I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this episode is being recorded, the Combomb Merry people.

They've been having conversations and telling stories on this land for thousands of years, and we show our gratitude and respect for their contribution to our environment and culture.

This is Rise and Conquer, the podcast where we strive to become the highest version of ourselves through curious conversations, healthy mindsets, laughter, connection, and a deep desire to evolve.

I'm your host, Georgie Stevenson.

Join me as we explore parenthood, business, manifestation, and so much more.

It's positive, it's practical.

And it's about putting you in the driver's seat.

Of your own life.

Are you ready?

Hello, my loves, Welcome back to the podcast.

I am recording.

This episode before I give birth, but you will hear about it probably a little bit after.

And today I'm chatting to you about what I'm putting into place literally now a month out before I give birth, for my postpartum glow up.

Yes, that's what we're calling it.

And this really has come about of being very intentional with my postpartum period because I remember with Ivy's birth, sorry, with Ivy's pregnancy.

I was so.

Focused on her birth, and you know, I did hypno birthing.

I would do the hypno birthing meditations every day.

It's really kind of all I put my time and energy into.

And then I.

Remember, you know, I went through birth.

It was it was a long labor, it was you know, seventeen hours.

But then she was here and she was earthside, and I then went into postpartum period, which is the next let's say three months, at least three to twelve months.

And I really was not prepared at all for postpartum.

And I guess you don't really know until you go through it.

If you hear things, you listen to podcasts, but until you go through postpartum, you'll well, no, you really are not only you birthing this baby, You're birthing a new version of yourself.

And things really do change.

I think, out of all my life transitions, getting married, going to you, all the different things, having your baby is the biggest life transition in regards to what changes physically, internally, mentally, everything.

And I really didn't spend any time preparing for postpartum.

And then once you're in postpartum, there's lack of sleep, you're healing from birth, You've got this baby, Ivy had colic.

So it was quite stressful all the time, and it really was a tough time for me, if I'm being very very honest.

And so I think it's funny because we do spend a lot of time thinking about the birth.

We put a lot of our attention there, and we don't really think postpartum.

And so I really wanted to bring you this episode to talk about the postpartum glow up.

And when I say glow up, I'm.

Honestly just using that as a trend word.

I really just meet the postpartum rebirth, this new version of you.

And how because you're going to spend most of your time and energy nourishing your baby, and so really thinking about how you're going to nourish yourself and what you're going to do for yourself before you give birth.

So when everything is happening and everything's a bit crazy and chaotic and etc.

You're really prepared and you just got some tools and some things to think about.

And so please, if you are currently pregnant, in your first pregnancy or even your second, take some time to work on your postpartum and really, like I said, putting in some things now so when it comes, you have some tools, you have the support, you have the network.

So first of all, I want to talk about in my baby shower.

I wasn't even gonna have a baby shower because for Ivy's baby shower, it was a whole big thing.

I had a big wall and balloons and a party planner and it was beautiful and it was incredible, but it's a lot to plan and I feel like when you're pregnant with your second, it's just different.

You're just not as interested.

And also, yeah, so I actually wasn't going to have a baby shower, but my girlfriend was who just had her second.

She was like, honestly, just do a lunch, really minimal people with your nearest and dearest.

It's really really special, And so I did that.

I did a lunch.

It was super simple.

And something I said to all my friends who came were don't get me a baby shower gift, because a couple of them asked, what I would really love instead is this idea.

It's called a food train, where basically there's a full website you can go on and organize it, which I didn't realize, but one of my girlfriends did it after, but I just said to them, like I honestly, we have everything from Ivy, and then I'm very privileged and lucky to get gifted a lot of things from brands.

Don't go out and buy things.

I don't need that.

But if it's convenient, if it's works for you when baby girl is Earth's side, I'd love for you to make your favorite meal and drop it over and again.

I think, going back to postpartum, in the newborn trensit, you literally have zero time to.

Do anything because they can feed.

Up for an hour and then you've got to change them, and then you've got to put them down for a slow and it's kind of like this three hour cycle that just goes again and again and again.

And it's also throughout the night, so you don't have much sleep, and sometimes you don't even get time to brush your teeth or do your hair, or do very simple things or make breakfast.

And I remember postpartum kind of being in these loops of time where I was constantly breastfeeding, changing Ivy and then trying to settle her, getting her to sleep, and then trying to make food or do something and then she'd wake up again and the whole cycle would start.

And so having food in the fridge is just honestly life changing postpartum.

I see a lot of food prep on TikTok, so you can do it a lot.

Of it yourself.

We usually have a really small freezer, which is a bit of an issue.

