First Pregnancy

I Want to See it as Beautiful (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Breasts, Butt, Eating Disorder, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions, Tattoo, Update 23 Comments

Prior to pregnancy I suffered an eating disorder that led me to live with an unhealthy weight of around 105 and lower. I am 5’5. Just prior to pregnancy I had gained enough to get my period back and sure enough, here I am today. I knew that I had to gain a “normal persons weight” as well as pregnancy weight in order to be healthy and…so I did. Obvsiously this took a drastic tole on my body and shape during the process. I went from about 105 to 208 on the day of my sons birth. My tiny perky boobs turned into tiny sagging breasts which was devastating for me and my body concious self. My flat stomach turned into dough and no matter how often during these past three years I have worked out , it just wont changed and for me, it has been three years not months. I have tried everything. Because I am open to plastic surgery I will be having a tummy tuck in the future after another child. Thankfully, I am with someone that I truly love who loves my body that I have not fully shown him. I understand where all of you are coming from and it is so sad. I am actually even more sad to see there are so many of us feeling this way although it is inspiration at the same time. I feel horribly about my body but it is odd that when I look at all of you I see so much beauty in what all of you find ugly. I see your bodies as a story, well travelled, beautiful process. I just do not see myself in that light. It feels devastating.

I am trying to work on embracing my body but I know that it will take time.
I hope that we can all learn to appreciate the beauty that we have in ourselves and stop looking at the outside.

My partner says that he does not mind the marks and extra skin that I worry about and I try to believe him. He is so genuine when he says it though. I am working on trusting that. He says that he fell in love with me after I had my child and this body so why would be ever judge it now. Most importantly what I think we all need to know is. When a man who loves you looks at you, he DOES feel the same way we feel when we look at them without judgement. He said, “When I look at you I see you as a whole, one person, the person that I love. I dont look at you in portins and pieces that are separate. You are just you, as a whole and I love that”

Hopefully this helps :) I am trying myself….Good luck to all of you beautiful women.

~22 Year old Mom of a 3 year old

Updated here.

3 months after delivering a baby boy (Anonymous)

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

Hey everyone!

I have been coming to this site for a long time. I started reading all the stories and looking at all the pictures probably a year before I even got pregnant. I am 24 years old and delivered a healthy baby boy on December 20th, 2008. My pregnancy and labour all went so amazing. I had a short 5 hours of labour and out came my boy at 7 lbs 12 oz. I absolutely love being a mom.

I started working out at about 7 weeks postpartum. I don’t own a scale, but I can tell I am getting close to my pre-pregnancy weight. Thanks to all the moms for posting your pictures and stories. As far as I’m concerned we are all super moms! :)

Updated here.

A Dream Come True! (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Cesarean, First Pregnancy, PCOS, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions 9 Comments

When I was 21, a senior in a BSN program and 5 months away from marrying my high school sweetheart my doctor told me that I had PCOS and that my chances of having children was slim and unknown. In fact, she said we won’t know if I could have children until I tried, so in April 2008 we decided we were close enough to graduating and the wedding date to start trying. As May rolled around I was so wrapped up in wedding plans and graduation requirements that I didn’t realize that my period was late until I was over two weeks late. I doubted that I could be pregnant, it couldn’t be that easy, but I tested anyway. After three positive pink lines I was still in denial! Two days later I tested again and YUP! still positive and I was overjoyed and terrified all at once. PCOS not only causes infertility issues but also a greater chance of miscarriage so I was afraid to do anything for the first 12 weeks in fear that it would “cause a miscarriage”, which I know isn’t really possible but I was so afraid. Well 12 weeks turned to 30 weeks and then 40 weeks and I had done it! My body had created this amazing baby, nurtured her and kept her safe from harm for 10 months and I cannot be more proud. I was induced two days before my due date but after laboring for over 30 hours the doctor decided it was time for a c-section. Julianna arrived on her due date weighing 7 lbs. 7oz and she was 21 inches long. She is perfect and amazing and everything we could have asked for. My husband is so in love with her and thanks me daily for his special gift. I weighed 143 lbs before becoming pregnant and weighed 163 lbs at 40 weeks. At one week pp I was back to my pre-preg weight and by 9 days pp I weighed less than I did pre-preg. I am EBF and currently weigh 135 lbs. I credit the BF for my weight loss, along with the fact that I was back to my normal exercise routine by two weeks pp. I am thrilled with my pp body, in fact I feel sexier now that I ever did pre-baby. I got a few stretchmarks on my belly during my last week of pregnancy but they are fading fast and I often forget they are there. I am so proud of what my body was able to do, so happy to be a mother and extremely blessed to have such a loving husband and sweet baby girl. My pictures are me at 38 weeks pregnant, 6 weeks pp, two at 10 weeks pp, a close up at my strechmarks and finally me and my princess today.

