Her skin is the color of cafe con leche and she stands a head taller than me. Her eyes a stormy sea of varying shades of emerald green. The first time I saw her I swear my feet almost followed her home like a love sick puppy, all on their own. I have never felt such a magnetic pull towards a woman before. Lo and behold she ended up in my bellydance class and pregnant. Coincidence, I think not. Fate. As a doula, I took care of her pregnancy and immediate postpartum.
Now I am here, at her house for a third visit to help with breastfeeding. I happily helped her with positions as she adjusted herself and learned how to get comfortable for before latching her baby and what a proper latch looked and felt like for the first two visits. I taught her how to see if her baby was properly latched. She now wants help with stress relief and to understand the connection between the let down milk reflex and relaxation.
"Can I make you a cup of tea, Reina" she asks me as she hugs me for a long time.Β I deeply enjoy this intimacy, this feeling of knowing I am in the right place at the right time, helping her to the best of my ability. My womb fills with heat and healthy pride. This is soul work.
"You just sit down here and rest, Milagro. Put your feet up. I will make us some tea. I brought over a special galactagogue and nervine tea I made for you special, lovely." I encouraged her to sit down and put a pillow between her back and the chair. I brought a stool over and gently put her feet upon it.
"You are so sweet. Thank you, Reina. I really appreciate your help and expertise. That shade of pink looks really good on you."
"Thanks, gorgeous." I say as I find the kettle and fill it with water. I do so enjoy the ritual of making tea and deliberately slow down my movements. I put the water on to boil and pull out my bag of herbs. Into a tea infuser I put the galactagogue mix and into another I put the nervine tea. The kettle whistles and I put both tea infusers into it then turn off the heat.
"Warm water is a wonderful way to help release oxytocin. It's good stress relief, and it can elevate your mood, too. Massage is lovely. There are some lovely acupressure points that are beneficial too. The combination is extra powerful. How about I draw you a bath and teach you how to massage your breasts while our tea is steeping?"
"I would really enjoy that, yes. Thank you," she said, smiling at me, her eyes lingering upon my own breasts with a lambent spark of pleasure.
Carefully, I pulled out the biggest stockpot I could find brought some water to boil and measured out my sitz bath blend of Rose, Calendula, Yarrow, Chamomile, Uva ursi, Plantain leaves, sage and rosemary and put it into the water. As the water was coming to a boil, I walked slowly, letting my hips sway extra towards my sexy client.
"Let me your hand. See that spot right between the thumb and index finger, that fleshy part?" I said and took her hand in mine and began massaging.
"Yes. Oo. That's tender. You'll know you have hit it because, yes, it can be sensitive," I let my gaze drink her in, all those sexy curves. She batts her eye lashes and touches her lips as she relaxes. I notice she let out little low moans as I continue to massage.
"Then there is this spot right between the neck and shoulder. The middle there, yes. This actually helps oxytocin release naturally in the body," I massage her there and hear her sigh, happily.