Returning to the routine or activities you did before becoming a mother is not something that is easy for all women. With the arrival of a baby comes a series of significant changes in our lives, and while some activities disappear, new ones become present. Is it possible to combine the things we used to like, such as sports, with our new life as mothers?
It may not be the easiest, but it is certainly possible. We saw it a long time ago when a mother nursed her baby in the middle of judo competition. Now, another proof of this are the beautiful photographs that we will share below, in which a mother appears breastfeeding her baby for eight weeks, minutes before a hockey game.
Serah Small is a mother from Alberta, Canada, who has been a constant hockey player since she was a child, so practicing this sport has become an important part of his life and his identity.
Recently, Serah became the mother of a baby who is currently eight weeks old, which of course brought many changes in his body and in the way he played Now that he has rejoined his hockey team.
One of the new challenges she has faced as a mother is breastfeeding, for which she fortunately had the support of an advisor to help her and her baby named Ellie. Now, Serah has shared on her Facebook account a photograph taken by her mother, in which appears breastfeeding her baby Ellie in the locker room of her hockey team, just before starting a game.
For Serah, sharing these images has become an act of bravery, but at the same time learning, since Thanks to her lactation consultant, she learned not to feel ashamed to breastfeed in public and to be proud of what she was doing.
Serah begins the message with which she accompanies the image telling that at first she doubted whether or not she should publish the image: "I was very afraid to publish this image that I absolutely adore. Why? Because society has turned breasts into something only sexual. After sharing this picture with my lactation consultant, who helped me and Ellie, I realized that I should not feel ashamed for breastfeeding in public, but proud."
She continues telling about the problems and challenges she has had now that she is a mother, especially all the changes that were in her body after pregnancy and some difficulties she had with breastfeeding:
"I had a hard time breastfeeding Ellie covering me, so in the end I chose not to cover ourselves at all. Although sometimes I feel those judging eyes, I feel more empowered than ever to be able to meet my baby's needs, the way my body is destined to do so"Serah continues.
"I have struggled a lot to accept my new body, because I always had an athletic build. All my life I played hockey and when I knew I was pregnant I signed up to participate in two games this month, trusting that my body would simply "return to normal." Well, this weekend I was in four games and I learned how my body is really different now, I felt slower and lost at the beginning when I returned to the ice. My body was not doing the things that my brain thought I could do."
However, despite those changes that could be interpreted as negative about her performance as a player, she feels the opposite:
"I have never felt more proud of myself and my body. Forgetting my breast pump has also created new challenges for me. I felt how the milk came while playing, so in the breaks during the game I undressed to feed my baby. Being a mom is absolutely wonderful and I am very happy to be able to do something that I absolutely love and at the same time be able to meet my baby's needs. Our bodies are wonderful and this weekend was the first time I could truly appreciate mine"concludes Serah.
In addition, she closes her post with a very clear message: "The only way to normalize breastfeeding is to show what can be done wherever and whenever!
Serah's post has been filled with positive comments, in which many women and mothers applaud not only their courage to publish the photograph, but for encourage other moms to continue breastfeeding and feel proud of it.
In addition, at the same time she shows that It is possible to continue doing what we love and at the same time, attend to our children. We can make our children part of the activities we like to do, of course, as long as their safety and well-being are not affected.
Photos | Serah Small (reproduced with permission)
Via | Huffington Post
In Babies and more | The beautiful moment in which a judoka nurses her 2 and a half year old baby in full competition, The beautiful photo of a mother marrying and breastfeeding
