Submissions

It’s the Journey (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Breasts, Infertility, Postpartum, Second Pregnancy, Submissions 15 Comments

“It’s the journey” is what I tell myself.

I’m 27 years old and feel so…old. I have a four year old and a 15 month old and have been breastfeeding for a total of four years now. When I was a young girl, middle school age, I remember women telling me (lots of women) to enjoy ‘what I have’ now while I have it. I recall them telling me I’ll never know how good I’ve got it until it’s gone. At the time I thought these were the stories of crazy “old” women who were likely blind because, I was fat. My belly was rounded out and my hips were curved and I was teased with the name ‘torpedo tits.’

Sure, I could still feel sexy (given the guy I was with found me sex-worthy).

Secretly, I’ll admit, if I was home alone and looking into the mirror I felt fucking HOT. I loved my curves and my fleshy bits.

Two children later and I feel soft. Stretched. Saggy. Old.

My first pregnancy at 22 was amazing. I never felt so confident, so sexy, so attractive. My belly was adorable and adorned with only a few light stretch marks and I only gained 25 pounds. My home birth with that baby was amazing and left me feeling in awe of my postpartum body and all of its wonders.

This was a short- lived feeling.

My partner and I were not prepared for the life of an unmarried, postpartum, needing to grow up some more couple. However, we were dedicated and smoothed our lives and our routines and did our much needed growing up. Then we decided to try for number two.

It took sixteen months to conceive our second child compared to a month to conceive the first. This secondary infertility was hard on our psyches and eventually we decided to give up ‘trying’ and started to plan a wedding instead. I was pregnant a week later.

This time, I gained 50 pounds and a highway of stretch marks, deep purple and red on my belly, thighs, and hips. My breasts ballooned as did the rest of me. The pulling forward weight of pregnancy seemed to bring out my Great Grandma Helen Hump on my neck. This birth was hard, baby presented with a nuchal hand and I was in much more pain than I had anticipated based on my first birth experience. I felt disappointed and let down with my body after this birth (despite it doing what it needed to in the end, delivering a healthy baby at home in under 6 hours).

15 months postpartum I have my good days and many bad. I have two amazing daughters that I want to be an equally amazing role model for.

I don’t shave. Razors are CRAZY expensive and it’s completely unnecessary. If my body was born and made this way then THIS is a woman’s body- bushy hair and all. I am worthy of love, respect, and dignity just as I am, without painting, plucking, and tweaking.

This is what I’m trying to teach my girls. Ah, there’s the rub. I am also teaching myself. I don’t feel this way and yet this is what I am trying to teach by living the example. I never ever verbalize that I feel fat and gross most days. I try hard to be naturally confident and therefore beautiful but I don’t feel sexy to my partner and I don’t feel comfortable in my own skin or hair or clothes.

We’ve resumed wedding plans. I knew I didn’t feel good but it wasn’t until shopping for a wedding dress that I realized how BIG I’ve gotten. At 22 when I got pregnant with my preschooler I weighed 135 pounds. Two children and 5 years later I’m a soft, apple shaped 172. My breast are huge and pendulous, my nipples like the erasers at the end of those giant pencils (my loving partner pointed this out),my arms are fleshy, my belly skin sags down onto itself, my thighs rub so much they chafe in the heat of the summer.

It’s hard to be an example physically and not be quite “there” yet mentally.

But I’m trying, I’m learning.

I’ll keep telling myself, ‘it’s the journey.’

My Story (Anonymous)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Birth, Cesarean, Child Loss, Children with Health Complications, Postpartum, Pregnant, Second Pregnancy, Spousal/Partner Abuse, Submissions 17 Comments

23yrs old –postpartum 8 months.
Angel Jae born to heaven, mum of girl and boy, step mum of girl and boy.

