A Mom’s Before And After Photos Show The Reality Of Having A C-Section

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Mel Watts, a Mother of 4 from Melbourne, Australia, is a blogger who has become extremely popular from her willingness to open up about the not so picture-perfect truths about parenting and motherhood.

Watts, who has more than 147K followers on her Instagram account, @themodernmumma, has tackled almost every parenting topic under the sun, from pregnancy sex to newborn sleep (or rather, the lack of) to postpartum panic attacks.

One of her recent posts has gone viral for showing the stark reality of what a C-section stomach looks like. The Mom is not shying away from celebrating it in all its scarred glory.

The top photo, which Watts shared on her Instagram, shows her at 30 weeks pregnant, while the bottom one is her 4 days after her most recent C-section, which is her third surgery to date.

She posted the photos to illustrate what she said is “no castle or bloody piece of art,” but instead a body she has come to appreciate for giving life.

She adds, “Sure it’s not magazine or swimsuit worthy to some. But to me and my husband, it’s the place that grew our babies. It’s the place that everything we love most started. And that’s all that counts right?! We feel as though we need to follow society’s stigma on what we should look like when in fact we should just do what we feel works for us. Nobody has the same body. And everybody has their own body. Enjoy it.”

Many have applauded Watts for showing what a “real” postpartum body looks like. But after Watts’ post went viral, she took to her Instagram account again to clear up any misconceptions regarding her photos, noting that she does not think her body is more “real” than any other mother’s.

She added, “…Just because we all look different doesn’t mean none of us aren’t real or unrealistic. Some women bounce back, some don’t. Some women train hard, some don’t. And just because you feel like you don’t fit in one of these categories doesn’t make you any less real than myself, Lauren or Revie. We’re all real.”

She ended her inspiring tirade with a call to action for other moms to #bethechange and end the mommy judging about our postpartum bodies, no matter how they look.

Her post has certainly resonated with a lot of people — having nearly 7,000 likes and nearly 250 comments so far.

“little just cried. i have struggled with my mum bod after 3 babies especially with my last who just turned one. as much as i wish my stomach was flat and boobs perky i have had to learn to come to terms with the fact that just isnt my body anymore,” one person writes. “thankyou for posting this and stamping in my brain that this is the body that grew 3 humans and that’s definitely more important than a flat tum!”