Courtesy Mariah Herrera(LEABURG, Ore.) — A nurse’s inspirational note left by a scale at a medical clinic has given body pride to a new mom.
Mariah Herrera, 24, stepped on the scale last month for the first time since giving birth to her 5-month-old son, Isaiah.
“I wanted to cry before I got on the scale because I know I’m not at the point that I wanted to be,” Herrera of Leaburg, Oregon, told ABC News. “I had avoided [the scale].”
When Herrera got on the scale, a bright pink note caught her eye.
The note, posted by a nurse, was an inspirational reminder that the number on the scale is not everything about a person.
Herrera had seen the note once before at a pre-pregnancy appointment. This time, as a first-time mom in her first postpartum weigh-in, the note took on new significance.
“As soon as I saw the note, the number that was on the scale doesn’t even matter,” she said. “I even asked the nurse not to tell me my weight because it didn’t matter.”
The note was “so impactful” for Herrera that it inspired her to post motivational notes on her bathroom mirror in her own home.
“I feel like women who have scales in their home should have a note like that,” she said. “The sticky notes around my bathroom are daily reminders.”
The Eugene, Oregon, medical clinic where Herrera saw the note by the scale did not reply to ABC News’ request for comment.
Herrera is now focused on what she described as the “journey” she and other women are on to see beyond the number on the scale.
“The other day I was laying down with Isaiah and looking at him and thought I don’t know how I could ever feel bad about my body,” she said. “I made that in my belly and I shouldn’t be mad about the end result because I have him out of it.”
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