I Wish Someone Would've Warned Me..

I must have read 200 books when I was pregnant with Caleb. Seriously. I read everything I could find beginning with conception all the way up to 2 years old. Somehow in all of this reading I did I never thought to ask or find out what would be going on with me once the baby was here. I'm shocked to say the least.

I had an idea that my body would be a little out of whack for a little while but I never imagined that it would be like this. Don't get me wrong, he is entirely worth it and if we're completely honest here its not like the Sports Illustrated photographers were beating down the door prior to my becoming pregnant but geesh, will I ever have any semblance of my body back? Its not just the stretch marks or the bigger clothes that I didn't know about. I pretty much kissed my old jeans goodbye when I was about 8 weeks along. I knew that I would likely be in my maternity clothes for the duration of the summer and possibly part of fall. That's about as far as I had thought ahead. This is SO not like me!

For example, no one told me that I would open up my underpants drawer one morning and see all those tiny lacy numbers that used to fit and that I loved and start to laugh. There is no possible way that all of this is ever going to get back into all of that. Ditto on my bras. I never bothered to find out how long my body was going to have a mind of its own either. I will spare you the intimate details but will tell you that I certainly could've used some sort of information on periods and hemmeroids before leaving the hospital! I continually have to remind myself that getting Caleb here didn't exactly go ideally and that kind of trauma takes time to recover from. When I was told upon discharge from the hospital that I was looking at 8-10 weeks recovery I think I just chose to not believe it. I now know that was a pretty accurate estimate. Either way, when does this flappy mass of skin on my tummy go away? Will my shoes fit again or shall I toss those out with the underpants an
d bras?
What about the spots on my skin? Do those fade or will I forever look like a connect-the-dots game?

I read that there are women out there that are back into their pre-pregnancy clothes by 6 weeks and don't look like they've ever had a baby. Who are these women and how did they do that without a battery of surgeons, personal trainers and skilled photographers?! Where in the world am I to find the time and energy to work out and tend to my blotchy skin? I think, for now, I will just be happy in the clothes and skin that I have!
--
Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.