And I Like To Take Up Space, Just Because I Can

I wasn't sure how I would react to my growing belly at first. I've tried to stay as small and out of the way as possible for as long as I can remember, and suddenly my whole life is about getting bigger and bigger and bigger, both physically and emotionally.

The title of this post is the line of a song that's been going through my head all day, and it's got me thinking...

I'm quite charmed by my belly. There's something terribly efficient about carrying my future family around with me everywhere I go--it's multi-tasking at its very best, which makes the Virgo in me positively ecstatic.

I feel like kicking some ass lately, and I swear it's because of my belly. I'm telling you, this thing has power. I'm more confident with this belly. This is a side of womanhood I've never known before.

I like it.

As women, we're often taught to shrink ourselves so as not to disrupt others. We learn early on to apologize. To smooth over. To make nice.

Well, I'm not in the mood to make nice anymore. I suppose this is something I could have decided with or without my pregnant belly; it just took me 31 years to work up the courage.

So that's my pledge to myself, and to this mysterious little person swimming around inside of me: To demand a little more space, to see all the ways I can grow, and to embrace them without apology.