The One About Preparing for Postpartum

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Hey, everybody. You're listening to the Becoming Maternal podcast, the show where we have candid conversations about the stuff you're afraid to ask your friends and wish health class would have taught you about the path to and into parenthood when you were young. We are a practice of maternal and reproductive mental health therapists, moms and women who just frankly aren't afraid to talk about the hard stuff. Now let's talk about the journey to becoming maternal. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Becoming Maternal podcast. This is your host, Kathy Quillet. Certainly glad that you're back in this space with us today. Happy New Year. If this is the first time that you are joining us for this round of podcasts, the whole goal point of these podcasts is to talk about things that maybe you don't feel comfortable talking to your mom, maybe nobody taught you in, you know, sex ed, or you don't feel comfortable talking about at a work happy hour. And so we just want to have candid girlfriend conversations in a way that you feel like you are joining in the conversation as a girlfriend. And so today my host and I are going to be talking about the journey into parenthood. Now, if this is overwhelming to you and you're maybe not here, big fat trigger warning, then if you are just not comfortable, you maybe you've experienced a loss recently or you're still on the infertility journey and talking about pregnancy and postpartum is overwhelming for you. Big permission slip for you just to say, I can't do this today. And feel free to join us next time where we'll have different conversations about different seasons of the reproductive journey. But if you're pregnant right now and maybe thinking that you're getting ready to prepare for birth, then buckle up, get a piece of paper and a pen because today I have my friend Lauren Johnson with me and she is the owner of Choose Joy Nursing. And we are going to talk about preparing for birthday and then preparing for the postpartum season. So I'm going to let Lauren tell us all about what she does at Choose Joy Nursing and why she thinks that this work, which I agree with, is so valuable. We just put so much emphasis on the birth process, which it is important, but in my mind, that's like 48 hours of your life and bringing home the baby and getting ready for this whole postpartum and parenthood journey is really where the rubber meets the road. So, Lauren, welcome to the Becoming Maternal podcast.

Thank you. I'm so excited to be here and honored to be in this space with you guys, I know how sacred and sweet it is, so thank you for having me.

Of course. Now Lauren owns Choose Ray Nursing, as I said, and she's in middle Tennessee, as are we, and we have collaborated on a kind of a birth prep, postpartum prep, postpartum mental health prep class together, which was amazing. And we both share a really similar vision in helping women go into birth and postpartum feeling super prepared. And something that I hear all the time. Even as I was talking to somebody that I know on the way into the office today, we did so much prep work, and she was like, it is so different being in the middle of it. And. Yeah, yeah, it is. But I. I also think that we can mitigate that stress by educating ourselves and having these really candid conversations. And so that's why I invited Lauren on the podcast, because she is a wealth of knowledge and feels just kind of like a bestie in the process. If you follow her on social media, which we'll get to at the end, it just kind of feels like she's in your corner already. So let's. Lauren, I. Tell us about who you are, but also tell us about Choose Joy Nursing and how you support women and couples going through this transition into parenthood.

Yeah, absolutely. Okay. I'm Lauren Johnson, as she said, owner of Choose Joy Nursing, and I started this company to truly bridge the gap between mom in the hospital and that six week postpartum visit. I was a mother baby nurse at Midtown. Actually. I loved it and stepped away just for better hours, work, life, balance, but missed the babies, missed the moms. I remember feeling in the hospital like I always wanted to go home with my patients. I was like, I just want to go home. And you teach them all this discharge education. You're like, okay, sign here that I educated you. Mom just had a baby. She's exhausted, hormonal, happy tears, sad tears, confusion, overwhelm all the things, and it's like, good luck. And so I felt like by starting this company, at first it was just me, and then we've slowly grown and grown and we have more and more people on our team. It's so sweet that we get to truly partner with moms, support moms, encourage moms, empower moms to decisions for themselves, to feel empowered, to feel confident. And so a huge part of that feeling confident, bringing baby home is education. Like you said, just partnering with them, educating them, being a resource as a nurse, but then as a friend, as to someone who gets it, who's worked in this space for years. As a private nanny long before I was a nurse and then with the nursing education and mother baby experience. It just made so much sense. It all came together so beautifully and it felt like such a calling for me. It's just been a joy to do this work. And so what choose joy nursing does is majority of our nurses work from 9pm to 7am in the home. So we come in at night. In Middle Tennessee we offer have things virtual we can talk about later. But for the most part we cover 9:00pm to 7:00am in a client's home. We come in and let mom and dad get some much needed sleep. We still can help with breastfeeding. We'll absolutely bring your sweet child to you every two to three hours or three to four hours or whatever is necessary. We go based on baby's weight and pediatrician recommendations. So we're really not going rogue. We're not doing anything unsafe. We're being so careful and just honoring this time for you. So it's all about mom and what she is needing and a huge part of that is sleep and recovery and just support someone to ask questions to. There's a nurse in her home to ask questions to so we can help. Yes, it is a dream and it's the best job. And so we can have a bottle feeding, breastfeeding baths, we give baths, we change baby clothes, burping, all that swaddling, all the in between, the fussy, the grunty in between feeds. We kind of take that shift from mom or from dad so that mom and dad can both truly get rest in between feeds. And then we also have a lactation consultant that does prenatal visits and postnatal visits.

