The Shape of a Mother

Hi, my name is Rebecca. My first pregnancy was when I turned 17. I gained 65 pounds with my daughter. And had my second child with a total of 45 pound weight gain. I too have stretchmarks. Although after 8 years they are hardly visable. It is possible to “bounch back” back better than before even after 2 children. I became a professional glamour model and pin-up afterward. Now, I am pregnant with my third child, only 8 weeks but I am concerned just like many of you about what will this do the third time around??? I think I may have just gotten really lucky! I am proud of my body after my children, I have curves that I never knew existed. Anyway, I wish I had tummy pics of while is was pregnant, but I just have the one. The modeling photo is me 6 years after my youngest was born.

I got pregnant a few weeks after I turned 18. I was pretty thin, 5 feet 5 inches and 118 lbs. when i got pregnant. I was 136 when my daughter was born, and i managed to lose the weight but my body looks totally different. I struggle with a very low self esteem and this site has helped me to feel a little more proud of my body. I want other women to realize that even if you lose the weight, your body may not look the same. My breasts became very saggy and deflated with my pregnancy and breastfeeding for 6 months. I even got stretch marks on the inside of my thighs on the sides of my vagina!! Of course my stomach is a lot bigger and the skin can be pulled away it is very stretched out. But I am not going to go on about how different I look, instead I want to say that even though I do not have the young looking body of others my age, I have a more womanly body and that is sexy in itself. I have a beautiful daughter that has made me feel more happiness than my once perky boobs and flat stomach did!!!!! she is the love of my life and i look forward to someday having more children and I will embrace the changes in my body then as well. I think that being a mother is the greatest thing a woman can experience and I never felt more beautiful and sexy than when I was pregnant. All the mothers who post on this site are so beautiful and brave I check often to see more inspiring posts!

I had posted on here when I was only 19 wks pregnant and decided to do it again. Today and in these pics I am 37 wks pregnant.I still have my “apron” from my first child and it jiggles when I walk, even now. I should have this baby any day and I am worried about how my body will look after he makes his entrance. Luckily, I have a wonderful husband who reminds me daily how beautiful I am and that all of these stretch marks are from housing our beautiful children. This has been a very hard pregnancy and I have been cooped up in the house for most of it…. so I don’t even get out of my pajamas a lot of days. I have no family here and only 2 members that live almost 2 hrs away. He has no family here and only his mom that’s 3 hrs away and dad that’s 4 hrs away. He is loving and supportive, but I can’t wait to be able to go out every day “just because” instead of having to sit at home 24/7. Anyway, here is me at 37 wks and I’ll post my pp pics after I give birth! Thanks for listening!

I have never been really skinny ive always had a bit of a tubby stomach its never ever been fat.I was 70kilos before i fell pregnant they day i got induced i was 97kilos i am now 3 weeks pp and i weigh 83 kilos this is my pregnant body at 41 weeks and me 2 weeks pp …..

Exactly one month ago my son was born via c-section, and my abdomen looks a total mess! Although I still feel as though I didn’t actually give birth to him (it seems the doctors did), I’m thankful that we both came out of it healthy. Because I am so petite, (5ft tall) and my baby so big (9lbs 3oz) I had tiger-pattern stretch marks all over my huge belly. I still felt beautiful, though, until after I gave birth: I have tons of hanging stretched-out skin, and my abdominal muscles had separated completely during the ninth month, leaving me with a weird “hanging” gut now. Every time I look in the mirror I wonder if I will ever go back to a semblance of normal. Where will all this extra skin go? the first pic is me lying down. the second is what I look like standing up.

I am a mother of two little men. My oldest is 26 months (had him at age 22) and my baby is 9 months(had him at age 23). They are my life! I have looked at my body everyday after the two guys and wonder ‘why me?’ When I found this blog I was so happy. ‘I’m not the only mommy with that tummy and breasts!’ My husband still thinks I’m beautiful and I slowly am learning to love my new body! Thank you to all the beautiful women who’ve had little babies! You are all totally inspiring to me!

This is my 30 week pregnant belly. I am a pre-pregnancy size 16/18, about 195 pounds. This is my third baby, twelfth (!) pregnancy. I am also nursing my 34 month old. Our family has suffered eight miscarraiges and one molar pregnancy, along with our two living children and this lil bun in the oven. Because of the tragedy of multiple pregnancy loss, I find my body absolutely beautiful. I would never have surgery to “correct” my sagging abdominal muscles, or to “fix up” my stretch marks, or to lift my breasts. All of those so-called imperfections are proof to myself that my body can grow and nourish a child, and in some cases, those marks are all I have left of my precious angel babies.

Updated here.