beauty comes in all shapes and sizes

Last night my husband stumbled upon a link on Digg showing a mother's belly during and after her pregnancy with triplets. (The link was here but has been temporarily removed.) That link led me to the site The Shape of a Mother. I went to the homepage of the blog and was impressed with its message:

It occurred to me that a post-pregnancy body is one of this society's greatest secrets; all we see of the female body is that which is airbrushed and perfect, and if we look any different, we hide it from the light of day in fear of being seen. …It is my dream, then, to create this website where women of all ages, shapes, sizes and nationalities can share images of their bodies so it will no longer be secret. So we can finally see what women really look like sans airbrushes and plastic surgery. I think it would be nothing short of amazing if a few of our hearts are healed, or if we begin to cherish our new bodies which have done so much for the human race. What if the next generation grows up knowing how normal our bodies are? How truly awesome would that be?

I haven’t had a chance to browse through the site very much but wanted to share it with all you mothers out there who are way too hard on themselves (me included). We all need to learn to love the skin we're in, even if it's been stretched beyond recognition. I find The Shape of a Mother a poignant reminder that Heidi Klum is the exception, not the rule. --Emily

Note: Hundreds of women have submitted their pre- and post-pregnancy photos and stories, some of which show nudity (pride goes out the window in labor and delivery). Just wanted to give you a heads up (or heads down, in this case...).