The Becoming Podcast | Season 5; Episode 6 | Heng Ou and Marisa Belger on The Essential Art of Mothering the New Mother

The Becoming Podcast

Hello beautiful ones! I am so excited to share this month's interview with Heng Ou and Marisa Belger with you.

They are the authors of The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother, which was a groundbreaking book for so many new mothers and postpartum professionals. To say I was delighted to be able to connect with these two amazing women is the understatement of the year! Especially as we approach the launch of the 2023 Season of MotherSHIFT and The Village, this conversation is so rich and filled with wisdom for mamas and their support people alike.

Here's some of what Heng, Marisa and I talk about in this episode:

> What is true now, for both Heng and Marisa, seven years after their bestselling book The First Forty Days was published. We talk about what has changed and how, in some ways, we're only just beginning.

> What happens when we take the traditions of the first forty days and insert them into a capitalist, patriarchal, white supremacist culture – and how having the "perfect postpartum" is another myth that many mothers can become trapped in.

> How we try to tame the wildness and unpredictability of pregnancy, birth and motherhood, and how to sit in the unknowns we face during these times.

> The intuition that new motherhood gives us access to, how "maternal instinct" has been weaponized against mothers, and how listening to your intuition doesn't necessarily mean you'll always get it right.

> What happens to mothers' sense of identity and self-worth when they find themselves dramatically slowing down in the first forty days.

> How mothers' relationship with food and their bodies shifts and changes over the course of pregnancy, birth, postpartum and matrescence.

I loved this interview so much, and Heng and Marisa have an incredible wealth of wisdom to share. I hope you enjoy tuning in!