Women face a ton of pressure to “bounce back” to their pre-pregnancy selves immediately after their baby is born. Some of it is pressure on ourselves and some of it is… Oh, I don’t know, maybe it’s all those magazine covers flashing the stretch-mark-free midsections of the latest celebrity who has seemingly passed through pregnancy physically unscathed???

I know I was sorely disappointed after Mazzy was born and I realized I wasn’t going to be able to pop back into my non-maternity jeans for the drive home from the hospital— why doesn’t anyone warn you that you’re still going to look six months pregnant when you’ve given birth six months ago?!?

Of course, women have plenty of good reasons to take our time getting back to our old selves (assuming we ever do), but nobody points out just how unrealistic our post-baby body expectations are quite like Tova Leigh of My Thoughts About Stuff.

Check out her checklist of reasons we should give ourselves a break below!

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