I would have so sent you my tummy. but it’s full of baby right now. Ask me in 8 weeks if you need another REAL tummy.

Casey, this is awesome. I would have shared if I had seen it. I still will. Real women, Unite!

My postpartum belly can’t really be called that anymore. Unless it still counts 6, nearly 7 years down the road. If so, I have a few. :D

Great post, thank you for sharing. I knew my body would change drastically once having a baby but I really had no idea just how much it would change. To all the brave moms who shared their photos – you ROCK!

I agree with Katherine – if you hadn’t pointed it out, I probably wouldn’t have really thought much about the red… but you have gorgeous blue eyes, and incredible lashes :). I’m at almost 31 weeks with my first, or I’d have sent a pic. And Babycenter has a running album of pp bellies, too.

I just found your blog, but I would gladly send you a photo of my belly. I have two kids, just turned 4 and just turned 2. It’s not bad but it’s not model-ideal either. I hate it. I struggle EVERY DAY to accept my body the way it is now but it’s just a battle I have to face.

Thank you so much. I have always hated my belly, now after 2 children and living with a chronic illness It is something that upsets me every day. I’m so grateful for the photos that show actually, I’m normal.
thank you for that gift :)

I had the same rash all over my face chest and back during my whole pregnancy. However, now my skin is way more smooth than it was prepregnancy and I’m 5 mo pp

Thank you, thank you, thank you. This post is really amazing and so reassuring for all moms out there. I had a C-section and have a four-week old daughter, and I have been so hard on myself since I still look four months pregnant. It is such a relief to see these photos and know that not only am I normal, but am still beautiful even if I don’t have six-pack abs. I will think about myself a lot differently the next time I look in the mirror.

Fantastic!
I must say that posting my postpartum belly on my blog a couple months ago was quite liberating. I had a panic attack right before I hit publish… But a day later I felt awesome.
These ladies rock!
*belly bump* to all of you.

Well, I’m a little too far out from postpartum (my youngest is 11) ..but I had 5 babies, 1 vaginal, 1 unnecessary C-section, and 4 more vaginal. I was “lucky” to not have the stretch marks all over the belly, which still amazes me to death since the least I gained was pregnancy 5 gaining 58 lbs (most, btw, was 69). I was also one of “those” that all the ladies hated cause I could get back into my jeans within a month…What I was lucky for in belly I more than got paid for in breast and buttock stretch marks..the kind that ALWAYS show in a bathing suit, sigh. Every single time I went from A cups to DD cups, then back down, hips went from 33 to 39 and back. Now that menopause is hitting(here at 40) I’m getting the pouch in the belly, the larger hips and chest….not minding chest and hips….but really minding the fact that I now measure 39-39-39 LOL. I’d give you a sideways shot if I could figure out how to make it work!

Thank you for this article it’s made feel less of a freak belly wise! I’m not alone in the world(jajajajajajajajajaj)

I would like to know if i could send a pic of my belly and where i can send it to? I had a c-section for my baby (my first), 18 months ago. I also just 3weeks ago had a herniated umbilical fixed. I never felt comfortable with my stomach but now, even though its been thru all it has, i still feel more comfortable now then i ever have. Its amazing how having a baby does ugly things to your body but
my confidence about myself is so much higher.

I think any woman that goes through a pregnancy is beautiful and its shows her journey, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that those are what REAL post-pregnancy bellies look like. Yes, those are post-pregnancy bellies, but my belly is also and it went back to normal after I had my baby, no stretch marks or anything. I am all for women being proud of their post-pregnancy bodies/bellies/etc, but those are not the only REAL post-pregnancy bellies.

1. I’m glad that doctors these days prefer a horizontal C-section over a vertical one. My wife had hers done horizontally and less than a year later you could barely see the scar.

2. Up and about 11 days after a C-section?! Well, I imagine they let her out of the hospital so it must be ok.

Thank you so much to you and all the women who shared. We really DO need to STOP looking at magazines and hollywood women who are airbrushed and comparing ourselves to them. It sucks that our bodies change after having babies, but that’s just the way it is. It’s nature, it’s biology and we can’t change it. Thank you for empowering our natural beauty.

I saw when you posted the request for pp belly pics, and I wasn’t brave enough to send mine in. Now I wish I had. I’m 11mts pp, lost all the baby weight within 1-2mts and I’m now about 10lbs lighter then when I got pregnant (women run small in my family lol), but my belly is nowhere near what it used to look like. At 21 it has been very hard for me to accept and embrace all the changes my body went through after pregnancy and giving birth, I can still barely wrap my mind around the idea that MY body created this tiny little life that I live more than my own, even if he drives me nuts lol. But I’ve come to understand that the physical appearance of my belly is a fair price for having my little munchkin in my life I’m perfectly happy with that! :)

so what is your diastasis regimen? Have you seen results?

I think there should have been more pictures of un-traumatized bellys. Some women are able to have multiple babies and their outcome looks nothing like the pictures shown!

