Belly

Good Days and Bad Days (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Postpartum, Second Pregnancy, Submissions 10 Comments

I’ve been working out consistently for the past year. I try to stay on track with a healthy diet most of the time, but I do admit at times I fall off the wagon! When I delivered my son in Oct. 2009 I weighed in at 183. I now bounce between 148 and 152. I would like to lose 10-15 more pounds, but I guess I am just stuck with the “mummy tummy” unless I go the tummy tuck route. Some days I look in the mirror and think I look pretty good for having had two babies…other days, not so much. As you can see in my pics, my stomach is in pretty good shape until you get to my belly buttion, then things get a little rounder than I’d like them to be. I do have stretch marks, but they are very faded and can only be seen up close. I would love to get ride of the “love handles” but I am pretty sure losing more body fat is the only thing that will take care of those! I also am not happy with my thighs. It seems like no amount of exercise has done anything to firm the top of my legs, and I feel like this may be as good as it gets. I know I am not the only one out there struggling with body image issues. Thanks to everyone who has posted on SOAM…you all are amazing women!

~Your Age: 27
~Number of pregnancies and births:2 pregnancies, 2 births
~The age of your children, or how far postpartum you are: 5 years and 2 1/2 years

It looks like a frowny face (Kerry)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions, Teen Mom, Update 9 Comments

Previous submissions here and here.

Age: 19
First pregnancy/birth: 1 year pp

Thats what my 5 year old nephew says about my belly button. It bothered me immensely the first time he said it, then the more I thought of it a little chuckle escaped.. how many people can say it looks like their button is frowning? That short sentence pretty much sums up my whole postpartum journey thus far; denial, anger, mortification, acceptance, appreciation, and enjoyment! If you asked me a year ago if I ever thought I’d enjoy my body again I’d have given you a very quick and convincing, “NO!” I was very depressed about my body, I compared myself with every single female I saw, childless or mother; and in my eyes they all looked better than me. Every time someone complimented me or told me I was looking great I was sure they were lying, there’s no way I could look great.

Over this past year I have changed a lot, but its more my attitude than my body. My breasts are shrunken and saggy, yet I cherish the memories they give me.. my son kneading and tugging on them as he nurses and in those moments I’m the only thing in the world he cares about. The right side of my belly has far more stretchmarks than the left, and every time I look down I remember having his back pushed up tight on that side of me for the entire pregnancy. The stretchmarks from the top of my breasts to my calves remind me how strong my body is and I marvel in the fact that I was privileged enough to grow another human being inside me and it never ceases to amaze me how a body can morph to accommodate that baby. I don’t think my body is better or worse than any other mom out there, we each have our own stories and our bodies illustrate that individuality. What fun would it be if we all fit the same mold??

I finally started working out around the new year, before that I had felt hopeless. It’s helped boost my confidence, energy and moods so much! I’ve lost 55 of the 60lbs I gained during my pregnancy so far. I hope to lose 5 or so more and continue to get in better shape. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate this site for helping me see what really matters, I firmly believe I would still loathe my body had I not found SOAM.

Picture 1: 1 yr pp full body shot
Picture 2: 1 yr pp close up of the “frowny face” button and strechmarks
Picture 3: 1 yr pp side
Pitcure 4: Levi 1 yr old!

Updated here.

2 Under 2… Every Day’s a Blessing (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Cesarean, Postpartum, Second Pregnancy, Submissions 2 Comments

