Each one of them has faced her own struggle. So it is no wonder that these women love every inch of their growing bumps.
Here, they tell their emotional stories to SHOSHANA GOLDBERG...
Baby joy: From left, Jennah, Kadi, Sarah, Caren and Kayla tell their heartwarming stories
For the first time I can look in the mirror
Beautician Jennah Shearing, 26, lives with partner Leon, 27, a builder, in Eastbourne, and is 34 weeks pregnant. She says:
For the first time in my life I don’t feel self-conscious or critical when I look in the mirror — it’s such a relief to feel proud of my body and the life it’s creating.
I’ve never been slim, but in 2007 I put on 2st in a year. I was snacking and drinking too much and not exercising. I was 11st and in a relationship with a man who didn’t love me — I hated myself.
Determined to turn over a new leaf, I decided I wanted to lose the weight, meet the right man and start a family. I started walking everywhere, did a DVD workout every evening and swapped the bread, cakes and crisps for chicken salad and rice cakes.
My new regime worked — I was 8st and a size 8 within three months. I was amazed at how quickly the weight came off and I had much more energy, so staying motivated was easy.
Soon after that, I met Leon through friends. When we moved in together and got a puppy, Leon was so sweet with him I could see he’d be a great dad.
We started trying for a baby in January, and I was pregnant three months later. I feel womanly and voluptuous. My boobs are bigger, but my bottom’s still firm and I love my neat bump. For the first time, I’m confident enough to walk around the house in my underwear. I was always critical of my chunky legs, even after I’d lost the weight. Now, I think I look gorgeous — and I don’t even have to worry about holding my tummy in!
It’s been such a revelation to see myself this way, I’ll never go back to feeling fat and unloved. There’s nothing to hate about my body — and so much to love.
At six weeks, I was told my baby had died
KADI WILSON, 28, is a TV media co-ordinator. She lives in Birmingham with her partner Linton, 35, a jeweller, and is 36 weeks pregnant. She says:
Even with my due date just a month away, I still look at my body in disbelief and awe — having been told I’d lost this baby at eight weeks makes my beautiful bump feel even more wonderful and special.
I had no idea I was pregnant at first. I’d come back from a weekend in New York and, feeling sick with cramping pains, was convinced I had food poisoning. I then started to bleed, but put it down to coming off the Pill.
Two weeks later, I got up at 4am and collapsed on the floor. Linton was about to drive me to A&E but, after 30 minutes, the pain stopped. Completely exhausted, I went back to sleep. It was only in the morning that I realised I’d passed a large blood clot.
I went to a walk-in clinic where I was told I’d miscarried. They said it was common, but I was devastated. Linton had been wanting to start a family for ages, but I was just beginning to feel ready.
It was only when I was told I’d miscarried that I realised I wanted a baby more than anything. I was so desperate to understand what had happened that my GP agreed to send me to the Early Pregnancy Unit for tests.
My grief felt so intense, I wanted to go to the appointment on my own, but Linton insisted on coming along. When the sonographer told us she’d found a heartbeat on the scan, I started sobbing and couldn’t stop. I feel happy and blessed.
I love everything about my bump — I like how pointed it is, rather than spread round my middle, and with just three weeks to go I’ve got no stretch marks.
I love talking to it, too, touching it and knowing my son’s with me every second. It’ll be weird without my bump — I’ll miss it.
My ovary was removed but now it’s twins
Retail manager Sarah Pattison, 35, lives with husband Richard, 31, an architectural designer, in Cheshire, and is 24 weeks pregnant. She says:
When I watch the shapes of my two boys moving around my tummy, I feel proud of my body. I’ve never looked or felt better — even though I’ve got a trapped nerve under one breast and suffer from backache.
I’ve had a bump since week nine, but I only started loving it after my 12-week scan. As we set off for the hospital, Richard looked at my big tummy and said he was sure we were having twins.
All I could think was that if there was one healthy baby in there, I’d be very happy. I’d been for a 12-week scan while pregnant just four months earlier, only to be told I’d miscarried at six weeks. I also had to have my left ovary removed.
