Body Baggage

One of the joys of carrying a baby is the wonderful belly that you grow. It's beautiful and natural and I've always loved the glow that women get while pregnant. However, we don't all carry our growing babies the way that supermodels and actresses do. Unfortunately, it's not just the lovely swollen belly that women gain. As I learned with my first pregnancy, you gain weight everywhere: thighs, butt, breasts, hips, feet....you name it, it gains some volume. With my little man, I gained more than fifty pounds and my whole body changed. I will admit, I didn't watch my eating patterns quite as much as I should have, and being pregnant mainly in the winter, I didn't get as much exercise as I would have liked. Each of these played a part in my growing body, I'm sure of it.
This time around, I made it a point to try to salvage as much of my pre-pregnancy #2 body as possible. I worked very hard after Liam was born to loose the baby weight, eat healthier, and stay active. This resulted in not only loosing the baby-weight, but another 15ish pounds. As of yesterday, I felt as though I was doing a wonderful job of this. Although I have been eating a lot, it has been fruits, veggies, lots of whole grains, and dairy rather than fast foods, chips, cookies, and candy. I have also refused to go down the milk hole that I dug for myself with Liam. I got up to about 3/4 of a gallon a day!
Today though, my larger, normal pants are tighter than they were last time I wore them. I can feel the denim squeezing in on my thighs, my baby belly is muffin-topping over my jeans, and my hips are looking quite a bit wider. I know this did not all happen over-night, but I realized all of these lovely changes once I felt the familiar squeeze. I will continue to focus on my (and subsequently my baby's) health, but I also need to come to the realization that babies come with body baggage, and that I can't keep my body in it's pre-baby condition, while it is focusing on growing a little life. Darn!

Almost 18 weeks!