Matrescence + entering the pod

Begin by grounding in what this transition actually is.

• Introduce matrescence as a developmental shift

• Name how invisible and unsupported this time often is

• Begin building trust within the group

At home:
Notice moments of change, physically, emotionally, relationally
Write or reflect, what is already shifting in me?

Week 2 - How I Got Here

Stories of conception and early pregnancy

• Share personal journeys, expected, unexpected, easy, complex

• Normalize the range of emotions that can exist at once

• Practice listening without fixing

At home:
Reflect on your story, what still wants to be said, felt, or understood

Then and now, loss of community

Bring in what you named, this is key.

• Explore how pregnancy and postpartum were once held in community

• Contrast with modern isolation and individualism

• Gently name the impact of not having built-in support

At home:
Notice where you are doing things alone
Ask, what would support actually look like right now?

Identity, loss, and expansion

• Explore identity shifts, what is changing, what is being left behind

• Name the complexity, grief, excitement, disorientation

• Begin to normalize that this is not just about gaining a baby

At home:
Journal, what am I letting go of, what am I growing into?

Values, expectations, and roles

Partners join here.

• Explore values, what matters most in this season

• Talk honestly about roles, expectations, and invisible labor

• Begin building language for support and communication

At home:
Have one intentional conversation about support after baby arrives
Not logistics, but how do we want to feel as a family?

Regulation, safety, and co-regulation

• Understand stress, overwhelm, and capacity

• Explore how nervous system states affect pregnancy and postpartum

• Practice simple, accessible regulation tools

Also include:

• How partners and community can support regulation

• What it looks like to be held, not just helped

At home:
Practice noticing your state, not fixing it
What helps you feel even slightly more settled?

Beyond the baby

This is where many spaces fall short, so go deeper.

• Honest conversation about postpartum reality

• Physical recovery, emotional shifts, identity, relationship strain

• Feeding, sleep, and expectations (without rigid advice)

• The mental load and invisible work

Then:

• Build a real support map

• Who is actually showing up? Where are the gaps?

At home:
Create a simple, honest postpartum plan
Include rest, food, emotional support, not just baby care

Week 8 — Integration and Continuing the Pod

Closing, and not closing

• Reflect on what has shifted over the 8 weeks

• Name relationships that have formed

• Explore how the pod wants to continue (informally or intentionally)

Optional:

• Write a letter to your future self in early postpartum

• Simple closing ritual

This is a return, and a crossing.

Babies are here, or just arriving. Life is no longer theoretical.

This gathering is slower. There is no expectation to be on time, to be settled, or to have anything “together.” Feeding, moving, tending, all of it is part of the space.

In the space:

• Gentle arrival, space to land with babies

• Simple, spacious PIES check-in

• Sharing what postpartum has actually been like
  not what was planned for, but what is true

• Naming:

  • what has felt hard

  • what has helped

  • what feels missing

There is less teaching here, more witnessing.
The group now holds a different kind of understanding of one another.

At home:

Notice where support is already present, and where it is not.
Reflect, what do I need right now that I am not receiving?

This week gently turns toward what is possible now.

Not as a program, but as something the group may choose to keep building together.

In the space:

• Return with babies, settling again into shared space

• Brief check-in, what has shifted even in a week

Then opening the conversation:

What would it look like to not do this part alone?

Explore together:

• What feels supportive in this season?
  (walks, short gatherings, shared meals, rotating homes)

• What feels realistic right now?
  (flexible timing, baby-led rhythm, low expectations)

• What do you want your children to grow up inside of?

• What would it mean to keep showing up for one another, in small ways?

Begin to name what is already forming, not something new, but something that has grown through these weeks.

Closing Gathering, Planting Forward

This final gathering is a celebration, and a remembering.

A time to come back together, now changed.
Babies are here, or arriving. Relationships have formed. Something has taken root.

We gather not to end, but to mark what has been created, and to place something into the ground that will continue growing alongside these children.