What really happens to a woman’s body after giving birth?
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Julie started taking photos of her postpartum body 24 hours after giving birth to her second son in January.
She points out that regardless of how you give birth, you will still look like you “have a watermelon (or two) inside you.”
After about two weeks, Julie says that she looks and feels a bit more alive, although she’s still bleeding and her tummy is “shrinking but swollen.”
By 14 weeks, the “marks of motherhood” are apparent, with a tummy that looks flat, but has stretch marks and scars.
Julie’s images are eye-opening, particularly in a society “that pushes images at you every day of women who have given birth and just ‘bounced back’.”
“You may not look like the next Victoria’s Secret underwear model, but focus on how you feel. Be kind to yourself and your body, you will look like how you are meant to when you feel good,” she writes.
And naturally Julie has succeeded in inspiring many.
“I find the responses particularly moving because it’s such a big issue for women and we just don’t talk about it. We keep it to ourselves and secretly suffer,” she writes.
“You are beautiful, you are amazing, you are a mother.”
Thank you, Julie!