Mum’s powerful nude photo shows reality of being postpartum and pregnant

What a woman.

Stella Mackey is a mum-of-two from New Zealand. She's also a pretty good advocate for body positivity during pregnancy, after pregnancy, and everything in between. Stella recently shared a photo of her body at 38 weeks pregnant with her second child. She wrote that she had debated whether to post the image or not but eventually decided that "I’m not invisible and I refuse to hide." Stella said:

"I want to see more bodies like mine. Swollen, marked, bruised, stretched, square and low bellies. "Curves everywhere and no where at the same time. Breasts that hang, flat, full, small and large. "These bodies are everywhere hidden beneath clothes, behind closed doors, itching and hurting, loved and hated, not spoken of or spoken so cruelly about in hushed voices to ourselves and others."

The mum went on to say that pregnant bodies like hers are often left out of the media so she wanted to normalise the way she looks - "bold, unashamed, unapologetic and brave."

"So here I am 38 weeks pregnant, sharing, normalising, hopefully empowering others to take up the space they were put on this earth to enjoy and get used to a new normal. "An unedited, perfectly imperfect normal."

Stella said she received some abuse for sharing her photograph from people who disagreed with her posting it. The mum argued that yes, she has a husband, and yes, she has children, but this is her body and if she wants to share photos of it, she will.

"I want them to know that I made and educated and calculated choice when I shared this picture. "That I’m an empowered woman and my body is here for me to do with as I please. It’s not here for anyone else."

Stella also included the hashtag 'stop censoring motherhood' beneath her post.