I’m sure I’ve written in the past that the work I do is cathartic for me. I’d love to say that my motives are completely altruistic, but let’s get real, we all enjoy getting something out of the work we do. For me, it helps me heal from the experience of having a newborn and not knowing what to do with, and for, my tiny human, not expecting my body to feel the way it did, and not understanding the depth and breadth of the complicated emotions I was feeling. There is so much wonder, amazement, and joy during that newborn time and there is so much fear and uncertainty as well. So, I love to get to work with moms and babies and families who may be feeling something along that spectrum and at the very least, be a grounding presence as they figure out what really can’t be taught.
I confess. I enjoy listening to podcasts. I’ve got a few on my favorites list. Some are best when driving in between client visits, some when I’m exercising, and some when I’m avoiding exercising. One of my favorites, I’m not shy to say, usually happens to fall on the fairly raunchy, yet brutally honest side - storytelling at its most compelling, in my book. Driving to a home visit the other day, I was struck by a particularly poignant and relevant story about a momma going through some common, and not-so-common challenges in the early days after birth. I’m compelled to share. Be warned, this particular episode is less explicit than others, but I’d still consider it NSFW and not for your ears if you don’t like descriptions of lady parts and naughty words. I keep it real girls. The mommas in the initial session of my most recent 6-week support group were surprised (and relieved) when they were cautiously glancing my way and calling their mammary glands “breasts” and I replied with some semblance of a sentence involving the word “tits”. Sometimes it fits.
I digress. Here’s the podcast. There are three stories included in the episode titled "It's Complicated". I’m referring to the very first story. Let me know what you think: