A poster known as “Curious” left this comment:
Not trying to offend, merely a question. Then how do some women totally bounce back .Not talking about Demi Moore or Hollywood trainers but true women. A woman down the street looks like she never was pregnant. She’s still a tiny thing. I’m not pregnant, not was, but I hate to say it, what pregnancy does to a woman’s body scares me. It’s so damaging. I know pregnancy and babies are beautiful but I guess I couldn’t handle it.
First, I’d like to point out that, even among this small sampling of women here on this site, there are a few whose bodies “snapped back” to their pre-pregnancy form (or close to it). The focus of this site tends to fall on those whose bodies have changed -partly because they are the majority but mainly because it’s such a taboo subject that needs to be brought to light. I in no way intend to make it seem like this is the only way, as it simply is not.
Second, I can certainly understand the fear about the changes in your body – it’s a HUGE thing! A little different situation, but I remember being pregnant with my first child, planning a natural birth, and reading the “graphic” birth stories at Birth Story Diaries. One included a great picture of the child’s head crowning and it terrified me. I swore off natural birth and insisted I was getting a c-section for a week or so. In the end, I worked through it and my baby girl was birthed at home, naturally, after all. My point is, I think I can understand your fear. It’s a scary thing, pregnancy, and all that comes with with it, very much including body changes. I think that life, in general, is a scary thing, too. And I think that people face what they must when they must. If and when you ever decide to have a child, you probably will feel afraid, but when it comes to that time in your life, you will amaze yourself with what you find you can handle.
I hope this doesn’t sound too presumptuous, I realize I can’t truly know how you, Curious, feel or predict what you will do. This is, technically, meant to be a generalization that happens to be inspired by your question.
