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

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.

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.

So, this is the first review I have ever written on amazon.But this book resonated with me and it deserves so much praise. I am a mom of two, and found this book post second baby. I wish it had been written a few years ago before my first, but alas that seems to be how life works, right? You find the pieces of puzzles at the right time because they are simply part of your right-this-moment journey. And elaborating on everyone's journey is exactly what Kimberly does so well. She delves into what is it to become a mother from the physical, mystical, spiritual an emotional journey that we depart upon, and how that plays into recovery and our new life. True, life is never the same after children, and her advice is that of which we do not get enough of in conventional care, unfortunately. She details the need to take time to ourselves after birth, to REALLY, TRULY care for our bodies and babies at home. This is something I learned on my own after having our first, and realizing allowing people to stay in our home for weeks after baby came was crazy! The second time around, I am still in hibernation mode but in a lovely way. What Kimberly includes in her book that is SEVERELY LACKING everywhere else is the discussion around sex and intimacy, and especially healing postpartum. Kimberly's book is truly one of the only books out there to address your pelvic floor in a more detailed way (i.e. not glossed over like it is in 99.9% of other reads) and gives advice on healing those concerns. If you are looking for a book that encompasses all the ways that you need some guidance post baby, this is it. It has so much information, but it is more than that. It is a positive, loving read that is as supportive of moms as you can get short of a talk with a healer in person.

I mostly enjoyed the book, and found some useful tips and advice. Some of the recommendations seemed a bit strange to me but I'm willing to believe they could work for some.What I appreciated the most was the candor about what could go wrong during or after labour, and that it's important to rest after giving birth. I probably would have been the person to start doing everything myself during maternity leave and not using the time to rest, heal and bond with my baby. I'm also the kind of person that likes preparing mentally that things could go wrong and how to go about it if it does. Far from the information making me anxious, I appreciate being told that it's not all sunshine and roses as I have been led to believe. I also think it's empowering to know that these issues are common and not to just accept the answer "it will get better with time"