My name is Lindsay, I am 22 living in South Florida with my family, and son. I am recently divorced. My son is 1 year and the love of my life, ALWAYS! His name is Jackson Caleb. I live with my older sister who also has a son, Gage who is almost 2.
The other day, as I was in my bedroom fixing my hair, my three year old looked up at me with curious eyes and touched my long deep stretch mark that had poked out from under my shirt. With all the innocence of a sweet child he asked “Mommy, what’s that?” As I looked down at his small hand beside the deep red memory of his and his brother’s time they spent being nurtured in my womb a great big proud smile swept across my face. I bent down to his level and told him lovingly all about how when he and his brother were little tiny babies and they lived inside my belly. I told him that they had to grow big and strong so that they could come out, so my belly stretched WAAAAAAY out while they were inside. That big mark, I said, and these others, as I pointed to the rest, were what you left me to remind me of that time, and they helped me grow a big tummy for you to live in. “Isn’t that neat?” I asked him, he definitely thought it was. I told him those marks are very very special to Mommy, and that I loved him and his brother so much, along with the special marks they had left for me. You know what? Just thinking about it makes me tear up. I can’t believe how vain I used to be, and the way I used to look at women’s “marks” as something so unfortunate and something to be ashamed of and something to cover up. Now that I have these very special gifts myself, I can’t imagine not having them. There are few things in my life that have compared to the amazing blessing of carrying my two children in my womb and birthing them into this world. These marks scream out that I am a Mother, that I have two precious children to love the rest of my life, that my husband and I created life, and I can’t imagine feeling anything but love and pride now as I run my hand over a place that created, nurtured, and housed two miracles. Boy am I blessed. Thank you so much “Shape of a Mother” for truly allowing me to cherish something that society would have tried to make me feel “ugly” for, there is nothing more beautiful on my body than my marks of Motherhood.
My daughter is 5 and a half months old. About 7 weeks after she was born I decided I was going to join a weight loss program and get “back in shape”. I had gained 35 lbs during my pregnancy and lost about 20 the first 2 weeks after giving birth, then nothing. I started cutting calories and exercising, while trying to learn to be a mom to an almost 2 month old. My weight did not budge much at all and I became depressed and hated my body. I had it in my head that I would have lost all of my baby weight by 6 weeks post partum. I only had images of celebrities to compare myself to and I felt like a fat failure. After doing some research I realized, I AM NORMAL. I would never want to spend all day in a gym instead of with my baby just to try to “get my body back”. I have a new body now that carried my precious daughter safely for 9 months, delivered her, and has helped me to nurse her exclusively for almost 6 months. I would never trade that for flat abs! Sites like this are invaluable to women. Instead of beating ourselves up for not having the bodies we once had, we should be spending every second enjoying the new little lives we helped to create. When I finally stopped dieting and just started enjoying life and time with my baby, the weight slowly began to come off. Even if I never lose those last 5 lbs and my belly is always a little stretched out, its all worth it because I have experienced the joy of being a mother. Pictures: 1- 5 1/2 months post partum 2- 8.5 weeks pregnant 3- side view now
When I found out that we would be having twins I don’t think I have been any happier or more nervous at the same time than any other point in my life. Dakota and I had been Joking that if we had twins what would we do? and how crazy it would be! About 1 month after finding out I was expecting, I started having weird dreams of having multiples and I also started feeling very sick and tired. I was losing my energy and I could do nothing but sleep and occasionally eat if my stomach would allow it. One week after having my first dream of multiples my mother called me and told me that she needed to talk to me about a dream she had been having. She too had been dreaming of having twins for grandchildren. We just laughed it off and thought it was weird that we had had the same dream. Later I went online to look up symptoms of a multiple pregnancy, and I seriously had every singe one!! I showed it to Dakota who just laughed and said that every woman thinks she could be carrying twins or more. I agreed and let it go. 2 weeks later was my first prenatal visit in which we would determine how far along I was by having an ultrasound. Dakota got situated next to the chair I was in and the tech told me about what to expect and not to jump at the cold gel she was about to put on my belly. Soon we were all gazing at the screen containing our wonderful miracle, and the tech looked at us and said, “do you know how to recognize images in an ultrasound?” and we looked at her and replied that yea, kind of. She then smiled and asked us what we saw. I really didn’t know, It was oddly shaped. LIke a head and then a gap for the the neck and another head for the belly. She laughed and looked at us and said, “This one here is twin A and this one over there is twin B.” I was the happiest moment of my life!! Dakota and I cried with joy as thoughts of our jokes came true. It was amazing. I called my mother after the appt and told her the news. She was so angry at me for thinking that its funny to joke around about things like that. No matter how much I told her that we really were having twins…she didnt believe me!! I had to take a pic of my sonogram with my cell phone and send it to her phone! and even then she was in disbelief! Although no stretch marks have appeared yet on my body, I know they are coming and I don’t care. having made a life, OR TWO at that! is so worth every scar i get on the way. No matter how my body changes, in the eyes of God and in my eyes and in Dakota’s eyes, I am still beautiful and I always will be. Go Moms!!!
