Post-partum care in the US
http://jezebel.com/stop-acting-like-bouncing-back-from-labor-is-even-pos-1168230225
Gotti, my friend and co-owner of this blogpost, sent me this article. It details how little priority post-partum care gets in the US and how women are expected to magically and predictably bounce back to work soon after giving birth. No surprises there. In fact, soon after Kate Middleton gave birth to her son, there were plenty of articles congratulating her on not hiding her belly- a fact that will, only in America, be newsworthy.
As someone who's gone through post-partum life twice in the US while working, I think the article has got it right on most accounts.
But one thing the article does not mention, and which I have found multiple times from my own experience is this: Many American women do not want their moms/mothers-in-law/other relatives to come and help. I know at least 3 women who have expressed strong disbelief over the fact that my mom and my MIL come over for months at a time to help out with the pregnancy, delivery, post-partum care and child-care. "How can you stand it?" they ask incredulously. "I couldn't live for a week with my mom without fighting with her, let alone 6 months", some say. "Hell, no! My MIL isn't getting so close to my kids", says another.
One of my lab members had triplets (TRIPLETS!!) and decided that she would rather struggle through with recovering from a C-section and taking care of 3 newborns with than ask a family member to stay any longer than 1 week because, she said, "His/her lifestyle is too different than ours"
I'm lucky: my mom and I are pretty close and I like hanging out with her. And what I learned from living with my mother-in-law for six months when my first child was an infant was this: tolerance and good-will go a LONG way in easing one's life and bringing a family together.
So America, sure, postpartum life for working moms sucks. But I think things could improve tremendously if one were a little more amenable to working with some changes.
Gotti, my friend and co-owner of this blogpost, sent me this article. It details how little priority post-partum care gets in the US and how women are expected to magically and predictably bounce back to work soon after giving birth. No surprises there. In fact, soon after Kate Middleton gave birth to her son, there were plenty of articles congratulating her on not hiding her belly- a fact that will, only in America, be newsworthy.
As someone who's gone through post-partum life twice in the US while working, I think the article has got it right on most accounts.
But one thing the article does not mention, and which I have found multiple times from my own experience is this: Many American women do not want their moms/mothers-in-law/other relatives to come and help. I know at least 3 women who have expressed strong disbelief over the fact that my mom and my MIL come over for months at a time to help out with the pregnancy, delivery, post-partum care and child-care. "How can you stand it?" they ask incredulously. "I couldn't live for a week with my mom without fighting with her, let alone 6 months", some say. "Hell, no! My MIL isn't getting so close to my kids", says another.
One of my lab members had triplets (TRIPLETS!!) and decided that she would rather struggle through with recovering from a C-section and taking care of 3 newborns with than ask a family member to stay any longer than 1 week because, she said, "His/her lifestyle is too different than ours"
I'm lucky: my mom and I are pretty close and I like hanging out with her. And what I learned from living with my mother-in-law for six months when my first child was an infant was this: tolerance and good-will go a LONG way in easing one's life and bringing a family together.
So America, sure, postpartum life for working moms sucks. But I think things could improve tremendously if one were a little more amenable to working with some changes.