Author: Bonnie (SOAM)

I want to begin by saying that I am so glad to have encountered this website. I find it incredibly inspiring. Never in my very few years as a mother, have I felt compelled to share my feelings about the way I look, let alone show pictures of my body, after having children. Though I have always seen others as beautiful, especially the curves and beauty a woman is blessed with after having a child, I have never seen it in myself. I am growing more and more comfortable with my body every day, and honestly, this helps alot. It feels so freeing to be able to share it with other mothers. This is me to date, 18 months after my second child was born (My first is 4 years).

This is 4 1/2 weeks before I gave birth, so you can imagine what it was like at the end (in August, yuck!) I don’t have any new photos to share with you, but I proudly show-off my wrinkly belly when at the pool or beach. I’m proud of myself for growing two beautiful babies inside of me. I’m 23, so as a young mom, times can be tough, but my babes (now 20 months old) are a true blessing. I thank you all for sharing yourselves on here, and I’ll include an after photo as soon as I get one.

I had a child when I was only a child. Try telling me that at the time (like so many people did) and I wouldn’t have listened. I was 16 years old when I gave birth to my baby girl. She was 6lbs and 4oz, 20inches long and perfect. I have only two pictures of my pregnancy and none of my birth. I think I was slightly embarrassed of my changing my body. I am so angry at myself now for not documenting that beautiful experience. I’m mad my little girl won’t be able to look back and see my naked belly, carrying her. I’m mad she won’t be able to see herself entering this world. I pray she doesn’t resent me for not documenting this time in photos, though I did write to her often. I hope she doesn’t think I was embarrassed of her, because of her- I would never be. I loved my pregnant body, though I felt to ashamed to allow the world to know I loved it. I remember when I had gotten that first positive test, I went into the bathroom and pushed my belly out to see what I ‘might’ look like. I gained almost sixty five pounds, but I never got a stretch mark on my belly. I have them lining my upper inner thighs all the way up to my vagina. I have one single stretch mark about 3/4 of an inch long smack dab in the middle of my pubic area. I’m glad I can hide these stretch marks, but I’m also thankful when I look down and see that solitary stretch mark it reminds me of the coming of age I experienced, some would say, much to soon. It reminds me that I can handle any dirty look and mean comment, and that gossip has no effect on me anymore. I can hold my head high, even when others are trying to force me to keep it down. The “god have mercy on that unborn child” I heard in the food court during my 27th week makes me smile now. The lord did have mercy on my child. He gave her to a herd of people who love her so much our hearts could explode. He gave her to a mother that could not possibly imagine loving her more. Though I threw myself into the whirl wind of motherhood that has brought me up, down and everywhere in between, at a very young age, I would never change it. My daughter was sent to me because I needed her, and because she needed me. She is my heart, and we all know that you can’t live without your heart.

this is what i look like almost 4 months after the birth of my son. i gained about 45 pounds while i was pregnant and stopped working out altogether. i was in really good shape before i got pregnant…i weighed about 140 or so and i am 5’6, but i worked out 5 days a week and had a lot of muscle tone….i quickly learned that is goes away quickly once you stop exercising. :) i am down to 152 right now (as of the pictures) but my pants are a lot more than 12 pounds away from fitting me..,.funny how that works :) anyway, i have started working out and i am eating really well so I hope to be back to my old size within a few months….but i’m being realistic. i got a few new stretch marks on my hips while i was pregnant and a couple on my inner thighs. i gained almost all my weight in my butt and thighs…i didnt look very pregnant at 9 months…people kept telling me that i only looked 5-6 months pregnant….but my normally bubble butt was EXTREMELY HUGE! and these thighs….well, lets not even talk about them! it was for a good cause though. i have the cutest, sweetest, most wonderful little baby boy in the whole world!

Here are photos of my while I was VERY pregnant with our first child. My due date was Feb. 23 2007. I went into labor while I was 41 weeks pregnant at home, well my labor did not continue at home. I delivered our baby Birdie via emergency c-section, and Birdie was stillborn.

Here I am during pregnancy and after. I actually bounced back just fine and am proud to say I was pregnant at 39.