No, I’m not talking about the baby bump you have while you’re pregnant. This is about the bump that you have long after the baby is out in the world.
Maybe when I was reading all my pregnancy books, I just ignored everything that was going to happen after giving birth. I figured that I had enough to deal with going through the discomforts of pregnancy and dealing with how I was going to push this little human out of my body. I didn’t give a whole lot of thought to all the bodily horrors I would experience after my uterus was vacated.
Case in point: my stomach. I always used to have a relatively flat stomach. My fat generally gets stored in my back side, so I never worried about it. I had ab muscles. And as you get fatter and fatter through pregnancy, your stomach stays kind of hard. There is a baby in there, after all, taking up that space. And that made me feel like, ok, my stomach is still fine, I can’t feel any fat. But after the baby came out I was shocked. I didn’t expect the disgusting slab of skin that was hanging from my body. Mortifying. What can you do but shove it into your pants and pretend it’s not there?
Now it’s a little over a year since I’ve given birth, and although my stomach went back to a pretty nice size, it is obvious that a baby used to live in there. The skin got stretched out, and even though it keeps shrinking, it isn’t back to normal. There’s always a little pooch, and after a big meal, I look approximately 15 weeks pregnant, in my opinion.
Could I pump up my fitness regime and eat less popcorn, peanut butter and chocolate? Probably. Will more time help my bump continue to go down in size? I really don’t know.
What I do know is that I need Spanx, Body shapers, Control tops, whatever. Give it to me. My butt already sticks out, so I don’t need my belly sticking out the other way.
What’s your experience after having a baby? Did you ever get your belly back? Give me some inspiration!
And just for fun, I’ve included a photo of my (enormous) baby bump. This is the day Logan was born – about an hour or so before the worst pain in the world!
Well Steph, after 2 kids….the second being 3 years old, I still find myself stuffing my belly in my pants and pretending it’s not there………and when I do eat too much, or days before the woman thing………I too look pregnant, only more like 9 MONTHS…..so when you figure it out…let me know too 😉
oh, no! I had a feeling that once the skin is stretched, it’s not going to go all the way back in. But if I find a miracle cure, I will let you know – hah!