Coffee With ChrissyInspiring Stories
Yummy Mummy with a Tummy
I am standing at the supermarket checkout with my daughter, as usual flicking through the magazines at the stand. On the front cover of a well-known mag is a picture of a young celebrity who has just given birth to her son. The headline screams: "I hate my body". It must be only four weeks since the birth. This headline makes my blood boil. I look around to find someone to comment to. I envisage myself standing on a milk crate doing a Norma Rae (union, union), but my sign would say: "Yummy Mummy with a Tummy", hoping someone will join me. This is my union, my chorus for women all over the world, but especially the western world, where we are obsessed with our bodies.
I think of myself after the birth of my daughter. I felt pretty big. Big milky breasts, a big tummy and, dare I say it, a bummy! I had a lot of fluid, which made my ankles swell.
Not to mention the lack of sleep (sleep deprivation does not make one feel very yummy). I was often plagued with thoughts of, "I wish I was thinner" and I was determined to get back into shape. But what shape? The shape the magazines say is ideal? That the media portray as ideal? The shape I had of myself in my head? I remember my obstetrician saying it takes a good two years after birth for the body to literally shrink back. When you understand what a woman's body goes through not only to give birth but also sustain another life for 9 months, it is a miracle.
I had four wonderful, but difficult, pregnancies. Two premature births, lengthy stays in hospital and my daughter born with Cerebral Palsy, amongst other things. As I look back now, I realise my body went through the mill, but, like I hear so many other women say, "it was all worth it just to hold my little miracle in my arms".
Don't get me wrong, I am all for exercise and keeping fit and healthy. I see ladies walking and running and I always say to myself, "go sister". I have recently started exercising myself and I am beginning to feel stronger and healthier. But I still have that tummy. I, like any other red-blooded woman, look in the mirror turning left to right and feel unhappy with what I see. I too catch glimpses of myself in shop windows and think I need to lose weight. Like any other woman who is finally 40, I struggle with aging and coming to terms with the fact that everything is heading south.
Why is it that a model, just six weeks after having a baby, can walk down the runway in size eight lingerie and everyone Oohs and Aaahs, and she becomes the post-pregnant woman's pin up? She is hailed as super yummy mummy. I am not against her, she looks fantastic, but will we ever just accept who we are and go with it? Will I? I hope so.
I want to impart to my daughter and my sons that it is what is in your heart that is important. This yummy mummy with the tummy knows that without the love of a good man, friends, family, and my faith in God and his ability to love us just as we are, I would not be the woman I am becoming. You know sisters, it really is great to know, finally at 40 life really begins.
By the Yummy Mummy
Jennie Tenené
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