First Pregnancy

Mommy to a Princess (Amanda)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions, Teen Mom 6 Comments

Age: 20
First baby
19 months pp

Hello :)
First, I wanted to say that I love this website. I think all of the mama’s on this website are absolutely beautiful!

Well, I started out at 5’1 and 110 lbs. I was only 17 years old when I became pregnant. I was scared to death but I thank god everyday that I have a beautiful little girl who absolutely adores me! Her daddy stood by me through everything, I couldn’t ask to have a better guy! I loved being pregnant, until week 26 when I was put on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. I gained 40 lbs while pregnant getting me up to 150 on the day I gave birth. I didn’t get any stretch marks until week 38. I remember putting a mirror underneath my HUGE belly & seeing all of the bright red stretch marks! Considering I put special lotion on my belly 3 times a day to prevent them, I was horrified.
On October 25, 2007 my beautiful little girl entered the world weighing 7lbs even. During the first 3 months I tried to ignore the fact that I was 130 lbs. I soon started to go on the treadmill every single day & by 6 months pp I was back down to my pre-pregnancy weight. My stretch marks faded completly but I still wasn’t happy with my weight. By 9 months pp I got myself down to 87lbs at 5’1! I admit, I ate nothing and excercised much more than I probably should have, but I liked the way I looked. By my daughters first birthday I started to gain a little bit of weight back and by 15 months pp I was back up to 110 lbs! I have been eating healthy this time and walking every day with my daughter. I am now at 100 lbs and completely happy with myself.
I love spending every single second of my life with my daughter. She puts a permanent smile on my face! I would do it all over again in a heartbeat :)

first pic: 1 month pp
second pic: 19 months pp
third pic: me & my daughter
fourth pic: my princess

22, Surviving a 2yr Old and Newborn Twins! (Sierra)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pregnant, Second Pregnancy, Submissions, Twins, Update 18 Comments

Age: 22
Number of pregnancies: 2, 3 children
Age: 2 yrs old, and 2 week old twins (2 weeks postpartum)

I had my first child, my son at age 20, he was 7lbs 11oz born vaginally and perfect in every way! i got thru the entire pregnancy no stretchmarks or anything lost all the baby weight and then some by the time he was 10 mos old, and was in better shape than i had been in high school! 5 mos after his 1st birthday i found out i was pregnant, at 9 wks 4days i found out i was expecting twins!! I freaked!! My bf has 2 sets of fraternal twins in his family and i have 2 sets of twins in my family so i guess it was inevitable!! i was very scared at first and later elated! our twin girls were born 4 days before my son’s 2nd birthday on May 19th 2009, at 36wks 6days, both were in the Nicu due to breathing problems 5 days after birth we got to bring the smaller of the twin girls home she weighed 4lbs 14oz at birth and 10 days later we finally got to bring our other baby girl home she weighed 5lbs 8oz!! I should say i’m very luck i gained a little over 45lbs during my pregnancy and have minimal stretchmarks, i’ve already lost 24lbs after just 14days and hoping to lose the rest fairly quickly…I’m totally in love with all of my children and they are a complete blessing to me, i must say i was completely mortified at how my stomach would look postpartum and i guess i should say i’m rather lucky and after seeing so many other posts i should think i have nothing to complain about. there are so many strong and wonderful women on here and this is truly a beautiful and inspiring website!!

Pic #1 & 2: 14 mos postpartum w/ my son
pic #3 & 4: 8 mos preg w/ twins
pic # 5: 14 days postpartum w/ twins…

Updated here and here.

Signs of a Mother (Danielle)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Hips, Postpartum, Submissions 22 Comments

Yesterday I cried as I looked down at my saggy, stretch-mark belly. It complimented my fat hips and newly formed “mom-butt”. My boobs were unshapely under the bras that don’t quite fit and my once cute panties have seen better days. My skinny jeans sit in the bottom of a box along with the tank tops I’ll never wear again.

As I put on my high wasted jeans and loose top, I cried. It just didn’t seem fair. All day I moped around the house, feeling gross and unappealing. I felt disgusting, all because I gave birth to my gorgeous daughter. It didn’t seem right.

And it isn’t.

Everywhere shows us what women are supposed to be. Apparently, mothers are not one of those things. The idea of child-bearing has changed so much in the past few decades. What was once an accomplishment, a success is now more of an inconvenience. As soon as that baby is out, it’s back to the gym to get rid of the fat and marks, so in a few weeks it’s as if you never had a child. And maybe that’s the point.

