There are several components to a successful postpartum recovery but nutrition and rest play a huge part. We now have services that will deliver groceries and meals right to your door,  which make it simple and easy to get healthy foods into your home. 

Meal delivery services make fantastic gifts or maybe you will want to try them out for yourself, like me! Also, Mother's Day is coming up very soon (hint hint). 

Shipt is available in several major cities nationwide where Publix stores are available. You place your grocery order via the Shipt app, their shoppers pick up the items and deliver them to your door. Monthly and annual memberships are available but the grocery prices are very similar to what you would pay in store. You SAVE  in gas, time, and impulse purchases! 

I've been using Shipt for 6 months and I absolutely love it! I can add items to my cart as I think of them throughout the week or make a full order while sitting on the couch during commercial breaks. They also have a special category with all of the sale items for that week that you can take advantage of. It even saves your past items to make for easy repeat ordering in  the future. ​

You can sign up here to try it free for 2 weeks and receive a $10 grocery credit. ​​

Home Chef is amazing! They deliver pre-portioned fresh ingredients and a recipe card for fabulous tasting dishes that are quick and easy to prepare. They are currently shipping their refrigerated boxes Coast to Coast. I love the variety of meals they have to choose from each week. It takes all of the guess work out of preparing dinner. The recipe hunting, meal planning, shopping, and measuring. Because they send exact quantities for each recipe, it even makes clean up a breeze! I did a cost comparison between Home Chef and purchasing the items at my local Publix and found that Home Chef actually comes out less expensive! You just can't beat  it.  

When you sign up here you will save $30 off your first order! 

I love Home Chef so much that I want to share the experience with one of you. I'm giving away a week of Home Chef meals to one lucky winner. Enter below via the Rafflecopter widget. The winner will be contacted next week via email. Good luck! 

I'll admit. I'm a sucker for pregnancy progression photos. It's fascinating to me how a woman's body shapes and changes to adapt to growing a little human. Here are my top 5 favorite belly videos starting with a new one I came across this week. 

​Below is a video that shows what's actually going on inside with a woman's internal organs during pregnancy. 

​Bottom line. Our bodies our amazing! 

Postpartum practices in the United States are quite different than other countries around the world. Here, mothers are encouraged to be up and active and get back to their routine pretty quickly while European and South American countries hold pretty strict to a lying-in period where the mother's main goal is rest and recuperation. The care provider for mom is most likely a close female relative but, often times, she is a professional who comes to the home daily for several weeks as a part of their standard postpartum care module. 
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In the U.S. many women live in a different city than their family members. Their mom or sister may come to help for a week or so but then must return to her own family. This is where postpartum doulas come in to fill the gap. These women are trained to care for the entire family during the postpartum period also known as the 4th trimester, a crucial time for healing, bonding, and establishing breastfeeding.