The Fourth Trimester
Babies are transformational- the experience of labor and delivery and bringing your new baby home is wrought with a plethora of emotions. Unfortunately, the current system we have views women as “wrappers” for babies, disposable once the infant has emerged. There are a variety of expectations once a woman has a child, “you should be happy and have a quick recovery!”, “get back to work as soon as possible”, society as a whole disregards the labor of care. Leaving us to question, are we a society that is “pro-birth” or “pro-mother/baby”?
Here at Carolina Birth and Wellness we are pro-mother/baby, pro-family!
“The 4th trimester is three months after birth, particularly marked after first babies, when many women are emotionally highly vulnerable, when they experience confusion and recurrent despair, and during which anxiety is normal and states of reactive depressions are commonplace” -Sheila Kitzinger 1958.
Let’s have some “real talk”, shall we?
Problems common in the first 2 months postpartum: breast infection, hemorrhoids, painful intercourse, frequent headaches, heavy bleeding, feelings of depression, backache, sore nipples/breast tenderness, lack of sexual desire, other breastfeeding problems, weight control, physical exhaustion, feeling stressed, sleep deprived. It’s no secret many new moms feel unprepared for these issues and ashamed when they happen since their is a lack of preparation and conversation around these topics, and often times all attention turns to the baby after delivery. Why aren’t new mothers seen for a follow-up visit until 6 weeks? Nearly 1 and 5 moms will experience postpartum depression, thankfully our society is discussing this more, shout out to Chrissy Tiegen and other people with platforms in our country for speaking out!
The intense focus on women’s health prenatally is unbalanced by infrequent and late postpartum care. Research has found just 15 minutes of anticipatory guidance on: feeling sad and blue/depressive symptoms, bleeding, cesarean site pain, episiotomy site pain, urinary incontinence, breast pain, back pain, headaches, hair loss, hemorrhoids, infant colic, and other topics can reduce symptoms up to 20% for new moms. -Howell EA et. al (2012). What an easy and amazing way to help our families and birthing people prepare for the transition.
Postpartum Planning Session
At CBW we not only offer birth and postpartum doulas, we are here to help you and your village have a preparing for baby session. A detailed planning meeting, where anyone you want invited comes- grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, the neighbor, heck even the dog, and we together, as your village, lay out the plan so that you and your family can be the most successful. With a little time and effort, these post-natal problems, that are rarely discussed, will be manageable so you can spend more time bonding with your new baby! Schedule this great appointment today!
