We are so enthusiastic to announce Nikki Helms as our resident Postpartum Extraordinaire!
Nikki will be taking over Maiden to Mother, the free new mama support group that happens at Nature's Whisper every Friday at 12:30pm in the absence of Surya's sabbatical.
Nikki is also leading an upcoming workshop called Practically Postpartum, a
workshop to prepare the new mama for what awaits her after she welcomes
her new bundle of joy.
Here, Nikki shares all the fun of planning for a successful postpartum period with her latest blog to support her upcoming workshop at Nature's Whisper Yoga. Enjoy her wisdom!
Plan your Postpartum Party
by Nikki Helms
So, here you are.
You’re in the 3rd trimester of your pregnancy,
you’re feeling pretty good, you feel prepared for labor and birth (or you’re almost there…) and now, you’re waiting
for one of the most important guests of your life to arrive.
Have you prepared for your postpartum experience?
I like to tell families to prepare for the post-birth time
like they would prepare for a party. Who
do you want to invite? What do you want
them to bring? Who’s going to help you
clean up? As important as it is to
prepare for your labor-time and the imminent birth of your baby, it’s just as
important to give some energy and thought to what happens once you get home
with the latest addition to your family.
If you’ve ever thrown a party, it’s much the same mentality.
What are we celebrating?
A new baby, of course!
You’ll want to keep your home relatively calm, but not necessarily
quiet. The womb is one of the noisiest
places on earth. The decibel level
produced by your intestines moving along, the stomach digesting, the sound of
the blood running through your veins, has been estimated to be nearly
90dB. The noises your baby hears outside
the womb, however, should be the normal sounds of your home. Don’t strain to be quiet, but loud sudden
noises can surprise your newborn and potentially wake them. Keeping your home at its regular noise level
will actually help your baby to be able to sleep through just about anything
later on in their infancy. So party on Wayne, but keep it reasonable. The loving, positive energy in your home is
just as important as the loving, positive noise level.
Who’s coming? (And how long are they staying?)
Who do you want to visit you when you get home? You’ll want to have people around you that
will be supportive and helpful. If you
think that the person you have in mind may not support the vision of what you
want your postpartum period to look like, you may want to reconsider inviting
them over for the first couple of weeks.
The emotional state that you could be in may likely be less able to be
flexible and less willing to accept and work around certain, er, eccentricities
or difficulties with personalities. Has
that person had children of their own or seen you in a really emotional
state? You will need to be able to be
your authentic post-pregnancy self around your visitors, even if the version of
yourself that they get is a leaky-boobed, exhausted mess. Also, make sure to give yourself a break once
in a while. As much as people want to
come and visit, you’d be surprised how understanding they can be when you tell
them that you’re really not ready to have anyone over or that you’ve had visitors
all day and you’re just too tired.
They’ll be happy to come another time.
What’s to eat?
Are visiting guests planning on helping with meal
preparation? You’ll want to be sure that
they’re familiar with the layout of your home, where you keep things, and any
particular dietary restrictions that you may have (gluten-free, vegan,
caffeine) if they’re going to be assisting in preparing meals for your recovery
period. They’ll also need to know (as
will you) what types of foods give you gas (sexy!) or may irritate your
stomach, as that food will be going into your breast milk and may cause the
same symptoms for your little one. If
you don’t have anyone coming over to prepare food at home for you, consider
going the route of having friends bring food for you. Scheduling is easy when you’re able to use
sites like takethemameal.com or signupgenius.com. Set up a time period where you’d love to have
someone come over and bring food, send out the schedule to your friends, and
let them work it out online.
What’s to drink?
If you’re breastfeeding, you’ll need to make sure that you
stay super hydrated. I, for one, despise
drinking plain water. Just the other
day, however, I found a great infusion cold-cup at Bed Bath & Beyond. It’s got a little container inside the cup
that can hold citrus or crushed mint leaves or cilantro and makes plain cold
water much more palatable. Water is
crucial to your breast milk output and also, helps your body to recover from
your birth, replenishing fluids that may have been lost. Juice is always great as well, lots of
vitamin C and antioxidants in grape juice, blueberry juice and acai. Tea also, can be a great hydrator, iced or
hot, just keep drinking! Make a game of
it! Every time someone mentions the word
“baby” you take a drink. It may be
difficult with everything else you’ve got going on, but you’ll be glad you did. Even if you’re not breastfeeding, your
hydration is integral to your healing.
Who’s helping to clean up?
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. When someone asks what they can do, TELL
THEM. You’d be really surprised how many people, when asking what they can do
to help, are really willing to help. They just need some direction and guidance on
what to do. If you don’t mind directing
traffic from the sofa, you can get a lot done.
That’s a lot less for you to worry about while you’re at home with
baby.
·
“I’d love it if you could bring that laundry in
for me. Let’s sit here and fold it together while you regale me with tales of
the outside world.”
·
“I’m so glad you were able to come and
visit. Oo! One last thing. Would you mind taking the
garbage out when you go to your car?”
·
“Could you chuck those few dishes into the
dishwasher?”
·
“Would you mind bringing me some Ben &
Jerry’s Peach Cobbler ice cream when you come over? I LOVE that stuff.”
·
“Could you run the vacuum?”
·
“Would you mind taking Bodhi out for a
walk? He’s going stir crazy in here.”
The dishes won’t pile up, the
laundry will get folded (eventually) and hey, somebody’s coming to visit AND
bringing ice cream? WIN WIN! Also, please consider having a cleaning
person come in for the last trimester of your pregnancy. I’m not an OCD clean freak, I keep my home as
clean as I can, but my husband’s not the best house cleaner. AT ALL.
He’ll even tell you that. So when
he suggested that we hire a cleaning lady to come in every other week, I was
completely offended, mildly insulted and totally relieved. As I huffed and puffed my way around the
bottom of the toilet in my 3rd trimester, I prayed that some angel
would come in and do this so that I could get off my knees, stop compressing my
diaphragm and breathe again. I was
nearly brought to tears when I came home with a fresh, new baby, my husband
opened the door to our apartment, and the scent of Fabuloso and bleach wafted
out into the hallway. The cleaning lady
had been there that morning and cleaned while my husband had gone to fetch me
at the hospital. Hallelujah!
Your postpartum time at home,
coming together as a family, can only be enhanced by the inclusion of your
family and friends. Postpartum is just
like many other scenarios that can be unfamiliar - you’ll feel better if you
have a plan in place. Give some thought
ahead of time about what that will look like and I guarantee you that you’ll be
glad that you did. But, just like your
birth plan, be prepared also to be flexible, move some things around or
eliminate a few things altogether. The
new configuration of your family structure will be warm, comfortable and loving
because you make it that way whether or not you have
clean socks.
To register or to find out more about Practically Postpartum's upcoming workshop with Nikki Helms, visit here
