We’ve all been there. The moment when you finally have a few minutes to yourself and you are racing through ideas of what to do. You think, I could clean the bathroom, or write that email, or make dinner, or read a few pages of my book, maybe have a cup of tea, maybe do a load of laundry, maybe watch an episode of Orange is the New Black. There are so many options and what do you choose?
Today I want to talk about the power of silence over our wellness. To start I want to reflect on the first outing with my daughter when she was a newborn. She was probably 2-3 weeks old and I went with Taylor (NMP co-founder) to a Birth Network Central New York meeting. It couldn’t have been a better setting to take a newborn. It was a small group of mothers discussing birth advocacy in our area. If anyone would help me brave this first outing it would be this group. I was anxious about my first adventure as a mom.
As a mental health counselor I often find myself trying to elicit information from clients about their wellness. I’ve found over the years that just asking a general “how are you doing?” Doesn’t really get me much information. There are some folks who are open books, and can’t help but give a genuine in-depth answer to this question, but most people respond in brief. New mothers are no exception.
“She can’t be hungry again!” If you have breastfed a newborn, or are breastfeeding a newborn, perhaps you’ve either thought these words and/or had somebody say these words to you. There seem to be times during those first few months when babies just want to nurse for hours without stopping
When summer hits I instantly feel a shift in my psyche. I think outdoor concerts, barbecues, dinner al fresco, hiking, and beach days. When I had my daughter I really wanted to continue doing all the fun summer things we like, but at the same time I was nervous about taking a newborn out and about in the heat and sun of the summer.
OK mama, you’ve got 30 minutes to yourself. Maybe your baby is napping. Maybe your best friend came over to hold the baby for you. Maybe your partner strapped the baby in a carrier and went for a walk. You should be happy, excited, thrilled…right? I don’t know about you, but as a mother to an infant (heck, even now as a mom to a 2- and 4- year old), I feel paralyzed in this situation.