I was in my pre-pregnancy jeans within 2 weeks of delivering. Not due to any special diet or exercise routine or some secret all the celebrities use. Because my son was born extremely preterm...at 24 weeks and 5 days.
Two weeks later, he was living in the NICU, still fighting to survive, his life in critical condition, and I had zero evidence that I had been pregnant or even had a baby. To be honest, I was so angry at my body for that. For delivering so early, for not having any signs of this miracle baby that I was heartbroken was out in the world so soon.
This is not something that’s unique to me. As women, we have such a hard time with our bodies. From such a young age we’re shown images and portraits of what it means to be the ultimate woman and ultimately feminine. From the sleek slender image of the perfectly toned abs, to the perfecty round curves of a big pregnant belly, to the svelt figure of a postpartum mom who managed to melt the weight away in 2.7 days.
And when you throw in challenges like infertility, bed rest, pregnancy complications, prematurity into the mix….it’s a recipe for body image disaster.
On this episode, I chat with my friend and colleague Lindsay Stenovec about how to have a healthy body image and love your body again when you're going through infertility, a high-risk pregnancy or after you deliver preterm.