Woman Opens Work Email Two Days Postpartum, Renews Vows to Control Chaos

KEY POINTS

•Camille Seigle gave birth to her daughter in January 2020 right before the pandemic shutdown began.
•Two days postpartum, Camille returned to work emails despite her boss’s advice to unplug completely.
•By her six-week checkup, Camille’s doctor recommended anxiety medication and therapy to treat postpartum depression.

Camille Seigle, January 2020 mom, consultant, and resourceful multitasker, gave birth amidst pre-pandemic innocence only to plunge into a fog of bleeding, disoriented emotions, and unanswered ‘Did I want to be a mom?’ She co-authored “Maternal Hope” with Ali Mann Stevens, mining postpartum misery for collective therapy. Two days post-birth, ignoring her boss’s 'unplug' pep talk, Camille served corporate emails with a side of baby vomit. At six-week checkup during global shutdown, her doctor listed anxiety meds while Camille imagined her own plunge off her deck – fueled by postpartum depression, which humorously is both numbing and wildly guilt-inducing. Returning to work four months later, she endured man-baby’s sincere 'How was your vacation?' – spoiler: it was a pain-streaked boot camp. The moral? Motherhood isn't a cute Instagram trope—it’s a messy rebirth delivered via WHO-endorsed exhaustion, relentless parenting guilt, and a crash course in self-reinvention.