First Pregnancy

1 Month PP! will it ever go away?? (Anonymous)

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

I’m 26 and had my first and only baby girl 1 months age. I’m hating my body and very down on myself image! I always had a big ego and low self esteem! Now I have no ego and no self esteem! I know my stomach is better then most but I feel as if I’m as big as a house! Alot of people tell me I look good but with people telling me this, I still feel very uncomfortable in my own skin! I wear a tummy holder just to feel ok enough to go out in public. I’m in the Army and being fat is a no-go! So that adds more presure to me! (They give you 6 months after having a child to get back into shape) I look up to woman now that have more then one child, and that are happy in their own skin!






New Mum, 22, How can I love my body again? (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions 18 Comments

I am 22 and have just had my first baby, 9 weeks ago. Ive never considered myself to be especially vain or image obsessed or that. I am so happy my baby is healthy and happy and I am happy I managed to fall pregnant to begin with (as I am challenged in the fertility department). Although Im very happy and grateful for all those things, I just dont see how I will ever accept let alone embrace or love my new body. Im not trying to insult or offend anyone by saying that. I just wish so much that I could love my body and stretchmarks and extra weight like so many other Mum’s on here seem to be able to. Im scared I will never feel confident or sexy again. I just cry and cry when I look at myself and Im trying so hard to be positive and thankful, but I just cant seem to get past it. The feelings of shame, anger and embarassment will almost consume me if I let them. Its so hard :-(




My Body 8 Months Postpartum (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Before Pregnancy, Belly, Breasts, Cesarean, Cesarean Scar and/or Incision, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions 10 Comments

As everyone on this website I have lots of body issues and this is how I found this website. I am 5’5″ and before I got pregnant weighed 145 lbs. I gained about 36lbs during the pregnancy, had sever pre-eclampsia and fluid retention. I felt so bad about my pregnant body that I didnt want to take any pictures. I have always ahd strecthmarks on my breasts, but didnt excpect it to get so bad with pregnancy. My body is so different after pregnancy not only the shape but my health is also affected. I kept on retaining fluid, even on a strict diet and intense exercise regime I cant seem to lose weight and even gained weight during breastfeeding. I have stopped since and have lost 3 lbs. I would have felt better about my body if it wasnt such a struggle to lose weight. I now weigh 161 lbs, have lots of strechmarks are described by doctors as overweight and extremely depressed. The big problem that I have is that I dont want to transfer all these issues to my daughter when sshe grows up. I am extremely blessed to have her in my life and would do it all over again, I just wish I was as lucky as some other mothers who still have the same bodies as before. I include pictures of before pregancy, just before my c-section, 1 month pp and 8 months pp. Thanks for this website!










3 Months PP (Anonymous)

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

This is me three months after my son was born. I was 130 pounds and 5’8 before getting pregnant. I delivered at 217 pounds! I got alot of stretch marks, and even have a few light ones behind my knees! My stomach and boobs are ruined, but I would do it again! I just wish I could lose the rest of this weight, I wouldn’t care if my stomach looked like a tractor drove over it if I could fit into my old jeans!! LOL!






After My First Pregnancy (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Cesarean, First Pregnancy, Hips, Postpartum, Submissions 11 Comments

The 20th of March 2008 i became the mother of a beautiful son. I had an emergency cesarean. When i came home and took a look in the mirror i was shocked.. I hoped it would go away.. But it didn’t change much.. Now 8 months later I’m trying to accept the new me. It’s weird, when i look in the mirror.. One day i couldn’t care less and the other day i don’t recognize that belly as my own.




10 Days Postpartum with Twins (Anonymous)

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

I’m 23 and have been married 2 and a half years. Pre-pregnancy I was 5’1 and 115 lbs. I went up to 165 the day I had my twins boys by c-section. I was never happy with my body before pregnancy my lowest weight was 78 lbs. With some help from my hubby over a year I got up to a healthy weight but not a healthy attitude. So of course I was miserable throughout my pregnancy. Now 10 days after I gave birth to my beautiful baby boys I couldn’t be happier with how I look. I haven’t weighed myself yet as I’m still a bit swollen but I really could care less. I wish I wouldn’t have wasted so much time being unhappy with myself while I was pregnant. I had the perfect pregnancy health wise. Never went on bedrest and was active up until the day I delivered. I hope that this will give hope to others worried about how the will look after pregnancy.






First Pregnancy Fears Shared (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) First Pregnancy, No Photos (Story Only), Submissions 4 Comments

I am 16 weeks pregnant and already have had major changes occur physically. My breasts have grown an entire cup size and I was already a 36D to begin with. They are uncomfortably large and I assume will only get bigger. I plan on breastfeeding (God willing) so I can only imagine what these puppies will look like this time next year! I also got horrible stretch marks when I went through puberty so my hopes arent high on not getting them through this. I love this little one with all my heart. I am still a woman, however, and cant help but stress over my appearance. I came across this website and truly feel blessed to have done so. What a WONDERFUL place this is. To be able to unabashdley share our thoughts, feelings, even PICTURES of and about our bodies before and during the awesome miracle of motherhood is so very empowering. Yes, our bodies are beautiful. Yes, they are amazing in EVERY sense of the word. No, I will not be ashamed of the changes in my body but rather, I will embrace this new ‘me’. Im going to be a mommy with one heluva mommy body. Thank you all ladies for your encouragment and bravery. In a few more months you will all be seeing a few candid shots of yours truly…..and the little bundle of joy I call my heart…..Theres no question in my mind, now, that it will be worth it. Thank you again ladies. Im so lucky to have found this site!!