Wow.

And we also teach baby 101 classes like me and you have done together before.

Yes.

So fun to educate people, moms and dads and partners before they bring baby home while they still the postpartum or postpartum brain fog. But pregnancy brain fog is real. So when you can be alert and aware and take notes, it's ideal. And we come into your home and get to educate. It's so, so powerful and we have the best feedback. Everyone has been so grateful for the course.

That's awesome. On a previous podcast we had the owner of East Nashville Doulas Andrea Hewitt on and we just talked about a doula does and I really feel similar like how I just I how it felt to me. She was describing what they do as a birth doula was very much like, yes, was very much like kind of a best friend, but also Like a sister. Do you know what I mean? But also somebody who is super well informed, who can kind of guide you through. And I really feel like you guys stepping into the home is really like birthing in a really beautifully or postpartum in a really beautiful, safe community where mom has the support that she needs and it's not on Instagram or a phone call away. It's like in her home while she's resting and finding herself again in a way that she feels, like you said, educated and supported and empowered. And I just think that's a huge gift that I wish insurance would cover for every mom that births. But alas, we have a lot of work to do in America. That could be a whole different podcast. But I'm glad for what you do. So for those that are listening outside of Middle Tennessee and those who were like, okay, I'm preparing for birth, and I would really love an expert just to speak into kind of my story right now. And so what I'd love for us to do, Lauren, is just talk about a couple things that you think it's important for a pregnant woman to say, like, I'm getting ready for birth. Here's a couple things that I need. What would you say to her? Like, if she was sitting on the other end of this phone, like, sister, that's getting ready to birth. Here's. Here's what you need.

Yeah, I always. My big overarching. We can dive into a bunch of bullet points, but the biggest thing is support. No one is meant to do this alone, right? Whether doula support, whether it's nursing support, whether it's friends, family that you trust to speak positively and kindly over you and to believe in you heading into birth, you need people in your corner. You are not supposed to do this alone. And so that is so important to me that I communicate to all moms, all birthing people, as they're going into this season to have support.

So.

So for starters, before you go to the hospital, things I'd recommend would be some type of birthing class. So we offer that here in Nashville, a baby 101. We're going to have a virtual one soon. And then wherever you are, I know we're so excited. I think it'll be a blessing for so many all over the place. But wherever you are, find baby 101 classes, prenatal classes, birthing classes, CPR classes, sign up for all the courses. There's so many things you can do to prepare and educate yourself ahead of time. And so that education is huge. And then preparing to have the right support in your corner. So whether that's signing up for your doula, who's going to help you with birth, whether that's signing up for your night nurse, who's going to help you postpartum, or signing up for postpartum counseling. So this is where Tennessee Reproductive Therapy has been so helpful for me and my clients. We really want you being seen. So whether you're being seen by a nurse in your home, whether doula is coming to check on you, or whether you're seeing a counselor or all three, there's no such thing as too much support. So signing up for counseling while you're pregnant, you open your calendar and you put these dates in. Me and Kathy have always said we like a two week, four week, either six or eight, whatever you're comfortable with in a ten week appointment. Yeah. Because you leave the hospital and you are not seen again by your OB for six weeks.

Right.

Standard practice here in America, that is the standard practice, care. And so in that time, there's so many changes going on, emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually. It is such a shift. And so to have support, whether you think you need that or not, signing up for postpartum counseling, even prenatal counseling, it can be huge and so, so helpful. And so if you set those appointments up, what I tell people is like, even if it's an hour of alone time and like that's just, you know, you can hold space for you, whether you need to cry, whether you need to talk, whether you just need to sit in silence, that's a designated time you've planned for, you've gotten to budget for because you planned in advance. Yeah. And you are able to have that hour where you've set like you've, I said you planned in advance. So you have child care, you have dad home, you have it worked out to where you get an hour of space, help. And like that can be everything.

Postpartum, that is everything. And you know what I something that I think goes so wrong in America, how we take care of women is you on average are going to have 14 prenatal visits. If you have a cesarean, you're going to have a couple more visits. But on average, you're going to have a one postpartum visit and then you're going to go straight to the care of a pediatrician for your baby, which is important, but there are so many things that a woman goes through. I just spoke with a friend just this morning and she was just talking about the psychological and emotional impact of going from like lovers from a couple to it just being them to being co parents. She's like, we're two weeks into this and I miss him terribly, but he's right here.

Yes.

