Hi, I’m Jasmine, and I tried for nearly six years to get pregnant. At one point in the journey, I was told that I had less than a 1% chance of having my own biological child. After multiple IUI and IVF treatments, we became pregnant with my now-2-year-old daughter, T. I remember those years of trying and thinking constantly of the ‘what ifs’ in life. My biggest ‘what if’ was: “What if I am never be able to experience what it’s like to be pregnant and become a mother?” I would look on at others’ growing bellies with envy and wonder what it must feel like to go through such a transformation. I knew if I was ever able to become pregnant one day I would cherish every moment and never take it for granted.
I was beyond overjoyed when I did get pregnant after my 3rd IVF attempt. When I found out that I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to cherish every single moment of it, especially because I did not know if I would ever get a moment like this again. Having one baby was a 1% miracle - I could not expect to be so lucky as to have another one! I did not want to take anything for granted. So I started taking a photo nearly every day of my pregnancy as a way of embracing the changes my body was going through. This is the result:
My belly grew and grew, larger than I ever imagined it could. Of course, I felt big and awkward at times, but what was most unexpected was that I had never felt so empowered, confident and proud of my body. It was not the flat stomach that I had longed for all those years but this beautiful rounded belly, complete with glorious little kicks from the inside. It is a beautiful thing.
As I sit here writing this, I am currently 32 weeks pregnant with baby #2 (miracles do happen more than once!), so pregnancy is very much in my thoughts and day to day life right now. I can’t help but smile as I feel the baby kicking inside as I type. This is one of the best moments I have experienced in my life, the simple feeling of a little kick inside to remind me that we are capable of making our own little miracles.
Our bodies are such amazing things and we should always be proud of them. I think of our pregnancy bodies as showing how strong and powerful we are. Imagine, YOU are creating a little person inside your own body. Yes, your body is getting bigger and it changes constantly pre and post baby, but that is something we should embrace and be proud of. More importantly, I remember all those years of trying to get to this moment of having a mumbod. A mumbod has made me the happiest I have ever been.
When I shared the movie afterwards, I received so many messages asking me how I created it and how they could make one themselves. This is when I decided to create an app that would allow anyone and everyone to create their own movie. It truly is such a special thing to have, and I wanted everyone to be able to easily create their own visual documentation of this powerful time.
HuffPost UK Parents has launched ‘Mumbod’, a new section to empower mums and mums-to-be to feel confident about their bodies pre- and post-baby. We’d also love to hear your stories. To blog for Mumbod, email ukblogteam@huffingtonpost.com. To keep up to date with features, blogs and videos on the topic, follow the hashtag #MyMumbod.