Rapper Cardi B took to Instagram recently to explain how she’s felt since giving birth to her first child. The 25-year-old former stripper, known for her straight-talk, no-filter, raised-in-the-Bronx attitude, had planned to tour with Bruno Mars. But after having a baby, Cardi B decided she wasn’t ready to bounce back, and wanted to take more time with her newborn.
In a society that applauds women who leave the hospital in their old jean size and that thinks women should be able to constantly have it all and do it all, I agree with Cardi B’s refreshing take on the postpartum period: rest and recovery is key.
Having a baby, especially a baby for the first time, is a life-changing event. Yes, women have birthed babies for millennia, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an adjustment or that there’s not a few things to learn. While most women I know do typically “bounce back,” and I feel like I did — I recall taking my youngest to Good Stuff Eatery in Washington, D.C., when he was a few days old and everyone oohed and aahed over his tiny self — there shouldn’t be pressure to behave as if mom hasn’t experienced a major change in her body and emotions.
Cardi B is right to acknowledge that her body has gone through major changes, and her emotions with it. Nowadays, there’s often so much pressure to behave as if nothing has happened after giving birth, it sets up unrealistic expectations afterward. This, along with the significant hormonal changes, can create “baby blues” or full-on postpartum depression.
More and more stars are opening up about postpartum depression, another common phenomenon among women that has often been hushed. Although Cardi B does not say she’s dealing with depression in her Instagram post, tennis star Serena Williams has been honest and open about her struggle to balance postpartum emotions with raising a baby and still playing tennis.
A famous person’s opinion doesn’t necessarily carry more weight than us regular folk, but stars always seem so put together and this, as it relates to motherhood, can be a false ideal for many women. If they are open about body weight issues, emotions gone awry, depression, and how hard it is to get back in those jeans, maybe the rest of us won’t feel as bad when we go through those things too.
It’s normal. It’s part of motherhood. It’s okay.
There’s a lot of strength in those ideas and often just knowing women are not alone when they venture into motherhood is a powerful enough thing to get women through what is an equally joyful but difficult season.
[Also read: Bernie Sanders: ‘Cardi B is right,’ we need to strengthen Social Security]
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.
