.jpg)
After I dried off from my shower this morning, I looked in my closet to figure out what to wear. I hemmed and hawed a bit. Do I don materni-wear? Do I, instead, try to make my pre-pregnancy duds appear suitable? Do I just get back into bed and rock pajama pants all day?
This post-partum period is a little different than with my prior pregnancies. I currently leave the house almost every day to visit our newest little man at the Hospital. So mostly, I just sit, like the picture above, and hold our Harrison. The catch to this is that I see real people way more than I ever had to when I was at this point with Barrett or Jonah. But, I also get to shower every single day right now. Which never happened with Barrett and Jonah. So there is that. But I do find myself struggling with what to wear from day to day. I mostly wear expand-pants, whether maternity or otherwise. And some sort of top that will allow for easy access for pumping and baby snuggling. Perfect options for a lady of leisure. In fact, for Christmas, the clothes I received included two hoodies and one pair of loungey pants. And I was ridiculously thrilled. Because it’s my current uniform.
During an overnight pumping sesh, I perused Pinterest {my, how pumping has changed since our firstborn}. In an attempt to solve my current dressing dilemmas, I typed in Postpartum Fashion. As I scrolled down the page, I stumbled upon a Pin titled, “7 Ways to Feel Sexy After Having a Baby“.
The first line of the article reads: Even when you’re physically not ready for sex postpartum, you may have the urge to tap into your inner sex kitten.
Ummmmm. Excuse me?!?!?
I just had a baby. Less than a month ago. Since having that baby removed from my belly, my boobs were, first, swollen and engorged … and not in a let’s get it on type of way… and then moved on to prime pumping plumpers that spurt milk. I take stool softeners, daily. I am still, on some days, trying, with each time of dressing, to decide between gauze hospital distributed underpants and the granny panties I keep in the back of my lingerie drawer {you know the ones I’m talking about}. I wake up at night only to hook myself up to a milk-sucking apparatus. And some nights, when I wake up, I am soaked in hormone-induced sweatiness. I am wearing a medical-grade nursing bra complete with breast pads around the clock. When I cough or laugh, I have to hold the place they recently cut open to remove my child from my uterus. Oh, and I just stopped wearing compression stockings around the clock. And that does not even bring to the table the newest addition, that human, that needs our attention.
I don’t know why someone would think I’d have to get my sexy back. I mean, all of that. All of that postpartum awesomeness … if that’s not sexy or hot, I’m not sure what is.
So if had written the article on how to feel sexy after baby, the list would look like this:
1. Don’t.
And I’d call it a day.
What is the obsesh with being pretty, sexy, or perfect in every single thing we women do? Seriously. Is it not enough to have birthed a babe {which, is a freakin’ miracle in and of itself}? Do we also have to have all of our stuff together?
I say no.
In due time, everything will find a new normal. At least it did with the other two boys we bore. Eventually, my body bounced back … not like 17 year old “back”… let’s have realistic expectations here, peeps. But I didn’t really care. Because I wasn’t 17. And eventually, I suppose, I reclaimed my inner sex kitten. At least 3 more times {YES. I just admitted that we like each other. Enough to do stuff. Which you already knew, because we have had 4 pregnancies}. And eventually, I stopped nursing, stool softening, and compression hosing. And the pads were a thing of the past. And the gauze undies said goodbye. So this time, I don’t give a pile of hooey about how this is all going to come back together. Because I assume, all of this will be true, yet again. In due time.
If you just had a babe {and you can decide what just means} give yourself a little break. Give your babe a little snuggle. And wear your expandawear proudly. There will be a day for “normal” and “reclaiming”. But mama Brehm says, today is not that day.
