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17th January 2024
11:31am GMT
Though it may be tough to make peace with them on top of all the other changes your body goes through, they're extremely common, up to 90% of women experience them during pregnancy.
Yet you may have questions about what they are, what causes them and prevention if that interests you.
Stretch marks are narrow, streak-like lines that can develop on the surface of the skin. They can be pink, red, purple or brown, depending on your skin colour.
They usually appear on your tummy, or sometimes on your upper thighs and breasts, as your pregnancy progresses and your bump starts to grow.
There's no exact science as to when stretch marks appear, it will be different from woman to woman.
The first sign you notice might be itchiness around an area where the skin is becoming thinner.
According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, stretch marks are scars that develop when the skin stretches or shrinks rapidly, which happens as your baby grows.
This quick change results in small ruptures to the collagen and elastin within the skin, and the scars that form as the skin heals are stretch marks.
Whether or not you develop these tiger-stripe-like marks depends largely on the elasticity of your skin which can be affected by genetics.
So for example, if your mother developed stretch marks you're more likely to get them yourself.
Hormonal changes also have a part to play as the increased levels during pregnancy relax the bonds between collagen fibres within the skin, making it easier for it to tear when stretched.
Honestly, when expecting you don't have to worry about these marks, you're growing a whole human!
Yet if it's something that's playing on your mind, there are things you can do to prevent them but nothing is a surefire way to stop them.
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