The Ab System belly wrap from bellies inc. is great to put your body back in order, whether you’ve had a C-section or vaginal delivery

The Labor and Delivery + Postpartum Recovery Kit from Frida is great. The company also makes a lot of other helpful postpartum gear.

Private Packs are also excellent for postpartum care. These reusable hot & cold packs help relax muscles & combat swelling as well as reduce inflammation and pain.

If sex becomes painful during or after pregnancy, using OhNut may help you have sex without discomfort. The majority of folks have pelvic pain for at least a year after pregnancy, regardless of C-section or vaginal delivery.

Most people have urinary issues before and after pregnancy. ONDRwear washable leakproof underwear were designed by a urologist to help keep you covered while you’re healing and before physical therapy work kicks in.

Speaking of physical therapy, if kegels are part of your routine, the kGoal is a fun way to get your exercises in!

For PT work, we appreciate the Intimate Rose dilator set and massage wand. I recommend the vibrating one even if you don’t intend to use it. Vibration helps break up scar tissue and bring blood flow to an area. You don’t have to turn on the vibration if you don’t want to, but it can make your homework more fun.

Last but not least, lube. Especially afterwards. All your hormones shift and make for a lot of sensitive tissue and dryness. We love Slippery Stuff, Good Clean Love, and Uberlube.

Most importantly, listen to your body, and be gentle with yourself.

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Our greatest concern for the feasibility of online sessions was with regard to couples. In our sessions with couples, we have figured out some great workarounds. One of our favorite new techniques is to have each partner participate from separate devices in separate parts of a home. Interestingly, we are finding that couples are doing a better job of turn-taking in conversations during these video therapy sessions!

This article in Vice by Caitlin Flynn outlines more ideas for continuing to ensure you’re getting the most out of your video therapy sessions.

Looking for some support?

If you would like some support for your relationship, or your sex life, feel free to reach out to us. LIIST has an outstanding team of therapists. We specialize in helping individuals, couples and relationships navigate difficult times.

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The Home That Love Made
Amanda Poppei

This is the home that love made.

It is full of the love that the founders felt, when they planned out these walls and raised these beams above us.

This is the home that love made.

It is full of the love of all who have worshipped here; those who have celebrated and grieved here; the babies dedicated, couples married, and family members mourned here.

This is the home that love made.

It is full of the love of our children, as they learn and laugh together, and our youth, as they grow into their own sense of purpose and meaning.

This is the home that love made.

It is full of the love of the staff who have served it, full of their hopes for this congregation, their hard work and their acts of dedication.

This is the home that love made.

It is full of the love of the choir, the love made so clear in the voices lifted here on Sunday morning.

This is the home that love made.

It is full of our love, the love of this community, despite our differences and our disagreements, the love that holds us together as a people.

This is the home that love made. Can you feel it?

May the love be with us always.

View this entry on UUA.org

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As adults, however, we take our reward granting to ourselves as a given. If I am having trouble getting out the door for my daily walk, I can reward myself with a coffee at the Starbucks en route. If a teen is having difficulty loading the dishwasher on time, it’s often difficult for parents to consider rewards for completing the desired task but somehow easier to think of a punishment for not doing so.

I often hear that this isn’t something a child should be rewarded for and that it’s just expected as a contribution to the family. I call BS on this– wouldn’t you be infinitely more likely to scrub the toilet if you knew a reward was on the other end for you?

It’s important to remember in this consumerist age, though, that rewards DO NOT have to be purchased. Sometimes a simple, genuine, “thank you” is a reward in and of itself. Sometimes leeway given in one aspect can make up for doing a chore. With all the electronic stimulation we seek so desperately, extra “screen time” can invigorate someone to do something, even if begrudgingly.

Throughout it all, remember that as a parent you are raising children to be responsible and happy members of society– which includes finishing tasks and reaping the benefits (like WiFi). 

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“What happens if my kids walk in on us having sex?” And it’s not just something that I see in my practice; 17 percent of moms inSheKnows’ “Secret Life of Moms” survey have admitted to being interrupted while in the throes of passion. So while that may seem mortifying, the likelihood is that it can (and just may) happen at some point in your life. So prepare accordingly.

#1 Don’t panic. You really don’t know what they saw (or heard). (Yes, I’ve been walked in on. My kid didn’t bat an eyelash; she just wanted breakfast.)

Read more…

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By providing a new model of how two people can live together equitably, same-sex marriage could help haul matrimony more fully into the 21st century. Although marriage is in many ways fairer and more pleasurable for both men and women than it once was, it hasn’t entirely thrown off old notions and habits. As a result, many men and women enter into it burdened with assumptions and stereotypes that create stress and resentment. Others, confronted with these increasingly anachronistic expectations—expectations at odds with the economic and practical realities of their own lives—don’t enter into it at all.

Read more in the Atlantic article. 

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