Submissions

My mother raised me to be body conscious. I was her only daughter out of five children. She was always on my case about my image. During my pre-teen years I was the “super skinny” girl, the envy of my friends, but it was never good enough for me or my mother. Weekly, we would both stand infront of a full length mirror and ‘bash’ our bodies. It was like some sort of weird bond. At about 14, I became bulimic. I cheered on two cheerleading squads and ran track for my middle school. My body couldn’t handle it. I wasn’t getting the nutrients I needed and I would constantly black out and faint. It became a weekly thing. Finally, my mother admitted to herself I had a problem, and I received professional help. After months of treatment at a private facility, I was over it. My mother got treatment too, and it seemed like my body issues were over. At 15 years old, I was in the best shape of my life. Muscular, curvy, and healthy. I loved my body. I met my now husband on vacation when I was 15 and we continued dating, he only lived an hour away. When I was 16, I became pregnant. I was shocked. (( I was stupid, never used protection. )) Although I knew I had everything to lose, I WOULD NOT have an abortion. I was the captain of my cheerleading squad, class president, and pregnant. I didn’t tell anyone for a month. Finally, I told my then boyfriend and our families. I started seeing a doctor. I never told my school, and I continued normally until I became 5 months because I wasn’t showing… at Christmas break I moved to my then boyfriends and home schooled there. I’m so ashamed now to have been embarrassed of my child, but I didn’t know how to handle it… and as it turned out, everyone was more than understanding. Well, as I started to gain weight, my old body loathing self began to haunt me. I feel into deep depression, sleeping way too much, constantly crying… and then one day I just ‘snapped’ out of it. I realized I was being entirely selfish… here I was, blessed with a healthy baby, a loving boyfriend, and a supportive family. My mind set changed and I began to love my baby bump. I got huge!! It seemed like the larger I got, the happier I was… it was so weird, I loved being fat! WELL, I had my baby boy.. and now I’m not so loving it, I work out six times a week, 1-2 hours a day, and I haven’t lost that ‘ pudge ‘. I’m learning, however, to accept it.. and hopefully, as the time goes by… I’ll learn to love it. I’m now married to my sons father, going to school full time, working part time co-coaching pee wee cheerleading and raising my 8 month old! I have A TON of help from my family, and could not make it without them. My mother has made a total 180. =]

Hello… I really don’t know where to start, but here goes.. I’m a 24 year old divorced mother of two beautiful amazing children. I have severe depression. I haven’t always been this way until after I had my first child. I love my children and I love being a mommy but no matter how hard I try I just can’t seem to accept the changes that have happened to my body, and this is why I’m depressed. My ex husband physically abused me for five years. He was a very cold heartless person, and I tolerated it for so long because I was afraid to be alone, I had convinced myself that no other man would want me because the way I looked without my clothes on. What’s crazy is that he had never once said cruel or hurtful things about my body. I guess I’ve been brain washed by the media. I just don’t understand why I’m so hard on myself. I don’t judge others by their apperance so why do I think this way about myself? I’ve spent so many nights just crying myself to sleep, even going as low as having suicidal thoughts but would never do it because I love my children too much. I was seeing a councelor for a while, and it didn’t help me one bit. I just wish I could accept myself because I know my body will never change. I guess that’s why I stumbled across this site… Hopefully you all can talk some sense into this girl! Cause God knows I need it!

I found out I was pregnant when I was 18 almost 19. I was so scared, at first I was thinking about getting an abortion, but I thought about it.. And I really could not do it. So I decided to keep it. Those 9 months were the longest 9 months I have ever experienced. I had frequent bladder infections. Was in the hospital for a kidney infection. And I gained a lot of weight. I had finally gotten down to my goal body size and I was so proud, and then, BAM my weight shot back up. I was huge. Luckily now that my son is about 5 months old, I am shedding the weight. My stomach is saggy and covered with stretch marks. But, I have grown to love them. They show my journey. And if anyone sees my stomach, they will know, I have had a child. And, on top of weight, and everything else I had to get a c-section. But, once again just another mark that shows my journey. I am so proud of who I have become. I have just turned 20, and in this past year I have changed who I am inside and out. My boyfriend and i are still together. And adore our son. And not for one second have I regretted keeping him. I lost a lot of friends, but I gained the love of my life. And these 5 months have flown by. And that is all I really need.

Hi. Im Paige. I was 15 when i got pregnant. My son is now a year old. Im quite surprised how my life has turned out. NEVER would i have told you id be the “pregnant girl” in high school. Hell, i wasnt even allowed to talk to boys. But, things happen. Ive only been with one person, and me and him are still together. Its been about two and a half years :] I honestly dont know what id do without him :] He is everything. I love my family but in MY case it wasnt the best thing for me to live with my mother. Right now, me and my husband are in the process of purchasing our first house. Who would have thought that me, a junior in high school would be buying a house! well anyway, just wanted to share a bit.

