There’s a newborn baby photo that’s quickly gone viral – and it has little to do with the cute baby in the shot.

Amanda Bacon wanted to shamelessly show what giving birth was really like and to get women talking about the realities of postpartum life – the good, the bad and the ugly (i.e. messy and not-so-glamorous).

So, she posted a photo of herself in an adult diaper.

Image: Facebook

The photo shows her (adorable) new baby in the arms of her smiling husband, who’s giving a ‘thumbs up’ to the camera. In the background, Bacon is seen, with her back to the camera and naked aside from the diaper.

Bacon titled the shot: “Motherhood uncensored.”

“I’m sharing this picture because it’s real,” she wrote in a caption to accompany the image. “This is motherhood; it’s raw, stunning, messy, and freaking hilarious all rolled into one.”

‘Having a baby is a beautiful experience, and the realities of postpartum life aren’t spoken enough about. And definitely not photographed enough.’

I’ll admit; I didn’t even know this was a thing either (and, apparently, neither did Chrissy Teigen, who took to Twitter after the birth of her daughter, writing, “No one told me I would be coming home in diapers too”).

But it’s common practice for hospitals to provide women with pads, disposable underwear and adult diapers to handle a common side effect of childbirth called lochia.

According to the Mayo Clinic, it is a vaginal discharge that begins after the baby is born. It begins as a red, heavy flow, before tapering off and becoming watery over the next few weeks, changing in colour from pink or brown to yellow or white.

Lochia is basically like one massive period, to put it bluntly. But unlike our monthly visitor, many women are unaware of its existence when they go into labour.

After all, it’s a lot less cute to focus on vaginal discharge than a soft, cuddly newborn baby in the arms of his or her beaming new parents.

Bacon acknowledges that the image may make some people uncomfortable and that it’s not as ‘photo-friendly’ as the aforementioned shot of a happy, smiling family post-birth.

“We all should try and educate, empower and embrace every aspect of childbirth, including moments like this. And do it while having a sense of humor,” she says in the post.

“Nothing says welcome to motherhood like an adorable squishy baby, and a giant mom diaper.”

It didn’t take long for others to start sharing the powerful photo, which particularly resonated with mothers. At the time of writing, it had been shared 118, 373 times and ‘liked’ by 471K people.

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