Body After Babies :: Honoring the Imperfect

Camera shy?  More like camera phobic!  Thanks to digital photography I have been able to successfully avoid photos of myself through cropping or simply just deleting!  In the past ten years, I maybe have a dozen photos, mostly obligatory head shots. (License photo, staff ID badge, pictures for students’ schedule books.) So why on earth did I agree to do this when a friend asked?  It was time for soul searching…

I have never had a positive body image and always struggled with my weight, especially in high school.  I carry most of my weight in hips and thighs (poor genes and challenging JEANS)!  I think pear shape is the euphemism used?

Getting pregnant was hard and MDs said it would be impossible without intervention. In a dreadful hour-long appointment, one doctor even gave me all the negative statistics associated with of type 1 diabetics having kids. The shouldn’ts and couldn’ts did not win, as finally I was successful.

I had my first child six weeks early in February 2004.  Taking the baby weight off wasn’t that hard, except for those last 5-10 pounds; which became especially tricky after 13 weeks and going back to work. I found no energy to cook healthy for myself at that point, plus the gym-time, money, and challenge of finding someone to watch the baby.  So I resolved that an extra 5-10 pounds wasn’t a bad price to pay for a healthy baby boy!

When doctors tell you it will be next to impossible to get pregnant on your own, who thinks they will really need birth control?  Well, I was pregnant again in 2006 (all natural and no medical help needed)!  It was a healthy pregnancy but wow did the baby girl in my belly create a sweet tooth!  Same story as my first, most weight came off easily except for the last stubborn 10 pounds. Oh well, small price for 2 healthy children.  Two and through was what my husband and I would say;  we could do 1:1 defense!  And I definitely would try birth control.   After a flight to CO to visit my brother’s family, traveling the red eye with a heavy 18 month old on my lap, I was diagnosed with a DVT-no more birth control at that point.  One month later, pregnant again; those MDs were certainly wrong about needing in-vitro.  It was a challenging pregnancy with lots of precautions and MD appointments, but my healthy third baby came in June 2009.  Again most of my weight was lost easily and then I went back to work full time after 10 weeks.  No time for healthy dinners and definitely not the gym-what would I do with kids? No extra time or money (never really loved working out anyway and running after 3 kids seemed like enough plus a moderately physical job).

So four and half years after my last baby and plus 25-30 pounds over my comfort zone, why volunteer for this photo shoot?  For my daughter, who will surely face pressures about body image.  To teach all of my kids that sometimes you need to be brave, courageous and take safe risks (ones that are not harmful but push your comfort zone) because if you don’t you will always wonder, “what if?”  And lastly, to honor my imperfect body which gave me my three most important gifts, Addison, Emily and Josh!

[typography font=”Satisfy” size=”24″ size_format=”px”]Written By: Amy Coach-Dietz[/typography]

I moved to VT 17 years ago to get my Masters in Communication Sciences from UVM.  Even though I have lived in the Northeast all my life, winter is not my favorite season but enduring winter in VT makes summer all that more special.  I have worked in VT public schools for the past 15 years as a speech language pathologist.  I live in Waterbury Center with my husband and three children.  My husband is from Illinois and a huge sports fan so our 3 kids all have names tied to sports: Addison (10), Emily Jordan (7) and Joshua Satchel (4).  We also have a temperamental corgi named Rudy.  Life is busy with kids activities: hockey, baseball, soccer, dance, etc. but I do enjoy reading, cooking/baking and an eclectic variety of music!