EP 23 | Lilly - Slowing Down in Postpartum, Career & Identity, an Unsettled Baby & Matrescence

<p>In this episode, Lilly shares her postpartum experiences with her two boys, Roo and Franklin.</p><p>We discuss:</p><ul><li>Becoming a mother after years of supporting women as a midwife</li><li>Roo’s emergency caesarean birth under general anaesthetic</li><li>Processing an unexpected birth experience and wanting to “make up for lost time”</li><li>The intense vulnerability and hormonal shifts of early postpartum</li><li>Lilly’s unexpected instinct to stay home, slow down and protect her postpartum space</li><li>Learning to listen to her own needs rather than expectations from the outside world</li><li>Gradually re-emerging into the world when she felt ready</li><li>Finding connection with other mothers through pilates and walking groups</li><li>Why “mums need mums”</li><li>The huge shift in Lilly’s relationship with her career after becoming a mother</li><li>The complexities of combining motherhood with shift work, on-call work and a career in healthcare</li><li>Preparing Roo for the arrival of his sibling</li><li>Meeting Franklin after a very rapid vaginal birth</li><li>The transition from parenting one child to two</li><li>Recovering from mastitis in the early weeks postpartum</li><li>Navigating weeks of having a very unsettled baby</li><li>The emotional impact of prolonged crying and questioning yourself as a mother</li><li>The small, practical acts of self-care and self-preservation that helped Lilly through</li><li>The impact of having a second baby on Lilly and Ben’s relationship</li><li>Matrescence and becoming a new version of yourself with each baby</li><li>What Lilly found unexpected about her postpartum experiences</li><li>The physicality, vulnerability and extraordinary love of motherhood</li></ul><p>Lilly also co-hosts Growing, a podcast with fellow midwife and mum Beth. Together they share honest conversations about their current “growing pains” and the beautiful “glimmers” that exist throughout motherhood. I absolutely loved listening to Growing throughout my own postpartum period and highly recommend giving it a listen.</p><p>You can find Growing at @growingthepodcast and Lilly at @lillian.beth.</p><p>This is the podcast episode that discusses unsettled babies that Lilly recommends in the episode:</p><p><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/episode-19-unsettled-babies-with-dr-eliza-hannam/id1697674632?i=1000636691242">https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/episode-19-unsettled-babies-with-dr-eliza-hannam/id1697674632?i=10006366912