And then pregnancy happened. For the first time in my very cerebral, anxious, over-thinking life, I felt completely present and rooted in my own body. I was excited (imagine that) to see my stomach poking out. I embraced my growing curves in a way I never had before. And I don’t know, but something about creating a human nervous system while you’re just laying in the bathtub with a cup of tea makes you feel kind of like a goddess. My body was doing CRAZY THINGS every minute of every day, and I had to feel a little bit in awe of it.
Pushing out a 10lb baby while roaring like a lion was the most outrageously empowering thing I’ve ever experienced. If I could do that, I could do anything. And now I’ve spent the last 11 months feeding a human being with liquid gold I produced out of thin air. Mommas, if you are not absolutely astonished by your bodies, you freaking should be!
So now I have an extra-squishy stomach that’s laced with fresh stretch marks, but I’m in love with it for the first time in my life because that’s where my perfect son grew for nine months. My boobs are unimaginably huge and pendulous, but they are hard-working magic milk machines that have put every ounce of chub on my roly poly baby. And I may always look a bit tired now, but it’s because I’m chasing a healthy, adventurous, happy little boy around every moment of the day, and rocking him to sleep with my nose tucked into his sweet smelling curls late at night.
My body has had the craziest year of its life, and I couldn’t be more proud if it. I’m happy here, in this skin, and I can’t wait to show it off.
Kimberly Poovey is a writer, speaker, wife, and over-caffeinated new(ish) mom. She runs a teen pregnancy prevention program for a nonprofit and is a founder of Pearls, an organization that serves women in the sex industry and fights human trafficking. You can find her over on Scary Mommy, The Mighty, her blog, and on Facebook.
