Author: Bonnie (SOAM)

Before babies: 5′ 4″ and 104 lbs., naturally thin and ate whatever I wanted, didn’t work out, had great body and flat abs…lucky young me! Stress and infertility: gained up to 148! Pregnant with morning sickness: 148 to 138 to 169 After natural childbirth: about 135 Pregnant again 14 months later: 138 to 167 After C-section: about 132 Years of busy motherhood (ignoring self): up to 167! and stayed between 150 and 160 for a decade! FINALLY: worked very hard at diet/exercise and now 40 yrs old and weigh about 127…BUT still trying to get my old body back! Honest question: if I lose another 10 to 15 pounds will the belly go away? Is it fat or is it just stretched out? It FEELS like jiggly fat, but it is VERY stubborn! I walk 5 miles EVERY DAY, I eat very healthy and low calorie every day, I drink nothing but water (and lots of it), and I am doing LOTS of ab crunches and exercises. Will it EVER go away? Or do I need a tummy tuck? I tend to carry my extra weight in that area, so I keep thinking that just 10 to 15 more pounds and the fat will finally burn off…but am I kidding myself? Will I get down to 110 to 115 and STILL have a flabby belly? I am DYING to get into “bikini shape” for the summer, but I don’t know if I will make it. OK, fellow moms…is it truly possible without surgery, or I am too stretched out?

My pregnancy was the first time in my entire life that I was comfortable with my body. We battled infertility and won; through IVF we were blessed in seeing our dreams become a reality. Before I began infertility treatments, I was a slim 130 lbs on a 5’11” frame. Due to hormone therapy I gained 10 lbs and my stomach began to resemble a balloon. It wasn’t fun looking pregnant while I was trying so hard to get pregnant. But finally our miracle happened and there WAS a child inside of me. Although my pregnancy wasn’t easy – I relished every moment of it. I LOVED the way my body changed and grew. I never stopped rubbing my belly, in complete awe of what was taking place. I went into pre-term labor at 27wks and was placed on bed rest for the next two months. At 35 wks, our precious 7lb.3oz. son was born. I was very fortunate to only have one stretch mark on my breast. However, my body is MUCH different in other respects. I have veins that wind themselves all around my hips that weren’t visible before my pregnancy. My breasts show much evidence of the seven wonderful months I was fortunate enough to breastfeed. My waist, which was very small pre-pregnancy – isn’t much of a “waist” anymore. There is an incredible difference in my stomach now, and I struggle with acceptance. I accumulate so much guilt over this issue. I dreamed and prayed and hoped for my child. Yet, I often look at my post-partum body with reproach. Four years later, I am learning to love my body for what it is and what it has accomplished. When I look down at the rolls on my stomach, I try hard to remind myself of the miracle that happened inside of it. I would like to thank you for what you have done with this site. You have given a voice to all of us who question our ability to love our post-partum bodies. I love my precious son with all my heart. And each day I learn to love my body for giving life to him. I have included pictures of myself 7mths pregnant, 2 yrs & 4 yrs post-partum.

I got pregnant at 16, had my baby boy at 17. I didnt quite realise how much my body would change. I wish I had more respect for myself before when I used to think I didnt look nice. Compared to what my body is now, I looked like a model then! This is my stomach now, 2 months after having my baby. And I have to say, I hate what I look like, but this site is really helping me overcome it, so thankyou!

I have always been insecure of my body ever since my teen years. I come from a family that have the “hourglass” shape. I was always told to hide things, that only my husband should see. Shortly after I got married, my husband and I found out we were expecting our first child. At 205lbs, I became even more insecure with the way I looked. I peaked 217lbs during my 23 week of pregnancy, and every now and then I take a good look at my body. My hips are wider, because I am carrying mainly on my hips and my belly has stretch marks. It wasn’t until I had a conversation with my mother that I realized, I love my round pregnant belly…stretch marks and all! My mother could feel ashamed about me showing it but I just don’t care anymore. I am growing my son and I’ll take every change that comes along with my body. He is worth it in the end.

