Growing up, and because those whom I personally encounter are not really celebrities, most of the moms I saw can be identified easily – they all sport this protruding belly even if some of them may be thin. I don’t look down on it though. I considered it way back then as a kind of champion belt like boxing champions have; sort of like something to be proud after having a baby, I thought so at that time when getting married and having babies was still so far removed from my mind.

When I was two months with baby though, it started to concern me. Yes of course I still consider it as an achievement. But my prevailing question was that isn’t there a way not to make it appear so obvious??! A Filipino colleague however who gave birth a little over a year ago said that there really is no escaping it; that moms would have to deal with this protruding belly for the rest of your life. Kind of like a sentence for imprisonment isn’t it.

And so I chewed on my lip, worried. And then I thought, how does Japanese women do it?? I mean, sure they’re gifted with slim figures and they’re gifted as well with the genes of still being trim even when heavy with baby. But surely at 9 months their bellies expand as well, even when the other parts of their bodies doesn’t. So how do they make the stretched muscles compress back in?

After much browsing with baby magazines, Okasan confirmed as well what I have had suspicions on – right after giving birth, moms wear a special kind of belt or binder to squeeze back their uterus and figures in.

Our maternity hospital gave us a list of what we should bring and what the hospital will be providing. This girdle practice is so engrained in the Japanese pregnancies that the hospital is even providing me one set of this binder in my whole stay in the hospital – 5 days at the least.

Seeing how effective it is for the Japanese women, I do hope that this practice will also be done in the Philippines albeit a far as I know, for those who have had cesarians, they are also required to wear binders.

Why I’m hoping so is so that more Pinay moms would be more aware that they do have a choice – that they can have their old figures back after having a baby and that they needn’t be a celebrity nor exercise to death (although of course exercise is a big help) to get rid of the baby belly.

It isn’t just genes; a Filipino friend-colleague could attest the boon of these binders. She now still have her old figure, even after having her baby. And I so dearly hope it will have the same effect on me.