Sacha NadeauWe spend our entire pregnancy being told how beautiful we are with our perfectly round stomach. As months go by, it grows bigger and bigger, and I find myself cuddling, talking, and adoring this round belly. The little baby hidden inside even sends me little cuckoos, which are getting stronger and stronger. And then, we become closer together, always with that beautiful belly that separates and unites us somehow, allowing you to grow and to be kept safe.
To be honest, that large belly and what’s inside is my whole life. I can’t wait to meet you to see your little face, and then it’s finally D Day. My stomach gives me all the strength with powerful surges to help you make your entrance.
Then you are placed on my chest, the one that will take over to feed you for the next year. I will continue to see you grow from the outside, and I will even be able to admire you while you are nursing at my breast. Watching you grow stronger and stronger, gradually gaining your independence, seeing you grow into a little person outside of my stomach. It’s beautiful.
NOW EMPTY AND SOFT
But, little did I know about the downside of it all. My beautiful stomach, the one that was my baby’s home for over 40 weeks, 10 months, will now be empty, soft and not to say a little ugly. It’s beautiful, because it carried my little miracle, but by itself, it’s not the prettiest thing I’ve seen.
And suddenly, I feel that my stomach has expired. It’s no longer relevant. It should be “gone” and back to “normal.”
But now, it’s been a few months since my baby came out, and it’s still there. With the extra skin, the “love handles,” and all the imperfections that make it perfect in its own way. But also because it’s been your home. I still have the feeling that some people think it shouldn’t be there anymore.
THE BIG QUESTIONS
And here I am, wondering why overnight its beauty expired.
Why should it be gone so quickly?! It still took almost 10 months to get there.
Why don’t people admire my stomach as much today as they did a few months ago? Its work and efforts remain the same, empty or full.
And in fact, why do I care so much to be the woman I was “before”?! Where does all of this come from?
I have the right to take that pressure off my shoulders, much like I did during pregnancy when I accepted that my stomach was going to get big. I can accept this beautiful post-pregnancy body, admire my skin folds, the ones that have fed my baby for months and still continue to do so, let’s not forget about that.
TIME
By the way, did you know that a pregnant woman’s body easily accumulates pounds in the event of post-pregnancy famine? Therefore, these little folds of love could serve as food for my child if I ever ran out. It’s well done, right?
This body is well made. I just have to learn to give it time and to respect it.
But also learn to give me time, to take away this mental pressure. Above all, to block all these unpleasant comments that my beautiful stomach now seems to have expired and that it should have disappeared, by magic, overnight.
So, to you, my beautiful belly, I would like to say thank you for loving on my baby for all these months. For allowing him to grow strong. For allowing me to create a beautiful 7 ½ lbs baby. To give me the strength to feed him again every day, many times a day.
But above all, I want to tell you that I find you beautiful. You are unique. You made one of my biggest dreams come true, the one of becoming a mother. In my heart, you will never expire. Your miracle will always be relevant, no matter your shape, your extra or fewer pounds and your “folds of love.”
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. “
In my eyes, there is nothing more beautiful than the miracle of life. I am grateful I got to live this. Now, I leave you all the room, the one you deserve, because you don’t deserve to be put under pressure to look just like you used to “before”, not on D-Day, not at 3 months postpartum, not after 1 year, just never. You are beautiful.
Léa Nadeau
Pamela Denis
Sacha Nadeau
