The Best Laid Plans - How My Postpartum Looked as a First Time Mom and Student of Postpartum Care
We recorded this episode back in late summer of 2022, when I was around 8 months postpartum. It took me a loooong time to get to editing, but here it is! It was so yummy and juicy to listen through this again! I loved my postpartum time, and I love teaching women about how healing and blissful it can be. In this episode we talk through what my support looked like, what I ate (it was a lot!), and just talking though the story of this transition to motherhood. We go over some helpful tips and suggestions for your own postpartum, and some of the deeper currents running though this sacred period.
**We were still figuring out how the mics worked while we walk in this episode, so you will hear some funny clicks.**
You'll hear about:
What I ate postpartum for the first 40 days (ish). Yes, I followed an “Ayurvedic” protocol, but that doesn’t mean Indian food! Ayurvedic principles can be applied to any type of food that you feel most comfortable with to make it the most supportive for your postpartum time.
Bringing color therapy into the postpartum time through food and beautifying the space.
Receiving massage beyond just the physical. Postpartum warm oil massage is so important, but it’s not your average “trying to get the knots out” massage. It’s a chance for integration of the birth experience into your body, to soothe the energies on all levels, to move the lymph (super important because you’re hopefully not moving your body that much otherwise), and to receive love and care from a sister. I had a particularly transcendental massage from my friend Xan (@alexandramunoz.phd on Instagram) where I could feel the energetic overlap between my body and my son’s.
The necessity of sacred sisterhood in this time. More than cleaning, making tea, or helping me with anything, I wanted someone to just SIT with me. I didn’t need to talk, just the presence of another woman to hold the space for the huge process that is postpartum felt so valuable and hard to ask for.
How Patrick stepped it up! He became the rice pudding master! And at the same time, there were things I would ask for differently next time. He did a great job taking care of the house, when sometimes I just wanted him to lie with us and do nothing. It can be equally challenging (if not more) for a partner to get into the energy of doing less postpartum and just being present with the new family energy. Especially because it feels like there’s s much ore to do. This is why we emphasize the importance of the partner not being the sole care provider in the postpartum time. They also need the time and space to integrate this new family, bond with this tiny little being, and bask in the energy of this sacred window.
Working through feelings of shame for not “recovering perfectly” or being as strong as I want to in relation to feeling prolapse postpartum.
How we dealt with super painful nursing and Olin’s tongue and lip ties. Certainly not sure I would do this the sam next time, but we decided to get his ties revised around 2 weeks old. I would definitely suggest finding a baby competent chiropractor, getting him adjusted was the only thing that I noticed a huge difference in the comfort in his latch.
--------------------------
Mentioned in the show:
Contact us to set up a postpartum planning consultation! https://www.catskillsbirth.org/contact-us
Mayte the Womb Doula on Tongue Ties
Postpartum Cookbooks we love:
First Forty Days Book by Heng Ou
Mama's Menu: Ayurvedic Recipes for Postpartum Healing by Ameya Duprey
Postpartum Resources!
First Forty Days Book by Heng Ou
Healing after Birth by Jennifer Summerfeltd
Newborn Mothers by Julia Jones
The Fourth Trimester by Kimberly Ann Johnson
------------------------
Thanks for listening!
If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!
If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.
Make sure you are following us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.
If you’re local, we’d love to see you at our monthly prenatal and mother circles!
