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Planning for postnatal

4th trimester & motherhood· Pregnancy & birth

5 Mar

The importance of planning for postnatal

Have you planned for the immidiate postnatal period/ fourth trimester? What plans have you put into place? If you have experienced this intense and tender time what advice do you have for new mothers?
Often a lot of thought and planning goes into birthing your baby, which is wonderful and of course very important. In my antenatal sessions I always ask my clients if they have planned for the fourth trimester and the answer is usually no, which is totally understandable as it's not really something we tend to talk about or see depicted in a very real way on film or TV. I certainly didn't give it much thought with my first pregnancy.

It is a good plan to put some thought into how you might feel, of course it's hard to know how you might feel after birth but regardless I think we can all agree that it will take a lot of physical and emotional energy to birth a life into the world! As a birth and postnatal doula I have had the privilege of being invited into the homes of many mothers to gently support their postnatal season, it feels so natural and very much a return to the ways we would have and should be caring for new mothers. Some days it's with warming food and loving massage and some days it's simply with a listening ear and long warm hugs.

The fourth trimester is a short but intense season, you are a new born mother, no matter if it's baby number one, two, three or more. It's easy to forget that the mother is also new born and very easy to fall into the trap of 'doing' or 'bouncing back'. In these transitional weeks from giving birth to new motherhood you will go through some quite incredible physical, spiritual and emotional adjustments, from landing back to earth in the first hours after giving birth, to the after pains for the first few days/ week, the hormonal and emotional changes that go hand in hand with the time consuming task of feeding your newborn.... just a few of the adjustments you will be experiencing. I feel very strongly that mothers NEED to prepare for this phase with just as much care and thought as she does her pregnancy and birth. Some mothers may have an extended hospital stay with their baby for various reasons and this will add to the intensity of this time. All the more reason to put some thought into this time.

You cannot mother well if you are depleted, I will say again and again that MOTHERS MATTER. You deserve to be cared for in order to care for your baby in the way you need to. I feel that a positive postnatal plan includes:

❤️Your village - A list of people that you trust to support you in a way that is HELPFUL to you. A mothers blessing is a good time to have this list co ordinated including people to offer:
. school runs for siblings
. positive visits for emotional support, light cleaning, hold baby so you can shower or simply get some time for body autonomy! cook you a meal
. food deliveries
. feeding support, proffesional support is good but I have found that support for a fellow mother can be just as amazing.
Seek out local groups and find your motherhood tribe. Honestly new motherhood can become quite lonely, mothers need other mothers!

❤️Food - Nourishment is very very important. Fill the freezer with easy nourishing meals. Ask for gift vouchers for cook/ or my food doula boxes

❤️Self care - this is more than just bubble baths and meditation but this is important too of course! This is making time whenever possible for the things that make you feel good, even if they seem small and unimportant if they make you feel good then that should be classed as important.
*find a local therapist before you birth who offers a postnatal massage. Massage is one thing I would class as essential post birth. Important for both body and mind and is so much more than a luxury, I cannot stress this enough!
*Also seek out a pelvic physical therapist before you birth

❤️ Shop for postnatal recovery essentials -
. maxi pads (make padsicles with aloe/ sitz)
. aloe vera gel for the pads
. peri bottle
. postnatal bath sitz - contains healing herbs and can be diluted to clean babies cord stump and can be soaked onto pads and frozen. See my blog for a recipe
. Herbal tincture for after pains
. herbal or flower remedies for emotional support
. lip balm (feeding can be dehydrating) nipple balm
. sports bottle/ bottle with straw for water and keep it full!
. lots of healthy one handed snacks, lactation cookies and energy bites. See my blog for recipes or order some from me
. big knickers!
. belly support
. breast pads
. comfortable easy feeding clothes, think front opening tops
. Essential reading! The fourth trimester by Kimberly Anne Johnson Magamama also the podcast is essential listening. I recommend getting this book before you birth and if you have time read it alongside your pregnancy book
. Book the first 40 days by Heng Ou for recipe inspiration

❤️Professional support
. feeding - drop in clinics/ la leche/ nhs peer support/ LC
. Postnatal doula
. osteopath for you and baby
I know the below where in self care but...
. massage therapist
. pelvic physio

I have created a postnatal plan that you are very welcome to download and use. I would love to hear from you if you chose to use it. postnatal plan

 

