The Fifth Trimester Quotes

“Acknowledge their interest by saying: “I so appreciate that you’re thinking about what’s best for our family. I know you love us. Here’s what we think is best.” Legitimize their cultural cluelessness by saying: “As you can see, this is a topic and debate that so many people are having right now. Here’s the choice we’re making.” Deflect their attention by asking: “What did you do? It’s always so interesting to hear how people come to a very personal decision like this. Say, would you like a deviled egg?”
― Lauren Smith Brody, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom's Guide to Style, Sanity, and Success After Baby

“Because if doing something good enough makes you feel like you’re simply checking off a box, going even one tiny step beyond that makes you turn that check into a check-plus, and then you feel great.”
― Lauren Smith Brody, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom's Guide to Style, Sanity, and Success After Baby

“Mark Twain said if you ever have to eat a live frog, eat the live frog in the morning—one of my favorite people at work told me that,” cites Jennifer. “You want to get the most unappealing thing on your list out of the way so you don’t have to feel a distracting sense of doom the rest of the day.”
― Lauren Smith Brody, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom's Guide to Style, Sanity, and Success After Baby

“Guilt” meant wildly different things to different mothers. There were those who said they “felt guilty” because they ached to hold their babies and worried that they’d left them, unsoothed, in less capable hands. Then there were others who luxuriated in the freedom of the office—the air conditioning, the lovely bottled water, the intelligent conversations, the almost-forgotten bliss of being alone in their own skin. Those mothers also “felt guilty,” they said. Why? For not missing their babies more! Guilt was an automatic. Like some unconscious tic.”
― Lauren Smith Brody, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom's Guide to Style, Sanity, and Success After Baby

“Longer maternity leave is associated with better postpartum mental health. That’s been proven time and again, so for goodness sake, if you’re lucky enough to be able to add on some weeks, do.”
― Lauren Smith Brody, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom's Guide to Style, Sanity, and Success After Baby

“The majority of women I polled—71 percent—said that in the first three months back at work, they fought more with their partners at home than they had before. For some, that was the beginning of the end of their marriages. For others, the hard times actually brought them closer to their partners.”
― Lauren Smith Brody, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom's Guide to Style, Sanity, and Success After Baby

“only 11 percent of American workers in the private sector are eligible for paid family leave.”
― Lauren Smith Brody, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom's Guide to Style, Sanity, and Success After Baby

“Here are your magic words for when you can’t employ your parachute quickly enough and (horrors) you’ve had a public, emotional outburst: “Yes, I am struggling a bit with this transition, but I am also confident that things will improve.”
― Lauren Smith Brody, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom's Guide to Style, Sanity, and Success After Baby

“During this transition, make sure you are taking care of your physical, social, and emotional needs, so you can be the best mommy you can be,” says Dr. Davis. “What do you need today? It might be a walk, or a phone call. It might be protein.”
― Lauren Smith Brody, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom's Guide to Style, Sanity, and Success After Baby

“The question for me is not ‘How do I know when this is beyond normal and I need help?’ The question is ‘What do I need right now?’ Asking this question is part of our creativity and intelligence as a parent. It’s a strength, not a weakness.” Try it. What do you need right now?”
― Lauren Smith Brody, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom's Guide to Style, Sanity, and Success After Baby

“The research itself could depress you: New mothers who have fewer than twelve weeks off of work are more likely to experience depressive symptoms, and those with fewer than eight paid weeks off are more likely to have a decrease in their overall health. (Another recent study pinpointed twenty-four weeks as the amount of time needed for mothers to be least likely to experience depression.)”
― Lauren Smith Brody, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom's Guide to Style, Sanity, and Success After Baby

“Being okay with it doesn’t mean that you’re giving it some big thumbs-up,” she explains. “It’s saying, this is where we are today and this is just what it’s like today.” It’s finite. Tomorrow (or tomorrow’s tomorrow) will be better.”
― Lauren Smith Brody, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom's Guide to Style, Sanity, and Success After Baby

“That was my list. Steal it, add to it, make your own. But no matter the details, use the couple of weeks before you go back to set yourself up for success. And then actually have that success. This chapter will tell you how, with advice to help you…”
― Lauren Smith Brody, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom's Guide to Style, Sanity, and Success After Baby