Tightening of Baby Belly

The first time I experienced tightening in my abdominal area I thought the worst and that something might be wrong and I was cramping. I called the doctor and he said that it was normal and this was due to my ligaments stretching as my uterus began to expand. If I remember the doctor referred to it as round ligament pain. Later in my pregnancy I had a lot abdominal pain mainly because of the horrible gas I was having which wasn’t fun at all.

Near the end of my pregnancy I did experience Braxton Hicks contractions which is another major factor to tightening and feeling like your belly is hard.

Really only thing I can say on this is that it’s normal to feel tightening in the abdominal area but if you feel like it might be something more serious consult your doctor

-E
____________________________________

I didn't feel much tightening in my baby belly till around 35-36 weeks pregnant. I too thought there was something extremely wrong. It got to the point where I could hardly move and hardly walk. Dean & I went to the hospital only for them to completely avoid telling me what was wrong and had me hooked up to the monitor for 2.5hrs.

When I went to visit my OGBYN not to long after my visit I explained the pains I was having. He could see the concerned look on my face. I was relieved to find out that the tightening and pain I was experiencing was only my baby girl lowering her head into my pelvis getting ready to be born. He explained that the pain was because you have two bones on each side of your pelvis, once a baby is engaging, those bones get pressure put on them because of the babies head and start to slowly move apart.

I was relieved when he told me and once she was fully engaged, or at least to my knowledge, the pain went away and I had a very low dropped belly

-X
____________________________________

I was told early on that your belly stays small during your first pregnancy and it takes much longer to show you're pregnant. Wrong! My belly began to stretch and grow super fast. Toward the end of my first trimester, I could feel how tight it was getting. The skin would feel tight and itch, the belly itself would be so hard. I honestly felt like I could feel the muscles themselves stretching!

I had a great deal of odd little pains, cramps, and aches. Sometimes I would feel a sharp stabbing pain, then it would shift to a dull ache all over. I spent days on the internet researching and told myself "it's just round ligament pain." I was having such odd sensations that I did bring it up to my OB/GYN and she was not concerned in the slightest and said it's normal!

6 months later and I can still feel so much stretching and adjusting from my lower pelvis right up to my ribs.  I've noticed now that the yoga I've been doing and the extra little stretches when I'm uncomfortable accompanied with lots of water has helped tremendously. My belly still fluctuates between being super round and hard and tight to a little more relaxed and soft to the touch.

-K

Belly Piercings

I myself have a few piercings. 8 in my ears, one nose, and one belly button. I can't wait till I can get a few more in my ears and maybe a few in some risky area's. But as for the belly button piercing I am in such a loving relationship with it.

Before becoming pregnant I had a decent body, and loved when summer came to wear bathing suits and change my piercing to cute dangled ones. Gave me a little push on body pride. I never thought much about what I'd do with it once I become pregnant but now, I'm here today, at 36 weeks and still have my piercing in.

I had upgraded to an extended piece of jewelry since I knew my belly was going to grow at about 25-30 weeks pregnant. I have a fear of it closing up and don't really want to go through the whole piercing process again. It wasn't a horrible experience, just would rather not. Now that my belly is much bigger, making the choice to switch it out was a relief.

Before I did the switch, i knew it was time to get a more relaxing jewelry in. The top hole was starting to get a little on the red side. I believe it was from my skin now stretching and my jewelry not being the right size anymore.

Photo from https://www.pinterest.ca/sanchez1_1913/piercings/?lp=true  

I do recommend looking into getting an extended piece if you have become pregnant because it most definitely is more satisfying to have the relaxation on the actual piercing hole than keep a tight smaller one in.

