birth recovery
I was at a birth all night last night & logged 20 hours with my client. So today is devoted 100% to physical & emotional recovery. Birth is intense, so the emotional recovery side is self-explanatory. On the physical side of things, I'm usually on my feet 90% of the birth. I fetch food, water, coffee (for sleepy partners), hot packs, cold packs. I tend to the physical space - candles, music, lighting, temperature, scents. And more than anything else, I walk, squat, rock, sway, breathe, moan with, & massage my clients through their labor. It is a rich & dynamic process to which I find myself easily attuned. But that level of connection & attunement during birth can also be exhausting - especially since I lose at least a few hours, if not a whole night or two, of sleep at most births I attend.
On the sleep note, that's something that doesn't come naturally for me as a doula. I'm usually fine & have plenty of energy during the birth, but I crash pretty hard afterward. Unlike many doulas, I'm a serious sleeper by nature. I'm at my best when I'm running on nine (NINE!) solid hours of sleep. And I can often take a nap at the drop of a hat - on top of the nine nighttime hours.
I looooooove the feeling of curling up in my bed when I get home from a birth. My bed is my sanctuary - my cave. Since I was a kid, I've loved the feeling of my body melting into my mattress under the warm blankets in my bed. I savor that feeling under normal circumstances, and I'm literally giddy with excitement when it happens after a sleep-deprived birth journey. Thankfully, my need for sleep is stronger than the giddiness, so it only takes about 90 seconds to actually fall asleep.
All of that to say that I slept most of today. And I'll be in a sort of lucid, post-birth fog for the next day or two. Baine is playing a show tonight, so I'm home alone, snuggled up with p-dog, eating popcorn & ice cream for dinner, & watching old movies. Roman Holiday is the pic of the night because it (& any Audrey Hepburn movie) is pure comfort. The Mouth of Truth scene (below) makes me laugh out loud - probably because it's almost an exact replica of many of my interactions with my dear, cruel husband.
"Alright, let's go. LOOK OUT!" Hahaha. Her screams are perfect. Oh, I do love birth recovery days. Thanks for letting me share some of it with you.
On the sleep note, that's something that doesn't come naturally for me as a doula. I'm usually fine & have plenty of energy during the birth, but I crash pretty hard afterward. Unlike many doulas, I'm a serious sleeper by nature. I'm at my best when I'm running on nine (NINE!) solid hours of sleep. And I can often take a nap at the drop of a hat - on top of the nine nighttime hours.
I looooooove the feeling of curling up in my bed when I get home from a birth. My bed is my sanctuary - my cave. Since I was a kid, I've loved the feeling of my body melting into my mattress under the warm blankets in my bed. I savor that feeling under normal circumstances, and I'm literally giddy with excitement when it happens after a sleep-deprived birth journey. Thankfully, my need for sleep is stronger than the giddiness, so it only takes about 90 seconds to actually fall asleep.
All of that to say that I slept most of today. And I'll be in a sort of lucid, post-birth fog for the next day or two. Baine is playing a show tonight, so I'm home alone, snuggled up with p-dog, eating popcorn & ice cream for dinner, & watching old movies. Roman Holiday is the pic of the night because it (& any Audrey Hepburn movie) is pure comfort. The Mouth of Truth scene (below) makes me laugh out loud - probably because it's almost an exact replica of many of my interactions with my dear, cruel husband.
"Alright, let's go. LOOK OUT!" Hahaha. Her screams are perfect. Oh, I do love birth recovery days. Thanks for letting me share some of it with you.
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