I am 3 months pp with baby number 3, and I couldn’t be happier. I LOVE pregnancy and birth, and feel so empowered to have accomplished 3 wonderful natural births, the last two at home in my bedroom. I have some deep stretch marks on my belly, but they are sacred and special to me, reminding me of how blessed I am to have carried life in my womb, every time I see them, they make me smile! I couldn’t imagine not having had the opportunity I have had to carry my babies and nourish them in my womb, and then with my breast milk. How could I resent something that represents such an amazing and special time in my life?
I worked very hard during my pregnancies, working out to the day before delivery with each one, and eating a healthy diet. I gained 21lbs with my first baby and 26 lbs with both my second and third. At 10 weeks pp this time I was already 2lbs below my starting weight, and feeling great. Though I kept the weight gain to a minimal my body has made definite changes over the three pregnancies. Of course there are the stretch marks, and my shape is no longer that of a 17 year old girl, to me it now has the shape of a mother, and that is nothing to be ashamed of!!!
I am 25 years old and married to my high school sweet heart. My boys are 4.5yrs old, 2 years old, and 3 months old. Here are some pictures of what my body has done during the past few years!
-The first picture is at my Home Birth just after my third son was born in November 2008, 3 months ago. What an amazing feeling to know my body is capable of this!!
-The next two are me just about 1 year after my second son was born, not long before I found I was expecting my third. I had worked very very hard at the gym to try to tone my body, so I just kept right up with it all the way through my pregnancy.
-The next two are me 40 weeks pregnant on my Due Date with my third baby (4 days before he was born)
-Then a picture of my big stretch mark while I am in labour at home, and the next is my belly just about 2 hours or so after he was born.
-And finally me today, 3 months PP after 3 beautiful boys were born from my body.
You did such an amazing job at keeping your body fit and healthy during pregnancy, I wish I had that kind of motivation! You look amazing!
oh my…you look great! I gained like 55 pounds with my first son…got down to about 10 pounds away from pre-pregnancy weight…now I am due in less than 4 weeks and I have gained 35 pounds with this one. I had an emergency cesarean with my first, and have one scheduled with this one. What exercises did you due after your pregnancies to look so good again?
WOW!! You look awesome! It’s like you have it down to an art.
You look fantastic!
Wow. You are my hero. I hope to be as motivated and blessed as you. You are beautiful and I truly admire your effort in being healthy, and exercising throughout pregnancy. How hard did you work out towards the end of your pregnancy?
wow you are amazing! i cant believe you are only 25 and have been through 3 natural births already! i love pregnancy and birth too, im 22 and i just had my first natural birth a little over a year ago. i hope i look like you next time im pregnant! i gained 35 pounds! im going to try not to gain so much next time. congratulations on your babies! xo
Wow! You were all baby! I’m amazed at your motivation.
Congratulations on your 3rd son!
you really do look amazing, great body for 3 kids…im jealous!
Thank you for the compliments! As for the questions, I did mostly exercise classes at the gym during my pregnancy this time. I did step, spin, bosu,and super-set strength classes, and was there about 4x a week to the end of pregnancy. About 5 weeks before my Due Date, my belly was too big to lean over in the bikes (my knees would hit my belly, lol) and there were several things in the other classes that became a little uncomfortable, so I did what I could in the other classes, modified the rest, and did lots of elliptical and weights to keep toned. My plan was to work hard during the pregnancy so that I could take several months off after the birth to just be with my newborn and my older boys and really enjoy it without the worry and stress over getting my body back. These pictures were submitted at 3 months PP, and I started back at the gym recently, just before 4 months PP. The amazing thing was that I did lots of ab workouts during my pregnancy(modified, never strained, and never on my back) and a few weeks after birth I was like “wow, I can see stomache muscles, I guess they were really doing something behind that massive mound! lol” Exercising (often even after having my head in the toilet all morning, and then dragging my butt off to the gym for 9am)was hard work, but I felt so energized, healthy, and full of life after my workouts. I felt like I was doing so much good for my baby and for me. If you click on the pictures, and click on them again, they are enlarged and you can see that even though I didn’t gain lots, I do have some very large, and very deep stretch marks, they started out tiny with my first baby, and have gotten bigger with each pregnancy. I love showing them to my son’s and telling them about how they left those marks behind when they were in Mommy’s tummy, and explaining to them how special they are to me. My 4.5 year old always runs his fingers over them when he catches a glimpse of my belly, and asks again to tell the story about how he and his brothers left them for me! My hope is that my three boys can hold a respect for the changes in a Mothers body and that my suttle teachings will influence the way they view their own wives bodies, that they find beauty in those changes. Imagine the generation of men we could raise, if we all could instill a deep respect for a woman’s body and it’s ablilities and changes during pregnancy and birth, I think its time! Displaying a positive body image is not just important to our daughters, but absolutely to our sons as well!
ITA – I hope both our boys and girls grow up with a more normalized version of women’s bodies!
You look fabulous! I love that you shared pictures at all stages of your postpartum life. :D
wow, you really are an inspiration. I tried to keep working out through pregnancy but lacked the will power you had! And I love your view on stretch marks.. I cried so hard when they first appeared on my belly at 36 weeks pregnant.. but that was just my selfish immaturity. I really don’t mind them at all now that my baby girl is here and that I have read your story and other stories. My next baby, I’m going to have to read your story over again and keep working out! Thanks and bless you and your family.
Holy crap, you are tiny!! Am so very jealous:) Good for you for keeping your body fit throughout your pregnancies.
Wow! You had left a post on my ad I was the young 20 year old mother and wife. First of all thanks for your very kind words and I must say you look AWESOME!!! Your body looks way better than mine and you have not had one but THREE children. Congrats you should be more than proud of yourself for what you have done for both your body and your children. I wish I had the type of motivation you did when I was pregnant. I would try to work out and I am not kidding you any type of exercise I did started my contractions. Hopefully my next pregnancy will not do that to me as I want to be able to enjoy my body during and after pregnancy and not constantly be in pain. You are an amazing woman!