Journey into motherhood - 3 personal reflections: pregnancy, labour and delivery, surviving the newborn phase, becoming a mum
As you can see from the title of this journal entry, I’ve recently added one of the most important roles I will have in my lifetime - becoming a mum! In January, we welcomed our beautiful baby boy, Laurence, into this world.
Becoming a mum has been one of the most rewarding, challenging, and life-changing experiences I’ve ever had.
It was fascinating to watch my body grow, go through all the changes, and do the incredible job of creating and birthing a whole little human!
Now that Laurence is here and I’m on the other side of giving birth, here are 3 of my personal reflections about my journey into motherhood - from pregnancy all the way through to surviving the newborn phase!
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Embrace the seasons in life - sometimes it’s about pushing and working hard for what you want, other times it’s important to slow down, reflect, and rest.
I was really blessed to have had a pretty smooth pregnancy journey.
During the first trimester, my main symptoms were fatigue, cravings, and I was feeling more moody than usual. Somehow I did not get any nausea or morning sickness!
Although I developed some pelvic pain later on, this was my main challenge to navigate during pregnancy.
During the first and second trimesters, I actually felt quite energetic and this is possibly also because I was enjoying my work and getting lots of opportunities to develop and stretch my skills.
During this ‘season’, I took many opportunities to push myself outside of my comfort zone at my job, continued my usual exercise routine, and maintained my social commitments.
However, as the final trimester approached and the weight I was carrying was rapidly increasing every day, my body was telling me to slow down.
I noticed not only physical changes in the third trimester, but mental and emotional changes as well.
Physically, even walking started to get more tough - between having pelvic pain and needing to pee every 15 minutes, my walking pace and distance reduced significantly from what I was used to my body being able to do.
I went from high-impact, high-intensity workouts, to barely being able to walk around the block without struggling.
As for mental and emotional changes, I noticed wanting to have my own space more and being less willing to commit to social commitments.
I really only wanted to spend time with my husband, dog, immediate family and my bestie.
It also naturally felt like a time for me to slow down and make space to reflect on how I felt about being a few months or weeks away from entering into motherhood - a massive life change filled with many uncertainties!
The more I experience things in life, the more I’ve come to realise the importance of embracing all that the seasons have to offer.
Just like how we experience spring, summer, autumn, and winter, we have periods in our life where we are more:
Energetic and open to change
Social and open to new experiences
Quiet, withdrawn, and reflective
It’s helpful to recognise which season we are currently in, the reasons why, and the best way to move forward, ensuring we honour and benefit from what this season has to offer.
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My body can heal and recover if I look after myself.
I think it’s safe to say that giving birth can be scary to think about!
The movies tend to portray women in a lot of pain and the thought of pushing out a whole human or cutting through several layers of your abdomen to deliver a baby seems quite intimidating.
However, as I write this post, I am currently 6 weeks postpartum and it’s amazing to see my body’s ability to heal and recover, even after experiencing so much physical trauma.
Aside from labour and delivery, the second most taxing experience on my body was catching chickenpox 2 years ago - at the ripe old age of 31!
It was so severe, but in giving my body the time it needs to heal, staying hydrated, eating the right foods, and giving myself time to rest, I’m so grateful for coming out of that experience almost entirely recovered (with the exception of a couple of very small and subtle scars).
Giving birth is a lot more intense, and although I don’t yet feel 100%, I’d say I’m about 70 - 80% towards feeling fully recovered.
I was thinking it’s so cool in movies when superheroes have self-healing powers - our body is not far from being able to do the same, which is mind-blowing!
After literally going through blood, sweat, and tears from giving birth, it’s incredible to feel less and less pain every day, to be able to walk much longer distances, and gradually begin to feel more like my old self prior to getting pregnant.
Our bodies are amazing!
3 /
Everything is temporary and change is the only constant - this too shall pass.
Although I have a lot of love for my little boy, the first couple of weeks adjusting to a newborn were challenging to say the least.
Some of the things that contributed to my baby blues after giving birth were:
Navigating the challenges of breastfeeding and ultimately making the difficult decision to exclusively formula feed.
Dealing with guilt of deciding not to breastfeed, but wanting to have body autonomy back.
Getting adjusted to broken sleep and waking up in the early hours to do night feeds.
Allowing time to understand my baby’s cues (what is he crying about?!)
Missing the levels of freedom I had pre-baby.
Now that Laurence is 6 weeks old, when I look back at those first few days and weeks, it’s amazing how fast they’ve gone by and how much Richard and I have learnt about how to look after a tiny baby!
Another thing that passed quickly was labour and giving birth! It’s crazy how now it feels like it was over in the blink of an eye.
Even though the first few weeks were difficult, they passed.
As we move through life, things are always changing, progressing, and we are required to adapt. Sometimes this means enduring hardship or finding a new normal.
Whenever I move through a tough period, I like to remind myself that ‘this too shall pass’.
I’m so excited to see this new chapter of my life unfold.
Moving forward, I’ll be exploring new ways to find balance and continue looking after my wellbeing while being a mum, and I can’t wait to share this with you!
Catch up on my other journal entries
Share your thoughts
If you are a parent yourself, what have been some of your own personal reflections since taking on this important role?
I’m so excited to share that I’ve recently become a mum! My little boy Laurence arrived in January and it’s been a wild ride! In this entry, I share 3 key personal reflections and lessons I’ve learned from my pregnancy journey all the way through to postpartum and surviving the first few weeks of the newborn stage.