Author: Bonnie (SOAM)

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!

These are pictures of my belly the day of, 1 week postpartum, and 2 weeks postpartum. I had a c-section in the middle of Sept. 2007. In my 8th month of pregnancy I started to get stretchmarks on my belly. I was fine with the few I had gotten on my sides and inner thighs, but I was so saddened by getting them on my stomach. I applied Johnson’s baby oil gel w/ aloe and vitamin E religiously, especially right after a shower when still wet, and at night. Who knows, it could have been worse had I not applied the gel??? I am still applying the baby oil gel, and I also bought mederma. We shall see how it works out.

I thought i had the perfect teen life… but nothing prepared me for how much more perfect it became after having my baby girl Mariana at age 18. Lets just say i loved living life to the fullest…the partying.. the boys…clubbing etc. I was a cheerleader at my high school and an honor role student.Becoming pregnate devastaded me Im not going to lie. I was at work when i found out and i sware i could not come out of that bathroom door withought my eyes bursting out with teers. My biggest fear was telling my mom who was like my best friend. She always talked about how proud she was of me and about how well i had been brought up withought my father in the picture. Well.. after a couple more pregnancy test i decided to tell my mom. There was no way i was going to have any abortion … with all respect to everyones opinions i have always been very against them and i was not exception. So after all the drama with my mom and my family going to school now as an ex- head cheerleader was veryyyy hard indeed. I got the stares and the whispers from alot of the people who i thought where my friends. That was very hard but after all i graduated. I had made it! I was soo proud of myself and so was my family. By this time i had bonded with my baby and i was soo excited! A month after graduation on july 15 Mariana Rubi was born. My labor was farley peaceful and locking eyes with her for the very first time melted my heart. Since i had always had very good self esteem.. i was unsure of how i would feal about my body after having her. Quite honestly its not that bad. Its not like it was before, i do have some stretch marks but after seeing everyone’s pics i feal better. I kno i wont have my pre-preg. body back but i know i have to make the best of it. Im still at a lovley 113 lbs. My baby girl was all worth it, and now im focusing on going back to school.She is my modivation

Hey everyone. This will be my 3rd post on here and let me tell you because of this site I am very proud of the way I look right now. I didn’t think I would’ve come this far. I started out at 177lbs, march of 2006 and got up to 221lbs and I only gained 44lbs. My son Joshua Michael Weighed 8lbs and 3ozs and was 20 1/2 inches long. I ate like anyone else would and even had sodas and still only gained 44lbs. I was very proud of myself and my son. I was supposed to have an induction,but I stayed at 9 1/2 cm for 3 hours and my DR said we are doing a C-section. I still breastfed Joshua even though a lot of women say they couldn’t do it.When I came home I had no help. So if there are any other women out there like me, I know what you are going through. I think that I have a BEAUTIFUL body now. I only went up one size from what I was pre-pregnancy. I love Joshua and I wouldn’t trade anything in this world for him. He is my life and always will be.

This body has kept my heart beating after all I’ve put it though and has given me 3 beautiful children and is not only still nourishing my youngest but also making enough milk to donate the milk bank.This body of mine has been through a lot in the 25 years I have been around. As a teen it suffered from my eating disorder and drug use. After that was done and I was married I wanted to make ammends with my body and became a health nut. I was ready to start a family but there was a problem. I had no menstral cycle. I had always thought it was because I did not take care of myself before and thought all would be well after I got healthy but after seeing a Dr. I found out I have PCOS. After a year on fertility drugs I got pregnant with twins. I took excellent care of myself and was determined to have healthy babies. I had to be on bed rest the entire time I was pregnant at 22 weeks I was hospitalized for preterm labor. I had to stay in the hospital on meds to stop labor and try to stay pregnant as long as possible. The twins were born natural at 28 weeks and 1 day gestation. The twins had a rough first year but are now healthy happy 3 year olds. I had a big surprise when the twins were almost 2. I found out I was pregnant again. I had not taken any fertility drugs! I delivered a healthy baby at 38 weeks. He is 10 months now and doing great he’s even walking already. Okay so here are the pics, if you know me( my story is pretty obvios to those who do) and don’t want to see my naked booty feel free to close now=) first pic me 28 weeks pregnant with the twins they were born the next day. 2 lbs 12 oz and 2 lb 7 oz. My total weight gain 50 pounds a lot of which was water. second pic 37 weeks pregnant with singelton he was born 7 lbs my total weight gain was 20 pounds. third and forth pic 9 months pp after all 3 kids I have stretch marks on my hips and legs but they have faded quite a bit and you can see that my belly button is not the cute little thing I had peirced when I was 15. I am not at my pre pregnancy weight yet but I am happy with my softer womanly figure now. fifth pic my youngest nursing

This photo is taken of my baby belly with my first child. I gained about 40lbs with Lily. For me weight gain is hard, I have been overweight and it is difficult to watch the scale tip every week. At the end I had this gorgeous little girl, it was hard to look in the mirror but it was easy to love her and not think about it when I held her. I lost all of my weight with an additional 20lbs with breastfeeding. I am very motivated to get my body moving after this baby. I just want to feel great about my body with clothes off—because my husband and myself are the two people that matter the most. My husband says he loves me, I should be happy even if I am not perfect etc. For me it is difficult to feel confident when I cannot fit into clothes without tucking my pooch and a little extra skin. I am pregnant with my second baby. I am learning to love my body. I do desire a mini tummy tuck should the skin apron look too horrid after this baby, however if I want more children it may have to wait. Stephanie

I was completely unprepared for the level of abdominal damage (skin and muscle)incurred by pregnancy, and devastated by the ragged, pushed-in scar I was left with. This site is so important – it would have been so much easier to come to terms with my “disfigurement” if I had understood that I was not the only person this had ever happened to…or even…dare I say it…that it is typical.

This is me 1 week after cesarean. You can see the stretch marks and how the incision is coming along.

I’ve given birth to two babies over 8 lbs apiece in the past 3 years. I have major stretching in the belly area, along with marks on my hips, breasts, arms, legs and rear. It’s hereditary. ;-) I love my body, and I’m proud of all the hard work it’s done for me! My husband and I both think my body is even more special now, because it’s given so much life to our beautiful girls. I’m proud of my “tiger stripes”, and my mother’s body make me feel empowered and proud. :)