Today is the day I start trying to lose the weight. Get my thighs back to a reasonable size, and the new hips have got to go. Maybe, I’ll keep those stretch marks for a bit longer (as if I had a choice). Just to remind me of all I had to endure to create the perfect little girl. They are something not just anyone has. They are the sign of a mother.

Name: Danielle
Age: 22
Children: One, she’s one month old

The Whirlwind (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) First Pregnancy, Postpartum, PPD - Postpartum Depression, Pregnant, Submissions, Suicide or suicidal thoughts, Vulva/Vaginal Damage 24 Comments

2 weeks after I got married, I found out I was pregnant for the first time. I was 20 years old. My husband was to be deployed for a 15 month tour with the US army in 6 months, at that time. He left for Iraq when I was just under 6 months pregnant. He thankfully got to come home for the birth. He surprised me when I was at work, on my last day before I was to go on maternity leave. I went into labor a week later. September 10th, 2008 I was in labor for 12 hours. I pushed for 2 hours and the doctor decided that the baby needed some help coming out. He used forceps to get the baby out. I ended up with fourth degree tears. Labor was extremely traumatic for me, afterwards I felt like I had been raped (I know that sounds bad, but true). I was so thankful to have my husband by my side at the time, nothing else mattered after I got over the initial shock. But he had to go back to the war in Iraq, our baby was only 12 days old.
9 weeks postpartum, I was still in pain from the birth. I got checked out and the doctor said I had a hole in my vagina! I freaked out. He “fixed” the hole the best he could and told me to give it 6 weeks to heal. 6 weeks later, any time I was on my feet for more then a half hour, it felt like I needed to push out a bowling ball from my vagina (I know! So not fun).I went to see the doctor again. The doctor gave me a look like, “your looked for drugs, aren’t you”. I did not want drugs, I just did not want my vagina to be “broken” anymore. He gave me three options, to have him re-cut me open and stich me back up (no thank you), give me a nerve-killer shot in my vagina to numb me forever (HECK no!), or to deal with. I choice to deal with it.
16 weeks postpartum, I was still in pain. I just figured this was the way it was going to be the rest of my life. I was just glad I didn’t have to deal with my husband wanting sex, since he was still in Iraq. I thought I would go into liver failure with all the Tylenol I was taking just to survive each day. I was not happy. I was in pain everyday, I was dealing with a colicky baby by myself, and I was not getting much sleep at all worrying about my husband and everything else on my plate.
18 weeks postpartum, I decided to stop breast feeding. I wasn’t making enough milk to feed the baby because I wasn’t eating enough. I was miserable. I missed my husband, and life sucked at this point.
One night I was home, putting the baby to sleep like normal. I heard voices in my head as I rocked him that told me to just knock my sons head on the wall and just get it over with. I was hearing voices that told me to kill my son. I panicked. I put him to sleep and I just cried. How could I think like that? I looked at the bottle of pills that was so familiar to me, Tylenol. I thought, I need to end my life if I was thinking about taking my childs life. I took a few pills and I knew I needed help. I called my mom and told her I needed to go to the hospital immediately. I was admitted to the psych ward of a hospital for a 5 day stay for severe postpartum depression. My husband came home from Iraq for emergency leave. I was too embarrassed to tell anyone what happened, so I told them I fell and hit my head. My husband was home for 10 days to help me back on my feet. I got support for my immediate family and they all helped me a lot.
Today, my husbands 15 month tour in Iraq ends in 3 months. I have a beautiful almost 9 month old son. I am fully recovered and not on any meds anymore. I just wanted to share my story to tell everyone that postpartum depression is real and it can be really scary. Just ask for help when you need it, with the baby or just for yourself, if you don’t you will make yourself crazy like I did. Nobody can do it alone, and nobody should.

1st photo is me 8 months pregnant
2nd photo is my husband and I getting our son baptisted when he was 11 days old the day before my husband left to go back to Iraq
3rd photo is my son now (8 1/2 months)

24 Year Old Mother of a Miracle – One Months PP (Carolyne)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Complications in Pregnancy, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions, Update 9 Comments

My whole life I have worked out and been active in sports. I played softball in college and after graduating I continued my 5 day a week work outs. Due to a heart condition and severe high blood pressure, I was told I would never be able to have children. Because of the stress the hypertension put on my body, I tried to take care of it as best I could by exercising and eating healthy. In August, 2008… on our one year anniversary.. my husband and I found out I was pregnant. I was shocked – especially after being told it would never happen. Giddy with joy, we went to our first appointment where my OB told me not to get too attached.. as the pregnancy likely wouldn’t last. I tried ignoring the baby growing inside of me… still working out 5 days a week… but after three months and seeing my body change, I knew I could no longer pretend my little baby wasn’t happily growing inside of me. Six months later, on April 19, 2009, we welcomed our little girl – our miracle – into the world after 31 hours of active labor and 4 hours of pushing. What a stubborn child!

