Second Pregnancy

Update: A Year Later and Making Progress (Luisa)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Breasts, Butt, Postpartum, Second Pregnancy, Submissions 5 Comments

Age-25
2 children 2, 4

After searching ‘bodies after baby’ I came across this site and posted photos of my body (left photos) a month shy of a year ago. Even though I still felt huge, unlike myself and down about my body…the comments that were posted made me feel so much better. Throughout this last year, I have lost 22 lbs. I’m down to 127 now…but it’s so weird that I’m still this big. My 127 pre-baby would have been skinny, now after babies…I still have so much loose skin and fat. I am working hard at adopting better eating habits and working out. I’ve began running again and am trying to get this extra weight off. I know some will look at my photos and think I look fine, but I want to be comfortable in my own body. I’ll never be able to wear a bikini again (it seems that my stretch marks are becoming more evident the more weight I lose bc of saggy skin, hard to tell in these photos) but I would like to wear a swim suit without wearing shorts to cover me. I don’t want to lose weight to be a certain number, I want to gain confidence! My boyfriend and I have been together 1 1/2 years and he has never seen my belly…we were dating in this earlier picture I posted. I know that he loves me no matter the size I am…esp since we started dating when I was 22 lbs heavier…but I want to be comfortable around him. To not pull down at my shirt if its coming up, or to not jump if he accidentally taps my midsection.

I know I’ve definitely changed in this last year…hoping to continue on until I get to my goal. I want to do this for the physical aspects obviously, but more than that…the mental. It’s hard for me to stick with something like working out or eating right….I need to adopt the idea that self control is my super power :)

Face of a Single Prayer (Allyshia)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Eating Disorder, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pregnant, Second Pregnancy, Submissions, Teen Mom 7 Comments

age: 17.
Pregnancies: 2 // births: 1 and 1 on the way!
Age of children: 13 months and 9 weeks pregnant :)

I was 15, struggling through anorexia and I was 78 lbs. I was 4’10” and still am at the moment! I was about 87 lbs at the time I conceived my daughter and my weight went up and up and up! I had a sudden realization that I needed to eat. So from 200 to 1800 calories a day I went. I put on about 25 lbs in the first 20 weeks. Which, was actually 20 lbs of weight I needed for myself. So 5 lbs for baby! By 38 weeks, I was 138 lbs. I had gained about 30 for baby and 20 for me. I felt pretty good. Big but good! I didn’t get stretch marks untl 28-29 weeks though. So I had a long way and a lot of stretch marks to gain. I got them on my boobs, butt, back, belly, the back of my knees, my ankles, everywhere!

On February 24, 2011 at 12:30 am, my water broke. At 8:50 am, after only 3 hours and 20 minutes of hard labor, my beautiful 7 lb 11 oz baby girl was born naturally. No epidural. Nothing. Just breathing and relaxation. She is a beautiful little toddler, healthy and happy and just so happy! She has the normal health issues any baby would have; ear infections here and there, a yeast infection once, bladder infection once. I think it’s because I didn’t strengthen her immune system by breast feeding. I feel bad for not being able to but she has done so well anyway.

On February 15, 2012 her little sibling was conceived! (From the ultrasound we got) We are 9 weeks pregnant and ecstatic. It was unplanned but one night of passionate Valentines day love turned into another loved little one :) He/she looked like a little bean on the ultrasound.

My weight is about 118 lbs right now (still healthy range) and has only gone up a lb since this baby. Our weight gain goal is about 25-30 lbs. I plan on exercising and walking and eating healthier this pregnancy so it is easier to flatten my tummy. I don’t care about the extra skin. I just want to stop looking pregnant whenever I eat (except now. it’s okay now!). I might get a belly band as well. My stretch marks have faded all naturally. No procedures at all.

Thanks for reading :)

PICTURES!

