by Carrie Felter Sex does not end with pregnancy. Although pregnancy and the postpartum period can complicate or add challenges to how a person approaches their sexuality, it is the responsibility of the birth worker to make sure they incorporate (into their practice) a discussion about what a person or couple needs during their pregnancy experience. This is where Tynan Rhea can help.  Rhea is a relationship and sex therapist, as well as a trained doula, who offers a sex and birth support person training. After attending the University of Waterloo, St. Jerome’s College for Psychology and Sexuality, Marriage, & Family, Rhea went on to work in an administrative role in a healthcare clinic. During this time, they began studying with Beth Murch in her Revolutionary Doula Training program. Rhea was drawn to the program because it had an emphasis on social justice and inclusivity in terms of queer and trans births as well as kink clients. Rhea acknowledges “The reason I got into doula work was because even though I had a degree in sexuality, marriage, and family we never talked about reproduction…all these taboos of sexuality and horrendous gender stereotypes and complicated intersections between bodily function and social conventions down to our own personal identities came to a head in this population.” Because pregnancy is such a stressful time, people often don’t have the emotional reserve to address sexual concerns. Sex therapists and birth workers must make it a point to recognize the intersection of sex and pregnancy and include both in their work.  The postpartum period is complicated because people can deprioritize sex because other needs become more pressing. “What can be tricky” Rhea says “is if people don’t feel they have permission to deprioritize sex or if a desire disparity exists between two partners. Some people need sex to feel ok and some people need to feel ok to have sex.” In postpartum this can be difficult, and partners might be experiencing these obstacles for the first time. Birth workers, and their clients, must work to develop new skills to accommodate the change in the sexual relationship, as well as all the other needs of postpartum. Sometimes there is a feeling that if we talk about sex during this time, we add pressure to the relationship. But by not talking about it, we miss opportunities to address changes in sexuality and whether or not that matches what a…

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by Raichal Reed Imagine you have just had your newborn child. While you are holding them in your arms, you imagine every bad thing that could possibly happen to them in the outside world. Even worse, you imagine your own death, leaving them to fend for themselves. Then weeks later, you are suddenly having unwarranted panic attacks once going back to work for the first time since the infant was born. Even after taking more time off, the idea of going back to work at all has now become a fear. The idea of leaving the house has become dangerous, and now you have lost the ability to go outside even in the backyard without panic rising in your throat. You’ve been to a doctor (because your partner or family dragged you) but the medication doesn’t work because you aren’t depressed, you are just afraid of everything you can’t control outside of the house.  Some birthing people deal with thoughts like these obsessively and sometimes worse thoughts leading to hospitalization or medical treatment. A certain level of worry is normal due to a changing body, worries about new additions to the family, parenthood for the first time, etc. Due to this, a lot of birthing people are not able to be diagnosed or tested properly until after 6 weeks postpartum where, at that point, they are no longer seeing their physician. Postpartum Anxiety Disorder (PAD), as of the time of this article, does not have a standardized definition nor a proper scale or testing for confirmation of the condition. The closest we have gotten currently has been in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders which defined PAD as, “an excessive worry about a variety of topics that is hard to control and interferes with day-to-day activities”. It is associated with at least 3 physical and/or cognitive symptoms, such as: edginess, restlessness, tiring easily, impaired concentration, and irritability. Anxiety disorders are actually of a higher incidence rate in the general population than any other mood disorder. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) has been found in case studies to be as high as 17.1% and postpartum depression has reduced to 4.8% on average. Just like with depression, a certain amount of “baby blues” is considered normal; there is a certain level of worry that is normal in the pregnancy and postpartum. Some risk factors for GAD in pregnancy specifically are: a…

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by Raichal Reed Rites of passage have happened through every culture and throughout time. According to a scholarly journal written by Malin Eberhard-Gran, there are three phases: Separation, Margin/Threshold, and Reincorporation. Separation is defined as the individual being detached from the social environment (family, friends, etc.), then the margin (the outer edge of society where growth and knowledge occurs) and finally reincorporation (the individual returns to society changed and in a new social position). Just like with these rites of passage, pregnancy and the postpartum can be defined within these three phases. For the sake of this article, we will be focusing on the transition between the margin and the reincorporation as seen through the birth of the child to the end of the postpartum period. The postpartum period has been defined by many cultures. Some names that “the postpartum” has taken in other cultures are: Satogaeri Bunben (Japan), Zuo yuezi (China), Yu duan (Thailand), La Cuarenta (Mexico), and Pos-parto (Portugal). There is an average of 21 days to 5 weeks among all recorded history which extensions or shortening depending on individual circumstances or specific faiths. The oldest records found speaking on instruction or depiction of a postpartum period can be found in two places. The first is in the Old Testament of the Bible in the book of Leviticus which most scholars agree had to be written around 6th century BC prior to the death of Moses. Depending on what version of the bible you were to read, the days can range from 33 to 80 days following the birth of the child. Quoting this literature, it states in Leviticus 12:5, “She must not touch anything sacred or go into sanctuary until the days of her purification are complete”. The interesting part about such a wide gap in time of rest was that depending on the anatomical sex of the child, the days were doubled. A son would give you 33 to 40 days, while the birth of a daughter would give you a doubled number from 66 to 80 days minimum. Menstruation has always been seen as unclean in biblical times to the extent that people were kept in a separate tent when bleeding, so they do not contaminate/corrupt others. “The Red Tent” written by Anita Diamant is an excellent depiction of the customs and rules that came around those who menstruate. The postpartum period depicted in the…

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