Pregnant women are constantly inundated with information about what they should be doing, what they should be eating, how they should be dressing, and how they're supposed to raise their children.
Moms know they should trust their instincts, but that doesn't mean that other people don't tell them what to do all the time. It can be absolutely infuriating.
If you're thin, people tell you you're not feeding the baby enough. If you gain a lot of pregnancy weight, people tell you to go easy on the snacks. You just can't win as a mom.
Emily Skye is learning this the hard way. Emily is a fitness guru and new mom of a sweet baby girl.
She assumed she'd have an easy pregnancy, birth, and recovery because of her level of fitness, but things didn't exactly go the way she expected.
Now, this fitness guru is embracing her postpartum belly. Find out why she's fine with not "bouncing back" below!
Thumbnail Photo: Instagram / emilyskyefit
[H/T: ScaryMommy]
Emily shared her thoughts about her body on Instagram, and her post quickly got a lot of attention.
Within just four days, it had almost 180,000 likes.
Emily wrote:
I barely recognise myself when I look in the mirror!
I’m far from a “glam mum” HAHA! I currently live in what you could call “granny undies”, it hurts to do much with the stitches from my episiotomy, and feeding is extremely painful — I had no idea it would be this bad!
My back is still really sore and when I walk around it literally feels like my insides are going to fall out.
I also had diastasis recti that was 3 finger widths apart the day after giving birth.
My pregnancy was not how I thought it would be, I thought I’d be exercising regularly the whole way through but that did not happen as I was sick a lot of the time and had back pain that made it hard to just walk around the house.
I ended up gaining over 21kg [46 pounds] during my pregnancy in fat, fluid, baby, placenta etc.
So many people told me I would “bounce right back” after giving birth like a lot of other fit women do.
– Well that’s definitely not the case for me! It’s only 5 days after I gave birth to Mia and I look about 6 or so months pregnant.
I can tell I’m going to have a LOT of hard work ahead of me to get fit and strong again which I KNOW I can do but it’s not my priority right now – spending this time with my daughter is.
Getting my “body back” can take a back seat for the time being… I’ll get there in a realistic time frame & I refuse to put pressure on myself to get there.
I am SO blessed and beyond happy to bring home my baby girl Mia today. I feel completely content.
I look at her and start crying because of the overwhelming love I have for her and I love my body SO much for growing this precious little person.
Emily's fans immediately started sharing their support for her message. One woman wrote:
I love this picture. You look like an amazing mother. This is pregnancy and post pregnancy reality and your sharing it. Enjoy your early days of motherhood and take care of yourself. Your body and the stuff going on down there lol will heal faster than you could imagine with how painful it is at the beginning. (I had second degree tear) Its incredible to think what a woman’s body can do to birth a beautiful baby.
Another person said, "You are amazing!!! Thank you for being real and showing us women how to be kind with our bodies and taking it easy!!! Congrats again on your bundle joy!!!"
If you think all moms should be able to forget about their bodies and just enjoy those precious moments with their newborns, please SHARE this article with your friends!
