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Mum's graphic selfie proves C-sections are not 'the easy way out'

Her very honest post has since gone viral. - by Lucy Bode
  • 19 Jun 2018

Whatever side of the fence you sit on with the whole cesarean vs natural delivery debate, listen up: coz this pic proves once and for all, giving birth is not a competition.

Sick of hearing that she was taking “the easy way out,” Aussie blogger and mum-of-two Olivia White took to Instagram to share a snap of her recovery post-C-section. And while her scars are pretty darn gnarly, it’s her brutal honesty that’s garnering the most attention.

houseofwhite_ View Profile
3,237 likes - View Post on Instagram
Look I know it might not be my best angle (or is it?) 😂 but who wouldn't take selfies hours post birth so they can see where they sliced you open and yanked out a whole person 🙋🏼 (if you couldn't tell I still couldn't see past my still inflated uterus) 🙈 This is what you really look like a few hours post c-section 🗡 To anyone who thinks it's the easy way out, we'll try having a 6 inch gash in your abdomen like a gutted shark 🦈 who had the body parts of the surfer 🏄🏼 it ate retrieved! That's then sewn back together with fishing wire while it feels like your vital organs are trying to escape! I mean sure, everything is 🌈 and 🍭 till the spinal wears off! After that it's like you've been hit by a bus 🚌 which then backed over you just to make sure it didn't miss you the first time! If you don't time the Endone exactly before the previous lot wore off then you will most certainly know you are alive (while wishing you were dead) ☠️ and worst of all you'll feel as if you'll spend your entire life wearing nanna 👵 knickers up around your waist because the thought of anything settling in the canyon between your gut and pubic region is the stuff nightmares are made of 👻🙅🏼 Anyone who's ever had c section knows that you'll forever be dependant on your friends Nancy, Dr 90210 and Spanx because you cannot for the life of you get rise of the ditch that is left by the scar 🙄 But for all the skin tight Kookai dresses I bought while pregnant 🤰🏼 that now make me look like I have a Kangaroo pouch - I wouldn't change it! Because if it wasn't for the ability to deliver my babies 👶🏼 this way they might not be here today 🙌🏻 plus I recon getting cut from A to B sounds way worse 😷🤕

“This is what you look like a few hours post C-section,” she began the lengthy caption.

“To anyone who thinks it’s the easy way out, well try having a 6-inch gash in your abdomen like a gutted shark who had the body part of the surfer it ate retrieved!”

She then detailed being “sewn back together with fishing wire,” leaving her vital organs feeling as though they “were trying to escape.”

“After that, it’s like you’ve been hit by a bus which then backed over you just to make sure it didn’t miss you the first time!” she added. “And worst of all you’ll feel as if you’ll spend your entire life wearing nanna knickers up around your waist because the thought of anything settling in the canyon between your gut and pubic region is the stuff nightmares are made of.”

houseofwhite_ View Profile
1,949 likes - View Post on Instagram
I know I post this every year!! And I'll probs continue to post it every one to come 🙋🏼‍♀️ Because I will forever be so grateful to have had my amazing MIL be there for the delivery of both my girls 😍 My first birth was anything but easy - over 50 hours in labour, resulting in an emergency c section. She was my strength throughout the entire ordeal, she's the one who kept me calm, the one I felt I had trust in when making decisions and who listened to how I felt 💕 And then to do it all over again the second time (a much less stressful ordeal but still couldn't have done it without her) 🙌🏻 I thought it fitting to post this in between Int. Midwives Day and Mother's cause she's a legend at both 🙋🏼‍♀️😍 This photo will forever be one of my favourites ❤️

That said, Olivia wouldn’t change a thing:

“If it wasn’t for the ability to deliver my babies this way they might not be here today,” she admitted. “Plus, I reckon getting cut from A to B sounds way worse.” 

Let it be known that C-sections are major surgery. Yeah, they generally require less physical effort than a 40-hour labour without meds would, but there’s still no easy, painless way to remove a tiny human from your body.

You can read Olivia’s post in full here.

This article originally appeared on Women's Health.

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