Babies Ruin Bodies!

Before I became pregnant, someone told me, "don't have a baby, it will ruin your body."


It has been almost a year since Brynnley began her journey to earth. This time last year Mike and I were anxiously hoping that we would be able to start our family! Little did I know she was a microscopic speck inside of me, and we would be announcing our pregnancy. Between then and now, I had gained over 60 pounds and only lost about 35 pounds. 2 1/2 months after her birth, and my body still carries proof of my pregnancy.


A valley where my belly button once was. Hips that now form a what not so tenderly call my "muffin top", something that my teenage self wouldn't recognize. I have deep red lines that run across the mountains of stretched skin left over on my midsection. Lightening bolts on my sides proving I once was too small to contain all of the love that filled me. Lines indicating that my daughter once lived inside of me. I even remember once feeling embarrassed of the current state of my body, and my sweet husband telling me how beautiful I was.

But do you realize the significance in that? Every limb, finger, toe...and her heart, even, grew near my own heart. Our to hearts beat in tandem as I carried her. Those mountains of skin and dark red lines are all I have left to prove that we were once one in the same!

How could anyone be ashamed of that?

I see my eyes on her tiny little face, I see the man I fell in love with at the tender age of eighteen, and even bits and pieces of my parents and his. She even wears Mikes ears and my chin. Nothing makes me more proud and delighted to see what a beautiful girl she is, and knowing I created her.

Sure my stomach is quite a bit bigger and looser now, but it makes the perfect pillow for my little one. And yeah, my hips are hardly as narrow as they used to be, but they sure know the perfect figure-8 motion to sway her to sleep.

I am not flawless or perfect  in the eyes of society, or even close to what I once was physically, but my baby girl sees me for who I am. To her, it doesn't matter that I will never be the same, that I won't look like a Victoria's Secret model. She knows my heart. She knew it long before we met. She knows that I love her more than words can ever express and that I would do anything for her at a drop of a hat!

And she loves me for it.

I cannot tell you how much worth and validation I feel because of that truth. I feel so much love and excitement every time I say"hello" to her and she shoots me the biggest gummy smile her little 2 month old face can muster. When she wakes up from a nap and instant joy shoots across her face when she sees mine. As I sing her a song, either made up on the fly about what I am doing or in full instrumental chorus at church, she always lets me know she loves every second of it! The "conversations" we have about who knows what because her side of the conversation consists of "ah-goos" and "ah-hah"s. The bond I feel and create as I nurse her and her eyes catch mine and we just look at each other.

What really matters is her. Her well being, her happiness, her joy, and I am the keeper of all of those things.

My body is only a vessel for my spirit. My Heavenly Father, like Brynnley, doesn't care how I look, or how fast I can run, or how much weight I can lift, he cares how I love and care for his sweet daughter. That I take care of her, that I teach her the things that are important. That I show her what love is.


I am so grateful for her and I can't wait to do it all over again to become one step closer to making our family complete! Thank you all for your continuous love, support and prayers on our part!

Love, 

Lindy

Thanks weseekjoy.blogspot. for your words and the idea behind my post!