And Now We Have Everything

Operating Instructions for the Millennial set: a fiercely honest account of becoming a mother before you're "ready." Operating Instructions for the Millennial set: a fiercely honest account of becoming a mother before you're "ready."If you feel totally alienated by the cutesy, sanctimonious tone of the "motherhood industrial complex," this is the book for you.After getting accidentally pregnant in her twenties, Meaghan O'Connell realized that brutally honest, agenda-less resources on the emotional and existential impact of motherhood were nowhere to be found. In And Now We Have Everything, she offers a brave new perspective on the transition into motherhood. With her dark humor and a hair-trigger B.S. detector, Meaghan addresses the pervasive imposter syndrome that comes with unplanned pregnancy, the second adolescence of a changing postpartum body, the myth that giving birth is a "magical" experience, the problem of sex post-baby, the strange push to make 'mom friends', and the fascinating weirdness of stepping into a new, not-yet-comfortable identity. Addressing the fears and anxieties of Millennial women in an unflinchingly frank, funny, and visceral way, Meaghan fills a void in the discussion on motherhood, identity, what it means to be ready.

A raw, funny, and fiercely honest account of becoming a mother before feeling like a grown up. When Meaghan O'Connell got accidentally pregnant in her twenties and decided to keep the baby, she realized that the book she needed -- a brutally honest, agenda-free reckoning with the emotional and existential impact of motherhood -- didn't exist. So she decided to write it herself. And Now We Have Everything is O'Connell's exploration of the cataclysmic, impossible-to-prepare-for experience of becoming a mother. With her dark humor and hair-trigger B.S. detector, O'Connell addresses the pervasive imposter syndrome that comes with unplanned pregnancy, the fantasies of a "natural" birth experience that erode maternal self-esteem, post-partum body and sex issues, and the fascinating strangeness of stepping into a new, not-yet-comfortable identity. Channeling fears and anxieties that are still taboo and often unspoken, And Now We Have Everything is an unflinchingly frank, funny, and visceral motherhood story for our times, about having a baby and staying, for better or worse, exactly yourself. Smart, funny, and true in all the best ways, this book made me ache with recognition." -- Cheryl Strayed