"Bornside Mama" Got Me Through the Hardest Month of My Life — A Postpartum Story
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Nobody warned me how hard it would really be. Not just the physical part — the tearing, the bleeding, the leaking — but the emotional storm. I went from excited and glowing to exhausted and broken. The baby wouldn’t latch. I cried every night. I felt like a failure, even though I was doing everything “right.”
My partner didn’t understand. The internet was overwhelming. My mom gave advice that felt like pressure. And I felt like I was losing myself in it all. I remember one night, around 3 AM, baby screaming, me crying on the bathroom floor, searching on my phone “is it normal to hate postpartum?” That’s when I found a thread where someone mentioned a book called "Bornside Mama." They said it was the only thing that made them feel sane in those first 30 days. I ordered it right then. What I found wasn’t a manual. It was a mirror. It didn’t tell me what to do — it told me I wasn’t crazy.
That bleeding through everything was normal. That hating the night feedings didn’t make me a bad mom. That crying in the shower could be part of healing. It told me how to ask for help without guilt. How to talk to my partner in ways that got through. How to survive the days that felt like too much. The tone wasn’t preachy. It was like a friend whispering, “You’re not alone. And you’re not broken.” That book lived on my nightstand. Some pages got stained with tears. Others made me laugh when I didn’t think I could.
It reminded me to breathe. To drink water. To rest. To stop Googling. Most of all, it helped me trust my instincts — not the noise. And that changed everything. By week four, I wasn’t just surviving. I was slowly, steadily healing. And I knew I was going to be okay — not because everything got easy, but because I stopped feeling like I had to do it all perfectly. If you’re in the thick of it, or if you’re about to be — get this book.
It won’t solve everything. But it might just save you.