I cannot believe that the day is finally here. Today we get to share our book Life After Birth with the world. This is a book that is deeply personal to me, the Knix team and our co-authors from Carriage House Birth. Over the past two and half years we have had the honour of hearing the postpartum experiences of hundreds of people from our community and we are sharing many of these stories with you in the book. Whether you’re expecting, you’re 10 days (or 10 years) postpartum, or you’ve simply come here to wonder at the beauty that is birth— we’ve created this book to help build a beautiful community full of sacred stories that normalize, celebrate and honor postpartum experiences.
I am especially proud that 100% of the proceeds that Knix and Carriage House Birth receive from the book will go towards the NOURISH Postpartum program created in partnership with the Black Women’s Health Imperative.
I first came up with the idea for Life After Birth when I was three days postpartum with my first child, Cole. Amidst a cloud of postpartum depression I was seriously struggling with breastfeeding - all the while wear-testing nursing bras that my team had designed. The irony was not lost on me. When I went to my personal Instagram page to share my struggles I was overwhelmed by the hundreds of messages I received in return. It turns out I wasn’t alone. In a world of picture perfect selfies, adorable Instagram babies dressed as little animals and the cringeworthy #blessed we had masked the real postpartum experience. We so quickly forget that in those precious few moments of birth, you’re introduced to someone else entirely new. And it’s not your baby— it’s you.
Life After Birth didn’t start as a book, but rather a photography exhibit in Soho, Manhattan. The energy of opening night was unforgettable. The anticipation and nerves as we set up were running at an all time high. What would people think? Would it speak to them? What would become of this little passion project and message we needed the world to hear?
Joanna outside the Life After Birth gallery in New York.
Never in our wildest dreams could we have anticipated the response. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house— ours included. People spent hours combing through every photograph, reading every caption and reflecting on every story. It was immediately clear that every postpartum journey photographed was a window into the contributor’s soul, and people were genuinely drawn to these experiences. We knew we succeeded. We had built a connection; we had built a community.
We created this project to change society’s postpartum narrative. Magazine headlines are dominated with stories of celebrities “bouncing back” and maternity leaves are shorter than ever. We talk about the “fourth trimester” but in doing so, are limiting that part of the journey to a mere 12 weeks.
We believe in a different postpartum experience. Instead of viewing postpartum as a matter of days or weeks or months, we honored the experience for what it truly is and recognized that we are postpartum forever.
We believe that the power of storytelling can help us change this narrative.
In many ways, this book follows the path of the exhibit that started it all— a journey through hundreds of stories that takes you down the beautiful, messy, humbling and transformative road that is life after birth.
We hope you find connection and comfort in the stories in the book from contributors from all over the world. We are so incredibly thankful to the more than 750 people that submitted their journeys to us. You brought this beautiful project to life. A special thank you to Christy Turlington, Amy Schumer, Jillian Harris and Jemima Kirke who trusted us with their stories and came on board when this project was just an inkling of an idea. And of course, we are especially grateful to Ashley Graham for her beautifully honest forward.
One of the magical things about putting this project together was that we had no idea what to expect. But one thing became abundantly clear very early on— that the postpartum journey brings out a different side to who you are. It unlocks newfound strength, patience, love and resilience that you likely didn’t know existed.
And that’s the beauty of being postpartum forever— you get to take all of these transformative moments, teachings, and experiences and keep them with you through every other journey life throws at you. We can’t wait to hear what you think of the book and we can’t wait to see what you do in your Life After Birth.
Much love, Joanna