Stretching

I thought I was going to be one of the lucky ones. I thought because my weight gain had been slow and steady (save for that last 8 pounds) that I would avoid the permanent reminders of this pregnancy.

I was wrong.

For those of you who have yet to experience the joys of your changing body through pregnancy, here's a fun note: After a certain time in the pregnancy there are certain things you can no longer see on your own body. Everyone loves talking about how you can't see your feet but forget to mention that after a while, you can't see anything past the top of your belly. This includes your lady bits as well as the underside of your belly.

I've been diligent in applying cocoa butter emollient to my body and often do this after the shower. This is the perfect time to look in the mirror and examine the belly that I can no longer see. Last week I noticed some dark blemishes along the lovely linea nigra (fancy word for that bizarre dark line that some pregnant women get from the pubic bone to above the belly button) that has formed along my stomach. I thought I was bruised. I asked Thomas to look at it that night, he had no clue what it was. These two blemishes didn't hurt but I could feel a little divot in both. I nearly forgot about them, mostly because I couldn't see them (I'm a out of sight, out of mind kind of girl I guess).

This morning my mom and I went to the pool and I noticed her scoping out these odd blemishes. I told her my latest theory, it was from my muscles separating, something that I had read about. She delicately said, "I think those are stretch marks."

NO. NO. NO. No, I do not have stretch marks. I had made it to almost 31 weeks with no such markings and I was not going to accept this now. After a long look in the mirror and examining every part of my burgeoning belly it was clear - those two dark blemishes are stretch marks. While performing this exam on myself I noticed another, very similar blemish by my belly button. I showed my mom and sure enough, she agreed, it was another one.

I have 3 stretch marks. I went from 0 to 3. (I'll save you from pictures, for now. Mainly because I can't take them of myself, they're that precariously placed on my belly.) I can't say that I'm surprised though, my brother and sister and I really beat my poor mom's skin up and they say the biggest factor in skin elasticity is genetics. Not even my slathering of cocoa butter could save me. Any tips from other stretchy mommas out there? Did yours look better or worse when baby debuted?