Archive - Mom Belly

Baby Belly - The New Back Tattoo?

"What you see depends upon where you stand." This remains one of my favorite quotes and ponderings. Take a spider
web, for instance. Upon first glance, my reaction is "Ick! A creepy crawly is lurking." Yet, upon closer inspection, I
notice the intricate interconnections of graceful yet sturdy, silky and thoughtfully woven workings of the masterpiece
suspended before me, created seemingly overnight.

The fact is, some things in nature, upon first glance, seem icky. However, once you gaze closer and take time to
ponder the work going into, and the significance coming out of the ick, wonder and esteem seems to emerge.

I experienced this phenomenon recently as I caught a glimpse of my post-baby body in the mirror the other morning
and let out an audible gasp. "Who stole my thighs and swapped them with these trunks???" was my immediate
question. My body has endured obvious changes since birthing and nursing my two little boys. My hips are wider and
thighs are thicker; my hair is limper, as are my breasts. And lest I forget the bulge in my belly, my silver stretch marks
serve as a blazing road map right to all that extra stretchy skin.

How is this fair, I queried? We endure 9 months of gestating and watching our bodies implode, morning sickness,
delivery, and the sleeplessness, night sweats, etc. afterwards. Then just in case we forget all that physical trauma,
we're left with altered and dejected thighs, bellies, and boobs to remind us.

As I surveyed my Mommy body with disgust, I then began to wonder why I regarded these changes so negatively.
Why were stretch marks and the like looked down upon in society?

As little girls, we grow up believing that having a baby is an important thing for us as women to do. And it is. The gift
of being able to bear a child is an amazing honor. So far, females are the only human gender capable of such a
complex task. Yet society bombards us with messages that the natural physical outcomes of childbirth, the proof we
have been gifted with this honor, are demeaning, shameful and gross.

The message of its negativity assaults us everywhere. From conception of our babies, we digest ads for cream
promising to prevent stretch marks in magazine after magazine we read. On every TV channel, we witness the media
hailing celebrities for their prompt post-baby shrinkage or hounding them for any delay in erasing any physical proof of
their Mommyhood.

Toting around a kid in our arms, sure that's popular. But why are we in such a hurry to erase the bodily proof of the
very thing that makes us as women so amazing? Why is the physical proof of having birthed a child not celebrated
and flaunted?

As women, we celebrate other lesser important physical rites of passage…
Our pubescent blossoming breasts are treated to a pretty first bra.
In junior high we brag about our need to begin shaving our legs.
Our 18 year old bodies flaunt popular body art of various kinds such as the back tattoo, the belly ring, or the hickie
from the boyfriend.

Will a day come when people will be flocking to the plastic surgeon for "Mom belly" implants in the same flocks that
receive breast implants? Will stretch mark etching become the new back tattoo?

Maybe not, but at least for today, I will stop condemning myself and enjoy the bodily changes that came along with
the giggly boys I love so.