The Shape of this Mother

I recently found this awesome website and am jumping right on the bandwagon. I was a little shocked at first and then so relieved and heartened to see all of these women, looking like real women and not centerfolds or covergirls. Here is my story...

Before I got pregnant with Zofia I weighed about 130lbs. This was not quite two months after my wedding, so I was still more or less at "dress weight". I gained just under 40lbs by the time she was born (7/3/04, 7lbs 14oz, 20in)
This was about a month before she was born. I didn't get any stretch marks at all with this pregnancy, though I had a few on my thighs from puberty.

I had gotten down to about 140ish before I got pregnant with Maggie 11 months after Zofia was born. With Maggie I got back up to about 170 before she was born at 41 weeks (3/4/06, 8lbs 7oz, 21in)

This photo was taken about 10 hours before Maggie was born, just before we left for the hospital. I'm so glad I took this picture, even though when I took it I was sure nobody else would ever see it. It is amazing to me that Maggie is in there, already pushing to come out into the world, just hours away. I couldn't believe how big I had gotten. I got three stretch marks with this belly, one on the right side (which you can see in the photo) one on the left side and one just above my belly button.

Maggie is now four and a half months old and I weigh about 155, so I have a ways to go with my weight, but I'm in no hurry. I'm nursing, and will be for at least eight more months, so I'm not really monitoring my food intake too much. Roger teases me that I will need to come up with a new excuse once I stop nursing. I was still nursing Zofia when I found out that I was pregnant with Maggie, so I've been pregnant or nursing for almost three years now. I must say I'm a little freaked out that I will gain weight when I stop nursing because it will be difficult to shift gears down to a normal amount of calories.
Anyhow, enough stalling. Here are the photos of my belly now:

I barely remember what my body looked like before my girls, but I'm awed and amazed at what my body has done, and continues to do to nurture my children.