It Sucked Then I Cried by Heather Armstrong

I'm in one of those moods where I constantly want to be reading. After I devoured Lament on Saturday I immediately wanted to jump into another book. I had The Fall on deck next but I didn't feel like reading about zombies. I could have gone 12 hours til I went to the library to pick up a stack of books waiting for me there, but no, I had to have something to read right.this.minute. So I checked out what I had on my shelves. Something quick and fairly lighthearted. So I went with It Sucked Then I Cried by Heather Armstrong, another book from the free room of my friend's large online retailer employer.
I've never read dooce.com, Heather's blog/website. I'd heard about it. I heard she got fired by her employer after blogging about her job. I don't know why but I thought that was the topic of It Sucked then I Cried. Let me tell you it's not. It Sucked Then I Cried is about Armstrong's pregnancy with her first born, the trials of being a new parent and her postpartum depression and anxiety.
Armstrong is one funny writer. I can see why her blog is so popular. She reminds me a lot of my friends in college. A lot of potty mouth, a lot of drug and alcohol references. Armstrong's not afraid to tell you how it is/was. I can see why a lot of parents would enjoy this book and probably her website.
My favorite part is where she talks about how bad her postpartum depression got. How she reached for help. How that help did help enough. How she committed herself in order to beat her postpartum depression. It was a moving experience, reading how she checked into a mental hospital and found a doctor who helped her. A lot of people say mental illness is a weakness. But Armstrong clearly shows that it takes strength to get the help she needed. She immediately became a better mother and wife, an improved version of herself.
I recommend this book to any woman who's been pregnant, wants to be pregnant, women who have struggled with postpartum depression and to those whose partners are pregnant, thinking of getting pregnant or who have gone through postpartum depression.
Others who've read It Sucked Then I Cried and shared their thoughts: The Thinking Mother, Book Addiction, and Massachusetts Friends of Midwives.