After spending literal months preparing for pregnancy and childbirth, many families find themselves woefully underprepared once they bring their newborn home. The fourth trimester is fraught with opportunities for fear and anxiety to creep in. It’s easy to get caught up in thinking about how you’ll bring this baby into the world– that the hard work is the birth.
How about the moment you are sent home with this new, wee, fresh and tiny little being you are wholly responsible for? I hear from new parents time and time again that they had no idea what to expect when it came time to bring a new baby home. They felt prepared. They’d read all the things. They attended classes. They got all the supplies (and then some!). But once they arrived at home with baby in arms, things got real and parents were surprised by how hard it all seemed.
Underestimating the Fourth Trimester
They express that they underestimated how trying breastfeeding is (it’s natural, after all!) and didn’t think that it would take up so much of their time. You’re either setting up and preparing to feed, attentively feeding (am I doing this right?), or tending to baby after feeding (how do they dirty so many diapers? Didn’t I just change you?) Add in cleaning bottles or breast pump supplies and it’s reasonable to wonder how you can keep up! Even when feeding your newborn goes swimmingly well, it is still a challenge that takes up immense amounts of time and energy.
Weary parents lament just how unimaginably exhausted they are. They wonder how anyone can parent well under these conditions. Why doesn’t anyone tell the baby to sleep when the parents sleep? For those in two-parent families, they often swap out nighttime duties. Then they feel a sense of sadness in missing their partner while simmering in sleep deprivation. When you add in returning to work or other day-time obligations (hello toddlers at home!!) it seems impossible to carry on.
It is perfectly normal for new families to feel bewildered and overwhelmed and for life to feel like it’s been turned upside down. But there is good news!
You Do Not Need To Do It Alone
There is support and encouragement available in real life! A postpartum doula is an experienced professional specially trained to ease this transition into parenting. Available to come to your home throughout the fourth trimester, postpartum doulas help you find your way and establish a strong and healthy foundation in new parenting. We are able to reassure you what is normal. We can also alert when it’s time to seek medical advice or care. The doula helps you navigate your way through the mystery of life with a newborn. They are present with you through the hard times and can offer a compassionate listening ear as you process your birth and these early weeks and months of new parenting. An established, local postpartum doula is well-connected in your community and can provide resources and referrals as the needs arise.
Let A Doula Help
Making sure you have a postpartum doula on your team means an extra set of hands to help keep the home manageable while you recover from the hard work of birth. This hands-on professional can help with daily tasks to ease your burden and allow for rest and bonding with baby.
This means not sitting at home when you’re too nervous about going out with your newborn. The postpartum doula will teach you the tips & tricks to getting out and about with your baby and can help you feel confident in breastfeeding in public and using your car seat, stroller, and carrier safely.
It means successfully sleeping through the night. Deep, restful sleep, knowing that your baby is in good hands. Exhaustion and sleep-deprivation are real barriers to recovery. Making sure you have the right support in place allows you to have uninterrupted stretches of real sleep, which is invaluable to a new parent.
Having on-site assistance helps new siblings adjust to life with a baby. It makes sure their needs are met, and their concerns are heard.
The fourth trimester is hard. It is a lot of adjusting, trouble-shooting, and navigating. Rather than surviving it, wouldn’t you like to thrive through it? Contact Doula Rachel Basolo today and ensure you have postpartum support arranged for your fourth trimester.