New Mom in Paris Breaks Down During Postpartum. Her Mom and Sister Fly in from the U.S. to Surprise Her (Exclusive)
Janet remembers the exact moment she broke. Alone in her Paris apartment, exhausted and holding her newborn, she turned to her husband through tears and said, 'I need my mom.'
'I literally broke down in tears, begging my husband for help,' she tells PEOPLE. 'I cried out for my mom.'
In that moment, Janet didn't know that help was already on the way. Her mother, Miss Kay, and sister, Jessica, were in the air, flying from the United States to Paris to be by her side.
The emotional moment when they arrived, caught on camera by Jessica and shared on TikTok, quickly struck a chord online. The text over the now-viral video reads: 'POV: Postpartum. Alone. Struggling. Then your mom and sister show up at your door. Flew across the world just to hold you. This is what love looks like.'
'I didn't feel like myself. I didn't feel like I belonged,' Janet says of her early postpartum days. 'You're home with another human, and you're like, 'What am I doing?''
Her husband, she says, was supportive and present. But there was something deeper she needed. 'Even though he was there, I needed them,' she says of her mom and sister. 'I needed that maternal, guided support.'
The plan had always been for them to be there. But standby travel and flight delays meant Miss Kay and Jessica couldn't make it in time for the baby's arrival.
'I just expected them to be there,' Janet says. 'But they weren't, and that Friday, I broke down.'
One week later, Janet opened the door to see her mom and sister standing there, unannounced and arms wide open. It was exactly what she had been praying for. 'So when I saw them, it was relief,' she says. 'Whatever was heavy on my shoulders just dropped.'
Jessica had started filming the moment on instinct, not expecting it to go viral. 'I didn't expect the reaction we received,' she says. 'I started recording not because I knew it would go viral, but because something told me to capture it.'
The surprise had been difficult to pull off. 'We talk every day, we even share location,' Jessica says, laughing. 'So trying to keep the secret was hard.'
As soon as they stepped inside, they jumped into action. Janet remembers them saying, 'Okay, take a shower, go to sleep. We got it for the night.' She hadn't realized how much she needed that kind of care.
That moment, she says, was about more than just help. It was about being held. 'It's that love that shows up,' Janet says. 'From having a baby to battling sickness, Black women know how to carry each other.'
Miss Kay, who grew up as one of 15 siblings, says she learned early what it means to show up. 'I thought I didn't need anyone when I had my first child either,' she says. 'But once that baby comes, everything changes. You do need your mother. You do need help.'
Janet says she always prided herself on being independent. But becoming a mother changed that. 'I've always been independent. I never really asked for help,' she says. 'But when I got pregnant, everyone said, 'You'll need us,' and I was like, 'No, I've got this.' But I didn't.'
Motherhood, she says, shifted her understanding of strength. 'The dynamic of the strong Black woman has shifted for me in the transition to motherhood,' she says. 'You can still be strong and ask for help.'
Shortly after their visit, Janet made the decision to temporarily move back to the United States. She wanted to be close to her village. 'I knew I needed the village,' she says. 'Not just to recover physically, but to be mentally well. To feel whole.'
And she wasn't alone. After the video circulated, Janet began receiving messages from women around the world. 'Women reached out from Paris, other Americans living abroad, saying, 'I've been there. I know,' ' she says. 'One woman even came and did my hair at my apartment.'
Jessica says her goal was simple. She wanted to help. 'When we got there, it was all about how I could help,' she says. 'Cleaning, the fridge stocked, meals prepped. Just whatever we could do in the short time we had.'
She says that instinct came from her own story. 'When I had my first baby at 21, I had no idea what to do,' Jessica says. 'My aunt came and stayed for a month. What I did for Janet is exactly what they did for me.'
Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Thousands of women responded to Janet's post, sharing their own stories of being overwhelmed during postpartum. 'Women kept saying, 'I wish someone had told me how hard this is,' ' Janet says. 'Others said, 'I needed my mom too.' It was almost like a collective sigh.'
Miss Kay believes the video helped give women permission to admit they need help. 'It's okay to ask for help,' she says. 'They don't always know what they need. Sometimes you just have to show up and hold the baby.'
Jessica agrees. 'Just listen. They'll tell you what they need without even meaning to,' she says. 'And if you don't know, just do.'
Janet says she is still in the middle of it. Still learning. Still tired. 'I'm still in it,' she says. 'I'm still crying, still breastfeeding, still figuring out motherhood. It's overwhelming, even with help.'
There are days when she feels like she's falling short. When feedings are frustrating and sleep is scarce. 'But I'm doing my best,' she says. 'And I've realized that has to be enough.'
Now, when she watches the video, she sees more than a memory. She sees a message. 'It's a sacred circle,' she says. 'That moment between women, it's vulnerability, love and legacy. It's motherhood in motion.'
She hopes other mothers can see themselves in it too. 'That moment changed everything,' Janet says. 'It taught me I don't have to carry it all alone. And I don't want other women to think they have to either.'
