Romy about our story, being pregnant and being a mother

This body carried my daughter for 9 months, fed her for the next 14 months and has been home to my son for almost 8 months now. It will not be the same as before, but that is not me as a person either. And I like that, now. As if another woman was born with motherhood. A woman who looks at herself less critically, focuses on the strength and beautiful things that the female body is capable of, and stands for. Instead of concentrating on what is always better, tighter, leaner or different. During my first pregnancy I hardly made any pictures, I found it difficult to surrender to the changes that a pregnancy entails, the physical discomfort and I thought too much about the 'magic' of being pregnant, creating life. While I did not experience it the first time and of course every pregnancy is different. This time it feels very different, and whether that is due to the growth I have experienced as a woman now that I am a mother, or because I am so much more aware of the role model that belongs to that new role, I do not know. But I am proud of my curves, the changes, and embrace it being pregnant and my body so that I enjoy it much more and more consciously. And now I know, looking back at pictures of myself from my first pregnancy with Bobby Jo, that that critical self-view is such a waste of time. And more importantly, also what will we give our children when we focus on that. That is one of the most striking lessons I've learned so far, unconsciously they change us. As a mother I choose to give them self-love.