Mom Shares Breastfeeding Photos Of What Her Body Looks Like Just 24 Hours After Birth

Erica Andrews is a woman who knows no shame.

The lifestyle photographer from Ohio recently gave birth to her fifth, and likely last child, according to her Instagram page.

Less than a day later, she took this intimate and brutally honest photo of herself breastfeeding her child while wearing an adult diaper.

Erica says it was a result of feeling all the emotions of postpartum. Because she didn’t know if her body would ever harbor life again, she wanted to capture the raw intimacy of the moment before it dissipated.

After posting the photo to Instagram, it made its way to Facebook, where it has been shared over 40,000 times.

Erica says about her immediate postpartum: “My body feels like it ran a marathon and my heart is wide open from yesterday’s travels.

Birth opens us like an earthquake opens the earth and I am still in the intimate, fragile throes of that opening. I feel raw. Emotional. Different. I feel like I’m on the undulating surface of the rippling ocean being tossed back and forth between happiness, gratitude, melancholy, and grief.

23 hours ago I held life within and 24 hours ago I surged and transformed allowing life to flow through me, into my waiting hands. The emptiness in my womb brings a heavy feeling crashing into reality but then this new little life whimpers, searching for the breast with soft rooting, and I feel whole again.

In reaction to her photos gaining attention, Erica said, “you see things like this happen on social media daily and I never thought it would be an image of me…let alone an image so intimate…but knowing that so many mothers have resonated with the image and/or words has made it worth it.”

While this story is inspiring, it’s also incredibly personal. What do you think of Erica sharing her intimate moments so easily? Please tell us in the comments and SHARE this post with friends, family, and the new mothers in your life!

[Featured Image Credit: Instagram]