1st) 5 weeks/pre pregnancy body:
2nd) 20 weeks with baby girl:
3rd) 34 weeks:
4th) 38 weeks belly! :
5th) 8 weeks with this bub! :
6th: 8 week 5 day ultrasound:
7th) postpartum belly (taken today):
8th) my girl on her 1st birthday:
9th) my Lilia today! :

Second Baby, 9 Pounds 13 Ounces – Update (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Postpartum, Pregnant, Second Pregnancy, Submissions, Update 7 Comments

Previous entry here.

I am now 4 months postpartum, after my second child. I was 1 week overdue when I had him and I knew he would be a big boy. I had terrible pelvic symphysis pain with him. I couldn’t roll over in bed and by the time I was 40 weeks along, I stopped doing my regular exercise (walking 1 mile a day). It was just so painful! The day he was born, I was around 158 pounds (two pounds lighter than the day my 7 pound 11 oz daughter was born at 39 weeks). I guessed that he would be born weighing 8 pounds, nearly 9 pounds. On November 1st, 2011, I was scheduled for induction at 41 weeks. I wanted so badly to go into labor on my own (as I was induced with my daughter for high blood pressure). My blood pressure had been excellent throughout this pregnancy, at around 112/60, so I had high hopes. After lots of prayer, I went ahead and scheduled the induction. Thankfully, I went into labor early in the morning on November 1st. At first, I thought it was back pain (which wasn’t unusual), but I quickly realized that it was the real thing. The labor still had to be augmented with Pitocin later down the line, but I got to go into labor on my own! My epidural worked this time around and I was able to actually really enjoy and remember the experience of childbirth. My son, however, was posterior just as my daughter was and he also needed a vacuum to assist the delivery. I could feel his large head in my pelvis as I pushed – a bizarre feeling that I’ll never forget. The doctor was amazing and tried to turn him to an anterior position as I pushed. There was a bit of an issue with shoulder dystocia and meconium. The scariest part was the fact that the cord was wrapped around his neck. It was frightening not to hear him cry for a few minutes after birth. However, he is a very healthy little boy! We are so thankful for him. When the nurse weighed him, she said, “He’s a big boy!” I remember thinking, “Of course he’s big! I was overdue!” Then she turned him toward me and I squinted at the scale! 9 pounds 13 ounces! What?! How could that be? I’m a petite woman and my husband is fairly short at 5 feet 10 inches (his father and brothers are well over 6 feet tall). The doctors checked his blood three times, thinking that perhaps I had unchecked gestational diabetes, but I didn’t! The doctor said, “He’s just a big boy!” Today, he is 4 months old and over 18 pounds. My arms are getting quite a workout, but it must be good for me because I’m already back down to 118-119 pounds. I might be back down to my old weight, but my old body has changed quite a bit. I earned quite a few stretch marks on my tummy that I didn’t have before (I had a lot of extra amniotic fluid, as well as a big baby) which are fading and my tummy is still a little fluffy. At times the stretchmarks bother me, but considering that I carried such a big boy, it could have been much worse. I want to start jogging soon, but I’m going to wait until the weather gets a little nicer. I want to be careful that it doesn’t effect my milk supply as well. Losing weight so quickly makes me nervous about my supply (although I had no issues in the 2 1/2 years I nursed my daughter). My goal is to nurse my son for just as long as I nursed my daughter. Nursing is going great and I’m enjoying the time with my little guy while he’s still little.He’s already sitting up and I get this feeling that time will fly just as quickly, or more quickly, than it has with my five-year-old.

