When you scroll through most new-mom feeds, it’s all glowing skin, tiny toes and filtered bliss. But South African content creator Natasha Joubert (now going by her married surname, Vermaak) just flipped the script with a refreshingly honest carousel of posts as she navigates life as a new mom.
In a moving Instagram series, Natasha shared the moment the postpartum hormone drop hit her like a freight train and why it’s time we stop pretending the fourth trimester is all rainbows and recovery.
The adrenaline high, and the day 5 crash
In her own words, the first four days at home after bringing the baby home were pure adrenaline:
“My adrenaline was at an all-time high. Healing didn’t feel difficult at all. I was excited, motivated, ready to do anything.”
Then came day five.
“And then… day 5. Joh. Joh. Joh.”
What followed was two full days of non-stop crying, the kind where even your salt-sits get a workout. Natasha says her husband Enrico was visibly worried.
Her midwife, who had checked in three times that first week, suddenly made perfect sense. The hormone drop post-partum, she says, was the one that “completely caught me off guard.”
The selfie she posted says it all: puffy eyes, flushed cheeks, hand on forehead, looking utterly exhausted yet still bravely facing the camera, was a far cry from the perfectly polished way we’ve gotten used to seeing the pageant queen.
The full emotional rollercoaster
Natasha, who has been open about her history of depression and ongoing work with a psychologist since 2021, didn’t shy away from the fear of postpartum depression.
“I have a history of depression… and I am scared of postpartum depression, losing who I am and finding the new normal. I know the old version of myself will never be there again, but would love to keep parts of her.”
Yet amid the tears, she also captured the joy, the quiet moments holding her newborn, the smiles that still break through. In a follow-up post, she shared:
“What you see on my feed is real… but it’s not the full reality. The tears have been there the past few days… but so has the joy. We’re still figuring it out.”
She even called moms “superheroes,” less for the highlight reel moments and more for the invisible battles they fight while the world expects them to glow.
Why her post is going viral (and why it matters)
Natasha’s vulnerability struck a nerve. Fellow moms flooded her comments and DMs, saying they’d experienced the exact same thing. She noted that you only really see these conversations once you’re in “this season,” which is exactly why she decided to speak up.
“I’m sharing this to help normalise postpartum. Speaking to a few people close to me made me realise we’re all going through it, just not always out loud.”
ALSO READ | ‘It wasn’t because I was married or in a relationship’: Sho Madjozi on becoming a ‘choice mom’
“Be kind, gentle to pregnant women, to mothers postpartum, it’s the most vulnerable, fragile and sacred time.”
And at the heart of it all: “The beauty of becoming parents, the hardest thing, yet the most rewarding.”
What every new mom (and those who love them) needs to know
The massive hormonal shift after birth can feel like emotional whiplash. One minute you’re on top of the world; the next, you’re wondering how you’ll ever survive the next hour.
Natasha’s advice isn’t about “fixing” it overnight, it’s about grace. Grace for yourself on the hard days, grace from partners and family, and grace from a society that still pressures new moms to bounce back instantly.
If you’re in the thick of the fourth trimester right now, Natasha’s words are a gentle reminder the tears don’t make you a bad mom. They make you human. The hormone drop is real, the identity shift is real and the love you feel for your baby is real too, even on the days it’s tangled up with exhaustion and doubt.