I tried to get u guys mine and it never would go thru. I have had 4 sons my oldest is 10 younger almost 2months old… been pretty lucky. No problems and all vaginal deliveries. God bless u all for sharing. :)

You ladies rock!! i have a tummy similar to most of those(‘cept Lindsay..she doesnt even look like she had a baby!) and I think its blah(Im 12 yrs post pardom!!)..but these pics shine a new light. And the interesting thing is my fiance(who isnt my kids bio dad) thinks my belly, stretch marks and loose skin, is sexy! Gotta love that!

oops! double comment!

I love this post so much! After having my baby two years ago and still trying to get rid of my baby tummy it’s a relief to see that I am the norm… And not the Vambot celebrity moms who walk a runway 7 minutes after giving birth! Thank you for sharing!!

BRAVO to the women showing off their C-Section bellies!! I’ve had 3 sections myself and far too often women see that scar as something to be shameful of, rather than a badge of courage. I love my scar- I can SEE where my babies came from. That scar is a reminder of two tough labors (first baby, and 3rd tried as a VBA2C), and 3 wonderful little girls.
Thank you all for being brave and showing off yours!

I’m just wondering how you’ve never seen http://theshapeofamother.com/ which has been doing this for years.

SO glad I stumbled across this post. I needed to be reminded that underneath everything, we all look the same after having kids. It makes me feel a little prouder of my baby belly. : )

Linking to the website that has been featuring women’s bodies for years now would have been nice. http://theshapeofamother.com/

All of these women are beautiful inside and out!

Thank you to these beautiful women! Especially Danielle for her c-section pic. I just had my first child via cesarean one week ago. I feel so much less alone now.

love this. really. and the “tara” on here showing her rockin’ pp body is also just as inspiring as the rest of the pictures. she’s not disgustingly skinny (like many of the models and celebs nowadays)…she looks healthy and muscle-y and fit!! always a good thing!! EVERY tummy on here is fabulous!!

my babys 11 weeks old on tuesday … i feel my body is ruined forever ! :( i am glad i am not alone … she is worth every stretchmark but .. not the extra pounds :/ … the sacrifices you make for your children x

Give me bout 5 months and I’ll be happy to send a pic of a “real” postpartum belly. Most women on magazines ir celebs work out non-stop, pay nannies, have expensive trainers to help get their flat toned bellies. The rest of us are beautiful bellied moms who work hard for our stretch marks :) I’m very proud of my badges!

its great to see what women more commonly look like after having babies – there is a website called shape of a mother – that has been showing pics and stories for a years now – its wonderful. now she has started one called shape of a woman i think. so good. we need all the visuals of realistic outcomes we can get. beauty comes in many forms and hardly ever looks like what we see in the media’s portrail of women.
thank you being in the good fight.
x

This is wonderful. Good on you gals! I’m not sure that I’d show my tummy, but I managed to keep the stretchmarks at bay using http://summerchild.com.au/products/pregnancy-stretch-marks-rosehip-oil

Made me feel better anyhow!

Dana:
Exactly. Celeb mom’s have it easy.

These women look great. They have real courage for showing their bellies. I am 10 months pp and I am not even close to how I want to be. This was my 3rd baby and I have 6 year old twins and I thought that I would be in better shape with this one. It makes me feel good knowing that not all women are back to pre-pregnancy skinny jeans after 6 weeks.

Um, how about 3, 5 or even 10 years postpartum? My youngest is almost 9, and I swear my belly still looks the same as did when he was 9 months.

Inspirational! Thank you ladies, for being such honest and brave women- you are amazing roll models for your children! Mothers are super-heros! – Fashion Forward Maternity.

I don’t feel so bad about my own stomach now after seeing some “real” post baby bellies. My stomach will never go back to normal. I guess some women are lucky, as you can see, but the majority of us aren’t. But once I save up enough money, I’m getting a tummy tuck. I just don’t see the point of having a flabby belly forever if I can fix it.

oh my – that rash stopped me in my tracks! I have been battling what looks like the same thing! I have been going to my Derm. for 4 months straight now trying to figure out what it is! She has had me on so many different cremes and ointments, nothing is working! I’m ready to fire her! She put me on steroids right before Xmas so I would have an okay face, but that was only short term, but it totally cleared me up. Now, back to massive misserable-ness! What have you been given to help the symptoms?

What are you doing/have you done for diastasis rehab?

This is amazing. I had been going through an “identity crisis” since having my babies (2.5 yrs and 6 months + 1 miscarriage). I work out daily, eat well, and have lost most of the baby weight… but I know my tummy will never return to the way it was. This used to bother me. BUT seeing these pictures gave me the reassurance that I am not alone! I am proud of every stretch mark on my tummy (all of them came from my first). Each scar is a reminder of that blissful time… newly married to the man of my dreams, & pregnant with my baby girl. I wouldn’t have it any other way. And she reminds me of that EVERY day!