Pregnant

(Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Cesarean, Postpartum, Pregnant, Second Pregnancy, Submissions 3 Comments

i am 27 years and have 2 children. my daughter is 3 and i gave birth to her naturally and she weighed 8 lbs 5 oz. i was in labor for 20 hours with any pain meds.i bounced back so quickly! i loved it. then my husband and i decided to have another baby. we were blessed with our sweet little boy in july! i was in labor for over 3 days and finally after pushing for hours my doctor told me a c-section was the only way he would come. this was the scariest experience. I was passing out and getting sick the entire time. he was 9 lbs and 22 inches long! i was able to see my sweet angel for 2 minutes and was in recovery for 5 hours until i saw him again. my son is 3 months old now and my tummy still hurts every now and then. i did get stretch marks with my last pregnancy but i love them. they are a reminder of what my body did. i love how soft my tummy is now and that my daughter finds comfort by laying on my tummy! I am so proud to be a mother. i find my strength through their eyes , they are my sweet angels! so all you moms be proud of what you look like! look at what our bodies are able to do! we are pretty crafty… we make people!!





Second Time Preggo (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Pregnant, Second Pregnancy, Submissions, Teen Mom 6 Comments

So when i was sixteen i got pregnant and when i was 17 on February first 2008 i gave birth to my beautiful little girl Alana Grace Watson,whats really weird is one of my closest friends Ashley took the same journey at the same time and she had her Beautiful little girl Bailey Nicole Robles on January 30 2008 and another one of our friends had hers on the 31st of january so it we all went right after the other….but neways ashley and i went to the same school and it just helps to have someone take this long journey with you….after we were both more than a little dissapointed with our bodies but it was comforting to have eachother and i think this site is a great thing cuz its comforting…but we would always encourage eachother it helps alot but i was so unhappy with my body i thought i looked ok but i didnt feel sexy anymore and as most people know its hard enough to feel sexy when your gaining weight and ur feet are swollen and you suddenly have to chins and you dont feel beautiful anymore.I was about 125 when i got pregnant with my daughter alana whom is now 9 months old and i was 148 after giving birth to her before giving birth i was 168 so i lost 20 lbs from giving birth and i was just going crazy thinking how am i gna loose the rest of it….i tried to workout but it was too soon and i just started bleeding so i waited a lil longer and i started working out again and eventually i got down to 130 but when ur looking at ur stomache and its jiggly and you have stretch marks you dont congratulate yourself on getting your weight back down you just dwell in this completely different body that weighs the same as your pre pregnant body…. its just hard to get that confidence back i think i look good but i dont feel sexy i dont want my husband to see me naked nemore and now that im pregnant again i feel like i lost my weight didnt get skinny and now im gna get huge again and not lose my weight but i am currently 135 lbs and im 5 months pregnant and im so scared im gna get even more horrible scars….i have them on my lower belly thighs butt its just hard to be beautiful when your coverd in marks and saggy skin althought mine isnt to saggy right now bcuz im pregnant but it will get that way again…..i love my daughter with all my heart she gives me a reason to smile and im learning to say i look good and im gna look good after this baby i will love myself for bringing my baby girl into the world and thats enough for me even if others think that my body should never be seen….i dont have pictures of my bare bell but i do have pics of how big i got and how big im getting now….




From Making Money with my Body to Making Babies (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Before Pregnancy, Birth, Homebirth, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions, Third Pregnancy 13 Comments

After meeting the man of my dreams and spending two years dancing and modelling at 173cm and 57kg and 10d Bra size, I fell pregnant with my first son.
I quit smoking, Nightshift, Dancing, Vegetarianism and took up a healthy diet.
10 months later i weighed 85kg- I had put on 28kg.
My bra size went up to a 16EE.
After the gentle birth of my 9pd Son, I lost all the weight and was back modelling 7 months later.
My breasts were smaller and saggier, but If I dressed accordingly- I looked firm and fit.
I continued to dance and model and kept my family on a good wage and paid off my home.
We had a good quality of life and I spent a great deal of quality time with my son.
I conceived again- My second son.
This time I was 75kg pre-pregnancy weight.
At 20 weeks I quit dancing and modelling and took up office work for my partner.
Sitting on my bum in front of the Computer, Drinking Hot-Chocolate in Winter took me up to 95kg.

