While Peta Murgatroyd might best be known for her performances on “Dancing with the Stars” (which she has won twice), the New Zealand-born Australian is making waves for something else these days. The professional dancer and choreographer, and her fiancé Maksim Chmerkovskiy (also from “Dancing with the Stars”), recently welcomed a baby boy, Shai, into the world. The little guy made his debut in early January, and the couple couldn’t be happier.
But the birth of Peta’s first child isn’t why her name has been floating around so much lately. The new mom posted a picture to Instagram a few days ago that has mothers everywhere rejoicing. The photo that the 30-year-old posted was taken eight days after giving birth, and showed Peta with her postpartum belly. As mothers everywhere know, when you have a baby it takes time for your abdomen to shrink to anywhere close to the size it was nine months prior. When celebrities post pictures of flat tummies right after birth, it makes the rest of us “normal” people want to scream, because it is simply not reality for most new mamas.
Peta’s honest Instagram post shows the world what typically happens to a woman’s body postpartum, and quite frankly we need to see things like this more often. Here is what she wrote:
Real life: I took this photo 8 days post birth. I left the hospital looking 5 months pregnant. Many people think a woman should shrink right back to her pre-birth weight immediately. That is just not the truth for most. The female body is incredible and resilient, but healing and strengthening take time. Now it’s time for patience and hard work. Lots of love to all the new mamas out there on the journey.
Amazingly, the comments for the post were full of positivity and encouraging words from women who know all too well that it takes more than a day to lose what took nine months to grow.
You can see the new mom’s gorgeous postpartum picture below. Congrats to Peta and Maksim on their beautiful baby boy!
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