"You look great for having triplets!" a passerby says after she has looked myself and my trio over.
"Thank you," I say and smile but inside I am wondering what she means. Does she mean I would look awful if I didn't have the triplets? Or did she expect me to be larger then I am? Or older then I am? Or look more tired then I do?
I must admit since having triplets I am much more sensitive about my body. Before the triplets I had to two singles births so I figured my body had already been pretty stretched. Little did I know how much different a triplet pregnancy really is.
At just 28 weeks I looked full term. I shocked people by informing them that I was not weeks from my due date but in fact months. While on hospital bedrest I was allowed to leave my room in a wheelchair and I was congratulated on the impending birth of my child every time. And each time I had to correct them and say "No, I'm here on bed rest, my babies aren't due for weeks."
After giving birth at just shy of 36 weeks my body had been stretched and then stretched some more. I looked nine months pregnant AFTER I gave birth. People would ask when I was due.
Two and a half years later my body still isn't back to what it once was. My abdomen reminds me of a shriveled and deflated balloon. Without costly surgery it will always look this way.
While I'd like to say I'm proud of my "battle" scars and proud of my body for what it did, I'm not there yet. There may never come a time when I am back to the size I was in high school. I may never be fully comfortable with my new skin.
But for now I'm going to take the comment as a compliment and hope someday I'll hear, "You look great!" with or without the triplets.
(photo by Annemarie Vriends)
Loading ...
I know what you are going through. I only had 2 single births and my stomach is a stretched and deflated balloon too. I gained 54 pounds both times (what!!!) and it stretched my skin to shreds. I'm only 108 pounds so that was a lot for my frame.
Only surgery would fix it, but it's not worth the risk. Try to love your babies and love your body for what it was able to do (5 babies! wow!). Remember…some day we'll all die and it won't matter if you are buried as a shrively stomach or a flat perfect stomach. Just try to love and enjoy your life.
I know it's easier said than done, I hate looking at my wrinkly old lady tummy too, but you are worth more than your stomach skin!
I call my tummy the "Twin skin". I have finally come to terms with my body and my twins are 6 years old. I had lost all of my baby weight about a year and a half after the twins were born. I kept it off and them my mom got sick and passed away. Gained it all back. So now I'm just trying to be healthy eat right and get outside with my kids. I've come to love my body just the way I am and my husband says he loves me for me and for being the mother of those two crazy monsters. So enjoy your babies and just be you.