Thanks for reading my update. :)

~Your Age: 27; Currently: 5 foot 2 inches, 119 pounds
~Number of pregnancies and births: 2 pregnancies, 2 births
~The age of your children, or how far postpartum you are: 1st child: 5 years, 2nd child: 4 months

1st photo: close-up on stretchmarks at 2 weeks postpartum
2nd photo: goal weight, but not goal shape, 4 months postpartum
3rd photo: 4 months postpartum
4th photo: 40 weeks 2 days pregnant (notice how I’m carrying extra fluid above my belly button)
5th photo: me with my darlings

Daring to Bikini (Jen)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Postpartum, Second Pregnancy, Submissions 13 Comments

-37 years old, two pregnancies, children 5 and 7, divorced last year
-also a postpartum doula and freelance writer who spends most of her professional life writing about motherhood and encouraging new moms to be strong, proud, and confident, in both their instincts and their physical changes

My children were my lifeline through what turned out to be a hearbreaking, unhealthy marriage. Without the incredible experiences of natural childbirth, 5 years combined of breastfeeding, and motherhood, I may have seen earlier that my “love refill tank” was dusty and dry, but my children filled me up to such an abundant level, I kept on with my marriage–for hope and for them.

This photo was taking after the ground finally stopped shaking from the total life earthquake known as divorce. Amongst the rubble and the aftershocks, I found real, supportive, cellular love with the first boy I ever kissed…both of us transplanted in Minnesota, very far from our native homes. We left our work and our worries one weekend to go camping and river tubing with his sister–so juvenille, so fun. As he is not a biological parent and is not the one who gave me my pregnancy body, I did feel a little more self-conscious revealing my “extra skin” and dimples and stretch marks. Needlessly, so, as he loves me because he loves me…and LOVES the wonderful mother that I am.

As you can see, in the photo, I am laughing and having fun. I am clearly in good health and toned by exercise. This is actually the low end of my weight range, as I lost quite a bit through the divorce. Still, I look at this picture, and I feel imperfect. I feel frustrated with the belly which actually looks pretty good for my age and number of pregnancies. And that is RIDICULOUS. I am 37 and hopeful after heartbreak, lighthearted enough to stand on a tube in a moving river. I am a postpartum doula who truly knows the beauty of real arms, thighs, bellies, breasts, and hips. And yet, I do not love this picture. But I want to. Maybe sharing it will help.

I Love My Marks (Charlotte)

Bonnie (SOAM) Second Pregnancy, Submissions 2 Comments

mom of an 18 month old and 20weeks pregnant with the second!

I was very shocked to find out when I was pregnant with my son. Mostly because I found out just 8 days before he was born! My boyfriend and I were panicked to say the very least. I didn’t have a single symptom, or stretch mark, until the end. My stomach Exploded with stretch marks. All of my friends who have kids are so disgusted by their stretch marks, and now, being pregnant with baby number 2 (planned this time), I’m embracing all of the changes because I know this will most likely be our last. I wrote down how I feel about my stretch marks, and loose skin, and cellulite, and everything else that came with willy (my first) and attached it to my favorite picture of the two of us.

Learning to Accept My Body (Emily)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Postpartum, Second Pregnancy, Submissions, Update 8 Comments

I was 21 when I became pregnant with my first son. It took us almost a year to conceive him and I had developed worries that I might be infertile. When we found out we were pregnant I was so relived and a overjoyed we would be able to have children. I had a beautiful happy pregnancy. I also enter pregnancy with a magazine like body and secret body image issues. Since my teens, I never felt skinny enough or pretty enough and always found unhealthy was to keep a thin figure. When my 1st child was born, I struggled with postpartum depression. PPD was hard for me to accept because I loved my baby so much and we had worked so hard to bring him into the world, I was afraid admitting my PPD would be like saying I was ungrateful for my precious gift. Despite lathering up daily in cocobutter and gaining only the recommended 25lbs, I had a belly full of streach marks. My mother literly gasped when I showed her my postpartum belly. I gain weight during the postpartum period going from a size 10 at birth to a 16 at 1 year postpartum. At that time I conceived our second child. My husband knew how sensitive I was about my stretch marks and in an attempt to be kind he encouraged me to use cocobutter each day, but really his acknowledgement of my scaring just made me angry and insecure. I worried through out the pregnancy due to financial problems and frequent contractions from six months. I feared a miscarriage. Thankfully, I carried my 2nd child to term and gave birth to a health baby. I have not suffered depression this time but have suffered from confidence in my body. I long for self acceptance and to feel sexy the way my sweet husband insists that I am. The sagging skin the streach marks have left make it difficult for me to see the beauty I know my body possesses. My old clothes I onced loved now create unflattering bulges in my middle region. I’ve gone from a size 14 at birth to a size 10. I feel better about my body, but I want to feel good about myself regardless of what my body looks like. I want to accept my self and feel what I know: that a woman is beautiful because she is a WOMAN, a creator and nurturer of life. I hope that posting this will help me in my quest.

