We deal, we learn, and we adjust when we become moms. It is a rollercoaster of emotions that inevitably changes you. For Sitti Navarro-Ramirez, she is learning to appreciate and celebrate the little things that matter.
SmartParenting.com.ph caught up with the Philippine Bossanova Queen at the launch of the Philips Pregnancy Plus app, and she shared how she is adjusting after having experienced postpartum blues.
As she described her postpartum feelings, it sounded like Sitti might have gone through postpartum depression. She said she suspected it as well especially when she found herself incessantly worrying over her and husband Joey Ramirez's decision to hire a yaya for their daughter Issiah Dañelle, or Lilibubs.
Sitti shared on her Instagram Stories at the time, "So we have a yaya now...and for the past five days, Lilibubs seems to prefer her yaya over me. It seems I don't even know how to comfort her anymore, even after being super hands-on for nearly four months. I have mixed feelings about everything, and I honestly just want to cry."
“That was a really hard time,” Sitti said as she recalled feelings of exhaustion and inadequacy when she went back to work. “I’m more adjusted now. I’ve set my expectations. I can [better] manage my emotions now,” she added.
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The first step was accepting she was going through a rough patch. “I think the fact that I just acknowledged that I was really having a hard time and confessing it to my friends and my family, it really helped me,” Sitti shared.
A change of scenery also helped. Her family took a much-deserved break, visiting Joey’s family in Bacolod for a month. Even the simple act of putting favorite pre-pregnancy clothes back in her closet also helped her regain her mama mojo.
“Dati kasi tinago ko yung clothes ko, my favorite clothes, kasi I plan on breastfeeding for an entire year,” Sitti shared. “Sabi ko, ‘Di ko naman gagamitin yan so tago ko muna.’ Binalik ko sila ulit sa cabinet ko, and I really felt better kasi it was a piece of my old self that I had again symbolically,” she explained.
“I think what [also] really helped is doing something for myself by myself every day even if it’s just a short for 30 minutes na ako lang, just for me,” she stressed.
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For her first Mother’s Day celebration, Sitti shared it was simple and meaningful. “The fact na I was able to celebrate my first Mother’s Day, and remembering how good the Lord has been na ginawa niya akong nanay even if the chances of that happening was really not good, I’m really, really thankful na from the bottom of my heart,” she said.
The chance to spend Mother's Day with her mom also made it memorable for Sitti. “Kasi mas naa-appreciate ko talaga siya ngayon. I think a lot of us [moms] share the same sentiment na we understand the depth of their love now that we are mothers ourselves,” she explained.
Sitti is happy she can still breastfeed, which is halfway through her goal of nursing her daughter for a year. She also takes comfort and joy in the fact that Lilibubs, now 6 months old, seems content and happy. “Nakatuwa siya kasi para siyang little old person,” she shared. “She has a booster seat, and so she sits on her booster seat na hinaharap lang namin sa mga halaman na sumasayaw sa hangin tapos masaya na siya."
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