Mom Shares Honest Postpartum Pic: 'This Is Real, This Is Childbirth'

This beautiful postpartum photo is something every new mom needs to see

Tired of society’s unrealistic expectations for new mothers, Nat Jorge-Martin shared a photo of her and her newborn daughter immediately postpartum that every mom can relate to.

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If you’ve delivered a child, then you know the body you once had before becoming pregnant is absolutely not the body that magically re-appears as the baby emerges from your uterus. If only society didn’t guilt and shame mothers into thinking that’s what should happen, maybe we wouldn’t have to worry about it so much.

Which is why Jorge-Martin shared this amazing photo.

“Why would I post this picture? You can see all the cellulite on my fat legs,” she writes in the caption. “My stomach looks huge, like I am still pregnant. My ankles are so swollen they look like logs. You can see the pad in my unflattering hospital panties. I have no makeup on and my hair hasn’t been brushed in days.”

She posted the picture because this is the reality of life immediately postpartum. My own ankles took 10 days to return to normal — I had to wear slippers in place of shoes for almost two weeks after giving birth.

Jorge-Martin, who labored for 26 hours before undergoing a c-section, explains there is no “bouncing back” when it comes to life following birth. Our bellies remain round, our bodies seem unrecognizable, and that’s okay. Because we grew a human being for nine months, dammit, and that takes some work.

She says she asked her husband to take this photo because it was the first time she was able to hold her precious little one without being hooked up to wires or stuck in the hospital bed. A moment she didn’t want to forget.

To hell with the cellulite, the round belly, and the puffy ankles.

“I didn’t care that my robe was open and you could see my chunky legs or the ugly hospital panties. All I cared about was that I was a mother now; and that I was head over heels in love with this little human.”

Jorge-Martin tells Scary Mommy she’s overwhelmed by the positive responses she’s received in regard to sharing the photo — especially since she almost didn’t share it at all.

“I don’t want anyone to feel like they can’t share a photo that brings them joy and happiness because they are afraid of what others may say about their flaws or vulnerability,” she says. “The more women start accepting their bodies and loving themselves, the quicker we can grow and hopefully help lower the amount of new mothers suffering from PPD.”

In her Instagram post, she writes that she — like all of us — has moments where she doesn’t feel the self-love. “I am not happy with how my body looks but I am immensely grateful for what it has done.”