Mom goes viral sharing reality of her postpartum body
Tired of seeing social media posts about "bouncing back" after giving birth, one mom of three took to TikTok to share the reality of postpartum.
Megan Call, who lives in Hawaii, gave birth to her third child, a son named Strider, in March.
Over the past two months, Call, 26, has shared videos on TikTok showing what her body, specifically her stomach, looks like several weeks postpartum.
In a video shared in April, which gained over 12 million views, Call showed her stomach at 12 hours, four days, one week, two weeks, four weeks and six weeks postpartum.
Earlier this month, she shared a second video showing her body at 11 weeks postpartum.
"Don't stress too much about your postpartum body," she wrote alongside the video. "All of your loose skin, extra squish, stretch marks ... it's OK. It is NORMAL."
Call told "Good Morning America" that as someone who posts about lifestyle and wellness as well as motherhood on social media, she thought it was an important message to send to her followers.
"On social media, I've wanted to make the point to kind of be a voice to all those moms who don't see that side of postpartum very often where a mom can be embracing her extra skin, her loose roles," Call said. "I'm trying to be that voice for a lot of moms."
She continued, "I've gotten a lot of really, really positive feedback that it's so refreshing to see this other side, and a lot of times a lot more realistic side, of postpartum."
Among the comments on Call's videos is one that reads, "It takes 40 weeks to grow that belly it isn’t going to disappear overnight."
"All woman should see this before they give birth. I would’ve felt so much better postpartum, had I seen this beforehand. Thank you for sharing," wrote another commenter.
The postpartum period is defined as the 12 weeks following the birth of a child, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The postpartum period is also often called the "fourth trimester" by medical experts because a woman's body is still undergoing hormonal and physical changes and recovering physically from giving birth, whether by vaginal delivery or cesarean section.
Citing the importance of the postpartum period, ACOG has in recent years released new guidelines to help encourage more postpartum care. The organization now recommends that all postpartum women have contact with their OB-GYN or obstetrics provider within the first three weeks after delivery and that care should continue on an ongoing basis, ending with a "comprehensive postpartum visit no later than 12 weeks after birth."
Call said she hopes other women take away from her videos that the postpartum period is both a time to enjoy and prioritize yourself.
"My main message is postpartum is so beautiful," Call said. "And I think we all need to learn to love our bodies and to love ourselves, no matter where we are on our postpartum journey."
She said her perspective shifted even more toward enjoying and embracing the postpartum period after suffering a miscarriage last year.
"I think that's also been a huge part of why I'm just so grateful to even have gone through this experience of growing a baby for nine months and going through childbirth," she said. "I think that's definitely kind of changed my perspective on just loving yourself and loving your body and just being grateful for this blessing that you've been given to have this child."
