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

I bought "The Fourth Trimester" in my second pregnancy as I prepared for a hopeful VBAC. My first postpartum experience included significant emotional turmoil, difficulty bonding with my baby, and a general feeling of freefall. I’d gone into birth with a birth plan, but I had not given much thought to the postpartum period beyond gathering phone numbers for lactation specialists. I knew I needed to go in more prepared and aware the second time.When I bought this book, I expected it to help me prepare for my postpartum recovery, but I didn’t realize how much it would shape my whole approach to mothering, caring for myself, and nurturing my relationships. As soon as I started reading it, I had lots of “aha!” moments and feelings of validation about my relationship to my body, my partner, and my baby. Because of this book, I developed a deeper understanding of my own needs and was able to clarify my values. I was clearer in my communication when I let loved ones know what I would need after birth. For example, as part of my postpartum plan, I asked three close friends to call me and check on me monthly if they hadn’t heard from me. I asked them to please keep calling if I didn't get back to them because retreating socially is a symptom of depression, anxiety, and overwhelm for me.Because of "The Fourth Trimester", I gave myself the permission to shape my postpartum time in a way that felt appropriately nurturing and honoring to the gravity of bringing new life into the world. I let go of old scripts of feeling too needy, indulgent, or high maintenance. I was able to face tangled and conflicting emotions with more compassion.I loved that the book includes a helpful bullet-pointed summary at the end of each chapter, as well as reflective questions and recommended practices related to the material. Those resources allowed me to easily reflect further through journaling and conversations with other mothers, as well as with my partner. I wrote a "Postpartum Sanctuary Plan," guided by the template in the appendix. I put a copy of the plan on my fridge so that when things got challenging, I could easily remember what brings me joy and wellness and so could my partner. The "Postpartum Relationship Plan" helped my husband and me remember our sources of connection and our stress patterns. When communication faltered between us as we cared for a newborn and a toddler, the emotional prep work we'd done in my pregnancy helped us meet each other with greater understanding and empathy. The chapters "Rediscovering Your Body" and "Reclaiming Your Sexuality" were particularly impactful to me because of my history as a survivor of sexual abuse.My second postpartum experience was like night and day from my first. I felt seen, cared for, and even radiant. Yes, I did have a long road of healing ahead from a vaginal tear, but I was able to approach the healing from a place of much greater capacity and inner stability. I did not hesitate to prioritize and seek out the support I needed, including pelvic floor therapy. I truly was able to savor my fourth trimester, which has changed my life in dramatic, far-reaching ways. My glowing fourth trimester experience helped restored safety to my system in a way that 10 prior years of healing from abuse did not achieve.Almost two years after first reading it, I still keep "The Fourth Trimester" in a stack of books in my bedroom because it makes me feel better just knowing it’s there if I need it. All I need to do now is flip through it or open to any page and feel reconnected to my capacity and deep inner knowing.Near the end of "The Fourth Trimester", Kimberly Ann Johnson quotes Clarissa Pinkola Estes in saying, “You are born with one mother, but if you are lucky you will have more than one. And among them all you will find most of what you need.” Kimberly Ann Johnson has been an important mother for me, and much of what I have needed as mother I have learned from her in this book, her podcast, and her classes. My journey in motherhood would look much different without her teachings and without this book. I am forever grateful. Of all the pregnancy and mothering books I would recommend to my friends, this one tops the list as most impactful.

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.

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.