Author: Bonnie (SOAM)

this was my original submission

i’m now 7 months postpartum & i’ve actually *gained* 10 pounds since my son’s birth! it’s not fair! i read words like “you’re beautiful” “you gave life” “be proud”, but i just can’t be. i have no problem with my stretch marks; i’m actually pretty stoked about those! it’s the 30 pounds over my normal weight that i’m struggling with. i walk every day, i am eating better – i’ve been a veg*n for 7 years – i have started stretching regularly, but i can’t seem to shed this fat. and then there’s my lopsided breasts. i’m so embarassed to be naked. i can’t understand why my breasts look like they do; my son does not prefer the left over the right, it just happens to produce more & no matter what i do (and believe me, i’ve tried everything) it doesn’t change. i’m considering a breast lift after we’re done nursing. i wish our societal norms were different. i wish that our little girls weren’t bombarded by unrealistic ideals of what a beautiful woman is. it is my duty, as the mother of a little boy, to raise him to appreciate what a woman IS, not what she thinks she should be. i will raise him to be an honest, kind & compassionate man. one that any woman would be lucky to have.

I have gave birth to 4 kids after my frist one I looked better then I did before I got pregent!! But in the end my 4th child is the one who did a number on my body we lost him to a birth defect called holoprosencephaly Now I can’t stand the way my body looks I have try every thing to lose my belly but nothing has worked What really rips my heart out is when some one comes up to me & ask’s if im pregnet again cause I can’t have no more babies.so heres pics of me now 2 yrs after my 4th baby!!

Hi I’m Nita, a mother of one and hopefully another on the way. I had my son two months after I turned eighteen. He’s now fourteen months old and my husband and I are trying to have our second. I stumbled upon the site tonight and I wanted to say thank you because it has helped me with my mama body. I was 130lbs when we got pregnant and for the first six months I had morning sickness so I lost weight but then I gained 15lbs in a month. Needless to say I now have stretch marks but I love them. I’m looking forward to posting my pregnant tummy pictures when we conceive. I don’t have any photos of my first pregnancy but here’s one of me and Aiden.

hello! I am a 21 year old mother of two beautiful girls! I had a c-section with both of them. This is my stomach after a month of just giving birth! I still feel fat! But my Husband makes me feel so much better when he tells me that he doesn’t care about the stretch marks or that I gained weight. Those things happen when you have a baby! I working on losing the weight. I still have a few more weeks till I’m able to work out again! I still feel beautiful no matter what my body may look like!

While having yet another conversation with my preschooler daughter that Pull-Ups were not “cooler” than real undies, she sassed me. Her reply? “You’re just jealous because you’ve had 2 babies and are too fat to wear them.” Never one to back down from a challenge, I showed her! So here I am, a birthmother of two, ages 4 and 2, wearing size 3T-4T Pull-Ups. Yeah, they were snug, but no more so than the “date panties” I used to wear before I was married. You can see in the picture of my front that even though I may be as petite as I was pre-babies, I still carry birth memorabilia around my middle. My middle really does stand out in contrast to the rest of my fit body. One day in the pool locker room I was dressing my younger daughter and myself when I made the comment “Let’s go get sister.” A woman nearby said, “Oh, you have twins? My sister has twins too and she still has the ‘twin skin,'” while gesturing toward my middle. I’m afraid my peals of laughter were a bit uncouth for a response. I told her, “I do have two kids, but they’re two years apart.” She was mortified and I had to wonder why. Why is belly skin okay if you have twins but not a singleton? I have not always had such a loving relationship with my post-pregnancies body. One day a few months after the birth of my second, I looked in the mirror and bemoaned the fact that I still had a huge sagging belly and probably always would. My then-2yo said, “But Mom, that’s where you carry your babies. It’s the most important part of you.” Never have I been more proud of my daughter or myself. (Of course then she added, “And since there’s no baby in it now, could we put some toys in it?”) I’m now newly pregnant with my third child and looking forward to all the changes my body will go through. I know it will be a different body in a year, but I will also be a different woman and mother. A stronger and gentler person, with the body to show for it.

My first pregnancy, at 21, ended in an early miscarriage. I got pregnant with my first son a few months later. I started out around 135lbs and gained 35lbs with that pregnancy. My hips, bum, and thighs took a beating. With that pregnancy, my stomach had no stretch marks, but my thighs were a mess!!! I hadn’t lost the baby weight before getting pregnant with my second when my first was 10 months old. I was incredibly sick throughout my second pregnancy, vomitting from day one until the day I delivered. I only gained 24lbs with the second pregnancy. My thighs didn’t get any worse but I did end up with some new stretch marks on my stomach. My first son was born at 41 weeks weighing 8lbs 6ozs. My second was a big baby! He was 8lbs 12ozs, but more than 3 weeks early! My boys are 18 months and a few days apart. I sufferred from PPD after my first, and even worse with my second. The anti-depressants I was on caused me to gain a lot of weight, and in May 2006, I weighed more than I had at the end of either pregnancy. I’ve spent the last year trying to lose weight. I’ve lost 35lbs so far, but am still about 20lbs pregnancy weight. My youngest is 3 years old. I am a lot lighter now than I was when I got pregnant with him, but not as light as I was when I got pregnant with my first :). My stomach looks pretty good, and I have no problem in a bikini. But I have a hard time dealing with my saggy stretch-mark scarred thighs. Inner and outer thighs are really bad (as shown in picture). I’ve had a really hard time with my body image since having children. I look back at pictures of me on my honeymoon, in a bikini, and I remember how “fat” I thought I looked… at under 120lbs. I’ve had a hard time adjusting to my post-baby body. I’m not sure I ever will be able to completely accept it… but this site has really helped me feel better knowing I’m not alone :)