When you're pregnant, it's amazing to watch your body change, and grow - but adapting to the way your body looks postpartum can feel daunting, especially in an era that's obsessed with Instagram filters, weight loss and perfection.
One woman has been praised for being 'real' with her social media followers after posting candid snaps of her postpartum stomach. Opening up about the realities of birth, Mia Somerville, 24, compared photos of herself four months pregnant to her stomach after birth and urged others to celebrate the skin they are in..
The mum insisted that her 'new' body isn't 'bad', but just 'different' - and she wanted to tell her followers that it's okay to experience change.
Mia Somerville, 24, took to TikTok to share the comparison from her account @miasomerville1.
The video began by showing a picture of Mia when she was just four weeks pregnant wearing a bikini, flaunting her figure. She explained that previously she'd been 'very body confident', and happy with herself, but she wanted to show the realities of what having a baby does to your body - highlighting that it's okay for your body to change as you go through different stages of life.
She then explained some of the ways her body has changed. "I have a three-finger ab separation; mild, mild, prolapse; and a belly button that will probably never look the same," she said, noting that two medical professionals told her she would need plastic surgery if she ever wanted her belly button to look like it did in her first photo again.
Sharing the joys of motherhood, Mia added: "Pregnancy changes things. Obviously, I have this beautiful little girl now, and I would not change anything for the world."
In response, fellow parents were quick to praise Mia for her honesty, and the video quickly racked up over 240,000 likes.
One person replied: "Omg it's so relieving seeing someone else with the same stomach as mine before pregnancy and then the same after!"
A second said: "You spent 20 - 30 years getting to know pre baby body, and you've only had 1 (maybe not even) to get to know post bby body. You're doing amazing."
Meanwhile, another commenter wrote: "Thank you for normalising this! You are stunning congratulations mamma!"
In a follow-up video, Mia went on to thank people who offered kind words of support and further explain why it is important to talk about postpartum recovery.
"I went into pregnancy and postpartum with the expectation that because I'm young, I'm only 24, and because I was skinny to begin with, that I would look exactly the same after giving birth. My mum didn't have stretch marks, my grandma didn't have stretch marks, they have no loose skin, so I assumed I wasn't going to get any of that," she said.
"As someone that got a lot of their self-worth from what their body looked like, I have had to completely change my mindset to get my gratification from other things. You know, this body grew a child for nine months, is breastfeeding her, and life is pretty amazing."
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