But so that's why I asked my friends, instead of a baby shower gift, could you guys do a food chain.

And so I think I've got about twelve girlfriends.

They've all organized it.

They're going to cook their favorite thing.

So that's already something to tick off the list postpartum.

If you can organize a food train, or you can talk to your nearest sinndarius, your mom or your mother in law, or just anyone who you know and you feel really comfortable with.

Otherwise, there are services you can pay for these sorts of things too, But that's just like something that I did that I didn't do last time, that I would recommend that is going to help, because the first thing nourishment food and making sure it's wood home cook nourishing food, especially when you're a lost part of depleted and breastfeeding so important.

Like, of course uber eats would be great, but having homemade food gets differently postpartum.

So that's the first thing that I have implemented with the baby's shower situation.

Now let's go to babies born, very very simple.

What I've written down is the foundation to recovery, because again, you need to recover.

I personally looks like I'm getting a cesarean, which is major surgery, or if you go through a long labor or any sort of labor, you are going to be depleted.

So focusing on recovery where prioritizing sleep, where you can hydration, nutrient dense meals, really thinking like brothy soups, protein rich snacks, easy smoothies, et cetera, so so important.

So again I know they're super simple things, and obviously I have a lot of tools for those things.

When you do have a newborn.

Prioritizing sleep, I know, And it's so funny because you know, it's like sleep when the baby sleeps, but you're doing all these things in the newborn bubble.

You really should literally just be feeding, changing, sorting out the baby.

So if you can get help again from the mother in law or a mom or a trusted friend or someone like that, or your partner, so so so helpful, so you can prioritize sleep.

I remember that was my biggest thing when Ivy was a newborn, is when you're not running on great sleep, oh my god, it obviously.

Just affects your recovery, affects everything.

So really prioritizing that, even if you are getting those small sleep blocks like the baby, it's just kind of what you have to do.

Something to think about, too, is your nervous system during this time can be in fight or flight.

And looking back with Ivy, that's how my nervous system was.

And again it's because I had kind of no idea about the postpartum period.

I had nothing in place.

I didn't have as much support as I maybe would have wanted to, and not as lack of.

I didn't have people around me.

I didn't really know how to ask, I didn't really have anything in place, and it was all happening and it was all a bit crazy.

And so I realized now I was in fight or flight.

I was constantly in survival mode.

And when you're in survival, your baby is really reacting and mirroring your nervous system so I was constantly anxious.

I was in survival mode, and so was Ivy.

And so I can look back, she was colic and she was crying all the time, but she really was mirroring my nervous system.

And so for me this time, really prioritizing my nervous system, of taking myself out of survival mode and putting myself into rest and digest where I can is going to be so important.

And how I'm going to be doing that is really reducing social media anything too stimulating on TV, like crime shows or anything.

I remember Tim wanted to watch Dexter when we had Ivy, and I would watch it and I would have anxious, anxious thoughts for my nervous system wasn't good.

So I literally said, as him, let's save some shows that are just funny.

You want to you literally want to put yourself in this beautiful state where you're feeling joy, where you're releasing that beautiful love hormone.

It's going to help for everything.

And so I'm literally saving shows that are just easy to watch, that are funny, that are light.

I'm not watching anything dark.

I'm not watching murder shows.

I'm not watching anything like that.

Because that's not good for my nervous system.

I will one hundred and ten percent be doing a meditation on the Rise app every single day.

I love it.

We have five bit of meditations, so timing that's that's doable.

And again, honestly, trust me when I say, your baby's going to mirror your nervous system.

So if you have these beautiful moments where you come back to your breath and you're able to, yeah, just slow down and come back to breath and be like it's okay, I'm safe.

Everything's to be okay.

And even if that's what I found is towards the end I finally understood, but if Ivy was crying and she was collocking, whatnot, If I would put her on my chest, skin to skin in and just be very calm and still and breathe, it would help her so much compared to if I was trying to bounce her around feeling all anxious and stuff.

So really working on my nervous system again, obviously I use the Rise app, saving some meditations, saving those things now and having them ready so when you are feeling frantic, when you are feeling, oh my god, I'm so stressed out I'm so anxious.

You can go to that tool.

If you're loving this conversation and you're all about growth, mindset shifts and manifesting your dream reality, you need to check out Rise, our meditation, manifestation and mindset app.

Rise is the place you go to actually integrate your self development work.

Inside the app, you'll find everything you need from guided meditations, pep talks to change your frequency, high vibe riffs, and powerful guided practices, all designed to help you shift your energy and become that one percent better every single day, and you're not doing it alone.

