Postpartum, Caffeinated

One of the most beautiful things about moms and dads settling into their postpartum phase of parenting is how each parent’s journey is unique.  From the home in which they reside…whether it is a condo, an apartment in a building or a multi-family home, a modest but beautifully decorated house in an urban neighborhood, or a big sprawling home on an acre+ of land.  Some new mothers live with a partner, a parent, pets, or maybe it’s just mom and baby.  Some have older children, for some this is their first.  Some parents have multiples.  Some parents conceived easily, some tried so hard for so long.  Some parents have adopted their sweet baby.  The one common thread is that there is a BABY.  And regardless of the other variables, that one things remains the same.  The new life.

Well, and also coffee.  The sweet nectar of the heavens.  The beautiful little bean that can transform a day.

Not everyone drinks coffee.  Some prefer tea.  Some start their day with a smoothie.

But generally speaking, the postpartum families I have worked with through the years have a pretty intense relationship with coffee.  It starts the day.  It separates morning from night.  Awake from slumber.  Clear thinking from foggy brain.

There is the family who has coffee as part of their end of day ritual.  He sets the coffee the night before, leaving everything just so on the counter.  At a certain predetermined time in the morning the grinder turns on automatically, brewing the coffee so it is ready to pour and savor before the kiddos wake.

There is the mother who lives by her cold brew.  Steeping her freshly ground coffee in her French press for just the right amount of time.  Then it is carefully poured into her mason jars and left in the fridge for when she needs a pick-me-up.

The family who lives on the go, but still sips in style.  With a Nespresso machine on each floor in the house to either enjoy as they head to work, or to enjoy on their urban roof deck overlooking the hustle and bustle of the day.

The mom who drinks her coffee black.  The dad who enjoys a drizzle of honey, and sometimes a dollop of whipped cream on top.  The mother who hits up the drive-thru for her large iced hazelnut with 3 sweet & lows and skim milk, or a venti Flat White using her downloaded app for payment.

There are so many things that separate us as parents, and mothers.  Some of us sleep with our babies until they are potty trained.  Some of us sleep train our babies at 6 months.   The common thread?  We are ALL tired.  And so many of us depend on that morning (and midday) ritual of caffeinating ourselves out of exhaustion.

So when you next raise that delightful mug or glass or plastic to-go cup of sweet nectar from heaven, raise it high in solidarity to all of the other moms and dads on this crazy, tiring, beautiful, messy journey of parenthood.

 

 

Brooke Rogers, Birth and Postpartum & Infant Care Doula, mom of 3, and undeniable coffee snob.