28-Day Pit Stop (April)
Ms.PSMOn the 28th day of each month (in honor of PMS and that whole menstrual cycle thing), we make a Pit-Stop to rally support for each other during a particular moment of PSM.
Submit a comment with your experience. Yours may be just the inspiration or the support or the laugh a PSM sister needs!!
This month's little adventure is entitled "Transition". According to the dictionary, transition is the passage from one form, state, style, or place to another. In medicine, transition is the word used for the onset of the final stage of childbirth. How spot-on is that!? Post Single MotherhoodTM is a transition in both senses. It truly is the final stage of childbirth. And you couldn't find a more life-altering transition. The only difference is the location of the pain. :)
According to the BabyCenter Website:
How long transition takes
Transition can last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. It's much more likely to be fast if you've already had a vaginal delivery.
Coping tips
If you're laboring without an epidural, this is when you may begin to lose faith in your ability to handle the pain, so you'll need lots of extra encouragement and support from those around you.
How interesting! The transition in childbirth as well as the transition in PSM can be quicker if there are multiple spawn. In one case, the older one takes the edge off, in PSM's case, it's the younger one. And to cope with both, we need lots of acknowledgement and understanding.
Lots of us are in Stage Three: Confusion right now, watching our spawn prepare for new lives after high school. Graduation, proms, happy and proud moments that keep us busy enough to avoid thoughts about the emptiness to come. I think this is the hardest of the stages, because of the paradox of emotions and because of the physical changes in our home, our environment, and our daily chore life.
We need to go through the stages of PSM consciously and at our own paces, feeling and accepting our own changes. We need others to be patient and kind and just let us grieve the "loss" of our spawn. And just think. After our PSM transition, we won't have diapers and spit-up and a teenager and college tuition to deal with.
April's Pit Stop Suggestions:
Reconnecting with old friends on Facebook
Looking into a part-time job (Something you've always wanted to do?)
The Artist's Way (to encourage creativity - your ultimate gift to the Universe)