This Is What 24 Hours Postpartum Looks Like—and It’ll Give You Goosebumps

Postpartum times can be tough, and I’ll admit that after having my babies I felt something LESS than beautiful on the outside, but that sweet new baby sure did make me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.

However, when I saw this photo posted on Facebook by Sakura Bloom, I drew in a sharp breath. And when I read what the woman in the photo, Erica Andrews, had written, I had to hold back tears. I guess maybe I really was beautiful after giving birth.

24 hours postpartum

Andrews says, “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.”


Jenny Rapson
Jenny Rapson
Jenny is a follower of Christ, a wife and mom of three from Ohio and a freelance writer and editor.

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