The Beauty of Scars

As our vacation to Ocean City, NJ quickly approaches I have found myself vainly obsessing over my imperfect "mom" body.  Self-image is something I have struggled with greatly in the past and although it's not something that has complete control over my life anymore, I find myself struggling with it in a different way now.  As we all know, having a baby does CRAZY things to your body.  For me, it made my hair turn dark, my hormones go completely out of control, and made me gain 40 pounds! Although all of these side-effects are insane, nothing has had a lasting effect on me aside from the physical scars.  My hair has turned back to its original blonde, my hormones are slightly normal again, and I've lost 50 pounds.....but my scars on the other hand, are still hanging around.

Looking at this belly, you may have never guessed that it is now covered in stretch marks.  To this day, I'm not really sure how it happened because they were never visible while I was pregnant.  It wasn't until after little Wes was out that the marks started to appear.  Honestly, they are pretty bad.  When I look at my mid-section all I see is stretch marks and a c-section scar.  At first, it's very frustrating! Especially when you think about all the women who are lucky enough to make it out of pregnancy with neither of the two.  As I have been thinking about it more, though, I have noticed the beauty in my scars.  They are a constant reminder of who I am.  I'm not perfect--I  am a broken, sinful human who will never be perfect while on this earth.  They are also a constant reminder of what I had to go through to receive the blessing of the most amazing gift in my life, my son, Wes.  I am a mom now, and I am proud of my scars and my body.  Not to mention, they make a ton of super cute one-piece bathing suits now! Here's a couple that I found.  That's right....I'm going to rock my first one-piece at the shore this year!

http://www.target.com/p/merona-womens-bandeau-shirred-one-piece-swimsuit-silver/-/A-13021279


Here's my last words on this topic: if you are a mom, regardless of what your body looks like now, you are absolutely beautiful.  Don't let the world make you feel any less.