The lovely Laura Klein and Otis (1 month). Laura had an amazingly wonderful pregnancy and birth and breastfeeding has gone very smoothly as well. Her labor was only four hours from start to finish and while she had planned to deliver in an alternative birthing center they only had time to get to the hospital and have their baby.
Laura says that even though things have fallen into line so beautifully for her, things have still been so incredibly hard. The transitions and the time and figuring everything out for the first time has been such a feat. The first week was bliss and then came a bit of adjustment but she says it's still been so much better than she expected it could be in part due to the support she's had from friends and family.
As a women who is very much interested in the notion that all bodies are beautiful and should be viewed positively, Laura has been interested in these shifts that happen through pregnancy and postpartum. As an athlete and someone who has enjoyed pushing her body and being in control, watching it change so drastically was quite profound. She says in this present moment she views her body more as Otis' body than her own - he grew in it, he gets his sustenance from it, and it hasn't quite yet settled into being hers once again. She says that we can often see flaws where others see a lot of beauty and goodness and she wants to be part of that shift for the betterment of herself and other women.