Second Pregnancy

2 Babies Later (Bryana)

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

When I was 17 I found out I was pregnant for the first time. My boyfriend and I were without a doubt scared beyond belief but also very excited about the new adventure we were about to take on. I found out I was pregnant April 2005. I was still in high school, but graduated with my class in June 2005. 6 months later our beautiful baby boy, Rayden, was born. It was a very long labour and delivery, lasting 47 hours. With the help of forceps and the vacuum, our son was born on December 12, 2005 at 2:34pm. He weighed in at 8lbs 14oz and 21 inches long.
Before I found out I was pregnant I was 4’11” and only weighed 120lbs. During my pregnancy I gained a lot of weight. I went from 120lbs to a whopping 198lbs the day of delivery. It took over 2 years to lose the baby weight.
Low and behold, October 13, 2008 I found out I was pregnant again! We were once again very excited. We were more prepared and had a much more steady life at that point. This pregnancy was much different, in every single way. I went from 115lbs to 147lbs the day of delivery. I was more achy and tired, and wanted nothing more than to sleep 9 months straight, however, a 3 year old doesn’t really allow that! But on June 23, 2009 at 6:37am our gorgeous daughter, Cairo, was born. She weighed in at 8lbs 7oz and 21inches after only 7 ½ hours of labour and 3 pushes later.
After this pregnancy though, I lost all the weight within 2 weeks. It literally fell off and all I was doing was sitting on the couch feeding our daughter and tending to our son when needed. This is a complete 180 turn around than with my son.
However, I am now 22 and have the stomach of a 70 year old woman that birthed 10 children. My skin not only sags, but is covered in stretch marks from hip to hip. But really, I have learned to love it. It is my battle wound; my proof of birthing 2 children successfully!

-Age 22
-2 Children:
Rayden Wolfgang Born: Dec 12, 2005
Cairo Sofia Born: June 23, 2009

Updated here, here, here and here.

A work in progress… (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Postpartum, Second Pregnancy, Submissions 2 Comments

I was so glad to come upon this site and will share it with other moms. I have ALWAYS struggled with my image, always have tried to keep up with the magazines, etc…..never really felt 100% confident except maybe my wedding day….I’m 5’3″ and weighed 120 in High School (really thin for me…Ive always had a more athletic build than a skinny one)….after college I was at 165lbs and worked really hard to get down to 135lbs for my wedding and felt really comfortable there. I gained 45lbs with my pregnancy and gave birth to my beautiful boy in February 2009. I’ve lost 30, but still have the remaining 15lbs that cant seem to go away. Its mostly in my stomach and thighs where I never carried weight in the past….it really bothers me on a daily basis and I wish it didnt. Im working hard to get it off….more excercise, less calories….I know it will come but its a struggle in the process:) Im so thankful for my baby boy but will feel so much better when the rest is gone!!! Its nice to see how others are dealing with the same:)

~Your Age: 29
~Number of pregnancies and births: 2 pregnancies, 1 birth
~The age of your children, or how far postpartum you are: 6 months

Don’t know what to think…… (Anonymous)

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

I found out I was pregnant in March 2007 and I gave birth to my beautiful daughter November 2008. I am now almost 10 month PP and I still don’t know what to think of my body. Some days are good and I think I look great and others I just want to cover every inch and go sulk in a corner. I think it may be becoming a problem because i’ve noticed everytime (and I do mean EVERYTIME) I see a woman in a bikini or even sweat pants and a t- shirt and she has a great body, I just feel disgusted with myself and wonder why I cant make myself get down to a reasonable size. My husband says I look great which does help but sometimes I wonder if he’s just saying it to make me feel better. I just don’t know what to think anymore.

Age: 22
Number of pregnancies/births: 2 pregnancies and 1 birth
10 months PP

22 years old, three beautiful kids (Andree)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Cesarean, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pregnant, Second Pregnancy, Twins 8 Comments

