For those saying Meghan Markle must be pregnant again, here are 27 real postpartum bodies.

This week, Meghan Markle left her house.

To be specific, the Duchess of Sussex is back at work alongside Prince Harry on the royal couple’s 2019 tour of South Africa, just under five months after giving birth to baby Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.

The 38-year-old has jumped right back into advocating for causes close to her heart. So far on this tour, Meghan has met with local female technology entrepreneurs to discuss fostering young businesswomen, and delivered a powerful speech while visiting charity The Justice Desk, saying:

“I am here with you as a mother, as a wife, as a woman, as a woman of colour, and as your sister… the work that’s being done here is to keep women and children safer, which is needed now more than ever.”

It's very important work, but you know what's even more important? Her body, some media outlets and social media users would argue. You see, they think her body has changed and would like everyone to know. They'd also like everyone to know she's obviously pregnant again because, stomach.

Oh, and she's re-wearing a lot of the outfits she wore when she was pregnant on the royal tour of Australia back in October, 2018. And wearing an outfit more than once is strange (??).

On Wednesday, New Idea reported Meghan Markle is currently experiencing a "second pregnancy shock". Royal fans are convinced she's up the duff because she made a "sweet nod to Archie's pregnancy," according to Express.

Whether Meghan is pregnant or not, we don't know. But what we do know is, she's a new mum who birthed a small person, and undertaking such a task changes one's body. It also changes everyone's body differently. And just because some are of the opinion Meghan appears to not have 'bounced back' to her pre-pregnancy frame, that does not automatically mean there's another baby in her stomach.

Side note - Mamamia mums talk candidly about post-baby body expectations. Post continues after video.

Sometimes, women eat things that make their tummies bigger. Doesn’t mean we’re pregnant.

Sometimes, women gave birth a few weeks ago. Or years ago, and they still don't recognise their bodies. Again, not preggo.

Sometimes, women wear shift dresses, bodycon styles or high- waisted pants with a shirt tucked in that, from the wrong angle, could make our stomachs appear rounder. Sometimes, it’s literally just your body shape.

Women have stomachs, FUPAs and pouches, not because they’re pregnant, and also not because they haven’t 'lost their baby weight yet'.

Sometimes, women are pregnant, but aren’t ready to tell the world yet because they’re scared they might lose their baby. Then there’s the women who can’t get pregnant at all, which makes any conversations around is she or isn’t she even more painful.

And sometimes, the wind blows or we take a deep breath and, yep, we’re still… not pregnant.

Thanks to the shiny, filtered world of Instagram, it feels like we’ve forgotten what stomachs that don’t have babies growing in them actually look like. Thankfully, the tide is changing and more and more women with public followings are choosing to depict post-partum life, adult nappies and all.

 

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A post shared by EMILY SKYE | Fitness + Health (@emilyskyefit) on Jan 11, 2018 at 7:01am PST

 

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A post shared by Tiffiny Hall (@tiffhall_xo) on Sep 19, 2017 at 1:18am PDT

 

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A post shared by BetterPostpartum (@betterpostpartum) on May 14, 2019 at 5:50am PDT

 

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A post shared by 4th Trimester Bodies Project (@4thtribodies) on Aug 26, 2019 at 3:41pm PDT

 

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A post shared by Doctor Mommy, MD (@doctormommymd) on Aug 13, 2019 at 7:52am PDT

 

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A post shared by Josephine Neubert Fotografie (@josephine_neubert_fotografie) on Jul 17, 2019 at 10:27am PDT

 

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A post shared by ÍaraVazquez (@iaravazquezminasian) on Sep 23, 2019 at 6:55am PDT

To reset the balance and make sure we’re all on the same page, here are 20 photos of women postpartum to serve as a reminder that post-baby bodies can be flat, round, squishy, wobbly, strong, sticky outy and everything in between.

They can also be pregnant, but best not to assume, eh?

Thank you to all the brilliant members of the Mamamia community who supplied their images and thoughts for this story. We see you. We appreciate you. You rock.

How does seeing Meghan Markle's post-baby body make you feel? Tell us what you think in the comments!