Author: Bonnie (SOAM)

The day I found out I was pregnant is a day I’ll never forget. I was 20 at the time and scared out of my mind. Even though I knew my boyfriend at the time would be completely supportive and we were in love I was still scared. I knew I’d have to postpone finishing college and I would be responsible for another human’s life. I told my boyfriend and he was ecstatic. He is also 5 years older than me and was at that place in his life where kids just seemed like the next step. He asked me to marry him shortly after and I was worried that he only asked because I was pregnant. After many times of reassuring me that that was not the only reason we were married on October 10th. 3 months later he was deployed on a 6 month cruise in the Navy. He missed the 3rd trimester, the birth, and he wont be home until August where our daughter will then be 3 months old. Needless to say I am very scared that when he comes home and I’m not the same size 2 I was when he left he’s going to be dissapointed. I gained 45 pounds nearly by the end of the pregnancy and our daughter was 8 lb 8 oz. Now, I just need to get the courage back to be naked in front of him and our relationship can continue to grow. The wonderful gift I got in the form of our beautiful little girl is worth every pound I gained and every stretch mark I got.

I have a long story. I found out I was pregnant with my first girl one month after I had gotten married. We were excited but weren’t expecting to be pregnant that fast. My pregnancy was fairly easy and uncomplicated until about my 7th month. At that point I started to have seizures. I do not have a history of seizures, it does not run in my family. By the time my daughter was born at 37 1/2 weeks, I had undergone many tests. The official diagnosis was Non Epileptic Gestational Seizures. My labor was extremely fast, only four hours from the first contraction until she slid into this world. My daughter was beautiful and worth every thing I went through. When my daughter was 9 months old, I realized that I was pregnant again. I am proof that birth control does not work for all women. :) This time my seizures started much earlier. I was only 5 months along, and it was scary having a little one at home. We hired a nanny and made it through the pregnancy fine. My water broke at 35 weeks. I ended up being induced by Pitocin. While I had a natural, drug free labor with my first, I ended up getting an epidural. It was the best decision and made it so that I didn’t lose my mind from the pain. My second daughter seemed so small at 5 pounds, 8 ounces. She seemed fine right after birth, but her lungs weren’t developed and she sprung a pin hole leak in her left lung. She spent 3 1/2 weeks in the NICU. I spent that time running back and forth to the hospital and pumping. I cried a lot. However, she is now three months old and we are all doing wonderfully. I am thankful to my body for housing two beautiful miracles. I cry when I think that I should never have more babies, the empty arms I will have as my girls get older. However, this Mama is beautiful. And while I have days where I wish that someone had told me that I would go from a size 4-6 to a size 12, and that my breasts would go from a barely B cup to a DDD cup, I embrace my womanhood. This body has been the building place of two wonderful babies, two extraordinary births. It has seen my through some of the hardest days of my life, when I wondered if I was hurting my babies, and wondered if I was dying. I am thankful for the blessings I have been given! I am including pictures, me three months post pardum, at 35 weeks with my first, and at 35 weeks (the day before I had her!) with my second. Blessings upon all of you strong mamas out there who share your stories with the world!

This is me three months pregnant at 23 with my first. As you can see I started out my pregnancy overweight–at 5’4 and 223 lbs. The next picture is one of me at sixth months or so pregnant. I’m now 38 weeks pregnant, tons of stretch marks, and I weigh a whopping 263 lbs. I tried really hard not to gain weight, but it has just kept coming on! The most frustrating part is that you don’t feel “cute” and pregnant when you are overweight. I saw some pictures from my baby shower the other day and feel so ashamed for all the weight I’ve gained. I’ll send postpartum and hopefully a great weight loss story when I finally have my little guy.

