MOTHERING, CAREGIVING.

Afterbirth.

Mothering and caregiving is felt, and is an experience that can exist beyond our capacity to articulate it. In the sacred weeks after birth, body and mind navigates complexity as it heals from birth, and organises itself to care for another, alongside ourselves.

There is a quiet yet profoundly sensorial resculpting of the body and brain during this time, as it moves from pregnancy through birth and into caregiving.

These internal changes can bring with it unfamiliar sensations and emotions. Birth and child raising implicates our most sensitive of organs, contributing to a shift in function and feeling. These changes can land as a shock on a body that may not have anticipated the wider implications of birth physically, emotionally or psychologically and the challenges that maybe encountered in the transition afterwards and through the earliest windows of caregiving. In these weeks, the tissues of birth giving, the vulva, can feel sensitive and painful, the abdomen and uterus tender, alongside the breasts as milk arrives. The breasts may also feel tender or engorged if feeding is difficult to establish.

Pressures from birth upon the tissues of the pelvic floor can impact upon the capacity to control the flow of urine or passing a bowel motion. There can be changes to romantic and social relationships, challenges navigating newborn settling and feeding, and psychological or physical stress, changing emotions can arise in response to a loss of control in ones inner and outer environment.

Life giving is an acute and intimate experience. Where the body and mind undergo significant transformation. It is a transformation inherently supported by the bodies innate intelligence and its synchrony with our newborn babies, yet it is threshold that can feel confronting to cross and currently it is a time under acknowledged in the impact it may have upon a mother.

The landscape of birth and of caregiving maybe be enriched by through open and realistic discussions of how the transition from birth into caregiving feels in a bodily and mind sense, creating a sense of inclusion and honesty for those who traverse it.

10. Jun. 2025.

Image Kim Verdebo.