And so when she said, just know that you're going to have to push this whole other thing out, I realized on another level what that would be like. They do tell you that that's going to happen.īut what a physician or a midwife or a childbirth educator tells you is often very different from what one of your best friends will tell you. And it was - you know, there's so much about pregnancy and childbirth that it's all theoretical, and you're like, yeah, I'm ready for that.

I mean, the way she said it, it was - it felt visceral, something physically real when she said it. And I want to start by saying, like, you had a friend who had who had given birth who said to you, they might not mention this to you, but, after you're done giving birth to the baby then you first have to expel the placenta, and there's going to be more contractions and something else kind of large (laughter) that you have to expel from your body. GARBES: That was my favorite chapter to write.

I think one of the most fascinating chapters in your book is about the placenta. I'm living on the edge, maybe? I'm not totally sure. And having a book out at the same time is an interesting contrast because that goes out into the world, and you have to be a very public person in many ways after that. GARBES: You enter a necessarily domestic inward place after you have a baby. You enter - I was earlier calling it the milk cave. But I should say you had your second two months ago (laughter). So your book is really about your first child, you know, delivering your first child and everything you've learned about childbirth. A heads-up to parents of young children - we're going to be talking clinically about childbirth and about some of the things that can go wrong.Īngela Garbes, welcome to FRESH AIR. She gave birth to her second child just two months ago. Garbes had her first child nearly four years ago when she was 37. You don't have to be a mother or even a woman to be fascinated by the science and physiology that she writes about. Now she has a new book, called, 'Like A Mother: A Feminist Journey Through The Science And Culture Of Pregnancy.' That led her to do further investigation into pregnancy and childbirth. What she learned about breast milk amazed her, and it amazed readers, too. So she did some research and wrote an article for the weekly Seattle paper The Stranger, where she was a food writer.

She'd been told by medical professionals, books and friends that breast is best, but she didn't understand what was so special about breast milk. After giving birth to her first daughter, my guest, journalist Angela Garbes, started breastfeeding.

Like a mother by angela garbes