You’ve had your baby. You’re in the thick of the newborn haze, soaking in the snuggles, healing your body. But your house is also a wreck, you’ve been eating takeout for weeks, and you don’t know the last time you showered. Perhaps your partner has returned to paid work (if they were able to get any time off at all) and you are spending hours alone, caring for a newborn. You might be wondering, at this point: “Where the heck is my village?”

Having a baby should be the happiest time of your life, right? After 9-10 long months, several hours of labor, to say nothing of the planning you may have gone through to even get pregnant, your bundle of joy is finally here. But you feel…lonely. Why is that? And why does no one talk about it?

You’ve planned out your pregnancy, your birth, the nursery, even the outfit your new baby will come home in. But have you planned out your postpartum experience?