Emma Dufficy from Baby Center UK also recommends switching to a plastic barbell. With "these flexible bars [they] can bend as your belly expands and you can also wear them during ultrasound scans"*

If you do decided to take out your piercing, I also recommend that you push your jewelry threw your piercing everyday so it doesn't close

So if you're considering getting a belly button piercing and may wonder what to do once you become pregnant, you have no need to worry because there is alternatives you can do once the belly grows

* https://www.babycentre.co.uk/x543048/can-you-wear-piercings-during-pregnancy

-X

Maternity Wear

During my pregnancy I was all about comfort and what could fit. Before I was pregnant I was all about the short shorts and cute little tank tops. I mean a girl has got to show off her assets, right!! When I got pregnant for the first few months I tended to stay with the same type of outfits, but as I got further along and began to show my shorts began to not fit anymore which upset me.. I Looked Fat! My mom ended up taking me maternity clothes shopping I think when I was about five months along. I ended up buying a few pairs of stretchy yoga pants which later on became my best friend. I had to buy large undies also since my butt was getting bigger. Also had to buy a whole new set of bras as my boobs began to grow more and more. Wired seemed to hurt and felt weird so it was all about the sports bra most of my pregnancy. Many nights I would end up sleeping in one of my boyfriends shirts cause they were big enough to fit around belly plus I sweated a lot at night so wore something that could easily slip off. As for a bikini I didn’t care at all and would wear one no matter what. As my pregnancy went on I learned to embrace my bump and flaunt it when I had the chance. So if I went to the pool or beach and I had the chance to show off the curves I would

-E
____________________________________

To me, hearing or seeing some women not wear maternity clothes makes me wonder if they're aware that their baby can feel the pressure on the belly.

For myself, sadly, it took too long for me to finally get maternity pants due to some things going on in my life. But the moment I did, I felt amazing! No more pressure on my uterus, I could bend down with almost no signs of struggle, and felt comfortable beyond belief.

A lot of my tops are still the ones I had before which I actually love. I wear the shirts or tank tops that aren't suffocating and hard to breath in, but show off my baby bump. Sometimes a mom-to-be just has to show the world that she's got a bun in the oven

The bras! I hate wearing bra's with wires now, actually tends to leave me with bruises where the wire is located near your armpit, so I switched to bralettes. Most of the time if I can get out of even wearing a bra, I most definitely would rather not be.

All I want to do is to go swimming. Extremely, badly. I myself, don't find it appropriate to go to a public pool in a two piece, but again, this is just my own opinion. If any mom's have, I give huge props to you. I still have yet to find looking in the mirror in a two piece bathing suit, on me, a satisfying sight.  Being 36 weeks pregnant, the belly's getting a little on the big side. Once my daughter is born, and she's old enough to take her first swimming lessons we will be at the pool, hopefully, every second day. I love the look of one pieces now-a-days and of course adore two pieces, so hopefully I can get this mama's body into either of those come summer.

-X
____________________________________

I always heard people make comments about when you have a baby belly, you need to have maternity wear. I never listened thinking that it was a waste of money and you could work around your athletic wear but Lord was I wrong. I ran into a lot of issues with pains the longer I wore pants due to the pressure that my pants were putting on my belly. When I stopped working, I didn't even bother wearing pants to be comfortable.

One day, I needed out of the apartment so we took my gift cards that I had gotten over Christmas to Target to spend it on whatever I seem fit. After almost an hour walking around the store without choosing anything, we came across the maternity section. Since we didn't have any plans, we thought what the hell, let's try something on and see what the big deal was. In the fitting room, I pulled up a pair of jeans and oh my God...... I was in heaven. They lifted my belly, which is pretty low to begin with, and took away a lot of pressure.

As of going off the same list of favorites as the rest of moms have done, I unfortunately can't give a lot of feedback with that just yet but hopefully soon!

-D

The Big Reveal to Our Family & Friends

When I found out we were expecting it was around mid August 2017. I had a feeling I was and couldn't sleep and decided to take a test at 3AM. I saw the two lines and was joyous but nervous. When it got closer to the time Dean was going to wake up I did another test to be sure. It was again positive. I than walked into our bedroom as he sat on the bed and I said "Well...I'm pregnant". He stared at me and said "Why tell me now? I have to go to work in a few minutes. We will talk about this when I get home" One tip to the ladies, never tell your partner you're pregnant before work. It was a little bit of a blessing because it gave him the day to process it on his own, but I'd still not reccommned it.

