Grilled Cheese And Grief: How I Cooked My Way Through Postpartum Depression
HuffPost
"My body wanted fuel, but my brain didn’t have the capacity to think about food." Here's how the author found her way back to joy through cooking.
My husband, Tony, and I had a plan for my first meal after our baby was born: a raw seafood tower and a strong margarita with a salted rim. These were two things I craved furiously during pregnancy and waited longingly to enjoy.
Instead, the COVID-19 pandemic came sweeping through the world, and everything shut down. We weren’t allowed to leave the hospital room after Simone, our baby girl, was born in April 2020. I remember negotiating with the nurse — I was ravenous after 15 hours of labor and an emergency C-section. I wanted the grilled chicken sandwich from the hospital dinner menu. She said I could have another apple juice and some Jell-O.