Recovery

Bodies Change And That’s A Good Thing – Love Your Body For The Body It Is

by: Sarah TrottPosted on:

Love your body. Love your body for so many reasons. Your body created new life. Your body gave you a baby you love. Your body works hard every day. Your body isn’t a girl’s body, it is a woman’s body. Bodies change after having a baby, and that’s okay. By loving your body, you are setting an example for your child that worth comes from who you are, not what you look like.
As Jennifer Garner puts it, “From now on ladies, I will have a bump. And it will be my baby bump. And let’s just all settle in and get used to it. It’s not going anywhere.”

Recovery

Post-Birth Libido, Birth Injury & How Past Trauma Affects Birth

by: Sarah TrottPosted on:

Ever wonder about when you’ll be able to have sex again after having a baby? Or how your body will feel and heal after giving birth? Curious about how having a baby affects intimacy, sensation and your body in general?
Answering these questions for us is Kimberly Johnson. She is a bodyworker, doula, post-partum women’s health specialist, and single mom. Having had a difficult postpartum experience herself, she set out to understand what exactly was going on with her, and to heal herself naturally.

Recovery

Somatic Experiencing Can Build Attachment Between Parent And Child

by: Sarah TrottPosted on:

Not all births are “easy births”. When there is a traumatic birth experience, where too much happens too fast, a sense of connection between parent and baby can be weakened.
Chanti Smith is an expert at human connection. She has worked with people of all ages to strengthen their parental attachment relationships. In particular, the work she does through Somatic Experiencing has helped parents develop a strong sense of connection and attachment with their babies. Any person feeling a “lacking” sensation related to their own birth or the birth of a child is a good candidate for developing stronger attachment and connection. Listen to Episode 26 to learn how.

Mental Health , Recovery

Postpartum Recovery Plan

by: Sarah TrottPosted on:

Jane Honikman gave her first baby up for adoption because she felt pressure to “do things in order”. She later finished college, married the father and had additional babies with the same man who is now her husband. Jane described her experience of giving up her first baby as a trauma. Compounding that trauma was the feeling that her second baby, another girl, was severely jaundiced as a kind of karmic punishment for what she’d done with her first baby. The experience triggered tremendous grief and guilt. Jane was not able to recover from her traumas until decades later through therapy. She waited until she was in her fifties to get the help she needed, having felt waves of anxiety and depression throughout her life. Jane encourages women to seek out the help they need as soon as they are able, and not to postpone healing. In our latest episode, we share an outline to help address postpartum anxiety and depression issues. This is relevant for EVERYONE, not just people who are “depressed”.

Mental Health

Become The Best Version Of Yourself

by: Sarah TrottPosted on:

In a word, Ann Jonas is resilient. She incorporates her own sense of spirituality into her coaching work, having experienced the sudden loss of her parents (her father killed her mother and died himself shortly thereafter in jail) and subsequently experienced the loss of her partner when her daughter was only two years old. One of Ann’s takeaways from her journey thus far is that “life happens for you, not to you.” She uses the metaphor of a car as the way we can look at life. There’s a huge front windshield so we can look ahead and look around us. Listen to Ann share how to become the best version of yourself on Episode 24 of the Fourth Trimester Podcast.

Breastfeeding

The Real Story Behind Breastfeeding (& How To Set Yourself Up For Success)

by: Sarah TrottPosted on:

Women who don’t meet their personal breastfeeding goals tend to think it is their own fault. It is time for women to stop blaming themselves.
Women are starting to learn that difficulty with breastfeeding isn’t their fault, and that oftentimes what is happening is that the hospital environment and modern medical system isn’t setting women up for breastfeeding success.

Recipes

Peanut Butter & Honey Rice Crispy Treats

by: Sarah TrottPosted on:

Nothing makes you grow up quickly like becoming a parent. These treats permit you to feel like a kid again. They are a snap to make and the peanut butter is so much better than the marshmallows found in packaged versions. (Almond or sunflower seed butter are fine substitutions.) Goji berries, raisins, or crunchy-sweet g pieces work great as add-ins.