First Pregnancy

Time Machines Don’t Exist, Unfortunately (Mir)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions, Update 5 Comments

I posted a belly photo of myself in February along with my thoughts and totally forgot to go look at it again until last night.

I want to post another couple of photos now, six months on showing my belly again. What has changed in six months? The most dramatic/helpful change is that I went back to work–which improved my level of sanity and just made me feel better about myself overall. Now, my son gets more quality time with me even if it’s not quantity. Before he was spending so much time with me but neither of us were happy with that. The set-up is much better now.

I’m not really sure how much weight I’ve lost–probably about 15-20 pounds (I’m about 175 pounds now)–haven’t exercised at all–just walk everywhere I go. I still need to lose another 30-40 pounds to be down to a good/pre-pregnancy weight. Even if I don’t lose that amount of weight, I’ve dropped about 4-5 pants sizes so that’s nothing to complain about. My boobs are still saggy but I’ve gone from a D-cup down to a C-ish cup which is nice–maybe someday I’ll see a B cup again but by then my boobs will be even more raisin-like probably. My belly is still stretched out beyond compare (nothing to do with fat–just the lose skin that’s hangin’ around there).

Um…I’m sorta neutral right now on the body-image thing. I probably still feel pretty sad and hurt over the whole thing but I try not to think about it because it just makes me feel like shit, honestly. Have decided that I’m not having any more children and have made peace with that as well in the past six months. I’m going to just keep doing a damn good job raising one and it’s gonna be awesome (probably). Thanks for all who commented before and for this encouraging site!

~Your Age: 26
~Number of pregnancies and births: 1 pregnancy, 1 birth (more than enough!)
~The age of your children, or how far postpartum you are: 1 son, age almost 20 months, 20 months post-partum

Updated here.

That’s Why You’re Beautiful (Traci)

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

Previous entry here.

The first time I posted here was 2 years ago. That’s quite scary! Our little ones grow up so fast. I have been viewing this site for three or maybe more years now and I am blown away by the many women who post and say they dislike their body or that they are unappy with themselves now that they have had a child, and while I can understand that (believe me, I do!) it saddens me so much because now that I am older I can truely appreciate what my body has done for me. My body had to grow to make room for a tiny human. And in growing it had to stretch that little bit extra because we can never predict how big our little squirts are going to be. And due to stretching we are given little rivers on our tummy (back, thighs, calves, breasts, etc) that grow as our baby grows. Lets face it, our little ones must get bored staring at their placenta all day! Imagine when the light or sun shines on your tummy and those stretch marks create little patterns for your baby to look at. Babies begin to learn in the womb. Wouldn’t it be nice to know they had something to look at other than their water sack! :)

What I am trying to say is, it took me a long time to realise I was beautiful. Not because of my face or my body, but because I could truely appreciate how lucky I am to have a healthy child who I watch growing every single day. I am blessed. I tell you something, I would MUCH rather have some stupid stretch marks than NOT have my son at all.

There are so many women (and men) who would take all the stretch marks, saggy skin and droopy boobs if it meant they could conceive a child of their own. Unfortunately, in some sense, things dont turn out in that way for everyone.

Biological mother or adoptive mother, either way, you are beautiful, not because of your face or your body, but because you can truely appreciate being a mother.

“Diamonds used to be coal, look young ’cause they’ve got soul. That’s why they’re beautiful.
And my heart used to be cold, ’til your hands laid on my soul. And that’s why you’re beautiful”

I attached some recent pictures of myself and how my body has changed since my last post and the rest are my two wonderful boys :)

~Your Age: 23
~Number of pregnancies and births: 1
~The age of your children, or how far postpartum you are: 3 years and 2 months

Mother of a Princess (MommaMykah)

Bonnie (SOAM) Before Pregnancy, Belly, Breasts, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions 9 Comments

Mother of a Princess

I’m 27 years old and a proud mother of an eight month old princess. She is my first and only child.

I’ve never been self-conscious about by body (in fact I loved my body) until after I had my baby and my breast went from pointy and perky to sagging and looking at the ground. My once flat tummy is now a flabby tummy, that I can work on but the breast are really making me depressed.

