houndofhecate:

✨FOR THE LABOR, DELIVERY AND POST-PARTUM✨

I read (and added these additions) to thisreally lovely post by @withcraftandwitches . I wanted to add few extra tips/ideas from a physician and witch who is currently working in a hospital to help deliver babies:

• Many hospitals/birthing centers allow you to use an essential oil diffuser that doesn’t have an open flame; some may even have oils available for you to use, but I wouldn’t count on it. You can use lavender or another scent that makes you feel calm and happy or fits the associations you want to maintain during labor
  
• You can also bring crystalsto be in the room with you or the baby - Ive even seen a mom leave behind a small cluster of rose quartz and amethyst with her infant in the NICU. Live plants are generally not an option in that environment, but a few stones are generally OK
  
• It’s also usually easy to bring some musicfor yourself while you rest or while you’re in earlier stages of labor.
  
• Many hospitals have chaplain services - while many of these are Christian I know even my Catholic hospital has chaplains who know about pagan traditions and would possibly be able to sit and pray with you even if it’s not to their personal religious beliefs if you find yourself in need of spiritual reassurance.
  
• Avoid supplements that you haven’t discussed with your physician or midwife managing the pregnancy. Some even common and normally harmless herbs can affect things, everything from milk production to blood clotting to baby’s development.
• Try not to be too focused on the perfect “birth plan” - things change rapidly and everyone wants to do the best for you and your baby - but these things may not be as “natural” or something you wanted initially.
  
• Additionally don’t feel as though you cannot be legitimate or “real” in your labor experience if you need interventions such as an epidural or C-section. Bringing life into the world is a difficult and sometimes dangerous thing, and there is no good reason to reject modern medicine - your gods and spiritual beings care most about you and your baby being healthy and it is OK if you need help with the process. Natural birth does not define motherhood/parenthood.

By: Jessica Willis

I share my story as a way of healing, a way of letting it out and being true to who I am. I do not believe there is any harm in speaking about the pieces of ourselves that we’re proud of or the pieces of ourselves that we’ve struggled with. I wholeheartedly believe that it’s important we share our experience with other people, it not only helps our personal growth but it connects us to others. Our story has the power to heal us as well as heal somebody else because when we share ours; we free ourselves and give other people permission to acknowledge their own story.

Honestly, I find there is a certain catharsis in doing so, a sense of a burden being lifted and it’s freeing. Sharing pieces of me, of who I am, forms some connection with whoever may be reading this at this very moment, and maybe I am helping someone else see how we are all fighting our own battles and maybe my vulnerability can give someone else the strength to get through a difficult situation. By opening myself up and sharing parts that maybe others would hide, I believe it all helps us feel a little less alone in the world.

It has taken me time to get to this point, to get to where I’m realizing that everything that has happened in the past two-ish years has actually happened for my greater good. The postpartum depression, the betrayal and the downfall of my marriage, the secrets, the lies, the denial, the “crazy making,” and the absolute nonsense that I have had to deal with even in the past few months, has all happened for a reason and it has happened because there is something better for me. I have been and I still am being pulled, I am being stretched and I am being expanded beyond belief but it’s all helping me to be more awake, stronger, and more aligned with my soul’s purpose than ever before.

I have always kept going, I have kept moving forward even on my darkest days, even when all I wanted to do was hide in my bed and cry my eyes out. Did I still have those moments, why yes, yes I did and do I still sometimes have those moments, absolutely. Guess what though, that is totally okay. It’s called being human and nobody should ever make you feel shame or guilt for expressing the way you feel or how you choose to heal. When I have those moments of wanting to cry or wanting to scream, I get through it and move on.

The past year and half has been a roller coaster of emotions. It has had its ups and downs, many downs, and because of that, I have grown. I am so much more than what I was before, I am learning who I am and I am so much more accepting of who I am and proud of what I have become. What I am trying to say here is, you can own your story or your story can own you. Nobody can re-write the past but you can influence the next chapter and continue to become the best version of yourself.

Check out Jessica’s Instagram for more beautiful words like these: @hellojessicalauren 

Today

Today…. today I took a blade to my skin for the first time in 4 years. I searched frantically in my house until I found the cold metal, I cried in the bathroom as stood there with the shine in my hand and my newborn in the next room. Two red lines, small beads of blood only two. I feel worse than before, this is all just entirely too much. I feel so alone