I can still see myself looking in the mirror at my ready-to-pop belly. It was the perfect baby bump, or so I was told. But that's because no one could see my stretch marks; underneath it looked like I had been clawed by a tiger. I would try to remind myself that I was going to have a precious little girl in my arms any day now, and so none of that really mattered.
Except it did....even more so after she was born.
I had just birthed the most perfect princess on the planet, but I couldn't help but feel that she had sucked the beauty out of me. I knew that celebrities had a ridiculous amount of tummy tucks and treatments to make maternity look modelistic on them, but I was ashamed of my new reality. Instead of that adorable baby bump, I was left with a flab of fat around my belly, leaking, engorged breasts bursting out of my already large bra, and even more prominent stretch marks.
Just the thought of my bursting, leaking, bleeding, torn, exhausted body made me burst into tears on more than one occasion.
It was in the middle of my muddle that my thoughtful and ever-so-gentle husband looked deep into my eyes and uttered the most beautifully sincere words conceivable:
"Any beauty you may have lost by giving birth, you've made up for 1,000 times by becoming a mother."
Powerful, right? I think it deserves to be repeated. Say it to yourself 3 times.
Any beauty you may have lost by giving birth, you've made up for 1,000 times by becoming a mother.
Slowly, gradually, I began to believe it. 2 children later, I can truly say that I love my body, stretch marks and all.
When first-time moms ask me what they can do to prevent stretch marks, I tell them that there are a hundreds of creams and thousands of dollars you could spend trying to prevent them. It may or may not work. If you must have SOMETHING, I would recommend something entirely natural and harmless during pregnancy, like quality Frakinscence oil.
In the end, though. I always tell moms what I hope they, and you, will internalize: embrace them. Embrace every single change that happens to your body after birth!
Look at stretch marks not as a flaw, but as a mark of motherhood, symbollic of your sacrifice and your love for your child. There is truly no greater act of love that a woman can do then to give of herself--physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally--to sustain the life of another.
Your a mother, you're the lifeblood of another. Embrace your child--embrace yourself.