There was once a time when a woman who just gave birth was encouraged and expected to do little else than rest, recover, and nurse the baby. This was called lying in—a time for mother and infant to convalescence for the days and weeks after childbirth.
Read MoreHow do I put this delicately? I don’t like postpartum “body pics.” I’m talking about “before and after” and even those “real” this-is-how-it-is kind of images.
My reason is probably not what you think.
Read MoreIt dawned on me recently that I should view my pelvic floor injury from giving birth in a similar way: rehab the heck out of it, and do maintenance when it acts up!
Coming to this revelation took self-reflection. I resented the idea of perpetual maintenance of my pelvic floor. Why can't it just work? I also resisted viewing my experience giving birth as "traumatic" or that it injured me. Those words "injury" and "trauma" are so loaded, especially when it comes to the act of giving birth.
But, then I realized, I don't have to view giving birth as "either/or." Birthing my son was an intense, emotional, difficult, easy, magical, real, out-of-body, in-the-body experience. Regardless of what emotion I attach to the experience, the reality is that I did sustain a pelvic floor injury.
Read MoreSometimes childbirth scars us, physically and emotionally.
These two kinds of scars seem inseparable from one another.
For me, I didn’t know which one came first, but I knew that as long as my physical issues remained I suffered emotionally.
Read MoreAs long as women are giving birth, the need to support postpartum moms remains. We’re far from ensuring that support, and in the past few years it seems as though access to comprehensive women’s health is increasingly threatened.
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