One thing you are never fully aware
One thing you are never fully aware of when you become pregnant is about stretch marks. People tend to tell you about just about everything else under the sun that plagued them during their pregnancies, but no one seems to mention anything about stretch marks. It must be some sort of hidden secret. Maybe they don’t want anyone to know that they have the god-awful things on their stomachs years after giving birth?
I’ll tell you one thing about stretch marks, and that is there is nothing to do to prevent them. It is purely genetic if you have the elasticity in your skin that will allow you to glide through pregnancy as one of the lucky bitches that never ever sees one of those river deep indentations on your skin. Six months after giving birth to my second child, I still have horrendous stretch marks that don’t seem to be fading. Don’t be fooled by what commercials try to tell you about stretch marks and their magical creams to avoid them. I tried everything under the sun during my first pregnancy and still had awful stretch marks that were deep and red. Only about one year later did they seem to be somewhat subsiding, and I decided to get pregnant again which only added more on top of the ones that already existed! Creams, lotions and the like will not prevent them, no matter what they tell you about stretch marks and prevention. Sure, the creams will make your skin itch less, but they certainly won’t stop your body from producing marks.
You may think you have made it through pregnancy without getting them once you reach your last few days. Surprise! That’s another thing that is never mentioned about stretch marks – you often get them after you deliver your child! It makes absolutely no sense to me, but several women I know have gone through their entire nine months with not so much as a small mark, and them BAM! They deliver and they have stretch marks all over their sides. And when you start to lose your pregnancy weight? You know when you are supposed to start feeling good about yourself again? That’s when they become more apparent, mainly because they have less surface area to cover so they get all smashed together into one big lump.
Yes, pregnancy is a beautiful time in a woman’s life. But ask questions about stretch marks and other side effects before you even become pregnant. That way you won’t be surprised when your body is just never quite the same.