Age: 21
Number of pregnancies/births: 1/1
Age of children: 3 week old baby boy
I joined the Navy when I was 18. Went to bootcamp in Great Lakes Illinois two weeks after I graduated from High School on July 3, 2007 and graduated August 31, 2007. I ended up being stationed at NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach Va, across the country from my family in California. I met my amazing boyfriend in the Navy and found out we were expecting a baby November 2009. I was terrified and i felt so alone being so far from home.
I weighed around 150 when I met my boyfriend and was comfortable with my weight. I had gained 20 lbs by the time I found out I was pregnant. I weighed 206 just before I gave birth and I hated the way my body looked. I’ve never had a flat stomach and a perfect body but I’ve always been so comfortable with my body until I got pregnant. The stretch marks I could handle. I’ve had them before and they faded with time until they were almost invisible. It was the darkening of my nipples and arreola that horrified me. They used to be a pretty pink and now they are a dark brown. I now have a dark line from my belly button down to my pubic bone. My body doesn’t feel like my own anymore.
I have 6 months to get back in shape for the Navy. I have to get down to 145 or 32% body fat. I weigh 178 and am nowhere near being 32% body fat. I have more pressure to get back into shape from both the Navy and my boyfriend. I feel useless in my own body. I can’t work out until I hit 6 weeks PP. That’s when I go back to work and am cleared to start working out again.
On top of everything I’m trying to heal physically and emotionally from my c section. I feel like a failure as a mother for not being able to have a normal vaginal birth. I feel like I have been robbed of experiencing my baby’s birth.
Hopefully one day I recover from the experience and be able to lose the weight and get back into shape. As for my flabby stomach and saggy uneven breasts, I plan on having plastic surgery in a year when I transfer to another command. I’ve never felt confident enough to wear a bikini and I’d like to wear one someday. My breasts have never been perky and they’ve always been pancake like and my nipples always pointed down. I love my baby but not the body that came with him. He is so worth it though.
1st pic: Pre pregnancy
2nd pic: 40 weeks pregnant
3rd pic: 3 weeks PP belly
4th pic: uneven saggy breasts
5th pic: side view
6th pic: c section scar
7th pic Anthony Gabriel
8th pic: Anthony and Daddy(I’m jealous of his abs lol)
9th pic: Anthony and mommy
Your body is beautiful! It has undergone a huge transition. My body was almost exactly like yours after having all my children (I had five csections and then one vaginal birth) but it does even out. The boobs come back up a little, the skin gets tighter, etc. Just be willing to love yourself and strut your stuff :)
Stacy
UBA5C
give it time forsure.. it will get better . love your baby and yourself and be good to your body :) you have a gorgeous face i love it! ps i know this has nothing to do with anything but you have almost the same nose as mine! so pretty! :)
I’m due with our first baby here in a few days and I’m in the AIr Force.(I was stationed at Langley AFB years ago and miss the Hampton Roads area)
I have a lot of the same concerns of getting back into shape afterwards and we only have 6 months. It take 9 months to put on the weight, and we only have 6 weeks of maternity leave and I guess the military expects us to hit the gym after we are discharged from the hospital (yeah, right…) I’ve never been super skinny either, I USED to maintain 145 with A LOT of hard time at the gym. I sooo understand the boob thing! Mine have never, ever been perky and it was hard in my early 20s when everyone else was small and perky… and I was already pointed south – pre pregnancy. I know it’s just genetics for me, can’t fight that.
It was great to read your story and I don’t feel so alone, especially on the military aspect. You have a beautiful baby and wish you the best!
congrats on your beautiful baby boy. how come you have to get down to 145 when you were 150-170 before you even got pregnant? Sorry if its a dumb question i don’t really know to much about the army. I am almost a year postpardom and it took about 4 months for me to loose my pregnancy weight and another 2 months for my body to tighten back up. So about 6 months in total. I didn’t really work out or anything though. Good luck and don’t worry your body will natually start to go back to normal :)
I wouldn’t worry to much about having to have a c section. At least your baby was born healthy and in the end thats all that matters :)
The dark line down your stomach will fade, i don’t know if your nipples will go back to pink though, mine are still a brownish colour although im still breastfeeding so that may change when i finish.
good luck with your future :)
Kelly,
In the military, among all branches, Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines we have fitness standards we have to adhere to, to include maintaining a healthy BMI as well as sit-ups, push-ups and running. It varies from branch to branch, but it’s part of being physically fit to accomplish the mission.
Your body is beautiful, and strong!
You accomplished something remarkable and you have an adorable baby boy.
Plus, you have one of the prettiest smiles i’ve ever seen :)
I love the last picture, the one of you and your son. You both look adorable!
The reason I have to get back down to 145 is because that is the max weight for my height. Before I was able to get away with 150 because my tape measurements were within regulations. now since my body has changed so have the tape measurements and I won’t be able to get away with 150 anymore regardless if I can pass the run pushup and sit up test.
I usually hate it when people comment on other people’s comments, but Kelly…your c-section comment is one of the most frustrating things a section mama can hear. Nobody wants their baby unhealthy but it is 100% natural to grieve for the birth you didn’t get to have.
You did NOT fail and you did NOT miss out on your baby’s birth–he just decided to be born a different way. I had a c-section a year ago for a breech baby and I still feel like I got robbed sometimes. My posts are on here under “Coming to Grips with a Cesarean” and “Ode to my Scar” (both tagged with “cesarean”), and I received some wonderfully helpful comments on both. You can also check out http://www.cesareanscar.com for other womens’ stories. You are not alone in feeling like you got cheated out of something special. Please do not feel guilty about grieving for your lost birth. And please remember that there is often the option of a VBAC.
You are only 3 weeks postpartum. Your uterus isn’t even back to normal yet. If you start your workouts slowly–even just walking around the block a few times with the baby in the stroller–you’ll have no time hitting the Army’s goal by the deadline. Good luck mama :)
(P.S. I grew up in Chesapeake–nice to see a local post on here!)
I just love your strech marks :)