Ohio mum Erica Andrews has taken an incredibly honest selfie, demonstrating what a woman’s body truly looks like after giving birth.
Only 24 hours post-partum, she’s now a diaper-clad mum of five, breastfeeding her new-born and posting about it on Facebook.
“This is what 24 hours postpartum looks like,” she writes. “Baby in sling. Skin to skin. Adult diapers. And a rosy glow.”
“My body feels like it ran a marathon and my heart is wide open from yesterday’s travels. Birth opens us like an earthquake opens the earth and I am still in the intimate, fragile throes of that opening,” she continues. “I feel raw. Emotional. Different.”
“I feel like I’m on the undulating surface of the rippling ocean being tossed back and forth between happiness, gratitude, melancholy, and grief. 23 hours ago I held life within and 24 hours ago I surged and transformed allowing life to flow through me, into my waiting hands. The emptiness in my womb brings a heavy feeling crashing into reality but then this new little life whimpers, searching for the breast with soft rooting, and I feel whole again. I am still processing the beautiful transition my whole family has traveled through and I am in complete awe of our strength as humans, women, and mothers. This time is simply unlike any other.”
The black and white photo has acquired over 161,000 likes, 10,000 comments and 43,000 shares, proving that her raw honesty is resonating with mums worldwide.
