Did you have a good postpartum experience? How were the first weeks after the arrival of your little one?
My experience was okay, thanks to me and my husband taking birth lessons. It would’ve been better if I hadn’t have a c-section because the baby never went head down and I had a big fibroid obstructing the birth canal. 😫 That was painful enough. A topic for another blogpost. On the 4th day postpartum, we went home. 🎉🎈
Now, let get this royal party started! I was still in pain from the surgery and had to get up, breastfeed the baby and try to walk as much as I could to continue my healing process. Some days my mother would do laundry for me and watched the baby when I had to eat. Or my mother in-law would come and help doing so. But, my husband was my hero. He helped me so much…
My love bought lunch and dinner for me,he woke up to help with the baby. Those two weeks were marvelous…Yes. Two weeks for my husband and it was vacation for him; not maternity leave. Can you believe that paid maternity leave in Italy lasts 5 months?(Info. taken from the documental Where to Invade Next by Michael Moore) Or that Asian women rest for a whole month (no cleaning, no making any type of effort) in order to heal from giving birth?( Resource: The Washington Post|Leslie Hsu Oh on Health and Science|Jan8,2017) Also, in a few countries of Latin America like Mexico and Cuba, mothers, mothers in- law or friends help women heal by taking care of them for 40 days “cuarentena” . They assist with chores and the kitchen,in order for the mother to only care for hel child (Huffpost|Linda Murray,Global Editor in Chief of Baby Center).
I had the priviledge to enjoy 12 weeks of paid maternity leave and I know there are many countries that do not provide it, and the U.S. is one of them, unless there were some private companies like the one I used to work for that provide it. But I also decided not to go back to work, because my husband and I understood that it is very healthy for a child to be with his mother the first years of life. I wish other women experienced the same. Even have the treatment and care of friends and family to be able to take advantage of her maternity leave and heal without any kind of stress.
How was your postpartum experience? Do others in you family helped you and your spouse? Did you have paid maternity leave? What do you think about postpartum traditions and costumes?
See ya in my next post!
Hugs,
Edaliz ✌😘
Mom Does It Better 