i stand in front of the mirror, naked.
i cringe at what i see.
my body is worn and torn,
the marks from carrying a child ever present.
my breasts, once perfectly shaped and beautiful
are now large and saggy, repulsive to look at.
my stomach, once flat and smooth,
is now covered with stretch marks, fat, no muscle tone.
i am ashamed.
i will never be beautiful again.
You can read more of Yvonne’s eloquent and powerful thoughts on her post-pregnancy body here and here.
Thank you SO much for this site! My skin had stretched so thin while pregnant that people could literally see my babies’ knuckles & fingernails through me. I have stretch marks across my belly that run all the way around the sides. I have them in my upper arms, around each of my breasts, and down my thighs.
I have learned to accept them. It’s taken years, but I now see each & every one of them as “battle scars” to be worn proudly. I worked HARD and earned every single one of them, and nobody is ever going to make me feel anything but proud of them again. I am a mother of two and this is my belly at 6 years, 5 months postpartum.
Im so thankful you guys made this site!Im 22 and have a 4 month old son.Before i was pregnant i wore a size 2 now i wear a size 6-8.I had no idea what pregnancy did to a body.Im so happy to have my son and cant wait to have another.I had a c-section and am still dealing with the c-section pooch..dealing with the stretchmarks..on my boobs,stomach and legs,and facial weight gain.I gained about 45-50 pounds..i stopped looking once it went over 40.Its hard to feel attractive when i look at my body.BUT im so thankful for my son..he is my joy and my love.These marks may not be beautiful but im proud to have been able to have a baby and if this is what i have to look like to have babies then i dont mind them too much!
15 weeks preggo
37 weeks preggo
4 months postpartum
I have three children, my youngest is almost five. If you notice my stretch marks are still red, my skin takes a very long time to heal and scars very, very easy. When I look at myself I think “typical mother”, stretch marks saggy breasts, veins everywhere. The older I get the more I accept my body for what it is.
I don’t have a picture to share, but a little something to think about.
I want all of these women to realize how lucky they are to have such marks on their bodies. A symbol of a blessing that they have received. There are many women out there who are trying and giving there all to become pregnant, some who already know it will never happen for them.
We may look at are stretch marks and be saddened by the fact that we won’t wear our favorite bikinis anymore. Think that our breasts aren’t as attractive as they once were due to breastfeeding. We even think that our bodies aren’t what they should be due to a standard set by our society. If that’s you then just take a minute and think…….
Think about the woman who longs to a have life growing inside of her. Think about the woman who will never experience the connection of what it feels like to nurse a baby. We so often take this for granted, forgetting that it doesn’t happen for everyone.
Be thankful for what you have and what you have been through, what your body has been through. You are truly blessed!!!
Hi. After viewing the other pictures, I feel brave enough to post mine. As a precursor, here is what my tummy looked like my senior year of high school.
I was 19 when I got pregnant with my son. I was never a skinny girl, but I was not fat either. My mother didn’t get stretch marks, so I assumed I wouldn’t.
This is me at 39 weeks pregnant. I gained 47 pounds. I have scoured the internet and I have yet to find someone with stretch marks this awful. But each and every one was worth it.
And this is 11 months postpartum.
And 12 months postpartum, 4 weeks pregnant with #2. I am a little scared of what this second baby will do to my belly, but I will deal with that when the time comes.
pregnant at 9 months
2.5 years post partum -front view
side view
Very neat idea you had! A girl on our mother’s message board posted this, and I thought it was wonderful to show, we aren’t the only ones with these bellies. Be proud Momma’s!
I’m Maggie, and I have an amazing daughter who turns 2 in a few days.
Before I was a mom, I was a model.
Then I got pregnant and gained 100 pounds. This is me at about 8? months (about a month later, I gave birth to a 10lb 2oz girl).
This is me more than two years later than that pregnant picture, still hanging on to a good bit of the baby weight plus some more from a recent pregnancy that ended in miscarriage. My first impulse was to say that I’m sorry if these are too revealing, but I’m not. I have felt very ashamed and self-concious of this new body, and it feels really liberating to share this with others who know how it feels.
I wish I hadn’t been so extremely critical of and unsatisfied with my body back when it was beautiful by conventional standards. I intend to try to stop being so much that way with my current body, because what this body produced has brought me tons more joy than the old body ever did.
My name is Jade. I have one great son who will soon be two. I gained a total of about 85lbs when preggo! I went from a 2 to about a 22. I am now about a 10…I wish I had a great body again but I realize what a blessing my son is especially considering the health problems that I have. I considering my stretch marks my battle scars:)You can see my kangeroo pouch in the last one;)
Hi there and thank you for creating this website.
It is incredibly refreshing to find that not every woman who has a baby bounces back in 5 or 6 weeks.
This is my baby gut. 3 beautiful kids (and 2 c-sections) later. I’ve lost about 45 lbs since delivering my last baby in August 04. 8 more to go until I get to my goal. Thanks for letting me share.
