Tag: postpartum

Unlike postpartum depression (PPD), many people are unaware of postpartum anxiety (PPA). This is true despite the fact that research shows it impacts approximately 10-15%...

I initiated a radical social concept in the 1970s with my friends to support new families in our community. We were feminists and activists. We believed men and women shared equally in the conception, birthing and raising of our children. There was a community gap, however, in our transition from couple-hood to parenthood. We wanted change.

Our existing community where we lived, worked, learned, prayed, and played was disrupted when our babies were born. We were struggling young parents, away from our families, and inundated with professional advice. What we lacked was a supportive environment where we could share our highs and lows, and not be judged or criticized when we admitted to feeling overwhelmed, scared, or inadequate.

Still shunning alcohol because she was breastfeeding her 7-week-old baby, Jessica Hopkins grabbed a 50-pound (23 kg) beer keg with her bare hands and hurled it over a chest-high metal bar.

Women like Hopkins, a former jewelry design assistant, are the fastest-growing group of competitors in Strongman, a sport that involves chucking, dragging and hefting tremendously heavy weights. Events include single-handedly pulling a 23-ton (21-metric-ton) fire truck across a parking lot or heaving a 200-pound fire hydrant onto a shoulder-high platform.

Couples are often worried about what will happen to their sex life after they have a baby. Will it be difficult to make time? Will we still be physically attracted to each other, and how much time will we have to wait after delivery before we can be intimate again? What will a new little person in our house mean to our sex life, and how will we adjust to the needs of the baby while still making time for ourselves?

The sexual implications of having a baby are twofold. First, there are the physical considerations and second there are the psychological factors.