My story starts about four years ago, when I met the man of my life. Shortly after dating we decided to get married, and start a family of our own. We were wed in August 2006, and then in November 2006 found out that we were expecting a baby! I didn’t gain much weight up until the 6th or 7th month of the pregnancy — it seems like I got massive overnight! I gained a total of 50lbs, and had a very large, pointy belly, and ended up giving birth to a healthy 8lb 8oz baby girl at 42 weeks gestation. My stomach looked pretty bad for a long time, I used to call it my jello-filled fanny pack…. hehe Because I had such a large belly my bellybutton obviously popped out, and never went back in. I guess I am at fault for not working out and whatnot, so my stomach never looked very good after that. Then a year later we decided that we were ready for another baby, and found out in October that we were actually expecting identical twins! To be honest I was very upset upon learning that, I mean, it’s scary when you start thinking about all the complications, risks, etc, that come with bearing twins. I knew I was going to get very large, and be in a lot of physical pain. It was a long and strenuous pregnancy, having to travel twice a month to a specialist, one hour drive from home, one hour drive back home. They had to closely monitor me for gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, and twin-twin transfusion. I had a lot of pain just about everywhere –I grew incredibly large, larger than I ever imagined…. at around 32 weeks gestation I measured 48″ around! The doctors wanted me to make it to 37 weeks gestation, but at 35 weeks I learned from an ultrasound that there was a 17% discordance between the twins, twin A being about 2lb smaller than twin B (twin A also being breech). So the next week, at 36 weeks gestation, I went to my regular obstetrician to schedule a c-section, and at 11:30am that morning I found out I was having a c-section at 6:00pm that night. Everything went very well, although I was completely stressed out, insecure, having all the fears in the world. At 6:05pm our baby boy Jesse was born, followed by his brother Jeffrey at 6:07pm. Jesse (twin A) weighed 6lbs 0oz, and Jeffrey (twin B) weighed 6lb 1oz. It turns out that the ultrasound technician who had performed the ultrasound at week 35 was in training, and didn’t measure things quite right, making us believe that our babies were sick. We are happy that our family is complete, having a girl and two boys. I am hating my postpartum body more than ever now, I have so much excess skin, stretch marks, you name it I have it. And some poor lady at the grocery store asked me when I was due, to then be informed that I’d had twins one month earlier….. hehe I have been a big fan of girdles and shape forming underwear since the birth of our first child. I’m unhappy with the way I look. But I tell myself that all this doesn’t matter. That my body is what has given me all these beautiful babies.

Name : Andree
Age : 22
Pregnancies : 2
Births : 3
Age of kids : 2 year old daughter, and two 3 month old sons.

Picture #1 : Nine days before giving birth to my first child
Picture #2 : A year and a half after giving birth to my first child, and right about when I got pregnant with our twins
Picture #3 : The morning of my c-section for our twins, at 36 weeks gestation
Picture #4 : A week after our twin boys were born by c-section
Picture #5 : My beautiful two year old daughter
Picture #6 : Our adorable three month old twin boys

11 Months Postpartum (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Postpartum, Second Pregnancy, Submissions, Update 12 Comments

Original entry here.

11 months postpartum
2 sons, a 5 year old and a one year old

Just wanted to update after my pregnancy weight loss. It’s been close to a year since my wonderful son was born and he is just amazing. When I first posted, I was literally crying every day over my stomach. I am so thankful to this site for making me feel more confident than ever!
I’m still planning on a tummy tuck, (what you can’t see in the pictures is how horrible the stretch marks are and loose skin) hopefully in the next year or two, but I am grateful that my stomach actually looks better than I thought it would! I lost 55 pounds and now am going to concentrate on toning my entire body as much as possible.

Thank you!

23 year old mum with 2 kids. 7 months PP (Anonymous)

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

Hi, I am a 23 year old mum with 2 boys. Aged 2.5 and 7 months. I love my children and think they are the most wonderful gift that has been given to me. I wish I could think the same about my body.
I don’t think I look to bad for someone that has 2 children but I do see lots of room for improvement.
My husband tells me I am sexy and that he likes the look of me after having kids.

Somedays I wake up and think. OK I look pretty good today. Then other days I feel so ugly. I am getting there.

This summer I may even wear a bikini. Hubby thinks I have a good body for one so I might trust him on that. Then again maybe I will end up wearing a shirt over the top of it.

Destination : Self Acceptance (Tee)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Breasts, Legs, Postpartum, Second Pregnancy, Submissions, Update 21 Comments

Age: 26
2 pregnancies
2 children ages 10 and 18 months

I’ve posted here before under “Almost a year later“. Its now a little over a year and a half since the birth of my youngest. And I gotta say I am still striving to love the body that has become me. Despite my best efforts my weight is still stuck around 160 (i’m 5’6) so according to BMI I am overweight. My breast are pancakey and a lil asymmetric and my nippies are stretched out from breast feeding both boys. My body is plagued with stretch marks – head to toe. But I am a mother strong and loving who would not change a thing at the expense of my boys. Happily married to a man who loves. What more can I ask for, right? Maybe one day I will be content with my body but until then I will keeping waiting to reach my destination….Self Acceptance – are we there yet?

This is me – sagging boobs and all (Astrid)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Breasts, Postpartum, Pregnant, Second Pregnancy, Submissions 20 Comments

Hi everyone,

First of all I just want to say thank you to all the women that have posted on this page, I have learned a lot from reading your stories and looking at your pictures. I think this webpage is so important.

