Sunday SELF - C. ❤️‍🩹 A.☀️ R. 🖼️ E. 👨‍👩‍👦

My postpartum meals & no drama freebirth!

Author

Jaclyn Kirby
May 03, 2026

Hey 💌

The past month has been way out of my norm, as expected after giving birth and becoming a mother for the first time.

So here’s a glimpse into that:

❤️‍🩹 Cooking: Postpartum Meals Stocked in My Freezer

Make these when you’re preparing for your own postpartum period, dropping off a meal to a new mom, or for any time where deep nourishment and healing is needed ❤️

I did not want to rely on people bringing me food postpartum 1.) because I don’t trust that others will cook the way I do with only small farm ingredients and 2.) because I am definitely lacking community at this stage in life so I don’t have people who live close enough that they can easily swing by to drop off food on my porch.

So I take responsibility and prepare myself meals that I can easily have my husband heat up while I’m laying with my baby (plus, luckily my mom made a trip to my house to help me cook all of this in one day).

It’s funny because chicken noodle soup doesn’t sound all that exciting when you think about it, but with the very first bite of this, it became the #1 thing I craved after giving birth.

The way I make this recipe is SO far from any chicken noodle soup you can buy. And because of this, I felt major healing taking place with every bite.

Make homemade pasta noodles with freshly milled flour and homemade ricotta cheese with small farm raw milk to elevate this common recipe to a higher status of health.

Such a nourishing, cozy meal using small farm ingredients only that can easily be popped in the oven from frozen and ready in like 20 minutes.

Adjustments I made to this recipe to boost health and healing:

Soak dried beans overnight then slow cook before adding to the soup, instead of cans.

Use homemade bone broth and real, individual herbs, never seasoning blends.

*

I mixed up the meat choices for these meals to provide the most nourishment postpartum. For some I did the ancestral blend of ground beef from Force of Nature to provide organ meat nutrients. Some I did ground elk instead of beef.

& tons of homemade broth is the key for this time period.

☀️ Art: The Art of Presence

The postpartum period is a complete break from “normal” life. It forces you to take all your expectations and beliefs about what should be getting done and instead, just be.

All there is to do is feed your baby. Change your baby. Lay with your baby. Admire your baby.

Sounds easy enough, but anyone who’s given birth before knows that it’s absolutely not.

Especially for the mothers who have been trained so forcefully to be productive all the time.

And nowadays it’s actually much more difficult to just stick to feeding, changing, laying, and admiring.

It’s easy to grab your phone and find a million ways to pass the time on your screen. But by doing so, you’ll end up feeling so much worse.

My practice right now is the art of presence. The art of being.

And knowing that this time is so so temporary. It’s important to soak it all in and remain connected to myself and my baby.

Doing this can sometimes feel frustratingly unproductive, but it will provide the healthiest outcome for the entire family.

And of course, you don’t need to be in a postpartum period to practice this.

Everyone benefits greatly when you carve out many moments throughout the week to simply be with yourself and admire your surroundings.

☀️ Getting sun on your skin and fresh air helps the most if you’re not feeling your best or in need of rapid healing.

🖼️ Reading: Children’s Books

Even for infants, I love reading longer children’s books because I feel like it helps them develop language better than baby books that have like 2 words per page.

As a 3rd grade teacher for a few years and now as a mom to a 1 month old, these are my top favorite children’s books:

  1. Captain Snout And The Super Power Questions

This book is so essential for children today who unfortunately are growing up in a world obsessed with being the victim of everything.

The story brings up common victim statements that kids are repeating and turns them into funny ANTS 🐜 which also stands for Automatic Negative Thoughts.

In the story, the kids are encouraged to kick those ants out of their heads. Then they see how much better their experience is when they aren’t living with beliefs that knock them down.

Of course is my fave which is why I created it to share!

And I’ve been getting a bunch of messages lately from teachers who read it aloud in their classroom and parents/grandparents who read it at home with their toddlers.

April marked one year since the book released so it was cool to get these messages now, showing how it’s still reaching kids and bringing joy.

I love this story because there is not just one clear theme, there are so many moments throughout the story that can spark powerful conversations that build deeper relationships.

Younger kids love talking about how they relate to Captain and Kodiak’s dynamic because it reminds them of moments with their own siblings.

Older children love unpacking the stress Captain went through as a puppy and how it explains some of his behaviors in the story.

And everyone loves to see the real life photos of all the characters at the end and spotting which scenes in the story were real life events that match the pictures.

  1. Chilla Gorilla & Lanky Lemur Journey to the Heart

I love this one because it teaches children to connect to their heart and find peace inside themselves no matter what is going on around them (an important tool that many adults still need to learn too).

It repeats a calming affirmation throughout the story that children can takeaway and use during moments of stress in their own lives, which I think is beautiful.

👨‍👩‍👦 Enthusiasm: Freebirthing My First Baby!!

I’m so beyond grateful that I somehow stumbled down the birth rabbit hole over a year before I planned to get pregnant.

Once I started researching and hearing birth stories, freebirth became the only experience that made sense for me.

So for about a year, I dreamed of and journaled on my desired freebirth. Moving through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum with no medical surveillance or intervention.

Since this path is so far outside of what is normal or common amongst everyone I know, there were a lot of fears and doubts to unpack and move through.

Ultimately, I know that every single birth experience carries risk and I think it’s so important to take responsibility for the risk you’re choosing when planning your support team for birth.

I felt most comfortable with full responsibility on me, not outsourcing to a doctor or midwife.

So of course, I’m over the moon that everything went perfectly and I got the exact experience that I had planned and prepared for!

The fact that I was able to do this without sabotaging myself into a drama story full of complications shows how much work I’ve done to release old limiting beliefs and allow what I know is meant for me to be.

And for that, I’m so excited and proud of myself :)

What are you highlights from the past month? Reply and share with me 🫶

🤍 Jaclyn