Honest Photo Reminds Us Not All Moms Care About 'Bouncing Back' After Baby

Mom’s honest message encourages others to embrace their post-baby bodies

You might not know Olivia White yet, but after hearing what she has to say about moms and the pressures to “bounce back” after having a baby, you’re going to wish she was your new BFF.

White writes House of White, a motherhood and lifestyle blog where she tells it like it is about life in Australia with her two young kids, Annabelle and Teddy. We’ve all seen bloggers post pictures of their post-baby bodies, usually with a #transformationtuesday attached for good measure as they showcase their progress in getting back to their pre-baby weight, but White decide to change things up recently with a post that celebrates her post-baby body exactly as is.

Alongside a gorgeous photo by Sleeping Grace Photography, White perfectly sums up the reality of what a post-baby body looks like for most of us, and why it’s not only normal, but something to be totally proud of. “Puffy face, droopy milk filled boobs, wider hips and belly full of stretch marks!!” she writes. “That’s my post baby reality, no ‘bouncing back’ here!”

Some women naturally return to their pre-baby shapes shortly after giving birth, but that doesn’t happen for all of us, White included. Rather than stress over it, she’s decided she doesn’t care. “I couldn’t give a shit! Because I’m not the same person I was before I had babies, so why would would I want my body to reflect something and someone I no longer am?”

“Those droopy boobs fed my babies and grew them up big and strong,” she says, “Those hips and rippled belly was home to my little babes for 9 months.” It’s so easy to forget the incredible things our bodies do during pregnancy and only focus on the aftermath of how our bodies look after the baby is born.

I love to complain how my stomach will always look like a sad pile of used tissue paper because it’s so wrinkly, but I forget that it stretched out for good reason — to keep two tiny humans safe and warm inside me. And my once glorious rack never fully recovered from my milk oversupply, so I wear a bra 24/7 now, even to sleep. Still, that breastmilk helped my babies grow strong when they were preemies, so it was worth the aftermath to my funbags.

Obviously, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with working on your fitness as a mom. Personally, I fell in love with running after I had my twins. I’ve even got my eye on my first full marathon next year. But as much as I love how I feel when I workout, I do get frustrated that my body will never look quite the same way as it did before I had kids. But White’s right, we’re fucking goddesses, and we should never let ourselves think otherwise. “And sure, some days I wish it didn’t jiggle so much and was a bit ‘firmer,'” she says, “but then I just remember the awesome shit it’s done and cut myself some slack and go eat a cheeseburger, because we earned it.”

Damn right.