Rage Against The Minivan

baby fat

Parenting a newborn is hard. One major plus about adopting is that you aren’t simultaneously dealing with the ego blow of having your body morphed beyond recognition after a pregnancy. I truly believe that the weight gain aspect is one of the unmentioned curses of childbearing. Your world is already being rocked with a crying baby, no sleep, breastfeeding woes, and an end to freedom as you know. Let’s tack on top of that the fact that all of this will be happening while you struggle to find an outfit that fits over your blown-out midsection. And in order to feed your child, you must pull your shirt up and expose said blown-out midsection every 2-3 hours. You also get to constantly shield questions about when you are due if you dare to venture out of the house without the baby. Oh, and sometimes people inquire about your pregnancy while you are holding the newborn.

People. A public service announcement. If you see a woman with a child who does not yet walk or talk, DO NOT ask her if she is pregnant. No matter how pregnant she looks. Filter that question and tell her she has a nice personality or something.

With both my full-term pregnancies, I gained a lot of weight. With Karis, I gained an ENTIRE JAFTA. And he’s obese . . . so that’s a lot. I am pretty determined to lose it, but it is hard because every time I try to work out, something like this happens:

And this morning while doing my 30 Day Shred, this happened:

It’s also hard because breastfeeding makes me ravenously hungry. The other day, a friend was over and I was whining about the extra weight. And she said, “Oh, but you are breastfeeding, so the weight should just melt off.” And then we both started maniacally laughing because WHATEVER. Who does that actually work for?
[No one I would want to be friends with].
Another bonus of this stage is that nothing fits. I refuse to buy clothing in the size I am at right now. I am trying to think positively – and I am hopeful this is a transitional size. Which means that I am left wearing maternity clothes still – which are now too loose. They are always falling down, and I am always hiking them back up or exposing my backside when I sit down. It’s pretty.

A few weeks ago someone told me about a blog called Shape of a Mother. It’s awful. Hideous. And a totally accurate picture of what happens to a woman’s body after giving birth. I love it. Living in Orange County, I sometimes need to remind myself what normal is. Normal is being a wee bit fluffy for a while after giving birth.

And that’s okay.

Totally worth it.

Comments

  1. Jenn says

    Whomever came up with the idea that nursing a baby burns so many calories that the weight just melts off must have been simultaneously smoking crack.

    I nursed four babies, the last two for over two years and the only thing it shrank was my already depleted boobs.

    You will lose it! It just takes time…

  2. Brandie says

    Yeah… So glad you looked at shapeofamother… doesn't it make you feel better about you? And I agree about the breastfeeding thing… I am almost ten months into breastfeeding and I am fatter than I have been in my life UNLESS i was pregnant. Not even after having my son (which by the way I gained more weight during pregnancy, but didn't breastfeed) have i ever weighed this much. I feel like I'm starving ALL the time!! My doctor told me to start counting calories… YEAH RIGHT!!!

    So I feel ya!! Thank you for expressing this!! I don't feel so alone in the world!

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