Postpartum is often when the reality sets in. Not the reality you had in your head of sweet babies sleeping in a perfectly tidy, sunlit room while you lovingly stare down at them basking in the warmth and stillness of parenthood. But the real reality.

One that is full of:

• A level of exhaustion you didn’t know was humanly possible

• Constant opinions and criticisms about how you’re acting and parenting

• Changes in yourself or your partner that you don’t know how to name or talk about

• Worrying if your baby is “ok” and whether or not you’re giving them what they need

• A sense of losing yourself in this new role and the endless needs of your baby

• An overwhelming and all-consuming love and focus that shifts how you see and relate to the world

• A social structure that is dismissive of the time your body needs to heal and prohibitive of you being available to meet your baby’s needs in the ways you would like during their earliest years

• A demanding physical recovery and continuing biological changes

These things are real. And they’re really hard. But here’s the thing I want you to know.  If you reframe postpartum as a transitional period, and break it down into a series of smaller stages and realistic expectations, it can feel more manageable.  

With this in mind, my work as a Postpartum Coach will vary depending on your stage of postpartum, and the unique needs and goals of your family. I view the postpartum journey as a 2-year process, and break it down into 6 distinct stages. This allows us to honor the realities of where you and your family are in your evolution and to integrate this framework with how you are personally experiencing parenthood at this moment in time. In addition to allowing for more realistic goal-setting, rethinking postpartum as short-term, temporary stages can in and of itself allow for more levity, presence, and confidence in the process.