Stop Dreading Postpartum & Start Planning: 6 Simple Ways to Support Your Hormones, Mood & Energy, With Sarah Marie Bilger

Have you noticed that when someone says “I had postpartum,” they almost always mean postpartum depression? Postpartum is just the timeframe after you have a baby. Somewhere along the way, the word got glued to the worst-case scenario, and now so many of us are bracing for impact before the baby is even here. So I sat down with Sarah Marie, a doula and fellow mom who works with postpartum clients, and we had the honest, girlfriend-to-girlfriend version of this conversation. Yes, the hard parts are in there. They can live inside a really good season, and we talk about how. If you’re pregnant, planning for baby number two or three, or just done with the scary headlines, grab a snack and settle in. Here’s what’s coming: The hormone crash after delivery that is totally normal, and why your period might show up two weeks after you thought you were finally done bleeding The protein goal per meal that keeps your blood sugar steadier and your anxiety quieter (and yes, you still get the potatoes and dessert) The free thing you can do with your baby first thing in the morning that helps both of your sleep Why a freezer full of meals can still leave you hungry, and my favorite bedside snack cart idea The coffee train, and how to ask for help before you’re too tired to type the text The question to ask yourself before baby arrives that changes how the whole season feels Let’s talk about the stuff that rarely makes it into the postpartum conversation. Maybe you’re picturing your own postpartum right now, and your stomach does a little flip. Maybe your first time was overwhelming. Maybe your sister or your best friend had a hard time, and you’re quietly thinking, “What if that’s me?” Totally normal thing to wonder. And there is so much you can do for your body, your home, and your people before that baby gets here. We start with hormones, because knowing what’s normal takes a lot of the fear out. Your estrogen and progesterone go really high while you’re building a baby, then drop steeply in the first few days. After that, every body picks its own timeline for bringing a cycle back, and a full year is still well within normal. Breastfeeding and sleep both play a part, and we get into that too. Sarah Marie and I both remember hearing “just get some rest!” and wanting to throw something at the person saying it. Rest looks different when your baby isn’t sleeping. We talk about what it can actually look like, and why sleep matters more than we give it credit for, even though I know how hard it is to come by. Food is a big one. You’re sleep-deprived, your hormones are shifting, and you may be feeding a baby with your own body. That’s a recipe for blood sugar crashes and anxiety showing up together. We talk about easy ways to have real food ready when you are, including what Sarah Marie keeps in the fridge for those wandering-into-the-kitchen-at-2 AM moments, and the single-serving protein trick it took me until baby number three to figure out. Sunlight comes up too. Getting you and baby outside in the morning, at midday, and in the evening, as much as you can, helps both of your body clocks and your cortisol, and your mood follows. If being cooped up drains you, I share why I made a plan to get outside before I ever felt trapped. Then there’s the doer problem. I’m a doer too. I remember sitting on the couch, feeling my blood sugar drop, needing my husband to bring me food right now, and watching him start a load of laundry because he’s wonderful and also cannot read my mind. Asking for help is a skill, and Sarah Marie has a great tip for practicing it while you’re still pregnant. Pregnant women get doors held open. A week later you have 70 things in your arms, and nobody’s holding anything. We also talk about the dishwasher. Someone is going to load it wrong, and you

Stop Dreading Postpartum & Start Planning: 6 Simple Ways to Support Your Hormones, Mood & Energy, With Sarah Marie Bilger | E299