This stage of motherhood looks different for everyone and can include processing mother trauma or fertility struggles. This can also be a good time to process generational trauma or work on the relationship with your own mother. Sometimes this is a period of questioning and deciding if you want to have children.

When struggling with fertility it can be very helpful to have support. I also had my own struggle with fertility and did use IVF and I often found it was very helpful to talk people who had also been through this. EMDR can be very beneficial here is you are having negative cognitions or thoughts that arise.

Pregnancy is a time of massive changes in the woman’s body and brain as well as sometimes shifts starting with a partner. Early pregnancy often more focused on talk therapy due to fatigue and possible nausea. As you move deeper into pregnancy we can use EMDR to work with anything you would like to process before baby comes. Late pregnancy involved mentally preparing as well as sometimes using EMDR to prepare for labor and any possible concerns or fears that may arise for some people.

Sessions around birth trauma and loss can take place before labor if there are old experiences bringing fear into the upcoming labor process or of course after labor. Sometimes this includes very difficult experiences during labor and sometimes this is useful when your labor experience looks different then expected.

I also work with the non birthing partner to process what they witnessed.

*Unless someone is very distressed from the experience right after labor I often encourage people to wait a few months to allow the body to rest and heal a bit before using EMDR to process this trauma.

This stage of motherhood is about supporting the family in the huge shift that has just occurred. The support can look different for each person, sometimes its assessment and support around anxiety or depression, sometimes it is assessing for birth trauma, other times it is navigating the transition to being a mom, and also navigating the transformation of the partner relationship if you are partnered. Another common occurrence during this stage is possible support around the grandparents relationships, involvement or lack of involvement.

As the mother progresses through motherhood this is continued support around all things, toddler tantrums, partner struggles, feelings of I’m not good enough, comparing, or trying to find your own footing and listening to your intuition. It is also the process of embracing motherhood while also reconnecting with your self and your needs. Mothers can feel dysregulated in motherhood and we will work to clear the triggers and practice finding regulation even when your child is dysregulated.

The relationship to your own parents can shift, grow or become strained in various ways after having your own children. I will support you in navigating the communication and relationship dynamics here which could involved EMDR or simply working on boundaries and communication.