Mothers are some of the strongest people I have ever met. And they can be incredibly fierce when it comes to their children. The term “mama bear” brings to mind an animal who is willing to do anything to protect her cubs.
But just as we need to handle a newborn with care, we need to handle a pregnant woman and new mom with care too. She is going through the most incredible change she will ever go through. The phrase “life change” doesn’t even scratch the surface of physical and emotional adjustments she is about to encounter.
It is so important to give her the physical support she needs. This doesn’t just mean a shoulder massage (which of course would be great at relieving tension) but also includes doing dishes, laundry and straightening up. Doing these simple tasks will help give her the space she needs to relax and to process her emotions.
Speaking of emotions, she is not even going to be aware of all she’s feeling. It may take hours, days, weeks or months for her to fully process the beginning of her journey into motherhood. And as soon as she processes one emotion, her baby will go through another developmental stage and she’ll be right back where she started processing through yet another set of emotions.
Someone taking care of a baby needs to be taken care of.
A postpartum doula does a great job of taking care of a new mom so she can take care of her baby.
And don’t forget about dads. They too are going through all the same things mom is, just from a different point of view. They too are some of the strongest people I have ever met, and also need to be handled with care.
journeyforwardbirthandparenting.com 
I appreciate how you bring out the fact that new moms are not always aware of what they need, especially when they’re feeling out of control.
I can only imagine how having the knowledge and support of a doula when I was a new mom would have helped me do better with both the physical adjustments and understanding my own emotional vulnerability.
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