So often, women hear of birth being the one day that will stay with them for a lifetime. Often, healthy pregnancies and births are seen as the golden duo, the most important elements in the start of the journey of parenthood. But we disagree. It isn’t a duo at all, but rather a trio.
Healthy pregnancies are important, yes, you’re growing a real person after all and that takes a lot of work. Healthy births are just as equally important, as the studies show the benefits to a mom when she has had a safe and empowering birth. But just as equally important in this scenario is postpartum. So much planning can go into actually having the baby, that what to do when baby arrives is often not given as much attention. Postpartum, sometimes coined as the “fourth trimester”, is that final piece of the birth puzzle that often gets over looked until it’s already upon you.
You've given birth to a human being, a child now completely dependent on you for their needs to be met. For many first-time parents, this is a daunting task of being discharged from their hospital or birth center, and heading home for the first time with their newborn baby. So much has happened within the last few days or hours, and now you’re about to leave the support of your birth location, the place where you can ask questions, have a staff member or nurse show you what to do, and head home to put it all together.
You might be asking yourself: What do I do now? Will I remember everything my provider told me? Will breastfeeding go well? Will my partner, or family and friends know exactly how to help me?
These are common questions that many first-time, and experienced parents ask themselves when heading home for the first time with their new baby.
So often as postpartum doulas we have gotten calls from frantic parents who have just gotten home from the hospital, or have been home for a day or two and realized that postpartum is a little trickier transition than they anticipated. Or they’ve discovered that while the well-meaning family members and friends they have at their side might be good at cooking and running errands for them, they couldn't help them with breastfeeding or showing them soothing techniques that actually worked. For some women it might be that they had difficult births and need some extra support getting off to the right start at home.
That is what “Meet You at Home” is all about: helping parents coming home with their newborns get off to the right start from day one. With our service you are guaranteed one of our highly skilled and trained doulas at your door when you arrive home with your baby. We are there to help you adjust and get settled in, right from the start.
Meet You at Home can also provide…
· helpful tips on how you and the whole family can adjust the first week home
· help you identify your baby’s feeding cues
· help with breastfeeding or bottle feeding
· education on how to swaddle and change diapers
· assistance in organizing what your first week will look like with appointments for you and your baby, and any older children you may have
· help with navigate having visitors for the first time
And finally, we make sure you are fed, comfortable, and settled in before we go.
Over the years of working with hundreds of families postpartum, we’ve realized the huge benefits of being there from day one and heading off those frantic phone calls for before they even become necessary.
Healthy pregnancies, healthy births, and a healthy postpartum can help make more confident parents and families. In this trio, one component is just as important as the others. Plan for a smoother transition into postpartum from the beginning. Let our doulas support you making this part of your journey just as special as the start of it!