderfully beautiful while big bellied and full of glow, but now all I see is the same chunky girl I was before with a new scar that hides under a numb piece of flab. When the pounds were shedding I thought that body was beautiful and strong for what it had overcome but now as the scale rises I'm that self conscious girl again. 

All we can do as mother's is look to God and the truth HE says of us! Look to our children and husband's and see ourselves through their eyes. My son looks at me with such great awe and I think it's a glimpse of how our Lord sees us. We need to love our bodies and give ourselves time to recover. It took 9 months to carry a baby, it won't take a mere 9 days to bounce back. The world tells us to be back up and running the next day but we need to look upon the Lord and let his love become our own for ourselves. 

Love YOU, Mama!

7-8 months pregnant

2 weeks post partum