I found myself thinking back as I watched my sick child in deep slumber in the early hours of this morning. I couldn’t remember the life I had before one, then three, then four little lives were following in the footsteps of my own life and experiences. Waking after the little amount of sleep I got that night has brought me to the place I am right now. A million memories running through my heart and my mind. My story is one of emotion, happiness in the birth of my children, the horror, abuse and fear of my past and the excitement and wonder of where my life is going.

I am a mother of an angel and four… well sort of.

I suppose to do this correctly I need to start from the very beginning. I am a young mother. This is Jae’s story. I was almost 17 when I had the flutter of nerves and excitement waiting for that pregnancy test to say yes or no. In my head if it said yes I was already a mother. I come from a good home with loving parents and I was in a stable relationship that I had been in going on 5 years by this stage. So a baby was not something I was scared of, in fact I wanted nothing more. There it was those two little lines ‘Pregnant’. What do I do? Who do I tell first? How will they react? My fiancé… Anger, rage, hurt. 19 weeks in, we’re having a boy. He snaps. He’d hit me before, I should’ve known he’d do it again. Three broken ribs, two black eyes, a broken wrist and My precious Angel Jae watching over me forever more. I still think about him and miss him each and every day. The pain is still as raw as if it were new.

He was sorry, He didn’t mean to hurt me. He wouldn’t leave, I couldn’t escape.

One year later, I’m late. Crying, alone and terrified at the possibility. I was in the dirty bathrooms at the local shopping centre, my hands shaking as I ripped off the wrapper. The next five minutes seemed to last for an eternity. There they were, clear as day… those two little lines, ‘pregnant’. This is Rose’s story. He is furious this time, “Get rid of IT before I do”. 14 weeks, My escape! He’s a cheater as well as a woman beater. The ‘other woman’ probably saved my life. I’m petrified with every strange feeling and my ever expanding belly. He found me. The threats and torment continued from him right through my pregnancy, “I will get you. I will kidnap and kill it rather than pay for it”. The stress bringing on contractions and high blood pressure, but my Rose she is strong and she is safe. She was born by emergency caesarean after complications weighing almost 10pounds. She is a beautiful child living with a disability. She is the reason I ate, slept, moved. She is the reason I survived.

We call my stretch marks “Mummy Marks” and believe you me I have mummy marks all over! And my “Smile” is a little bit wonky but Rose says that it’s the smile God gave me because the one on my face wasn’t big enough to show how much I loved her. My “smile” is My Breasts – the eyes that in her eyes only a mummy has. My stretched and misshapen belly button is the nose, which she loves to tickle and finally my wonky caesarean scar makes my smile. The smile that God gave me in the hands of the surgeon that brought my child safely into the world and is a permanent reminder of the memory that makes me smile and fill to the brim with so much love that the smile on my face just wasn’t enough.

Time kept passing as it always has. I met a man. Could I trust him? Will he hurt me? Will he understand what I’ve been through? Most importantly… Will he accept my child?

He has children too… two of them. A girl, Mary and a boy, Robert. Slowly and cautiously things move forward. He proposes, a carefully planned event with all the children playing a part, at my favourite restaurant in front of a full house of diners. Just like from the start of our relationship he was treating me as if I was the most important thing in the world, as if I were a princess. We move in together and almost immediately there they are again those two little lines ‘Pregnant’ but this time it’s different. It’s exciting and happy and I can share it. What a valentine’s present that news was!

We’re having a boy. 22 weeks in, there’s a car accident, where is the bleeding coming from? Is my baby alright? Phillip’s story. 23 weeks and we are in birth suite being told to get ready. 4cm dilated, Wait – Stop everything! My body and I believe the grace of God stopped everything. We heard the galloping of 10000 horses and we cried together. He’s alright, he’s safe tucked in tight beneath my heart. I stayed in hospital and every day got longer and longer and it was hard to cope. 8 trips to birth suite, drugs… oh the drugs steroids for baby, blood thinners, pain killers, dyes, contrasts, anaesthetics and last but not least epidural and caesarean. We made it! 35 weeks. 5pounds of amazing baby boy in my arms.

