Hi, this is me two years after having my wonderful baby boy!! I never thought the stretch marks on my legs and behind would fade but they did and now you cant see them. This site helped me to regain confidence with my looks. Thank you! And for all the new mothers, you are beautiful and don’t let anyone make you feel like you aren’t!!!
i am a 21 year old mother & wife of a United States Marine, who is currently deployed to Iraq. for deployment number two!! Our Little blessing, Lillian Grace, was born three months into our first deployment together, and because i don’t have a constant (or – let’s be serious, ANY.) means of a man reassuring me, of how i look post-partum, i’ve come to find myself struggling recently with insecurity issues, because of how my body has changed so drastically since giving birth. i am slowly learning by excercise, books, and this wonderful website to embrace the new markings i’ve got from growing a tiny little peanut inside of me, but i have found it to be very hard very hard. i was in labor for 21 hours, and even after i had an epidural, i found the pressure of the baby moving down the birth canal, to be just as uncomfortable as the contractions! after 19 hours of labor, and restlessness, i was taken for an emergency C-section (which was the last thing i wanted!! goodbye abs!!) which turned out for the best. i now have a beautiful baby girl (who got to meet her daddy whenever she was a little over 4 months old!) who weighed in at 8 lbs. 3 oz. and i love every minute of being a mother. i am so happy to share my story, and read everyone else’s. thank you so much for helping me love my body again. God Bless America, and all those who serve at home, and abroad.
my name is tamara….im 19 years old. i have a nine month old son…he is beyond the greatest thing that could have ever happened to me….seeing how i have no family…hes def the only guarantee in my life and hes my world….through all this before i had him i prlly had a playboy body lol as i may say….i still had insecurities…but now…i would give anything to have those insecurities back rather than the ones i have now…i have stretch marks from the top of my stomach all the way to the bottom of my knees!!! it just crazy to think the rest of my life i will NEVER be able to just wear shorts… or a bathing suit…not even a one peice!!!! its crazy to think this way…i hate summer now cz i have no choice but to wear sweats and tshirts….it kills me when i go shopping when i see shorts and skirts even jeans that i used to be able to wear…i dunno very depressing…i dont know what to do…one thing is i cant accept it…its just too much to handle…
I am 24 years old. My son just turned one year old! I am amazed by how quickly the time has passed… almost as amazed as I am by women’s bodies. I have always thought that pregnant women are beautiful, but after going through a pregnancy, I understand it on such a more personal level. I loved being pregnant and wish I could just be perpetually 7 months pregnant! I felt excellent, I have never received so many compliments at any other time in my life, it was awesome! Everyday was incredible… to be able to look down and see my baby moving from the outside, never ceased to amaze me. Of course, I am not the hugest fan of what pregnancy can do to a body. I started my pregnancy at 145 pounds. I gained 40 pounds while I was pregnant, which left me mind boggled because I did EVERYTHING right! Now I am a strong believer in the fact that pregnant bodies are going to gain what they need to sustain that little life, so we need not be so obsessed with it! My weight currently fluctuates between 145 and 148. Even though I lost the weight really quickly, I do not look the same. I have extra skin and fat pockets that were certainly not there before. I, thankfully, did not get any stretch marks during my pregnancy. I think that was God’s way of saying “I gave you enough stretch marks during puberty… you have had them for 8 years, you don’t need anymore.” :) Even though I do not have the “ideal body” I just look at my son and remember the miracle that I have created with this body. My body kept him safe and warm and helped him grow big and strong for 38 weeks and 5 days. My body has nourished him for his first year of life (and still going strong.) I know that I may not look like your average 24 year old, but I am not an average 24 year old… I am a mother! I am so proud to be a mother to (who I think is) the most beautiful little boy in the world and I would not trade that for the body of a supermodel, not in a million years. All of us mothers share a special bond with our children and with each other that no one else could ever understand. We should all be so proud of what our bodies have accomplished and never be ashamed of some extra skin, saggy breast, or stretch marks… those came from our children and we wouldn’t be the same people without them! (I have included photos of me at 4 weeks pregnant, 37 weeks pregnant, and now 1 year postpartum)
This is me after having 3 girls ages 10, 8, 5 and one more on the way. I am 8 weeks pregnant this picture was taken this summer before i became pregnant
