Building the Foundation for a Safe & Empowered 4th Trimester (Episode #21)
What IS the fourth trimester?
What doctor brought this concept forward and what is being done to support mothers through this crucial time?
In today's episode, we are beyond thrilled to be in conversation with the two magnificent women who created Fourth Trimester Foundations about postpartum recovery essentials. Carly and Meg are registered nurses who work on the frontlines - they are present with moms in labor and delivery every day. They’re also moms themselves, and have experienced firsthand the many gaps in the healthcare system that doesn’t prepare people for the fourth trimester experience.
After a person gives birth, they are quite literally a different person. Hormonally, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. In response to this, Carly and Meg founded Fourth Trimester Foundations to ensure new mothers and birthing people have an understanding of the care they deserve and is available to them to embrace their transformation and take charge of their healing.
Not only will we be discussing some unconventional gifts to bring to a baby shower and code words to use with your co-parent when you’re feeling overwhelmed by visitors - we’re dismantling the story that moms have to go through postpartum feeling alone, scared, and in pain. People like Carly and Meg are literally a phone call away - the missing link isn’t that postpartum care isn’t available, it’s that our current healthcare system hasn’t set moms up to even know that people like us, and Carly and Meg, are out here waiting to support with open arms.
In this episode you’ll learn about:
The pediatrician who brought forth the science behind fourth trimester
The concept of still being a “unit” with your baby after birth
How taking POSTPARTUM CLASSES is equally as important as taking CHILDBIRTH CLASSES
The question Carly and Meg get most after EVERY patient gives birth - no matter if it was vaginal or surgical
The importance of setting FIRM boundaries to start, knowing that postpartum is YOUR experience and you get to change your mind if you feel like it
Stories from nurses who have seen it all and are tired of society telling women they have to keep their postpartum struggles under wraps
Notable Quotes from Carly & Meg:
“There's a couple of reasons that people don’t prepare for postpartum. Frankly, you don't have to, nobody's gonna make you do it. You can still show up in labor and you'll get to the other side, and you'll still have your fourth trimester, whether it's good or bad, or somewhere in between, and you'll survive and life will go on - you don't have to do it. I think the other reason that people don't [prepare] is because the society portrays to us that you're done after you give birth - the event is over. You know, it's not like any other experience in the hospital. You go into the hospital sick, you get treated, you get better, you go home, and it's over. You go in for surgery, your surgery’s done, you recover from your surgery, and it's over. Your birth, whether it was surgical or vaginal, it's not a finished experience. Once your birth is over, people forget that there's this whole life left to live. The collateral damage of what happened to your body in the process doesn't have to just fall apart.”
“There's so much focus on creating a registry for baby and having all the right baby products and making sure you have every kind of bottle or every kind of product you could possibly need for all of your motherhood journey. [But] there's a better [use of] time, finances or the support you’re being gifted with to prepare for postpartum before it's there.”
Resources & Links
Looking for more support to start your postpartum recovery? Here are some options to get you started on a great path forward:
1) Take the Pelvic Floor & Core Strength Quiz. After taking the quiz, you'll get a score and based on your results, guidance on what steps to take to move you forward in your recovery.
2) Check out our podcast listening guides: Download the Pregnancy Listening Guide or Postpartum Listening Guide.
3) If you’re postpartum and ready to get moving, need to heal your body but you don’t know where to start…join us for Postpartum Repair & Restore LIVE, a science-backed and fun-stacked, Diastasis and Pelvic Floor Strength program. Start healing your diastasis and eliminating leaking in 8 weeks or less with our guidance.
4) Do you prefer working one-on-one, or have a high risk pregnancy, a severe diastasis or leaking that won’t quit? You might be a candidate to work with us privately. To find out, take this quick self assessment! If you qualify, you'll be invited to schedule a complementary Postpartum Strategy Session with us where we'll take a good look at what's not working in your repair process, and come up with a great plan just for you.