I was searching around on breast sites looking for company in my pity party and I came across this website. No one tells you that when you become a mommy you would never look the same again. All the celebrity images we are bombarded with make us feel like we are not beautiful anymore, well that’s how I felt anyway. But this website a shape of a mother got me thinking, that I am normal and my breast are normal for a mother and I am beautiful. I have read other mom’s stories and it has given me such strength and courage to love my body once again. Though I am not back at the mirror viewing stage, I am learning little by little to accept my sagging breasts, for I have breast fed my baby to a healthy weight, and I am learning to love my stretch marks for they are battle scars for borning a princess and my flabby tummy for it held my Princess close to me as she grew.

Thank you to all of the posts they have given me the boost I needed to love myself again, breast included :) .

Below are pictures of my body before my princess and 8 months after my princess. See her attached too.

MommaMykah

Mommy-ware (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Breasts, Butt, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions 12 Comments

At 23 I became pregnant. I had never wanted children and enjoyed being just an aunt. Quickly I grew excited for the new baby growing inside me. I reveled in the joys of nesting and planning. I did tell myself though that I would not wear traditional maternity clothes and manage to go most of my pregnancy with few maternity items despite the fact I gained nearly 40 lbs! I also told myself I wouldn’t go around in what i thought was “mom-gear” : exercise clothes, t-shirts, gym shoes, once the baby arrived. I now live in comfortable clothes that are usually spit-up stained or covered with spaghetti sauce from dinner and I am okay with it. I haven’t quite gotten down to my pre-pregnancy weight nor do I expect to ever have my “old” body back and I’m okay with that too.

It is hard sometimes to look in my closet and see all the beautiful clothes I spent years collecting and know that I can’t just slip them on and go like I used too, but there are far more important things in life; my son is learning how to crawl and today it looks like he’s doing the worm perhaps tomorrow it will resemble something closer to a crab walk. I know that I am blessed with a son who loves me, a partner who supportive and a family I can always count on.

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings even if I have to wear yoga pants find out. Special thanks to this site for making all women comfortable in their skin!

1st Pregnancy, 8mos PP (today!)

Anonymous

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions 14 Comments

Hello, I am a 24 year old single mother. I found out I was pregnant with my daughter right after my 22nd birthday and gave birth Christmas day 2007. My daughter was small only weighing 6 pounds 15 ounces and 19 1/4 inches long. Though you couldn’t tell with the 80 pounds I gained. When I found out I was pregnant and told her father he was totally against me having her, he pushed abortion and when I refused he started dating someone else. All this extra stress didn’t seem to help with my extreme weight gain. I have always struggled with my weight and been heavy my whole life, when I had finally lost weight. At the time I got pregnant I was 158 pounds which wasn’t bad for my 5’8” frame. I always figured i would lose 20 or 30 pounds from giving birth, I came home 10 pounds lighter. I didn’t get many stretch marks, but I hate the way my body looks now. I now weight 193 and it is extremely hard to lose weight. Its hard to come to terms with my self and I have little to no self confidence. My daughter is now 19 months old and is my life, I wouldn’t change anything and she is the best choice I have ever made. I just feel so disgusted by myself, I feel unlovable at times. I found this site about a year back and it does make me feel better and I feel the support. The pictures are of me 19monts pp.

Updated here and here.

I’m not so sure I hate my body anymore (Nicole)

Bonnie (SOAM) Before Pregnancy, Belly, Breasts, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions, Update 15 Comments

~Your Age: 26
~Number of pregnancies and births: 1 pregnancy, 1 birth
~The age of your children, or how far postpartum you are: Currently 15 1/2 weeks PP (photos taken at 13 weeks PP)

I have struggled with my body image ever since I was a child. I remember, when I was in primary school, sucking in my stomach during swimming lessons so that it would be flatter than the other girls’ tummies (it’s a habit I have had ever since). In high school I developed severely disordered eating, accompanied by anxiety and depression, and battled my body and weight for a very long time.

