Author: Bonnie (SOAM)

Hi, my name is Khareen Andersson. I am from the Philippines and i am now living in Sweden with my family…I love my family so much. My hubby is Swedish and he works in a cruise ship that travels the east coast at times and the west coast in the U.S. at times. He works 3 months and stays home 3months. We have 4kids now for the last 6years of marriage. We have 2 boys and 2girls now. The girls are twins. I have recently given birth to my second beautiful baby boy. He’s the only baby delivered here in Sweden while the rest of my kids were delivered in the Philippines all of them thru CS. My husband sent me this link to your website so he could tell me that i am not alone feeling shit about the way i look PP. I just would like to share my photos after my last baby. Although my husband tells me he loves me no matter what, i could not help disbelieving him and thinking he’s just saying that to make me feel better. On the contrary, i feel even worse. After my 2 C-Sections, my scar didn’t look so bad. But after this last one, i could not help thinking that maybe it was Dr. Frankenstein who operated me! I couldn’t help feeling even uglier! I know i should not think about things like these because it’s just shallowness, but how can that help us think otherwise? I could not think that “my body is a temple and that it had given me 4 beautiful babies.., etc…” when that image of myself is glaring back at me everytime i look at myself in the mirror. I know, i should be thankful that my kids are healthy and i have a loving husband..don’t get me wrong, i am. It’s just that, having this “butt-looking” thing in front me doesn’t really help my self confidence right now, if i have any left at all.

I started at 114 lbs pre-pregnancy, and had gained 65 lbs with my twin daughters by the 35th week when they were delivered preterm by cesarean. Most of the pounds fell off pretty quickly, with exclusive breastfeeding and the energy burned keeping them both as content as possible. I don’t mind the stretch marks on my breasts, knowing they have sated and grown two beautiful healthy 13 month olds. The cesarean scar runs right along the crease where my underwear stop; when I see it, I am amazed that these two lives made their entrance from such a relatively small incision, and I remember the relief and joy their father and I felt that morning when they first opened their lungs and screamed. Then there is the twin skin – a seer-sucker pattern of stretch marks upon stretch marks on my abdomen. It is the hardest to come to terms with. Some days I feel used up, like I understand why barbaric men would take a virgin wife for each child – and yes, every fiber of my feminist being quivers as a forest of knives at such a thought. On my best days, I see the twin skin as the most fundamental body art, hard won, and could parade it unashamed at the beach with my wondrous children discovering sand. I haven’t had any of the latter days in the summertime yet.

I had been dating a very nice boy,who was my rock. for just under 2years. when at age 16 we discovered ,that i was pregnant, we really thought it couldnt be possible. what life could we offer our precious baby? we werent living at home due to both divorced familys, both abandoned fathers. 1 alcoholic and terminally ill mother , & one bi poler ,schizophrenic. however we believed in god and that this was meant to be, so together here we are today with our ever so handsome son Zackariah Emmanuel @ 14 months, I’m turning 19 and he 21, i have much sadness inside, when i look in the mirror at my now naked figure!!! however looking at my sons smile makes me realize i would suffer much worse, anything for him :) i love my family & am a proud mummy. i love this sight!!!! must say i cried and cried it was all so real seeing the photos of all our bodies but equally felt peace knowing i’m not alone. so thank you to the creators its a harsh truth !!!!!!!!!!

This is what my skin looks like now, after having carried triplets.

I had my daughter in april of last year. I never thought I would love my body and accept myself as a beautiful woman. But somehow out of the cloud that is early motherhood a woman evolved. I love my curves and have come to accept what it all has meant to me.

I have had 3 children. My first was born in 2000. I started Small and really blew up with her. I gained over 40 lbs. and never really got a flat stomach back. My second wasn’t born till 5 years later and I was on bed rest almost the whloe pregnancy with placenta ppevia so you can imagine the lack of exercise I recieved. I got pregnant with my 3rd when my second was only 14 months old. So these pictures are of me now.

Hi first I can’t say enough good things about this site!! I am a mother of two beautiful,happy,healthy babys.I gave life to my children and in doing so they gave my life reason beyond. I am so in love with these two little people. with eveyday that passes I grow more and more amazed with life itself. How quickly our children grow. From womb to mothers arms. My daughter is two and my son is seven weeks I just cant belive how everyday is something so incredibly new and amazing. I love my children so very much. I am so lucky that they are mine! The journey to motherhood is so wonderful and we go through so much. We grow people in our bodies. We give birth to the future to new beginings and endings. We as women are so very amazing we give life WOW WE GIVE LIFE It is just so…. WOW. Every day I see my new body givin to me by my children and honestly there are days when I look in the mirror and I get a bit shook up I am not 100% use to my mommy body but I love it non the less I am so impressed with my body and all it has done for me. I am thankful for all that I have today.

This is a belly pic of me at 17 weeks 6 days. This website has help me cope tremendously with the changes my body was going to endure. I have had tons of people give me advice on my stretch marks and preventing them. I am happy with my mama stripes and wouldn’t ever trade them. My body is making something amazing and they are proof. The media isn’t playing a beauty image role in my time for this miracle. Everyone is going through a tremendous change during pregnancy and my stretch marks are my guided lines. They help me see the changes I’m undergoing. And I think I am beautiful.

First of all I want to say that i love this website, and I am very proud of all of you and of all you are trying to do with your proyect. I have to apologize for my very very poor english, so I hope you take it easy with me. Please understand that I am a spanish woman, and I’m trying to do it as well as I can. So, just like I said, I’m a spanish 28 years old woman and I have found out that I’m pregnant just three days ago. I am visiting your website since 2006’s summer, because I have a very big complex about my stretch marks. I developed them at the adolescence, all around my body: legs, calves, tights, hips, buttocks and even in my breasts. I have to say that I don’t remember when they began to appear, at this age I don’t look at myself too much, but I always remember me with stretch marks. I have had eating disorders (atipic anorexic) for three years of my life, and I imagine that this illness helped to cover my body of this marks. The fact is that I am with my husband since I was 15, and we married on 2005, I know he love me and my body and I love him more than I can explain, but in my inside I’m very scared for the “damage” that pregnancy can do in my appearence. At the other hand I’m very scared too for the change that a baby would introduce in our lives, I fell insecure about my capacity to take care of the baby or to raise him. I don’t know if it’s normal or if I’m a “bad person” because or my concern about my body. I know that stretch marks will cover my belly, and this make me want to cry. I am using a lot of lotions but I’m afraid that they won’t work. I’d love to have your strength, and don’t feel like if I’m faulty for having bad genes. So, I hope you don’t think I’m superficial, because the society we live in often make us think this way. If you let me to I’d love to share my pregnancy with you. The pictures bellow are taken on the day I found out I’m going to have a baby. Thank you. KISSES

just a few pic..at 7 months