Blouse: Romwe
Photography by Shadi Garman
Hi Everyone! Thanks for stopping by! I hope your week is off to a good start. I have been a Mom for three months now. I can’t believe how fast the time has gone. These last three months have been the most incredible of my life, and I have learned more about myself and what it truly means to be a parent than I ever imagined! A friend of mine recently told me that being a Mom is like watching your heart walk around outside of your chest. That really resonated with me as it’s exactly how I feel. Charlee is my world and the love I have for her is unparalleled.
At the start of Charlee’s life, Matt and I were honestly clueless about how to care for a newborn baby and depended on family and friends for guidance. I think all new parents go through a major learning curve. No matter how much you prepare for becoming a parent, (we took all the classes you can think of) you really have to sort of learn as you go to some degree. We were truly so lucky with the community of people that came over to help, checked in, or simply offered their advice! Also a huge shout out to my Mom who came to stay with us for a week! We can’t thank you enough!!
Matt and I were so lucky to have my Mom come stay with us when Charlee was just three weeks old, but that left us with two weeks just us so we could become familiar with our new little family. This was super exciting but also very scary. During this time, one of the best things we did was hire our amazing doula, Kathy, from Doulacare Postpartum Service to teach and assist us in caring for our newborn baby girl.
So, you may be asking…WHAT is a doula?! I asked google the same thing! I always thought a Doula was a person that assisted you during birth and to be frank, were a little hippy dippy!! I knew I didn’t want anyone in the room except for Matt during delivery so I never considered a doula thinking that was what they did. That is until I found out what a doula really was! There are a few types of doulas: birth doulas, postpartum doulas, and antepartum doulas. A birth doula provides assistance to the mother before and during labor and childbirth; a postpartum doula provides assistance to new parents after their baby is born (though some doulas offer both services). Antepartum doulas help women who are having high-risk or difficult pregnancies — such as those on bed rest. After doing this research, we felt that a postpartum doula would be super helpful for us.
Matt and I started doing research and came across Doulacare Postpartum Service. I reached out to Ruth, the owner, and she set up a few interviews for us. Matt and I met with two different women who were both equally knowledgable in the art of doulacare. It was a chance for us to feel out who we felt would be the best fit for our family. Once we decided to work with Kathy, she communicated with us over email and text to schedule her first visit. The first day bringing home Charlee from the hospital was super stressful and honestly TERRIFYING! Luckily, Kathy met us at our apartment and helped with EVERYTHING. It was sort of a circus show to be honest! Matt and I were both super stressed out and exhausted and she stayed calm and eased our minds. She helped me set up the changing table, watched Charlee so I could take my first shower, helped me organize my nursing clothing and I was even able to take a nap! She is also a trained breastfeeding consultant so she helped me with that as well. Any and every question had an answer. Over the next 6 weeks, even when she wasn’t physically with us at our apartment, she would answer our frantic questions via text. She was so patient and kind and made being new parents easier.
The best thing about Kathy was that she really set us up for success. She taught us so much of what we needed to learn and gave us the confidence as parents to move on and tackle being a Mommy and Daddy without her.
If you are considering using a doula or are curious about what they do exactly, I hoped this blog post was helpful in answering some of your questions! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!
Xoxo-J