Giving Pregnancy Weight the Middle Finger

I have to say that this second pregnancy has been much less kind on my body. 

There are many, many more stretch marks this go-round, mainly on my bursting belly. 

My ass?  It’s always been big.  But now?  There should be moons orbiting it.

I have pork chop arms.  NO!

Again, for the second time, I am at the point in my pregnancy where most of my maternity clothes DO NOT FIT.  This is insulting at the highest level.

And yet, my general attitude is “oh well.”

It feels good not to care about my appearance right now. 

Let me re-phrase that:  It feels good that my appearance right now is not sending me down a deep, dark hole of self-pity. 

I am grateful for the lessons I learned the first time around, as I watched in horror at my quickly morphing body, doing things I never thought possible.  Then I had Eli and wondered if things would ever get back to “normal.” 

Well, they very nearly did.  I was on the road to getting my body back.  I know it can be done. 

So this time around I have found that I am much more forgiving of the process, because really, there’s nothing I can do about it anyways.  This is how my body makes babies.  I gain a lot of weight, everywhere, things stretch and expand to unthinkable proportions, and at some point, soon, there will be a baby as a result of all this shifting and inflating.

It will take awhile, but eventually I’ll come up for air and then it will be back on the road to getting my body back, again. 

I find it amusing what I can overlook the second time around.  This pregnancy I throw on whatever clothes will keep me cool and comfortable and don’t give a shit about whether I even “match.”  Will people give me looks?  Who cares?

Trust me, it’s no joy to look at myself in the mirror without clothes.  I still cringe, still rush for cover in my PJ’s or whatever semi-clean attire I can manage during the day (having a toddler also contributes to my “I don’t have time to worry about my appearance” attitude).  But I also know my body isn’t going to look like this forever.

This is one instance where the previous pregnancy experience has been a blessing.  So, in the spirit of the Cee Lo Green song that keeps getting stuck in my head: F*ck you, pregnancy weight.  You’re there now, but you won’t be for long.