My story goes like this: I became pregnant for the first time when I was 21. It wasn’t planned. I tried to make it work with the father, but it was just a horrible relationship, I was abused physically (not to mention emotionally), so when my son was about one year old I finally pulled my self together and left him for good. Up until then I hadn’t really thought too much about how my body had changed from being pregnant and breastfeeding; I just had too many problems to even care. I mean; not that it was too much to worry about, really. I pretty much bounced back. But at this moment I had to kinda reshape my life; I had to make a new start, figuring out who I wanted to bee. Needless to say my self-esteem was low at this point in my life. As I said before; I had pretty much bounced back, my stomach was flat and with no stretch marks. I had gotten some stretch marks on my butt and hips, but they never really bothered me at all. My BREASTS is another story though. They were just filled with stretch marks. Up until I stopped breastfeeding (about a year after- around the same time that I left the father) it wasn’t too bad because they were full. But then I stopped breastfeeding and all of a sudden I had these boobs that looked like they belonged to an 80-year old lady! I got so self-conscious about them. I hated how they just hang there, a couple of loose and floppy skin-bags. I hated the fact that I could never go anywhere without tucking them into a bra first to somewhat have them under control. And the problem with finding bikini-tops that they wouldn’t fall right out of whenever I bended over! This was really a huge issue for me for a long time. And being a single mom, I kept thinking that no man would ever think I looked good with my clothes off.

Luckily though, I found a man who did. Or he found me, I don’t know. At 25, I became pregnant with my second child; also a boy, who is now 9 months old. From my second pregnancy I got two tiny stretch marks on my stomach and my belly-button looks weird now, I think. But it is no big deal. My breasts became big and full during the pregnancy, not to mention three days pp, when I was almost afraid they were going to explode. I enjoyed having full breasts for a while there, but now they are back to the floppy skin-bags they were before. I try to laugh about it and most of the time it is ok. I am proud that my body has grown and breastfed two beautiful healthy boys.

Posting these pictures of my breasts is a huge step for me, because I have been so embarrassed about them for a long time. I see the fact that I am able to do this now as a sign that I am making progress in the process to love my body as it is now- breasts included.

In the pictures I am pregnant with number 2 at 41 weeks and nine months pp after number 2

Finally Confident in a Bikini….After Two Kids! (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Cesarean, Postpartum, Second Pregnancy, Submissions, Update, VBAC 12 Comments

This is my third submission to SOAM. My first was 2.5 years after my first son was born by Cesarean. My second was 1 month after my successful home VBAC. Now my VBAC baby is about to turn 1 year old and my journey with this body continues.

I haven’t worn a bikini since before my first son was born. I definitely had the body for it then, but after my kids, not so much. I was just a little too flabby, a little too dimply, a little too saggy, to be “good enough” to show off. Even though I had a body that my other mom friends envied, I wore a tankini with a full skirt in the pool.

Now that I am about to celebrate the victory of my triumphant VBAC, I am reflecting on how amazing my body really is and what spectacular gifts it can give me, not only in the form of my children, but in raw power. Despite what doctors told me, despite what people said to me, I know my body is awesome. And when we took our first family vacation to the beach this summer, I finally felt comfortable enough to show it off.

And do you know what I saw? I noticed lots of other mommies, young ones, older ones, moms of all ages and shapes, in their bikinis too. Dimply thighs, flabby tummys, floppy boobs and all. We were all there to have fun and soak up the sun with our families, not to look perfect and be admired. I realized that once you become a mom, it’s OKAY to be less than perfect. The “mom body” is expected and accepted. It makes me a little sad to know that for women who are not yet or won’t be moms, the onus of looking like Barbie might never go away. But once your body has carried and birthed a child, the only people who demand it to look like it did before are ourselves. No one else cares. This realization was very freeing, and I thoroughly enjoyed my vacation.

Here is a photo of me and my VBAC baby, who will be one year old on August 14th. I am 26 years old. My first child will be 5 next month.

090609-anon-1

Annoyed and Hiding (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Postpartum, Second Pregnancy, Submissions 47 Comments

why is it if you dont get a flabby pooch or stretch marks you get women saying nasty things about you (women who were unfortunate in the after baby dept)? I have had 2 kids, one is going to be 4 soon and one who is 9 months and I have no stretch marks or anything and didnt gain tons of weight, yet I get lots of dirty looks from fellow pregnant women, esp in the summer. I hate how some women get envious and call down those who dont get fat and say we must be having eating disorders or something cause we didnt gain 50 pounds…Im not trying to be a snob by any means but seriously, its annoying. And don’t get me wrong, i appreciate the good comments , and i LOVE my friends who have been unfortunate in this dept, but im sick of the ” OH I HATE YOU ” looks. they hurt too, because im starting to feel ashamed of my good belly. like i want to hide it because im afraid women will be offended that they cant / dont look like that. the picture on the beach is after my first baby, and the other one is now 9m pp 2nd child. i just want you all to know im not mean spirited im just wondering why if we look a certain way, GOOD OR “BAD” but in our own opinion its good, it makes us feel good and we feel good about ourselves, why do we still hide?

Your Age: 25
~Number of pregnancies and births:2 and 2
~The age of your children, or how far postpartum you are:4yrs and 9 mos