Richard and I had talked about the possibility of a life without children, so I was preparing myself for bad news right up until the sonographer confirmed it was twins. It was only after seeing two healthy heartbeats that I was able to let myself love my bump and get excited about the lives inside me.
Like most women, I was quite critical of my body before, especially my cellulite and flabby tummy. I would dress to disguise my bad bits and flatter my good ones, but now I can’t get enough of clingy jersey dresses that show off my shape.
I would never have posed naked for a photoshoot before, but being pregnant has been liberating.
I love my body and it helps that Richard tells me he thinks I’m beautiful every day — he even texts me at work. He’s so delighted by how I am and what we’ve made together. Seeing him look at me with such pride and excitement makes me feel truly loved.
I thought my cancer had left me infertile
CAREN DOCHERTY, 27, lives in Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire, with partner Scott, 26, a warehouse operator, and their daughter Meah, six. Caren is 26 weeks pregnant and says:
People may find it difficult to see a naked woman with a mastectomy, but I love the way I look. And after my cancer left me very thin, the extra weight I’ve put on in pregnancy makes me feel healthy and happy — alive even. I feel more beautiful and confident than ever. It’s as if I’m now indestructible.
I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 19. I needed chemo and radiotherapy, plus a mastectomy, and my consultant told me the treatment would mean I could never have children.
At that age, I hadn’t even thought about babies — Scott and I had just got a flat together — but being told I couldn’t have a family made me want to have enough kids to start a football team. My GP and consultant were as shocked as I was when, just as five weeks of radiotherapy came to an end, I found out I was pregnant.
Meah felt like such a miracle to me, I never dared hope Scott and I would have another child, so contraception wasn’t even a consideration. But five years later, in May this year, I started to feel butterflies in my tummy. I did three pregnancy tests, then went to my GP and insisted she did another one. It was only when she confirmed I was seven weeks pregnant that I let the news sink in.
Meah loves my bump almost as much as I do. At my 20-week scan, her face lit up as the sonographer explained that the baby boy she could see on the screen was growing inside my tummy.
I’m also sure Meah’s little brother will take to bottle feeding just as well as she did.
I feel so full of life now, it’s hard to believe that I ever had a tumour so aggressive it could have killed me. But here I am, making the family I was told I’d never have.
After years of self-harming, I’m finally happy
KAYLA YATES, 26, lives in Norfolk with partner Karl, 36, a lorry driver, and their daughter Tegan, two. Kayla is 27 weeks pregnant and says:
When I look at myself now, I feel beautiful. I marvel at my curves — my body has already produced one beautiful human being and is now making another. I’ve come a long way given that, five years ago, I didn’t want my body to exist at all.
I started self-harming when I was 11. The first time I rubbed my skin raw with a set of keys, I realised that causing myself pain was a way of releasing my anger. By the time I was in secondary school, I was using sharp objects, usually a penknife. It made me feel alive, but each time had to be more extreme than before, to get the same sense of release.
The last time I cut myself, I was 21. After drinking a bottle of vodka, I tried to kill myself by cutting my wrists and nearly succeeded.
I knew then that things had to change. During my recovery, I started to think about what I wanted from life.
I longed for a family, but was determined not to bring a child into an environment of anti-depressants and self-harming. I built up a good network of supportive friendships, and learned to talk about my feelings, rather than bottle them up.
Within a year, I met Karl. He was loving and patient, and I could talk to him about anything. When I got pregnant with Tegan, I was terrified I’d suffer with postnatal depression because of my history, but Karl believed in me.
Now I love every bit of my expanding tummy and have new respect for my body. It’s been five years since I last cut myself, and I’m determined never to go back to that dark place.
I used to catch sight of myself and feel disgusted — now, I really appreciate the skin I’m in.
■ The full feature appears in this month’s Pregnancy & Birth magazine, on sale now. Each one of them has faced her own struggle. So it is no wonder that these women love every inch of their growing bumps. Here, they tell their emotional stories to Shoshana Goldberg
