There is a quiet abandonment built into motherhood. After the baby arrives, the world gently but decisively turns its gaze. Questions shift. Attention moves outward. The mother is expected to hold the rest privately…recovering offstage, adapting without pause, needing little, asking less.

Within that quiet expectation, something internal begins to form. Women start to minimize their own truths. They tell themselves it's not that bad. They learn to translate exhaustion into gratitude, confusion into shame, grief into something to be endured rather than spoken. What cannot be neatly named is often swallowed whole.

Women don't stay silent because they want to. They stay silent because our culture tells them there is no room for the truth.

In this episode, I sit down with Kate Hernandez, founder of Postparty, a company built on a radical premise: that the recovery of mothers is essential, not optional. Together, we name the truths that are often minimized or ignored: the fear and guilt new mothers carry, the physical realities of postpartum healing, the emotional rupture many women experience, and the permission to hold gratitude and struggle at the same time. In this conversation, we explore:

• Why birth is celebrated while mothers are quietly abandoned afterward.

• How shame keeps mothers from asking for help when they need it most.

• The cultural obsession with bouncing back and who it actually serves.

• Why "being cleared" is not the same as being cared for.

• How virtual and in-home care can close dangerous access gaps.

• The cost of ignoring maternal wellbeing on families, children, and future generations.

• What becomes possible when mothers are finally centered and supported.

• Why postpartum never really "ends", it simply evolves.

Because birth is not the finish line.

It's the handoff into a years-long transformation and the way we show up for mothers in the weeks, months, and years after birth reverberates through families, communities, and generations.

If you're pregnant, newly postpartum, supporting a new mother, or holding your own birth story in silence…this conversation is for you.

Because when the mother is well, the family is well. And when the mother suffers, we all suffer.

If you want to continue this work of honoring the mother, not just the birth, my book Muse is available now. A guide for women reclaiming their identity, restoring inner authority, and returning to themselves in every season.

Connect with Dr. Amanda on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/midlife.muse/ Connect with Kate Hernandez: https://www.instagram.com/yourpostparty/ Order your copy of Muse https://amandahanson.com/muse/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=kate_hernandez