ONE WEEK POSTPARTUM

One week postpartum. This is for all of the women in recovery from labor who have to endure the pressures to "snap back" immediately. From Beyoncé to the seemingly FaceTuned #postpartum snapshots on Instagram, to the family and friends who ask if you're wearing a girdle before asking if your body is still tender and bleeding...no.

This is to loving myself today more than I ever have. To being extra gentle with the magical body that created, nurtured, and birthed my daughter naturally. To the power of my uterus (shrinking on its own time) and not taking a refrigerator full of breastmilk for granted. To new sensations of pain and recuperation. To the unshaming of stretch marks, cellulite, discoloration, body hair, acne, and any other "side effect" of the beautiful right of passage that is pregnancy and birth...Love to every mother in the world.