I remember the weeks and months after giving birth as being exhausting, doubtful and enchanted. Quite the mish-mash of emotion! Muscle development and attention to myself were the last things on my mind, and yet they should have been front and centre, because other people’s needs fall so much more easily into place when a Mom has inner and outer strength. Having a daily mentor to boost me up without judgment would have been magical! More than that, though, would have been being able to tap into this confidante at any time of day or night, while holding and playing with my baby. I was clearly missing Safe and Strong by Nordic Fit Mama.

Besides them happening super-fast (both under 5 hours) I had two perfectly ‘normal’ births. This term is relative, of course. While scary and new and a tad painful, it’s hard to imagine how my experience would have changed with just one complication. In contrast to my own, so many new mothers are unable to hold their babies right after birth. Many don’t get a chance to follow a carefully thought out birth plan. And thousands give birth, unexpectedly, to premature babies.

My kids are big and active, but it seems like not so long ago they were just babies. I listen to their excited voices talking about the holiday season and I remember before they could speak, when I would delight in holding them close and rocking them in my arms to help them off to sleep. Bedtime can still be challenging some days, but I remember how they felt in my arms, how their skin smelled, what it felt like to feel their chests expand and contract as they breathed deep in slumber. I recall looking at their perfect little faces and thinking, “I want to remember this.”