secretmommy

I was 19 when I gave birth to my first son. I ate extremely healthy because of gestational diabetes. I went from 117 lbs. to 139 lbs. and 10 lbs. of that ended up being baby! I was shocked at how much pregnancy then labor & delivery changed my body. I bounced back pretty quickly considering I was still eating healthy and nursing. I had the dreaded jiggly belly pooch for a few months but I made it nearly back to my original weight when surprise, I became pregnant again when the first was only 8 mos. old. A year and a half later I welcomed boy #2. With my second pregnancy, I dealt with GD again but gained the most weight I’d ever been and it took quite a toll on my body as far as stretch marks on my boobs and inner thighs. It was much harder to lose the extra weight this time around. I wanted so badly to become pregnant again so I could blame the weight on pregnancy. I added to my little boy collection 4 years later in 2004 after an uneventful pregnancy (aside from GD) and easiest labor and delivery of the three.

I wanted to share my story because the media doesn’t show what real Mommy tummies look like post-baby. It reminds me daily what my body is NOT. I’m sharing with you, the public because no matter how much working out I do which is 3-5 times a week, my belly is forever marked and changed in shape. I want to see if my friends even recognize my pictures. I’m not the “waif” my friends used to call me. I am saying good-bye to that image and vowing to stop obsessing that what I am now will ever come close to matching that again because now I proudly wear the body, heart and soul of a mother. What is more beautiful than that?

Just days shy of giving birth to my first baby

32 wks. pregnant with third baby

38 wks. pregnant with third baby

Now, 3 boys later- 2 years since my last baby