For a girl who relied on her looks and body to look after her family- This was disasterous.
I felt like I had let myself down, and that I had taken my income stream away.
I apologised to people why I was so fat and had a terrible time finding nice clothes that fitted well.
My 10pd Son was born unnassisted in the most amazing home water birth and His presence has been an absolute gift.
I would despair at my figure- Knowing that my partner was attracted to a thin-lean look and small breasts.
He Never mentioned anything, but I knew he was not attracted to me- As loving as he Is.
This broke my heart. I began to get jealous of Younger Girls with thin thighs hips and Arms.

At least twice a week, I would be holding my newborn and peole would ask me when the next baby was due…
I commented- “this is what you really look like after a baby for a little while…”

I would see my reflecting in the mirror and get a shock and then cringe.. I realised how judgemental of myself I had become.

I stopped going to social functions because I felt “too fat”..

I lost only 5kg after baby was born.

At 85kg and 4 months post-partum I conceived again!
I was breastfeeding and still in my maternity pants! I surrendered and decided to change my attitude and lifestyle.
I accepted my roundness and simply decided to be very healthy and exercise frequently enough to get me in good habits so I could get fit again after the birth of baby number three.

I am now 7 months pregnant and have put on 3kg with this pregnancy!
I am still quite heavy- But I am proud that I have limited my weight gain to a healthy level.

My Two sons are the Sunshine of my Life and their happy smiling faces are all I need to feel blissfully contented.

I am enjoying my new exercise routine and am quite proud that at 30 years old I have started to take responsibility to my health..

I will never be the same again- But this is the transition from maiden to mother….I am celebrating my fertility and enjoying it while I am ripe and luscious…I know that when I am older I will look back and remember these as the best years of my life- So I am making an effort to surrender and love myself for me- not for what I look like to others…Peace.








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.






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.

Learning to Love My Body After 5 C-Sections, Pregnant With #6 – Hopeful VBAC (Stacy)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Cesarean, Four or More Pregnancies, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions, Teen Mom, Update, VBAC 65 Comments

With my first daughter, conceived at 17, I was not fuller aware of the changes that would take place. I was young, ignorant to nutrition and was raised with horrible eating and activity habits. I gained almost 80 pounds and ended my long labor in a csection. My first daughter is an absolute joy, and in many ways saved my life for sure destruction. I met my husband when she was 3. We conceived about 9 months later. We have created 5 more children together (on in my belly currently), in the past 6 years. My body has undergone quite the toll. Almost continual pregnancies and breastfeeding. I am in awe of what my body is able to handle… I am sure that this most soon come to an end, mostly because I have had 5 csections. I am attempting a VBAC with this pregnancy, and if it goes well, as I have much faith and hope it will, then maybe I will be up for more children, but otherwise I think my body ready to move on to the next stage (whatever that is :) These are some pictures I took. I am currently about 18 weeks pregnant with my 6th and learning a little more each day,each pregnancy, to love and accept my body just the way it is.



Updated here, here and here.

12 Weeks After pregnancy #2 (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Child Loss, Postpartum, Preemie, Pregnant, Second Pregnancy, Submissions, Twins 8 Comments

here is me 12 weeks after my second delivery. i was pregnant with boy/girl twins the first time and sadly we lost our beautiful baby girl 3 weeks after they were born (prematurely). i got pregnant again about 6 weeks after we brought our son home from the hospital. 12 weeks ago i gave birth to a beautiful,healthy full term baby girl. my body isn’t what it was (i was 115 lbs when i started and now i am down to 135) but who cares?! a healthy baby is all that matters…i learned that the hard way…




Body After Four Babies (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Four or More Pregnancies, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions 10 Comments