Alongside our thriving, like minded community, you'll stay plugged into a high vibe space where growth feels easy, fun and totally expansive.

If you're ready to feel more empowered, more magnetic, and just more like your true self, come and join us inside the Rise app.

You can download the app now via the link in the show notes.

This is something really random, but I've actually curated.

A postpartum wardrobe.

So why I think this is important is because you really should.

We're not really.

Should because I look, I'm not a medical advisor or anything like that, but I personally reckon there is so much healing and there's so much transition, and they do say with a lot of different cultures, the mum usually stays in bed for the first forty days.

And I know that's not always.

Practical, especially if you have toddlers and stuff going on, but if you can kind of just stay within the house, stay within your environment for the first forty to sixty days, really will make such a difference because it's such a transition, there's so much happening.

And so I have curated a bit of a postpartum outfit.

They've literally got it hanging in my closet.

I'll like take a photo and put it here.

But just outfits that comfy, that feel good, that are easy to breastfeed in.

They kind of giving pajamas, but it's giving chick, it's giving I feel good in them, and we are actually doing so.

Naked Harvest is doing a collab with Booty.

If you guys don't know who Booty is, they are this incredible company who have they're really consciously crafting from organically grown bamboo visco.

I think I'm saying that right, and basically their products.

Are so soft.

When I actually put up a poll on social media saying oh, I want to get baby and me organic bamboo, really soft postpartum and baby clothes.

What do you guys recommend?

And so many of you guys recommended Booty, which I was like, guys, we're already doing clab with them, so I'm so so excited.

They have a collection called Mineral Blue.

It is so stunning, it's so beautiful.

And we are actually doing a moon milk that is moon milk and collagen, so it's called Our Beauty Moon Milk, and it's basically because I put collagen in my moon milk every single night.

Because collagen, we lose it when we are twenty five going onwards.

That's when we stop producing it ourselves, so that's why we start aging.

And collagen isn't just for ring calls.

Collagen is your hair, your skin, your nails, your gut lining.

It really affects so much.

And I remember with Ivy's pregnancy, my doctor actually encouraged me.

He was like, oh my god, no, get on collagen because the baby takes so much of yours and it will just make you feel so much better in your joints, in your body, everything, And so I have always taken collagen.

I'm talking every single day.

Obviously, we it's a product we have at Naked Harvest, so I've got it on tap and I swear that's why I had no postpart of hair fall out I had.

Have you guys seen how long Ivy's hair is.

Everyone comments on her hair length, and I swear it's because I took collagen during her pregnancy and while I was breastfeeding her, and she just has such a basic hair growth and I have such amazing hair growth and yeah, hair, skin and nail it really, it does so much.

So I would put that either in my morning coffee or at night in my Moon milk.

So I've actually created a product where it's already in there so you don't have to add it, and it's our original Moonmilk flavor, so it's just like chocolate.

It's delicious, it's young, and the packaging is so cute.

It's a mineral blue color, and so Booty and hatre doing this really cute collab and yeah, so I've got obviously their do Mineral Blue collection a part of my postparton collection, and the moon milk and collagen is obviously going to be so healing, especially to just get my body to unwind at night so I can sleep when the baby sleeps, and getting that collagen in because recovery.

That's why I encourage you at the start bone broths all those sorts of things that it has a lot of collagen in it, and obviously it's just a quick and easy and yummy way.

To get So that's in my collection.

I've also got some beautiful pants and tops, just very comfy sets that are going to be very flattering postpartum.

But again, I felt.

Very uncomfortable in my body postpartum with Ivy, and I remember I would kind of just be in pajamas all day and I didn't really feel that good about myself.

And so I've got this cool postpartum curation of clothes.

Again I don't have to think about it.

I've obviously also got period undies, I've got nursing bras, I've got everything sorted so I can feel really comfortable when I am just at home nursing baby with Ivy with the family.

So again just thinking about it.

Something that I want to do also is breathing and pelvic flaw exercises.

I am most likely having a cesarean and so I have or already been practiced seeing a lot of this breath and pelvic floor exercises, and so I kind of I already have it sorted.

I have some things saved on YouTube, so I can link that if you want.

I kind of found a random thing on TikTok and started following her on YouTube, and it's just literally I think the breathing is all about just really it's engaging your core muscles and really just engaging your core after it going through so much, and also your pelvic floor, which again with Ivy, I just didn't do any of this, I just I didn't know.

I'm also seeing a physio.

I'm seeing Sarah from the Female Physio co If you're in the Gold Coast, highly recommend.

She also does have a lot of educational content on Instagram, so highly recommend you follow her.

But I'll be seeing her postpartum again just pelvic floor making sure.

