‘If you focus on what you left behind, you will never see what lies ahead.’
– Gusteau, Ratatouille
Today’s photo is less sexy, less sinful, and more a continued catalogue of change…
It is now 9 days since our beautiful daughter was born. It has been the most wonderful, different, surprising and difficult week-and-a-bit of my life, and I am loving it so much!
But as I have photographed how my body changed during pregnancy, it seemed important to do the same for my post-pregnancy body because it’s not back to how it looked before yet, and I am concerned that this phase is less celebrated than the fecund and blossoming pregnant stages. Unless it is to comment on how quickly we have lost our baby weight or ‘got our body back,’ of course.
From being tight and tense, my belly has a softness to it now. It’s palpably empty. The linea nigra and stretch marks still decorate my skin, and seem even more obvious to me now as there isn’t the same massiveness to distract me!
In comparison, it is my breasts that are tight and tense. They don’t feel sexily big though. They’re sore and swollen and functional, and continue to change throughout the day with each feed. (The photo was taken just after she’d fed on the right and I do think the left looks distinctly bigger right now!)
When thinking about the postpartum body, it makes me sad how much focus there is on losing baby weight – a survey on my pregnancy tracking app when I documented the birth asked if this was a priority after delivery and only 5{f9264c1b08ec794f1cf6cd6d13ef8a87ec0de6a492dab0f81db5d3b37fb3799c} of respondents said no…
I don’t know what is going to happen to my body in the next few months or if it will ever be the same as it was, but I’m pretty proud of it right now. I may not feel as sexy as I did last year, or even a few weeks ago, but it grew a huge, healthy baby and pushed it safely out! It would feel strange if there was nothing left to show for all this effort and I love it for what it has done.
So this is how it looks right now – soft and marked and different from the body I know, but still kind of wonderful!
Don’t forget to click the kiss to see the other photos shared this Sinful Sunday…
And the voting for the UK Blog Awards closes tomorrow on Christmas Eve. Sex blogging is a new category and I’m thrilled to be nominated! Thank you if you’ve already voted but otherwise, please click the image below to see the list of nominees as there are some really impressive nominees, and I’d love it if you could vote for me!!
Congratulations!! I’m so happy to hear you have a beautiful daughter and that you both are fine! You still look beautiful—just different. And that’s expected! All the best this Christmas! It’s her first and while she won’t remember a thing, it has just become so much more special for you and your hubby.
Congratulations Livvy and personally I think you still look very sexy. I am so pleased that you have chosen to be open about the changes that occur after pregnancy and I completely agree with you that the focus on trying to make your body change back rather than admiring it with the awe it deserves is a real pity. Thank you for addressing the balance with your post. ?
What a wonderful, important post. I think you look young and just as ripe as ever. It’s great to see working breasts being honoured and recognised 🙂 People obsessed with baby-weight loss forget about things like how long it takes your womb to shrink back to its normal size, and how breastfeeding helps with that. There’s so much to learn about the post partum body – and I love seeing it celebrated like this. Nice work!
I am so glad you have done this pic and well as all the others. I hoped you would. You are stunningly beautiful and your body is amazing. The changes it has and is going through are the nearest thing to magic that I know. It makes me sad how few people stay in a healthy relationship with their body after giving birth. It’s changed and it’s awesome. I don’t care if people want to lose weight afterwards or not. I care about people loving and knowing their bodies.
Still gorgeous, Livvy.
What a wonderful thing to celebrate in this way.
You look so beautiful honey xx
Livvy you continue to give us such a wonderful and important glimpse into the world of motherhood. This post is glorious! What a beautiful family you are. Thank you for sharing these gorgeous photos. Your body is absolutely delicious ???
So much love to you all x x
You look beautiful and I think you are right, it is a phase of the pregnant body that is rarely talked about and hardly shown. The message is definitely, get back to how you where before you show yourself and yet the truth is there is no returning to your before self but only learning to love the changes and what the represent which as you say, is something wonderful.
Mollyx
Your body is ??don’t let anybody
tell you different ???‼️‼️‼️
You look beautiful as ever!! Your body will never be exactly as it was pre-baby, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Now, enjoy your baby girl and give her all your love and attention. There is plenty of time later to work on shedding some excess pounds (right now they are still good for you to have). Years from now, you will still have those shiny stretch marks, as a badge of pride, to remind you what your body accomplished in producing that little girl. Every stage, before and after, is to be celebrated.
Merry Xmas to you and your wonderful new family ???
This is such a beautiful post, Livvy, and beautiful, honest, wonderful photos. You are right that this stage of a woman’s body is never/rarely discussed or shown in a positive way. You do so here spectacularly. As you have throughout your pregnancy, you are taking us on your journey. Thank you! It’s a joy!
You look absolutely wonderful, and thank you for sharing such beautiful images of your body before and after the birth of your little one, congratulations again to you both xx
You look gorgeous, Livvy, and you are right, the post-pregnancy body should be celebrated much more, because there is no shame in a body that as changed after growing and giving birth to a body.
Rebel xox
Sorry I missed this earlier in the week. The postpartum you is beautiful. I love how, in the second picture you can clearly see that Martha has recently fed on the right side. As others have said, your body won’t be as it was before, but as you will be. Thank you for sharing that this is about so much more than ‘getting your figure back’ or whatever the media bangs on about.