A MUM has been praised after sharing a very honest account of what it really means to become a mother.

Just days after giving birth to her daughter, Layla, Autumn Benjamin took to Facebook to post a brutally honest account of her labour, and the days afterwards.

Since being uploaded her post has gone viral, being shared more than 120,000 times and attracting 22,000 comments.

Wearing mesh pants breastfeeding her daughter in the photo, Autumn’s candid words have resonated with people – especially mums – everywhere.

In her lengthy post which she debated writing, Autumn decided it was worth it to “show the hard parts of the aftermath of giving birth, and the ultimate sacrifice that mothers make from day one.”

Her partner, Kevin, took the photo of a photo of the new mum while still in hospital, having given birth just two days before.

Holding her baby in one arm and a fork in the other hand, Autumn says she’s eating her “nice meal” of steak and sides served up by the hospital.

Autumn, from Tennesse, wrote: “I was in new territory.

“Learning to breastfeed this little human being that I just brought into the world. Wearing these big mesh panties, still sporting a pregnant belly.. no one told me your belly doesn’t go down immediately.

“No one told me I’d be bleeding out.”

She recalls the tough first few hours after she had welcomed her baby girl into the world.

She said: “No one told me that I would spend hours crying and full of emotion.

“I remember just laying there in the hospital bed crying.

“I was crying because my babygirl was finally here.. FINALLY! But wait.. that means she isn’t protected inside of me anymore. And that’s a scary feeling.

“At what point, I think Kevin was at a loss. I realized that when I was being held by him in the hospitals shower and I was just crying uncontrollably.

“It’s all a blur but I do remember saying “she’s not safe inside of me anymore” and that was a really hard thing to work through.”

And she very honestly spoke about the reality of labour, and the complications associated with it.

She continued: “I was also in so much pain.. no one tells you that typically with a “quick delivery” comes a bad rip.

“I ripped all the way up and down, and also side to side.

“The weeks following I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t use the bathroom. I wore these big depends diapers. I never thought I would be normal again.

“Kevin had to help me do EVERYTHING from pee, to walk upstairs.”

She bullet-pointed all the things it means to become a mum, saying it is the “ultimate sacrifice.”

Autumn said:

You give up your body for 9 months to grow this little baby.
You go through labor and delivery.
You go through the emotions that come with childbirth.
You let go of all shame as you walk around your house in diapers and ask your SO to spray warm water on your rip while you pee to avoid that burn.
You spend tireless hours latching your baby and feeding your baby to establish and keep up your milk supply because you want to breast feed so. damn. bad.
You remain patient through leaps, growth spurts, and cluster feeding. Despite the turbulent times, she relishes becoming a mother and describes how it has changed her.

She adds: “But most importantly, moms give up who they were before they were a mother.

“Most moms give up a lot of their hobbies, dreams, and plans.

“Moms put their lives on hold so their babies can live out theirs.

“We deal with so many emotions that we internalize- just so we can be mothers to our babies.

“Don’t ever discredit a mother. You don’t know the half.

“I used to be Autumn. Fun loving, crazy, outgoing Autumn.

“But now I’m Layla’s mama. And I’m okay with that.”

People have praised her honesty, with one person responding to her post saying: “No one can prepare you for giving birth or for the emotional state you are In for months after.

“And the changes to your body physically?! A huge sacrifice but so worth it.”

Another person said: “No one will ever know what each and every women experiences after a labour, delivery, breast feeding vs bottle feeding, your pain your recovery.

“If it was shared to the extent women go through we might be a smaller population.

“You are a hero for going through all that. As every person giving birth is.”

A third person wrote: “So true and very well written!”

And this person simply said: “Amazing woman! Had me in tears.”