I BALLOONED, BUT I’M PROUD TO BE A MUM
Molly RuAnE, 24, runs a care home business in sittingbourne, Kent. she and partner Dan, 24, a decorator, are parents to daughter Mia. she says: I STILL look back fondly on a picture of myself in a bikini in Mexico in 2018, when my tummy was effortlessly flat. I’d always been slim and never exercised, so I took it for granted I’d have a small bump and the rest of me wouldn’t change. How wrong I was about that.
Mia was such a wanted baby because when I was 20 I was told it would be difficult for me to have children. It seemed my eggs were not maturing, so not being released each month.
I was prescribed medication to adjust my hormone levels, but the first three times I conceived I had very early miscarriages. After months of scans and blood tests, my pregnancy with Mia developed well and I was delighted.
But it was a shock when, five months in, my face, belly and legs ballooned. My body felt as if it suddenly belonged to my baby, not me.
By the end of my pregnancy, I’d gone from 9 st to 14 st. My bump was so big, Dan had to help me out of the bath.
The difference in the way I dress is just one of the ways my sense of self has changed. Before I gave birth, I didn’t care if Dan came in when I was changing; now I lock the bathroom door so I can have privacy.
He tells me: ‘You’ve got a new body. Just embrace it. You look beautiful.’
My confidence is slowly starting to return, even if some days there’s still a self-critical voice telling me I’m overweight.
Despite these feelings, the pictures of Millie helped me feel proud of what I’d achieved as a new mum. When I was having my picture taken for this shoot, I also felt it didn’t matter how I looked as long as I had Mia in my arms.