SHEENA CHAKERES, SANTA FE, NM
My head bobbed like a buoy in the darkness. Slowly, I glided to the other side of the room and placed a sleeping Aris gently into his bassinet. Tiptoeing back to bed, I calculated the potential hours of sleep ahead. Three hours, maybe four? I curled into a fetal position around my pregnancy pillow and prayed for rest, my chapped cheeks wet with fresh tears of exhaustion and desperation. My husband was about to go back to work, and I felt frighteningly alone. Aris was only one week old.
Across the world, in communities from the Guatemala Highlands to Southeastern Turkey to regions of India, when a woman has a baby, there is often a network of support in place. Generations of women form a kind of symbolic basket to hold space for the new mother. In some places, her belly is bound, her baby is held, and she is instructed not to exert herself for the first forty days after childbirth Yet, here in the United States, we see Instagram photos of new moms back to their pre-pregnancy weight only days after delivery, or celebrities toting their four children, shooting their next film, cooking a farm-fresh, organic dinner, and posing for the latest cover. We are simply not prepared for the reality of those first few weeks and months.
I’m a career-focused, fitness-enthused, typical American overachiever, so when the doctors diagnosed me with pre-eclampsia at 38 weeks and threw out my well-thought-out birth plan, I didn’t really know how to deal with the sudden change. My beautiful son was born after six hours of intense labor. He had low blood sugar, and my kidneys were failing. I was so swollen that my oversized, fleece-lined slippers were actually giving me blisters during the commute to the pediatric wing. If anyone needed a wise grandmother, a foot massage, and some self-care advice, it was me. So, I’ll share mine with you: Let go of all that bullshit of accomplishing your new mother goals. Stay in bed. Ask for help. Drink warm ghee and honey. Rest your beautiful body that just accomplished the incomprehensible. Above all, savor every moment with that new little dumpling of love, because when you’re praying for sleep, he or she will be transforming into a different human than you knew just moments before.
SHEENA’S WARM DATE MILKSHAKE
This is a soothing, vata-pacifying milkshake that helps new mothers during the recovery stages of postpartum, aiding in restoring strength and balance.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup whole, coconut or almond milk (or other milk of choice)
4 Medjool dates, pitted and with stem area removed (if using a drier date, soak overnight in water)
1 tbsp. ghee
1 tsp. honey
1 tsp. cinnamon
DIRECTIONS:
Over medium-low heat, combine milk, ghee, honey and cinnamon. Stir until the ghee is fully melted and a light steam is rising from the pot. Pour the milk mixture into a blender and add the dates. Holding blender top down tightly, blend on high for approximately 15 seconds until the dates are completely blended in and the consistency is thick and frothy. Pour into a heatproof mug and enjoy. (Rinse blender before drinking to avoid a sticky cleanup later).
SHEENA’S GROUND LAMB, CHICKPEAS AND KALE over rice
This lamb dish is great for fall and winter and is especially helpful to new mothers who have, or are at risk of, developing anemia.
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups rice of choice
1/4 cup olive oil for cooking
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. oregano
3 fresh carrots, chopped
Salt to taste
1 Ib. ground lamb (Recommended to buy from a Farmer’s Market or a grass-fed, hormone free source if available)
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 bunch green kale, roughly chopped
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1/4 cup pine nuts
Feta or goat cheese (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
Prepare the rice in a rice cooker or on stove as directed on package.
While rice is cooking, heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a dutch oven or skillet with cover over medium heat, cover off. Add the onions and saute for about 5 minutes until soft and translucent. Add the garlic, spices and salt and cook until fragrant, approximately 2-3 minutes. Add the carrots and stir until they are coated in the spices. Add the lamb and stir regularly until it is brown on all sides. Pour in the chicken broth and bring broth to a slight boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for 30 minutes.
Add the kale and garbanzo beans to the top and without stirring, recover the pot. After about 5 minutes, turn off the heat and give the entire mixture a good stir. Serve over rice and garnish with the cheese and pine nuts.
Sheena Chakeres is a high school Spanish teacher, yoga instructor and professional photographer. She’s traveled around the world, documenting her journeys. Her photographs can be seen here. She and her husband live in Santa Fe, NM, with their two-year-old son.
Posted September 15, 2018