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5 Simple ways to practice for postpartum in Maidenhood
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TREAT YOURSELF AS POSTPARTUM WHEN YOU BLEED
What does this mean? Honour your bleed, rest when you can, bind your belly with a Faja, sip on warm beverages and herbal teas. Limit any cold exposure, don’t swim or wash your hair when the blood is flowing, keep your feet warm and meals hot. Treat yourself to comfort food and enjoy a loco love. A magnesium and ginger bath or yummy womb massage.
WEAR WARM SOCKS AND MASSAGE OIL ON YOUR FEET
Your feet are home to the meridians that nurture and connect to your womb. In Chinese medicine cold feet = cold womb which can lead to stagnation, cramps and insufficient flow. Warm feet = warm womb, think more easeful blood flow, less cramps and a warm space for a baby to land. I love to massage warm black sesame oil on my feet and pop on some nice wool socks when I’m bleeding or most nights in the winter as a ritual.
GET WELL ACQUAINTED WITH THE SLOW COOKER
Slow cookers are a gift from the Gods. They are portals of easeful creation and support us by breaking down our food to be easier to digest, and they bring out the best in our food, more bioavailable nutrients. I love frying off some chicken or red meat in the morning, putting it in the slow cooker with a jar of broth and some grounding vegetables and then by dinner time I’ve got a delicious and effortless, soul nourishing dinner. I often have an abundance of leftovers I give to my sisters or a pregnant/postpartum mumma in the community too.
PRACTICE ACTIVE REST
When you are bleeding or unwell, how do you rest? Do you rest? Is internalised capitalism and patriarchy running through your veins? Do you feel you can’t afford to rest or you don’t know how to rest? Perhaps rest wasn’t something that was ever demonstrated to you. For me resting is the ability to just pause, lay down, surrender to what is flowing through my body. To rest I delegate tasks, ask friends for help, allow someone to pick me up some food or stop by and make me a tea. I’ve been practicing receiving and resting when I’m sick or bleeding and this is just the beginning. I know practicing now will provide me with a foundation to bring into motherhood and postpartum, because we cannot do this alone. If none of your friends offer, lean in and ask for what you need, there will come a time your friend will need you in that way too, it can be a reciprocal thing that transcends financial exchange.
SHOW UP FOR OTHERS
Show up for those in your life who are mothers, pregnant sisters, postpartum loves, the sick, the bleeding, grieving and heartbroken. I’ll never forget the time I was heartbroken and my mum came over with curry, and a loaf of freshly baked banana bread, I yearn to be this for my sisters. I’ll never forget the time I was sick and the guy I was seeing brought over orange juice and a coffee, the sisters who’ve dropped off broth and soups, when Yas came over with chocolates from the bulk food store and brewed us herbal tea after I spent the morning purging. I love cooking for my friends and giving in that way, it’s such a sacred thing. It doesn’t have to be complex or complicated, drop off a coffee, soup, chocolate, & or flowers. If it’s welcome, do their dishes or hang out that load of laundry, water the plants, take the dog for a walk, show up, lean in and you’ll only grow and expand because of it. What goes around comes back around and if we give from a full place, with a clear yes and no, you shouldn’t host resentment, it can be such a gift that deepens your relationships.