It's a question being asked 267.000 times on Google on the day I published this blog. What would be interesting to find out in which period parents asked this. I bet 80% asked this after their baby was born. It is just such an overwhelming period. What I am aware of is that mothers need to be educated better about what happens after they have given birth. Times have changed and we need to keep up with change because we don't live the same way we lived 50 years ago.
Back in the olden days you quit your job when you got married or you stopped working as soon as you got pregnant. This way you could give your pregnancy and 4th trimester your full attention together with your village around you. It's not the same anymore. Mothers sometimes work up to two weeks before they give birth and are expected to come back quickly as well. This is such a big difference and what are we, the community and us, doing to adapt to this change?
Once I asked the question "what surprised you most after giving birth" more than 75% of the answers came back with 'loneliness' and 'isolation". This is very understandable in the period we live in now. Many more mothers, grandmothers, friends are working, no neighbours are at home because they are working, and with a bit of luck your partner is home for the first two weeks but going back to work after.
So how do you survive the 4th trimester? I would say start creating your village around you when you are pregnant or even before that. Go to classes to meet like minded people, go to free gatherings, start your own group, ask if family can come over and help out after you have given birth or organise help. You don't have to do this alone. Make sure you create your own village because unfortunately it is not created for you. Make sure you prepare yourself before you give birth to make sure you have a village to go to when you need them after you give birth.
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