Charlie O'Brien blog: Amanda Bacon's unsensored giant mum diaper and my own emotional birth story

A photo has been doing the rounds on social media the last few days of a new mum, in hospital, wearing as she puts it 'a giant mom diaper'.

New mum Amanda Bacon shared a beautiful selfie her partner took with their new baby in hospital. In the background is Amanda, wearing nothing other than disposable knickers and a giant maternity sanitary pad.

She decided to post the picture on her Facebook page and it has since been shared over 97,000 times!

"I'm sharing this picture because it's real." said Amanada.

"This is motherhood; it's raw, stunning, messy, and freaking hilarious all rolled into one. Having a baby is a beautiful experience, and the realities of postpartum life aren't spoken enough about. And definitely not photographed enough.

Nothing says welcome to motherhood like 'a giant mum diaper'.

As with anything on social media some people have disagreed and believe such a photo should be kept behind closed doors. Personally – I think it’s amazing.

I’ve been very honest in blogs and vlogs about my post birth experience. I felt horrendous, for a long long time. A far cry from my romantic pre-conceptions of feeling incredible after giving birth – the reality for me was very different.

I couldn’t stand up straight for a week. I couldn’t sit down for two. It took me a long six months to recover.

CLICK ABOVE for Charlie's emotional birth story

But then mixed in with the tough bits were the funny bits. I remember joking about wearing a nappy and the fact that going for a poo afterwards was more terrifying than labour itself!

Why do we need to talk about this stuff? To normalise it! To let women and their partners know that it’s not all plain sailing. To let people know that it’s ok to cry four days after giving birth because you dropped a piece of cucumber on the floor.

To reassure new mums that their pelvic floors will recover, even if they feel like they’re prolapsing in the frozen food aisle at Tesco. (Yep, that was me.)

It’s ok to look like death warmed up after you’ve given birth. It’s alright to want to curl up with your newborn, watch re-runs of Only Fools and Horses for 10 hours straight whilst eating your body weight in Chocolate Hobnobs. It’s ok!

Us woman put so much pressure on ourselves to be superwoman. But sometimes it’s good to tell each other about the icky bits – so they’re not such an almighty shock when it happens.

Jeez – I had to wear not one but three HUGE maternity pads after I gave birth. It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t fun hobbling to the shared loo on the maternity ward. But I got through it, as we all do. So let’s keep sharing those anecdotes and those crazy moments.

We’re in this together.

Charlie x

Can catch up with Charlie every Friday at My Kent Family or on her own blog at realgirlramblings.com