We knew that we wanted to wait to tell family. Of course before anyone knew my best friend was the first to know. I told her at 3AM when I found out. Than it was my mother/his father, followed by my dad and older brother. We were planning on telling everyone else at both our Thanksgiving gatherings. First we told Dean's side. His dad already knew as I said before and was excited and told his brothers before we had a chance to do it ourselves, which led to only his Oma not knowing. This was also going to be the first time I was meeting his family which was already making me feel uneasy. Since everyone knew except his Oma it was a special moment for her. We stood close to her holding her hand saying "Oma, you're going to be a great-grandmother. We're going to have a baby". She was filled with joy!

Next was my family's Thanksgiving. All that was left was my cousins, aunts & uncles, as well as grandparents. Before people left we asked that everyone come sit in the living room because we had something to tell them all. Dean sat there silently because this was also the first time he was meeting all my family. Go big go home. I than began to say along the lines of "By this time next year we'll have another seat at table. We're pregnant!" Some of my family was shocked, but others we're beyond excited. Over time everyone got used to it and began being eager to meet her.

When the gender ultrasound came up I had Dean and my mother in the room and we were all hoping for a girl, and we were so happy that we were right. Dean called his father right away, he was thrilled. We than posted the photo to our social media accounts introducing her to our friends and family with her name. So many people were overjoyed with our news.

* I do not give permission to anyone to use these photos. These photos are my personal ones*

I'd love to hear your comments about how it went when you told your partner the big news

-X
____________________________________

My story on the reveal wasn’t as big as the other moms cause I really wasn’t expecting to get pregnant as I was on birth control plus we were using protection. When I found out I was more in shock then anything and thinking did I just ruin my life. My boyfriend was at work at the time and that night at dinner I pretty much just came out with it that I was pregnant. I could see the shock and worry on his face like did I really do that, I can’t afford a child. It took us both a few days to come to the realization that this was real. When it came time to tell the parents we knew that they weren’t gonna be very happy with our choices as I had grown up in the church and my parents were very religious when it came to sex after marriage. At first they weren’t thrilled and probably for about 10 min just yelled at us for not thinking of the consequences of our decisions.

Slowly but surely the came around and were there to support us the entire pregnancy. We did not find out the gender as we wanted it to be a surprise. I’m so glad to have my little son he is my world and if the greatest gift I could ever ask for.

-E
____________________________________

My reveal was pretty subtle and not planned as most try to make it for the first child, grandchild, nephew, etc. I explained a little bit in my bio about how I told Justin. It was two days after Christmas, and I had only minutes to come up with a way to tell Justin before he got home from work. I could've waited but was afraid that he would find that tests before I had the chance to do originally what I wanted to do. Plus, if I am really going to be honest with myself, there was no way I was going to be able to keep it a secret. I can't even wait to give presents on the right day. Justin and I exchanged Christmas presents at the end of November. I texted him and told him that one of my orders that I thought I cancelled for Christmas came in and so he had another Christmas present. I told him it wasn't much so he figured maybe it was a stocking stuffer or one of those inexpensive presents that was more meant to be a gag gift. Having a ton of festive boxes left over from wrapping the family's gifts, I grabbed one and threw them in there, stuffing tissues paper over them before shutting the box just as he was walking in the door. He gave me his normal hug and a kiss hello and seemed excited to see what the gift could've been. I was hesitant to give it to him because a hundred different reactions cycled through my head. What if he wasn't happy? What if he was too happy he fainted and hurt himself? What if he thought it was a joke and laughed? The most irrational thoughts flooded my head.

As he took it and slowly opened it, it felt like he was taking forever. Finally, he got to the tests. He didn't pull it out. He didn't smile. He didn't cry. Emotionless. I began getting anxious because he was giving me absolutely nothing. He eventually got out the word "I". He then began to tear up and put the box down and grabbed me. He hugged me so tight that I am pretty sure he cracked my back a few times as he said, "I love you. I always said I wanted to be a dad before I turned 30 (he just turned 29 and the due date is exactly a month before his birthday)." When we both got our composure, we sat down and had an actual conversation about our feelings. The happy, the nervous, and the concern and then all was well as we realized that we were growing our little family.

