It's a well established fact that pregnant bodies are underrepresented in the media. We all know those glowing, airbrushed and touched up pictures of new mums and perfect bumps are fantasy.
Give us stretch marks, saggy boobs and wobbly tummies- at least they're real.
Mummy Instagrammer, Smacky, is giving us all of that, and it's empowering AF.
She recently took to Instagram to share a naked picture of her heavily pregnant body. No lighting, complicated poses or filtering , just pure unadulterated mummy body- and we love it.
Not only are we loving the impressive snap at 38 weeks pregnant, but Smacky also has an important message to share.
When taking the picture, she was unsure as to whether or not to even post it:
"I thought long and hard about sharing this picture. I took some without my face in them, but I’m not faceless, I’m not invisible and I refuse to hide. I’m leaping into 2018 promising to take up space. Space every human being deserves to exist in."
Pregnant women, she continues, should take up all the space. Like they deserve to- you're literally growing a life in you right now.
"I want to see more bodies like mine. Swollen, marked, bruised, stretched, square and low bellies. Curves everywhere and no where at the same time. Breasts that hang, flat, full, small and large."
Real pregnant bodies should be celebrated, not hidden away:
"These bodies are everywhere hidden beneath clothes, behind closed doors, itching and hurting, loved and hated, not spoken of or spoken so cruelly about in hushed voices to ourselves and others. Pregnant bodies like mine are extremely underrepresented in the media and in closed social circles. I don’t think that’s good enough. How are we supposed to normalise every one else’s normal when it’s no where to be seen?"
So instead of just talking about it, Smacky is being the change she wants to see:
"So here I am 38 weeks pregnant, sharing, normalising, hopefully empowering others to take up the space they were put on this earth to enjoy and get used to a new normal. An unedited, perfectly imperfect normal. "
Yes mama!
As if she should get anymore inspirational, she hit back at "concern trolls" that questioned her choice to pose naked, asking about the impact on her husband and children:
"Yes I’m married but my husband doesn't own my body. My body my choice. Yes I have children. One day they might see this, and I want them to know that I made and educated and calculated choice when I shared this picture.
"That I’m an empowered woman and my body is here for me to do with as I please. It’s not here for anyone else. Except of course those moments carrying them inside this body and feeding them from my breasts. Still my choice."
All women deserve to be celebrated, big and small, pregnant and postpartum, and stretch marks are only proof of that.
