When you're pregnant, you go through more than just physical changes, but emotional and mental ones too. The amalgamation of all this change can definitely take a toll on your spirit, no matter how exciting it is to be growing new life inside of you. Alison of the Instagram handle @alison.hanna got candid about these changes, and how she is ultimately embracing them.
In a recent post, Alison got real about being 22 weeks pregnant and learning how to become more patient with her body and herself.
"Learning to love my body even though nothing fits anymore, my ankles are swollen and my body is exhausted from growing a human being," she wrote in the caption.
But feeling comfortable is not just what you can see from the outside. It's learning to accept "the emotional roller coaster pregnancy is ... "
" … and knowing how beautiful it is to be so intimately connected to another human being," she continued.
More from CafeMom: Why One Woman Has 'Decided to Stay Pregnant' for 260 Weeks
Alison is a crisis counselor for at-risk youth; her job can be fast-paced and challenging, and she's learned to acknowledge that she might sometimes reach a physical or emotional limit and need to take a break.
"I've had to have patience with myself when my emotions are out of control, and have had to acknowledge that it's a part of being pregnant," she tells CafeMom. "So instead of resenting it, I've tried to embrace it."
She's also had to embrace her baby bump as it grows past the point of being hidden.
"It's also learning that taking up space is scary as a female and an introvert and it feels so intrusive knowing I can't hide the bump anymore and everyone around me knows she's in there," she wrote. As she tells CafeMom, some people will stare and others won't know what to say, but she refuses to let that affect how she feels about having the bump.
With a daughter growing inside of her, Alison wants to be a "good example of a woman comfortable in her own skin," she tells CafeMom.
She feels empowered by the thought of raising a girl to ask for what she needs and to not feel shy about taking up space in a society that often tells you to shrink.
More from CafeMom: Mom Shares Drastic Side-by-Side Photos to Show How Different Your Pregnancies Can Be
She also hopes that audiences who see her post know that they're not alone, and that their daily struggles are valid and just require a little patience with themselves, she tells CafeMom.
