The Fourth Trimester: A Postpartum Guide to Healing Your Body, Balancing Your Emotions, and Restoring Your Vitality Paperback – December 26, 2017

I bought "The Fourth Trimester" in my second pregnancy as I prepared for a hopeful VBAC. My first postpartum experience included significant emotional turmoil, difficulty bonding with my baby, and a general feeling of freefall. I’d gone into birth with a birth plan, but I had not given much thought to the postpartum period beyond gathering phone numbers for lactation specialists. I knew I needed to go in more prepared and aware the second time.When I bought this book, I expected it to help me prepare for my postpartum recovery, but I didn’t realize how much it would shape my whole approach to mothering, caring for myself, and nurturing my relationships. As soon as I started reading it, I had lots of “aha!” moments and feelings of validation about my relationship to my body, my partner, and my baby. Because of this book, I developed a deeper understanding of my own needs and was able to clarify my values. I was clearer in my communication when I let loved ones know what I would need after birth. For example, as part of my postpartum plan, I asked three close friends to call me and check on me monthly if they hadn’t heard from me. I asked them to please keep calling if I didn't get back to them because retreating socially is a symptom of depression, anxiety, and overwhelm for me.Because of "The Fourth Trimester", I gave myself the permission to shape my postpartum time in a way that felt appropriately nurturing and honoring to the gravity of bringing new life into the world. I let go of old scripts of feeling too needy, indulgent, or high maintenance. I was able to face tangled and conflicting emotions with more compassion.I loved that the book includes a helpful bullet-pointed summary at the end of each chapter, as well as reflective questions and recommended practices related to the material. Those resources allowed me to easily reflect further through journaling and conversations with other mothers, as well as with my partner. I wrote a "Postpartum Sanctuary Plan," guided by the template in the appendix. I put a copy of the plan on my fridge so that when things got challenging, I could easily remember what brings me joy and wellness and so could my partner. The "Postpartum Relationship Plan" helped my husband and me remember our sources of connection and our stress patterns. When communication faltered between us as we cared for a newborn and a toddler, the emotional prep work we'd done in my pregnancy helped us meet each other with greater understanding and empathy. The chapters "Rediscovering Your Body" and "Reclaiming Your Sexuality" were particularly impactful to me because of my history as a survivor of sexual abuse.My second postpartum experience was like night and day from my first. I felt seen, cared for, and even radiant. Yes, I did have a long road of healing ahead from a vaginal tear, but I was able to approach the healing from a place of much greater capacity and inner stability. I did not hesitate to prioritize and seek out the support I needed, including pelvic floor therapy. I truly was able to savor my fourth trimester, which has changed my life in dramatic, far-reaching ways. My glowing fourth trimester experience helped restored safety to my system in a way that 10 prior years of healing from abuse did not achieve.Almost two years after first reading it, I still keep "The Fourth Trimester" in a stack of books in my bedroom because it makes me feel better just knowing it’s there if I need it. All I need to do now is flip through it or open to any page and feel reconnected to my capacity and deep inner knowing.Near the end of "The Fourth Trimester", Kimberly Ann Johnson quotes Clarissa Pinkola Estes in saying, “You are born with one mother, but if you are lucky you will have more than one. And among them all you will find most of what you need.” Kimberly Ann Johnson has been an important mother for me, and much of what I have needed as mother I have learned from her in this book, her podcast, and her classes. My journey in motherhood would look much different without her teachings and without this book. I am forever grateful. Of all the pregnancy and mothering books I would recommend to my friends, this one tops the list as most impactful.

This Book by Kimberly Ann Johnson is a must read for all mamas and birth workers. I am currently pregnant with my third and wish I had this valuable wisdom for my previous births. The focus here of course is on our healing after birth, and the healing of the birth experience itself. This book presents birth as a rite of passage. Largely sharing ancient healing practices from Chinese and Indian culture. Kimberly will also share with you journal prompts to help you process your feelings around your pregnancy, birth, relation to self and to do with your partner. This book truly is a resource, providing a tool kit for you as a Mama, in a society where our resources are not so readily available. Postpartum care shouldn’t happen at a 6 week midwife visit! It starts day 1. The tools she provides include recipes, physical and emotional exercises, breath work, guides to help you gauge if you are experiencing a birth injury (diastases, prolapse, tearing) and how/where to begin seeking help especially if your ob/midwife isn’t being supportive. This book will be my go to gift for pregnant women in my life! I’ve recommended it already to do many and I’ve gifted a copy to my Doula. As women we are often used to putting others first, and ignoring our pain. This can help you indeed the importance of slowing down and allowing yourself the proper space and time for healing.

This is an absolute MUST-READ for all pregnant women, postpartum women, new mothers, long-time mothers who still need healing/understanding AND all the people that love them-- husbands, partners, family members, friends. It's a well-written, soulful guide to understanding and navigating the postpartum time, and covers the many aspects of the complex constellation of becoming a mother-- physical, emotional, relationships, sexual, trauma, injuries, medical problems, nutrition, holistic and effective solutions for common health issues that can arise. Kimberly Johnson has mastered the intersection of a unique combination of expertise, covering the nervous system and trauma, sexuality, pelvic injuries and pelvic health, the physiology and psychology of pregnancy, the physiology and psychology of birth, the physiology and psychology of the postpartum time, body/movement mechanics and posture, cultural consciousness around womanhood/motherhood... and more. She is absolutely brilliant! Most importantly she radically re-frames the postpartum time, challenging cultural norms (including medical norms) about what's involved, and therefore getting humanity and especially women back on track to thriving, loving, and evolving (yes!!!). Get this book for both: a revolutionary approach to motherhood, healing, womanhood, and feminism AND also a detailed easy-to-use practical guidebook to learn and understand the many challenges of a real-life postpartum experience.For me personally, this book was so affirming and healing to read. I had such a rough postpartum time with my first baby (now 2.5 years old) -- I was not prepared (I focused on the birth itself during my pregnancy rather than on the postpartum time), I didn't understand what I would need and require in terms of help and support on every level, I was shocked by the emotional turbulence I felt, I had pelvic floor weakness and prolapse, I was completely physiologically and psychologically and spiritually shattered by the experience of having a newborn and transforming into a mother. This book helps me understand that this transformation into motherhood has the potential to be a healthy and awesome rite of passage -- it will probably be intense but it doesn't have to be pathological. However, to support new mothers properly we need to revive "forgotten" information of womens' health wisdom, and we need a cultural shift. I am happy to say that I am pregnant again and planning my postpartum time with this baby much much differently. This book is my guide, and I am grateful for it.

Good reading when heading to postpartum. I believe we should focus more on pp than only delivery. This is a stage of beginnings, and setting everything for the future.