Submissions

My name is Nikkie. I am 19 years old and just had a beautiful baby boy on March 29, 2006. I think the page on moms and their stretch marks is excellent. I sometimes get discourage by them but my husband always reminds me what miracle created them and I can’t help but smile!! :)

-Here’s me at 32 wks…

-Here’s me at 37 wks…

-Here’s me a little over 3 months post partum…

-I would’ve only had the scar on my lower belly but since I had my navel peirced on top & bottom the wholes stretched and gave me more stretch marks…

-Finally here’s the stretch marks from my navel peircings…

Wow, i’m so inspired by your site! I’m so embarrased by my body because of the lumps and stretch marks. When I was pregnant, I didn’t get stretch marks until the 9th month and I just exploded, I got stretch marks all over the underbelly. I even had scabs on my hips because the skin stretched too much. You actually can see that on me on my photo. This is full body shots at 9 months, actually 39 weeks. You can see the scabs and stretch marks. I really felt like exploding, my hips hurt so incredibly bad and I ended up wearing my husband’s shirts. My maternity pants were starting not to fit.

This is a fun photo of myself trying to peek over my belly and you can also see the stretch marks.

NOW – this is the After photos 14 months PP:

My body looks like it returned to normal but it didn’t. My boobs sag and is tiny because of 6 months of breastfeeding. I already had a belly before pregnancy to start with, it looks the same except it now has stretch marks and has a caved in middle which I find really strange. You can sort of see it in my belly shot. I weight more than what I used to. I’m trying for a 2nd right now and I’m really nervous about what would happen to my body afterwards. I think 2 kids is my limit and I hope at this point, I’ll be able to seriously exercise. I need abs, I never had abs!! Keep contributing pictures, we need to show that we’re strong and natural women. We don’t need to be one of those hollywood stars that end up thin few days after giving birth. That isn’t natural!

Angela R.

www.rasmussenclan.com

I don’t know if you’ll let me in, but sometimes women do ‘bounce back’, and I wanted to show that too…

36 weeks with #1

Finding out I was pregnant with #2 (about 18 months postpartum). I bounced back much better with the natural birth…

3-4 weeks postpartum after #2 (c/s)
I took this picture to try and express myself; my baby died shortly after birth.

I liked the way my body changed after pregnancy and birth. I became fuller and looked more like a woman than I ever had. I like my breasts better, my hips, my stomach – all of it.

I’m now having #3.

(I wanted to reply to this and say that anyone is welcome to post pictures – I love diversity! Thank you so much for sharing!)

Follow-Up #1

Follow-Up #2

Follow-up #3

Info – I have had 3 babies. May ’01, Nov ’02 (c-section) and June ’05 (VBAC). The pregnant photo is just over 13 months ago, 38 weeks pregnant with #3. Then, yesterday, 13.5 months post partum.

So I worked up the guts to post my flabby gut. This is what happens when you have two kids back to back (there’s 18 months between them) and aren’t very slim to begin with. Add in a greasy food craving for the entire second pregnancy, and no will power, AND quitting smoking, and this is the result.

Thank you for doing this. SOmetimes I forgot what “real” bellies look like.

I’m so impressed by the honesty and dignity of this blog. I don’t post pictures online really, but I think the courage of these women to be proud or themselves is admirable. This is me 4 weeks pg and 3 years postpartum after my first was born. I had worked very hard to get a flat stomach back. The second two pictures are me now 9 months postpartum after baby #2. I’m still a working progress to get fit. I have been on some strict restrictions postpartum regarding exercise which are just now lifted. I hope to have abs again in the future :)

After having my first baby at age 21, I remember looking other women in their early 20s walking around in belly baring tops with jealousy. I tucked my extra skin down into my jeans and self-consciously yanked at the hem of my shirts anytime they dared to show a peek of my wrinkly flab. Over the past 4 years, the only time I’ve felt confident about my belly was when I was pregnant for a second time and had a baby to fill out my pooch. Then Zebrabelly started talking about this project and I started looking at my body in a new way. I may not look like a supermodel, but my body has grown, birthed and fed two wonderful daughters and what’s more beautful than that.

Here’s a picture of my stomach when I found out I was pregnant…I was about 8 weeks along.

in this picture, I was 8 months pregnant. I took this picture the day before the boys were born

And finally, here is the picture of what my stomach looks like now. They are 8 months old now, so this looks a lot better than it did a couple of months ago.

I wanted to thank you for making this website. It’s so nice to know that I am normal, and that not everyone looks like a supermodel! Yes, my body doesn’t look the same way it did before they were born, but they were so worth it…I like to think of my “twinskin” as a badge of honor.

I am 33 weeks pregnant with my second child.

Joy – I would love for you to send in updates!
-Bonnie

I love what you are doing here. This is my belly at 34 weeks pregnant with twins (finally, after dealing with infertility).