I am 22 years old and have 2 children under the age of 2! I got pregnant with my first child when I was 20 years old, other than getting stretchmarks, I had never really though about how having a baby would change my body. I figured I was still young, and everything would bounce back to normal….boy was I wrong!! 9 months and 60 lbs. later I gave birth to a healthy 8lb. 4oz. beautiful baby girl. Despite having used cocoa butter for stretchmarks throughout My pregnancy, I was shocked to look in the mirror for the first time after giving Birth, and see the changes that had taken place. Not only was my tummy covered in stretchmarks, but my skin was rippley and sagging I also had stretchmarks on the backs of my legs, and side of my breasts. I thought for sure there must be somthing wrong… I am only 20 years old and my body should NOT look like this. throughout the months after my daughter was born, I tried hard to be accepting of my “new” body, but it was hard. In june of 2009, i was surprised to discover that I was pregnant again. I was not to thrilled at the thought of more stretchmarks, and feared that my body would be even worse after the next baby. I tried to eat healthier with my second pregnancy, and even lost wait the first few months due to morning sickness, so I only gained 20 pounds with my second pregnancy.
In January 2010 my baby boy arrived by cesarean.
right now I am 3 months post partum. Although I still have stretchmarks, most of them have faded, other than a few that I got from my secod pregnancy. I am surprised to say that I actually feel better about my body right now than I did after my first pregnancy. My skin is still sagging, and rippley in some places, and I have this horrible flap of skin that hangs over my pants, but I am still working on accepting my new body because, if I didnt have the body I have now, I wouldnt have my beautiful babies, and I wouldnt change that for the world! I have attatched pictures of me at 3 months post partum :)

Trouble Accepting My New Body (Aarica)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Cesarean, Cesarean Scar and/or Incision, First Pregnancy, Plus-Sized Mom, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions 2 Comments

Age~ 23
Pregnancy/births ~ 1 Pregnancy,1 birth
Postpartum- 7 months

I had just started dating my little guys dad six months before we found out we were expecting. It was a great moment for me and I’m sure him as well.
Before I met his dad I was in a long term relationship for 5 years with a different man and had planned on marrying him and having children with him, but it just never worked, I met Landon’s dad when I was working with him and we started dating. Everything about our first six months went fast, we moved in together a month after we started dating, six months later we found out we were having a baby.

The pregnancy was so easy we had nothing but good news the whole time, we decided we didn’t want to find out the sex and waited. It was hard for me I really wanted to know.
We went to every checkup and they all went well,I did start having some trouble with my sciatic nerve and I leaked a little of my fluid(nothing to worry about). Everything was perfect and I was so in love with the dad and baby. My parents and doctor were worried about after the baby if I could handle it emotionally because I have Bipolar, but had learned to cope with it and was even medication free for over 3 years so I wasn’t worried, but they were trying to look out for me you know parents.

I was nearing the end of my pregnancy and I was stating to get excited, I had my Birth Plan ready and the OB loved it and wanted to follow the plan as best he could, which made us so happy. My due date was Monday, July 13th, 2009 and when that was a week away the OB decided to book an ultra sound for Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 just in case I was late and I was. So when the 15th can I was so excited to see the baby at least that way so I could be sure everything was ok. The OB wanted to see the position of the baby so he could make a plan for that.

The night before the Ultra sound I seemed to have to pee a lot, but since I was over due I figured that was normal, but I was wrong it turns out my water broke and was leaking slowly and only when I had the urge to pee. The doctor sent me to the hospital and said by tomorrow you will meet the baby and we were so excited until we got there and they hooked me up to the monitor and I was in full labour and didn’t even feel the contractions I was told they were bad. I thought it was ok maybe it wouldn’t hurt like everyone said it would. They also noticed that everything wasn’t ok with the baby every contraction made the heart rate drop so they moved me to a room and said the doctor will be in, in just a min, he got there and did an internal and I had not dilated even one cm. Turns out my hips were fused together (reason I couldn’t feel anything) so he wanted a c-section(not what I wanted) but we did one and Landon was born at 8:58pm just in time to still share the same b-day as my brother.

They took him and finished with me. I met him almost 2 hours later and he was so cute and big 8 14.

But the next morning they said he had jaundice and need the NICU he was there for 3 days and had a feeding tube, so I had to pump and go to the NICU every 3 hours do they could force feed him 50 ml. nothing was going the way we planned, we finally left the hospital 5 days after he was born.

