The Day After Mother's Day
Yesterday was Mother’s Day. It was hopefully relaxing. There was probably time to sleep in; some breakfast in bed. A shower without small bodies clinging to limbs or worrying about phantom cries. Warm meals. If you were lucky, maybe even a nap in the middle of the day to rest and feel appreciated. Lots of adorable cards of stick figured representations of you and your precious children.
Today the pampering ended. The warmth and glow of your special day is just a memory. Today the coffee will be cold. No one is getting up with the baby. It’s all you. Partners have gone back to work, out of town family has left. Back to reality.
But does it really have to be that way?
Mother’s Day is a wonderful time to appreciate the wonderful work that you do every single day. To alleviate some of the stress from the struggle of trying to care for yourself while you’re caring for your baby - and maybe other children - as well. To bask in the well deserved recognition of your daily accomplishments as caregiver. To breathe.
Today you still need that chance to take a moment for yourself. You still need the ability to get through the day and not feel overwhelmed. You still deserve a hot meal, a warm and tranquil bath or shower, maybe - dare I say it - a nap to recuperate. Yesterday wasn’t the only day that you needed to pause. Every day the battery doesn’t start full and drain from a 100% power source.
So should you suck it up and push forward, because every day can’t be Mother’s Day? Of course not!
There is help, there are hands, there are arms that can share the load. Inviting a postpartum doula and infant care specialist into your home can maintain the sense of sanity that you managed to grasp, ever so briefly, yesterday. You can take that nap, linger in the shower, look around and see clear countertops instead of piles of art projects, laundry, cereal boxes to be put away. You can allow yourself to take a moment and recharge, so you’re ready to continue your day and feel focused on those beautiful, wonderful children you’re raising, without being pulled in a million directions.
That nap yesterday, those Pandora bracelet charms and the memory of pancakes with hot syrup may fade. The support and confidence of a trusted professional in your home can make that feeling of Mother’s Day last every day.
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