Body Full of Stars : Female Rage and My Passage Into Motherhood

What If Labor Does Not End With Pregnancy But Continues Into A Mother's Postpartum Life? How Can The Fiercest Love For Your Child And The Deepest Wells Of Grief Coexist In The Same Moment? How Has Society Neglected Honest Conversation Around The Significant Physical Changes New Mothers Experience? Could Real Healing Occur If Generations Of Women Were Fluent In The Language Of Their Bodies? Molly Caro May Grapples With These Questions As She Undergoes Several Unexpected Health Issues--pelvic-floor Dysfunction, Incontinence, Hormonal Imbalance--after The Birth Of Her First Child, Eula. While She And Her Husband Navigate The Ups And Downs Of New Parenthood, May Moves Between Shock, Sadness, And Anger Over Her Body's Betrayal. She Finally Identifies The Root Of Her Struggle As Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder And So Begins Her Exploration Of What She Calls Female Rage. The Process Leads May To An Overdue Conversation With Her Body In An Attempt To Balance The Physical Changes She Experiences With The Emotional Landscape Opening Up Before Her. Body Full Of Stars Is Dark And Tender, Honest And Corporeal. It Reveals Deeper Truths About How Disconnected Many Modern Women Are From Their Bodies. Most Of All, It Is A Celebration Of The Greatest Story Of All Time: Mothers And Daughters, Partners And Co-parents, And The Feminine Power Surging Beneath It All. Labor -- The Girl Who Climbed Trees -- Amass -- Became Aware Of Her Blood -- Release -- And Took Note Of Her Shape -- Float -- As She Grew Into A Woman -- Shed -- Who Chose A Cause And A Person -- Ground -- And The Moment To Expand -- Mother. Molly Caro May. "This book is an ancient call from our first mothers to connect to our bodiesfor our own good and for the good of humanity . . . It is healing, illuminated." Laura Munson, New York Times bestselling author of This Is Not The Story You Think It Is... What if labor does not end with pregnancy but continues into a mother's postpartum life? How can the fiercest love for your child and the deepest wells of grief coexist in the same moment? How has society neglected honest conversation around the significant physical changes new mothers experience? Could real healing occur if generations of women were fluent in the language of their bodies? Molly Caro May grapples with these questions as she undergoes several unexpected health issues after the birth of her first child Eula: pelvic floor dysfunction, incontinence, hormonal imbalance. As she and her husband navigate new parenthood, May also moves between shock, sadness, and anger over her bodys betrayal. She finally identifies the roots of her anguish as Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder and what she calls female rage. The process leads May to a long-desired conversation with her body in an attempt to balance the physical changes she experiences with the emotional landscape opening up before her. Body Full of Stars is one woman's storydark and tender, honest and corporeal that reveals deeper truths about how disconnected many modern women are from their bodies. It is her "postpartum awakening." It is also a joyful and tenderhearted celebration of the greatest story of all time: mothers and daughters, partners and co-parents, and the feminine power surging beneath it all. A foray into female rage and the passage into motherhood from the author of The Map of Enough Following the birth of her daughter Eula, Molly Caro May suffers from pelvic floor dysfunction, thyroid illness, incontinence, and hormonal imbalance—which lead her to deeper questions about how the modern woman has disconnected from her body. May's shock and grief over her body's betrayal soon becomes unmanageable, even as she remains full of love for her child. As Eula grows, May struggles to make sense of her behavior. She decides to call it postpartum rage. Here begins a long desired and long overdue conversation with her body. A partial diagnosis of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder guides May back to the healing power of her menstrual cycle. She finds her way into a new space of understanding, and ultimately, a healing that goes deeper than the body. Our Bodies Are Not Broken is an honest look at how mothers and daughters hurt and love each... Memoir "In this honest memoir, May recounts how she came to feel connected with her body again. It's a moving work for new moms about a subject that is often overlooked in conversations about postpartum depression." —Real Simple Molly Caro May grapples with questions of grief and rage as she undergoes several unexpected health issues after the birth of her first child. Body Full of Stars both reveals deeper truths about how disconnected many modern women are from their bodies and celebrates the greatest story of all time: mothers and daughters, partners and co–parents, and the feminine power surging beneath it all.