I hate my new body I was never tiny or skinny, but this is as big as I have ever been. Strange part is I only gained 15 pounds while pregnant. Now I sag everywhere and and the scar i know will fade but until then I don’t like looking in the mirror.

Pictures:

Black shirt 10 weeks pregnant, Dress and phone 40 weeks pregnant, front view of 7months pp, 2 scar views and side view all 7 months pp

My Mommy Body – Update (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Breasts, Postpartum, Second Pregnancy, Submissions, Update 10 Comments

This is an update to my March 2007 post.

I am 25 years old. I got pregnant with my daughter just 2 months after my previous post. My little girl is now 2, and my son is 3. I lost all of the weight from her. I am just 10lbs heavier than before we conceived my son. That 10lbs is just hanging around my midsection. Literally…hanging. The stretchmarks don’t bother me so much anymore, they’ve faded quite a bit. I just hate the saggy skin. I look at pictures of myself before I got pregnant, when I thought I was just sooooo fat. I often think to myself “Wow, I wish I was that ‘fat’ again!!”.

My boobs have unfortunately always been that large (36F at last fitting before kids). They grew consistently for 5 years in my late teens. I was horrified that they would just grow and grow throughout my pregnancy. Luckily they didn’t! I’m researching breast reduction at the moment and if our insurance will pay for the procedure. I have 3 vertebrae in my back that have no cartilage left between them.

I had a little devil tattoo on my lower tummy that I thought was adorable at 16. Well after 2 kids, he’s now permanently giving himself a BJ (see picture). These pics are 2yrs postpartum.

My Body After Baby (Tessa)

Bonnie (SOAM) Before Pregnancy, Belly, Cesarean, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions, Teen Mom, Update 8 Comments

I became pregnant and the age of 19 years old. Before I was pregnant, I was quite thin. I always had body image insecurities either way. Looking back at those photos, I find myself asking how I could have ever been displeased with my body pre-pregnancy. When I found out I was pregnant, I was 128 lbs. By the day of my induction, I was 198 lbs. Throughout my third trimester of my pregnancy, I often got asked if I was having twins. No, just one baby. One very large baby. My baby was born at 9 lbs 13 oz via cesarean section.

Although I was large, I was told numerous times that because I chose to exclusively breastfeed my child, that the weight would come off faster. Much to my dismay, the opposite was true. I was only able to breastfeed for a few months before my baby boy went on a nursing strike. I then exclusively pumped breastmilk until my baby was 6.5 months old. After I weaned myself from the pump, and thanks to the warmer weather and more walking, I finally started to get comments that I looked thinner. It wasn’t until I quit breastfeeding that I was able to lose weight. Right now I am at 160.5 lbs, 7 months post-partum. I’m running some, doing some ab workouts, but only when I can squeeze it in around taking care of my son.

But still, those comments about me looking thinner are made when my body is hid by clothing. My stretch marks cover my entire stomach, hips, thighs, and calves. My stomach doesn’t pouch out as much, but instead it went south. I have plenty of loose skin. To top it off, I have the c-section overhang.

Getting used to my new body is hard at times. I do truly really struggle sometimes. I don’t love my son any less; he was absolutely worth every stretch mark, every lb, and all the extra loose skin. I was so hopeful that because I was tiny before, that I’d loose the weight quickly. I was so hopeful that breastfeeding would help me lose the weight quickly, as everyone promised. But it didn’t. And although I still plan to exercise and try to be healthy, I know I need to learn to be comfortable with my body, knowing it looks the way it does know because it created my child. I’m not there yet, but I do have some good days. I may not be young and “hot”, but I am beautiful and my body is amazing for the sole reason that it created, housed, and gave birth to life.

I’m attaching an 8 weeks photo, 40 weeks pregnant photo,two 6 weeks post-partum photos(white sports bra), a few 7 months PP photos(pink bra and shorts), and a photo of the wonderful little life that is the reason for these photos

Updated here and here.

