Tag: self-help

Author: Becky Vieira

With all the excitement of having a baby, it’s easy to forget that childbirth takes a toll on the body. Women have to recover from 9 months of their bodies changing. As Vieira puts it: childbirth is the only time a woman is hospitalized, and then sent home to take care of someone else.

As the third trimester dawns, I couldn’t help but notice that despite Western culture’s obsession with self-care, there is very little information about taking care of yourself after having a newborn. Vieria’s book combines personal stories with medical facts to help you plan out the stuff no one ever talks about. People talk about planning the baby’s “going home” outfit, but are you going to need help walking from the car to your bed?

While the stories shared in this book are not always the most reliable (I do not have to worry about accidentally flashing the gardener) I did appreciate the down-to-earth advice about things like freezing pads for pain relief.

I really appreciated the tips and tricks I gleaned from this book. When I got pregnant my body started doing normal pregnancy stuff (like insomnia) that threw me for a loop. I felt like an alien in my own body. I feel way more prepared for my postpartum recovery now that I have some idea of what to expect.