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Belly bump cakes, birth art, flower baths and more Belly bump cakes, birth art, flower baths and more. This work week has been so full and gorgeous, lucky me that this is my life! 💖
So yesterday I had to re centre myself and remake a belly bump cake with iced mandala which means my family will have to work their way through the unusual treat of a ruined belly bump cake... lucky them, it’s going to take a while to get through! 😆 
This cake will be on its way to @eva_shamanic_doula this morning to join her in a mother’s blessing complete with handmade ivy circlet. 
💖Enjoy the cake beautiful ones 💖
#mothersblessing #blessingway #sacredpregnancy #doula #mandalacake #vegancake #motherlove #birthmandala #redthread
❤️ Thaw ❤️ Over the land freckled with sno ❤️ Thaw ❤️
Over the land freckled with snow half - thawed 
The speculating rooks at their nests cawed 
And saw from the elm-tops, delicate as flower of grass, What we below could not see, Winter pass. 
🌱I’m not sure about you but I’ve never looked forward more than I have done this winter! The approach of Spring always brings with it optimism but this year it has a whole different energy to it. As I walked today I noticed the signs of new growth, so much beauty to be appreciated. The colours, subtle, vibrant and just so much potential. I thought about the energy and life stored in the seed, so quiet yet powerful and full of potential. A fertile void creating it’s magic just below the soil in the dark, much like in our inner own winters. Of course I couldn’t help but think of birth! How lucky I am to witness and be a part of one of nature’s most miraculous cycles, a most sacred reminder that we do not just live among nature. We are nature. 
Our true nature is ever changing, what is blossoming for you right now? What are you looking forward to? #sacredbirth #innerseasons #spring #wearenature #birthdoula #doulauk #motherhood #blossom #sacredfeminine #nurturenature #whispersfrommotherearth #walksinnature
Pie is one of the most perfect postnatal meals to Pie is one of the most perfect postnatal meals to gift. So much goodness can be encased in a buttery pastry crust! 
One of today’s pies is 
💖Scandi inspired salmon pie 
Ingredients:
400g - 500 salmon fillet cubed 
1tsp, pepper, salt, fennel seed, caster sugar
3rsp fresh chopped dill
120 Pearl barley cooked 
1 small diced red onion
Juice of lemon 
150g wilted spinach leaves 
100g chopped sundried tomatoes 
140g creme fraiche 
2tsp whole grain mustard 
1 pack puffed pastry or homemade 
💖 Method 
Put diced salmon in bowl with pepper, salt, fennel, sugar, half the dill. 
Cook and strain the Pearl barely and wilt the spinach, set aside. Put the onion in a bowl with the lemon juice. 
Mix the creme fraiche with the mustard and rest of the dill. 
Combine the diced tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients with the creme fraiche mix and transfer to a pie tin. Roll out the puff pastry and brush with egg white. Lay out Over the tin and roll and press the sides with a fork trimming the excess. With the excess I cut a heart shape and brush on with more egg white. 
💖 Bake for approximately 30/40 mins at 180 or freeze until needed. 
This is good warm from the oven and just as good cooled with a salad. 
The other pie pictured is chicken, squash and wild mushroom pie. It’s a little more faffy but just as nourishing! 
#fooddoula #postnatalnourishment #thefourthtrimester #thefirst40days #whofeedsyou #postnataldoula #doulasupport #motherhood #ahealthybabyisnotallthatmatters
💖Creativity is tool for connection⁠ As I sat 💖Creativity is tool for connection⁠
As I sat and planned some gentle Mothercraft ideas for a new client today I was struck by how much more I have come to value and cherish craft during lockdown life. ⁠
Making things with our hands awakens and deepens our awareness of the beauty and value of them. The slowness, the rhythmic and patient nature of creating something has always been so comforting in what is often a fast paced and loud existence, the comfort and value has grown so much more  during the past 11 months or so. I feel that no matter how simple the craft, how 'non artistic' a person deems themselves, creating and gifting yourself something beautiful always has value and we are ALL born creative, all born an artistic with the ability to create beautiful things with our amazing hands and souls, it's just the value in craft is often lost as we age. For me it's all in the intention, the rhythm of devotion, it's about how it makes you feel. Ultimately in your craft you have birthed something beautiful into the world that didn't exist until you created it and that's just gorgeous isn't it! Consider the preciousness of heirlooms, in the very word itself you feel the sense of a precious thing, though it's value will often be of the heart rather than coin! This embroidery for instance, who poured her love and time into this sweet scene? How much we value a hand made card, a hand written letter. Our precious strings of wooden beads, pressed leaves, pom pom garlands, painted scraps of wood and scruffy hand stitched blankets and rag dolls. Our own Works of art and works of heart matter the, process as much as the result.⁠
