Fire in the belly today. A former classmate had reposted a picture of herself with her husband and baby, 4 weeks postpartum, in their cold water surfing gear, at the beach. The story -- her sister "baby whisperer" had held her baby for her while she indulged in her sport. "Mama's still got it!" this woman had celebrated.
My comment was neutral -- "Cool and WILD you had this available to you!"-- but the more I thought about it, the more twisted up I got. This was the kind of story that had me thinking that at 4 weeks postpartum I should/could be up and about surfing. Ok -- maybe not surfing, not my sport. But hiking. Camping. Canoeing. Rock climbing. Running. And I was not.
My classmate's post made me want to bellow from the top of my house, for the whole neighbourhood to hear, that doing what she had done was NOT what everyone does! It was unusual! It was even RIDICULOUS! She is a machine! No one should expect this of themselves!
It's not that her experience isn't valid. It's that there are too many stories like this one circulating out there. So I'm going to tell mine. Between tonight and tomorrow, possibly the day after...while my son naps (hopefully!).
Here's to my first, imperfect, ridiculously brief post.