Actress Iza Calzado recently posted a photo with her daughter Deia Amihan on Instagram, sharing an intimate look into her new life as a mother and the last few weeks of her fourth trimester.
The actress looked glowing yet slightly teary-eyed in the photo. She explained that it was taken right after crying “so hard from a few ‘failures’ I felt I had as a new mother mixed with the deep love I was feeling for my child, the kind I have never felt for anyone before.”
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“Hindi siya madali,” she says about the immediate period after giving birth. “It’s quite a punch.”
“This is, by far, the most challenging yet fulfilling journey I have been on and I know it is only the beginning.” It’s an honest and sincere description of the postpartum struggle that new mothers face head-on, and we appreciate her candidness.
The fourth trimester, which is the first three months after the baby is born, is a vulnerable time for new mothers. This is a time when they fully make their transition into motherhood and also, as Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center points out, the time when they have “the least interaction with their health care team.”
The baby blues, or postpartum depression, is experienced by one in every seven women after giving birth, but even mothers who don’t experience that medical condition still struggle with the fourth trimester. Motherhood is both uniquely and universally hard, and it can be a challenge for women to adjust to their new roles and care for an infant while still recovering from the physically arduous act of labor.
We hope other new moms struggling during this period find Calzado’s experience as a way to connect and feel less alone.
An outpouring of support showered the comments section of Calzado’s post. Many were written by fellow celebrity moms. Anne Curtis wrote, “You are amazing Iza. It’s going to be the most beautiful journey with Deia. Frustrations, challenges and everything that comes with the chapter of motherhood” while Solenn Heussaf wrote, “You were born to be a mother.”
Dolly de Leon also gave love, writing, “I’m so happy for you!! What a blessing and what a very exciting time for all three of you!”
Photo courtesy of Iza Calzado’s Instagram
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