The Body Of A Mother.

Something that has been on my mind lately is just how many changes my body is going through. This petite 5'2" figure of mine has transformed incredibly in the last 26 weeks. I was looking at pre-pregnancy photos of me a few weeks ago and started to feel a little depressed at how "good" I used to look and how much I don't look like that currently. At my last appointment, I discovered that I have officially gained 20 pounds since becoming pregnant. Then, in the past two or three weeks (I blame all the holiday feasts), stretch marks have been appearing all over my once cute pregnant bump.

One night, I was complaining to Kurt about the lines slowly creeping their way across my belly and he just said, "I think they're beautiful."

He really is the best husband. I'm the luckiest.

Then, like fate, this article appeared in my Facebook news feed. The author gave me a new perspective on my changing body.

She writes, "I have dark pools under my eyes. A valley where my belly button once was. Hips with a new amplitude that my teenage self wouldn't recognize. I have lines mapped across the mountains of stretched skin left over on my midsection. Lightning bolts on my sides proving I once was too small to contain all of the love that filled me. Lines indicating that my daughter once lived inside of me... Those mountains of skin are all I have left to prove that we were once one and not two."

Now, I look at these new stripes as an indication of my healthy, growing daughters. How lucky am I to bare these symbols of motherhood? How lucky am I to be the mother of twins? Not every woman has the opportunity to wear these stripes, but I have been given this privilege and, how dare I complain.

I am grateful for this new perspective. I am grateful for this body. I am grateful that it has the ability to house two beautiful baby girls. I am grateful that they are growing and that each line indicates that their bodies are becoming bigger, stronger, and healthier. Lastly, I am grateful for a loving, wonderful husband who recognizes the beauty in these marks of motherhood.