Postpartum

Anonymous

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Breastfeeding, Breasts, Butt, Eating Disorder, Postpartum, Submissions, Tattoo, Third Pregnancy 30 Comments

I and 24 and have had three children in the past 5 years. I fought with anorexia (although I was never diagnosed) when I was 17 and 18 before I got pregnant with my first child. I have always had a negative body image. I almost feel like if I’m not thin, people won’t appreciate me. They will see me as a failure.

All my pregnancies had no serious complications. I gained 60 pounds with my first (I started at 123), 50 pounds with my second (I started at 140), and 25 pounds with my third (I started at 165). I am 5’9″. I lost almost all of my weight after my first but then gained 15 pounds back after I got married. I only lost 25 pounds with my second then got pregnant when he was 8 months. My daughter is now 9 months old. I lost down to 155 because I had bad postpartum depression, but in the past few months have gone back up to 170 since I am HAPPY again ;o).

I don’t exercise because I am LAZY. Even though I am the biggest I have ever been, I am not depressed like I used to get about my weight. I think most of it is because I have three children to show for it. I love my body because of what it has given me, but I DO want it to be healthy. I want to feel better physically. I can feel how heavy I am and THAT’S what bothers me more than what I look like. I’m determined to get in shape. I don’t mind being this size. I just want to be healthy.

I’m not ashamed of my stretch marks. I have them all over. On my hips and belly and breasts. The thing I hate the most about my body is my “mom butt/hips” and my belly flap. It just hangs there when I even slightly bend over.

The women I see on this site are so beautiful. Stretch marks. Scars. Boobies that are less than “perfect”. It’s amazing because of what we’ve been through. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could see ourselves through over people’s eyes? I don’t think we’d see the same thing at all. We are our own worse critic.

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.

Happy women are willing to show the truth (Britney)

Bonnie (SOAM) 5+ Years Postpartum, Belly, Child Loss, Postpartum, Second Pregnancy, Submissions, Teen Mom 6 Comments

I got pregnant at a young age so already, at 16 besides the fact of being over whelmed about the pregnancy I got stretch marks about a week before I was to turn 9 months. So devastating I though. I was not prepared because I felt as if I’d done everything right, coco butter, lotions, exercise. I am 5’8″ at the time of delivery I weighed 149 pounds ,which is well with in my bmi. Now I am 23 and married and my husband thinks that my stomach is sexy, but that meant nothing until I though I was. And now I can truly say that I do.

Age: I am 23 years old

Number of pregnancies: I have had 2 pregnancies but only 1 birth

Age of child: my son is 6 years old

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.

14 months pp, still struggling with image, but working to make it better! (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions, Teen Mom 8 Comments

I found out I was pregnant when I was 17. I’d say I was fairly nervous, but also very excited. I’ve had lots of support from family and friends which made my pregnancy almost easy. Other than a few minor things, I can honestly say that I absolutely loved it. I’ve always been self-conscious, but despite the weight gain and the stretch marks, I actually felt really good about myself throughout all 9 months. I’m 5’6, and when I’m at my healthiest/fittest, I weigh around 125 lbs. Before I got pregnant, I gained a bit of weight (thanks, junk food!) but because I had pretty bad morning sickness for the first 5 months, I ended up losing 15 lbs in the first 4 months. I’d say I was fairly small up until the last 2 months when I just exploded! I had a few stretch marks on my sides and my back, but I didn’t get any on my stomach until 2 weeks before my daughter was born. 2 weeks! It was the day after Christmas dinner… I woke up and BAM! they were there. I cried. Oh well.
Vivian was born on January 7, 2009 – her due date. I weighed 190 lbs before she was born. Pretty crazy, huh? I hovered at 160 lbs for about 7 months after she was born, and because I was stupid and thought I could lose the weight without putting much work into it,so I didn’t actually do anything about it until 10 months pp. I was around 145-ish then. I have been going to the gym somewhat regularly since then, although I have recently put it on hiatus while stressing about college and how I’m going to afford it. I am really into the idea of sculpting my body once I get a real chance to do so, so I will probably update with pictures of any kind of progress later.
As for right now… I’m 19, and I weigh around 135 lbs. Not too bad, I guess,but I do realize that my stomach will probably never look the same – you know, with the silvery lines crawling up my belly and sides. And Vivian… well, she is the best little munchkin anybody could ever ask for. She’s one year and two months right now. I love her too much. We’re “homies” as I like to tell people. I go everywhere with her (except work, of course!) and I just love spending time with her. She’s a very happy baby made of smiles, giggles, and pure cuteness.

Here are a few pictures I took today of how I look. I did not look like that a year ago! I was much softer, wider, more out of proportion.You can’t see the stretch marks very well, but trust me, they sure as hell are there! There should be 2 mirror pics, one close of of my stomach, and the last two of the little angel I got out of it!


After 10 Years I’m Still Not Comfortable (Kay)

Bonnie (SOAM) 5+ Years Postpartum, Belly, Breasts, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions 8 Comments

I’m 30 years old and had my son when I was 20. I was tiny before I was pregnant (5’2″ and 105lbs) and my belly was pretty small up until I was 7 months pregnant, then I don’t know what happened…maybe the baby turned? My belly POPPED out and I developed horrible stretch marks on the stomach and breasts. I absolutely hated my body and went to a plastic surgeon to see about getting a tummy tuck and breast lift but both he and my family encouraged me to wait because I was so young and will get marks again if I got pregnant…well, 10 years later and still no husband or baby! I feel like I missed out on my 20’s because I never got to wear a bikini or a cute belly baring top or to pierce my navel. I am glad I found this site though, it’s comforting to find others in similar situations. I only started being more confident the past year or so and actually wore a bikini on vacation in Miami last year. I almost cried whilst running full speed into the water before too many people saw me, but the water felt sooooo good on my skin! I’m trying to be more confident and not so concerned with how I look or what others will think, but it’s still very hard…

I spent the last 10 years hiding from the world, but here we go…this is me under all the clothes. . .