Our families were fun. We went to a mommy-to-be store here in our city and got onsies for my mom, dad, and sisters and Justin's parents. First, I told my sisters because I knew they would keep their mouths shut. Next was my mother, who we had a little concern for spilling the beans. What we chose to do was get onsies that had a theme that portrayed them. My mother's favorite animal is a monkey so we got one that had, you guessed it, monkeys on it. She didn't understand but thought it was cute. She didn't put two and two together that there was a reason that it was a onsie to the point that we had to tell her. When we did, her face lit up and was excited to be a grandma and asked all the questions that any future grandmother would. How far along I was, if we were excited, etc.

My father was next and had a similar reaction. My youngest sister, who is away at college, wanted us to record him opening the surprise which we told him was why we were recording. He thought maybe we were going to tell him something about her and she was too afraid to but he went along with it. He looked at his onsie, which had a little motorcycle on it, and only said, "what?" I responded with a "yeah" to which he then repeated with a "what?" After a little back and forth, Justin interrupted with, "babe, I think he needs you to tell him." After my explanation, I got a "wow" from him and then he stared at it quietly for a long while. We weren't sure what he was thinking so we had to ask. He was very happy and that's how we got parent number two down.

Justin's parents were left. We waited until New Year's Eve when we went to celebrate his mother's birthday which was the next day. We had one gift for her, which isn't important as to what and then we gave her her second gift, her onsie. She loves birds and has had one for thirteen years now so her onsie had birds (duh!). When she pulled it out, her mood went from content to excitement. She started to jump up and down and then asked when the wedding was. Whoops. We explained our decision on waiting on getting married, which is a story for another time, but neither her or Justin's father seemed to care. Justin's father stayed pretty stone faced with a congratulations but we didn't expect anything more. Justin's mom didn't let go of her onsie for the rest of the visit.

-D

Body Insecurity

When I first found out I was pregnant, I knew I would struggle with this topic. I had always been your cute skinny girl that always loved being sexy. When I found out I was pregnant, all I could think about was me being fat, huge, and a turn off to guys. I knew from stories that I heard that after you have a baby you will never have the pre-baby body ever again meaning I may never look the way I did before again and always carry baby fat. But as my pregnancy progressed and I realized that there was nothing I could do about it, I learned to embrace the changes. It did help that my boyfriend told me every day how beautiful I was and others would say how cute I was and glowing. By month 7, I was all about the changes and loved showing them off and that my body was doing something amazing

Ladies, your bodies were made to create life and don’t feel insecure about it as it’s a natural thing. This is the most beautiful time in a woman’s life and you need to learn to embrace it and after baby if you work hard, you can get a hot body back in no time!!

-E
____________________________________

According to www.dosomething.org, 91% of women have at least one insecurity about their body and www.huffingtonpost.com, out of that high percentage of women, 52% of pregnant women say they feel even more insecure than they did before and only 14% said they felt more confident while being pregnant.

I am definitely in that 52%. Even before I got preggo, I was very insecure. I have two sisters who, all growing up, could pull off the bikini swimsuit and I wouldn't even try cause I knew I looked nothing like my skinny sisters. One of them even made it her job to tell me daily that I was a "fat, disgusting, and ugly slob that would never be loved by anyone because I was so gross." That begins to take a toll on anyone let alone a thirteen year old girl who never looked in a mirror because she thought she was too fat.

When I got out of high school, I started training for obstacle races like Gladiator Assault and got into working out a lot but even with shedding pounds and feeling amazing after eating a nutritious meal, I could never see anything but my flaws in the mirror. When I started showing, I saw my stomach muscles relaxed made me look bigger rather than pregnant and it drove me insane but once I started rounding out, it helped a bit because it was more apparent I was pregnant and not just looking heavy. Eventually, I took Justin's compliments to heart and not just roll my eyes every time I looked gorgeous or sexy. Each and every one of you is beautiful even if you don't want to see it whether you're pregnant or not.

