Welcome to The First Years of Marriage Newsletter! We talk about the conversations, challenges, and changes that begin once the honeymoon ends. Advice from experts, mistakes from me (Jen Glantz), and things you’re going to want to know as you continue to ask yourself this question - “I’m married, ow what?”
Dear sweet friend,
For the past 11 years of my life, I’ve shared the intimate details of my life on the internet.
First about how all of my friends were getting engaged, then about how I became always a bridesmaid (for hire), later on about how I became finally the bride, and now here, inside of this newsletter, where I talk about how to figure out the first years of marriage.
BUT…I have a rather large life update that I wanted to FINALLY share with you.
I’m 8-months pregnant.
I’m having a baby.
And I’m really freaking scared.
I’ve been keeping this a secret for so many reasons, mostly because I wanted to settle into my pregnancy journey and digest it - acid reflux and all - before announcing it to the world.
I finally shared the news today.
One of the biggest things I noticed during my pregnancy was how lonely, scared, and overwhelmed I was.
Nobody teaches you anything about growing a baby or having one and I found myself so desperate for information.
I begged mom friends to tell me everything. They tried.
I spent a million hours on Reddit reading what real people had to say. It made me anxious
Google became my BFF. So did pregnancy books and courses.
Even after consuming it all, I found myself feeling terrified.
How could I be a mom?
Would I ever figure it all out?
Will I be ready to do this?
Months and months of all of that led me to start something new - something for anything who needs it.
Meet: Scared to Be a Mom
A brutally honest corner of the internet where we all share the many different emotions, thoughts, challenges, and fears we have around a humongous change in our lives.
We spend so many years of our lives learning geometry, Shakespeare, chemistry, and long division. But nobody really ever teaches us WTF is going to happen during when we’re pregnant or when we’re a parent.
Figuring it all out feels like you have to become a full-time investigator.
To find out what I desperately needed to know, I had to spend hundreds of hours reading Reddit forums, begging friends with kids to tell me what could happen to me during labor, watching TikTok videos about perineum massages, and hunting on Google to figure out what a baby actually needs when they are born - which spolier alert: is a lot more than I thought.
So welcome to a place where you can learn some of it, vent all of it, and feel less alone.
It’s a place where we can share fears, the things that frighten us the most, and all the ways we are trying to figure it out.
Dive in, there’s a lot on this website
From personal diary entries to confessions from real humans, WTF do I need lists, and a whole lot more.
Maybe this is something you need, maybe it’s not. Maybe you know someone who needs it.
Either way, I hope you’ll dive in and explore SCARED TO BE A MOM.
Love you,
Jen Glantz
This Week’s Love List:
A great book for anyone who deals with emotion overload or who finds themselves highly sensitive.
The Newlywed Card Game: Is officially on AMAZON! We’re proud of that. Grab your game here.
A great gift for yourself - even post-honeymoon
Love you (for as long as we both shall live),
Jen Glantz
Jen Glantz is a whimsical entrepreneur, 3x author, podcast host, and all-around pizza-obsessed goofball.
Here's what she is currently working on:
The Newlywed Card Game // Books // You're Not Getting Any Younger Podcast
Bridesmaid for Hire // Odd Jobs Newsletter // The First Years of Marriage Newsletter
The Monday Pick-Me-Up Newsletter //Jen & Juice Business & Life Coaching // Company Workshops