'My body is my trophy' Mum's beautiful Facebook post defending her post-partum body

A mum-of-two has written a touching Facebook post defending her post-partum figure from the criticism that new mothers often face.

Writer and photographer N'tima Preusser took to social media to proclaim her pride for her body, which carried her two daughters, Anabel, two, and Olive, seven months.

'"Hide it!" "Tuck it in!" "Get rid of it!" the world shouts at the parts of my body that carry proof of two pregnancies (in which I grew gigantic),' she says.

'These pieces of me are suppose to be gross, and unacceptable and embarrassing. But I spent way too long hating myself to add to that noise.'

She then goes on to list all of the positives her body has been responsible for during her journey through life and motherhood.

'My body is responsible for persuading me to get out of bed when daylight was daunting. I put food in my own dang mouth when my brain had convinced me I didn't deserve to eat.

'My bones have born the weight of two perfect children, and sustained them as long as it was capable. And yeah, my hair is falling out in fistfuls. And some things hang lower and softer now that they exist.

'But my body is my trophy. My scars tell my stories. My body made me a mother, but my babies made me a woman. This figure is mine.'

https://www.facebook.com/ntimapreusser/posts/10153374198337401

Along with the message, N'tima posted pictures of herself, both posing with her daughters and alone, lifting her t-shirt to expose her stomach.

'I've always been passionate about body image as that is something I struggled with the most growing up,' she told the Huffington Post. 'I've never loved my body more than I do now that I've learned how forgiving it is after building my daughters.

'Loving yourself, completely, is a process. It's OK to desire health, and comfort and confidence in our bodies if that means external change. But, I believe, loving yourself wholly is, ultimately, the first step in achieving any of that.

This isn't the first time that N'tima has penned an ode to her body after pregnancy. In 2013, following the birth of her eldest daughter, she wrote a touching blog post declaring that her baby hadn't ruined her body, as some women often feel.

'My body is full of life. My body is powerful. My body made me a mother,' she typed. 'If anything, I was ruined by the world before I knew her, and she made me whole again.'