Pregnancy, Body Image and COVID-19

How you see yourself and your body image can be a battle.

“It’s insane how pregnancy can bring back all the behaviours and thoughts I worked so hard to unlearn. I know in my head that I’m being silly and that my body is gonna do its thing- I just have to trust it. But when your body changes so rapidly, it can bring back old patterns- patterns that feel familiar and comfortable- even if they are damaging.” This excerpt was taken from Jess’s instagram post. A post that put so many things into perspective.

Jess Dalliday is the founder of Pilates on Demand, a blogger and she’s expecting her second child. She’s been sharing her pregnancy journey on instagram and I wish I could have been following her pregnancy when I was pregnant.

It’s extremely common to struggle with body image. For some, it’s a brief period and for others it can be a life long battle. But if that struggle wasn’t enough, let’s add in COVID-19 and pregnancy. Jess’s honesty and vulnerability in her interview and instagram is nothing short of inspiring.

For someone who struggles with their body image, pregnancy can be extremely difficult – over the course of 9 months their body is consistently changing.

There are plenty of ways to compliment someone on their pregnancy without drawing attention to the size of their belly. Although your intention is in the right place, it can be damaging. Instead, compliment them on their hair, tell them they look healthy, you like their shirt or they’re glowing.

Once you factor in the anxiety and mental health aspect of being pregnant during this pandemic, everything is magnified. COVID-19 has caused a ton of people to be isolated and it’s taken a huge toll on their mental health. As if being pregnant isn’t scary enough – now there’s that many more things to be anxious about.

We explore all of this in depth in our interview.

As always, thank you to JJ Stewart Motors for their continued support in sharing these stories and bringing our community together.

Check out another interview I did about body image by clicking HERE!