25yrs old
2 children, infant & 2yr old, 8 months PP, nursing

Updated here.

Breastfeeding Breasts and Mommy Belly (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Breasts, Mom over 30, Postpartum, Second Pregnancy, Submissions 8 Comments

My name is Susan I am 32, and have two babies. My daughter is 2 and my son is 10 months. I nursed my daughter for 12 months and I am currently nursing my 10 month old. They were both full term and healthy natural births. Ive always been thin. Iam petite, just 115lbs and 5’3″. I gained 25 lbs with both babies and lost all the baby weight. Even though I am my prepregnancy weight I am definitely softer, not as toned and more veiny. I don’t mind my new body. I had small perky 32b breasts, now they are 34b. In this photo I just nursed my son on the right side so you can see its a bit smaller. My left one is always been bigger and it’s engorged in that side. I just returned from work and hadn’t pumped in 9 hours. My breasts are bigger but when I wean the babe in two months they will probably go down.

(Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Cesarean, Postpartum, Pregnant, Second Pregnancy, Submissions 5 Comments

Okay girls I am 25 years old 5’4 and 165 wretched pounds. I have had two beautiful daughters one will be 4 in Aug and the other is 6 months. They are my life along with my amazing husband. He makes it a point to tell me how beautiful I look everyday although I beg to differ. I am a wreck after having my babies. I am 45lbs overweight and that isn’t even back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I have joined myfitnesspal.com, my local gym and do tae-bo, yoga some days at home. I do my best to control my eating and keep my work outs regular, but my stomach is a disaster zone. It is deflated like a balloon and my incision is crooked and the stretch marks are like a road map of the trials I have endured. I am learning a difficult lesson about self appreciation and love. I have been almost depressed over my current appearance and finally took a step back and realized I NEED to be positive. I need to love myself before I can fix myself and I need to give it my everything and not give up due to lack of results as I did after my first pregnancy. I want to believe my husband when he tells me I am beautiful but I do not feel that way, so this is my goal to learn how to accept a compliment instead of shunning it or having some lame comeback like yeah…right…to learn to say thank you and to love who I am no matter what I look like because I can control most of that. We are all beautiful and having beared children is an amazing gift and Bonnie is right this is exactly what a real WOMAN’S body looks like not air brushed and photoshoped, real women with real success stories and amazing triumphs over person struggles…this is us.

The first pic is of my at my baby shower…the second two are my body right now….the third/fourth is my body with clothes on now and me with my babies.

I Feel So Insecure (Rebecca)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Second Pregnancy, Submissions 7 Comments

age: 20 pregnancies: 2 births: 2 children: 2 girls aged 4 and 10 weeks PP: 10 weeks
Keywords: second pregnancy, belly, normal delivery, stretch marks,breastfeeding.

“My body has changed so much”. Thats the first thing that crosses my mind when i look at my body in the mirror. Nothing will ever make my body the way it used to be. How could my beautiful children make my body look and feel so unattractive. I can’t help but feel so insecure about my body, no matter how much one reassures me. Pregnancy is such a beautiful thing and i enjoyed mine thoroughly, my children were so worth it, i just cant help but feel awful. But this site has opened up my eyes alot, and i think its a great way of helping women get over their post partum woes. Thankyou to all these women for making me smile. I hope someone can read this and relate and realise their not alone too. :-)

Photos:
Me au natural
Belly before second pregnancy
37 weeks pregnant
My baby Anna
pp 10 weeks side
pp 10 weeks front