Trying to accept the unexpected.. Again (Ish)

Bonnie (SOAM) Abortion/Life after Abortion, Belly, Piercing, Pregnant, Submissions, Tattoo 8 Comments

Well I will try and keep this as succinct as possible though I do tend to ramble once I get going.

In January 2009 I found out I was pregnant, unplanned and completely unexpected as I was on the contraceptive pill. I was 20, had been with my boyfriend a year (he already has a gorgeous little girl from a previous relationship, now aged 2 years and 6 months) and I had just been accepted to begin a university course in September 2009. Quite obviously I wasn’t ready to be a mum but at the same time I had always said even though I am one hundred percent pro choice that I don’t think I would ever be able to go ahead with a termination no matter what my situation was. To cut the story short, it turns out you can never say never and I did end up having an abortion at 9 weeks pregnant. I will still never be sure if I made the right decision but I am trying day by day not to dwell on that because there is no point stressing on things that can’t be undone. It took me a while to realise this however and about 6 months after the termination (June 2009ish) me and my boyfriend split up. This was mainly because the shame and the guilt that I felt and was keeping to myself was just constantly on the edge and I was pretty much a mess and a complete bitch to be with. I told him I felt like I was the only one that was hurting from all of this, and he didn’t support me and blahblahblah but really I just wasn’t letting him in and I was too wrapped up in my own pain that I couldn’t see his.

Fast forward to September 2009 and we’re back together, thank god, because I realised what a good thing I was messing up and well, we love each other and that’s really all that seems to matter. Fast forward again to January 2010 and tada! I’m pregnant unexpectedly again (this time on the Depo injection). I cried, I’m sure he cried and we both thought about nothing else for a good 2 weeks straight before deciding that this had happened through all the odds, a second time around, and it must be for a reason.

I am now 22 years old and 24 weeks pregnant with the most lively little boy growing inside me and I am absolutely terrified but so excited to meet him. My relationship with my boyfriend is the best it has ever been but I do find myself at least (!!!) once daily irrationally imagining that he is going to up and leave me as soon as the tiniest flea sized stretch mark appears on me. I am 5’1, very petite but with 32dd boobs (which are already up to an E cup, nooo!) and I’ve gone from 105lbs to 123lbs, so not a massive amount but being so tiny I just dont know how much my body is going to be able to handle! I have never liked my body, even though I have no reason, but various events (including the termination) have killed my self esteem and I am really really really trying to not stress and to just enjoy being pregnant because so far I am amazed and already completely in love with this little man that I haven’t met yet. This site and all your stories have made me realise that women are fabulous – look at what we do! – and I hope one day I can be half as inspiring to someone as you all have been to me.

Pictures are literally as of today, officially 24 weeks.

~Your Age: 22
~Number of pregnancies and births: 2 pregnancies, 0 births yet!

Baby Mama (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Child Loss, Postpartum, Submissions, Third Pregnancy 4 Comments

Age 23
2 1/2 Years and 6 months postpartum
3 pregnancies 2 births

I’ve always struggled with body issues and would sometimes get depressed and sick about it because I wanted to be the “best”. I was always thin and had a nice body even if it wasn’t “perfect”. I always looked forward to pregnancy and was so excited when I got pregnant, and I thought I had a realistic idea of what would happen to my body. I was expecting stretchmarks on my belly and breasts but in the end was covered boobs to calves, even a little on my arms. I didn’t think I was naïve about what would happen after baby, I knew it would take time and I would never be the same. I was pretty shocked when a year after baby while trying to be somewhat healthy I didn’t seem to lose a single pound. My next pregnancy was much easier and seemed more natural for my body.
Before getting pregnant I weighed 133 (had already gained weight) then I had a miscarriage which was early on but I could still feel some weight gain already and gained afterwards probably from being depressed. I’m not sure how much I weighed when I got pregnant or in the end but I stayed at about 170 or more. When I got pregnant again I weighed 155 and didn’t gain anything in the beginning and by the end only gained 15-20 lbs. I lost all the pregnancy weight by 2 days after the birth plus 5 lbs not long after. But now I’m stuck! My goal is 133.
Thank you so much Bonnie for this site, all you women are so beautiful!
In the one picture “mama nature” that’s a tree on my belly with the apples (of my eye). Its hard to see in this picture.

