My Very First Postpartum Power Hour
Lost in the moment,
Where stillness meets presence,
Friendships soften the room,
and the Postpartum Power Hour becomes a gentle place to land.
According to PSI (Postpartum Support International), postpartum mental health challenges do not follow a strict timeline. They can appear before birth, right after birth, or months later. They arise because the perinatal period is a time of intense physical, emotional, and environmental change, and these shifts can overwhelm even the most prepared parents.
Following the birth of my oldest daughter in 2016, I was not prepared for the whirlwind of emotions that rocked my world during postpartum. All of a sudden, I had this fear. I was horrified that I had brought such a precious life into this beautiful yet dangerous world. If you have already had your baby, I know you know exactly what I mean, lol.
I struggled with breastfeeding and the unfamiliar feeling of the milk being pulled from my breasts. I did not know what time it was. All I knew was that every time I fell into a good sleep, my little baby was hungry again. My breasts hurt. How was I engorged? I only slept over by thirty minutes from her normal feeding time…so I thought.
Friends. I thought I had them, yet nobody could really relate. Visits felt exhausting yet brief. Everyone would ask me what I needed, but I had no real answers. I was unsure, honestly. What I realized when I decided to become a Postpartum Doula in 2022 is that I needed to be around women who could relate because they were going through the same thing.
This is how my free Postpartum Power Hour was birthed. I kept seeing the need through Facebook posts from other new moms who were searching for support, community, and connection. On June 9th, I hosted the very first one. It rained that day, but out of all the signups we received, two moms and their toddlers showed up, and it meant the world to me. Our guest speaker, Raven, a trauma informed somatic breathwork practitioner, spoke on the importance of regulating your nervous system through breathwork.
According to Yale Medicine, mindful breathing is a powerful tool that helps regulate the nervous system and reduce stress. Breathwork is something we all should come back to in the fresh moments of motherhood when your baby is crying and you have done all the things and nothing is working. It is something we come back to when you are trying to get to work and remembered the diaper bag but forgot your lunch or that important document for a presentation. It is something we return to throughout life to help calm and recenter us.
The mothers who came were able to connect and release by practicing a breathwork technique that Raven showed us and by talking about what felt heaviest for them in the moment. Each mom received flowers and was reminded that releasing is okay. Raven and I held space for them on this day. And I hold space for you at each and every Power Hour every second Tuesday and fourth Saturday at 11 am at the Village Clubhouse in Greenville, SC.
Source:
Yale Medicine. The Power of the Breath.https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/the-power-of-the-breath/
Postpartum Support International. Perinatal Mental Health. https://postpartum.net/perinatal-mental-health/
If you are craving connection, support, or simply a moment to breathe, I would love for you to join us. Postpartum Power Hour is a free, judgment free space where you can show up exactly as you are. Come connect with other moms, learn tools that support you, prepare you for postpartum, and carry you through so much more. Reserve your spot for the next session. Your soft place to land is waiting.
