Parenting Is Hard (and some Resources)

Being a parent is hard.

Most of us have heard that being a parent is the most rewarding and most difficult job we can have.

In my experience, this is very true.

And being a new parent when you are still recovering from the delivery is harder.

Let’s be honest, if you have recently (or not recently) had a baby, you know that literally growing a baby inside your body is a true miracle. And delivering that sweet baby is not often a walk in the park (to put it kindly). Our bodies are quite different after the pregnancy and delivery. In fact, for most of us, our bodies will never be the same again.

I am not complaining. And I don’t want to scare those who would like to eventually have a baby. I would not give up my (usually) sweet little girls for the world!

But if you are anything like me, my second delivery was ROUGH. And the repercussions of that difficult delivery continued for years. I won’t go into the details of my experience right now, but I will tell you that I was one of the few that had a post-surgical abdominal infection. Now usually this is not that big of a deal, but due to the fact that I was understandably fixated my new premature baby living in the NICU while I had my little toddler at home, I was not paying attention to my body.

I knew I felt like crap.

I knew my second postpartum recovery was completely different than my first emergency C section recovery…

But, as with many mamas, I put my kids first and myself last.

By the time I finally went into my doctor’s office, I was very sick with a large infection throughout my abdomen.

Suffice it to say, my road to recovery ended up taking years.

Thankfully, what happened to me is not common, but what I want you to take in is that so many of us in the postpartum period put ourselves last.

I get it.

I did it.

I sometimes still do… but not nearly as often as I used to.

And, truthfully, this particular lesson was a big part in my eventual healing.

I hope, if you are a postpartum mama, that you can learn from me.

Our children need us to be at our best.

Our children need us to show them that self-care is important.

Our children need to know that we have enough self-love for self-care.

After all, children learn from what we do even more than from what we say…

So, please know that you are deserving of feeling good again. You are deserving of living the full active life you want.

If you are finding your body is experiencing things like constipation, pelvic pain, incontinence, back pain, or other physical symptoms, you can get help.

If you are finding that emotionally you are struggling, this is real, and you don’t have to live this way. Help is available.

Please if you have any questions or are struggling in any way. Please reach out. Reach out to your physician. Reach out to your partner or your mother. Reach out to me. I am only an email and then a phone call away.

You are not alone, and you can and deserve to feel better!  Here are some great resources!

1.  Mother Nation: Find your Circle.  Join the Nation.  Get in here, Mama. 

2.  Pace: Pace is here for you.  Educational and Emotional Support Groups for new Moms.  Learn, connect. share.

3. Postpartum Wellness: Counseling For Moms.  Postpartum Wellness continues to actively provide online telehealth support to women, their families, and frontline workers throughout Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC with specialized counseling services.
 

In Peace and Kindness,

Jennifer Chu, MS, PT, WCS, Mind-Body Health Coach