Ashley Graham poses in maternity pants with the 'amazing' women who made her 'labour and delivery so smooth'

Ashley Graham has shared a throwback picture of herself wearing maternity pants and posing with the “amazing” women who made her “labour and delivery so smooth”.

Nine months ago, the model gave birth to her first child, Isaac, and to mark the occasion the new mum chose to share an image with her delivery team, thanking them for their support and delivering a dose of body positivity at the same time.

Since welcoming her baby earlier this year, the Graham, 32, has been regularly praised for helping other mums have the confidence to embrace their post-pregnancy bodies.

And her latest Instagram post is no exception.

Sharing a candid snapshot of herself lying on the bed wearing nothing but maternity knickers, her newborn lying next to her on the bed, Graham gave her followers a glimpse of her first moments with her son.

Read more: Ashley Graham pumps breast milk backstage at fashion week as she returns to the runway

In the accompanying caption, the body positive advocate paid tribute to the team who helped support her while she was giving birth.

“Can’t believe Isaac is nine months today! Nie months in, nine months out,” she wrote. “Thank you to this phenomenal team for making my labor and delivery so smooth. We are so lucky to have the support from these amazing women!”

Read more: Ashley Graham praised for normalising breastfeeding with intimate Instagram photos

Within hours of sharing the image, the model was inundated with messages from her followers, thanking her for normalising sharing images of women’s bodies post-childbirth.

“Love the candid photos love,” one follower wrote. “We need to normalise real bodies before, during, and after birth.”

“I love this picture. So powerful,” another agreed.

“What a beautiful moment to share,” a third commented.

Watch: Ashley Graham reveals she suffers from night terrors.

Over the weekend the model was also praised by fans for daring to bare all in a nude bathroom selfie.

With nothing but crossed arms and her bathroom counter offering a bit of cover, the mum shared the image to Instagram with the simple caption “Nakie big girl.”

The bold shot quickly drew compliments from followers and celebrity fans including Helena Christensen and Emily Ratajkowsk.

But one commenter expressed reservations about Graham being labeled as “big,” prompting a response from Graham, who explained that she doesn’t see that term as a negative.

“I hate that this is seen as ‘big girl,” the commenter wrote. “I see nothing but a beautiful, naturally curvy woman in all her glory... super-sexy and womanly.”

“I hear what you’re saying,” Graham replied. “But if you look at ‘big’ as a positive or love then you can see it like I do.Ii love my big strong beautiful body. Love you girlie.”

This isn’t the first time Graham has been praised for helping new mothers to embrace their post-pregnancy bodies.

Last month, she used her Instagram platform to proudly show off her postpartum stretch marks.

Sharing a video of her cupping her hands in the shape of a heart over the stretch marks on her stomach, Graham captioned the photo with every coloured heart on her emoji keyboard.

Read more: Ashley Graham shows off postpartum stretch marks in new swimsuit campaign

Earlier this year Graham was also praised by fans for sharing her post-birth healing journey on social media.

Sharing a candid post to Instagram, she discussed the realities of her postpartum body, explaining “no one talks about the recovery” aspect of new motherhood.

Graham, who welcomed son Isaac Menelik Giovanni Ervin with husband Justin Ervin on 18 January, wrote in the caption:

“Raise your hand if you didn’t know you’d be changing your own diapers too.

“After all these years in fashion I never could’ve guessed that disposable underwear would be my favourite piece of clothing but here we are!”

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