Didn't think my stomach could get worse- help!

[FeelingSick1]

Ok so I am a Mum (since October!) and as well as a beautiful daughter I am now the proud owner of the worst stomach ever! I got terrible stretch marks during pregnancy (over belly button), dark linea negra and since giving birth all these have remained plus my stomach is now puckered and overhanging . I have tan coloured skin so marks are dk brown not red.

It wasn't exactly flat before pregnancy but at least it was smooth and unmarked!

I know I should be proud of my battle scars etc and I have no qualms about showing it to DH but I don't want everyone I work with passing comment. I am a teacher so there is also the potential for pupils making comments. (Which I am more than capable of berating them for but would rather avoid the situation).

Soooo which styles will disguise this but make me look great? I am slightly Mad Men obsessed so might get a 50s swing dress.

Also I have a holiday coming up- will any bikinis discover or would a (sexy?!) costume be better?

[FeelingSick1]

Discover? Disguise I meant!

[QueenofLouisiana]

I have one of these bikinis. Holds and hides everything!

I tend to wear dresses for school as it means my tummy (like yours, but my 'baby' is nearly 9)is well hidden and not likely to be flashed while I'm reaching for stuff. Much easier for teaching.

[FeelingSick1]

Thanks QueenofLouisiana - I have been searching for retro high waist bikinis but all the ones I managed to find only came up to the belly button.

I like wearing dresses too but so many fabrics seem to cling to the flab - don't want them all thinking I've come back to school pregnant!

[freakyfryme]

Saw Gok on Friday's This Morning and he was going on about his 'foundation' garments again! He mentioned a modern take on the old fashioned girdle (stay with me now!) called a Waspie. Far more sexy these days to make you feel feminine and confident, affordable, plus sounds like it would work very nicely with any potential Mad Men inspired outfits! May be worth a look...

[Deathwatchbeetle]

That bikini is beuooooootiful!

[HappyAsEyeAm]

I sympathise. I have two DSs, and the second one was a whopper. I am a short, petite frame size 10, and even though I have lost all the weight I gained with pregnancy, my stomach has really taken a pounding. It is pickered, flabby, crepey, covered in stretch marks (though they are silver) and nothing will ever make it any different. My BMI is about 21, so I am hardly big.

I wear lots of knitted dresses. If I wear a skirt, which I do a lot, I always have a long line layering top with it, tucked in, underneath a cardi or jumper. And knee high boots. I wear spanx sometimes, but not every day.

[FeelingSick1]

So it never goes away HappyAsEyeAm

[HappyAsEyeAm]

Well, the slimmer I am, the slimmer my stomach is. But it will always be saggy and puckered and crepey, and I don't think weight loss is the key to this. Its all in the texture of my skin.

I havent done any toning work on my tummy though, so that may help you. My stomach will never be a thing of beauty, put it that way! It was pretty flat, but not really toned or anything, before pregnancy.

[SpringyReframed]

Wow, that bikini is just gorgeous!

[FeelingSick1]

Oh dear. I can't do any toning on my stomach anyway as it have that diaeresis recti thing so I guess I'll be going down the disguising bikini route!

[ItsSpringBaby]

I'm now on my 3rd, thought I probably couldn't get anymore stretchmarks after the first two, but apparently I still had some skin left unstretched

[schmalex]

Oh dear, I think this will be me once DS2 arrives. I have so many stretch marks this time and my bump is enormous.
My tummy was really toned before DS1. I should have taken a photo!