Obviously, I don't have the experience in after birth appearance than some of the other mothers so unfortunately I can't be of any help there but can update closer to then!

-D
____________________________________

One thing my mother always told me about my body was that "if you have your children young, you have a better chance of bouncing back into that BC (before children) Body....Having your younger brother 2 weeks before turning 40 has its toll on my body...". I myself, had a goal time to have children, between 23-28. I'm a little earlier than 23 but that's okay. A large reason why, was to be able to get that BC Body back as if it was nothing.

I already had a few body insecurities before becoming pregnant. I'm 5'10" (177.8cm) and averaged between 150-165lbs (68kg-75kg). It was a struggle for me to even get to 150. I had the benefit of working at a gym for awhile which helped immensely to achieve that. Now almost 33 weeks pregnant I'm already above 200lbs (90kg). I know mom's that I've talked to always tell me that "it's okay that you've gained that much, it means the baby is healthy". According to most scientific studies, 'A woman who was average weight before getting pregnant should gain 25 to 35 pounds after becoming pregnant' *. Of course we are not all the same, but it's hard to not see that scale and sigh.

Being in my third trimester I've embraced the factor of gaining weight, but know I will sadly struggle if I don't go back to being the weight I was before in a set timeframe. Many women struggle with weight before, during, and after having children, which is so sad to think of. If we stick to a healthy diet, understand our own individual BMI** and our BMR***, and do what's best for ourselves, getting the weight and body we desire either before or after should come to us naturally.

If you're struggling with picking what type of diet would work best for you, and need help understanding your BMI and BMR, send us an email and I'd be glad to help. We can get through this together ladies!

*  https://www.webmd.com/baby/guide/healthy-weight-gain#2
** (body mass index)
*** (basal metabolic rate (how many calories you'd burn doing nothing)) 

-X

Stretch Marks

Stretchmarks are the worst during pregnancy😔. Many women feel very insecure about their bodies during this time and these marks only make it worse. I always tried to view them positively as stripes of love, that my body was growing a human within and that these were the most beautiful marks no matter how bad or gross they looked. Luckily for me, I only gained a couple on my hips and a few on my chest area. To me, they were pretty grotesque as though my veins were popping out. Fortunately, I used coco butter almost every night to try to prevent accumulating more and it seemed to work for me. Although, I still have marks today, I will always view them as stripes of love because from gaining them, I also gained the cutest little two year old. So ladies, if u feel awkward or embarrassed that you have a lot of stretch marks, don’t be. You are going through the most amazing thing a woman’s body can do and these marks are just part of that journey. In the end, when you hold that little child, you won’t even remember that you had those marks.

Here are some tips to help prevent stretch marks
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-prevent-stretch-marks#hydration

-E
____________________________________

Having the fear of gaining stretchmarks is normal. But being completely honest with yourself and knowing that your body is going through so many changes helps to understand the nature of them. I stand with E on the factor that once that beautiful life comes out of you, and you have those marks, you should look at them with pride.

Nearing the end of my pregnancy I'm getting nervous about stretchmarks. I've been using a moisturizer on my belly and boobs since around 15 weeks pregnant or so. The one thing about doing that, is I include my boyfriend with this.

"Daddy Tummy Time?" He asks me with a grin on his face as we lay in bed. Of course I say "Sure". It's something that he loves doing, and knows that it's his special time with our soon to be daughter. Sometimes he lays there for 10mins just telling her about his day and how excited he is to meet her.

If any mommies to be are wanting to find a way to try and prevent stretch marks I do recommend using some kind of moisturizer and sharing the moment with your partner. It's a good way to make them feel like they're apart of the experience.