Well here it is. I am a 20-year-old mommy to be. For the last 8 years I’ve struggled on and off with an eating disorder.I wish I could say that I outgrew it and realized I had a problem and got over it, but that’s not true. I know that it’s a problem, but it’s not something that I could let go of. Like any other addiction it’s just not that easy. But I can say that since I’ve been pregnant I HAVE let it go, if only for now. I’m hoping that maybe eating normally for 9 months will have broken me of this awful habit, but you never know until you test yourself. So I can’t say I will definitely be better after Caden is born, but I can say that I will try. But here’s the good part of all this. I’m completely shocked at how easily I’ve accepted my pregnant body. Even how excited I’ve been about it. Until recently I loved absolutely everything about it, yes, I had moments where I would feel insecure but for the most part I thought my baby belly was the cutest thing. And I say until recently because in the last month I’ve gotten lots more stretch marks. At first I was getting a few on my hips and LOTS on my breasts but I was ok with that, I had expected it and they weren’t that bad so I didn’t really mind them. But then I noticed one on my belly, just one, and I totally panicked. After I’d reached week 30 and I was still virtually stretch mark free, I had rejoiced a little and relaxed about it thinking I wouldn’t get any, but then low and behold here’s this little uninvited guest invading my belly space. I have to say it took all I had not to cry, but I didn’t. Instead I just started worrying constantly that I would get more and I would be horribly disfigured. Well I did get more. A LOT more. And although I’ve seen much, much worse on other people I felt so ugly and disgusting I just wanted to sit in my room and cry. I started to really dwell on it, it was all I thought about, every day I would look at my belly and just feel completely disgusted. I didn’t even want Justin to look at me and I was totally embarrassed for anyone to know. But slowly something great began to happen. I won’t say I started to like them or think they were beautiful like some mothers do, but I started to ACCEPT them for what they were, the marks my beautiful little boy had left on my body. Proof that I had done the ultimate thing, I had created and nurtured a brand new life. I was more than just a silly little girl now, I had become a strong, amazing WOMAN. And not just any woman, a mother. Caden isn’t here yet and I still don’t know what my belly will look like after he is, it may be just awful, but I am optimistic. And even if it is terrible and I will have days, maybe even weeks where I feel terrible and unattractive, the fact still remains that I am the way I am because I brought a beautiful new life into this world. I don’t expect to look the way I did before I got pregnant, but I will work very hard to at least look my best and feel great about myself again. I know that I’ve done well and I haven’t gained 50 pounds or anything. For the most part, other than my belly I am still the same size. Of course I have gained SOME extra weight but I guess I’m really not a moose after all, lol. Along the way I’ll just have to remind myself that it was all worth it and I did a fantastic thing. Not everyone can go through an entire pregnancy and barely gain a pound and escape the dreaded stretch marks. But pounds can be lost, and stretch marks will fade. One thing that won’t, however, is my love for my little man. I know that when I finally see him for the first time it will all have been worth each and every little scar. And the first time he says “Mommy” I’m sure I’ll forget all these insecurities completely. I can only hope that his father will realize the same things I have and be more supportive. I always thought that he would be overjoyed and understanding but it turns out he’s pretty much repulsed by my new body. I know he can’t help it but it still hurts a lot, I don’t think the stretch marks would really bother me at all if they didn’t bother him. But I guess we can only see… So there’s my story, completely open and blatant honesty. Think and say what you will because this is something I needed to say. And who knows, maybe it will help another mommy deal with her thoughts and insecurities. I can only hope so. Here are some photos all throughout my pregnancy, I’ll post some more once he gets here!
Before I got pregnant I was a very petite person. I used to worry about whether I’d manage to “stay pretty” during pregnancy, keep my weight gain reasonable, avoid stretch marks, etc. But the first time I became pregnant, unfortunately, it was an ectopic and the diagnosis was missed. The pregnancy in my left fallopian tube ruptured, I lost my tube and very nearly my life. After that reality check, I didn’t care so much about having a beautiful pregnancy – I just wanted to have a healthy one, that I could carry to completion without dying. I conceived again only months after the surgery but had an early miscarriage. We started to think it just wasn’t going to happen. I have a vivid memory of lying on a hospital gurney holding my husband’s hand, sobbing, apologizing for my apparent inability to give him the thing I know he has always wanted so very much…a child. The first photo below was taken at 6 weeks pregnant, when it was confirmed that the third time’s a charm…we had an embryo in the uterus where it belonged. It was a miracle! The egg had come from my left ovary, where we could see the corpus luteum on ultrasound, and navigated all the way across and through the remaining right-side fallopian tube into the uterus. I took the picture to document my pre-pregnancy body, hoping that this time instead of suffering a loss I would actually get as big and round as a healthy pregnant woman should. The second photo was at 36.5 weeks, just barely before my boy arrived. I love the round fullness of every curve, even though it’s never going back the way it was before…the new softness of my body is proof that it can do what it’s supposed to. No matter whether it ever becomes firm or lean again, or whether my boobs droop halfway to my knees when we stop breastfeeding, my husband and I are both grateful for the gift of a son. I love what my body has finally achieved, and will wear its new colors and shapes with happiness.
