How pregnancy and birth transformed my body image

I wrote this article in 2014, two weeks before my daughter’s first birthday. I include it here to remember—to remember what it was like to be in my early postpartum days. To remind myself of the hard-won truths I explored in this piece (we all need reminders right?) And to remember the kinds of meaning I have fashioned from my birth experience in the past (as I encourage parents to do in their birth story writing). I also offer this here, of course, to share with you. Because this -ish is timeless. And because sharing our stories offers a way for us to connect, heal, shape culture, and more.    

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Jodi Neufeld
Writing about Trauma and Why my Logo is the Sacred Heart

In this blog, I wanted to write about why my logo is a take on Mary’s Sacred Heart. Then I remembered, I write about this in my book. So let’s let the book do the talking shall we?  In Chapter five of Birth Your Story: Why Writing About your Birth Matters, titled “Write to Heal,” I talk not only about how we can write to heal but also about a personal healing journey of mine and the Sacred Heart’s role in this tale. This excerpt is what appears below.  

 Also worth my noting is that Chapter 16 of the book, “How to Write about Trauma,” covers how to write about trauma in greater detail. 

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When You Can't Write

I am in the thick of something big in my life right now.  And forgive me at the outset for being intentionally vague about this thing; that’s actually what this blog is about. See, this thing has been unfolding for over a year, maybe several years, maybe my whole life or even lifetimes, and it touches me to my soul-bones. I’ve been wading through the dark caverns of some of the highest stakes core issues of my life. It’s been scary and sometimes, I have feared, too much for me to bear.  

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