A Letter to My Maiden Self

Dear Maiden Self,

Relax and let go. You are about to journey into Motherhood and this beautiful journey will only happen once in its own unique way with each child that you have.
relax and let go. Let go of all external expectations, ego, the endless To Do Lists. Do not compare yourself toothed Mothers, to past and present.
Let go of all the expectations and pressure you put on yourself as the Mother, the partner, the worker and the housekeeper.
Instead just totally surrender to this special and sacred time.
See it as a time to truly nourish, to repair, to restore your body and to connect to your baby.
Those things take precedence over everything else, and they come first and foremost, and we must nurture ourselves so you can be the Mother you wish to be.
prepare, prepare, prepare for this phase. Put things in place to support you. Get a freezer, prepare meals and stock it, and request only nourishing frozen meals or snacks for your baby shower. Make a freezer full of bone broths, have a pantry stacked with nourishing snacks, superfoods and supplements, of DHA ad Liver Capsules.
Tell your family and friends if you desire, to make the first 90 days to be completely devoted to restoring yourself and connecting with your baby. Tell them why this is so important to you and the reason behind it. And request their help in this time to come, bringing meals, or to hold the baby while you sleep. And make it clear your intention, and let go of any and all guilt surrounding this. There should not be guilt for this sacred and healing time. Prepare (your partner) and teach him about the physiological process of the 4th trimester and how important this time is for nurturing, connection and restoring. Empower him, and teach him about how important this time also is, for connection with himself and our baby and for us as a family, to have this incredible transition into parenthood together with as little outside interaction as possible.
And figure out how to ensure he spends at least the first few weeks at home together, and then ensure we have support for when he leaves.
it is ok to ask for help, it is ok to not do everything. it is ok to put yourself first, and in fact, this is a must.
it is ok to treat this time as a sacred time. it is ok to rest when visitors are there. And it is ok to ask people to honour this time.
Let go of any guilt, let go of the to-dos.
Just rest, just nourish, connect and restore and slow down.
What you do in this time lays the path for your Mothering Journey.