Postpartum Padsicles How-to (& the value of human time & care in the postpartum period)

If there’s one thing I learned from birthing a baby, it’s that time and support from my fellow humans is more valuable than gold. Baby showers usually focus on the material. And don’t get me wrong - material goods are ESSENTIAL!

However, only to a point. What’s even more essential is healing, and while I see many posts welcoming new babies into this world. I hardly ever see one detailing how painful the aftermath of birth is for many of us - whether we gave birth vaginally or via our bellies.

My sister and mom made me these ‘padsicles’ and I’ve been inspired to do the same for my dear buddy, who is expecting her second child in a few weeks. This type of care is KEY for postpartum parents.

The amount of delegating I had to learn on the fly once Goldie finally arrived was insane. I couldn’t do anything for myself. I wondered why human parents and their babies don’t immediately hibernate for a month in order to heal after the birth process.

In this culture of glorified independence, postpartum women and parents NEED HELP in a big way. The other day, when my mom was graciously catching ALL my rage, she told me that I had more postpartum help than anyone she’s ever seen. I told my mom that it still wasn’t enough. I needed someone to be feeding me for the first six months of breastfeeding, which is as far as we made it, because I was HUNGRY all the time. I needed someone to be filling my water glass (I needed 2x more water than before breastfeeding) for MONTHS, not weeks.

Normalizing ongoing care is important, and it’s also scary because so many people have limited external support when they create and bring forth new life. Still, it is important to share the message that mothers and birthing parents may not have the skills to conceptualize, much less verbalize, the needs they have after birth. They can always tell you, “no, I’ve got this.”

I wonder: if we’re willing to feel the joy of a freshie and comment how cute a baby is on Facebook/IG, might we consider what we can do - in person or through funding - to support the baby by supporting the postpartum person who is dealing with a LOT of hormone changes, a bruised, bleeding, and hurting body, and learning to support this new life outside of their body?

Love y’all. Thanks for reading. Let me know if you hear me. Together, we shall continue to make a ruckus.