I'd like to offer a legit, genuine shout-out to all new moms who ask for help. You are the true heroes, and you deserve all the recognition for understanding the scope of your responsibilities, and ensuring you've got the proper resources and support to get through those early months. I could not have done it alone (although I know many parents do), so I'm right there with you when it comes to owning up to what you need help with.

I normally don't make a habit of asking other fully-grown adults to wash their hands as I go about my day. However, when it came to my baby and holding him after he was born, I was all about it.

Sleeping while a new baby is around is a delicate dance, and one that I was terrible at doing by myself. Yes, I was exhausted, but I also had a hard time relaxing enough to doze off when my son slept next to me. If I slept, who would watch his chest rise and fall with each breath?

Seriously though, if anyone else is in the same boat, you have my full permission to ask for help so that you can rest and recover from childbirth. You don't want to get so exhausted that you lose count of those chest rises.

Not long ago, I visited a friend with a newborn. My own son was about a year and a half at the time, so I was slightly out of practice when it came to newborns. She was quick to point out that I wasn't supporting her little one's head as I held him. Obviously, I needed the reminder, and nope, she definitely did not need to apologize for asking me to do what was best for her baby.

Let's be real for a second. If you've just birthed a child, no matter how you did it, it's still probably easier for almost anyone else around you to get up and go to the kitchen, than it is for you. There's no shame in asking someone to grab something for you if you're busy, tending to the baby, beyond exhausted, or your body aches.

This is going to sound silly, but it didn't really occur to me to let my baby hang out in the bathroom while I showered until we were a few months into the whole motherhood thing (I blame it on the sleep deprivation because, no, I wasn't exactly thinking clearly). So, when it came to my own basic care (some of which had to do with childbirth recovery), I often had to ask for back-up. Moms who do the same, I salute you.

Not to be confused with "time for yourself," which may involve, you know, eating and bathing and going to the bathroom. A break is when you don't actually have to do anything.

For me, this once looked like 20 minutes spent laying on the floor, zoning out and playing Sudoku while my partner tended to my newborn on the other side of the room. However, those 20 minutes did more for my mental state than almost anything else I could have considered at the moment. Sometimes it's needed, and I'm right there cheering for fellow moms who know themselves well enough to ask for it.

I don't mean just to be heard over a crying baby, but really, any time you find yourself needing to advocate for yourself. I had a pretty steep learning curve when we brought home our newborn, but I can specifically remember a time a few weeks in when I knew something was wrong with my own body (it turned out to be mastitis), and I had to be the one to speak up about it.

Honestly, if you haven't already been wearing them through the second two trimesters of pregnancy, I mean, come on. I'm literally wearing my spouse's sweats right now as I type, and even though our second child's due in a few weeks, I probably won't be giving them back anytime soon.

I legit cancelled lunch plans with people because I had a sleeping newborn laying on me. Whether that's happening to you, or say, you drop your phone when you're breastfeeding, or you need to text your partner in the other room to request a swaddle, it's rarely a bad thing to ask for what you want or need.