You Look Great! Learning to Take Post Pregnancy Compliments

WOW! You Look Great

Now most people who hear this compliment especially at the sassy age of 30 -{cough} something, are doing cartwheels and summersaults, and chest bumps for the rest of the day. I mean come on now people what female doesn’t want unsolicited compliments? Those are the best am I right? Well for me not necessarily. Here is how these daily encounters tend to play out:

 

Random Acquaintance- “Hey your baby is really cute, how old is she?”

 

Me- “Thank you, she is 19 weeks.”

Random Acquaintance- {As they look me up and down with their eyes} “WHHHHHHHAAAAAT? Damn, you look great for just having a baby! What is your secret? Wait, I don’t remember you being pregnant.”
Now, I can handle this many ways.  I could go into great detail about how this was a surrogacy birth and an hour and half later they would probably have wished they had never mentioned anything. Maybe I just shrug it off, smile and say thanks! And revel in the fact that despite my broken lady bits, I have Jellybean. No need to confuse the crap out of her/him with the confusing details of surrogacy. Or do I have a little fun with it? I say, have some fun with it! Here are some responses I have thought about saying but have dug deep to restrain:

 

1. It’s a raw bacon fat diet! Oh man, I highly recommend it! It sheds off the baby weight freaky fast! Granted, you are pooping liquid for days, doing some hospital time and your nickname is now “Ralph” but whatever it takes to get back to your pre-pregnancy weight right

 

2. Shake Weights. All day long. In the shower, while sleeping, even when I shop for groceries.

 

3. I lost my weight from Lard Be Gone! Enjoy link here. Seriously, this was a real weight loss fad. Basically, you ingest tape worm eggs and let those little fat busting parasites invade your intestines like the beach of Normandy, leaving you scooting your butt around on the carpet like a dog with an itchy butt.

 

Alright, so I will never in a million years say those things, although I have been tempted. And for heaven’s sake they are compliments! {Insert mental slap} I would love to be proudly carrying around a donut of pregnancy fat around my waist line. I was robbed. The ability to carry a child was stolen from me. But you know what wasn’t taken away? Motherhood. Sometimes I allow my infertility to steal some of the joy from my life. Surrogacy gave me the gift of being a mom. So next time someone pays me a compliment on how I shed off my baby weight, I will not let comments and compliments about how I do not look like I ever physically carried a baby steal my happiness. Instead, I will strut around like a fabulous new mommy peacock that I am.