In todays episode I had the honour of chatting with my best friend Deya about the last 6 months of postpartum life with her son, my godson, Woody.

Deya had a restful start to motherhood which she credits to her Doula who encouraged her to spend time thinking and preparing for postpartum when she was still pregnant and also reading the book The First Forty Days. As a very outdoorsy active person it was a real change of pace, but she managed to not leave her house for over a week and was fed by friends and family for about 3 weeks which enabled their new family of 3 to spend as much time as possible getting to know each other.

Breastfeeding was a major feature of the first few months for Deya. Never did she think she would think so much about her boobs. It was very painful for many months. She sought help from her community and professionals but it wasn't until she got some much needed sun, salt and sea on holiday that a longstanding fissure and raynauds in her nipples dissapeared which was a real turning point in her breastfeeding journey. Deya recalls the raw emotions of dreading a feed, panic that it will never improve and the exhaustion of trying to fix it. She really felt the duality of the early months - intense joy and intense pain living side by side and feels sad that so much of her brain was taken up by the pain but that it taught her intense patience and huge resilience and she continues to breastfeed Woody today.

We talked about her surrending to slowing down more recently and how it was easy to fill her days with endless classes and meet ups at the start but this need to stay busy was in part to show she had achieved things with her day. As despite knowing in herself all the tiny moments that add up to a day in the life of a mother at home with her baby, when sharing it with others it fell sickenly short of doing the day any justice. Her focus now on unfilling her days has led to a greater sence of presence to her baby, to her self, her intuition and the world around her.

Deya also shares how her work in widlife documentaries and researching animal behaviour, especially orangutans, has informed her natural parenting and made her pinker in combining her old work with her new role as a mother.

Deya speaks from the heart and shares some wonderful stories and insights into motherhood, I hope you enjoy it!