-X
____________________________________

Going from a heavier child who would eat three ding dongs in a sitting to a healthy adult who calorie counted and worked out twice a day, six days a week, I am very used to seeing stretchmarks around my arms and hips. Even before pregnancy, they were hard to look at. As soon as I started showing, I noticed a few small marks across the lower abdomen. Honestly, I was absolutely horrified and they got worse and worse. I now have them all the way across and I barely even see them anymore because when I look at my protruding belly, all I can see is my son. It makes it so much easier to accept the fact that I have them. I asked Justin about them one day seeing what he would have to say about my new edition to my body and he said I was more beautiful than he could imagine. I rolled my eyes at first, thinking that he just said what I wanted to hear but then I really thought about it. They showed that I am a strong, brave, and blessed woman who was given the opportunity to bring another life into this world. They will remind me for years to come that I made the most perfect son I could as I watch him on his first day of school, go on his first date, get married, and become a father of his own beautiful kids and to me, those marks are nothing to be looked at negatively because they show the miracle that I have received.

-D

Random Touching of Belly

I think this is one of the weirdest things, but sometimes can be the cutest at the same time. When I was pregnant I remember going out for dinner or anywhere and wondering if people were looking at me. I remember a few times at a mall ladies would ask if they could touch my belly and if the baby was kicking. I thought this was weird sometimes that random strangers were wanting to touch my belly and occasionally parents asked if their kids could touch it. I do remember one specific time that I was in the food court and a group of, I believe they were high school boys behind me in line were whistling and said “Dang momma I wanna feel up that belly!” Gross!!! I mean come on guys get a life. That’s inappropriate and frankly super weird and awkward. I think the only time I actually enjoyed anyone touching my belly was either my boyfriend, or when we were volunteering at a retirement home with church. All the ladies there were talking about how adorable I looked and was glowing. I think I was about 5 months if I remember during this time and they all wanted to feel the baby kick. It was adorable. They all had smiles and giggles that day. If I could put a smile on their face, it was worth the awkwardness.

How many of you ladies have had this happen? Though it may be weird and awkward, sometimes it could make someone’s day and put a smile on their face!!💕 just be careful who you let touch it🤗

-E
____________________________________

Compared to my fellow mommies, I haven't had much problem with people touching my baby bump. No weird encounters with a stranger, thank goodness. The only thing I've had an issue with is my own mother. Once I started to show she was all over my belly when talking to people. Sometimes people I didn't even know. She would say things along the line of "Yep, this is my grand-baby" or "see how big she is?". Sometimes she would even lift up my shirt (thank goodness I had an undershirt on most of the time). I love my mother, and tell her many times that its weird, but I guess she's excited. This will be her first grandchild. I've never had people come up to me and ask "can I touch your belly?", it's always been me asking if they want to feel or want them to poke it because she's pushing her body against my belly.

There's no way I've been the only one that's been able to avoid this awkwardness. Let us know if I'm not alone 

-X
____________________________________

At only fourteen weeks pregnant, you would think that I wouldn't have a lot of run-ins with this already but you would be surprised. According to my OB, I look like I am more like 17-20 weeks so I have a nice bump going. That being said, I have had family, friends, and even a couple strangers try to touch me. When I started showing, right away my mom would put her hand on my belly which, for someone who isn't the touchy type, it made me feel really awkward. Personally, it might have something to do with the underlying self-esteem issues I have had since I was a kid but that just makes it more rude to be touching me.
The weirdest encounter I have had so far was in a Walmart produce section. This older lady (possibly a little older than my parents) came up to me and asked how far along I was. My first thought was, how rude, asking a woman how far along she was not knowing if she was even pregnant to begin with. I told her anyway, trying not to come off rude myself, and she smiled and said that her daughter-in-law was a few weeks ahead of me. I told her congratulations and tried to go back to picking out a few tomatoes for that night's dinner and all of a sudden, I feel something slide across my stomach. The lady was touching MY bump! I really hate to be confrontational toward anyone but after catching me off guard, I jumped back and yelled, "Do you mind?" She felt really bad after my reaction and partially so did I but I was really upset. She stammered, "I-I'm sorry... My daughter-in-law doesn't live around here and it's my first grandchild so I am missing out on all of these precious moments" which made me feel even worse about how I reacted. I apologized and pretended to understand. As much as I hated it, I let her touch my bump again and answered her questions about how I felt and if I knew the gender yet. After talking for a few minutes more, we parted our own ways but I knew that I made her day.

I guess sometimes we have to choose our own battles....

-D