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.”
Fourth Trimester Traditions
Cultures around the world recognize and honor the precious first months a new mother has to heal after having a baby. Traditions include providing a new mother with food, warmth, a clean house, and emotional support. Basically, the idea is that new mom doesn’t have to do anything other than eat, feed her baby, sleep and recover.
Lessons of Labor
Imagine that you’ve just had your baby, and you can’t sleep because you’re so excited. What do you do? Do you grab a pencil and paper and write down every last detail about the labor and birth experience?
That’s what Julia Aziz did. Three times, in fact: once for each baby.
Years later, Julia compiled her writing alongside learnings she gathered from 20+ years working with parents as a social worker and teacher. The result was a book of four-page chapters that each include a birth story, a lesson, and guidance on applying the lesson in daily life.