Wednesday, 04 November 2009
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Pregnancy and Your Body Image: How Do You Feel?
I was reading this post the other day about a woman who had anorexia while being pregnant and nearly killed herself and her little baby girl. I have been fortunate enough to not have ever personally experienced an eating disorder, though I have known a few people who suffered from bulimia and one from anorexia. I know that it is a very difficult thing.
It was incredibly hard for me to read the article being pregnant myself. I felt for the mom, but couldn't completely empathize...I love my little girl so much. How could a woman not want to protect her child? I know it happens, but my mind just can't wrap itself around the concept. While I don't always love the way my pregnant body looks or seeing the scale read a number it never has before while I'm standing on it...I could NEVER starve myself or exercise so hard I made my feet bleed to lose those pounds, knowing that it would hurt my little girl!
My doctor was initially worried about my lack of weight gain and had me start drinking protein shakes and eating protein bars to gain the weight and it was successful. I'm now at a good healthy weight. At no time did my doctor feel that my little girl was suffering due to my lack of weight gain though. Taking prenatal vitamins and DHA supplements are part of my morning routine everyday. I try to eat healthy (though sometimes those Oreos and ice cream do call my name...) and I try to exercise lightly when I can.
Nearly all the weight I've gained has gone to my belly and my breasts. I've noticed a little more weight in my arms and face recently, but not much. Fortunately I have not had any stretch marks on my stomach, though I have a few light ones on my breasts. Nonetheless, looking at myself in the mirror while I'm getting dressed in the morning is still a bit odd. Yes I've had some time to adjust to the fact that my body is changing, but despite that it does all seem to be happening so very quickly. Everyday it seems like my waist gets a bit rounder and a bit rounder...
There are days when I celebrate the fact that I am with child, that my husband and I were blessed with being able to take part in creating this little miracle. But there are other days that I truly miss my old "normal" body and know that it will likely never look like that again after our little girl comes. My husband constantly assures me that I look beautiful and that he finds me attractive, I can't even tell you how good it feels to know that.
When you were pregnant did you struggle with your body image or did you always love how you looked?
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- From: skittler335@xanga
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Comments (40)
I will maybe feel tired and hungrey more.
I loved it!
I can't wait to get pregnant again so i can wear tight shirts that show off my belly.
my brother-in-law's girlfriend had an abortion because she's bulimic, and knew the baby wouldn't be healthy.
I don't understand it either. I would think they would want to do everything possible to make sure their baby was healthy, but I know it's a disorder...so they can't really do that, I guess.
I don't know, I've never been there.
It's really sad.
With my first son, I loved the pregnancy, and my body image. I hated the stretch marks that came with it, but I thought they'd go away.
Then I was done being pregnant, my hips had moved out, even though I was skinny again, I couldn't fit into my old pants. I reached my pre-pregnancy weight, and somehow had this pouch of fat and skin that hadn't been there before. My breasts looked different, less full and perky.
Then after my fiance at the time started insulting me... my self-esteem plummeted.
With my second pregnancy, I didn't gain any weight, no morning sickness. SUPER moodiness, didn't feel good, and lost my baby.
My third pregnancy, I was sick the entire first trimester, and I felt awful about myself physically. I felt so amazingly unattractive, and I didn't eat as much. The first part I didn't eat as much for financial reasons, and the second part it was because I stayed with my grandmother who told me I was eating too much and was fat. I didn't gain any weight the second half of my pregnancy. At the very end of this pregnancy, (the last week of it) I had a friend who thought I was amazingly beautiful, and he boosted my self-esteem. After this baby I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight before we'd left the hospital.
This pregnancy, I have been nauseated the entire pregnancy, but the most I was sick was once a day if that, during the first trimester. I'm never hungry and everything sounds disgusting, though I force myself to eat, (or my husband forces me to.) and I have LOST weight this pregnancy, which made my doctor panic. So I started attempting to eat more and have started to regain the weight back. I felt great about myself the first two trimesters, now I feel like I'm ballooning out. I'm still trying to be healthy for my baby, but it's hard.
Overall, I miss my pre-first-baby body... but the exchange was worth it.
I've always been chubby and have struggles with my weight my whole life. Pregnancy is the one time I feel like I can walk around without worrying if my stomach is sticking out. I feel more beautiful when I'm in my third trimester than I ever do when I'm not pregnant.