Throughout my pregnancy I still exercised 5 days a week with light weights – though not as intense as pre-pregnancy (Dr. said this was fine and wouldn’t jeopardize my baby) – and ate healthy. There were times when I wanted so badly to eat a whole cake… a bag of chips… icecream… fast food… french fries. I knew I needed to stay healthy for myself and my baby and fought so hard to stay away from all the things I craved. It was horrible. I craved all things salty… but because of my blood pressure I couldn’t have salt. Sometimes, amidst all my raging hormones, I would cry because I wanted McDonald’s french fries so bad!!!

In the long run, staying active and healthy helped me. The exercise gave me the energy and stamina to be in active labor for 31 hours and gave me the endurance to push for 4 hours (her head wouldn’t come down!). Eating the right foods helped me to keep my weight gain at a reasonable amount and avoiding the salty foods I really wanted helped keep my blood pressure in check so that I could carry my baby to term. I felt great after delivering and was on my feet walking all over the place just a couple hours later.

The pictures I’ve included are of me at 38 weeks (delivered at 39), one day postpartum and me at one month postpartum. Looking at my belly it looks back to normal with the exception of my lingering linea nigra…. but the belly is definitely not the same which is to be expected. The skin is very loose but will tighten in time. I am very thankful for the miracle that was given to me and for the fact that I was able to carry her against all odds. For any ladies reading this that have health problems and are told they will not be able to have/carry children, I’m proof that you can! Stay healthy and strong and you’ll be in the best place for an event free pregnancy and a speedy recovery. To all the women who have posted on this site, you all gave me courage… made me proud of what my body was doing and the changes that would come. I looked at all of your posts as inspiration and something to hope for when I wasn’t very far along in my pregnancy. Thank you for being strong enough to post on here and for being proud of the journey your bodies took!

Pictures: 38 weeks, one month post partum, and one day postpartum.

Age: 24
Pregnancies: 1
Postpartum: one month

Updated here.

Trying to get my self confidance back (Mindy)

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

My son will be 20 months on the 1st of June and 3 days later on the 4th I will turn 22. I love my son more than anything but really wish I didn’t have the body that I have.
I got married when I was 18 to my boyfriend who was in the navy. I got pregnant when I was 19. I didn’t like being pregnant I felt very useless and my husband at the time sure helped me feel that way. He became verbally abusive and mildly physically abusive I wanted to leave but didn’t know how to. I gained about 20lbs by the time I was 40 weeks which I was okay with. I had no stretch marks until I was 33 weeks and they came on like a freight train when he turned upside down. My son was born October 1st, 2007 at 41 weeks and 3 days. I had to be induced but had a natural birth otherwise labored for only 12 hours. Things got better with my husband after the birth and we seemed to be a great little family. Then when my son was 3 months old his dad decided he really could deal very well with “the kid” as he called him and was gone a lot drinking and partying with friends. He’d come home and we’d get into fights. I was so scared for my life so many times I didn’t know how to leave. I was in California and all my family was in Montana. A guy who was friend with both of us had confessed to me that my husband had been cheating on me for almost a year which I had suspected and that he couldn’t keep the secret from me anymore because he thought I deserved so much better because I was beautiful on the inside and outside. I finally got enough self confidence to leave my husband. We have been going through a divorce for a year in a half now. He doesn’t ever call or email to see how our son is doing but keeps fighting for custody through his lawyer. I am willing to let him see his son but he has to take some steps to do that because they don’t even know one another. I feel awful about my body since now I’m pretty much a single mom. My stomach sags and it’s gross I work out all the time but I think the stress makes the belly hang around. I hope that I’ll be able to get rid of it someday because no guy is gonna want to date someone with a stomach like mine at least that is how I feel. I really wish there was a wonder cure for post prego tummy’s lol. I’m thinking that I will just have to eventually embrace my momma body and just pray that some guy will love it to. I really like this web site it’s very comforting to know that there are so many other women feeling the way I am. Thank you all for taking the time to read my story.

