This picture was taken about 7 years ago when I was pregnant of my first child.

My sister lives in Canada and when she had her first baby, she went to visit us in the Netherlands. Her baby was at that time about 6 months old. I wanted to see her tummy, because I wanted to have kids too, in the future. That was about 15 years ago.
I saw how many stretch marks she had and she told me that you always get stretch marks when you have kids.
So ofcourse I was a bit scared for having kids in the future. I was still 19 at that time. I did not have a partner yet, still single not thinking about marriage or kids.

When I was pregnant of my first child 7/8 years ago, I was ofcourse thinking about my sister's stretch marks and that she told me I would have them as well, especially because she said it's in the family. "If I have them, you will also have them".

Here below the 4 tips!

1 Weight

Try not to gain weight so much. I would say max 10 to 13 kg. I gained 10 kg during my first pregnancy because I was very active also. I was still studying and doing my internship fulltime. The company was very far. I had to go with the train, with the subway and then walk every day 2 km.......in the snow! :-). During my second pregnancy, I gained a bit more, 13 kg, because I wasn't active enough and was writing my thesis at home sitting hole day. But still, not more than 15 kg.
I remembered my sister gained more than 20 kg during her first pregnancy. So that also explained why she has many stretch marks.

2 Use special body butter/oil/lotion

I rubbed my belly every morning after I showered and in the evening before I went to bed with Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula.
Is contains all necessary ingredients such as Shea butter and almond oil.

3 Use special body butter/oil/lotion AFTER pregnancy

After pregnancy I used this body butter from Palmer's Firming Lotion. It contains a special ingredient: Q10. Which companies use for anti wrinkle cream. I used this for my belly also every morning and evening before going to bed.

4 Avoid scrathing your belly

During a pregnancy your belly can feel itchy. Try not to scratch since this also can cause stretch marks. After my first pregnancy, I did not have any stretch marks and no itchy feeling. During my second pregnancy I belly button felt very itchy. I scratched my belly button a lot :-(. So I have from my second pregnancy a few short stretch marks around my belly button.

Source pictures: Google

These were the tips, I hope they are useful for anyone who is pregnant :-)