I used to have a blog, and I was very bad at keeping it updated, but recently I have been reading my friend Paula’s blog about her adventures in mummyhood https://strawberrythebee.wordpress.com and I wanted to try to start again.

This is something I’ve wanted to write about for a while, as it keeps coming up on groups and forums I’ve joined since becoming pregnant, and as it’s international women’s day today, I thought now is the time to actually get on with it!!

Maybe I’m just lucky in that I’ve never really had any issues with my own body image, I mean I’d love to be fitter, stronger, maybe a bit taller, but it’s never been something that has actually bothered me. I know a lot of people do struggle with it though and with so much pressure from advertising etc. it’s not really surprising that people feel pressured into looking a certain way. But when you’re pregnant? Really? Shouldn’t the priority to be as healthy and happy as possible for you and your baby?

Obviously pregnancy changes your body and I have been frustrated with mine at times, when I can’t walk faster or my back is aching because I stood still for more than 10 minutes or I can’t put my socks on, but the number of people I have seen and heard stressing out about how they feel ‘fat’ or ‘like a whale’ is crazy!! Of course you are going to get bigger, you are carrying a whole human being in your tummy, to think that you could do that without bulging out a bit, is mad!

Having a pregnant body is not the same as having a fat or unhealthy body, and I don’t think we should have to hide all the lumps and bumps that come with it. Creating a baby is the most incredible thing your body can possibly do, it blows my mind every single day that there is an actual tiny human being, that will grow up to be a proper grown up person, swimming around inside my belly!! I love how my new body looks, I’m so proud of how big it has got, so that it can accommodate our baby and provide everything it needs. Even on the uncomfortable days, waddling around town where people can see me, makes feel stronger, and more empowered than I have ever done before. Just by the shape of my body, I’m showing the world that I am doing something amazing. It really does make me sad how many people I have seen saying they feel fat, or ugly because of this amazing thing their bodies are doing, and how people in the public eye are so often shamed for looking big whilst GROWING A HUMAN!! As if there is not enough pressure to have the ‘perfect body’, whatever that is, already. Embrace your bump and the extra weight that goes with it, it is going to grow into the thing you love more than anything else in the world, how can you be ashamed or embarrassed by that?