Well, not my life, but my sanity. The first, What Mothers Do: Especially When it Looks Like Nothing, was a present from a very good friend of mine. I started reading it when my baby was about two weeks old. Already I was reeling from the shock of it all, and here was a book full of anecdotes from other women like me about how hard it was. It wasn't that it said things would get easier (though they do), rather what helped was knowing the thoughts and feelings I was having were normal. I could read bits to my partner and show him I was normal too. Thank you Naomi Stadlen, and thank you very good friend who got it for me. I shall buy it for other friends in return.
The second, Life After Birth by Kate Figes, I found in a charity shop when the baby was a couple of months old. It talks about the shock of both birth and of having children and again it showed me I was not alone, that the highs were normal and the lows were normal and that having a baby (birth), and having a baby (it actually being here) is difficult. Wonderful, but difficult. Thank you Kate Figes.
It is such a shock to the system. Desite reading about it and people saying it before the baby arrives, it is only AFTERWARDS that you really know what they mean.
ReplyDeleteAmazing; overwhelming; joyous; relentless; having a baby is such a seismic event for both your mind and body. I only wish I'd found books like these after I had my first one.