was never something that I liked. At 18, I was a size 8 & 115 lbs, swore I was fat, ate hardly anything and was married. At 19, was pregnant with a my son. I knew that I was too young to be married not to mention have a child. But my husband said he wanted a children while he was still young enough to play with them. Six years later we divorced, for multiple reasons. I was 130 lbs during my 2nd trimester. And 160 lbs when I had my son. He was 5 weeks premature and 4lbs 10 oz. At size 14 jeans I had lost 10lbs, only 10. My size never changed… diet after diet… gym after gym… I tried everything. I met a wonderful man, we married, a year later we got pregnant. I was back down to 150 lbs when we got pregnant and a size 8 again. I promised myself that I would do my best not to break 200 lbs with my second pregnancy. I did very well, even through passing three kidney stones two weeks before she was born. The day of my last appointment I was 38 weeks pregnant, to the day, we were going in to have an ultrasound done because the doctor had found during the first one that our daughter had three kidneys. One perfectly normal one one the right. And the left one looks like a little duplex, one on top of the other. We were having the ultrasound done to make sure that there wasn’t an increase in reflux in her kidneys. After my doctor checked the films he came in and said “okay, let’s get you checked in. You’re already in labor.” 30 minutes later, my 2nd angel was born. Of course they have to weigh you everytime they ask you your name in there so, on the day I delivered I found out that I had broken 200 lbs.. by 2 silly lbs. My daughter weighed in just under 8 lbs. She’s going to be two in June.. I must’ve blinked or something cause it feels like she should be still nursing… still tiny… still I don’t know but something other than two. (crying, sorry….) I’m 175 lbs now. Once again I have tried everything… I’ve been going to the gym religiously… 4 to 5 days a week since January this year. I stopped eating all the “bad stuff” stopped drinking soda, loaded up on water, etc., etc., I’m proud to be a mother.. I love my children.. I had hated my body ever since I realized that it isn’t the same as it was..never will be. That is until I found this site. On mother’s day of this year I was looking for mommy blogs. Someone to read about that may or may not be living my life in another house somewhere. I stumbled onto yours and was amazed. Thank you for making me realize. I am a woman, I am a mother, I if nothing else was a cocoon for what will in my future seem like a brief and shining moment. And I have two beautiful, happy, healthy butterflies to show for it. (crying again, sorry) I know longer hate my body, or myself. I have made a promise to me to not try to be some pornstar or supermodel.. but to continue to at least do the best that I can to take care of me and to be the happy mother my children need.

I originally posted my photos on this site last year (click here). My son is going to be 3 on wednesday (May 16th) so I thought I’d submit updated pictures. Although my body hasn’t changed a GREAT deal on the outside, it has changed a lot on the inside. In the past year my body image has changed a lot and I feel much more confident in myself in all aspects of my life not just my body. I don’t know why but I’m certainly not complaining either :) Thank you again for this amazing site. I still come everyday to read all the new stories. Keep up the great work!

I can’t believe I’m going to post these pictures! I have always had a lot of body image issues and it has only gotten worse since my son was born. I love that my body was able to grow such a beautiful little boy but I have trouble seeing myself as desirable. As a result I can count on one hand the number of times my husband and I have been intimate since my son was born. I hope that by posting this it will help me feel more liberated and eventually I hope to see myself as beautiful.

This is a photo of my belly when i was 24 weeks pregnant with my baby girl.

Before having a baby, I would always fuss over little things and I hated my body. Now, I love my body more than ever! I love my stretch marks, my breasts, my dimply bottom… I love it all. And I love, especially, seeing all of the bodies (so different!) on here, and so beautiful! To start off, I am twenty-two years old and this was my first pregnancy. My delivery was pretty awful. Thank God I went into the whole thing completely naive. My little girl got stuck in the birth canal because she was posterior, my epidural didn’t work, I ended up with a huge episiotomy from vagina to butthole. Then, the medication they gave me for pain led to a wonderful romp in the E.R. just six days postpartum. Bad things aside, I now have a wonderful daughter who is now five months old (almost six) and I have been breastfeeding her the entire time. I love her more than anything! She’s worth every ounce of pain and every inch of stretch mark! Now, I am actually lighter than I was pre-partum, but my body is completely different. My breasts are larger, my butt is dimplier, and my hips are wider…I may be lighter, but nothing fits that used to!

Updated here and here.

I was never all that proud of my body, I had gained some weight as a teenager and struggled for years to get it off. Finally when I reached a weight I was happy with, I got pregnant with my first child, at only 18 I was newly married. The pregnancy went well, I was proudly showing off my growing bump, I started getting stretch marks at 36 weeks, I was so upset! I struggled with my body after giving birth at 41 weeks, I lost the weight quickly and was back to prepregnancy weight by my postpartum check up. But I was still unhappy with my belly, and new stretch marks across my breasts from going from a B cup to a DD overnight when my milk came in. I ended up pregnant when he was 3 months old, I was shocked and unsure that I was ready, but we were excited none the less. I lost all the weight I gained through most of that pregnancy, only gaining 11 lbs when I delivered at 34 weeks, I was back to my previous weight by the time he came home from the NICU 7 days later. Taking care of two young boys helped get my mind off of my insecurities with my new body, I was able to nurse my new son for 6 months, and was so proud of what my body had accomplished. It was then that I found out I was pregnant, yet again. After the complications of my second pregnancy, I expected the same sort of thing, little did I know I had an easy road up to this point. Complications started at the beginning, at 15 weeks there was a partial placental abruption, I was advised to abort then, but I could not end this life that I had watched grow since 6 weeks. I spent all of my days resting as much as possible, and in and out of the Hospital and doctors office, I ended up giving birth by emergency c-section at 26 weeks. Yet another scar, this one spanned hip to hip, I was very self conscious of this new scar, I lost weight much more slowly, even though the stress of having a Micropreemie kept me from eating and sleeping like I needed. By the time I lost the weight I wanted, it was time for a new surgery, my scar was opened a little and so was my belly button. I ended up leaving my husband when our youngest was 2 years old, he always made negative comments about my body, making it hard for me to accept it. But the new man in my life loves my body, always commenting about how beautiful I am, stretch marks or not. Having his support has helped me start to accept my post baby body, and seeing that I am not the only one has helped me so much!