5 years ago I met and then married an amazing man who thinks I am beautiful and tells me so often. I loved being pregnant – I was healthy, happy and have never felt so beautiful in my life! My stomach, long despised, was my pride and joy. I was pregnant in summer and would walk to the pool in my bikini.

I put on 15 kg (33lb) while I was pregnant. It was 38 weeks before I saw a stretch mark and when I found my first one (I got 4 or 5) I cried and cried. And then I realised – millions of women around the world have nowhere safe to give birth, no doctors or midwives or antenatal care, how dare I act like this is the end of the world??!!! I was horrified at my vanity. My husband thinks they’re cool. He says they make me look like a pirate. I’m not so sure but they’re growing on me.

Labour was surprising, quick and hard. My son was born naturally just over 4 hours after my waters broke, 3 days before his due date. I’ve been told I was ‘lucky’ but going from the odd prelabour Braxton-Hicks to full, active labour in minutes left me feeling like I had been hit by a truck, both during my labour and for weeks afterwards. I quietly envy my friends’ stories of relaxing in the bath between their contractions!

Postpartum, I had expected to look pregnant for months after delivery, but what my hungry little boy hasn’t sucked out I unfortunately seem to have lost in a distressing haze of postnatal anxiety. It’s nice to fit into my old clothes but I would rather be fatter and happier. My body’s landscape is completely different now– where once there was muscle and firmness there just seems to be softness all over the place. I jiggle when I wiggle. My butt, which I used to like, now just kind of sags and squishes around in my pants. My problem skin flared during pregnancy and again now as I’m breastfeeding. My poor breasts have succumbed to mastitis four times.

But in the end, when I stop for a moment to silence the negative voices, I am kind of in awe of my body. It grew and protected my baby for 9 months. It was strong enough to withstand the full force of labour without a single drug or stitch. It has fed and sustained my son entirely for nearly four months now. I look at my body and then across at my sleeping child – the most beautiful I have ever beheld – and realise that my body is amazing and I can’t wait to do it all again.

Updated here.

Badge of Honor (Teresa)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions 4 Comments

I went my whole pregnancy without stretch marks, until the last two weeks. I had mixed emotions about them, and various emotions about the 53 pounds of weight I gained. I was hoping to make it through without gaining a solitary mark.

The first few days were horrifying after delivery. I looked heavier then I did during pregnancy, yet… I had so much stretchy excess skin. I ignored the mirror as best I could, and only truly looked in it once my ankles made their returning debut.

Now, that I am 3 weeks post delivery; I look at my body, realizing I still have half the weight to lose until my pre-pregnancy body. There’s still room for major improvement with my body image, but I am content at the moment. I respect my stretch marks, and look at them and am proud. Kind of like a badge of honor. I earned these from all the hard work my body and mind putt into creating the best thing a person could create. I earned them creating another human being, the miracle of life. I sport them proud with my head held high.

Im proud of my stretch marks, if people say they are road maps, then they are the maps to pure bliss.

072609-teresa-1

Update Post (Kayla)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Butt, First Pregnancy, Mothers with Health Complications, Postpartum, Submissions, Update 7 Comments

My first post was called “I wish I could love my body“.

Well its been 3 months since my last post and Ive been trying to find the time to fit in workouts. When my son was 6 weeks old I ended up in hospital with gall bladder stones. I had between 20-30 attacks over the next 5 months, putting me back in hospital 3 times. I finally was booked in for surgery about 2 months ago. 2 weeks after surgery I woke with the same pains. I had to call an ambulance for myself because I couldnt get ahold of anyone to take me to the hospital. The doctor had the nerve to tell me that I had anxiety problems due to being a single mother of such a small child. A week later, while on vacation, the same pains came back. I went to the hospital in the other city. They ended up finding I had stones lodged in my liver backing up the bile causing an infection. I was rushed back to my hometown for surgery because I was alone with my son there. While they were taking it out they knicked my spleen and I ended up with a double infection, hospitalized for 7 days. I didnt have help with my son really so I never got to fully heal. Finally 2 months later I am starting to feel normal again. Here are updated photos of me at 7.5 months pp. I think that there is a bit of a difference. What do you think? He is a VERY busy 7 and a half month old. I find myself constantly chasing after him. He began crawling a couple of weeks ago. Early starter! My weight has been going between 151-161 since the hospital. I cant seem to keep it steady and get below 150. Slowly but surely I am coming to terms with my new body, but would love to just be able to lose 10-15 more pounds and tone my flabby, streched marked stomache!