It’s funny you know, for as long as I can remember I have always wanted to be a mother. I have always wanted four children. I could never in my wildest imagination describe what it feels like inside when I look at my children. All four of them, because they are mine each and every one of them. I love them. The shape of a mother to me is not only the physical but the emotional. What makes a mother whole – her children. They are a part of her living independently outside of her own body.

I don’t know if this is a story for this site, but it is my story. I am a woman and I am strong. I am a survivor. I am a mother and I live for my children. I’m not ready yet to let my face be seen. There is always fear in the back of my mind and my greatest concern is protecting my daughter from the threats made against her.

Hard to Feel Good (Chelsea)

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

Hey there, I’m a 22 year old first time mother of a 7 month old beautiful little girl. While pregnant with my daughter I gained 80Lbs making my weight a whopping 220. At my age I feel like being a mom has certain expectations, one of them being that you shoudn’t look like you just gave birth. In our society it’s almost frowned upon to look like a “mom” and have pregnancy battle scars.

I have countless peers with children that don’t have one stretch mark, have no extra loose skin, and still wear two piece bathing suits. I have friends that are pregnant that would hyperventalate if their pregnancy left any physical scars on their body. That’s hard for me to see when I have gotten stretch marks on literally every part of my body including my belly, breasts, thighs, calves, upper arms, and butt, not to mention my permantent double chin.

When I first gave birth everyone reassured me that the scars would shrink and get lighter, I just needed to give it a few months, yet they seem to have gotten worse. Meanwhile I still need to lose 40Lbs to return to my prepregnancy weight.

It’s now summer and all I want to do is take my daughter swimming but I’m embarassed to go out in a bathing suit looking and feeling the way I do. I realise that there are a lot of moms that feel the same way I do, but where are they? When I’m out at the beach, or a store, all I see are these skinny, flat stomached young moms.It makes me feel like I should look a certain way being a young mother and that’s the hardest part of it all.

I feel like if there weren’t such harsh physical expectations on women then I would feel differently about my body, but when I’m drowned by images of tall, dark, slender, skinny women after birthing a child, I just feel defeated.

This website makes me feel better, actually being able to see that I’m not the only one whose body has been so affected by pregnancy. For the past 7 months I’ve been so hard on myself and the way I look so it’s nice to feel like it’s normal. Thank You.

Mommy Belly (Sarah)

Bonnie (SOAM) Before Pregnancy, Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pregnant, Second Pregnancy, Submissions 22 Comments

I’m 26 with 3 pregnancies, 2 births. I have a 4 year old son and 5 months and 2 week old daughter. I was 21 when I had my first child and I weighed 150 pre pregnancy, I wasn’t the skinniest I have ever been but I liked the way my body looked. I wore form fitting clothes and bikinis and didn’t even think twice about it. I gained 50lbs during my first pregnancy and postpartum I weighed 180lbs then gained back 10lbs a few months after the pregnancy, 40lbs over my pre pregnancy weight. It took me about 2 years to start loosing weight. I lost 35lbs but I still had my mommy belly with stretch marks and flabby skin. About 8 months after loosing my weight I became pregnant with my daughter. I had a difficult pregnancy with my daughter, I Went in to preterm labor with her at 32 weeks and was in the hospital till I gave birth at 36 weeks via repeat c-section. I only gained 25 lbs with my daughter. Postpartum I weighed 170lbs and currently still do, weighing 15lbs over my pre 2nd pregnancy weight.

I loved being pregnant and having a baby belly, I get baby belly fever in stead of baby fever! I miss having that cute little round belly with my sweet lil baby in side kicking and squirming around! I wish having a mommy belly was a fun as having a baby belly! I am working on losing 25 more lbs right now but what ever I do, I cant loose this mommy belly and I’m having trouble losing this post pregnancy weight again! My husband is currently deployed over seas and will be home in October. I am trying my hardest to lose this weight and my mommy belly with it but it just isn’t working that well! I want to surprise him when he gets home, I know he doesn’t care if I have mommy belly or a tight skinny belly. But It bugs me and I want to look good for him! I have been stressing over this for the last few weeks and I know I shouldn’t stress about it but I do….

