Body image through pregnancy and postpartum

Your body is doing extraordinary work — growing a whole new human, expanding blood volume by 50%, rearranging organs, and preparing for birth. Feeling ambivalent about the changes doesn't mean you don't appreciate what your body's doing. Follow social accounts that celebrate real bodies at every stage of pregnancy and postpartum, and unfollow the ones that make you feel bad. Invest in clothes that fit now, not what you're aiming to fit into later. Nothing kills mood faster than fighting with pants that dig in. Remember that healing takes as long as growing did — nine months, at minimum. Postpartum recovery isn't a quick sprint back to "before"; it's the slow work of adjusting to a new normal. Grace with yourself is the practice.