I've been taking careful notes throughout pregnancy, birth, and parenthood for several reasons. It helps me stay grounded in what actually happened as I process my memories and heal, it helps me make decisions about how to do things differently in the future, and I hope it can help me stay empathetic to friends going through similar things. I hope this is helpful to anyone considering having children or interesting/validating if you've already had children. What was more difficult than I expected about parenthood? For me, everything that was difficult during pregnancy pales in comparison to the challenges of parenthood and recovering from giving birth. Postpartum anxiety and depression made it hard to make decisions I felt my stress levels spike anytime Henry started crying. It always felt like a horrible thing that must be stopped and it was hard to think straight. It was hard to let go of hovering while other people took care of Henry. I felt so afraid they wouldn't feed