I’m an 18 year old (19 in March), a high school graduate readying for college, and a first time mother in a long term relationship with a college graduate. Before my pregnancy I weighed 130lbs, just about, and by the end of my pregnancy I weighed 190 on the dot. 60lbs, WOW. I did not over eat and was active throughout my pregnancy, but gained a lot of weight due to excess fluid retention and other factors. In fact, my legs, ankles, hands, and face appeared larger to me for so long that I forgot just how skinny I really was before I got pregnant. (After the pregnancy when I shed it in all of those areas I felt tiny. I didn’t look like a sausage anymore!!) You’ll see I have many MANY pictures, some where I’ve taken only the belly rather than the rest of me, but for personal reasons, some are older than others… I don’t have much of a story. We were (surprisingly) happy, despite my age. Our daughter was born at about 41 weeks, my labor was induced, I had an epidural, and a vaginal delivery with an episiotomy -which is SO annoying to still be *recovering* from after going on three weeks… I delivered a healthy 8lb 3oz, 19 1/2 in baby girl, named Kaylee Marie. She was due on the 4th originally (my twin sister gave birth to her son at 26 weeks gestation on that day, ironically, but he’s doing wonderfully!) then I was due the 8th, and gave birth on the 15th of January, which so happens to be the day after her fathers birthday, and our anniversary. =P What a special day! We call her our little “hapa” baby, because she’s Eurasian American. -Due to her mixed European heritage on my side of the family, and Asian on her fathers side. Race does not matter, but there’s no issue in sharing mixed culture, and I hope that it will something she will be proud of, rather than shamed by when she grows up. She’s a beautiful little girl, and despite the pain of childbirth, she was entirely worth it =) Now to work off this belly… =P I actually lost 30lbs within the first week and a half, which is half of what I gained! Amazing… I chose to breastfeed but also use formula occasionally, but feel guilty mixing her up on the two, so I try to breast feed (and pump) as often as possible. I’m not sure there’s much else I can say about myself, my pregnancy, or my daughter at the time being, but here are some photos =)

I’ve always loved my body. Sure, there were always those times when I felt I needed to lose a few pounds, but I usually tried to focus on my health and how I felt rather than a number on the scale. I am a curvy 5’7″ and weighed 166lbs at the start of my first pregnancy last year. I gained about 30lbs over those nine months, and I absolutely loved being pregnant. I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy in October, 2007 after less than 24 hours of painless, drug-free labor.

I thought that stretch marks would be the one thing that I would hate about pregnancy, hoping that since my mother never got them, I wouldn’t either. So when they began appearing late in the 3rd trimester, I admit I was a little sad. But after my son was born, I noticed that the marks on my lower belly had formed the shape of a crown, and I was in awe of them, in awe of my whole body. I’m probably the only woman around who hopes her stretch marks never fade. I love my body even more now for what it has proven it can do, for creating and nourishing this precious new life, and I wear my crown with pride.

Ok, so I’m 18 years old, my boyfriend is only two days older than me and we are so in love. I’ve know for about 3 months already that I was pregnant but the tests kept coming up negative. It wasn’t until just a few weeks ago that the tests finally came back positive. At first my boyfriend was really mad and I was shocked and scared. We didn’t know how we were gonna tell our families. My mom already knew, she could tell cuz I was getting fat, had been eating/sleeping a lot more than usual, moody, etc…etc…and she was cool with it, cuz she was my age when she got pregnant with me. But another thing…the main thing we were scared about…we don’t have a place of our own, I get literally 0 hours at the job I have and we barely have enough money to take care of ourselves, let alone a baby. But after a lil’ while we were really excited about the baby. My mom had already started buying us stuff and our families took it way better than we expected. Well last week I was bleeding and cramping so my mom took me to the hospital and they told me I had a misscarriage. I was devistated, I was really looking forward to having this baby…and when I called my boyfriend he started crying cuz he was excited too. This has been the worst week for me. I’m always crying/stressed out, every lil’ thing pisses me off, I can barely eat anymore, I’m just sooo depressed, I don’t even wanna leave my house. I’m slowly starting to get better and today was the best day I’ve had so far. But everytime I hear about someone getting pregnant or one of my friends who was already pregnant talking about their baby or anything like that it makes me really sad and all I can think is ‘that was supposed to be ME’ I’m not exactly sure how far along I was. Different doctors told me different things. One doctor told me 2 weeks, one said 6 weeks and another one told me about 2 or 3 months. I’d have to go with 2 or 3 months though cuz I know my body and it just wasn’t right for the past few months. My body was changing soo much, I’m not sure exactly how to explain it…but my mom and boyfriend had even noticed the change during these past few months…plus, I was already getting biig (and no, it wasn’t just cuz of the baby…it was also cuz I was hungry 24/7 and had been eating like a pig lol) I’m not posting this for pitty. I just wanted to share my story and see if anyone else relates to this, to maybe help me through or something? I’m posting pics. of what I looked like while I was pregnant. Oh and I’ve never had a flat stomach, but it also never stuck out as far as it was in this first pic… the first pic. was taken about 2 months ago the second one was taken on New Years and the third one was taken about 2 or 3 weeks ago

My name is Jessica. What you probably cant see to well in these pictures are the stretch marks that go from right below my belly button all the way down. My thighs also look like a cat clawed them in the front. I am now pregnant with my second, and will take more pictures to send, My loose skin and stretch marks are pretty well hidden normally, nobody knows that if I got into a bikini then it would be obvious that I am a Mom :)

My stretch marks are not many or deep, but I love them. I really do. I love the way they feel, I think they look interesting – full of meaning and character, and I love being reminded that my many, long prayers for a child were answered by God in such an amazing way. I love my daughter and I love every mark that she has left on my life. I look forward to being stretched in new ways as I continue to grow as a mother and as a woman.