I had my first baby at 19, and that’s where I got all my stretch marks. She was 7lb, 14oz and my smallest baby. I started out pregnancy at 150 pounds and was 191 when she was born, in June 2001. My second baby was 9lb, 2oz and was born in August 2004. I started out at 175 pounds and was 210 when I delivered her. My third baby was born in July 2007. She was 9lb, 10oz. I was 190 when I got pregnant and 220 when she was born. My fourth baby (first boy!) was born 9/4/08 and was 8lb, 11oz. I started pregnancy at 211 pounds and was 226 when he was born. As I write this, my babies are 7 years, 4 years, 15 months, and 2 months old. I weigh around 185 pounds. I was alarmed at this rapid weight loss, but the doctor ran blood tests and it turns out all is fine. I chalk it up to great nutritional habits that I developed in my last pregnancy, as well as breastfeeding. (I breastfed all the others well into toddler-hood, but was eating mostly junk and processed foods.) The first picture is me the day before my baby boy was born. I was picking my four year old up from her first day of preschool. I was also in early labor. The next pictures are of me now, 2 months and 2 days after the first picture was taken. I love my body. I wouldn’t change a thing about it. However, it took me years of self-discovery (and self-loathing) to get to this point. I am blessed with an amazing husband who finds me “irresistable” in his words (which may be why we have four children!) and finally, finally the maturity to realize that nothing I do can change who I am, so its useless worrying about it. I can’t change me, so I embrace me, and after years of feeling fat and yucky, I finally love me.





Changing Shape at 21 (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Breasts, Child Loss, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions, Third Pregnancy 15 Comments

Getting here was a tough road, in more ways than one. Although I am a young mother, my boyfriend and I planned for this baby. We had previously lost two little angels, the first was an early miscarriage while the second loss was discovered at 17 weeks. We were devastated, but it helped us to realize that we were ready to begin this journey together.

Six months after my D&C, we finally conceived our son. For years I had battled with my body, hating it, always trying to improve it, trying to learn to love it. When I got pregnant all of that faded away. I loved my curves, and I often complained about not being big enough to fill out my maternity clothes the “right” way. At 36 weeks I finally developed stretch marks. I had always hoped that I would be one of the “lucky ones” but despite genetics not being on my side, I secretly loved them, too. On May 28th, right on his due date, and after 33 hours of labor, our beautiful bundle appeared and the real journey began.

A friend of mine had her baby about 8 months prior. She was back in her pre-pregnancy clothes, looking great, at three weeks. Being the same age as she, and also breastfeeding, I was sure I would be the lucky one this time around. After having the baby I developed stretch marks on my inner thighs. Thats right, *after* the baby. I no longer loved those little marks. Try as I might, I could not picture them as my battle scars. After a month I still could not even think of fitting into my pre-pregnancy jeans. I was about to return to school, and I frantically bought what I called my “suck in underwear,” horrible afraid that when I walked around campus everyone would see my excess skin start to jiggle.

Along with that, I got post partum [depression?] which took a heavy toll on my relationship with both my son and my boyfriend. I was miserable. I cried every day. Breastfeeding was far more difficult than I had imagined it would be. We developed thrush which remained undiagnosed for three months, and because of the pain, I thought of my nursing relationship more like a punishment. I honestly hated motherhood, hated my relationship, and hated myself. I had wanted this after all the heartache of losing my two daughters, why was I so miserable now?

During the third month, everything changed. I got on medication. I became an avid visitor of this website. I got breastfeeding support. I cannot say I am 100% satisfied with everything about my body (admittingly, I took several pictures for this website, hoping that I could stand or suck in to look better, but I chose to post the first natural pictures that I took) Despite that, I can say that I am truly happy. I am a mother. I LOVE being a mother. I am now nearly 6 months post partem, totally off my medication, and my son is my entire world. It is a shame that it took me this long to stop worrying about every little thing. I am truly saddened that the first two months of my son’s life were wasted while I wallowed in my grief, but I am so thankful that we made it through. I am so much more fulfilled now than I can even express.

One woman commented on another person’s post in this website that this is how we are supposed to look. We aren’t supposed to look like women who haven’t had children. To that woman, I want to say thank you. That single comment changed my entire view. I know that these stretch marks and these curves are a part of me now. For better or worse, they are mine. They ARE my battle scars and battle bumps and battle curves. I still have my days where I am less than thrilled to go walking around in my underwear, but I can say that I am proud to have a mother’s body. I am proud to be a mother.

(The first picture was taken while I was in labor, the next were taken today at 6 months PP)