… I tell myself that everyday!
I met my husband while we were overseas in the Army in 2005, we were married in April 2006, and 9 months and 10 days later we had our daughter, she is amazing! We are going to be welcoming our son in March and cant wait! I love being a mom and wife but a part of me died when I realized how much my body had changed, not the weight difference…the stretch marks! I was 135lbs when I got married and 145lbs when I got pregnant(I stopped using birth control and that causes me to gain a few)when I went into labor with my daughter I was over 200lbs… I think 206lbs but Im not sure. I felt so stupid for not taking care of myself when I was pregnant, I ate junk all the time and refused to work out because I thought it would be ok (my mom had 3 girls, no stretch marks and never gaining too much weight with out putting any effort into staying fit). I got back down to 135lbs fast, about 8 weeks, but I will not take the credit, I have thyroid issues and that was before I started taking medication. So for the next year or so I spent thousands of dollars on scar and stretch mark creams, gels, patches, ANYTHING! I also had breast augmentation to help smooth out scars on my chest. I am being alot more careful with this pregnancy to avoid getting more stretch marks but at this point I think Im pretty well covered. I dont worry as much about my body because of this site, overall women get stretch marks, they get dimples, and wrinkles! It is a reality that I didnt take into consideration before finding this site and I am so relieved that I am not alone, my biggest concern is staying healthy so I can keep up with my growing family and always give my kids 110%. I still have bad days when I examine my tummy and legs, but I have a great husband that doesnt even see my stretch marks and I am so thankful!
Gathering these pictures has made me see how fast my body went back and how much my stretch marks have faded, I look at myself as lucky, it was a small price to pay for my angels! I will keep you posted on the arrival of #2 and more body changes!
My pictures are..
1st pregnancy- 3 months, 6 months, 9 months
After delivery- 10 days, 4 months
Stretch marks on belly- 1 year
2nd pregnancy- 8 months
Do you think any of the things you tried for stretchmarks helped much? I can’t see any on you in the pictures, I’m just curious cuz I would LOVE to get rid of mine… or at least drastically improve them!
oh, and your story sounds similar to mine, I started out at the same weight, ended at about the same weight, and got back to my pre-pregnancy weight fairly fast. I craved junk food pretty bad when I was pregnant at pretty much let myself eat whatever, and didn’t excise much because I was always tired. I also got bad stretch marks and foolishly didn’t expect it because my mother, who is much smaller then I am, also had 3 kids and NO stretch marks! I plan on being more careful with my next pregnancy, working out through it, and eating within reason. Good luck with this pregnancy. You look great!
Thanks for the comments! I have used alot of different things for stretch marks, the ones where I noticed a difference were…
-Trilastin creme for 5 months (faded alot)
-Barmon creme for 4 months (tightened my skin up pretty good)
-Cosmyten creme, and I havent gotten any more stretch marks (at 9 months) and I have seen a difference in the depth of them and they have faded in only 3 weeks
I also use sugar scrubs the exfoliate and help with itchy belly, I make my own with raw sugar, almond oil and olive oil. I also add some Oil of Olay in shower lotion to help keep my skin moist. I am a fan of mixing my lotions with scar serums and olive oil(adds extreme moisture) to make them last and multi-task.
…and yes… my husband teases me about my tupper-ware containers full of my “treatments”!
Hope you find some of this useful Ashley, good luck!
Oh yeah, and I wanted to add to my blog. At 7 months pregnant with #1 I measured my belly all around and was 43″. And I am now 9 months with #2 and I measured my belly and was 40″. My first was 7lbs 1oz and the second is projecting to be about 9lbs, according to the ultrasound I had yesterday… I cant believe the difference!
Wow Mary, what an incredible difference! What are you doing differently this time around? Is it just diet or are you exercising too? I would love to know- I’m a little more than halfway through my first pregnancy and doing everything I can to stay healthy, but it seems like you have the secret!
This pregnancy was just totally different, I did work out until about 8 months and tried to eat right, but the last month or two I was less strict about my eating and I walked alot the last month and did pregnancy yoga about 3 days a week, its been two weeks since I had my son and I am about 15 lbs from my goal weight! Once again, every pregnancy is different, I really just feel like I got lucky the second time around, but regardless, I gained tons with my daughter and 30 lbs with my son, and still got stretch marks each time… I think I was made to have them!