I'm pregnant for the first time and I have struggled with my body image a lot. I have also simply gained the weight in my belly and in my breasts, but it is still such a huge change. I don't have any stretch marks yet and I've been doing everything I can to prevent my body from getting them, but I'm sure I'll have some in the end.
All I have to do is focus on the fact that my husband and I will have a beautiful little baby. And considering how much love I already have for my little one, I know that everything else won't matter and that I can work extra hard after the baby is born to do my best to get my body back in shape. I'm going to love my baby so much, everything else will just fall into place.
The more pregnant I look the better I feel (and finally getting some flattering maternity clothes has helped TONS). The first couple months made me feels awful. I felt fat, my boobs started to sag, I was breaking out everywhere... I had the most awful thoughts (including a split-second one of abortion) just so I could recognize myself again. All the more inspiration to stay healthy and fit after baby is born!
while im not pregnant, i do have an eating disorder. i can understand why, as a mom, even before your baby is born you feel the need to protect him or her. its human nature. but when youve got an eating fdisorder all normal ways of thinking go out the window. everything becomes about you and your body. things like having a baby inside of you scares you. you dont want to gain weight and youve tried your hardest for however long not to gain. your life is about cals, weight and how others view you and its selfish but its how the disorder works. im surethe woman in the other post will feel bad oncee she cuts the disorder out of her life, if she ever does. its just a bad thing to have to deal with and it messes with your mind. i cant have any kids because of a health reason, nothing to do with my disorder but it means im lucky in a way. i dont have to worry about hurting anyone else.
I can't say that I absolutely loved it, but I didn't hate it. I just made sure I didn't gain TOO much like I did with my first. My 2nd and third I made sure I stayed within the limit and was healthy!
Pregnant is sexy! I recommend it! (Minus the puking and constipated part lol)
I worried I wouldn't get back my prepregnant body after the first but I ended up even smaller afterwards. Biggest difference was my breasts were less perky and I had quite a lot of stretch marks on my stomach and hips. I was underweight when I got pregnant this time (second time) and so I have been told to gain more weight than normal. First time I got chubby everywhere to some degree. This time I haven't gotten much bigger anywhere yet (only 5months) but I have gained 10 lbs. Most people don't notice that I am pregnant.
Anyway, I think its sad and ridiculous when people freak out over their pregnant bodies. I am a really skinny person and I had no problem 'sacrificing' it for my baby. Honestly the thing that I cared most about was the boobs. Its not like they are terribly saggy, but they are certainly post-mommy boobs. Stretch marks don't bother me too much. Not like mommies should be wearing belly shirts anyway.
I loved it the first time. And I love it the 2nd time as well. My first pregnancy I didn't get very big, no one even realized I was pregnant (who didn't know) until I was about 7 months. I didn't get any stretch marks on my stomach which was awesome. I got some on my side..but whatever. They're easy to cover up with jeans.
When I was pregnant, I was suffering with an eating disorder. Before I found out I was pregnant, I was probably at the lowest weight I had been at in a long time. I was at least 30 pounds lighter than I am now. I can understand how that woman and other women with eating disorders feel, but that is as far as it goes. I have no sympathy for them just like I have no sympathy for a woman that drinks excessively or does drugs while pregnant. I can admit that at the time I was absolutely selfish, but once I got pregnant, I did not want my addiction/eating disorder to hurt my son.
Of course I struggled with gaining weight, but I got over it. All I needed to hear was my son's heart beating to remind myself that it wasn't just about me. I couldn't deprive him of nutrients just because I didn't want to eat. With my next child, I plan on enjoying every minute (aside from the nausea, muscle aches, and other ickiness) of having a new life growing inside me.
I never felt so skinny as I did after giving birth to a 10 pound baby. Seriously, even at my highest weight not being pregnant, I felt deliciously skinny after being ginormously pregnant. It's great to feel good about my body after struggling with body image issues for so long.
i a little bit curve-conscious when i was still single but now, knowing that i am carrying my little angel inside my tummy, i know that i have to eat all those healthy foods for his benefit.
actually, every time i see my image in front of the mirror, i feel so excited and feel the womanhood in me!
but there is also time that i notice my getting-bigger arms and thighs... "ti's excuse...im preggy" that is the defense mechanism i always tell to myself.
as of now, im just promising myself that after giving birth, i will do my best to at least get back to my slightly-chubby state of me.
