The Second Nine Months

One Woman Tells the Real Truth About Becoming a Mom. Finally.

When her daughter Blair was born, Vicki experienced that blast of maternal bliss she assumed would carry her through the next nine months of sleepless nights and showerless days. So why did she so quickly begin to doubt herself? Why did it seem like she could do nothing right? Why was the transition into motherhood so difficult for her? Because no one told her the real deal about just how hard it would be.

Described as “a breath of fresh, raw, real, no-kidding motherhood air,” The Second Nine Months lays out the unvarnished truth about those first months with baby: the worry over whether you’re bonding enough, the shock at your body’s transformation into a machine that sprays milk, the fear that you’re the only woman on earth who lacks the “maternal gene, the exhaustion that makes you want to kill your husband, your mother, and your dog. And, most of all, the struggle to balance who you were with whom you’ve become – a mother.

Irreverent, funny, and brutally honest, Vicki lets new moms know they’re not alone and reassures them that when someone coos, “Aren’t you just loving every minute?” it’s perfectly normal to think: “No, actually, I’m not!”

Reading this book felt like sitting down to a glass (or three) of wine with a best friend—a friend brave enough to tell you that the first few months (years) of motherhood are not one giant Hallmark moment. From page one I was riveted, laughing and moved—and felt so much less alone! But the last page, the only thing missing for me was Vicki’s phone number.

~ Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay