Matrescence: On Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Motherhood

In this probing meditation, journalist Jones (The Nature Seed) reflects on how becoming a mother physically and mentally transforms women. Jones emphasizes the beauty and volatility of maternity, juxtaposing the deep love she feels for her three young children with the crushing exhaustion she endured as their primary caregiver. Discussing her postpartum depression, Jones observes that though probiotics and neurosteroids have shown promise in curbing symptoms, they should be paired with more robust social support for new mothers (namely, “affordable childcare and investment in perinatal healthcare”). Unconventional stylistic decisions punctuate the narrative, as when Jones underscores the agony of labor (“so awful and so full of power”) by arranging the phrase “this is how big it needs to be” in a large circle meant to represent a dilated cervix. Seamlessly weaving personal recollections with broader social analysis, Jones describes how she was once “attracted to the idea of a ‘natural birth’ without pain relief” but later discovered that the “fetishization” of natural birth was largely invented by 20th-century obstetrician Grantly Dick-Read, who claimed “modern women” only experienced pain during childbirth because they had lost touch with their natural instincts. Elevated by inventive formal flourishes and searching reflection, this will resonate with mothers of all stripes. Agent: Jessica Woollard, David Higham Assoc. (May)