It's no secret that there is an unspoken — and sometimes spoken — truth that women are expected to "bounce back" after pregnancy, or get back in shape after carrying and delivering a child.
In a video posted to YouTube last week, blogger Tova Leigh destroys the idea that "bouncing back" should be number one on a new mom's list of priorities.
"There's a lot of pressure these days on women to 'bounce back,'" she says. "Go back to looking exactly like we did, before we became moms."
While everyone else may think that it's "so important" for a mom to get back in shape, Leigh says, they may or may not know what exactly a woman's body is going through when everyone is expecting her to lose any weight she may have gained during pregnancy.
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"But you know what else is important?" Leigh asks. "Getting our organs back to where they're actually supposed to be inside our bodies."
"When a woman is pregnant," she explains, "her internal organs actually move out of the way to make room for the amazing miracle that is happening inside her body."
For what it's worth, she's right: your organs really do move around during pregnancy. But it's not just that — as Leigh points out, if you went through a natural birth, your body is also adjusting to having pushed out a human, possibly resulting in tears. Not to mention, your breasts may or may not be leaking.
"With all due respect for society's obsession and need for women to 'bounce back,' I think it's safe to say we have other issues to worry about, so piss off," she says.
Welcome to Mothership: Parenting stories you actually want to read, whether you're thinking about or passing on kids, from egg-freezing to taking home baby and beyond. Because motherhood is a big if — not when — and it's time we talked about it that way.
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