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Mat Leonard's avatar

Firstly, I don't know what the big deal is, pregnancy and postpartum were pretty easy for me.

Secondly, those women were talking on the corner for SO LONG. They were standing the whole time! It was hours!

E. Sjule's avatar

look at us getting turned into NIMBYs the second we conceive a child.

GET OUT TALKING LADIES, IT IS UNTOWARD! NOT ON MY SIDEWALK!

Tina Neidlein's avatar

These are so good. It’s been 23 years since I was post-partum and yet you’ve helped me to remember it like it was yesterday!

E. Sjule's avatar

Thank you so much, Tina!

Even I've forgotten so much of this crazy experience! Resharing these cartoons was a fresh reminder on my end too. It's wild to me how quickly these things can be forgotten, regardless of how visceral they were??

Ken's avatar

Absolutely fabulous! From my 'supporting a partner' viewpoint, you've captured everything but the overnight/ongoing stuff, where I could help by changing diapers and rocking to sleep. Not that it was easy, or that I was perfect at it...

The World definitely needs more graphics like this!

E. Sjule's avatar

Thank you so much, Ken! I had a book proposal about this very topic shopped around to publishers and got no bites! Seems that the consensus is that graphic novels like this don't sell, which is wild to me because I want graphic novels like this desperately.

Margreet de Heer's avatar

I love your comics! It's so important to talk about these things and hear about others' experiences. I never birthed, a conscious choice, and reading your comics make me feel that I made the right choice for me. Some of your experience is relatable because I definitely felt the hormone circus during perimenopause, and it affected me profoundly. It's amazing how the female body is designed to go through so much pain and discomfort, let alone mental upheaval. Spread the awareness!

E. Sjule's avatar

Thank you so much, Margreet! I'm so glad that my stories led you to feeling even more confident in the life you've chosen. I love that! Taking the path I've chosen is definitely a shit show, haha. Good and bad abound!

Oh man I am dreading perimenopause SO BAD. It is lurking, very close by.

I've been studying about it a lot though in hopes that I won't be as blindsided.

Any advice on surviving peri?

Margreet de Heer's avatar

HRT made a world of difference for me: just a little daily pill with a minimal amount of estrogen (and progeston I believe). It set me straight on the flushes, the joint pains, the bad sleep. I started it rather late, more than a year after I stopped bleeding, because I felt I "had to weather it the natural way". Looking back, I wish I'd started sooner. There's many options in that realm: pills, patches, shots - so be assured there is help there when the time comes. For now: good luck with the kid phase!