Pregnant with Number Two! (Anonymous)

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

Your Age: 24
Number of pregnancies and births: Two pregnancies, one birth, one on the way!
The age of your children, or how far postpartum you are: 2years old and 25 weeks pregnant.

I’m a mother of a beautiful 2 year old girl and am pregnant with my 2nd child, a boy! My first pregnancy was a complete surprise; 6 months after I married my high school sweetheart (and right before my 22nd birthday) we found out we were pregnant. I couldn’t have been happier (after I got over the initial shock)! My pregnancy was pretty uneventful… although I did gain 60 pounds. I took the “eating for two” phrase literally. I worked long hours and was constantly hungry, so the pounds packed on! I didn’t get any stretch marks until about 28 weeks, and the majority of them were on my hips. Thick purple ones appeared–about the width and length of my pinky. I knew I would get them, because I got a few on my hips during puberty. However, over the next 12 weeks, I started getting them on my inner thighs and they spread to almost where my knees are. You can’t really tell they are there unless you are down in that area, so now Im not too concerned about them, but when they happen, oh boy I thought my world had ended! :) I didn’t get any stretch marks on my lower belly until after I delivered, and they are small but still noticeable. I did get an amazing stretch mark pattern right above my belly button, it turned out looking like a star. I had my belly button pierced years ago and the scar tissue never healed up, so when my belly started to expand, so did the already tight skin, and so came the stretch marks! After the birth of my daughter, they all faded and I really couldn’t tell they were there. I don’t think I will ever be confident enough to wear a bikini again, but at least I appreciate my body and what it has accomplished. Ive grown used to the stretch marks and am the first to tell ANYONE that is pregnant that I got them and am willing to show them. I had a hard time accepting them at first, but the more I tell people about them, the better I feel about my own body. Now I am pregnant with number tow, and I am 25 weeks along, already up 30 pounds. I don’t eat horribly, I exercise daily, but my body does what it wants and I am ok with that. I haven’t gotten any new stretch marks, but if I do, then that’s alright too.

Anyway, I share this website with anyone I know that is pregnant so I figured I better practice what I preach and send in a few pics of my own.
1st picture: 37 weeks pregnant with my daughter (1st pregnancy)
2nd picture: Postpartum a year and a half
3rd picture: Pregnant with #2 (25 weeks)
4th picture: Pregnant with #2 front view (25 weeks)

6 weeks pp (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Before Pregnancy, Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions 16 Comments

I have been having a hard time dealing with my new mommy body. I am 27 and this is my first child. I am 5’4″ and started at about 140. I have always looked like I weigh much less than I actually do but now I am having a hard time hiding my weight gain. I had the easiest pregnancy (no morning sickness or mood swings or anything) up until 36 weeks. I ended up being induced (what a nightmare!) and giving birth at 38 weeks and 195 pounds. I became really bloated from the magnesium as I was preclamptic and left the hospital at 188 pounds. I lost 20 pounds the first 2 weeks from water weight but now am stalled at 164 and my stomach is so flabby :( I am hoping I can start exercising and lose 20 or 30 pounds before summer. I’m not sure how easy it will be, what are other peoples weight success stories?? I feel I’m lucky that I didn’t get stretch marks and have a beautiful baby boy now, but I just feel like a walking ball of jello and cellulite. Will I ever feel like my old self? Here is a picture of me 6 weeks pregnant, 32 weeks, 6 weeks pp and picture of my son Walden!

6.5 Weeks PP (Misho)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Breasts, Cosmetic and/or Reconstructive Surgery, First Pregnancy, Plus-Sized Mom, Postpartum, Submissions 14 Comments

I’m a 21 year old first time mum. I’ve never been skinny but mostly I accepted my body….I had more up days than down. I can’t say that I loved being pregnant, at this point I don’t want to do it again but I didn’t hate it either. I do hate what it did to my body. I gained about 35 lbs and the stretch marks appeared overnight the first time I had a larger weight increase in a week.
Strangely enough, now that my daughter is 6.5 weeks old I feel great, most days. I hate the way my body looks but I’ve been more physically active and soaking up the compliments that my daughter receives. I had a breast reduction last year, so I was unable to breast feed my daughter for longer than a week and a half. The scale is still stuck at 208 and I want to lose 30 lbs before my wedding in July. Unlike lots of women, I don’t wear my stretch marks and sagging tummy with pride. I think it’s ugly and can’t wait for the marks to fade and to reach my goal weight, or at least be able to wear regular sized pants again. I do love my daughter and I get butterflies in my stomach every time I think about how much she’s changed my life already. I’m slowly gaining confidence and self-esteem and my the time she’s old enough to know I can teach my daughter how to love herself no matter what because I will have overcome those obstacles myself.