I am a 23 mother of one. The first pic is me a 5 weeks pregnant, the second is at 37 weeks. I’m still coping with my post-baby body. I gained over 60 lbs in my pregnancy and developed stretch marks on my breasts, belly, thighs, butt and calves! Thank goodness I have a supportive and loving husband. I DID lose 30 lbs in the first two weeks (without exercizing at all)! My son is worth every mark on my body, there is no words for how much I love him! This site really helped me prepare for the reality of what my post-baby body would look like, I hope this helps other women. Your sweet baby will make every bump and bulge worth it, I promise!!

I just want to start off by saying how much I LOVE this site! I had my son in June of 2003, and a little over 18 mo. later had my daughter. I had to have an emergancy c-section with my son, because his heart rate dropped. They were going to put me under, but my epidural was so strong they performed the c-section with out putting me under. We chose to have a scheduled c-section with our daughter, because it was easier to know when (to have arrangements for our son). I also did not want any surprise either. After my daughter was born I looked into becomming a gestational surrogate. My kids meant so much to me I wanted to help another couple. I gave birth to twins (a boy and girl) at 34 weeks 4 days via c-section. Now I’m trying to get back into shape, and have about 12 pounds to lose, after gaining 55 pounds. Seems I always gain that :o) The picture is of me nine weeks post partum after the twins.

I got pregnant when I was 21 years old. Looking back now, I was always so critical of my body before I had my baby boy, only now do I realize that I will never be happy with my body no matter what size I am. I learned to love my body now because it isn’t going to get any easier! The first photo is me before I got pregnant, then me at a week overdue (that was a fun week :p ) and lastly me now, 13 months to the day of the birth of my son! I find now that my body is a lot different than it used to be, but its not bad. I have a beautiful son to show for it and I would do it all again for him!

Before I had a baby, I was a poster child for positive body image, imperfections and all. The problem is, I *liked* my body, and then after a baby, it was completely different. I feel pretty good about my body these days- mostly- but it’s taken time for me to get here. When people talk about how your body changes after pregnancy, they talk about gaining weight or stretch marks- no one talks about how drastic the alterations can be. For example, I had no idea that I’d fluctuate between three cup sizes (B to C/D to A) before/during/after having a baby! It’s made finding bras difficult. I’m not used to the idea that my body is going to keep changing in these radical ways- since I’m not done having kids, I may have difficulty getting a good-fitting bra for *years* to come!

Two babies in less than two years. I’ve always had a small frame, average breasts. My pregnancies were hard – terrible nausea and vomiting requiring IV fluids and zofran. I managed to gain 20 lbs with my daughter, but only gained just over 6 lbs during my son’s pregnancy. I started my procreation years at 118 lbs. I was 127 before Wyatt’s pregnancy and 133 the day I delivered him. My babies were on the small size to start, 6 lbs 3 oz and 6 lbs 4 oz. They were both c-sections and I’ve keloided each time. Wyatt is over 15 lbs now at almost 6 months. I’m currently 110 lbs. I’ve done nothing other than breastfeed exclusively and try to eat “regularily” between a busy toddler and a happy-at-the-boob-all-day boy! I’ve been to the gym twice, but haven’t made it back in quite a while. I’m actually ok with my postpartum body. It’s the crookedness of my spine that bothers me when I see myself. I doubt I’ll have anymore children as my husband considers our family complete. I’ll nurse wyatt until he self weans as I feel slighted in that I had to stop nursing his sister at 15 months when I started having complications with my pregnancy that ended up with me on bedrest from weeks 27 until 36 and then an emergency delivery at 37 weeks. I’m currently on the road to becoming a lactation consultant (IBCLC) and love to see pictures of babies at breast and the changes women’s bodies go through for their children. It’s important to be realistic about our bodies as they change. Lactation completes the final stage of development in a woman’s breasts and it’s a beautiful thing for a baby to be at breast. I’ve always taken pictures of my children at breast because I think it’s important for them to know that they were breastfed because I wanted the best for them. I want them to grow up knowing that babies are born to breastfeed and that it’s the norm and not the exception…