“I’ll Show Myself Out” - Jessi Klein

 🍼 This collection of essays on midlife and motherhood were humorous and oh-so-relatable to this middle aged mother. Klein’s observations are witty, humorous, sometimes sarcastic, and occasionally poetic. As I reflected on my no-longer-toddler boys, her line about your toddler telling you about their day at preschool compared to a “puddle’s reflection of the sky” got me right in the feels.

🍼 Klein’s chapter on the “underwear sandwich” should be required reading for all persons - whether or not they have birthed or plan to birth babies. She asks the question that many first-time mothers ask ourselves: why is the vast majority of the gory aftermath and complicated logistics of the postpartum body immediately after delivery, knowledge that is only revealed to us in the moment as we experience it? I went into labor with knowledge of nipple cream and feeding schedules, diapering best practices, and a hazy “what to expect” of L&D. The postpartum was an unknown, and other than one girlfriend’s sage advice to grab every pair of mesh undies the hospital provided, I was utterly clueless. The mesh undies, colase, and plastic squeeze bottle were all given as parting gifts, but their value only became apparent in the exact moment that I needed those items.

Klein points out that middle school health classes and baby prep classes do not address the postpartum experience at all (though middle schoolers are taught about “nocturnal emissions” 100% of the time). In regards to the PP experience of mothers, baby prep classes only seem to ever discuss engorgement and mastitis. All the knowledge we’re given beforehand pertains to our bodies as baby nourishers. Nobody mentions the unholy terror of that first BM. I, for one, would rather be scared shitless (pun very much intended) than learn everything as I experienced it.

🍼 I unreservedly recommend this book to every one of my girlfriends. I listened to the audiobook daily as I waited in the interminable car pick up line at my kids’ school, and found the time flew by as I sat in my car, mystified that someone else was articulating many of my own thoughts and experiences on the journey of motherhood and middle age. I will definitely pick up Klein’s “You’ll Grow Out of It” next!