Has any one had trouble with losing weight and your mommy belly after pregnancy? also does any one have tips on how to tighten and tone my stomach so its not so flabby. I do crunches and a ton or ab work outs but its not working. Most my friends have returned to their pre pregnancy weight and body’s with in 6 months of there pregnancy. I so wish it was that easy for me! How long after pregnancy did it take any of you to get back to your pre pregnancy weight and body?

photos
1st pic- pre pregnancies, 2nd pic- first pregnancy, 3rd pic-after first pregnancy, 4th pic- second pregnancy, 5th and 6th pics- what my tummy is now

Why Me? (Rachel)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pregnant, Submissions, Teen Mom 15 Comments

Age~18 (17 when pregnant)
Number of pregnancies/births~1
Age of children/PP~8 weeks

I was 17 and had just started my senior year when I first found out I was pregnant. As you would have guessed I was very scared and cried lots over the subject. Loads of thoughts soared through my head, but instantly I knew I wanted to keep my baby. I was pressured by my family to stay in school and on top of my game. In the end I am very thankful because I graduated with straight A’s even though I was pregnant my ENTIRE senior year. My boyfriend and I had a kind of rocky relationship at first, maybe because we were together only 4 months before I got preggo but now we have been together a year and 4 months and still going strong. :) I don’t know what I would do without his help and support. Anyways, I had a generally happy and healthy pregnancy. I wasn’t (too) moody and not very sick either. The only problems were my back pain, swelling and I gained almost 50 pounds. Well and the feeling self conscious of being pregnant in High School, even though everyone told me I was the cutest pregnant person ever. When I went into my first sonogram we were both hoping for a boy. But we ended up with a baby girl instead. You get what you get, right? At 39 weeks I was induced so I could make it safely to graduation four days later. Checking into the hospital I was terrified…so many things could go wrong or I was definitely coming home with a baby girl. They had to ripen my cervix, since I was only 1 1/2 cm, before they hooked me up to pitocin. So they stuck the pill inside and about an hour later I was feeling mild contractions. Although I didn’t know they were mild, so I thought that was the limited amount of pain I would feel. I was like, “I can handle this, no problem!” Boy, was I completely wrong…after they started the pitocin my contractions were horrible. I cried, and cried. Especially when they broke my water. Luckily, I could recieve the epidural shortly after that and slept for about 3 more hours before I had to push. 30 minutes of pushing and a horrid episiotomy later I gave birth vaginally to a beautiful, healthy baby girl. So overall, I was lucky with my pregnancy, and my delivery with the minor exception of my cut. When I was moved to my room I was forced to go pee, which was the most painful experience of my life. Standing up and walking sucked too. But what was worse was looking into the mirror the first time and noticing my stomach was still big, and I had purple lines almost everywhere. I broke down and thought, “why me? why did this happen to me? It has to be my fault because I ate too much, or because I didn’t exercise at all because this, because that.” I had never seen anyone with stretch marks, and I don’t know any girls that have gotten them from being pregnant. It really hurt. Not only to dislike myself, but to know it was my fault that I did. When my boyfriend helped me into the shower I was scared of his reaction to how I looked. I will admit I cried over it, it hurt so much. He always tells me I’m beautiful and not to worry because he will always love me no matter how I look. I know he means it but I still wish I could feel good about myself. I never appreciated what I had before pregnancy, and this must be my punishment now…Although I have lost almost all of the weight (except for about 10 pounds) I am still have marks and saggy boobs.

I want to continue my schooling and continue to give my little girl everything she needs. I love her more than anything and I love being a mom, and I wouldn’t trade her for the world.

