Category: Adjusting to Parenthood
Partners and Self-care as New Parents
by Melinda Ferguson The time after a baby arrives is one of enormous change for the entire family. Relationships shift, priorities shift, many aspects of daily life change, and there is much to learn about the care and feeding of a new little person. All of these transitions happen regardless of whether someone gave birth themselves, just by the nature of bringing a…
Beyond Baby Steps: How I learned to stop powering through
I couldn’t stop turning the words over in my head. “It’s your life, too,” my friend had said to me. It was an off-hand, supportive reply to me cataloging my overwhelming 24-hour-a-day job as mother to three young daughters. But why couldn’t I let the words go? Was it really my life too? There was so much I enjoyed about…
Interview: Adjusting to Parenthood
Melissa, Participant at Adjusting to Parenthood, a New Mom Support Group in Seattle This post previously published by Perinatal Support Washington. What was your reason for joining the group? My PEPS group had ended, and we hadn’t kept meeting up. As a result, I had no outlet to talk about the challenges of motherhood, and I started having more dark…
How do you know you’re done?
According to family lore, my parents always just knew they were done after two babies. It was crystal clear from the moment my little sister was born: family complete. End of story. Throughout my own parenting journey, I’ve heard a similar refrain from other parents, usually uttered in a tone of outright certainty: I’m one and done. I’m two and through. Three…
Birth Story Healing
By Barrie Rein Thunemann MA, ICCE, CD, Certified Birthing From Within Mentor, www.fullmoonbirthseattle.com Our culture tells us that giving birth is supposed to be one of the best days of our lives, however, many mothers and parents can feel disappointed or let down after their birth experience. In fact it’s actually not all that unusual to feel that something just doesn’t…
City, neighborhood, block
We headed out almost every day, no matter the weather. Our destination was always the same: the park at the end of our block. But the journey was always different. Some days, that walk would take us over an hour. Some days we actually never made it to the park at all, when a bad scrape or a temper tantrum got in our way. There was always something new to take in, like the tinkling sound emanating from a drain spout or the shiny curve of a worm upon the sidewalk.
To the man in the coffee shop
People rarely say anything, but you can feel the atmosphere change when you arrive. Being a parent of young children is hard enough. Sometimes the additional weight of annoyed strangers can be too much to bear.
Relationship Changes
Changes to our relationship are often the most un-anticipated change of becoming new parents. If you are pregnant right now, you might be thinking that your relationship won’t fall into these common traps and this article is not for you. Still, I encourage you to continue reading. Parents and professional therapists know that the first year after having a baby…
Why parenting is harder than it looks
The thing is, parenting young children is not an intellectual exercise. It’s an often overwhelming exercise in constant empathy for a sometimes very difficult little person.
