Loving Your Postpartum Body

I’m going to be honest, loving my body post children has been a struggle. I had Polyhydramnios with my second child which essentially is an excessive amount of amniotic fluid that caused a lot of stretch marks. I breastfed, and I had two c- sections, so needless to say, my body has seen better days.

Also, I’m two years out and I still have yet to see my pre-baby weight. It was always pretty easy for me to have a negative internal dialogue with myself kind of like that scene in Mean Girls where they stand in front of the mirror and they each talk about something they hate about themselves. I feel like this is true with most women, and we have a tendency to speak hateful things over ourselves internally all day, every day. BUT, here recently, I heard something that shifted my entire perspective.  Our words can speak LIFE or DEATH over our bodies.  You’re probably like, “Yeah Whitney, we’ve heard that Bible verse before. What’s so life changing about it?”  Well, I’ll tell you: It’s not only Biblical, but it’s scientific. I follow a doctor on Instagram who wrote a post about telomeres (I did a fact check on this too by the way as you always should because you can’t believe everything on the internet. Fact check: true!).  Dr. Motley wrote that “DNA makes up the chromosomes in our cells, and they have small “tails” called telomeres attached to them. These small tails on our chromosomes reach out and grab nutrients. The tails bind the nutrients to sections of our DNA code that contain mutations. When the nutrients (such as vitamins and minerals) cover the mutation, the mutation itself is not replicated. This keeps genetic dysfunction such as heart disease, high cholesterol, etc. from passing down generation to generation.”

Now stick with me here because I promise it’ll come full circle and this next part is a DOOZY.  He goes on to say, “Research has found that the length of your telomeres determine how long you will live or how healthy you are. There are actual lab tests that can determine this. Another interesting fact is that scientists found what can change the length of the telomere… THE HUMAN VOICE.  The actual length and activity of the “tails” INCREASE when truthful and POSITIVE words are spoken. Not only from others but from OURSELVES. Words can bring life or bring sickness.”

You can literally speak sickness into your life. YOUR CELLS ARE LISTENING! So I decided I was going to STOP the self hatred, and negative cycle of speech over my body and life. I became very aware of the self shaming and guilt, and made a conscious effort to name things I’m thankful for instead. I started to thank my body for taking care of me, protecting me, and delivering two beautiful boys. I am beyond grateful I was blessed to even carry and safely delivery two babies, and my stretch marks and c-section scars are beautiful reminders that I was wonderfully blessed by God. I may not have the skinniest pair of jeans on, but I have noticed I eat healthier now, exercise more now, and try to take great care of my body in response. I think when you are living in a state of thankfulness and joy and stop the negative, you start to heal. So come join me! Let’s speak LIFE over ourselves!

*All information credit goes to Dr. Motley*