I did have the ab separation with Ivy, and again I didn't really do too much about it, and so I just want to be on Twitter.

I just want to be feeling good, and so every single day I will be doing those breathing and those pelvic flaw exercises, which I think they're both two or three minutes, so super super doable.

And then there's something else that I am going to do that I have already put into action, is I am going to get a post partum blood panel done.

And I've actually spoken to my OB about this.

I don't know if this is normal or not, but again, I just remember feeling so depleted and just kind of shit postpartum and really not myself.

And now looking back, if our hormones are out of whack, if we have low iron, if physically something is.

Off, We're not going to feel good.

So something that I'm doing.

For the physical sense is I've already said to my OB at that six week appointment, I want to get a blood test for my iron, which I know if you're getting a C section, it's very important to check that because you do tend to lose blood, so checking my ion.

I also do have an up and down thyroid, so checking my thyroid that's very important for every other hormone in your body.

I want to check my vitamin D, my B twelve, and FOL eight inflammation markers, and also do a hormone panel if possible, and he has said that he is happy to do that, so it's not like I'll have to go pay for it myself.

And this has actually come about because I read this book be called Real Food for Pregnancy, and I highly recommend you read this book if you're pregnant or even postpartum.

They do have a postpartum section.

And basically she goes through how the postpartum period is so depleting and how if you're not getting these incredible nutrients in your food and extra supplements, you really can be detrimental for you feeling like a so also going to be very onto my supplements.

Obviously, I'm already going to be taking, like I said, the new mood milk and collagen, very simple, very easy.

I take creatine greens if I feel like I need to get fiber in protein if I want, And also then my actual vitamins.

So I take a lot of vitamins that are helpful for my thyroid.

I don't really have to go into them.

I also take a liver capsule.

A liver and spleen capsule can be really really helpful when you're pregnant.

And I take a probotic every morning and night, and also omigas so like fish oils amigas dhas I'm pretty sure is what I'm taking.

So in's so.

Important for babies brain health and then us also, so I'll be really onto my supplements.

And again I'm doing things previous to birth.

I have ordered all those supplements for six months worth, because I don't want to be in the postpartum trenches being like, oh my god, I've got to order these tablets and then they're not here and blah blah blah.

So I've ordered all them and I've got them ready.

Like I said, I have my beautiful wardrobe of clothes ready.

Honestly, guys, you have to check out Booty's Mineral Blue collection.

So soft, so incredible, the feeling organic bamboo, like it's just ten out of ten.

And I also have their nursing bras and their undies and their period undies and stuff, so they really are like a one stop shop for postpartum.

So I have that, I have everything hanging in my closet.

I obviously got the baby's room set up and whatnot, but I did that the first time.

This time, I'm really putting energy into me because if my cup isn't filled up, baby's going to feel that I've got to fill up my own cup and I've got to put on my own mask, and then I can or into everyone else's cup.

And like I said, I really feel like Ivy reflected my mental, physical, and spiritual state.

And I had a really hard postpartum journey with her.

And so I really hope by having these little things in place, regulating my nervous system with the rise app, making sure I'm getting all my supplements in feeling good about myself, finding those pockets of joy where I can you get into something comfy where I can watch your funny movie, when I can have a bit of time to myself a small amount of time is going to be so so helpful, and I didn't do it with Ivy, and so I'm really really such an advocate we need to think about postpartum.

And I also do have a book recommendation for you guys, and it's by so if you guys listened to Australian Birth Stories, it's a podcast.

So the book is the Complete Guide to Postpartum by Sophie Walker and Jody Wilson.

Highly recommend They sent it to me because I've been a contact with Sarah for quite a while since Ivy's birth and I have been reading it NonStop and again, just so many moments where I'm like, I wish I had this for my first pregnancy.

So highly recommend order order that book, and just make sure you're also focusing on yourself postpartum, and because I feel like it's just natural to focus on the baby.

I'm sure you've got the nursery sorted.

I'm sure you have everything sorted, but have those things in place for you, because if you're happy, if you're feeling good, if you're filling up your cup, you will have such a different, beautiful, magical experience.

So my loves.

That is it from me.

I hope this was helpful and insightful.

Again, this is the podcast I wish I had in my first pregnancy.

Sorry, I hope this is going to change someone's postpartum journey.

And yeah, thank you so much.

I will try and link everything I've spoken about in the show notes so you can go.

Check it out.

But I'm pretty sure when this episode drops, I'll be in the postpartum journey.

So I hope I am practicing what I'm preaching, and thank.

You so much for listening.

I will chat to in the next episode.

Bye.

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