Postpartum Pillars: Community
Image: Milton Avery, "Morning Conversation”
Postpartum Pillars – Community
When preparing for the immediate (and ongoing) time after birth, it’s important to understand that one person can’t be your whole support plan. Not your partner(s), your doula, your midwife, or your therapist. Each of these people, if you have them, should make up one part of your broader support system. A group of people and services that share a common goal: to contribute to the wellbeing of the mother/parent + baby dyad – and the family as a whole.
Caring for a baby while also navigating your own healing / rest / integration is BIG work, it’s heart expanding and exhausting. And it’s work that shouldn’t happen in isolation.
When creating your support system, think about those closest to you – your inner circle – maybe your partner(s), co-parent(s), and/ or chosen close family. What roles will they fill and, who or what is there to support them in that?
Consider who else you want in your space in those early days, weeks and months. Who will be able to show up for you with compassion, and in ways that are affirming of your parenting values? Who will support your mental health, massage your tired limbs, and offer evidence based guidance around infant feeding? Who will walk your dog, do the laundry and make you laugh? How do you feel about asking for this support – and what boundaries will you need to enact in order to feel safe and secure?
With its foundations in disability justice, Circles of Support is a great tool to help growing families identify and map out their existing supports, and identify any gaps. It’s a tool I often use in my postpartum planning sessions, and if it’s something you’d like to explore more with a gentle guide – I’m here for you.
12.04.2023
