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| the pearl you grew cell by cell over 40 long weeks has finally emerged |
Postpartum is puberty‘s cousin. Both involve high doses of hormones, manic emotions, and awkward body fluctuations.
Amidst the sleep deprivation and oxytocin throes, remember this truth: you are a mother, and unequivocally a queen. Every scar on your body is an imprint of the life you have born. Wear each mark as a badge of honor.
Your pre-pregnancy trousers will not magically latch as you exit the hospital, but if you’re lucky your baby will. And that tiny body should be your focus. Postpartum like pregnancy is a process, and one that can be relished, if given fair opportunity and appropriate costume.
Immediately after giving birth, I declare that all mothers have the right to a 40 day spa like retreat with their newly born. Yet even during your span of sanctuary, you have to get dressed in clean clothes, everyday. A floral chemise and lightweight robe, yoga leggings paired with a cozy hoodie, select your lounge-wear with care. Well wishers are going to visit and you want to look presentable.
Tops(how to nurse in normal clothes)
- The beauty of a button-down lies in its adaptability. Expose the serving saucers and enshroud the rest. It need not buttondown to hip, a handful of buttons on a henley is plenty.
- A criss-cross wrap top not only leaves your core under the covers, it will also allow you to unveil a single teet at a time. Or opt for a draped cowlneck, the extra fabric cloaks you and your sweet suckling’s business.
- A knit’s neckline may scoop, dive, or lunge but make sure it stretches to accommodate milk appointments. And you may desire to pair it with a nursing tank. Open neck jersey knits are especially graceful when ruched or ruffled as they cloak retreating remains of pregnancy.
- Because a swing jacket is cut fuller and wider than your core, your center instantly looks smaller and flatter by comparison. A fingertip-length hoodie cut straight or banded below the bust (at the empire) rather than along the hipline avoids the puffy snowman homage in favor of a long, lean silhouette.
- Skirts are guileless creatures on the whole. An A-Line cut will simultaneously pardon and offer sequestered sanctuary to a soft center, an inflated thigh, a swollen bottom. Elastic waistbands are of particular use as they will unquestionably follow the expansion and contraction of your own figure.
- Wrap dresses offer similar loyalties. As you abandon inches they can be tightened across your frame; they also outfit you as a gracious and efficient milkmaid.
- Babies are clumsy creatures and sleep deprived mothers are equally messy, wash and wear is thus a requirement to avoid dry cleaning dependencies. Jersey dresses with veils of ruching, ruffles, and other embellishments will offer a vague yet vivacious outline.
- When given a soft, delicious center, the waistband of denim should corset in the widest width with a mid-rise. If the waistband is too low, muffin tops results. Too high and you’ll resemble a kangaroo.
- Drawstring trousers allow you to adjust sizes sans tailor.
- Rather than repeat an entire lecture on nursing bras and their accouterments, I defer you to the following posts:
- A lightweight scarf can be tied to camouflage bust and belly simultaneously.
- A wide stretchy belt worn at your widest borders can corset in the remains of birth. Just don’t cinch it in too tight.
- Just because you’ve had a baby, doesn’t mean you are one. Select a diaper bag with plenty of organization and sophistication.
Don’t be shy to add your experience in the comments. What’s your favorite postpartum indulgence?
