Osaka, who welcomed her daughter Shai in July 2023, isn’t wrong. Giving birth is traumatic. The United States continues to have the highest rate of maternal deaths of any high-income nation. And the rate is by far the highest for Black women. And for the women who survive giving birth, they face a host of mentally and physically traumatic postpartum challenges. After having my first daughter three years ago, I felt like I didn’t know myself. I felt distant from my partner; like a foreigner in my own body. I struggled with constant fear and anxiety, and an overall lack of self confidence in every decision I made. For Naomi Osaka, much of that played out in the public eye.
