by Melissa Willets posted in Pregnancy

When I first saw a raw, unedited, unselfconscious postpartum photo of a new mom breastfeeding her baby just after birth, it filled me with so many emotions. As a mom of three, I remember these precious first minutes with your baby, that you worked so bone-crushingly hard to bring into the world. How in awe of your baby you feel.
But sadly, even in these life-affirming moments, I also recall being in a state of shock over how my body looked and felt. As I marveled over the person I'd waited nearly a year to meet, I still squirmed in discomfort over my newly-deflated belly, and couldn't help but instinctually cover it up for photos.
Not so in this photo of new mom-of-two Alice, taken by Keri-Anne Dilworth of New Zealand-based First Light Birth Photography. Here, we see the glory of a shame-free, and completely un-curated postpartum moment. And. It. Is. Breathtaking.

"I love the rawness of birth photography with no need to pose or even be aware that there is a photographer in the room," Alice told BabyCenter in an email. "The delivery room has a strange effect for me in terms of any inhibitions I have about my body."
Like most women, Alice admits she is normally more self-conscious. "But once in the hospital, it is not about me but getting to meet this new person that I?ve been carrying for nine months." Still, she confesses, "The postpartum body is absolutely beautiful but it?s also far more compli...