Lost and Found Pregnancy, 7 Weeks Postpartum (Charity)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Piercing, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions 12 Comments

Meant To Be: My Pregnancy Story

I’m a 22 year old single mom and I can’t tell you how excited I am! This baby was DEFINITELY unexpected. I knew I was pregnant from day 1, but didn’t find out for sure until the end of January. My boyfriend and I were on a technical ‘break’ at the time, and after I contacted him, we decided that keeping this baby wouldn’t be a good idea. The day of my appointment to end it, I started spotting. I spotted and cramped for 3 days, finally passing a large clot on Valentines Day. A week later I saw my ob/gyn and he felt me up and said that my uterus was small, my cervix closed, and yes, I had probaby passed it.

I was sad, but also sort of relieved that I wouldn’t have to be the one responsible for ending it. I went on birth control and an antidepressant. Two weeks later, my blood pregnancy test came back positive, but my doctor assured me it was probably still reading positive because my hormones were still high when they took my blood.

28 days after beginning my birth control, I didn’t get a period. I waited a week for it… nothing. It took some balls but I finally got a pregnancy test…. positive. I took another one. Positive. I called my doctor, who still stubbornly insisted I had probably had an ‘incomplete miscarriage’. So I scheduled an ultrasound.

I’ll never forget the moment they put the scanner thing on my tummy. Instead of bits and pieces of an incomplete miscarriage… there was a teeny tiny miniature person in there, waving at me frantically. I screamed and started crying. The doctor said I was measuring 13 weeks and 3 days pregnant.

I had the world’s best labor/delivery. I was induced at 39 weeks because of the size of my baby and because his daddy was going out of town the next day. I was in labor for about 7 1/2 hours and pushed through 5 contractions for 12 minutes. Thank god for modern medicine, because I had the epidural and because the baby came so fast, I tore pretty badly.

My boyfriend and I remained close friends through my pregnancy, and once we went through labor together, it pretty much went without saying that we were back together.

I’m 6ft tall (i was a teenage runway model who quit because I was sick of the eating disorders I had to resort to in order to stay under 120lbs) and though I lost 30lbs in the first 4 weeks pp, I am now 7 weeks pp and stuck at 170. My goal is 145 by 6 months pp.

I’m walking 1.5 miles a day and just started doing a 20 minute Pilate dvd, which I’m trying to do on a daily basis as well. I’m a nursing mother, so I can’t cut back on calories too much, but I find just by tracking what I eat, I am eating much less than I was before.

I love being a mommy, and I am proud of my stretch marks. Once I lose this baby weight I’ll be as proud of my body as I was when I was a teenager… except now I’ll be healthy.









I Am Beautiful (Anonymous)

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

These photos were taken a couple of weeks before my daughter turned two. Actually, as I write this, she will be two years old in less than 24 hours. She is a total blessing, so bright and inquisitive. And I see that being a mother to a little girl who will someday be a woman bears its own weight. The way I see my body will effect how she sees herself. In realizing that, I will try to say I am beautiful and tell her that she is, too.

I posted here before, but now I can’t find any of my posts. I am still breastfeeding and from the way it looks, I think we’ll be going strong for months to come, despite being down to 1-2 sessions a day. I enjoy the closeness and she does, too, obviously. Sometimes she’ll just crawl in my arms and assume the nursing position just to be held close. I am so blessed. So incredibly blessed! And my husband has always been so supportive of breastfeeding. He helped me from day one and he still supports me 110% with extended nursing. I am blown away, amazed, and so, so, thankful.

As far as my body type goes, I carry my weight in my lower body. What you don’t see in these photographs are stretchmarked, cellulite pocked buttocks and thick thighs. But I don’t care. I think I have a lovely figure. Before motherhood, I did not have breasts or hips. I was commonly mistaken for a twelve year old. Today I’m mistaken mostly for a sixteen year old. I think that’s a step up lol. After having my daughter, I threw out all of my size A bras, certain I would follow the path of my sisters and retain my voluptuous breasts, but alas they quickly deflated and now I’ve had to go out and repurchase 34A bras. That’s a warning to everyone out there. I also threw away several size small shirts… that I really liked and now REALLY miss. I wear size 5 jeans. I’m 24 years old, around 5 foot 1 and 3/4, and 125 pounds. I definitely owe any and all weight loss to breastfeeding. I weighed 160 the day my daughter was born, 138 two weeks later, 128 when she was 6 months old. And I’ve yet to buy jogging shoes. That would be a “Do as I say, but not as I do” situation. Do exercise. It’s good for you. I’m just terribly lazy.

Attached are photos of me two weeks ago, and a collage of my pregnancy belly photos.



Updated here.