I love the way I look pregnant! I love being pregnant. It is miraculous and amazing and I can't imagine how anyone can put their vanity above the absolute joyous miracle of bringing a new life into the world.
@careegroup@xanga - I love this description! I couldn't get over how amazingly thin and sexy I felt after the twins were born and I was no longer carrying two whole human beings inside of me. I felt beautiful while pregnant and how I felt afterwards was beautiful in an entirely different way.
@MistressAislin@xanga -Then after my fiance at the time started insulting me... my self-esteem plummeted. Please tell us you did not marry this douche! No real man would ever insult the mother of his children ESPECIALLY after giving birth. What a tool.
@bubbelcat - LOL! No. I didn't marry him.
I love how I look pregnant. Normally, I'm 5'5 and 100 lbs. No boobs, no butt... When I'm pregnant and round I just feel soft and willowy- the way a woman should be, as opposed to my normal bony and angular self. I think it helps that my husband finds me very sexy when I'm pregnant. I'm fairly certain if he could, he would have us be the next Duggar family just so I'd be pregnant all the time. LOL. I was very disappointed when none of it stuck around long after my babies were born, but my man makes sure that I feel sexy no matter what, which always helps!
I've never been pregnant. But I know for a fact, I couldn't do it. I admire women who do have children, and in that way. But I have had struggled with an eating disorder for about seven years now, finally diagnosed a little over two years ago (mostly anorexic tendancies). I know I would panic. I know that I couldn't handle the weight gain emotionally and mentally. So because of this, I don't plan on ever being pregnant. If I do ever have kids someday, I will have to adopt, which is fine by me. I'm an adoptee myself.
you shouldnt tell yourself you'll never look the same again, thats all in your head. you have control over your weight, and if you are careful not to gain more the your suppose to, your body will go back to normal if you take care of yourself afterwords.
"Kinda a cute little bugger you is darlin'..." - President of the California Cattlesmens Assoc. Circa 1850's
*wink*
wenty
I'm not pregnant, nor have I ever been (as I'm only 16), but I do have an eating disorder, and I recently thought about this whole thing.
Right now, the reason why I'm not having children is of course my age and the fact that I don't even have a person to have children with (lol).BUT, if I was older, I don't know if I could do it, because for one, I'm afraid of the pregnancy (not because of gaining weight.. I'm not sure WHAT I'm so scared of...); two, I'm afraid of giving birth; and finally, I'm afraid of the pregnancy because of the weight gain.I do feel sorry for the person who lost her baby because of her eating disorder, but if you have an eating disorder, then why get pregnant in the first place? That's what I don't get, because, okay, you're doing horrible stuff to yourself, no one can stop you from that but yourself. But why do you also have to do them to another person, let alone a baby?
I enjoyed the way I looked when I was pregnant.
I am 39 weeks pregnant and about ready to pop, and I have struggled through most of my pregnancy (at least since I started showing) with body image. I was really teeny tiny before I got pregnant, weighing in at a whopping 85 lbs. and only 5' tall, so the 30 lbs. I've packed on have really hit me hard. It also doesn't help that my husband rarely pays me a compliment; I don't think he's called me beautiful, or anything close, since my first trimester.
But even with all the changes and not feeling so comfortable in my own skin, I know it's all worth it. My baby girl is due any day now, and I just know that a temporary extra 30 lbs. is a small price to pay for a healthy baby.
I'm struggling with my body right now at 6 1/2 months pregnant, but not to a dangerous point. When I was younger, I was very large, and after losing all my extra weight, I went from a size 18 to being a very comfortable size 12. Now that I'm pregnant, I've jumped to a weight bigger than I've ever been, so I'm struggling to really love my body right now. I love my belly (and the larger breasts are an added bonus), but the overall weight has bothered me and I've struggled with it throughout the pregnancy so far. I don't do anything dangerous to my body to try and prevent weight gain - I exercise only as much as my doctor says is safe, and I eat healthy and just try to ignore the extra pounds that are piling on. I think that when you have body issues with your pregnancy, it's all about knowing you can work on them AFTER the baby's born. While you're carrying the baby, you have to suck up your own feelings about your body and let it do what it needs to to help you deliver a healthy baby. Once they're born, then you're allowed to work on your image again. Congratulations on your baby, though, and good luck! :)