Stretch Marks & Weight Gain

kiwi_01

Out of curiosity.... around what week did you start to notice the lovely stretch marks? What week did you start to notice you were gaining more weight than originally anticipated?

I know typically weight gain & stretch marks go hand and hand (the skin has to stretch to hold all that baby weight!) but for some women they never get the marks - just the 40 extra lbs of weight.

BBeccaJean

With my first pregnancy I started gaining more weight than I wanted around 22 weeks...it shot up like crazy...and the stretch marks accompanied it! I have gained more weight than I would like in the the last 10 weeks, but the stretch marks aren't as bad since I haven't gained as much as last time!

rosy003

In my first pregnancy I gained 40 lbs. I did not get stretch marks until week 37! In the last 2 weeks (DD was born at 39 weeks) they covered my entire belly.
I did not get any new ones with #2 with a 40 lb gain, and none this time, with a gain of 20 at 34 weeks.

Erinthebodo

I gained 40lbs with my last pregnancy and I didn't get ANY until the week before my son was born. Then they started on my right lower abs and quickly spread from my little girl to my belly button, I also got them on my hips and then on my breast from milk coming in. This time I don't have any new ones but I am only 21 weeks. Hopefully won't get any new ones this time but at this point..... who cares!

Rubyayn

I also did not get stretch marks until the very end. My daughter was born at 39 weeks and they all popped up in week 38... just when I thought I had evaded them!!

They faded though and are low enough that I could easily wear a bikini and you wouldn't notice. I am hoping for the same good fortune this time.

As a side note, now that I am getting further along the ones I already had kind of moved up and are more noticable, though still faded. I was bummed, but won't be wearing any mid drift tops, so who cares?

RBXChas

My weight gain has been more than I'd have liked from the start, but T2 is where I really gained the most. T3 hasn't been that bad. If I'd gained at my T3 rate during T2, my overall gain would be a LOT less. But I'm ok with it - it's just more work, later :indifferent:

As for stretch marks, with my first pregnancy, I thought I didn't have any, but I noticed them on my underbelly postpartum, or I guess what was my underbelly and was reclaimed as my lower abdomen. I was like, "Aww, really?" But they faded in time to the point where you'd really have to be looking hard to see them, and a bikini covered them without question. Since I didn't know they were there until I'd given birth, I have no idea when I got them.

This time I started getting them around 35-36 weeks, just a little on both sides of my belly button, one side slightly worse than the other. They're angry-red right now (duh, I'm 37+ weeks), but they'll fade in time, I'm sure. I just hope my skin recovers ok there, since my mid-belly has stretched more with this pregnancy than the last one. My belly button is almost flat, whereas last time I think I had some indentation left.