Pregnant

Will I ever be confidant again?? (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Before Pregnancy, Belly, First Pregnancy, Pregnant, Submissions 3 Comments

Hi im 21yrs old. well let me tell you a little bit about my story, me and my husband got married 3yrs ago i was studying and he was working as a truck driver after 2yrs on the pill we decide that we wanted to have a baby i was about to graduate so i stop the pill on 5/2007 and where trying with no luck i got so depress that i drop off from school, i after 7months finally decide to go to a gynecologist, she gave me a calendar and told me to follow my ovulation dates and gave me 3 months to try that. It worked i got pregnant the month after we were so exited. My pregnancy was great i didn’t gain any weight and my baby girl was in perfect condition then the eight month came along i started having more appetite gaining 2 to 3 pounds a week it was horrible my body started stretching everywhere. At 37 I start to have hight blood pressure and i was going to the hospital everyday my due date was November 27 but i wanted to have her the 11th on my bday but the 16th came along i started having contractions at 1am i was 38 weeks, my water brake at 9am i was dropping so slowly that i spend the hole day with contractions i didn’t wanted to have an epidural so i felt everything i got the 9cm at 5:15pm and thats when i started pushing FINALLY!!! while i was pushing i felt my skin stretching and burning my baby girl was born at 5:53pm so i had her pretty fast. She tear me and i got 5 stitches but i was all better in 4 days. Now my daughter is a month and i LOVE her so much shes my life, but i see my body and i feel horrible i cry everyday when i see my self in the mirror even my face is fat, and its not only the skin or the stretch marks its the back damage that i got from my breast and belly. will my body get better or will it stay like this. I’m waiting on my gynecologist to give me the permission to exercise. I’m happy to see that im not alone in this. my husband says that he doesn’t care but i think that if let myself be like this and i don’t do anything he will find someone that looks better but i mainly do it for me i want to feel happy with my body like i used to. I’m attaching a picture of how i used to be,my 7 months, 38 weeks and one month pp.





Two-Time Gestational Surrogate and Mother of Two (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Four or More Pregnancies, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions, Surrogacy 4 Comments

Hi I am a 2x Gestational Surrogate. I also have 2 kids of my own Baylee 11 and Tyler 5. I am a proud surrogate of 2 baby girls. One born 2/27/07, and another born 8/25/08. I am proud of all 4 babies I have given birth to. However my first child was the pregnancy to give me my lovely stretch marks and chubb. All 3 other pregnancies gave me no additional stretch marks. My weight has been up and down over the years. I am actually at my lowest now 140lbs. I am proud of this as this is after 4 pregnancies. I would not change a thing, but do admitt I wish I did not have the stretch marks and chubb around the belly. My 2 kids were vaginal births in 1997, and one in 2003. My first surrogate baby was an emergrncy c-section, and my second surrogate baby was a repeat c-section. I am proud of them all. And have grown to accept my body as it is.


Here I am 38 weeks along with my 4th pregnancy. This pregnancy was my second surrogate baby
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This is me after my 3rd pregnancy and first surrogate baby. See how heavy I still was. Im the lady on the right.
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Here I am at 26 weeks along with my 4th surrogate baby. This is my son Tyler 5yrs old.
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This is me Christmas 2008 with Tyler again. After 4 pregnancies. I lost 42 lbs since delivering my last baby and that is 15 less than before I was pregnant. I am very proud of myself as I have always been over weight.
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I Earned My Stripes (Mama D)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Pregnant, Submissions 4 Comments

For me, December 5th will mark a whole year from conception. As you all know, it’s been an intense year, and one that has fundamentally changed me, mind, body and spirit.

Today I was enjoying my son, and thinking about how much he’s already learned in such a short time. The changes are so rapid, and so monumental. He’s grabbing things now. He’s moving things. He’s starting to make splashes with his legs in the tub. He’s learning that he can actually manipulate his surroundings – interact with the world, touch it, move it – not limited to placidly watching it anymore.

I’ve been thinking about change, and how life, from birth to death is change. The idea that there is or should be some sort of “growth plateau” around our 20’s or 30’s is an illusion. Change is perpetual, and it leads to transformation. And life changes are not constant or gradual, they come in fits and spurts. Growth spurts.

So, I’m watching my son, and I’m marveling at his benchmarks and growth spurts and chubby cheeks and laughter and at some point, I ask myself, “If you are so happy for this rapid change, growth and transformation in your son, then why aren’t you celebrating your own as well?” Deep. I mean, here we are, new mothers holding babies on our hips that grew inside us feeling bad about stretchmarks and cellulite. Stupid, isn’t it?

But shoot, we don’t know any better. We get tricked into believing that having a baby is a thing you “bounce back” from. We don’t understand it as a fundamental transformation, but rather as some sort of “situation” that we will return to “normal” after.

I mean, men probably have a better understanding of what women’s post-pregnancy bodies look like than we do! Unreal. I’ll admit that at 33 years old, I’d only seen one belly with stretchmarks before I got my own. I remember feeling so bad for her. God…

When I got mine in the 8th month, I couldn’t believe it. I would just stare and stare at them in the mirror. I got more and more in that last month and they swirled up around my belly button like a galaxy. A few days after I had my boy, I finally looked at them again in the mirror. I didn’t hate them. I kinda liked them. I mean, isn’t it like a souvenir of pregnancy? You go to Florida and get a mug or a t-shirt, why shouldn’t you have a souvenir of pregnancy? I say stretchmarks are the new tattoos!

Change is still happening, and they’ll probably fade over time and the pooch will go down, but I’m not going to feel bad about them. Those marks symbolize a whole transformation in me. Those stripes taught me how to love again. Those stripes gave me hope again.

