Like a Stretched out Shirt

I've shared a few blogs on postpartum body image and body changes lately. Tonight, I had another, somewhat funny, realization about my postpartum body.

I was sitting on my couch in the middle of my crowded living room. There was my toddler in front of me on the couch, crawling all over my lap and playing with Duplo blocks while I tried to concentrate on what I was actually sitting there for, to help my daughter finish up her school for the week.

I half ignored my son while he shoved blocks down my shirt between my loose fitting red shirt and my snug undershirt, talking over the clanking noise of the blocks to my daughter about her language arts. 

All of a sudden, my son had a "brilliant" idea. He wanted to be inside my shirt as well. He pulled it wide and climbed in along with all the blocks. I had to laugh! It was cute and sweet because he was all snuggled up to me but it was also just plain funny.

At first, he snuggle up to me then pretty soon that got old and he started squirming around inside my shirt to grab and play with the blocks as well. It reminded me of pregnancy and of early babyhood where he was inside me squirming around, or outside close up against me. 

As soon as he began playing in there, I knew the damage to my shirt was probably going to be irreversible as he pulled that loose fitting shirt way past how far it should be stretched. I thought about how my long-owned red shirt would probably look after baby was in it... stretched out, loose, and it wasn't going back to how it originally was.

Then I smiled! "This is what he did to my stomach! He stretched it all the way out, past what it was ready to stretch and though it's gone back, almost all the way, it's just not going to be the same." I couldn't help but smile at the perfect illustration of the results on my body from my son. My stomach is the most distinct difference I have, and though I know it's a gift, it's still hard to accept on days when I look wider than I feel or those pants just don't fit right because my shape has changed.

It's just that my stomach got stretched out and it can't quite go back to where it was before. Lol!

Much love,
-Joy