Hi. Im the mother of two beautiful little girls who are 7 and 4. This is my body after two c-sections and a weight gain of about 50lbs during each pregnancy. Even though ive lost all the weight and then some, i feel so self conscious of my stomach. If people only new what was under my shirt. Just kidding. My babies were well worth it!!!
I had my daughter exactly 10 months after I got married (honeymoon baby) I was 20 when she was born. I was all baby, so I’m down to my pre-pregnancy weight. I’m 5’1 and about 95lbs (145 before I had a c-section). Pregnancy was a hard time for me. I had morning sickness for 6 months, I could hardly walk by the end of it, and I was completely miserable. I got stretch marks on my stomach, breasts, and butt. I am thankful for the flat belly which I owe thanks to the ace bandage I wore tightly around my stomach for the first month post partum and genetics. My husband went to Iraq when our daughter was 2 months old, so he’s not around to tell me how I look and I get down on myself a lot. But I look at my daughter and know that all the pain, suffering, and misery is worth it to see her smile.
On other websites all I ever see is perfect round bellies without any stretch marks or imperfections, so I was beginning to feel like something was horribly wrong with me and my belly. So many people on this site have inspired me and made me feel more normal… This is very embarassing to me :(( I have always had body image issues, and I think I cry almost every day about these stretch marks that keep growing. I really wish I could love my pregnant body … I know it will never be the same… and it makes me so sad :(( It’s so hard to accept the way that I’m carrying, the marks on my stomach and even some on my thigh. It feels like I am carrying so low that I look horribly strange… Well here I am. I hope that bye sharing photos of my belly maybe I can help another woman people feel more “normal” too.
This picture was taken when my daughter was 13 months old and I was actually on my honeymoon. My husband and I were goofing off and taking stupid pictures of each other on the beach, but I happened to really like this picture of myself. I have saved it because I am now 8 months pregnant with my second child, a boy, and I have already gained over 40 pounds! I have always been self-conscious about my body, even battling an eating disorder for 4 years. This picture gives me hope that I might be able to look like this after baby number 2. I worked hard to get back into shape after Savannah was born but I am afraid that with having two children under 2 years old, I might not be able to meet my goal this time. Either way, I know that my husband loves me no matter what. After seeing all the beautiful mothers on this website who are willing to share their stories about their bodies, I wanted to be a part of it. No matter what, as long as I have two healthy babies it doesn’t matter what I look like. I have the rest of my life to work on my body, but my babies will only be young once. I’m going to enjoy them!!!
A bit over 11 months ago I had my twins! I got pregnant the first time I tried. I had a b/g twins on May 17, 2007. Almost a year later and still trying to loose the weight. My body deformed. I am only 24. Young and didn’t know my body will turn this ugly. I never really thought of how a body of a mothers look after giving birth. Now, I know. I lost most of the weight from everywhere else, but most is still on my belly. My mother says I’m not as big as before, but I still feel huge. All my clothes fit nice except my belly. I have to buy 1-2 sizes bigger to fit my belly, yet my pants are big everywhere else! I had a hard time accepting this “body” I was devastated but I started accepting this body that feed and nourished my twins for 38 weeks!
Updated here.
I have a 2 year old son, and guess what? my body is still not back to what it was, but it’s perfect anyway!
My husband and I got married in 2003, and in 2004 we decided to try to make our family a threesome instead of a twosome. I spent several months charting my temperature, checking my cervical mucus and looking for symptoms. All to no avail. Soon I added Ovulation Prediction Kits to this. Nothing beats being a reporter at a county council meeting and having to excuse yourself so you could pee on a stick to see if you were ovulating! But none of that worked. My OBGYN recommended several infertility tests to see what was wrong. But my husband and I had already decided that our chances of conceiving was in God’s hands, not our own. And we felt that treatments were playing God, so we passed on the tests. After that, we decided we would adopt. We threw our file and our money into the pool and waited for a match. Six month of waiting resulted in a positive Pregnancy Test the day we were sheduled to fly to Las Vegas for business! The digital test came back, “Positive.” Sure it was a fluke, I did another one – Positive. So two years after starting the TTC process, and six months of the adoption process, I was pregnant. God is good! My daughter was born 4 Dec 2006 at 37 weeks. Labor was induced because of her size. She was born at 8 pounds, 3 ounces. I gained 30 pounds while pregnant, and now bear several silver stretch marks on my stomach, arms and legs. She’s now a healthy 16 month old, with a head full of red hair and a personality to match! I am so thankful! I started visiting this site while I was PG, and finally feel it’s time to share my story. So, if you’re out there and struggling with infertility – put your faith in God – all things are possible through Him! The first picture is my daughter over Easter Holiday 2008. 2nd is me at 36 weeks pregnant. Yep, single baby. Now you know what I meant by induced for size! After that is me now – almost 17 months post-pardum.
In November I gave birth to my wonderful baby girl. Over the course of trying to conceive her I gained 5-10 lbs, putting me at 145, then once I finally got pregnant I gained over 40 lbs, up to 188. 5 days after my due date I went into labor, but after 12 hours of labor and 2 hours of pushing the baby didn’t budge, so I was prepped for a c-section. I was totally crushed, I had always envisioned the birth of my first child a certain way, and that never involved a c-section. But it went well and I am just happy to have my amazing baby girl. I love her so much, it’s insane. I have been breast feeding for 5 months now and the pregnancy weight has melted off, and I am now 130. I got a lot of stretch-marks on my butt and legs, and only one on my tummy. Most of my stretch-marks are faded now, but my c-section scar is still bright red. But I am getting used to it now. With all my body has been through, I have never been more proud of it.
I’m 22, the mother of a beautiful 9 month old son. I only gained 30 pounds while i was pregnant but looking back i can’t believe i was sooo enormous! I was miserable then (in the July HEAT) but i almost miss the belly now! I was about 36 weeks along in the pic…
