My first time seeing a real postpartum body

Ready for some TRUTHS?? ⬇️⬇️
Alright guys, figure this for a 19 days postpartum body✨
⁣
〰️ Above are 10 days and 2 days after giving birth via emergency cesarean after a failed VBAC.
⁣
I remember the VERY FIRST TIME I came across someone’s REAL postpartum picture on the internet. It was before Max was born, 7 years ago – so I didn’t have Instagram, and I’m pretty sure it would have had to be on Facebook. What else did we use at the time? To be honest, I was pretty late to the Instagram game.
⁣
Either way, I remember being SHOOK. Why did it look like that? There’s no baby in there anymore. Of course, the caption enlightened me and opened my eyes to what the real world looks like. Because here’s the absolute TRUTH, we cannot know until we either experience it ourselves or if we are lucky to have someone show us.
⁣
There is sadly a lot of stigma and pressure to ‘bounce back’ after giving birth, to ‘get your pre-pregnancy body back!’ But for a lot of us, that just isn’t possible.
⁣
Our bodies undergo the most incredible achievement we can ever make, to create another human from ourselves, to nurture and carry and grow, and make room for this wonderful being, part you and part him! You change. Forever. You stretch in places you never knew you’d stretch, and don’t even get me started on the uterus growing to the size of a watermelon in 9 months. People say that it took 9 months to put the weight on, to stretch, to undergo physical and mental changes, physical and mental challenges, aches and pains, so give it 9 months to go back…
⁣
I say 9 months is nothing. And the older we get, the more time seem to fly by. Where did these 9 months go? So fast but so slow. Anticipation, hopes and fears and change – all that change! And waiting 9 months to start looking like yourself, nevermind FEELING like yourself again is often what it takes.
⁣
And some never feel like your ‘pre-pregnancy self’ again. And most people don’t look it again. And that’s the truth.
⁣
As for me? I know I will never look like my pre-pregnancy self; THANK GOD (I just turned 21, flat as a pancake and lived on Dorito’s, coca-cola & cigarettes)
⁣
But I FEEL stronger. I BECAME stronger. I will AGAIN🤍”