It can be difficult adjusting to your postpartum body.
So many of us end up with stretch marks across our bellies, hips or thighs after pregnancy, and entire industries and beauty brands offer advice to eradicate them (not the most helpful phrase).
But what if there was another way of looking at it?
San Diego-based Desiree Fortin has 65k followers on Instagram, is a mum of triplets, and has some great advice for those of us struggling to wrap our heads around those afterbirth bellies.
"For every woman unhappy with her stretch marks, there is one wishing she had them," Fortin recently wrote in a moving post, opening up about her struggles with infertility before conceiving her own children.
Fortin, who shared a viral image of the "hope wounds" left behind by three miracle children, said that she, too, was once the one waiting, wishing and hoping to be a mother.
"Finding out I was finally going to be a mom was one of the most incredible feelings," she wrote. "It didn't matter whether I was going to give birth naturally or have a cesarean (however you do it, you’re amazing). And it didn't matter that my body was going to change drastically. I was finally going to be a mom, a mom to triplets!"
But when it was over, Fortin said her new body was harder to love.
“I never imagined my body would look the way it does now,” she wrote, but “it represents so much more."
She also said that the best way to embrace a “mom body” is to change your perspective.
There is empowerment for yourself in loving yourself,” she wrote, adding that postpartum marks are stories of hope, love and sometimes loss.
“There is beauty in our mom bodies,” she said. “They represent life, our children and the undeniable love we have for them.”
And for the "one" somewhere wishing, hoping, praying for her miracle, Fortin said this is for you:
“For the one who delivered and lost your baby, I know these are all you physically have left of your angel.” She added, “You are strong, mama. And to all the mamas struggling to love themselves, you're beautiful, strong, and may you be empowered to love yourself a little more today! Choose to change your perspective because you're beautiful!”
Desiree's post isn't new but her words are so inspirational, we figure it's worth sharing them again.
