I've been reading a lot of pregnancy guides and have more than one pregnancy app on my phone, but am starting to realize that I'm a bit out of the loop as far as post-partum life goes. While shelving some books at my local library, I came across this memoir of a woman's experience with her firstborn and checked it out on a whim. I think I'm glad I did.
Vicki Glembocki is a successful writer and editor, and this book picks up just after she gives birth to her daughter Blair; it ends just after Blair is nine months old. Glembocki covers the gamut, from feeling guilty for not crying when dropping her daughter off at daycare for the first time (she forces herself to cry just so she can tell everyone she did) to the time she tried to milk herself manually when she forgot her breast pump at home for a day trip to the beach. Glembocki struggles with the isolation of being a new mom, the frustration she feels with her husband for his inability to read her mind, and basically just being a parent.
The gist I got from reading this book is that it's okay to not immediately feel maternal and completely in control of being a new parent. Other people have gone through it and, for the most part, survived. It's given me some new insight into the complicated world of Mommy and Me classes (Bring a blanket for your baby to lay on! Wear makeup!), the endless sleepy nights, and fear of judgment from other people at Babies R Us. When I put it down, I was feeling a little deflated; Glembocki doesn't spend a ton of time on the positive parts of life with Blair and her husband. Surely, there are enough good parts to being a mom to at least rival the negatives. Right?
All in all, I'm glad I read it, and will take comfort in the knowledge that, if things don't go perfectly, I'm in good company. I hope my memoir of the second nine months, though, is a bit more uplifting.