I am 23 yrs. old. This was my 2nd pregnancy but first born (1st on was a mc.) I was 167 lbs before pg. Went up to 210 lbs and I am now at 183 lbs. I have come to terms that this is now what my body looked like. At 167 I was in a size 11 and now I am in a size 16 (I can fit into a thirteen and actually get the zipper up now but It is still hard to breathe). But in the end I have to say it was all worth it for my beautiful baby girl.
So i am a first time mother of a beautiful baby boy named Christian, and I’ve always struggled with body issues. My name is Pam and i am 3 1/2 months PP. Growing up i always had weight issues but once i was diagnosed at the age of 14 with Hashimoto’s Hypothyroiditis and heart palpitations i began taking medicine and the weight dropped off. Before getting pregnant i weighed 110 lbs and thought that i had areas to improve on, but really i didn’t. During my pregnancy i gained 60 lbs but really didn’t notice it until after i gave birth and looked at the pictures of me. I guess its something to do with the belly that makes you feel good in your own body. But after giving birth to a healthy 6.6 lb baby boy i found that i wasn’t that skinny girl anymore and i had terrible stretch marks ALL over my belly. It defintely hasn’t improved my self esteem issues but the way i see it i’d rather have stretch marks and be able to get that flat stomach back than not have stretch marks and have a floppy apron. So far in the past 3 months pp i have lost 33 lbs and and still going strong in the weight loss dept. I contribute the first 20 lbs to having postpartum baby blues. Unfortunately i didn’t take pictures of my belly right after birth, but i do have them so far at 3 months pp, and glad to say that if you do exercise it can get better. I know i have a ways to go (28 lbs left) but it can get better. As for the stretch marks, they are starting to fade but i see them as an accomplishment of my miracle that i was given. I will try to keep up with the pics of the weight loss. But by no means do i think i have the upper hand on anyone who’s had a baby and has to deal with the belly and stretch marks. I respect those who are willing to sacrifice the perfect body for a miracle.
I’m 18,I live in London England with boyfriend of 2.5 years. I recently had my first baby, a boy I named Caden. I had a traumatic labour, I had an emergeny c section, after my baby became distressed. He had opened his bowels whilst still in the womb and swallowed the poo. He didn’t breath for 4 min after he was born and he was whisked off to intensive care. Caden spent a week in SCBU. If this wasn’t bad enough the staff would rude and not vert helpful. I was never told if he was going to be OK, when we were likely go home, if he proggressed. On day two I was offered the chance to hold him and I hesitated (I was scared because all the tubes wires etc) the nurse made it very clear she thought I was an awful mother. Caden made a rapid recovery pulling out his breathing tubes and refusing to have them put back in the nurses relised he was breathing by himself.After that he never looked back and everyday got better until day 8 we were allowed home. I’m 5’8 and put on about 50 lbs during my pregnancy ( 10lb 10 oz was Caden lol) I lost about 43 pounds by the tim e he was 3 weeks old. However I’ve been left with a saggy tummy and stretchmarks.I also breastfed for the first 3 weeks and now my boobs are saggy and empty. Sometimes I’m ok with this but other days it upsets me. I completed my A levels when my son was 2 weeks old and plan to go to uni to study Fashion journalism next year but don’t know if I’ll feel comfortable around loads of fashionistas with my new mummy body. I also dabbled in modelling before I had my son and think thats another reason I find it hard to accept my new body. But I know my body did a great thing by carying my 10lb 10 oz beautiful boy.But I won’t be wearing a bikini anytime soon!! ( I think the pics don’t show the true extent of the damage – it looks better in pic(not sure why) )
