A Maternity Moment in the Nail Salon
Some of you have asked me to share my maternity journey, so here is my #mondaymotivation post… Being pregnant is an interesting study in humanity and human emotion. As a model who has been very aware about body image and as a health coach who has been extremely conscious about what I feed my body, mind, and soul, I have come to realize I didn’t know what being totally in tune with my body was until pregnancy. My senses have never experienced such heightened awareness, which brings me to an annoying occurrence while getting a pedicure last week…my manicurist who sees me monthly commented on how nicely my baby bump was growing and how beautiful I looked... she was the first person to acknowledge my pregnancy who has not been family or a friend. When she asked me how far along I was I replied quietly, seven months…
Two women sitting in the pedicure chairs next to me snarled making offensive remarks to each other…”oh my god, I mean really? She doesn’t even look pregnant? Does she feed her baby?”
Pre-pregnancy, I would’ve turned to the women, looked them in the eyes, and said something startlingly honest about how their crude comments were offensive to all pregnant women. Instead I decided to ignore them. After my pedicure, I got up from the chair while the two women continued to talk openly about my body and me as I walked across the room to sit at the manicurist table. At this point, feeling terrible about their rude remarks, my eyes filled with tears.
As a pregnant woman, regardless of how strong you are or how much you take care of yourself, you are almost constantly in a state of vulnerability. As a model, I am used to others’ remarks and opinions about my body and it’s easy to brush them off, but when the women were talking negatively about my belly, I felt as if they were attacking my child. I wanted to say something, but I kept hearing my husband’s voice in my head, which guided me to not react too hastily to these rude women. So I sat silently with the intention of not giving them the satisfaction that their words had hurt me. The best piece of advice I can give to willing readers is this… if you tell a pregnant woman she looks big, she will feel badly, if you tell a pregnant women she is too small, she will feel badly. So all you should say to a pregnant woman is: You are doing Great!
And if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all! I know that every woman who has been pregnant can completely understand what I am saying! And because many of you have been kind enough to private message me or post sweet comments along my maternity journey about how good I look… I should be clear that every photo I post is posed! I have been a model for a long time. I only wear outfits that flatter my pregnancy figure. I only post images where I am posed and in a good angle, because let’s face it, no one wants to see candid or unflattering photos of a pregnant women or anyone for that matter! So a big thank you to all my sweet friends and supporters and a thank you to all the 'meanies' too. You all motivate me.😊