So ladies, I earned my stripes, and I’m proud of them! I say you should be too! :)

Mama D



Lost (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Pregnant, Submissions 22 Comments

Here is me when I first found out I would be a mommy…since then a lot has changed. It seems as if everything I’d dreamed and waited for just shattered. My husband has had three deployments and this is the first time in nearly six years we’re under the same roof…so you’d think things would be somewhat close to perfect, right? I’m going into the 8th month now and found out he might (or has dumby…)been cheating on me. Naked pictures on his computer of four other girls, txt messages on his phone to “come over”….I’m at such a loss. Not only is it hard enough with the changes of my body and everything that is new, but now this. WHY! why would you do this to our family? I know he would make a great father but I’m completely at a loss with myself, how I feel, how I look, what to do with him, and my overall situation….talk about the one of the ultimate lows.




My Body (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Cesarean, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions 4 Comments

This is my body during and after my first pregnancy. I am happy with my body now, i finally grew some boobs and i love them, i adjusted to having stretch marks, considering the ones from puberty had just faded, and my tubby belly is no tubbier than it was before. my son is now almost 8 months old and the stretch marks are beginning to fade, and my scar from my cesarean is fading too.


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33 Weeks Pregnant (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Pregnant, Submissions 8 Comments

i hate whats happened to my body i had no stretch marks at the beginning of all this.. i love my son to death already but how am i ever going to feel good about my body? how can i ever wear a bathing suit again.. or shorts the stretch marks are ALL over me everywhere i gained 40 pounds so far and i feel like a huge ugly cow… i dont look good in anything



God’s Gifts (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Breasts, Butt, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions, Tattoo, Teen Mom, Third Pregnancy 23 Comments

I’m 23 now. I currently weigh 165 lbs. I hated my body 5 years ago when I weighed a whopping … ready for it … 115 pounds and stood 5’9″ tall. Yeah. A lot has happened in 5 years. Three babies, one marriage, and tons of God’s AMAZING grace later I am stronger and happier than I have ever been. I have gone up and down with my weight throughout the years. My attitude toward my body was ALWAYS a negative one, until I got pregnant with my third child. Matthew was a “whoopsie”! He will be 5 in January. Noah was planned and will be 2 in a week. And Cadence was a “not-planned-not-prevented” when Noah was 8 months and she just turned 6 months old. I breastfed Noah until he was 6 months (he quit on me after I started him on solids) and I am exclusively breastfeeding Cadence until she’s closer to a year old (she has gained exactly 9 pounds in 6 months so the doctor recommended it). I love being a mother even if at first I honestly did NOT want to be. I believe now that this is God’s calling for my life. My body may not look perfect to everyone else. But it carried LIFE for crying out loud. Three of them in fact. God gave me the gift to carry life inside this imperfect body, and to Him it IS perfect, so to me it is perfect. Every curve, dimple, stretch mark, and flabby place. Confidence really IS everything. Me pregnant with Cadence Me today at 6 1/2 months PP My family!










Mum at 16, Learning to love my new body (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Before Pregnancy, Belly, Cesarean, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions, Teen Mom 10 Comments

I Fell Pregnant Febuary 2008, at the age of 15. I never once considered abortion or adoption, I decided too keep my baby once i found out. The father had mixed emotions but is now a proud father, I gave birth too a beautiful baby girl 5 days after my 16th on the 17th nov 08. She was an emergency c-section baby due too her doing her first poop “Meconium” In my stomach, Her heart rate was dropping with every contraction. And i was way too tense. I Thought i got away with no stretch marks until i hit 34 weeks.. And suddenly they appeared. I Must admit i dont have that many. And im quite pleased with how i look now (1 month after), I am amazed with the shape of my body, How smililar it looks, The stretch marks do put me down a bit, But im getting over it.. Here are some of my pictures.





Appendix Removal During Pregnancy (Fiona)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Complications in Pregnancy, First Pregnancy, Pregnant, Submissions, Surgical Scar (Non-Cesarean), Update 69 Comments

Im sending this to you, because when i went through it i had very little resources on the web to draw on, and at the time i found it quite emotionally taxing and hard, and felt quite alone… When i was 26 weeks pregnant i had some upper right quadrant abdominal pain, and i thought nothing of it! Round ligament pain perhaps? I didnt do anything, however about 24 hours later i was in agony, vomiting and writhing on my bathroom floor! My husband called the hospital and we went to A and E, where i was diagnosed with appendicitus, which occurs in roughly 0.1% of all pregnancies, and is the most common cause of surgery in pregnant women. The next morning i underwent an emergency surgery to remove the appendix, however due to the pregnancy i had to remain awake, during what is major stomach surgery – it involves an 8 inch incision, and then removing your large and small intestine in order to find the inflammed appendix, which could rupture at any time! I was awake the whole time, and baby was kicking all the way through! There is a high risk of preterm labour also, so after the operation i spent 10 days in ICU being monitored. During this time, i remained on an an epidural for pain relief (however in terms of pain medication i was given less than an average appendix removal op!) Also i had terrible pain because of excess air within my stomach after the operation… but was able to have my stitches removed about a week after the operation, and was back on my feet (although slowly!) by 2 weeks! The biggest ongoing problem is the stretching of the scar tissue as my pregnancy continued to progress. It was initially very neat and tidy (i was lucky enough to have no infection) but has become quite lumpy and raised as i’ve got bigger … however i hope it will return to normal after the birth! I just wanted to post my story as proof that everything can go ok in an appendix removal during pregnancy! Im currently 36 weeks and baby looks fine! Thanks!




Updated here.