1st picture ~2 weeks before giving birth
2nd & 3rd ~ side stretch marks
4th & 5th ~ 8 weeks PP
6th~ Today
7th~ Me and Aales
8th~My baby girl: Aales (Uh-Lease) Jaedan Brack

Summer Lovin’ (Kayla)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, First Pregnancy, Postpartum, Submissions, Update 9 Comments

Previous posts here and here.

My daughter will be 3 months old on the 4th of July. That is coming way too fast for me. I really thought 6 weeks after birth I would be back to pre-pregnancy…Seems like every girl I know bounces right back. I lost 35 pounds in the hospital after I had her. I still am weighing 12 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight. I know they say “9 months to gain, 9 months to lose” but I always thought I would be different. I am disappointed in myself for not working out. She is sleeping all night now! From 9pm-6am but she keeps me so busy during the day and isn’t a napper. So, we are always playing and doing things during the day. Then by the time the evening comes I am beat. I really need to find the strength in me to start working out again. I used to be in pretty good shape.

I try to tell myself that none of that matters. My wonderful husband loves me and thinks I am beautiful and my daughter will always look up to me just like I looked up to my mom and still do today. I want her to grow up knowing that all women are beautiful and that I am not ashamed of my body. My stretch marks are the marks of my love for her and my husband. I gave up my youthful looking body to give her life and to give my husband a daughter. We are a family now and my body is what made that happen.

I was so afraid when I became pregnant that I was going to end up with stretch marks on my stomach. I rubbed myself down with every kind of stretch mark cream that exists in hopes of keeping them away. I checked my stomach and had my husband look where I couldn’t see to make sure I hadn’t developed them yet. I was clear of stretch marks by the time I went into the hospital to be induced! Yay, I was so happy! J Right after I gave birth to her though, and I was in the post partum room, I got up to take a shower and SURPRISE. These lovely little marks had appeared under my belly button. I cried and cried to my husband and he told me I was crazy. He said they weren’t that bad and that I got off really lucky. Everyone told me that. I wouldn’t believe them for anything. I thought it was the end of the world. A few weeks after my daughter’s birth, I just decided not to care anymore. Why was I so hung up on it anyway? My daughter was growing up right before my eyes and my husband was dying for my affection and I was just too distracted to notice!

Well, enough of that. I am done feeling sorry for myself or being down about the way my body looks. I am a woman! I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl! I am more in love with my husband than I ever have been. Our relationship is better than ever, so obviously my body is not an issue for him. Why is it for me? The stupid media tries to convince me to be skinny right after birth. Sorry, but I am not one of those women that go in for a scheduled C-section and gets a tummy tuck right after. I am not “too posh to push”. I gave birth to my daughter naturally and nobody can take that empowering experience from me. Every woman that has been through pregnancy and birth (c-section or not) should be very proud of themselves because that is a great accomplishment and one of the hardest things on the human body. So, obviously we aren’t going to come out of it mark free! We are going to have marks and scars because our bodies were put through hell.

My daughter is my world. I never want to let her see my insecurities about my body. So, I am starting today. Before she is old enough to be aware of me covering myself up, I am stopping. I am getting out in the sun and wearing a bikini. That’s right, I said bikini. I am going to say to the world, (Or just everyone at the pool) “Hey, this is the shape of a mother, and if you don’t like it, that is YOUR problem, because I am beautiful.” I encourage all of you to do the same, for yourselves, your partners, and your children. We can change the way the world sees mothers, we just have to stop hiding.

Picture 1- Me just got back from the pool
Picture 2- Kiss it society!
Picture 3- Me and my beautiful daughter
Picture 4- The loves of my life :)

Mom of Two (Kirsty)

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

Number of pregnancies -2
Number of births- 2 Births
Age of my children- 8 & 5
Age- 31

I have visited this site numerous times over the years and shared it with many moms. I love seeing all the different stories and struggles because it makes you feel somewhat normal.

