Post-partum belly after 16 months (Tsi K.)

I haven’t seen too many African-American women post on this site so I decided to add my own voice. I have struggled with my fair share of eating disorders and body image issues, but now that I have a young daughter, I am acutely aware of how I view myself, and of the messages I want to send to her. I gained 50lbs during my pregnancy, and the first picture was taken when I was 9 months pregnant. My daughter is now 16 months old, and the next two pictures are how I look today. I have a few stretch marks on either side of my hips and under my breasts. Doing pilates both before I got pregnant and after I gave birth, really helped me get back into shape. Thank you for this beautiful site, and thank you to all the women who have had the courage to share their amazing stories!





Updated here and here.

10 Years Later (Anonymous)

I gave birth to my first and only child ten years ago- a son named Zachary. He’s awesome. He plays the violin and pokemon and likes Science, but hates hurricanes and tornados, and plays music really loud and runs around the house to it. I love him more than sunshine, moonlight, good coffee, snow days, and all other excellent things in the world. My favorite Zac quote so far is, “Humans are wierd because we try so hard to pretend we’re not animals.” I’ll be 35 this year, and I don’t think I’ll have more kids. Ten years ago, I decided to get pregnant, got pregnant, had the boy, and life’s been a blast with him. But now… see, a friend of mine just found out she was pregnant and she brought me back… day dreaming about my own pregnancy… and I ended up here. I love this site, and I love all of your pictures. If I decide to have another baby this year, consider yourselves partly responsible. Here are my pictures. One of my poochy tummy, some back fat which I earned during pregnancy and will never shed, some silvery stretch marks which are faded but still show up pretty good, and finally, the boy.






Updated here.

stretchmarked legs (Autumn)

i posted here in july of last year, here’s the link to that post: https://theshapeofamother.com/2006/07/autumn/

the first picture is of the stretchmarks i got on the back of my legs during my pregnancy. i had a hard time getting photos of them(cause of my posistion haha) but i did get one shot. both of my legs look like this from the back and the stretchmarks travel down to my calves, but those are harder to see since they’ve faded to white. the second picture is my stomach as of now-18 months post partum. my stretchmarks have faded and i swear get lighter by the second.


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Updated here, here and here.

Stillborn after 2 healthy children… (Danielle)

I had previously participated on Shape of a Mother in July of 2006. Please see the link here. I really needed to share my recent pregnancy loss.

After posting those pictures on SOAM, my husband and I found out in August that we were expecting again! We were so excited to be expanding our family. In December at my 20 week sonogram we found out we were expecting a little girl! I was so thrilled to finally be blessed with a little girl after 2 little boys! Three weeks ago on February 12th, I had not felt the baby move all day. I was told to go to L&D to get checked out by my OB. When I was finally hooked up to the fetal monitor, we heard a heartbeat, but it was mine. We lost our precious little girl at 28 weeks 6 days. We were completely shocked and devestated. Tuesday morning she was taken by c-section. There was no joy in that operating room, no anticipation of hearing a little baby’s cry, but pure silence and saddness. We were able to hold our little girl and be with her for a while. Our little angel weighed 2 lbs 15 oz, and we named her Kailen, which means beloved. I left the hospital with a certificate with her birthweight, tiny footprints, little knit hat, blanket and gown she wore while we held her. The day I left the hospital, it hit me, I just gave birth, but I will never get to see my little girl again. It’s heartbreaking. I never thought in a million years that I would bury my own child. I’m still dealing with our loss everyday and dealing with all the emotions of post-pardem too. The day my milk came in was the most difficult. I cried hard that day as my breasts ached. I’m thankful that I did get to carry her for those 7 months. She changed my body forever and added some more strechmarks above my belly button that I will cherish. I will never forget her little marks on me. We will always keep Kailen’s memory alive in our hearts.
Thank you for allowing me to share my story, again.



Updated here and here.

3rd baby-stillborn 40 weeks (Anonymous)

Our beautiful baby girl was sill born Jan.26, 2007. We had no idea that she would not be coming home with us that day. We were scheduled for a c-section (my 2nd one) she was breech just like her brother before her. My 1st baby was textbook and a vaginal delivery. She was moving around just fine the night before so when the Dr. told us that there was no heartbeat and that we would be delivering a stillborn baby we were devastated. The cord had 2 knots and was wrapped 4 times around her neck. She was fully formed and beautiful. We are still healing, but take great comfort in knowing that God had a special purpose for her: there were several women who spoke of a healing and closure that came from her funeral or from holding her shortly after her birth. We are looking forward to meeting her in Heaven again one day.

(the image is beautiful, yet very sad, so I made this one a link)
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Updated herehere and here.

My mommy body (Anonymous)

Here I am 4months pp. I love this site. I actually stripped myself & my son down & ran into the bedroom to take pics to add. I didn’t gain a pound until 6months. Then I gained 40. I had too much fluid around my son, adding to my stretched belly & a very short waist. I’m only 5’1″! My breasts are a bit deflated, but not much different than before. I was a 36F before pg, not sure what I am now. They didn’t really grow during pregnancy, thank god. I’m beginning to come to terms with my new “mommy body” thanks in part to this wonderful project!!

Updated here.

Baby #3, Post #3 (Babs)

First Entry

Second Entry

The last submissions I put in were about not having any stretch marks, and a c-section recovery but baby #3 came 3 weeks overdue (and by UBAC) and weighed over 9lbs; he left his footprints when I reached about 40weeks and my fundal height crept past 43cm (it went to over 46). He came 11 months after my cesarean/childloss.

