Matrescence: On Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Motherhood

Award-winning journalist Jones (Losing Eden: Why Our Minds Need the Wild) pens a scientific and poetic ode to motherhood. Equating volcanic eruption to birth and exploring the bond that mother trees have with son and daughter trees through chemical signs, Jones shows how the natural world is full of beauty and contains many parallels to human motherhood. She encourages readers to shed their “good mother” assumptions as a snake does its skin. Raw and real, she details her depression in the months after her baby was born, exposes the pressure on mothers to provide constant and exclusive nurture, and shares the emotions, including feelings of guilt, that she had about breastfeeding. She also explores the stigma and shame surrounding decisions about breastfeeding and natural childbirth, the embarrassment involved in seeking help, and the lack of honest discussion about risks. Jone also asks why celebrations exist for other rites of passage but not for the emotional transition to parenthood. Her lyrical prose is celebratory while acknowledging the challenges that can arise during pregnancy and throughout motherhood.