Original entries here and here.
Children:
#1) Rayden Wolfgang: Dec 12, 2005
#2) Cairo Sofia: June 23, 2009
Age: 22
I guess this submission isn’t really about me. I have posted twice before because I think this website is nothing short of amazing. It has inspired me to love my body, it’s “flaws” and all. Our bodies have performed miracles; they have carried our babies and brought life into this world. Why would anyone find this terrible, ugly, unattractive? You fill in the blank!
It’s so hard for me to read some of these stories. There are so many women out there telling the world about how horrible they look and feel after having their children, not to mention many only 2-8 weeks postpartum… come on ladies! I know it’s said over and over again, but it takes 9 months, give it 9 months to return. But even if your “ideal” is not achieved in a short 9 months, who cares? If your husband, boyfriend, partner, whoever it is that is supposed to be in this with you, can not look at you and tell you that you are beautiful than how good of a person is he? My body took a complete 180 when I got pregnant with my first baby, Rayden. My husband could still look me in the eyes and tell me I was beautiful, stretch marks and loose skin to boot! I gave birth to his child for goodness sakes, and so did you ladies!
Get your faces out of the magazines and news articles! Who cares if all these celeb moms bounced back within weeks of birthing their children. That is not reality. That is a whole lot of money, discipline, and damage to the body. They are not the ideal. Look at the amount of women on this website that have less than “ideal” bodies!
I’m not saying every morning I wake up and thank the Gods that I have stretch marks from head to toe and loose sagging skin at the ripe age of 22, but I can thank the Gods that all I had to offer to have my 2 beautiful children was a little loose skin and some stretch marks. I do repeat to myself daily “I am beautiful” and I have been doing that for nearly 2 years now, and I do believe it now. I thought it was a bunch of garbage… until I saw the effects. Every person in your life can tell you that you are beautiful but it won’t make a difference until you can honestly say to yourself that you are beautiful and believe it.
I am truly sorry to hear how many of you find yourselves not only ugly, but devastatingly ruined. You’re not ruined, you have been remodelled.
This was written with nothing less than love. No one is perfect nor will perfection ever be achieved. Reach for the clouds before the stars; one step at a time.
Pic #1: 37 weeks pregnant w/ my daugher, Cairo.
Pic #2 & #3: Me today, 8 months and 5 days PP. I think I am beautiful, but not “ideal”, Thank God!
Good attitude!! I wish I could tell everyone the same thing, but it’s something that comes with confidence and maturity and time. I think this site is even more important for women BEFORE their first child, because I think a lot of the “holy crap! What happened?” stories are people who didn’t have realistic expectations of a postpartum body.
Perfect post! i completely agree (even though i still try and achieve perfection), I am really glad i read this today!
Thank you for saying this. I have been reading this site for two years and loved it for supporting our self-love in our new bodies postbirth. I noticed that the tone of many of the letters recently was echoing what the mainstream media has been saying, that we mothers have ugly bodies and we need diets and surgery and flat bellies and tight skin to be acceptable, to ourselves and to the fathers of the children we bore/the men in our lives. I had actually stopped reading here for a bit because of it, I felt I didn’t need to hear more of the same. I hope this continues to be a place that says, we are lovely and complete and worthy of love the WAY WE ARE NOW, whether things change in the future or not.
Thank you again.
Thank you! I feel the same way, and actually just wrote something similar elsewhere. I don’t love my body, but I am proud of my body and what my body has done. So does my husband. I feel like my “new” body may be more beautiful because of what it was able to accomplish. So thank you for writing something positive.
I completely agree with you!
:) This site and people like you are restoring my once lost faith in humanity. This is the most caring website I have ever visited.
You look great by the way. Really tiny little waist! :)