The Longest Shortest Time

EPISODE #186: Lucy Knisley Redraws Her Birth Story

Lucy Knisley has captured most of her life in comics. She’s also always been fascinated by motherhood, pregnancy, and childbirth since she was a little kid (watching Murphy Brown on TV, and dressing up her cat like a baby.)

Lucy knew when she got pregnant, she wanted to draw comics about it. But pregnancy turned out to be much harder than anything she’d ever done before.

Tune in to hear how Lucy’s comics about childbirth didn’t go according to plan — and how she and her husband, John, rewrote that story together.

(And, heads up, this episode contains discussion of a traumatic birth experience.)

Lucy’s graphic memoir, Kid Gloves, comes out on February 26, 2019. Here’s a peek at the first few pages — click on the images to see them larger. (Also special thanks to Eti Berland for suggesting Lucy’s book to us on Twitter!)

If you’re interested in reading more about the Max Planck Institute’s study on happiness before and after kids, you can find the full paper here.