Book Review: The Mother Load by Meredith Ethington

Motherhood is hard and author Meredith Ethington beautifully captures the mental load of motherhood in her newest novel “The Mother Load: Surviving the Daily Grind Without Losing Your Ever-Loving Mind.”

This book is going to be my new go-to recommendation for new and expecting moms.

Why?

It so perfectly tackles some of the most unexpected (for me) difficulties of motherhood. I was so unprepared for the new mental load I was taking on when my first baby was born. I wish I had been better prepared.

Too often you see people on social media flaunting new motherhood as something easy. Their bodies bounced back and they are in their pre-baby jeans weeks or days after giving birth.

News flash!

This isn’t normal or what you should expect!

Did I expect this to be the case for me?

Sure did!

So from the start of motherhood I was already feeling like a failure.

And then you see on social media the same people whose bodies bounce back immediately (and good for them and their body, but shame on them for making that seem like it is the normal or what people should expect because that is so far from the truth) make motherhood look so simple.

The reality is it is so hard and the mental load we take on as mothers is astronomical.

Meredith’s book normalizes just how hard motherhood is and drives home the point that what you see on social media is not what you should expect or remember that you are seeing someone’s edited version of motherhood to exclude the hard.

She also talks about the mental health implications of motherhood, primarily new motherhood, so that you can be better prepared to understand the signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety.

I also appreciated her perspective on the relationship with your partner and prepares you for the conversations to have about how new motherhood impacts the mom. I spent so much time as a new mom comparing all of the things I did day in and day out for our newborn resenting the few physical tasks I felt like my husband was doing. I realized how unhelpful that was through my own experience and was able to approach that stage differently with my second. But this book would have better prepared me if I had it before my first.

If you are a new or expecting mom, whether this is your first baby of sixth, “The Mother Load” is a must have for your bookshelf!