Part Two: Becoming A Princess and/or Having
Children
I could become a princess or a duchess and give birth to my prince and walk out to the world with an uncontracted uterus.
When you ask them what they want to be when they grow up, all the little girls I work with have princess wrapped into some part of their desired occupation.
A princess policeman.
A doctor and a princess.
I could become a princess or a duchess and give birth to my prince and walk out to the world with an uncontracted uterus.
When you ask them what they want to be when they grow up, all the little girls I work with have princess wrapped into some part of their desired occupation.
I want to be a princess chef.
A princess busdriver.A princess policeman.
A doctor and a princess.
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This is old news, but over the last couple of weeks,
everyone was talking about Kate Middleton's uncontracted uterus. About the
nerve she was sporting her "baby belly" to the whole world. Some
people judged. Other marvelled at how brave she was. As though the scariest
thing in the world is to reveal your uncontracted uterus.
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| Kate and her princes |
I can relate. I fear the uncontracted uterus.
From a young age, my deepest fears included getting a double chin and having my stomach stick out more than my boobs. My boobs have always been tiny and so it wouldn't take much for my stomach to extend beyond them. To prevent the double chin, I used to read books and do my homework with my chin propped a pillow. To prevent the protruding abdomen, I was constantly doing crunches and sit-ups.
My stomach got hard and and chiselled. It's not that sad a story except once an osteopath told me that if I got pregnant, I would probably have a hard time. My abdominals would split in half and sag forever.
I'm ashamed that this terrifies me so much.
If not, we all have high vaginas that will never ever desert us.
From a young age, my deepest fears included getting a double chin and having my stomach stick out more than my boobs. My boobs have always been tiny and so it wouldn't take much for my stomach to extend beyond them. To prevent the double chin, I used to read books and do my homework with my chin propped a pillow. To prevent the protruding abdomen, I was constantly doing crunches and sit-ups.
My stomach got hard and and chiselled. It's not that sad a story except once an osteopath told me that if I got pregnant, I would probably have a hard time. My abdominals would split in half and sag forever.
I'm ashamed that this terrifies me so much.
I'm ashamed that this is one of the main reasons I am
terrified of having children.
One of the other reasons is that someone told me that since
having kids, she can't use tampons anymore. They just slide out. As for the
diva cup, alas, it leaks.
Apparently this is not that common.
Usually the vag recovers quite well. If not, we all have high vaginas that will never ever desert us.
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| My High Vagina. Me and Keira Knightley both have one. |
At the time, I think I was drinking too much.
Despite my sit-up frenzies and pillow facelifts, I used to think that I would grow up and become a wonderful mother. I babysat like crazy and imagined that I would be like all my favourite moms, making whole grain banana bread, reading to my children, and having a job that allowed me to be around when they came home from school for lunch.
Now I am afraid of a saggy belly?
The saggy stomach, the tamponless vagina, probably these are
terrible reasons not to have children. What are the good reasons?
Overpopulation. Climate change. Having children during a
tornado or during the end of the world is impractical. A couple of weeks ago I sent myself the following email:
Don't ever have children. No children for you. You are hysterical. Chill the fuck out.
I had just had a mammoth tantrum over whether or not to have
a smoothie for breakfast, or oatmeal, or both. It was pathetic.
27-year-old tantrums may be a good reason not to have
children.The other reason is, the kid may end up being just like you.
Fuck.
My friend Fern likes animals signficantly more than
people, and children.
I was with her when she learned that someone who she didn't
particularly like had given birth.
"Why the fuck did she have a kid? She barely has her
shit together herself. What is it that makes people arrogant enough to believe
that they are worthy of reproduction?"She went on a rant about people passing on shitty genes and suffering and babies being bad for the environment. Her rant left me somewhat offended and taken aback. At the time, I had just begun to reconcile myself to contaminating the gene pool with my own hideous annihilation. This was before I got my job at the Montessori school.
Children are delightful for varying amounts of time. I might never be able to forgive my child if my stomach expanded and then never came back down to the same flat, hard formation ever again. What a horrible burden for the child to bear. It would have to spend its whole life making up for my sad saggy stomach. I tell myself that I would also resent a child if it wrecked my yoga practice, and that probably it would. But then I think, what is a better thing to do, to press into your hands and lift yourself off the ground with one leg behind your head and the other up your ass, or to make a real live person who in twenty years will probably be better at everything you’ve ever tried in your life?
Hard to say.
I guess we'll see how effective the withdrawal method turns
out to be and then we'll find out, or we won't.
The End.
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Twitter: @mypelvicfloor I Let Go, by Erica J. Schmidt |
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