The 32-year-old shared an Instagram image of herself five days postpartum, revealing that she barely recognises herself when she looks in the mirror and detailing the significant toll the pregnancy has had on her body.
'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 [abdominal separation] that was 3 finger widths apart the day after giving birth.'
She says that her pregnancy didn’t go the way she thought it would – instead of regularly exercising throughout the trainer was hampered by debilitating back pain.
'I ended up gaining over 21kg during my pregnancy in fat, fluid, baby, placenta etc.'
And while so many people have told her that she would 'bounce right back' like many other super fit women, that hasn’t been her experience.
'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 and I refuse to put pressure on myself to get there.'
That's a message all new mums need to hear.
This article originally appeared on Women's Health Australia.
