Ash

Hi

I’m Ash, aged 32, and mom to two beautiful boys. I’ve had three pregnancies. These photos were taken during my last pregnancy and after.

I felt huge during my pregnancies. I carried really toward the front. The stretch marks came with my first pregnancy (with a girl) when I was 18, and I think they were worse because I had hyperemesis, extreme stress and a very poor diet before the pregnancy. My stomach looked like a giant bloodshot eye during that pregnancy.

When I was pregnant with my second child seven years later the strechmarks went pink, but didn’t really stretch and by the third they just stayed white. The skin on my tummy is very fragile now and even something simple like my pants being too tight will cause blood blisters to form!

I breastfed my two boys for a total of five years. My boobs are pretty much the same as they were before the pregnancies (an A cup), but with a bit more droop. I gained around 35 kilos (around 70+ pounds) in the process of the two pregnancies and breastfeeding and I’ve lost 20 (50 lb) of them thought a lot of exercise and diet, which I began once I had stopped breastfeeding. Still some more to go. I was never thin before so I don’t have a very svelte me to aim for, just normal.

I saw a woman at the gym who had a tummy like mine, then didn’t see her for a couple of months and when she came back she had had a tummy tuck. The scar looked so invasive and so painful. No sign of her stretchmarks now though.

My first two births were natural, the third was c-sect. I think the saggy tummy is definitely worse post c-sect. I also had surgery this year, so you can see a few laparoscopy scars on my stomach. The big red line is because its hot and my panties were folded over and made a line on my tummy!

Your project is so fascinating. After I read all the stories I went and looked through all our photos. It made me cry. I loved being pregnant and I wanted to have a bigger family, but we have our two boys and I guess that’s more than a lot of people have.

About 38 weeks pregnant.

Four years post partum

J at 8 months with me and S.

J and me at 8 months old.

38 weeks pregnant during third pregnancy