Brett Cooper

I mean, it was just like,

And yes, there were a couple of times where when I had 10 minutes by myself and I would stand in the shower, I would cry and think, I don't know if I can do this.

I don't know if I've made a mistake because the adjustment was just that hard.

And based on what I have read and watched and talked to friends about, I think a lot of that, honestly, is just normal because of the insane hormone crash that you have after giving birth, because of the trauma that your body literally

goes through giving birth, you have a wound like the size of this in your stomach, and it's all a sacrifice.

But for me, I knew that a lot of that might take place, I knew that my body was gonna go through something insane, I knew that I might feel completely out of sorts after giving birth, but that was a sacrifice that was so clearly worth making to me.

But I knew that my life was gonna be completely changed, I knew that going into it, I was kind of trepidatious about it because of all the different stories, but it was a sacrifice.

And it did take me about five-ish months, literally just like February, January, to even feel like Brett again.

Like I was laying next to Alex in bed and I was like laughing and telling a joke.

And I was like, oh my gosh, like I find like this feels like me because it was just such a dramatic change.

And I'll say that for a lot of women, by five months, eight months, 12 months, 24 months, they still don't feel that way.

Like it only took me five months, but I only have one child.

I have a husband who loves me and is obsessed with our son who happily changes diapers, happily wakes up in the middle of the night with us.

It took me five months with incredibly involved and excited in-laws who live relatively nearby.

It only took me five months with a mom who lives a couple doors down and having a babysitter and having somebody who can help clean the house and take care of things.

I am blessed with such a remarkable village and I still felt awful.

I still had people in my life when I was really trying and really trying to show up to kind of flippantly say like, when are you going to be back to normal?

And I just didn't know because nothing's normal anymore.

Your entire life has changed.

And so now I want to ask you to imagine how mothers might feel if they don't have these same resources.