I Will work on Getting you a picture of my apron, After I had Owen last christmas I stood in the shower and my sister was trying to help me clean up my incision – which broke open. And she literally had to lift up the flap of skin to access my incison, she was mortified at how much extra ski I had. I am so thankful that you started this website.
Postpartum
Anonymous
I have debated for quite awhile now if I should post this picture. I have decided to. I have three wonderful boys and the body to prove it! But that is OK, I wouldn’t ever choose to trade them for my old body back. In this picture I am in my 8th month with my last baby. While I was pregnant each time my belly got hairy, there is so many fun aspects of motherhood…:)
This web site is such a great thing.
Anonymous
Just a photo I took this week to highlight how proud I am of the blessing Gods given me.
I have one son who is 2 yrs. old… This will be our 2nd child. I have no clue what this baby is… Everyone says girl :-) but I think thats because I have a boy already.
Pregnancy has its ups and downs. I think with my 1st pregnancy I was very shy with the idea of my belly getting big and round. With this one though I’m proud of it… and not one big ashamed.
Its a miracle and I think every woman should celebrate being able to carry a precious baby inside them.
I’m 23 yrs old.
My body wont ever look as “youthful” or “flat” as it use too… but who cares. When you wake up each morning to those precious babes calling your name its so worth every imperfection you may see.
Charm is decietful and Beauty is fading, but a woman who fears the Lord… she shall be priased! Proverbs 31:30
I’m 38.5 weeks pregnant in the photo w/ my 2nd (not born yet, due this christmas 06)
Anonymous
This is a shot of my belly at 31 weeks. All the stretch marks are from my first pregnancy, three years ago. I stretched out so much from the first one that, as of yet, I have developed no new stretch marks.
I was 18 when I had my first. So, just because you’re young doesn’t mean your body is going to be flawless afterward. I lost all my pregnancy yet and then some, but my belly remained wrinkly and saggy. It took me a while to accept that it would never be smooth. But now, I realize that I am beautiful. As my husband continuously tells me, my stretch marks are a reminder of the miracle I created.
A.T.
8.5 months PP, and still breastfeeding our daughter. I started getting stretch marks at 6 weeks of pregnancy, and I gained about 40 pounds. They are still bright red and deep. I also had a C-Section, and I have a lovely apron of skin that I’m told will never go away on its own.
Small scars for a triplemom
What a wonderful site (or sight) to see all real mothers and their tummies.
These are the small scars I got from two pregnancies resulting in three kids. First we had a girl which actually didn´t scar the tummy at all.
The second pregnancy was a twin pregnancy adn the stripes didn´t show until the very last week. I carried the twins until the end of week 39.
The scars are still there (but faint) and the boobs are getting soggier, but all in all I think my body has coped well.
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Edited to add the rest of the pictures… I missed them the other night!
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Anonymous
This site is an incredible inspiration! I love checking here every day, and seeing other women’s stories, and I thought that I’d share mine.
My husband and I were married in September of 2002. We decided to start trying for a baby in January of 2003, and in June, I got my BFP. I was overjoyed, yet completely unaware of how this was going to affect my body. The months marched by, and I gained 13 lbs by the time I delivered. I also gained a gazillion stretch marks lol.
On February 8th, 2004, I started feeling crampy around midnight, and at 5 am that morning, my water broke while I was lying in bed. It was like someone opened a flood gate lol. Anyways, nothing happened. We went to the hospital, and by 7 that night, when still nothing was happening, they decided that I needed an epi and pitocin. Well, that ended up leading to a c-section the next morning. It was a horrible experience, and afterwards I didn’t get to see my new daughter for almost 5 hours. I’m not even going to get in to the hospital stay, as it was equally as bad. The only thing that kept me from losing it was my precious little girl, who we named Abigail :). I was so unprepared for the “jello-belly” that followed delivery, and that combined with my zebra stripes, and I felt very self concious and almost ashamed about what my baby had done to my body. However, I tried to think about my stretch marks as my badges of honor for doing something so right :). Abigail and I enjoyed a very happy nursing relationship for 15 months, at which time she weaned herself.
We decided around May of 2005 that we wanted to start trying for a second baby, and I figured that the damage was done, so why not ;). So we did, and on June 15th, I got a BFP. (May/June is a bad month for us ;).) Our second baby was due on February 22, 2006. My pregancy was so easy with this baby, and I was flying through without a care in the world.
