You look great! (for just having a baby)

Let's face it, if you've had a baby, you've probably heard this at least once or twice from well meaning people. They come over, dote all over your tiny infant, ask how old he/she is, what his/her name is etc., then there is an awkward silence that needs to be filled. This is where the outpouring of word vomit begins. It starts out innocently enough with three flattering words, but once that dreaded phrase is tagged onto the end, you have to wonder.... is it in fact a compliment?

Since I had the Chub Muffin almost 6 months ago I get this every so often, to where I smile and thank them warmly. Inside, however, I have to wonder. What does this mean exactly? Once you give birth to a child, does the attractive meter start to slump? Is there a new standard for what "looking great" means? Like before you were capable of achieving a perfect 10 (I never was, but some people...) but now a 3 is acceptable and a 5 is almost unattainable? It's almost as flattering as the "You don't even look pregnant from the back (but woah, when you turn to the side..yikes!)".

And let's face it, pregnancy does do some mean things to the body: pizza dough stomach skin, stretch marks, spider veins, hair loss, extra poundage, and that stubborn linea nigra that just doesn't want to fade, among other unpleasantness. Some of us were fortunate enough to skip out on most, others were burdened with them all. Does this mean we are uncapable of getting back to our perfect former self? In some cases, maybe. But it doesn't mean we can't try, and it doesn't mean that the new "me" is necessarily worse, just different. And if our hormones weren't already running around like a crazy lady in a mental institute, the last thing we need is to feel like the winner of a lunch lady beauty pageant. So even if it's true that the new measurement for looking great has sunk to a new low, it would be nice if others at least pretended that wasn't the case. So the next time you see a woman who gave birth in the last 12 months, tell her she looks great. Period.