Giving birth is a beautiful, messy process, but oftentimes, postpartum photos seem to shy away from the "messy" part. You might see a snap of a mom cuddling her new baby in the hospital—but not a pic of the *situation* still going on in her body after giving birth. I'm talking about lochia. According to the Mayo Clinic, vaginal discharge—known as lochia—is a common side effect for women after giving birth. It begins shortly after a baby is born, and starts as a bright red, heavy flow. Then, over the course of a few weeks, the discharge becomes watery and tapers off, changing colors from pink or brown to yellow or white.
Basically, it's like one massive postpartum period. Hospitals will often provide women with pads, disposable mesh underwear, or even adult diapers to keep them clean during the heavy flow. But many women don't know about lochia when they have a baby. Exhibit A: Chrissy Teigen, who took to Twitter this year in shock after giving birth to her daughter, writing, "No one told me I would be coming home in diapers too." Adult Incontinence Liners
Amanda Bacon, 28, had no idea about this postpartum delight when she had her first child, daughter Kaelyn, three years ago. And in May this year, the Wilmington, North Carolina, mom found herself back in the postpartum flow after giving birth to her son, Pierson. This time, her fiancé, Ken Hardy, snapped a candid photo of her rocking some mesh panties in the hospital less than 24 hours after she gave birth. The pic shows Hardy holding their newborn, with Bacon in the background wearing nothing but a "giant mom diaper," as she calls it. And yesterday, Bacon decided to post the photo to Facebook.
"I think beyond thinking it’s funny, it’s just not something that people talk about or show, that side of childbirth," Bacon tells SELF. "The mesh panties, the diaper, the bleeding—all that fun stuff. I thought the photo was a neat, funny, and humorous way to show that child birth is beautiful and messy even after the baby comes."
Bacon felt a little hesitant sharing such an atypical postpartum moment, but she's received nothing but support on the photo. Like her and Chrissy Teigen, lots of other women have said they didn't even know lochia happened after giving birth.
"Everybody’s been really supportive, and a lot of women say they had no clue," she says. "A lot of women are reminiscing on when they had a baby and wore the panties, so it seems like a really encouraging response so far."
Amanda Bacon with her three-year-old daughter Kaelyn, six-week-old son Pierson, and fiancé Ken Hardy.
The photo has gone viral, with over 90,000 shares and 70,000-plus comments. Bacon hopes it not only gets women talking, but shows them they can laugh at themselves during childbirth's oddest moments, too.
"Women shouldn’t take themselves so seriously after childbirth and should enjoy their bodies and enjoy every aspect of having a baby, even the gross postpartum bits," she says. "It’s all just par for the course, and it’s all really a neat part of the whole experience."
By Amy Marturana Winderl, C.P.T.
Watch: Things No One Tells You About Pregnancy
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