On November 4th, 2005, my husband had to go to Vancouver for a consult with a hand surgeon, so we left our older daughter with my parents, and set out at 4am to drive down. We didn’t make it. We were coming around a corner, and the road was blocked by parts of a semi’s trailer, and his load. My husband tried to stop the car, but the road was icy (possibly from the hundreds of thousands of cans of “Boost” that had smashed all over it,) and our car started to slide. Despite his efforts, we ended up sideswiping the inner meridian, then being shot across the road to hit the outer meridian head on at ~80 Km/h. I don’t remember much, except being absolutely terrified for our baby, as at that point we were 6 months pregnant. (I’m including a picture of my stripes and bruising from my seatbelt…) We were taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital, then sent home to get an ultrasound. I can’t even begin to describe the relief when they found the heartbeat, and everything seemed to be okay. (This is getting long lol…) I sustained a SI joint injury, and the accident, combined with my pregnancy, caused an unstable pelvis.The last 16 weeks of my pregnancy were agony, and I felt so robbed. I couldn’t even tolerate her moving, as it would jar my pelvis. I kept hoping though, for a VBAC, as I did not want to go through that C-section experience again. Those hopes were dashed when the baby turned breech at 32 weeks, and a version failed. Looking back, I know that I could never have pushed effectively with my pelvis the way it was, and it was the best thing for my baby.
We had a baby girl, born via C-section on February 22, 2006. We named her Victoria. It’s been a very difficult journey with her, and I had a very difficult time bonding with her. (That’s so hard to admit…) I had so much pain from the surgery and from my pelvis, that I am still dealing with today, that I couldn’t hold her for any amount of time, and was really only doing to basics because that’s all I was able to do. She and I are good now, and I’ve been able to bond with her now. I am going to see a specialist next week, so hopefully she will be able to give me some answers about my pelvis.
As it stands now, I have been told that having another baby would be an extremely bad idea, and that things will be as bad or worse than they were with our daughter after our accident. I am having a difficult time accepting that, as we wanted at least one more child, but I am still hopeful that maybe things can resolve enough to allow us to expand our family.
As for my body image, I see my body as forever changed, but I am okay with it. If I didn’t have the stretch marks, and “soft” (as my older daughter puts it lol) body, I also wouldn’t have my daughters, who are the reason that I get out of bed in the mornings, and face the day as best I can. Thank you very much for listening to my tale, and I can’t tell you how much it helps to put my story on paper.
Updated here.
Redifer
13 weeks approx. (pregnesia kicking in, can’t remember poop) YAY round.
Thanks, Red, for sharing an update! (Her original entry can be found here.)
Anonymous
I took a bath by candlelight and my belly was a beach illuminated by the flame as though by the last dim rays of the setting sun. And I walked my fingers down the sloping dune of my breast and onto that beach. There were stretch marks there, but they were as sand beneath my fingertips, gentle ripples to echo the motion of the tide against the shore; the swelling tide of pregnancy and the receding tide of birth. And I walked my fingers across that sand and into the sea. Around my fingertips the plants of the sea swirled in the dreamy circling way that water plants have. I knew if I went further, to where my fingertips could no longer walk but must dive and reach, I would find the beginning, the cradle of life. For that dune, that beach, that secret place among the water plants…those were sacred places. Those were living places. I took a bath by candlelight and my belly was a beach. It was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen.
I took a bath by candlelight and I highly recommend it.
Nan
We found out that baby #1 was coming 2 months after we got engaged. Shocked wasn’t the word, considering that we were barely 20 years old and weren’t even sure that we ever wanted children. We decided that one baby would be delightful, and that gorgeous daughter was born in October.
Her birth taught me a lot about how important knowledgeable support and education were to birthing. I became a doula when she was 1 year old and had a thriving practice.
I also began bellydancing and around this time. Before long, I was assisting a local midwife in her practice and had the opportunity to see many beautiful home births.
5 years and 100 births or so later, we decided that another baby was a great idea. After an early miscarriage, we conceived little girlie #2. We decided to birth this baby at home.
My labor was quick and easy, and I’m still trying to decide if it was the bellydancing, the trust that I had gained from seeing so many natural births, or the simple fact that second babies are often easier to get out!
Now, nearly 7 years later, I am still attending births at home with a very busy practice; now officially as an apprentice midwife, dance 3 times a week, perform with my troupe regularly; and I teach bellydance to many of our pregnant clients as well!
I have the honor of touching many pregnant bellies. I see women use their bodies in what I consider to be two of the most powerful ways it can be used – in dancing as a tribe and while
birthing their babies. What a blessing.
Thanks for the great site and the opportunity to tell our stories.
Warmly,
Nan
