Do you think stretch marks make you look ugly after having a baby?

[Bea]

So im 35 weeks pregnant and im not sure about how i feel about having stretch marks? i don't know if i should feel proud or embarrassed? any advice?

[mummy to freya]

No I'm 20 and I have stretch marks but they are nothing to be ashamed of they are there because your a mummy I'm back to a size 8 now they make no difference

[thunderingbrother943]

I've had stretch marks since I was about 16. I hate them and they make me feel uncomfortable about wearing bikinis etc, even though I have an OK figure. I just tell myself there are people with bigger issues than me. I also use bio-oil and coconut butter to tone the colour of them and make thm fade as much as possible...

[~*Isabel*~]

Nothing you can do about them. I wouldn't be wearing a bikini anymore, or belly shirts. But i'm a mom now so way I see it I don't have to dress that way lol. I just don't like mine. Not embarrassed about them, having my son was totally worth it. But if I could of avoided them, I totally would of lol.

[Malorie]

I made it through my whole pregnancy without stretch marks, delivered my son, went to take a shower in the hospital and there they were I only have them really low on my stomach where luckily I have a tattoo that sort of hides them ( and I hear they fade thank god cause mine are really dark) I personally hate them, I stare at myself in the mirror and want to cry, I am only 23 and I feel like my body is ruined that I've lost all sex appeal. I'm afriad to even let my husband see me without my shirt on. If you can be proud of them more power to you !!!

[Forrest]

I certainly didn't want stretch marks, but the baby is worth it! After I had my baby, it took awhile to get my body back down to size and the stretch marks did fade considerably. My body didn't look the same, but if you consider the baby I think it is worth it. Some people's bodies seem to get back into shape better than others. It's probably due to genetics and how hard you work at it.

[Jackie]

She has said it better than I could:
http://yourkickasslife.com/category/blog

You may have heard me rant before about the whole “body after baby” thing. This topic makes me crazy. Bat-shit-bananas crazy (did you know there was such a thing?).

Without naming any names. There is a particular group of exercisers, that are marketing a “get your body back” type thing for moms. I see it on Facebook. I see it on Twitter. I see it, I see it, I see it and it makes both my middle fingers go upward and point at my computer screen. I’m pretty sure you understand how I feel about this, right?

Ladies. We are hard on ourselves. RELENTLESS. FIERCE. We have to have it all, be the best, be the most, be the most fantastic woman/mom/friend/wife/partner/cook/housekeeper/soccermom/student/lover/career-person/anything-and-everything-person-extraordinaire. Period. No margin for error. Nope. No. Don’t even think about it! Quick! Change hats! Hurry! But, there’s more: Tutor/tear-dryer/crust-cutter/launderer/chauffeur/philosopher/butt-wiper, and please remind me of anything I’ve forgotten (big breath).

Excuse me. Did you somewhere in all of that forget that you needed to get your BODY BACK? You know, the same one you had when you were 21? Who gives a shit that your mid section stretched out some 60 inches. And that your thighs stretched and breasts stretched and hips too. You really need to spend some time, money and real estate in your brain getting that body BACK to the way it was before you had that baby. Or babIES.

Well, I for one call bullshit. Who made it STANDARD that we all have to have a certain body type to begin with, let alone get it back after we have grown a human in our bodies and birthed it? If there is a person responsible for this, please tell me who he is so I can have words with him. However, it would do me no good to blame a certain person, or a certain society or culture. The answer, ladies, lies in us. The answer isn’t easy, I know, but it is possible.

Sometimes I feel like a little goldfish swimming upstream in the most tremendous current against me. With a very small whisper of a voice that is trying to speak out against a consensus that tells me we need to look and be a certain way after we have children. But, the bottom line, and I don’t have a more intelligent and articulate way of saying this; but the bottom line is that THIS IS A LOAD OF SHIT.

SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT.

Mamas, I urge you to take a look in the mirror, acknowledge the changes, and stop being so hard on yourselves for having extra skin, stretch marks, sagging breasts, and maybe some extra weight. We as females were chosen specifically and given special powers to do something truly, amazing. To make babies inside our own bodies. To me, this is spectacular. Stupendous. Badass. And of course it goes without saying, but the fact that we can make babies, kicks ass.

I wonder how the world would change if we just accepted that. One sentence: Women’s bodies change after babies. Period. What if we embraced our bodies after we had babies for what they are, instead of racing to change them back? What if we just embraced our bodies period? People might fantasize about a magical world, a new life, a million dollars….I fantasize about a world, a culture, a time when we as women accept our bodies and ourselves just as they are. Without judgment, without criticism, without hatred, without comparison.

Imagine that….

[mum of little boys]

Feel proud! They fade anyway. You can hardly see mine now, an my youngest is 21 months

[LC]

I'm not exactly proud of how my body has ended up after pregnancy but I like it. After pregnancy my bum suddenly got flat, my boobs sagged and I got stretch marks on my bum. When I'm wearing a bikini in the summer and I see the younger women or the women who've not had kids yet, I don't feel even an ounce of envy. I'd rather have my body and my baby than a perfect body and no baby. I know how strong the urge to have children can get and I wonder how many of those women with the perfect bodies and no kids would swap places with me in a flash! We look like women in their mid thirties are supposed to look.

[Jeremy Roberts]

You can find how to deal with stretch marks and eliminate them here http://www.healthanswer.org/stretch-marks Hope this helps .