Former Little People, Big World star Audrey Roloff isn’t sugarcoating her postpartum journey. Audrey and her husband, Jeremy Roloff, are now the proud parents of two after welcoming a son into the world on January 8.
The baby boy they named Bode James was born on his exact due date. And while Audrey’s pregnancy and delivery experiences with both Bode and their 2-year-old daughter Ember were “great,” her postpartum journey has been more difficult.
Many mothers refer to the weeks immediately after giving birth as the “fourth trimester.” And Audrey took to Instagram to “keep it real” with how she’s been doing since bringing Bode into the world.
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“While this past week has been full of newborn snuggles and heart-melting moments,” she writes. “It’s also been really hard.”
Audrey Roloff Gets Real About Her Postpartum Journey
Audrey continued, “With Ember and Bode I had really great pregnancies and labor/delivery experiences. But once that 4th trimester hits my body just gets hit hard with all the things. Thankfully this time I could draw from past experience and fought off getting mastitis five days postpartum like last time.”
“Still… my milk comes in fast and furious, both my babies chomped my nipples to shreds on day one, and my milk is the brevé kind so engorgement is at least five times my normal bra size. Thankfully, Mr. 9 pounder Bode boy is a much more efficient eater than Ember girl was (he was already back at his birth weight by 5 days old!)”
According to the Mayo Clinic, “mastitis most commonly affects women who are breast-feeding.” It’s when the tissue in the breast becomes inflamed causing “breast pain, swelling, warmth, redness,” and sometimes “fever and chills.”
The mom of two says she plans on sharing Bode’s birth story on her and Jeremey’s Behind the Scenes podcast. Audrey then continued:
“Along with the booby pains, there’s the stitches and other pains “down there”, the body aches/lightheadedness (I hemorrhaged pretty bad this time), the pelvic bones that feel broken, the postpartum contractions (so much worse with second baby), sore muscles from labor, etc.”
The author said she wants to be as real as possible and share all of what she’s feeling because the downs aren’t talked as much as the ups when it comes to birth.
Audrey wrote, “I don’t think enough people share about their postpartum journey. We are so excited to share birth stories and document our whole pregnancies but then postpartum hits and nothing. I wish someone would have better prepared me the first time around or been more honest about all the after-birth pains.”
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“So here I am, showing up with my 1-week postpartum belly exposed and telling you my body hurts. But despite the physical pains, I know these weeks of forced slow-down are exactly what my body and heart needs. REST. So if you’re in this season of life too, give yourself permission to rest and heal. I’m letting go of the pressure to rush back into working out, my social life, household chores, my pre-pregnancy clothes, or any kind of commitment that conflicts with recovery and rest. […] I have to remind myself every day that rest is one of the most productive things I can do right now. So I’ll be here with a baby on my chest, in milk stained pj’s, embracing JOMO (the joy of missing out).”
Thousands of people responded to Audrey’s honesty, thanking her for her transparency.
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