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Mum of six  shares a moving post on Instagram admitting she loves her body despite her visible stretch marks and saggy skin.

Sharni Kieser shared on Instagram her true feelings about her stretch marks.

In her first post she wrote, “Stretch marks, I used to hate them. Seal showed us that scars are beautiful. They tell a story. They are unique.

My scar story is that I carried 6 babies in my body. That’s 4 and a half years of my life I spent pregnant.

How can I possibly hate myself for that?”

In another post she went on to explain further,

“I used to not see the point in exercise because my body was covered in stretch marks.
‘What’s the point in having a great body if I will never wear a bikini’ I’d think.

If I was ever invited to the beach or a pool party, I’d always decline. On the odd occasion I couldn’t avoid it, I’d stay inside, helping with the food or the cleaning.

I would only wear board shorts and t-shirts. I wished so hard that I could one day wear a bikini.

Then one day I overheard my loving husband explaining to a bunch of his friends why he thought stretch marks were beautiful.

They were a sign of being a woman. They are a result of the great love a mother has, that she would scar her own body to bring a child to life… on and on he explained and the more he talked, the more I got it.

I had hated myself for the very reasons he loved me. My body wasn’t ruined or disgusting, it had transformed from a selfish girls body into a selfless mothers body and the scars were a symbol of that transition.

A daily reminder that I was a mother.

I looked at my stretch marks and I felt pride. I felt love. The love of my husband and the love of my children. Each one of them had been nurtured and lived behind those scars for 9 months.

I felt pride.
I felt love.
I felt love for myself.

The craziest thing was that when I started to love myself for what I had now, the body I had now, I began to treat myself better.

I WANTED to eat healthy. I WANTED to exercise, I WANTED to do the things I loved.

Just by changing the way I looked at myself with love and pride instead of hate, I had found the effortless motivation to care for my body.

Because of this tiny little shift in mindset, magic happened… I got the body I had always dreamed of. The bikini body that I thought was not ever going to be possible for me after being covered in stretch marks, It has became a reality for me.

It started though, with me loving myself first. Being grateful for what I had, not wishing for something better.

She added, “Stretch marks or no stretch marks, IVF or no IVF, vaginal or C section. Breastfeed or bottle feed, it doesn’t fucking matter. You’re perfect. Your kids love you. You should love you.

Stop beating yourself up and start loving yourself. For the magic that is a mother’s body is what you have.”

Well said, Sharni! We have nothing to be ashamed of, teach kids that it’s these little characters that really makes a person who they are.

One Mum’s response to her daughter’s stretch marks question recently went viral – read her story here

 Read more - ‘Scars Are a Sign of Grace’ a powerful campaign we all need to support

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  • inspirational AND that gal looks fine! lol she really has nothing to worry about. What an AMAZING husband she has! that is true love and anybody would be blessed to have such a wonderful guy like that!

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  • I really loved this article, particularly at the point where she had a total turnaround and started to see herself as beautiful because of her pregnancies not despite them.

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  • We have to accept that the baby you carry through pregnancy stretches your skin. There is no way of preventing that happening.

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  • I could not care one bit about stretch marks.

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  • You never said truer words. I have only just stopped wearing a bikini over the last 10 years because the rest of the aging body caught up with the stretch marks. A bikini in your 70’s is a little harder to achieve. Had 6 pregnancies but only 4 are with me today.

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  • Amen, so true !

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  • I’ve never worried much about this. I usually wear a one piece for practicality anyway.

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  • It is true they do tell a wonderful story!

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  • Its not like I can do anything about them. So if they’re there to stay I’m not going to care too much about them.

    Reply

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