Postpartum Support
The postpartum period is one of the most vulnerable and important times you and your body will go through in your life. The time after you are pregnant brings forth an entirely new blend of hormones, physical changes, emotions, life alternations, and challenges that need to be nurtured with warmth and care. As many different traditional medicines will say, the first 40 days of your postpartum will directly set you up for the next 40 years of your life. And it's absolutely true.
While our current society doesn't prioritise this time for mothers and families, I truly believe it is a requirement to have true care, connection and rest in early postpartum if we are to reclaim the vital role mothers play in our society. This is not just a 'nice thing to have'. This shouldn't be a luxury. This is a NEED and a REQUIREMENT every woman journeying through postpartum needs to strive for.
I want to be there for you during this period, but even more than that, I want to help you create a postpartum time that is supported by your community so that you feel fully cared for in all aspects of your being.
Postpartum Planning Session
Just as it's imperative to prepare for the birth of your baby, it's just as if not more important to prepare for your early postpartum period. During this session we will sit down together for 90 minutes and talk through the different aspects of postpartum, what you can expect, and how you can best set yourself up to be supported in all ways.
Some things that we might discuss could include the importance of nourishing food, calling in and/or creating your community, setting boundaries, normal infant sleep, food preparation and filling your freezer, breastfeeding, educating those around you, babywearing, body work, physiology of your postpartum body, practical ways people can help you, and so much more.
The goal of this session is for you to come away feeling completely informed and with a plan of action to set yourself up with a well supported and nourished postpartum period.
In-Person Postpartum Support
I will arrive at your door with flowers, bearing gifts of nourishing food, drinks and snacks that I will pop away into your kitchen and prepare for later. I'll ensure you have a warm drink beside you and that you've eaten something. From here, how the next few hours looks is completely up to you and what you need in that given moment on that given day. It will be different for everyone and there is no templated version that you have to stick to. No right or wrong way to do it. It will be whatever you need it to be and that will be perfect. Some very limited examples of this might include...
I could do some light housework to reduce that mental load. We could sit together and safely debrief your birth experience. I could care for your newborn baby while you take some protected sleep or soak in a bath. I could cook your dinner for you so it's ready to go right when witching hour hits. I could prepare a herbal foot bath while massaging your tired joints. We could work through breastfeeding challenges and try different things to help. You could sit in a sitz bath allowing your perineum to heal. I could play with your older children or take them for a walk to the park for a moment's peace. We could discuss and have a look at babywearing options for when the time comes to implement it. We could literally just sit together, drinking tea, chatting about anything and everything, being held with reverence.