by Jamie Reed posted in Parenting

I turned 35 three weeks after having my first baby. (I just missed out on being in the ?Advanced Maternal Age? category during my pregnancy.) I hadn?t thought much about this particular birthday leading up to it, I suppose I was fairly preoccupied with pregnancy, but since then, I?ve thought about it a lot.
I?ve always been one of those people who looked young for their age. My college ID photo from freshman year showed a girl who barely looked 14, let alone 18. I passed for a high school student well through college and as a college student for years after. Somewhere in the weeks following the birth of my baby I looked like I had aged about 15 years. Not only could I definitely NOT pass for a college student, I couldn?t even pass for a 35 year-old. My never-had-a-problem-with-it skin" It was red, wrinkled, and the areas around my nose and mouth actually looked (and felt) like leather. The bags under my eyes were slowly trying to reach my neck and my neck was reaching for my stomach. My body was soft in places it hadn?t been before, aching in places I thought it wouldn?t feel until I was at least 50 or 60. What happened"
I mean, I know what happened. I had a baby and felt the physical effects of labor, sleep deprivation, and stress. Somewhere around the two to three month mark I started to look and feel more like myself. Only now, I feel old.

He's wondering how those wrinkles got under my eyes too!
In the last week I?ve purchas...