Postpartum recovery is hard—and we need to talk more about it

The part no one really talks about. No, not PPD, but the recovery. The moments, minutes and hours after delivery.

It’s a moment filled with happy tears, a celebration of a new life and pure magic bringing a baby into the world.

It’s also a moment filled with painful tears because it hurts to use the restroom.

It hurts to walk less than a foot away. It hurts because of the contractions that are still there even after your baby is out.

It hurts and it’s so painful.

And sometimes you feel like you have to “hide” all of that hurt so people don’t misunderstand and think you’re “ungrateful.” I finally cried last night because I couldn’t get through another contraction without doing so. I cried last night because I’m traumatized having to sit down and pee. I cried last night because I felt weak and broken down.

I called my husband at 1 in the morning (he’s home with our other kids). I just wanted to cry because of all the pain my body was going through.

“It is so much harder this time around and I don’t know why. I don’t remember postpartum being like this. It hurts so much,” I said. He might not completely understand the level of pain I am in, but he was able to hear it in my voice.

The human body is amazing. But the woman’s body is beyond amazement. We go through so much in our pregnancy, then again during and after birth. We should be proud of ourselves for being so strong—strong enough to bring life into this world. Strong enough to be given the title, “mom/mother/mama.”

Crying and talking about how hard postpartum is doesn’t make us ungrateful beings, it makes us HUMAN.

This is the truth, the reality of childbirth. We sacrifice our bodies because of someone we love. And that someone calls us “Mom.”

You might also like:

• I wasn’t prepared for postpartum anxiety or depression—but I made it through
• Postpartum doulas are the support system all new mothers need
• The day I stopped hiding my postpartum body from my husband