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General Postpartum Recovery
General Postpartum Recovery
Throughout your pregnancy you get asked at least once a day, "how are you feeling?"
Now that baby is on the outside, everything is about the baby. You just want someone to ask how YOU are and acknowledge the incredible work you just did!
Adding a baby to your family is a huge adjustment that can take a long time to feel normal.
Common postpartum experiences:
Common postpartum experiences:
Sense of being overwhelmed
Guilt or shame for wanting to do something for yourself or be alone
Feeling lonely and sad for no clear reason
Crying several times a day for the first few weeks of your baby's life
Not feeling like yourself
Wondering how to manage family and newborn
More conflict with your partner
Feeling like you can either be a good parter or a good mom, but not both
How counseling can help
How counseling can help
You want to have some routine back in your life and remember the "fun you." Or at least just take a shower.
Maybe you can't wait to go back to work just to get some adult interaction.
Counseling can help you integrate motherhood with your "old self" and figure out the new you.
Check out postpartum.net to read more about how EMDR can help in the perinatal period.
Traumatic Birth Healing
Traumatic Birth Healing
You had imagined feeling like a goddess. Having your baby put on your chest for skin to skin and feeling that immediate oxytocin boost while you nurture your brand new wrinkly little one.
But instead things took a quick turn for the worst and you ended up feeling disempowered, helpless, and out of control.
Maybe you even feel guilty for choosing to be induced or not trusting your gut when it came time to make decisions about your birth.
After a traumatic birth, it can be difficult to bond to your baby too. You might feel like you're just watching someone else's child, not your own.
If you get pregnant again, you may be anxious about losing the baby or thinking, "Did I even want another baby? I can hardly even manage the kids I already have!"
Between 33-45% of moms describe their birth as traumatic.
Then they get gaslighted by doctors, nurses, and family members:
“Oh I’m sorry you perceived it that way.”
“You’re lucky that everything turned out fine.”
“You were so exhausted from birth it’s probably hard to remember exactly what happened”
Symptoms of Trauma Around Birth
Symptoms of Trauma Around Birth
Reliving parts of the birth as if they are happening all over again
Not being able to stop thinking about what happened
Nightmares and disrupted sleep due to thoughts of images of the birth
Negative thoughts about yourself such as
"I’m weak" or "I’m damaged"
Avoiding people, places, or other things that remind you of the event
Being more irritable than normal
Trouble concentrating or focusing
Feeling numb or like you were watching what happened to you from outside your body
Struggling with memory of details of your birth
How EMDR Can Help
How EMDR Can Help
Acknowledge and process the pain
Remember the birth without negative feelings
Be able to see the birth with a more balanced perspective
Work through physical responses to memories
Have a more positive view of yourself
Increased ability to stay emotionally present with your newborn
Improve sleep
Feel more like yourself again
Reconnect with your loved ones
To learn more about EMDR Therapy click here.
Support for Dads
Support for Dads
In prenatal, perinatal, and postpartum care, pretty much everything is focused on the mom and the baby.
Dad is expected to be supportive of the mom and baby, protective, and be the strong one. Be sensitive but...
Do not show any weakness.
In my opinion, Dad, you have the hardest job. Not only do you have to care for a new baby, you also need to care for your healing, hormonal partner.
It's so hard watching the one you love go through so much pain. Having so many demands can lead to feeling hopeless, helpless, and overwhelmed.
Not to mention the expectation that you'll show back up at work and perform at 100% while sleep deprived. You also may experience less support from your partner since her focus is now on the baby and she's also sleep-deprived.
Listen, it's okay and normal to not have it all together.
It's not emasculating to admit this is a hard transition and you need tools to manage everything.
We can work together to find ways you can take care of yourself, connect with your partner and children, and begin to feel more like your old self again.
Having trouble booking an appointment? Just use my contact form instead.
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