…
…
…
That’s all I ask. Please.
But hey, I could even be happy with my lot of baggy hang-y flesh if it weren’t so pale, pale, sickly white. Especially compared to my neck. The other day I saw a photo of myself all tan and lovely just beginning to blossom in pregnancy and then, what the heck is that?! Hanging down under my shirt? Is that white bag a stomach? Oh. wow.
My dearest husband has a dream, that I can be that woman he saw way before we started having children, who was walking gracefully down the street of Kuta, Bali in her bikini bathing suit, with her tanned pregnant stomach jutting out in defiance of gravity, for all the world to see. (I forgive him for this dream, as I’m still haunted by her beauty all these years later, and he’s a fabulous husband, so dreams are forgiven;o) But Oh, how I wish I could make his dreams come true. There’s a lot of variables I would need to change, but the first and most pressing is that my stomach needs to be more the color of my neck. Instead of 38 shades lighter.
I’m thinking crayons. Have you got any ideas?
xox,
Heather
Henna.
You could do it like a henna tattoo except instead of pale with henna designs, lay down a pattern made of some kind of waterproof paper and paint over the top. Voila, tan (or umber, but whatever) tummy with a white design.
Okay, I’m silly.
hey mama, you listen here,
i first discovered hathor through shape of a mother, and my husband said ‘crikey she looks like you – same belly, same hair, same superhero stance…’ this gave me the strength to carry on as a real woman, not some l.a. version enforced by the media. your 8 weeks 4 days belly is beautiful – embrace it and it’ll soon be round and looking like mine – then you’ll be sorry hahahahaha i’m due to give birth to no. 3 a week today and people think i’m expecting twins!!!! wrap a ribbon round it, be proud, let it hang out, but don’t wish it looked different. your beautiful babies grew in there and there’s another on the way.
and i think if you really want it brown, henna tattoos, or crayons sound like a non-toxic decorative solution…might try it myself!
and by the way i also think you’re being too kind on your landlord, you hang in there as long as you like. it wasn’t us non-mortgage owners that caused the ‘banking’ crisis. (i can think of another way to describe it..##**!)
I feel you! I show super early as well, and my tummy is a “blobby hangy thing” since I have not much body fat and tons of extra skin. Top that with distasis (ab muscles seperated) so that there’s nothing even hard under it (just guts, lovely, no?) and that is one attractive tummy! lol!
i agree with mum-raa: you are too fabulous to worry about a pale belly.
i do like the henna idea.
heather in tucson
Oh, stop it. What Mum-raa said. I don’t know how old you are, but it sounds like pre-30 vs post-30 issues. Wait until THIS baby starts to ween! You won’t be whining about the belly then! ha ha.. Me, I’m 32 and have moved on to fantasizing about the long grey h
Hey, you were guerrilla gardening in 2002? Man am I behind!
eh hem.. i meant, long gray hair I plan to have someday..
Mum-raa said it best. Chin up, you are Hathor the GODDES!!! Believe it, Mama!
Baby bellies are gorgeous, be they white, brown, baggy, stripey, toned… But if anyone is sufficiently tact-deficient to mention it, just tell them it’s twins.
My tummy did the same thing as soon as I knew I was pregnant it started popping out I could not keep it on for anything. it’s like the stomach muscles just said o well we will be all out of shape in a few months anyway so why bother.
Bah! I don’t want to hear nothing about pre-30, post-30 issues. I was three weeks shy of 40 when my youngest was born, and I already HAVE tons of silver hair. We’re hoping for number three, but the little one’s still nursing way too much for that to be any time soon.
Check out the poem “antithesis” in this month’s Mothering magazine. It will help you love your tummy more
I completely afree with the comment about theshapeofamother.com its an inspiring website, with lots of new moms and moms of many who have posted there stories and pictures (including me) you should take a look!!…
and hey I know how you feel someone asked me if I was 6 months along when Im only 16 weeks!! LOL
its just those muscles remember what they are supposed to do when they get the pregancy hormone!… and thats loosen to in preperation to stretch!
You should have seen me when I found out I was pregnant!.. they had blown me up like a balloon to get my appendix out!! and I was still felt blown up and it never really went away !!
Im sure you look great!… and your a confident and beautiful woman!!
Partlysbabe
Well, I don’t have the belly issue (Sorry! Don’t stone me!) because I’ve overly-skinny (health probs?), but WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR CHEST after babies?!? I had never been conscious of any part of my body until my first baby was born and I went from having a normal “decent” (?) chest to “rocks in socks”. After babies, how do you keep your breasts from hanging down past your knees???
sharpie? they come in all shades nowadays.
i’m confused. i don’t understand the post-30 pre-30 issues comments. i’m 33. can someone explain? sorry to be a dunce but i’m heavily pregnant and english….
Well, gravity started showing up just after 30, for me. As for the breasts, my breasts are pretty much back to normal… but when I was just making a tiny bit of milk and my daughter was nursing every few days, they were, in her words, floppy. I was a little worried that that was what I was going to be left with (because they were fabulous when pregnant and nursing regularly!). But they have gone back to pre-pregnancy breasts.. I think.. she nursed for 3.5 years so I can’t completely remember what they were like. But everything is every so gradually drooping. It’s subtle. I’m still pretty fit (compared to the average American) but something has changed in the way I carry things. That’s all. I’ll take it. I can still hike up a mountain and change a tire. So it’s all good.
oh yeah i see what you mean. i found a photo the other day of me showing my belly when i was 4 months pregnant with my first – i was 26 and at the time i thought ‘hey this is great look how pregnant i look’ whereas when i look at it now my belly looks positively flat! my friend put on nearly 60 pounds when she was pregnant and now she runs half marathons and says her figure is the best it’s ever been.
……. and she’s 32…. anyhow i’m in danger of contradicting myself – pregnant bellies are amazing whatever they look like.
I can SO relate to your comic! I am 12w 3d today and I look so much more pregnant than I oughta. It’s like my poor muscles have given up.
I love being pregnant, and I am proud of my body’s maternal changes, but, geez, it sucks to look weird in pants. My son Solstice calls our genetic predisposition to being built like linebackers having a “fat edge”. I’m 12 weeks 4 days, and look about 5 months. I am in love with the bella band, the tube top thingy that goes under your shirt and makes it all appear to be a baby bump instead of my guts misbehaving and popping out like a frontal butt. I think one of the best things about having a mother’s body is the ability to laugh about how silly it all is! Bodies are weird and fabulous, no?
Our local Curves has a testimonial on the wall from somebody whose abs were so shot after five kids that if she tried to look over her shoulder she tended to fold in the middle. She swears that the Curves routine helped her get them back.
As for the color issue . . . um . . . huh. Perhaps putting SPF, say, 15 on your belly, then lying in the sun for 10 minutes (max) past that?