The first picture was taken in Sept 2006. I got pregnant with my first baby in Nov 06 and delivered a healthy 9.5 pond baby girl on August 12 2007. The second picture is me at 35 weeks and again at 38 weeks. I thought i was going to get away without geting any strecth marks, but they magically appeared at around 38 weeks. The last photo was taken at about 8 weeks postpartum.
This was my first pregnancy. Such a surprise actually my husband and I weren’t even trying and we found out we were pregnant when I was 8 weeks. Only the occasion morning sickness, lots of vegemite sangers and had a few bouts of breathlessness. Gave birth to our son day before his due date after a 5km walk that afternoon. Marcus William born 11th March 07 weighing 7lb 12oz after 8 hours labour; natural birth only 1 hour pushing. He is now 7 months old and such a precious little boy!
Hi everyone. Let me just say that I love this website and it really has helped me a lot. I went 3 weeks over with my 9 1/2 pound daughter. I gained about 35-40 pds. The labor ended up being 91 hours with 7 1/2 hours of pushing. Needless to say it took me a long time to recoup after. 6 months later I still have slight abdominal separation/Diastasis Recti. I’ve lost a lot of inches but not as many pounds as I would like. I am about 15 pounds from my goal. I know I am doing well but my self esteem is really low. In a nutshell I just keep on comparing myself with other women that my husband is attracted to.
I delivered twins by cesarean section at 37 weeks and 6 days!! I actually worked out my entire pregnancy, barfing and all, and did a step class the day before my water finally broke. They were born weighing 6 1/2 pounds and 6 pounds. I had 12 1/2 pounds of baby in me and I only gained 31 pounds. Ouch!
I gave birth to my first child, my son Draven, when I was 23. Instead of gaining weight with him, I actually lost 40 pounds. I was overwieght when I started my pregnancy, though, so he still grew fine and was born a healthy 7 pounds and 7 ounces. When he was four months old, my boyfriend and I found out that we were pregnant with our daughter, Lyric. She was completely uplanned, but we were excited nontheless. I gained about 20 pounds with her, and I’ve been able to lose most of it…I still have about 5 pounds hanging on. I haven’t tried all that hard to lose them though, lol. She was 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and is 9 months old now. I’ve always had trouble accepting my body, even before I had children. Ironically, I weigh about the same now as I did my senior year of high school, but I still don’t really like the way I look. Some of the time, I know that I don’t look bad…But some days, all I see are my breasts that are now two different sizes and saggy, and my flabby stomach. It’s funny, because I can look at pictures on here of women, and think, “Oh, there’s nothing wrong with her, she’s still totally beautiful.” But its hard for me to do that with myself, even when I’ve seen that my tummy is totally normal when compared to some of the other mommy tummies on here. Some of the positive attitudes that I’ve seen on here are simply amazing. I think more than anything I want to be able to love myself so that my children don’t grow up thinking that hating yourself is normal. Instead of looking at my body as some sort of mess, leftover from making something beautiful, I need to look at it for what it is: something beautiful in and of itself. Something that can create, something that can nurture… It’s hard for me to even type that, much less think it or feel it. I’m lucky that my boyfriend is so supportive of my post-baby body. He loved my body pregnant, and he loves it now. He’s never made any negative comments about it…all the negativity comes from me. I just need to learn to love my body too.
I couldn’t help but think of the Shape of a Mother website when I read this rather infuriating article in the NY Times about “mommy makeovers” being marketed by a number of (male) plastic surgeons. Thanks for helping to combat the prejudice and hatred of their own bodies that so many women struggle with throughout their lives. We waste so much energy worrying about superficial garbage that could be better spent nurturing ourselves and our children, who I am sure prefer to lay their heads on a little bit of pillowy mama-tummy to rock hard abs anyway.
I had my first baby this summer at age 33. I am old enough now that I am just glad I haven’t had any major injuries or illnesses, and I appreciate my body so much more than I did at 18 or 19, when I thought I was “too fat”. Luckily, I took lots of art history classes, and seeing lots of Rubens paintings and 19th century French academic nudes made me realize that my body is actually pretty normal, and the women in Cosmo (and our society’s obsession with waiflike, androgynous bodies) are more freakish. Plus, I had some groovy female friends who liked to say things like, “It ain’t love without the handles,” and spilled out of their jeans and tops with exuberance and joy in their own bodies.
Here are photos of my pregnant and postpartum body (14 weeks, 25 weeks, term, engorged — yikes! Hello San Fernando Valley!, and 6 weeks postpartum). I am 5’3″ and I’ve been a steady 130-135 lbs my entire adult life. I am 10 weeks out from birth, but I still can’t quite fit into my pre-preg jeans without feeling like I’m in a sausage casing. Thank god for elastic waists! I was lucky enough to bike or walk to work my entire pregnancy, getting 2-4 miles a day with daily dog walks thrown in for good measure, and yoga once a week. I figure that keeping up my walking and breastfeeding will help me drop any extra baby inches I am carrying (I have no idea how much I weigh right now as I don’t own a scale) and fit in my old pants again. A friend of mine warned me not to skimp on meals or lose weight too fast though – she got svelte and ‘back to normal’ in 6 months by doing hardcore yoga 4 days a week, and she paid for her fabulous body by having her milk dry up. So, ladies, it’s good to keep that mama love around as insurance for your milk supply!
