The stunning Ariel Johnson, Giselle (4) and Ava (3).
Ariel had a little bit of morning sickness but everything else during her pregnancies was smooth sailing. She was induced at 37 and 38 weeks because her body and her babies were ready. Her daughters came into the world and that's when everything changed. Her universe had been about her and her husband and now everything's shifted. They have high points and low points, one minute you think you have everything together, she says, you think you're super mom and the next moment they're melting down and screaming and you realize you can't always make it right it. Some nights, Ariel goes to bed and cries herself to sleep because she wonders if she did things right, was she too hard or too soft, could she have done something better. It's a constant uphill battle but it's fun and she wakes up everyday welcoming whatever comes.
Not only as a mother but as an African American, as a black woman, Ariel feels it's important to show our daughters that these are our bodies. Bodies don't look the way we see them on tv or in magazines, what you see there is not realistic. Womanhood, pregnancy and childbirth changes you. She just wants her girls to know that they can love their bodies no matter what they look like or how they change.