Photos – 7.5 months pp
Son – 7.5 months

Updated here and here.

There is hope for us with stretch marks!!!!! (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) First Pregnancy, Legs, Postpartum, Submissions 75 Comments

October 1, 2000, I delivered a healthy baby boy. However, when I brought my baby home, got the shower water running and started taking off my clothes I was not happy with what I saw. I was happy to see how my breast size had increased (I was a 34A before I had my baby and now a 34D). Besides the fact that I stretch marks on my belly, I had them on my upper thighs, hips, all over my but, all over my calves,(I had stretch marks on my calves before I had my baby but not as much to where I could not where shorts or a dress. Maybe 3 small ones on each calve.) and the back of my arms. My body became a road map of strech marks. I was so depressed. I cried when I got in the shower and when I got out. You see, before I had a baby I was alway the kind of girl to cover up my body. I always had a beautiful shape but never felt the need to show it off. Part of the reason why I stayed cover up was because I never felt feminine because my breast were small and I got teased for that for years. People would tell me how beautiful I am and how i should where a dress or skirt, but I never felt women enough to do that. But after having my baby and seeing how my breast blossomed I was going to lose weight and show off my figure. That dream stayed a dream. My body looked horrible.. I was 19, 5’3 177 bls after having a baby. Before I had the baby i was 130 ibs. I realized how much my body was beautiful before and I should have taken advantage of my youth. Fast foward to 2009. I have worn a dress 3 times in my life. One for my 6th grade graduation, a wedding in 2006 and I was ashamed and depressed because people stared at the stretch marks on my calves and on June 13, 2009 for my college graduation. That graduation was the best day of my life. Besides the fact that I graduated with my bachelors degree I wore a dress above my knees!!!!! I was determined to do so. I read about makeup and covering up marks. I found out about how airbrush makeup could cover up scars and tatttos. I thought maybe it could cover up stretch marks. I checked out airbrush make up artist and they could not cover it up. I had one last airbrush artist to see. I ran out of hope but decided to see her anyway. When I met her, she was warm and friendly. I told her my story and how it is important that I where a dress above my knees and cover up the stretch marks on my calves. She said had could do it(she never had a client with stretch marks before). When she got that airbrush and started spraying my calves with the make up and finished, I looked in the mirror and wanted to cry. My stretch marks was gone!!!! I said “Yes, I could finally wear a dress, shorts and belly tops.” Thanks to Lilly for the dramatic change and impact she has had in my life. Ladies there is hope out there!!!!

My Changing Body (Heather)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions 4 Comments

This is my first pregnancy, first child. I am 21 years old.

Before I became pregnant I wasn’t exactly stick thin but I was very comfortable with myself and my body. I weighed 135lbs on a 5′ 5” frame. I didn’t start to show until my fifth month. My then boyfriend and now husband and I were living together when I became pregnant. Our son wasn’t planned but we got married when I was six months pregnant.

For the most part my pregnancy was fairly normal until around 32 weeks when my doctor told me I needed to gain about ten pounds by the end of my pregnancy. I was working and going to school full time and I suppose was too stressed and active to be keeping gaining enough. At 36 weeks my doctor put me on disability and I ended up with total weight gain of 37 pounds

After delivering my son a week early at a healthy 8lbs I started breastfeeding. I lost 30lbs within the first 3 weeks and was excited. Then after two bouts of painful breast infections I choose to give up nursing. Now I have gained 10 pounds back all ready.

I am six weeks postpartum. My breasts are two different sizes and I have deep red stretch marks and a floppy belly. Being a mother is beautiful but I don’t feel comfortable in my own skin for now. I have hope though and maybe I don’t need to have the same body that I did before. These pictures are ranging from 30 weeks to 6 weeks postpartum.