It’s been seven months since I wrote about my postpartum body. (Insert legitimately felt cliche about time flying.) 4 months back at a desk job, 16 month old baby. Finally weaned a month ago, a month and a half off the domperidone. Breasts finally starting to shrinking (F cup and falling…) and period started to resume a normal cycle. So, all told, in quite a different place than I was in December.
To use the scale in that post, I’m now at X+2, so, heavier than I’ve been since there was a human being inside of me. And none of my pants fucking fit, and that makes me cranky. (Pants shopping is the worst type of shopping. I don’t know what the fit models people use are shaped like, but it’s sure as hell not anything like I’m shaped like.) I’ve put on 5 pounds since coming back to work, and while that’s honestly not a big amount, when you don’t quite crack the 5’4″ mark, it’s enough that pants don’t fit. And I had to buy new pants to come back to work, because even at 5 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight, my actual hips were bigger. I unpacked the box of work clothes in March, and was sad but unsurprised that a grand total of ONE shirt fit over my giant boobs, and all my sweaters were far too short, again due to the chest. So none of my shirts fit (even still) and now none of my pants fit. Getting dressed every morning is awesome!
In the short term, I’m cutting out snacks and cutting down on food, and upping my fitness classes, at least until my pants fit again. Calorie restriction is easier than buying new pants.
But.
I don’t know how to feeeel about this. On the one hand, I could just accept that I’m now in my 30s and I’ve had a kid, and this is what my body looks like, and I should just go out and buy some damn pants, and get over going up another size. Ditto shirts and bras. After all, this one is my real body. But is it? is this just a heavy weight blip as I adjust to the new routine? And what about the next baby? We’re planning to start trying before the year’s out, so I don’t want to invest in clothes that might only fit for a few months, and who knows what my body will look like after another pregnancy and birth and mat leave. I feel, honestly, like this isn’t my real body – that this is just this temporary thing. Can’t I wait to get back in to shape after I’m done having kids? Is it really worth sweating my ass off on my lunch breaks if I’m just going to balloon up in a few months anyway? (Duh, of course it is. It’s better to be healthy, in general. But it’s haaaard.) I feel generally uncomfortable with my body. I miss the firm lush roundness of pregnancy. I know I’m getting older, and my genetic destiny will become increasingly harder to fight. I’m just… tired. Can’t I postpone this fight until I’m done with the babies thing?
And really, we’re not talking huge differences. At my average size, I wear a 12. At my very lightest, usually a 10, and currently at my heaviest, a 14. We’re not talk huge changes. Just enough that, you know, none of my clothes fucking fit.And I’m too cheap and or lazy to buy new stuff, especially not knowing if this change is permanent, or if I can swing things back to the middle. Or if I should even bother trying.
Ugh. Being a person is hard some times.