Most women have a love-hate relationship with the stretch marks that come from their pregnancies. What could be seen as a final goodbye to your old body could also be viewed as the first hello from your new life. Still, even with the knowledge of where they came from and how they got there, stretch marks are a huge source of insecurity for a lot of us. But the amazing way this mom explained hers to her son might make you appreciate your own a little more.
Only one week after her twin daughters were born, mom and photographer Hayley Garnett took to Instagram to share an important message. "This morning Archer asked me what's wrong with my belly," she wrote, detailing what happened when her young son made notice of her stretch marks.
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Hayley's response was short, sweet, and incredibly real — so real that we're almost shocked by how moving we found it. "I told him that all of my babies leave marks on my belly so that I never forget for a second that I grew them in my body all on my own and that they exist earthside with me now!" she continued.
The mother shared that instead of viewing her stretch marks as something flawed, something that should be looked at with disgust, she sees them as "a forever reminder, whether [she's] truly confident having these marks or not, it's no doubt a testament to the miracles [her] body has made."
We weren't the only ones who were moved by Hayley's beautiful response. Thousands of her followers reached out to thank her for inspiring them to love their own stretch marks:
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This mom makes a fantastic point about something that is a huge source of contention for so many women. While she doesn't make sweeping generalizations about why every mom should automatically love their stretch marks, she does bring up a beautiful point about why they're there. Whether you love them or hate them, they exist because you got to bring new life into the world. That should definitely count for something.