#workofheart #mindfullness #creativityforconnection #handcraft #slowliving #mothercraft
Love is all, love is all, love is all. A mantra t Love is all, love is all, love is all. 
A mantra that has served me very well over the past 11 months! 
If serving at the altar of birth and motherhood has taught me anything it’s that the most natural things can be the hardest. Keeping a soft yet strong and open heart is one of those things for me these days. A heart can hold so much and mine feels full to bursting often. It’s sometimes been hard to find love and compassion for myself, accept it from others, find love for others especially those that are hard to love! 
It’s been a struggle to to stay soft and strong on the corona coaster but I continue to remind myself to work and live from the heart.
I believe with all of me that Love is our original state of being, a baby is born to love, born from love, into love and this reminds me all the time that love is all, love is all, love is all 💖
#loveisall #loveisallornotatall #wearelove #doulalove #loveisourtruth #youarelove #softandstrong #motherlove #howmuchaheartcanhold
❤️leading from the feminine 🎶~ liquid bloo ❤️leading from the feminine 
🎶~ liquid bloom, sacred blessing ~
I don’t know about you but during this lockdown finding time alone has been most rare and in those rare moments my time of stillness has often been punctuated by requests for food, answers to questions and you tube videos and memes thrust in to my eye-line! 
❤️Yesterday I was gifted just a couple of hours of breathing space, an empty home, silence and sweet stillness, just a little sacred blessing. As is often our way I quickly slipped into that familiar patriarchal habit of feeling that we must keep active and appear to be ‘productive’ at all times, doing, doing, doing and guilt for not doing enough. I caught myself rushing about cleaning and tidying then felt a little nudge, a call from my heart space to be still and to be led by the feminine. I gave myself a little shake, shook off the doing and became still. I took my Rebecca Campbell oracle cards, sacred feminine incense and connected with my feminine wisdom and surrendered to this sweet time of stillness and those gentle reminders from the cards. How will you gently love yourself today even for just a minute? 
#workyourlightoracle #sacredfeminine #soulenquiry #theeverunfoldingrose #risesisterrise #nourish #motherhoodunplugged #motherhoodrising #leadfromthefeminine
🌕Life is all about enjoying the small pleasures 🌕Life is all about enjoying the small pleasures these days. Sitting down after a morning workout for a pot of herbal tea with a book is one of my favourite little rituals. Today is EXTRA special though because the book I am about to open is one I have had the rare honour to follow the progress of over the years and written by my beloved doula sister @eva_shamanic_doula! 
I’m not ashamed to say a few proud tears came when this book arrived. What an inspiration she is and how happy I am that these beautiful thoughts and teachings are out in the world in book form, I know without a doubt that the contents of this book are part of who she is and come from her heart and soul. I’m looking forward to loaning this to my clients who feel drawn to working with the moon in a deeper way during their pregnancy. In anticipation of this book I prepared and saved a special tea for this very occasion! I picked the herbs for drying on the Harvest moon too which feels so special and appropriate. 
As I start to read I can hear her voice and am sending right back to her the brightest of moon beam blessings! ( yes Eva I flipped right to the last pages to read acknowledgements etc first!) 
So today’s simple pleasure has really been a massive one! 
#pregnancybythemoon #moonbeamblessings #sacredpregnancy #doula #doulauk #pregnancybook #doulasisters
❤️ Nourishment ❤️ I love nurturing and nou ❤️ Nourishment ❤️
I love nurturing and nourishing new born mothers. For 10 moons or so she has nourished her baby & will continue to give so much of herself body and soul, it always feels so right to truly nourish her in return. 
True nourishment is about so much more than just filling an empty belly, it’s more than a delicious cookie but can definitely start with one! It’s really about meeting her most basic needs with love, feeding, truly caring for and seeing her. Food made with love and intention nurtures and nourishes in such a special way and on a deep level. You don’t have to have the skills of a trained chef in my opinion, just loving intention. Something simple, intuitive, warming and comforting. A jar of soup, container of cookies or herbal tea left on a doorstep or handed to a partner carries with it so much more than its nutrients, this action is one of the most ancient and heartfelt ways we have of sharing love and appreciation without words during a most tender and open time. 
In a time like this one where physical connection is quite limited sharing the gift of simple nourishment is the perfect way to send deep sister love to a newborn mother. 
#postnatalnourishment #thefourthtrimester #postnatalfood #madewithlove #nursingcookies #foodheals #feedingthemother #motherhood #doula

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