PIC 1- my belly almost 20 months postpartum

PIC 2- my wonderful little boy

6 Months After First Child (Amanda)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Breasts, Butt, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions 26 Comments

Title: 6 months after first child
Name: Amanda 21 years old, 1 pregnancy
Story: I got pregnant at 2 years old and gave birth shortly after turning 21. Its been 6 months since I gave birth to my 9lb son naturally, in water. I’m still striving to make peace with my body. I know I should be happy with myself, i created a very handsome baby boy! I am a single mom and dating is hard, I am afraid I will be turned down because of my shape.I have had a cracked nipple ever since I started breastfeeding. It heals and then my son damages it again, its frustrating.
Child’s age/PP: 6 months

From Hot to Not (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Before Pregnancy, Belly, Cesarean, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions, Update 33 Comments

I’m a 20 year old single mother to a beautiful baby boy and I HATE my new body. Before I got pregnant I was 5’8 138lbs and wore a size 4. I gained 55lbs while I was pregnant and I did nothing but sit and eat. All I did was eat and I regret more then anything. My doctor knew I was going to have a large baby so I was induced 2 days before my due date. I was in labor for 30 hours when finally a nurse felt my stomach and realized my son was sunny side up. I was then prepped for a C-section. My son was born March 3, 2009 weighing in at 9lbs 8oz and 21.5 inches.

The first time I look in the mirror and saw my new body was 2 days after the c-section. I was getting in the shower and got a glance of myself in the mirror. WHAT? Is that me? I was so disgusted with the was I looked.. Every time I took a step I felt my fat jiggle. I cried the whole time in the shower looking at my legs and my stomach. My stomach was covered in stretch marks up to my belly button, despite my effort to religiously moisturize it. My once tight and firm tummy looked like a road map was on it.

11 weeks PP now. I’m weighing in at 150. I’m of course happy that I’m loosing weight quickly, but the stretchmarks still remain.. And that’s what hurts the most. I feel ugly and unattractive still. I live in walking distance to the beach and I used to just put on my little bikini and walk to the beach and I’m incredibly depressed I can’t wear a bikini anymore. I had a great figure before I got pregnant and now I just look gross. I’m so insecure with the way I look. I feel I will never feel good about my body again. My breast were once a small B are now a full C small D. I’m breastfeeding and I can already tell my breast will not be the same once I’m finished breastfeeding.

I love my son more then anything and I would rather look the way I do now then not have him but I’d definitely looking into treatments to reduce the appearance of my stretchmarks.

The first 3 photos are me pre-pregnancy and the last 3 are of my stomach (currently 11 weeks PP)

Updated here.

9 Weeks Postpartum (Kara)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Cesarean, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions, Teen Mom 12 Comments

I had my son on my 19th birthday, and it wasn’t planned.
My blood pressure dropped severely low after I got the epidural. I’m not sure
if this caused by son’s heart rate to drop, too. Because of this, I had to have an
emergency c-section. The cord was wrapped around his neck, head, and chest. Thank
God for modern medicine! His name is Gabriel.

Age: 19
# of pregnancies & births: 1
9 weeks postpartum

23 Year Old Mother of One – A Year Later (Jennifer)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions 10 Comments

I got pregnant with my son when I was 22 years old around Christmas time. My husband had just returned from Iraq and we planned to try for a child. A month later, we were pregnant! We found out it was a boy and from there were so excited to be parents. I was 109 lbs then with a 5’3 body frame and have been stick then my whole life. My family is use to having big babies and never thought I would have one. Once I pushed my son out, my stomach sunk in like I’ve never seen before. HE WAS BEAUTIFUL! (he still is) and I couldn’t stop telling him how gorgeous he was! Then they weighed him. Coming out at 9lbs 4 oz and 20 1/2 inches long! It was the most amazing thing, I felt incredibly connected to him! (The next month my sister had a baby the same size!!!) Afterwards, I noticed my belly button had loose skin.Afterwards we went through another deployment and I barely ever worked out nor did I want too. And I still havent (he is now home, again!). I am very comfortable in my skin now. I have come to terms with the loose skin and stretch marks. He came out healthy and is an incredibly sweet little boy, so I know how blessed I am. I went back to being tiny again, just had that little extra. My husband still finds me incredibly sexy and that is all that matters. As a matter of fact, I think I look great! I love my boobs (which seemed to have kept its shape). Anyway, I wanted to share my pictures!!!!

+Number of pregnancies: 1
+Number of births: 1
+Age of my son: 19 months

Pictures I included:
+A picture of me 9 months pregnant
+A picture of me and my son (now)
+Picture of belly now