These pictures were a few weeks before birth, one during labour (an hour before birth) and one 2 months postpartum.


Updated here.

I, Mother (Anonymous)

My son came to us after years of suspecting I may be unble to conceive. I had tried to conceive before, always to my disapointment when my period came, month after month. It was sad, but I came to accept my infertility. I figured if I wasn’t meant to bear children, then why tamper with karma?! When I finally saw those 2 little lines staring back at me from the stick dipped in my pee, I had to sit down. My life was about to change forever. I’m a mom! Wow!

I enjoyed few stretch marks & a scar from a surgery 11 years ago weathered the pregnancy better than I feared. My labor was long & hard, but it was the natural, drug-free birth I had wanted.

This body brought my little boy into the world & I could never be disappointed with it.

Update here.

Anonymous

This is my body 2.5 years after I gave birth to my first (and so far only) child. Although pregnancy was kind to me and I lost all my “baby weight” shortly after giving birth, nevertheless, my body is not the same. Breasts that were once perky and full are now limp and floppy from vigorous nursing that lasted 13 wonderful months. A belly that was once firm and flat now sticks out exactly as it did in pictures of myself at five months pregnant. It took a concentrated effort not to suck it in for these pictures: it’s become a totally subconscious habit for me. I was lucky not to get any stretch marks, but I do bear the scar from where they took my son out of me after 46 hours of labor. Oddly enough, it is darker on one half than the other.

Thank you for this site. I hope it has helped many women realize that the changes to their fertile bodies should be embraced, not scorned. We are all mothers and we wear it proudly.


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Updated here and here.

Anonymous

This site is an incredible inspiration! I love checking here every day, and seeing other women’s stories, and I thought that I’d share mine.

My husband and I were married in September of 2002. We decided to start trying for a baby in January of 2003, and in June, I got my BFP. I was overjoyed, yet completely unaware of how this was going to affect my body. The months marched by, and I gained 13 lbs by the time I delivered. I also gained a gazillion stretch marks lol.

On February 8th, 2004, I started feeling crampy around midnight, and at 5 am that morning, my water broke while I was lying in bed. It was like someone opened a flood gate lol. Anyways, nothing happened. We went to the hospital, and by 7 that night, when still nothing was happening, they decided that I needed an epi and pitocin. Well, that ended up leading to a c-section the next morning. It was a horrible experience, and afterwards I didn’t get to see my new daughter for almost 5 hours. I’m not even going to get in to the hospital stay, as it was equally as bad. The only thing that kept me from losing it was my precious little girl, who we named Abigail :). I was so unprepared for the “jello-belly” that followed delivery, and that combined with my zebra stripes, and I felt very self concious and almost ashamed about what my baby had done to my body. However, I tried to think about my stretch marks as my badges of honor for doing something so right :). Abigail and I enjoyed a very happy nursing relationship for 15 months, at which time she weaned herself.

We decided around May of 2005 that we wanted to start trying for a second baby, and I figured that the damage was done, so why not ;). So we did, and on June 15th, I got a BFP. (May/June is a bad month for us ;).) Our second baby was due on February 22, 2006. My pregancy was so easy with this baby, and I was flying through without a care in the world.

On November 4th, 2005, my husband had to go to Vancouver for a consult with a hand surgeon, so we left our older daughter with my parents, and set out at 4am to drive down. We didn’t make it. We were coming around a corner, and the road was blocked by parts of a semi’s trailer, and his load. My husband tried to stop the car, but the road was icy (possibly from the hundreds of thousands of cans of “Boost” that had smashed all over it,) and our car started to slide. Despite his efforts, we ended up sideswiping the inner meridian, then being shot across the road to hit the outer meridian head on at ~80 Km/h. I don’t remember much, except being absolutely terrified for our baby, as at that point we were 6 months pregnant. (I’m including a picture of my stripes and bruising from my seatbelt…) We were taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital, then sent home to get an ultrasound. I can’t even begin to describe the relief when they found the heartbeat, and everything seemed to be okay. (This is getting long lol…) I sustained a SI joint injury, and the accident, combined with my pregnancy, caused an unstable pelvis.The last 16 weeks of my pregnancy were agony, and I felt so robbed. I couldn’t even tolerate her moving, as it would jar my pelvis. I kept hoping though, for a VBAC, as I did not want to go through that C-section experience again. Those hopes were dashed when the baby turned breech at 32 weeks, and a version failed. Looking back, I know that I could never have pushed effectively with my pelvis the way it was, and it was the best thing for my baby.
We had a baby girl, born via C-section on February 22, 2006. We named her Victoria. It’s been a very difficult journey with her, and I had a very difficult time bonding with her. (That’s so hard to admit…) I had so much pain from the surgery and from my pelvis, that I am still dealing with today, that I couldn’t hold her for any amount of time, and was really only doing to basics because that’s all I was able to do. She and I are good now, and I’ve been able to bond with her now. I am going to see a specialist next week, so hopefully she will be able to give me some answers about my pelvis.

As it stands now, I have been told that having another baby would be an extremely bad idea, and that things will be as bad or worse than they were with our daughter after our accident. I am having a difficult time accepting that, as we wanted at least one more child, but I am still hopeful that maybe things can resolve enough to allow us to expand our family.

As for my body image, I see my body as forever changed, but I am okay with it. If I didn’t have the stretch marks, and “soft” (as my older daughter puts it lol) body, I also wouldn’t have my daughters, who are the reason that I get out of bed in the mornings, and face the day as best I can. Thank you very much for listening to my tale, and I can’t tell you how much it helps to put my story on paper.

Updated here.