I gave birth to my son when I was 23 and had my daughter at 26. I gained 50 pounds with each of my kids. Before I became pregnant I had a cute little figure at 5’3″ and 123 pounds. After I had my son and saw my body go through so many changes, I thought I was done. For years I struggled with my body image. I finally discovered clean eating and weights. I used to be a cardio junky (still sort of.) I love to run in half marathons (maybe a full one someday) and try new things. I have to mix things up. I am very self conscious about my belly area. I love to wear a bikini to the pool to get tan on my tummy because I think it will look better. I feel like people will look at me like I’m gross for even considering a bikini. I’ve come to the point in my life where I feel a little more confident but still have a long way to go. I’ve been trying to find every solution out there to avoid plastic surgery. I have loose skin (like majority of us do) and no exercise will ever take that away. I’m back to my 123 pound figure but through the journey its not the same. I feel that my marks are my constant reminder of the 2 beautiful children I carried. I hate that moms have to feel shame in this. I want every mom to wear a bikini and be proud of their marks! If we all did it would seem normal to show it off like a battle wound. My husband loves me very much and tells me I’m beautiful and with that I feel very blessed. Life is too short to worry but its so hard not to.

Liberation from my Mommy Body (Lauren)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Postpartum, Submissions, Third Pregnancy 5 Comments

Age: 27
3 pregnancies/3 live births
Children Ages: 8yrs, 3yrs and 7mos. 7 months postpartum

I told myself when I decided to sit down and write this that I would be honest……..not only with myself but my readers as well. I’ve always struggled with my body image and self-esteem. Seeing my body as something beautiful has always been a difficult thing for me. I’ve always been short, had big legs that were mismatched from my body and I’ve always been kind of awkward. After having children that struggle has become more of a battle, a war within myself. I have yet to lose a lot of my pregnancy weight, in fact I’ve put some weight on. Mostly in part because I’ve created such an elaborate love affair with food and also because in some ways I’ve given up. I look in the mirror and see a disfigured belly from the three different times it’s stretched and un-stretched, breasts that sag due to breastfeeding and that space between my thighs that used to be somewhat cute and never touched, now it does. Oh, and how did I forget the stretchmarks that seem to cover all the parts of my body that are supposed to be beautiful.

Sitting here, writing this is difficult but I need to do this for me……….and for her. My sons have a strong, confident role model in their lives, I want to be that for her. I don’t want her to grow up and look up to the 95 pound pop star, I want her to look up to me. I wand to be the strong, influential woman in her life. Even if I never fully regain my pre-children figure, I want to love my body, for once feel beautiful in it. It has sheltered, birthed and nurtured three wonderful kids and the stretchmarks and weight are testimony to the lives it has created. I want my daughter to know that no matter what her body looks like, that she is beautiful and that she will be strong and I want her to learn that from me.

Update – The Shape that Love Built (Amanda)

Bonnie (SOAM) Belly, Complications During or After Birth, No Photos (Story Only), Postpartum, Submissions, Third Pregnancy 5 Comments

Original entry here.

Age: 24 (had a birthday since posting my last article lol)
Number of Births: 3
Ages of Children: 5 years old, 23 Months old, and 4 months old.

