One thing many women worry about is what will happen to their body during pregnancy, birth, and after baby. It would be easy for me to say, “don’t worry about this, focus on the new baby and don’t make your body image such a priority,” but actually following my own advice would be hard. The reality of our society is that women are constantly judged for their appearance.
When I say postpartum what comes to mind? Is it depression? I thought so. I think it says a lot about our society that the word postpartum has come to mean postpartum depression. Here are three bits of evidence to prove my point. Yes, this is very empirically based research.
When I was about 16 I got a job at the local pizzeria. I was really excited for the job and eager to earn some extra cash. It only took a few shifts, though, for me to start dreading work. I never learned the menu very well – all the Italian dishes beyond pizza were completely foreign to me. I also didn’t have any supervision after a few training shifts.
This is a blog post I wrote when my baby was about 8 months old. You would think I had gotten the hang of things by that point and adjusted to my new role, but I was still struggling mightily. I haven’t shared this until now in part because of the shame and fear I have about admitting this truth. It is EXACTLY one year since I originally wrote this, and I still have many moments where I’m not sure I like this new role.