“This is what 24 hours postpartum looks like.”
Via Facebook
Erica Andrews bravely revealed a side of motherhood most people don’t see. She dragged herself out of bed just 24 hours after giving birth and snapped a shot of herself in an adult diaper, with stretch marks across her stomach, while feeding her newborn baby in a sling. The photo’s rawness is gripping, but Andrews’ honest description of her postpartum journey cuts right to the bone. “I feel like I’m on the undulating surface of the rippling ocean,” Andrews wrote, “being tossed back and forth between happiness, gratitude, melancholy, and grief.”
Andrews’ full post:
“This is what 24 hours postpartum looks like. 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. 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.”
Andrews’ raw photo and beautiful words have struck a chord with mothers on Facebook.
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