What IS the fourth trimester?

In this podcast episode, we are beyond thrilled to be in conversation with the two magnificent women who created Fourth Trimester Foundations. Carly and Meg are registered nurses who work on the frontlines - they are present with moms in labor and delivery every day. They’re also moms themselves, and have experienced firsthand the many gaps in the healthcare system that doesn’t prepare people for the fourth trimester experience.

In this episode you’ll learn about:

• The pediatrician who brought forth the science behind fourth trimester
• The concept of still being a “unit” with your baby after birth
• How taking POSTPARTUM CLASSES is equally as important as taking  CHILDBIRTH CLASSES
• The question Carly and Meg get most after EVERY patient gives birth - no matter if it was vaginal or surgical
• The importance of setting FIRM boundaries to start, knowing that postpartum is YOUR experience and you get to change your mind if you feel like it
• Stories from nurses who have seen it all and are tired of society telling women they have to keep their postpartum struggles under wraps

Notable Quotes from Carly & Meg:
“There's a couple of reasons that people don’t prepare for postpartum. Frankly, you don't have to, nobody's gonna make you do it. You can still show up in labor and you'll get to the other side, and you'll still have your fourth trimester, whether it's good or bad, or somewhere in between, and you'll survive and life will go on - you don't have to do it. I think the other reason that people don't [prepare] is because the society portrays to us that you're done after you give birth - the event is over. You know, it's not like any other experience in the hospital. You go into the hospital sick, you get treated, you get better, you go home, and it's over. You go in for surgery, your surgery’s done, you recover from your surgery, and it's over. Your birth, whether it was surgical or vaginal, it's not a finished experience. Once your birth is over, people forget that there's this whole life left to live. The collateral damage of what happened to your body in the process doesn't have to just fall apart.”

“There's so much focus on creating a registry for baby and having all the right baby products and making sure you have every kind of bottle or every kind of product you could possibly need for all of your motherhood journey. [But] there's a better [use of] time, finances or the support you’re being gifted with to prepare for postpartum before it's there.”

Resources & Links
Learn more about Carly and Meg and Fourth Trimester Foundations on their website where you’ll find the free postpartum planner and post-birth warning signs guide mentioned in the episode. Use code DEVOTEDMAMAS20 for $20 off any workshop or 1:1 call!. Carly and Meg also keep it real on Instagram + TikTok:

If you’re postpartum and ready to start your core and pelvic floor recovery, check out our Postpartum Repair & Restore 8-week program with LIVE coaching. In this program, we guide you through the exact workouts you need to feel your muscles strengthening + the education and LIVE supervision you need to know you’re doing it right.  For more information, go to devotedmamas.com/repair

If you’re currently pregnant, check out our Expecting to Flourish membership, a mom-driven and expert-guided virtual community that we created to help you stay your strongest during pregnancy, physically practice for birth and move easily into early postpartum. Find out more at devotedmamas.com/flourish

In the previous episode, we talked about seven things Kendra wishes she knew sooner in motherhood. Today, it’s Nicole’s turn to share the secrets in her motherhood toolkit. (A teaser: childbirth can actually feel SATISFYING!)

In those first few years, when we’re holding our newborns and are extremely fatigued, it can be hard to see the big picture. But what we want you to know is that this experience is helping you in ways you can’t see yet.

We hope that you embrace parenthood as the hero’s journey that it is, from the refusal (THIS isn’t what I thought it would be!) to all the people you meet along the way, including mentors, teachers, and other parents.

Eventually, after crossing into the dark forest, you’ll return home and share what you’ve learned with other mothers who are finding their way. This is what we are doing today, and this is what the community of motherhood is all about.

In this episode you’ll hear about:

• How sensations in childbirth can actually feel SATISFYING – and how high adrenaline levels and tension will only create more pain and suffering
• The anxiety, depression, and overwhelm Nicole could have avoided if someone had told her this one thing about breastfeeding
• The impact the right foods and physical body care have on postpartum recovery – and in particular, the impact of prioritizing core and pelvic strength
• The value of removing ourselves from the house, which can help us reset and avoid setting up patterns of dependency
• How parenthood is the greatest personal development journey – and how part of that is sharing what you’ve learned with other parents finding their paths
• How finding a third “helper” can help us feel more equipped and ward off postpartum depression

Resources & Links

Learn more about Nicole and Kendra on their website, or follow @devotedmamas on Instagram for pregnancy and postpartum coaching and inspiration.

Too many moms spend years feeling frustrated at the speed of their postpartum recovery. The real program: these moms haven’t yet figured out which phase of postpartum recovery they’re in. Take our postpartum pelvic floor and core strength quiz to find out where you are on your path to full recovery.

If you’re postpartum and ready to start your core and pelvic floor recovery, check out our Postpartum Repair & Restore 8-week program with LIVE coaching. In this program, we guide you through the exact workouts you need to feel your muscles strengthening + the education and LIVE supervision you need to know you’re doing it right.  For more information, go to devotedmamas.com/repair

If you’re currently pregnant, check out our Expecting to Flourish membership, a mom-driven and expert-guided virtual community that we created to help you stay your strongest during pregnancy, physically practice for birth and move easily into early postpartum. Find out more at devotedmamas.com/flourish

Will I ever feel like myself again?

It’s something you might contemplate in those early months (or years) postpartum. Today we’re here to tell you that you will.

It will take less time if you get help (wink, wink) but it WILL take some time. Just like it takes time to grow a baby, it takes time to grow into your new identity as a mother.

In the next two episodes, we’re talking about the 14 things we wish we knew earlier on in motherhood. In this one, Kendra tackles seven, and in the next, Nicole will share seven more. 

Hindsight is 20/20, and between us – Kendra (whose kids are ages 9 and 5) and Nicole (whose kids are 14 and 10) – we have a lot of wisdom to share. Our hope? To help other moms in those difficult, early stages of motherhood.

In this episode you’ll hear about:

• How pushing things too fast or too hard postpartum might only drag your recovery out – plus, what Kendra learned after the birth of her second child
• Paying better attention to what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, how it’s feeling, and why the paradigm of “no pain, no gain” doesn’t apply
• Giving ourselves more grace in the early throes of parenthood and strengthening the “asking for help” muscle
• Building our safety nets/rescue boats BEFORE the boat starts sinking – i.e., before we need them (and how these “nets” change as kids get older)
• Awareness about our emotional maturity regarding sadness/happiness/anger  – and how it can help when our kids experience those emotions
• The impact our well-beings have on how we show up for our kids

Resources & Links

Learn more about Nicole and Kendra on their website, or follow @devotedmamas on Instagram for pregnancy and postpartum coaching and inspiration.

Too many moms spend years feeling frustrated at the speed of their postpartum recovery. The real program: these moms haven’t yet figured out which phase of postpartum recovery they’re in. Take our postpartum pelvic floor and core strength quiz to find out where you are on your path to full recovery.

If you’re postpartum and ready to start your core and pelvic floor recovery, check out our Postpartum Repair & Restore 8-week program with LIVE coaching. In this program, we guide you through the exact workouts you need to feel your muscles strengthening + the education and LIVE supervision you need to know you’re doing it right.  For more information, go to devotedmamas.com/repair

If you’re currently pregnant, check out our Expecting to Flourish membership, a mom-driven and expert-guided virtual community that we created to help you stay your strongest during pregnancy, physically practice for birth and move easily into early postpartum. Find out more at devotedmamas.com/flourish