But what about you new Mama?

I don’t know about you but from my experience not much thought is given to a new mum after bub arrives. We see the token ‘Mother and Baby doing well’ in exciting announcement posts and that’s where it stops. But I beg you to be the change. .

Your health and well-being postnatally are just as important as your precious baby’s and so I urge you to stop for a moment and think about what will be necessary to support you in the days, weeks and months after baby’s arrival and do what you can to make it happen. .

For me this was a simple no visitors to the hospital rule. It might sound harsh but without knowing it it was one of the best decisions we made. While pregnant I anticipated that having people in and out, feeling like I needed to be ‘presentable’ for visitors and play a host would be too much for me and I was so right. That first week is a toughy with emotions on overdrive and after an unexpectedly traumatic labour I was definitely not fit to deal with people. You might be thinking how unhappy your family and friends would be to hear they’re not welcome to visit but again I urge you to think only of you. This is your health, your journey, your toe being dipped in the water of motherhood. What everyone else wants is not your concern. Your concern is being the best and healthiest mother to your baby and that requires only doing what serves you. You are allowed to be selfish on this. .

Now my hospital rule is just one example of what you could do to support your postnatal wellbeing and I don’t know what’s going to best for you, only you can be the judge of that. But I do think it is worth taking some time to ponder on this before baby arrives. And then make it happen. And remember, your baby needs you to be healthy first to be healthy too. #putonyouroxygenmaskfirst 

Not pregnant but know someone who is? Tag them here so they can think on ways to support their health postnatally. Not enough emphasis is put on a woman’s health after baby (not her body, her health) so we need to work together to change this thinking! Better yet, maybe ask how you can support them? What can you do to make a new Mum’s life better? It takes a village my friends!