Hello again!! I just thought that I’d update on my post “The Shape That Love Built”. I still feel the way I did in that one. I really do. I look at myself in the mirror and see past the sagging breasts,flabby belly, chubby legs and dimpled bum… and say “helloooooooooo gorgeous!” I am updating for another reason… to let people know that I’ve been through a lot since I wrote that last post, I gave birth 2 days after submitting the article actually. My son was 9lbs even, my SMALLEST baby, the easiest birth, but the hardest to recover from. You see. Sometime during the birth… my right leg was paralyzed. It’s not permanent, and I CAN use it again, but it took 6 weeks for me to be able to walk unassisted (as in, without a walker, cane or wheelchair),
and its been about 6 or so weeks since I gained feeling and control back, and I still cant feel parts of my leg, or the bottom of my foot. My leg is incredibly weak now, and I need a brace to walk, otherwise my leg just folds up under its own weight. For a time, I thought and asked myself; why me? And a little while ago, I realized that the answer was sitting right here. It happened because it was supposed to. That’s the simple answer anyways. The longer answer is that it happened so that I can be the voice for other women and show them that yes… something terrible and physically happened to me during the birth of my son, but I still get out of bed every day, I still slide down the stairs on my bum like my toddler does, and I still make them
breakfast, pack my eldest’s lunch for school, and get lost in my youngest son’s smiling face. It happened because I am supposed to show women that they can do it too. That its ok to scream, cry, stamp your
feet in frustration, and grieve when something terrible happens. I am supposed to be their voice, and tell the people that made this happen to me that its not ok, that they stole my independence from me, and show them that its not ok to just sweep it under the rug or let them think that I’ve forgotten (believe me, I haven’t and I am reminded every time I can’t help my 5 year old practice for soccer, or race around the back yard with my toddler, or dance with my baby). I believe that I also have to tell other women that this has happened to… because they ARE out there, that even though one or both of your legs aren’t working for you the way you want them to, and you have a brace or a chair to help you walk… you are still beautiful and
perfect. My leg is swollen right now. I am not sure why, neither are the doctors who have been trying to figure it out. It dimples when someone presses on it, it has stretch marks, and its not “pretty” to look at… but that’s just a small part of the overall package. If its happened to you, I understand. Its hard to deal with, but we do what we have to. And that my friends is what makes us stronger than the strongest man, it makes us more beautiful than this year’s sexiest woman, and it makes us even better than we were before… why? Because we have to work harder for it to make things like going to get a cup of water, showering, and all those little things that people who don’t have to deal with the un-cooperative limbs take for granted. So, I
guess I’m saying that I believe that you are all still beautiful, strong, and wonderful people… and to never take your legs for granted. I also think that I needed to update for my own well-being. I needed to say out loud (or at least on a public site/board) that I’m ok, and that there are a lot worse cases out there. Its my own personal therapy. I guess… I needed to get it off of my chest. Its been a huge weight that I’ve had to bare for the past 4 months, and it feels really good to write this, and tell others my story, and to let them know… that it does get better because once you hit rock bottom, the only way to go after that is up.

Is My Weight Loss on Track?? (Krissy)

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

Hi other moms! Well I guess the best way to start is always at the begginning…

When I was 20 I got pregnant with my first child. My prepregnancy weight was 125 and was a barely even A cup… when i went in to have our daughter i was 206 pds. (I carried 4 weeks over for some hard to explain reasons) and was a DD cup. I was right on track with my weight loss and just as i started to look like my old self I found out I was pregnant again. When I found out I was pregnant I was at 145 my daughter was 6 months old at the time. When I went in to have my second child I was 215 pds. (I had ALOT of water weight that time). My second child just turned six months today. I just wanted everyones opinion about whether or not my weight loss is on track since having two kids so close together seems to make things harder. Also my husband has started making it seem like i just “let myself go” he hasnt said anything but i can def tell he feels that way since I am not losing the “baby weight” as fast as i did with our first child. We were always the inshape kind of couple constantly doing athletics and things like that so being out of my normal shape has been really difficult for me. My current weight is 150, and i think toning is my biggest struggle with my body since our kids were born.

I just dont know how fast Im suppose to be losing weight and ppl keep telling me too fast is unhealthy but at the same time I of course feel like getting back in shape couldnt come fast enough… I guess i just wanna know what other people think of the way I look at this point in time.

PS I took some of these for my husband, I will be gone for our wedding anniversary so i thought it would be a good idea, but am unsure if I actually want to give them to him or wait and take more when i get into better shape.

AGE: 22
# OF PREG.: 3
# OF BIRTHS: 2
CHILDREN: Daughter 2 in july, Son 6 months (TODAY : D )