Read the original article on People
Solve the daily Crossword

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Drake at Co-Op Live: Rapper makes triumphant return to Manchester with career-spanning setlist
It's been six years since he last graced the Manchester stage on his 2019 Assassination Vacation tour but Drake came back with a bang last night (July 25). Kicking off the first of FOUR shows in the city at Co-op Live as part of his Some Special Shows 4 U European tour, the five-time Grammy-award winning and multi-platinum rapper bursts on stage with "Gimme A Hug". Wearing a simple blue shirt and brown jeans and greeted by his thousands of adoring fans, he has an important question for them: "Where my Day Ones at?" READ MORE: Drake at Manchester Co-Op Live start and finish times READ MORE: Manchester gets world-first performance of new Drake track as he brings out special guest He's referring to his 2009/2010 listeners and tells them: "Manchester, make some f*****g noise!" as he launches into a nostalgia fest of Marvin's Room, Teenage Fever, Passionfruit and Jungle. "Y'all ready to go? I'm ready to take off!" he shouts, as, on cue, flames shoot up from the stage and he belts out hit track "What Did I Miss?" Headlines is followed by further pyromania as fire cannons go off and Drizzy bounces around the stage and pounds down the runways with enormous energy, not to mention dexterity, as he dances atop the crowd. "I'm just getting started! What do you wanna do? I'm here all night!" he says, launching into Nonstop and No Face. Then, following a raunchy display by female dancers clad in bondage attire, he is joined by fellow Canadian rapper PARTYNEXTDOOR, who he collaborated with on the album $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. The pair take it down a notch to perform lover's lament CN Tower, Something About You, and Die Trying, finishing up with the plaintive Come and See Me. Laugh Now, Cry Later is then followed by God's Plan. "Sing it with me, but sing it like you mean it!" he implores the more than up-for-it crowd, of whom there are some 17,000. In My Feelings precedes the rallying cry of Nice For What, as he addresses the ladies in the audience: "This is for all you ladies who got kids, who got your own place and don't need no m**********n' man!" And to delight the ladies in the crowd, even further, he passes right next to a stunned sea of faces as he casually saunters up the steps to the DJ area and serenades the crowd, just inches away from his adoring fans. "Whatever else is going on in your lives tonight, I want you to forget it", he says, before performing Controlla, Hold On We're Going Home and the smash hit One Dance. Then, back in the heart of the crowd, he performs Girls Want Girls, Fancy and Rich Baby Daddy, his tattooed biceps flexing, to the swoons of his lady fans. It's time for a bit of anti-love now though and he gets the crowd on his side: "I want you to think of the worst exes you have, the worst examples you got on your phone, everything they put you through. I want you to take your m************ finger and put it to the sky." "F**k all your exes!" he roars, before belting out You Broke My Heart. The crowd are then treated to a surprise appearance from British rapper Central Cee, who, sporting a green rucksack, could just have come straight from Piccadilly train station. Back to Drake and the irresistibly catchy Nokia is up next, with cries of "Babygirl" echoing across the arena. In fact, there appears barely a single word to a song that the audience don't know. Yebba's Heartbreak makes for a chilled finale as Drake proudly brandishes a pink bra that a fan has thrown onto the stage. "This is a ten out of ten crowd tonight and it's been a while since I got a bra!" he says. "If there's one thing I love in this life, it's some t*****s!" He then leaves the crowd with a deeper message: "I hope you achieve everything you want", he says. "And remember, you don't get that by being a piece of s**" but by being a good person." "I got my mum in the building tonight!" he then reveals, but mum it seems, is staying schtum, as well as invisible, to the disappointment of the fans. '"I got 17,000 people in Birmingham tonight!" he then shouts, to a somewhat confused crowd, before quickly rescuing his faux-pas with a: "Goodnight Manchester!" And a good night it most definitely has been. In true Manchester style, it might have been drizzling outside tonight but both him, and the stage, were on fire.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus washes up in a zombie-filled Spain in the first Daryl Dixon season 3 trailer, and it's all a bit Resident Evil 4
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Daryl and Carol are back. The first full trailer for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 has been unveiled at the show's Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, and the new Spanish setting is giving serious Resident Evil 4 vibes. In the trailer, which you can watch above, Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) are still en route home, and escape apocalyptic London via boat thanks to Stephen Merchant's 'last Englishman in England', only to wash ashore in Solaz del Mar, Spain, after a storm. Not all is well in the Spanish town, though, with the locals offering up their daughters for trucks full of guns – a barbaric practice that globetrotting righter-of-wrongs Daryl Dixon is perfectly placed to put a stop to. OK, so there's no Dr. Salvador revving up a chainsaw, but there's more than a bit of Leon S. Kennedy's American outsider rolling up on an undead-infested rural Spanish town and taking on its self-appointed 'King' to Daryl Dixon's latest conflict. At the same Hall H panel, cast members Reedus and McBride, alongside producer Scott M. Gimple, and showrunner David Zabel, also announced that the show has been renewed for a fourth and final season, with production set to kick off in Spain later this month. It's been a busy few weeks for Walking Dead news. Earlier this month, Negan and Maggie-centric spin-off The Walking Dead: Dead City was renewed for a third season. Meanwhile, an unscripted horror series called Guts & Glory, from Walking Dead effects wizard Greg Nicotero, where contestants try to survive an 'immersive horror experience full of unexpected challenges,' was also announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2025. