12 days mama, 12 days family

Dylan, myself and our daughter Alisia. 👨‍👩‍👧
1+1=3

Alisia, this tiny baby, naturally became the center of our universe as if she was always there and it's never been any different.

Eating, sleeping, diapers... and loooots of Love! 😄😍

My mother's eyes can gaze and admire her for hours. Everything about her is sweet, new and familiar at the same time. Her gentle sighs, her moving hands, her gazing into nowhere.

I am deeply grateful to Leen Heusdens and Lies Melis, two incredible experienced midwives, for guiding me through natural birth-giving at home in water. Thank you so much. I am so happy I could do it this way. You knew to provide the right guidance at each step of birth-giving. 🙏💕

It was far from orgasmic birth. I had no clue what millions of women went and go through, before I did it myself. Deep respect to my mother and all the women in the world. It was raw, intense and very animalistic for me. All possible emotions at once amplified 1000-fold, for many hours in a row. Body taken over by the uncontrollable force of life. Feeling her descending was out of this world in many senses: and unbelievable, and painful, and amazing, and absolutely insane! During the contractions Dylan was caressing or massaging me for hours and hours in a row, and in the last 30 minutes he was screaming together with me forehead to forehead, holding me in close embrace. My love. <3 I will remember this moment forever.

The post-partum days, I spent and still spending mostly in bed, cocooning with my little girl. Healing, resting, integrating, bonding, getting to know each other (although it feels we've known each other forever!). Also getting nice post-partum massages and belly-binding from Danie Reniers (strongly recommended to all new mama's!!).

How blessed I was and am with support of Dylan Bonny who took all practicalities on his shoulders during the first week after birth. His family stepped in to support too (oh how needed it is during these days!) - his mother Greet and grandmother Malou – thank you for delicious food you’ve been cooking for us and for taking care of some practical matters. Post-partum support in Belgium (kraamzorg) is also amazing - supported by the government, for the next 3 months.🙏

Dylan and I realized pretty fast that in this new period of our life, we, like never before, need to take care of ourselves and of each other, so we can be of service to Alisia from a full cup. So we alternate nights sleeping with Alisia, we take turns to take care of her, we take our own time for ourselves to rest and spoil ourselves. I adjusted my rhythm to hers so I sleep when she sleeps and it totally works for me, I am in a good energy all these days.

And now we are slowly starting to prepare for celebrations with 3 fests lining up in March – to let Alisia meet our friends and family!😘