Chapter Two - The Homecoming

      I call homecoming, after birth and the baby is ready to come home, chapter two. Let's use reading a book as an example. When you start a new book and you love it, you're invested, interested, turning page after page when eventually you get to chapter two; you will read on. When you are pregnant, you are invested, committed and doing what you can to keep that baby and yourself healthy. People around you are asking you how you feel,  possibly preparing and planning baby showers, strangers in the grocery store want to, you know, pet your belly. 

     Then comes chapter two. You are home. Your home that used to be yours is now and forever will be your baby's home too. Visitors may come and go, food may come and go and at the end of the day it is you and your baby. I remember those first two weeks; my routine, sleep, appetite, my body, my brain; all different. My house was a new country it seemed, and I had not gotten citizenship yet.

     There are two major truths to homecoming, your baby will be hungry and you will be exhausted. During these first couple of weeks feeding your baby around the clock is normal and not knowing what to do with yourself is also normal; this is where sleep comes in and this can also be where a doula can be helpful. "Having someone on hand to take care of all the other household responsibilities while mother just sleeps and breastfeeds makes the process much easier." (Mohrbacher, Kenndall-Tackett - Breastfeeding Made Simple)

"People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one."
Leo J. Burke