Author: Bonnie (SOAM)

Even before I became pregnant, I visited this site. Seeing the photos and reading the stories got me excited about what I hoped was to come, and gave me courage to face that fact that I was about to embark on a journey that would, in all probability, change my body forever. Sharing my story and photos is a little way of saying thanks. My pregnancy was on the easy side I’d say. I never exercised, but as I live in a “walking city”, my day to day life keeps me in reasonable shape. I cut back a bit while pregnant (more taxis when I was hauling groceries, for example), but mostly kept to my normal routine. My eating habits changed a bit though. As a former vegetarian, I still tend towards vegetables and high fiber, but I found myself wanting (and eating) burgers and pastry on a weekly basis. I don’t think it was over the top, but it was a change for sure. By the end, I think my portion size had doubled as well. I was ALWAYS hungry. No reflux or end of term sickness for me, just give me more food please, and cake at the end! My ,main focus was on trying to eat a balanced diet; I didn’t pay much attention to fat content or calorie count. That was easy at first, because I was gaining well under the curve for the first 6-7 months. But when the third trimester hit, I packed on about half of my weight! It was scary, actually, because it was so sudden. I rubbed coco butter into my belly and breasts every day and night of my pregnancy, despite the fact that I really beleive stretch marks are genetic and there isn’t much we can do one way or the other. It smelled nice and felt like a small luxury though, so I kept it up. These photos are of me the week I got a positive, at 35 weeks, 40 weeks (the one where I’m dressed–the midwife had said “probably today” so I was packing and taking my last photo–oof course the birth wasn’t until 41.5 weeks!) and today, one month and four days after giving birth to a 3.3kilo / 7 lb 2oz baby boy. I’ve also included one of the two little strech marks I ended up with. They’re small and light and even if I sound strange saying so, I like them. They’re a mark my baby left on me to show where he lived for 9 months and I’ll always have them to remember how little he once was. I’m 30 years old and 5 foot 4. I began my pregnancy at 54 kilos/119 lbs and ended it at 68 kilos/150 lbs. My eating habits are back to normal (well, except I never get to eat anything while it’s hot anymore!) and I am 57 kilos / 125 llbs.

I think you website is amazing, and crucially important to my daughter and her generation regarding positive body image. I have a very negative view of my breasts, this is following breastfeeding our three children, who are now 11, 6 and 4. I breastfed my youngest son until he was three. I am delighted that I gave my children this start, but I am now very ashamed of my breasts. Here they are!

I got pregnant shortly after my 21st birthday. My husband and I had been trying for a year. After we received our new mortgage amount and realized that because our taxes went up so much, our mortgage had increased by almost two hundred dollars, we decided that we were going to wait another year and try again in another year, when it was affordable. Of course, that was when I got pregnant. I wanted a waterbirth from the start and fought our local hospital on it until they agreed to give waterbirth a 90 day probationary period. I was the first woman to give birth in the water in a hospital setting in southwest Florida. I panicked about the weight I gained. I spent a lot of time obsessing about what my body would look like after pregnancy. I searched this website up and down to find girls my age around my body type to see what they looked like postpartum. I was looking for hope that the weight wouldn’t stay there forever. I now know that all that worrying was for nothing, and I hope that other young, shallow girls like me will see my pictures and take a big sigh of relief. :) I am 5’5, and weighed 120 pounds when I got pregnant. When I delivered my daughter, I weighed 178 pounds. My daughter was two months old on the 12th, and I’m now down to 130 pounds. I am nursing her. However, I did not work out or do any strenuous physical activity. I don’t walk every day, I don’t do exercise tapes, I stay at home with my daughter and play video games when she’s sleeping. This is what I look like without having ever hit the gym. I have stretchmarks that will never go away, but my daughter was completely worth it. :)

This summer may not be the one i don a cute bikini, but im telling myself i will wear one again next year. Regardless of these stretch marks because i love bikinis and if my scars were from a shark attack or car accident, no one would think anything of me showing them. Why should i cover up the rest of my life because i gave birth? I am 5’4″ and was 128lbs when i got pregnant. I weighed 167 the day i gave birth and my lil girl was 8lbs 13 oz. These pics were taken a few min ago, feb. 16, 2008 and im proud of my figure thusfar! This is me 2 months postpartum!

I am a healthy 33 year old woman with a beautiful 6 moth old baby boy!!! when i was pregnant my tummy got enormous,people would ask me if it was twins!!!! i was so worried about getting stretch marks i bought all the creams and obsessively checked my tummy for marks every day! i didn’t get any until the last month and i thought iwould be devastated but instead i was so excited about being a mum the few marks became less and less significant as time went on. giving birth was the most amazing yet demanding thing i have ever done in my life. liam was perfect and beautiful. then i had to look at my post pregnancy body!!!! it takes some time to accept that your body has changed. i did go through a bit of a low point but each time i just had to look at liam. my body is not the same as it used to be but i have learned to love it more and accept that there is no such thing as perfection!!!!! becomming a mother is more than just giving birth to life it is about feeling proud of your body and how amazing it is and accepting that even if you are not perfect you are beautiful.

I guess I’ve always had a poor body image. I consider myself a perfectionist and, as such, was always striving for the obvious unattainable “perfect” body. Four years ago, at the age of 32, I had my first child- a beautiful baby boy. I required a C-Section and felt like a complete failure although my child was completely healthy. I also hated my new body. At 11 months postpartum I became pregnant again. At 6 months I went into premature labor and gave birth to another beautiful baby boy who lived for 2 short days and it completely broke my heart. As much as I hate that my son died, I have learned and changed so much as a direct result of that experience. I just had a perfectly healthy baby boy 6 weeks ago via C-Section and I feel blessed beyond words. This time around I am trying to love the body that I’m in although I am ashamed to admit (considering all I’ve been through) that I’m still somewhat focused on my saggy skin and stretch marks.

I’m trying really hard to love myself. I’m trying not to be embarrsed for my fiance to hold my hand when we go out. I’m trying to go on every day without fearing seeing my naked body before and fter I shower. I’m trying to embrace the fat that I lost 70 lbs. I’m trying to to feel like my only chance at being beautiful again is through plastic surgery. I’m trying every morning that I wake up not to feel guilty for feeling this way….

I was 25 years old when I found out I was pregnant. I weighed 107 pounds prepregnancy and gained 50 pounds with my little girl. It has been eight weeks and I am down to 127 ponds and can’t wait to lose the rest. I have just been able to start working out I ended up having to have a c-section because my little girl was 8lbs 11oz and was to big to come out naturally. The first picture is of me about a month before she was born.

this is my little body while I was pregnant. I had some pretty nice curves! I gave them back after the nursing, but my new body is a trophy to the little bundle of joy.