This site is fantastic and I’m so glad to have found it….looking forward to the day that I can post my “after” pictures for the internet to see.

Nothing Wrong Here (Punkin)

Bonnie (SOAM) Before Pregnancy, Belly, Breasts, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions 7 Comments

I just love reading the stories on this website. I’ve been mourning the perky 19 year boobs (I looove my belly stretch marks!) I left behind when I got pregnant since giving birth 5 months ago, but seeing all these women has made me realize that the “ugly” I see in myself is just in the eye of the beholder. They are so beautiful. I love my baby girl and I love being a mom. I’m starting to accept the changes and even enjoy them! The first picture is pre-pregnancy, the next are while I was pregnant and the last is now, at 5 1/2 months postpartum.
-Punkin

No Longer a Size 0 (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Before Pregnancy, Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions, Teen Mom 13 Comments

I’m a 17 year old mother and have barely came to terms with my new body. Before becoming pregnant I was a size 0 and I weighed only 100lbs It has been 9 months after having my daughter and it has been a very depressing long road. I have done many things to help me loose weight, although I have lost some I’m still unsatisfied with my body. I always had been known as the skinny girl with big boobs. I automatically thought I would go back to my size after having my baby. Little did i know I was wrong. Upon having my daughter I gained nearly 50 lbs!Now, I weigh about 130 and although I’m still unhappy with my body i have come to terms with the fact that I will no longer be able to wear a size 0 pair of jeans. I’m only 17 years old and I have stretch marks that cover my stomach. I will no longer be able to wear shirts that show my stomach or a bikini maybe in a couple of years once they fade a little bit. I’m determined to loose that extra weight and get my stomach back to being flat and not flabby. This website helped me realize that I’m not the only person out there going through this.

Still Working to Accept My Body (Anonymous)

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

I had my daughter when I was 19 years old. She just turned three last week and I am still struggling to lose the weight I gained from my pregnancy. I had gestational diabetes and I gained nearly 75lbs during my pregnancy. I have no real motivation to lose the weight mostly because I’m scared of how my body will look when I do and partially because my husband says he loves me just the way I am. This site has helped me to realize that if I want to lose the baby fat I need to learn to see the beauty in myself first. The before picture of my stomach was taken my freshman year of college(about 6 months before I got pregnant). At the time I weighed 130lbs. Currently, I’m 22 and I weigh 205lbs. After taking these pictures I think that I’ve realized I don’t look as bad as I thought I did. I really love this site. It’s a good feeling to realize that there’s other people out there like you.

The aftermath of sexual violence + the beginning of healing (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Breasts, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pregnant, Sexual Abuse/Violence, Submissions, Update 21 Comments

As a young teen, just as my body – to my great excitement – was starting to change, I was gang raped. The excitement of becoming a woman was taken away from me and the relationship I had with my body turned from love to pure hatred. They say that the body is a temple and my temple had been invaded, scorned, hurt and permanently destroyed. I was never fat, but started perceiving my wide hips and full buttocks as being fat and I developed a serious complex. Not even in front of my husband did I feel comfortable and I was convinced that he secretly thought I was unattractive and even disgusting.

When I got pregnant, I started worrying about my weight gain and how my body would change. What if I couldn’t lose the excess weight after giving birth? What if I got stretch marks? What if my husband would never want to make love to me again? I did like my pregnant belly, though, and was able to see the beauty in it. It was the time after the delivery that I was worried about.

Then I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy. A few days later I stood in the shower and looked at my body in the mirror for the first time. My belly was still round as if I were four months pregnant and my whole body looked full and soft and feminine. “It’s beautiful”, I thought to my surprise. The femininity that I had previously regarded as unattractive and “fat” now looked pretty and inviting. For all these years I had disrespected my body, I had consciously hurt myself in order to punish it for having been raped, for simply having been there, for not having been able to escape. Now I was in awe: it had carried my son for nine months, had put up with the strain of being pregnant, it had miraculously given birth to a perfect baby and was now producing the nourishment to sustain him. But it wasn’t just due to the respect that I made peace with my body. I truly find it beautiful. And I finally love being a woman!

“Anonymous”, 29 years old

Updated here.