10/30/2019
For our new mommas: this is a beautiful post by an ND colleague who has become a momma, herself â¤ď¸ Her last message, so clear but so often missed...REST is your best friend once babe arrives, donât be afraid to stop and recover!!
I remember throughout pregnancy, tracking changes in an app. I would excitedly check to see what sort of fruit my baby was that week. Then post-birth, my app stopped telling me about my changes & told me exclusively about my little one.
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I still loved these updates, but given my education, I was shocked to see that other moms wouldnât know about all the incredible changes. In our culture, we expect women to bounce back, but we donât bounce back, we grow forward through this.
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Since your blood volume has gone up by 50% during pregnancy, youâll find you will bleed heavily for 3-10 days, and thatâll continue for up to six weeks. In that time, your uterus will begin shrinking back into its pre-pregnancy size & position. Thereâs no app though to track the fruits as your uterus returns to its original size, but your body is no less incredible. In fact, your skin cells are rushing to repair any damage to your perineum or incision site if you had a c-section.
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Your hormones also go from sky high estrogen & progesterone, back down to their pre-pregnancy levels, often bringing a dramatic change to your emotions. By three days postpartum, prolactin, kicks in to signal the breasts to produce milk. Then milk is ejected with the bonding hormone, oxytocin, and in contrast to the drop of hormones, moms feel both incredibly in love & may want to cry along with their newborn.
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As if this isnât enough, your brain is literally changing. We know that regions associated with complex emotional judgement & decision are adapting to be able to CARE as much as a momma needs to care for her little one. Itâs an adaptive change, and more change is predictive of a more secure attachment for mom & baby đ. I like this re-framing of our cultureâs idea of âmommy-brainâ: weâre not frazzled moms who canât remember our words; rather weâre moms who love so much that weâre re-prioritizing our brainâs landscape.
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Momma, I get that you want to get back to normal. But I canât recommend more the need for rest. If you need any guidance on optimal postpartum healing, Iâm here for you.