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 premieres on AMC and AMC+ on September 7 in the US, and releases on September 11 in the UK. For more, check out our guide on how to watch The Walking Dead franchise in order, or our list of the most exciting new TV shows heading our way. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Before We Forget' Shines In Its Dreamy Depiction Of Queer First Love
When Juan Pablo Di Pace is asked about the inspirations for his coming-of-age drama 'Before We Forget,' he doesn't cite specific films or directors. Instead, the Argentinean actor, writer and director points to 'Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,' one of French composer Claude Debussy's most beloved symphonic works, written in 1894 and featured in the movie. 'I'm a huge fan of ballet, opera and classical music, so the structure of the film is quite symphonic,' Di Pace told HuffPost in an interview. 'There's something in the music that's tense and beautiful, and then it gets to a crescendo and it's ecstasy.' Emotions run high in 'Before We Forget,' which expanded to select theaters nationwide Friday after its New York and Los Angeles release earlier this month. The film, which marks Di Pace's screenwriting and feature directorial debut, is a dreamy and wistful take on his real-life experiences with first love and heartbreak. Originally titled 'Duino,' the film follows Matias (played by Santiago Madrussan), an Argentinean student and aspiring filmmaker who enrolls in an arts-focused boarding school in Italy in 1997. Matias soon finds himself enticed by the bravado of Alex (Oscar Morgan), a free-spirited Swedish classmate. After a prank goes awry, Alex gets expelled from school but maintains a long-distance friendship with Matias. When Matias is invited to join Alex and his family for Christmas at their palatial estate, he starts to wonder if his new pal's gestures are indicative of deeper, non-platonic feelings about their relationship. Early reviews of 'Before We Forget' have compared it favorably to the 2017 romantic drama 'Call Me by Your Name,' starring Timothée Chalamet. Scenes in the film also recall Netflix's queer-themed teen series 'Heartstopper,' as well as the lighter half of the 2023 dark comedy 'Saltburn.' Di Pace, best known to U.S. audiences for his role on 'Fuller House' and his stint on 'Dancing with the Stars,' began developing 'Before We Forget' after viewing home videos of his days as a student at United World College of the Adriatic. He teamed up with co-director Andrés Pepe Estrada, a longtime friend, and shot much of the film on location at the school's Trieste, Italy campus. He also appears in the film as the middle-aged Matias, who in the present day is a Buenos Aires movie director struggling to find a satisfying ending for the romantic film he's working on. Matias' adolescent memories are triggered when he receives an unexpected opportunity to return to reunite with Alex (played by August Wittgenstein as an adult) after 25 years. Though Di Pace drew heavily from his lived experience, he hopes viewers won't view 'Before We Forget' solely as an autobiographical endeavor. His willingness to self-reflect, however, is refreshingly relatable and gives the film an intimate charm many of its mainstream predecessors lack. 'This idea of falling in love for the first time at an international school and having a traumatic experience around it, and there being a record of it in VHS felt like the perfect storm ― or, you could say, the perfect mosaic ― by which to build a film,' Di Pace said. Though Madrussan and Morgan turn in nuanced performances, the climax of 'Before We Forget' is a chilling monologue delivered by Argentinean actor Araceli González who, as Matias' mother Roma, reassures her son that she accepts him as his true self without using words like 'gay' or 'queer.' 'If that scene didn't work, the whole movie wouldn't work,' Di Pace said. 'It's something that happened to me with my parents, and I chose to almost replicate what I heard, word by word. I'm very proud of it.' Though Di Pace hasn't turned his back on acting, he's eager to focus heavily on writing and directing moving forward. He's currently at work on two scripts he says are 'completely different' from 'Before We Forget,' including at least one that embraces themes of 'magical realism.' 'I love people, I love human relationships, and I also love clashes of culture and personalities,' he said. As for aspects of LGBTQ+ life he'd like to showcase on-screen, he added, 'I love films that have a very strong queer element, and yet they're about something else. People are so present, so moved, so hungry for these kinds of stories. I'd like the lines to blur and not have it be a niche thing.' Watch the trailer for 'Before We Forget' below. Related... This Tender Gay Drama Has Its Roots In A Real-Life Love Story Lena Dunham's New Netflix Show Is Not 'Girls' — But It Is Drawn From Her Real Life A Gay Writer's Quest For Fame Leads Him To Sex Work In This Steamy New Drama