Postpartum Shorts
Who has the time to read amid crushing sleep debt, abdominal pain, around-the-clock caretaking, and the prospect of mastitis?
This collection of short vignettes about the bewildering postpartum season of life is dedicated to anyone who lived it or bears witness to someone who did. It is a personal story, not medical, counseling, or parenting advice. See full disclaimer at the end.
Postpartum Desk
It only takes a few days postpartum for a meticulously organized home office desk to turn into just another functional surface.
There are heaps of things. Hospital breast pump rental contract, the third draft of 24/7 newborn care schedule (shared by multiple adults), a crumpled up infant Tylenol printout, weeks of junk mail not yet recycled, a baby monitor, a half-read book about over 50 ways to soothe fussy babies, a beer stein full of water, a half-finished bottle of prenatal vitamins, library books due in the last week of pregnancy, now accumulating late fees so quietly that they almost bring order to postpartum chaos.
Next to the desk, the pumping station designed to soothe, with a calming, beige rocking chair, a neat assortment of snacks organized by size, and books that nurture the soul? Merely a fantasy.
Who has the time to read amid crushing sleep debt, abdominal pain, around-the-clock caretaking, and the prospect of mastitis?
Postpartum Newsletters
There are still escape routes though, brief and irresistible.
Email thumbnails of flashy YouTube videos about “Guess who’s the fake lesbian” or “Asian liberals and conservatives debate politics” temporarily numb pumping pain; a silly marketing blast from Who Gives a Crap with delightful fart jokes takes the edge off the hundredth poopy diaper change; staff-pick newsletters from Roxie Theater transport a frazzled mind to 1980s Hong Kong classics, a tribute to the late David Lynch, Arab Film Festival offerings, and of course, the latest from Yorgos Lanthimos.
The postpartum newsletters weave into a lifeline, a single thread for the maternal psyche to clutch onto for a glimpse of the outside world.
Postpartum Lip Balm
Nestled in a postpartum self-care kit gifted by a friend, an all-natural lip balm ends up lasting for two years before it finally empties.