A new mother from Phoenix, Arizona, is receiving praise for her honest post depicting the potential struggles of postpartum.
“I was a f*****g mess,” Danielle Haines wrote on Facebook over the weekend.
“My nipples were cracked and bleeding, my milk was almost in, my baby was getting really hungry. I had not slept since I went into labor.”
Despite the pain she was in and the help that she needed when it came to nursing her son, Haines realized how lucky she was to have support from loved ones. Whether it was feeding her, helping feed her baby or just giving her reassurance that her newborn was okay.
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The post seemed to resonate with mothers, many of whom shared their own postpartum photos and confessed how alone they felt during their postpartum.
It was “so exhausting, physically and emotionally, with such little support,” Sarah Currier wrote.
“I felt like everyone came to see my baby one time and then,” added Monica Kurtz, “I was completely alone.
“I knew I should’ve reached out to other women, but I didn’t really have anyone I felt close enough to, to ask.”
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Kurtz and others also felt like they were failing as new mothers.
“I felt like a failure even though I was doing what was the absolute best and safest thing to do for my baby,” wrote Shelly Haines.
Why do some women hide their feelings or feel afraid of “asking too much?” Barbara Hames points out that women are so good at giving, supporting and caring, but they need that themselves as well.
“Blessed are other women who can see through the ‘I’m fine’ mask.”
In a follow-up post, Haines thanked everyone and encouraged people to “reach out to your beloved pregnant mamas and insist on feeding her…At the very least!”
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