You don’t realize what you have, until it’s gone.. so old but so true (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Back, Before Pregnancy, Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions 12 Comments

Age : 21
Number of Pregnancies : 1
Births : 1
Time Since giving birth : almost 11 months

I have been with my husband for over four years now. I got pregnant while we were still dating in 2009 when I was 20, and we got married shortly me after giving birth. Before I got pregnant, I was about 135lbs. I was 115-118 in high school but since graduation in 2006, I had slowly been putting on the pounds. So before I was even pregnant I needed to lose about 15 lbs. I had an awesome pregnancy. No issues besides having gestational diabetes. My son was 3 weeks early and weighed 6lbs 14oz, just shy of 7lbs. Not bad for a 3 week early baby.

Now I love my son more than I could ever describe in words or actions, but I do wish we would have waitied to have kids. Only for selfish reasons though. I didnt like my body before I was pregnant and now I hate it even more and would do anything to have my pre-preg. body back. I had such a smooth stomach. I just wish I would have appreciated my body more when I was skinnier and stretch-mark-less.

Anyways, I gained about 30lbs during my pregnancy. I got up to about 168lbs. Since having my son, I dropped 20 lbs easy, within the first 2-3 weeks. I have not been able to lose the extra 15lbs on top of that, PLUS the 15lbs i wanted to lose before I got pregnant. I have been stuck at 148 for the past 10 months…. Recently I got serious about dieting and exercising so i dropped about 8 lbs. Im now 140. 20 more lbs to go for my goal weight. It’s hard to do right now because I am still nursing and I have to eat to maintain my milk supply. I am one of the unlucky ones who hasn’t lost weight while breastfeeding, if anything, Ive gained here and there.

So I’m at 140 and counting. I got stretch marks everywhere you can imagine. boobs, belly, butt, thighs, back… ugh. You name it. I hate them. BUT I wouldnt change it for the world if it meant i didnt have my son. I want to be back at my pre-preg weight soo bad. I am trying and I will update with pics as I continue to lose weight (fingers crossed). Also, my boobs are huge. went from a small 34C to a 38DD… slowly getting back into a D. but I def. have saggy boobies for sure. I am just thick all over. I want to lose my love handles and my back fat and my leg fat. just an all over trim pretty much. 20 more lbs to go.

First pic is about a year before I got pregnant. So I was smaller in this pic than i was when I got pregnant.
Other pics are different views of me at 140lbs 10.5months post baby.

7 weeks postpartum…7 pounds to go (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Cesarean, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions, Update 6 Comments

23 years old, first birth and first pregnancy
baby is now 7 weeks old

When I first found out I was pregnant I never thought of the impact a pregnancy could have on my body. I just could not imagine that I would have stretch marks and spider veins at my age…my mom has those not me! Well now I know that the reason why she has those is exactly because she is a mom. Well being a mom did change my body, I gained almost 40 pounds during my pregnancy, got a few stretch marks on my hips and spider veins on my legs.

Throughout my pregnancy I did not consider having a c-section, baby was head down, average size, nothing let me to consider that option but baby had other plans and I ended up having an emergency c-section. I didn’t want to have one really, I had been told that losing weight was harder after a c-section and so was the recovery but when the time came I just wanted my baby out.

I was very lucky and lost most of my weight very quickly and had a fairly fast recovery without any complications.

Not considering that my body might be changed forever during my pregnancy left me pretty shocked after the birth of my son when I first looked in the mirror. My breasts are unrecognizable and so is my belly. I only have 7 pounds left to be back to my pre baby weight but my clothes are 2 sizes bigger. I now have the body of a mother and I must learn to live with it.

NOW I must start working hard to get my body back to an attractive state (attractive to ME not to my husband). I don’t know how much work it will take but I am willing to work hard.

Updated here.