I’ve Earned my Tiger Stripes (Tara)

When i first discovered I was pregnant I searched everywhere for post baby bodies, terrified of what I was going to look like after. I didn’t find anything then but recently came across your site and loved it! Hopefully by sharing my story and images I can ease the fear of other soon to be moms!

I am 21 years old and the mother of 1. I am about 5ft10 and I have no idea what I weigh now nor what I weighed before I got pregnant, I did however, weigh 180 at the end of my pregnancy. If I look in a mirror and like what I see who cares what a scale will tell me :). I got pregnant 2 days after my 20th birthday and gave birth to my beautiful baby girl on November 11, 2011 weighing 8lb 4oz. Before I got pregnant I had been wearing the same jeans since grade ten, it took me three months postpartum to fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans and now six months later those jeans are to big on me! (I thank breast feeding for that). My shirts don’t fit me so well anymore though since I went from a 36B to a 36D :(. I miss my smaller boobs! These ones are always in the way! I have included three pictures of my stomach, one picture is before I got pregnant and two are 6 months postpartum. Thankfully my teddy bear tattoo still looks like a bear, I got it done with the intention of never having kids (decided that too soon I think). I still love my body and I’ll still be rocking a bikini this summer. I hope every mother out there finds the strength and ability to love the changes in her body after giving birth. I wear my stretch marks proudly because I earned them.