Two Kinds of Postpartum Bliss

Sometimes I have to shake my head when I think about the life I lead. My morning started off chasing our goat Maizie around the farmyard attempting to catch her, lasso like, with a dog leash. After several minutes spent running around and around with Maizie always managing to evade me, I called my neighbor in for reinforcement, Thanks Mary! I finally got her (Maizie, not Mary) loaded into the back of the truck and set off to deliver Maizie to her boyfriends farm before going to see two babies who had just been born and the mamas who birthed them.

Postpartum visiting is one of my favorite things about being a midwife. I love showing up at peoples homes, letting myself in, finding my way to the bedroom where (hopefully) mama and baby are nestled all snug in the cozy bed, nursing or just smelling each other! More often that not, I kick off my shoes, if they are not already off, and join them on the bed. We talk about what has been going on in the last 24 hours? What color the baby's poop is? How the mom is eating and drinking? Are her nipples sore? Is it ok that baby spit up 4 times? And many more, ever so important, questions that new moms and dads may know the answers to, but still want to discuss. While this discussion is going on, we stop many times to just oogle at the baby and make comments about how cute he is, or "wow, look at her long fingers!", or "Oh, I love it when they stretch like that!", or "I can't believe how much she looks like her brother!" Many times the families and I talk about the birth and replay it in our conversation. I love hearing the mom's remembrances and perspectives, they are so different than mine or the dads (of course!) One of the most exciting moments at a postpartum visit is weighing the baby to see how much weight they have lost or gained. This always feels like it needs a drum role. (This little guy above, Jude Evan, is a week old today and has gained a full 8 oz , half of a whole pound, since his birth! He is clearly breastfeeding very well!

I often have to pull myself off of the bed and away from the house in order for me to get on to other things for the day. I do believe babies have mesmerizing powers and if we are not careful, our entire day could get spent staring at them and then all sorts of "important stuff" wouldn't get done. The last thing I usually say before leaving a postpartum visit is, "enjoy lying in the bed with that baby, the first week after each of my children's births is the most precious time I can remember in my life." Perhaps I like these after birth visits so much because they take me back to that sweet time with my own babies...

Now that Maizie is visiting her boyfriend, or should I say husband, hopefully in 5 months we will have a totally different kind of postpartum period happening; one that involves feeding the mama warm oatmeal and molasses water and little goaties, who can barley stand, trying to jump.