And so all of these. Right. And so that, and I don't, I'm not a working woman anymore or temporarily or I don't get to self care in the form of like training for my marathons anymore or I can't go teach my bar classes or I, I'm not going out with my friends at night anymore. All of these huge transitions.

Yeah, it's an identity change. For sure.

It's an identity change, but for so many people it's an identity crisis.

That's.

Yes, it is a very big deal and we want to think of this as the happiest time of our lives. And it is. But it is also one of the most exhausting, stressful, painful times of our lives.

Absolutely.

So getting the support, getting the education, if you, you know, can is amazing. I think, you know, you were talking about the doula and the night nurse and the therapy. All of those can be so siloed. Right. Like I cannot do the training that you can do on diapering or lactation as much as I place value on those things. They're all so important that we experience support in all of those. And like you said birth 100 years ago. I mean, I'm not trying to make us go back in time and be archaic, but birth has always been a social thing. It's where community supports family. All the women in your family have supported other parts of I, I mean right now it's like it's such an individual sport and we always talk about boundaries around it, but in other parts of the world it is like a big family event where all the women participate in it and show up. Huge for you.

Absolutely. Yeah. I think it's like they'd come over and do your laundry and help with dishes and feed your family. People brought food from all over. Grandmas lived in, everybody helped. And yes, I feel like it's. The culture's totally changed and I'm glad we're talking about healthy boundaries. And especially with family dynamics, not everybody wants their in laws or their parents living with them. And that can be healthy. That can be a wise choice for people in certain.

Totally.

And so now I'm glad you have people you can hire to help you.

Yeah, totally.

If you're listening to this somewhere else, there are night nurses or night doulas, even mothers, helpers, all over the place. And so I do your research in your area on what is offered for in home care so that you're truly being cared for around the clock as if it was back in the old days, as if it was someone coming into your community and in your town and loving on you and nurturing you and cooking for you. It's just so important. We really want to do it alone.

You're right. I'm seeing such a big push, Lauren. And people talking about, like, mom just staying in bed with baby for like a week and then staying close to the bed for a week and then just staying close to, like, the bedroom for a week. Really honoring the fact that, like, baby and moms don't know that they're separated for a while. And so if there are other people, I mean, women are the people who are parenting right now, stepping into parenthood, were taught, like, women should do it all. And we're really the first generation, I think, to break that. And so empowering women just to say, like, oh, actually, I'm not going to do laundry today. I need somebody else to do that for me, I think is so important. But I'm, I'm, I'm maybe also stealing, like, how to prepare for postpartum. So this episode is brought to you by Bringing Home Baby. Bringing Home Baby is our online postpartum class that can help prepare you for leaving the hospital with your newborn all the way through the first year of parenthood. Visit our website at Tennessee reproductive therapy.com and enter the code. Podcast 15 for 15 off your online course. Now back to the show we talked about how to prepare for birth. Taking all the classes, getting all the support. How do you train your parents or your, your, your women to prepare for postpartum?

Yes. So once again, overarching theme is always support. Unlike support support. But what first thing typically I'll say is food. You need to nourish mama postpartum. So whatever that looks like for you, does that mean if you're, you know, you can afford a postpartum chef, go for it. I give you full permission to spend your money in that way. It's nourishing for your body. It is going to help you heal. Food is medicine that's so important and you need those calories, you need the food, you need the nourishment. You just had the biggest workout of your life or the biggest surgery of your life one way or another, like you need nourishment. So whether it's signing up for a postpartum chef, whether it's doing a meal train and putting in the caption, like, what's important to you? If you have dietary restrictions or if you're just like, I'm welcoming anything at this time. Like, being sure you're eating enough is so, so important. And so I typically start there. Or the third option would just be meal prepping for yourself in that fourth or third trimester. Sorry. Right before you have baby, while you're nesting, if you can do freezer meals, like prepare some things ahead of time. Bone broth and rice. Make some kanji. Freeze it. That's something easy. You can pop out, thaw, reheat on the stove really easily. It's super nourishing and nutrient dense.

So now you just said a word that I don't know what it means. So other people don't know what it means. What's kanji?

Okay, Kanji is bone broth and a rice. Typically, it's a Chinese, probably more Chinese medicine or just maybe the Chinese culture. It's really common over there. So it is warm. Think postpartum. We want to think warm, soft, comforting, nourishing foods. It's going to be rice that's soaked in bone broth for like hours. So you just keep adding. Instead of it being rice consistency, it's more of a porridge consistency. So that's what a G is. It's a warm, nourishing, like, stew. Soupy, brothy texture. No.

I remember one time when we talked, you had something on your Instagram where you had like an Amazon list of people things that people. Do you still have that?

Yes, we have lots of Amazon categories and one of them is postpartum nutrition. So everything from the pot. I'm. I choose to make kanji and I do not know how to make small portions. You could use a small thing. I use a big old pot and I make a bunch for the family or to freeze after. And so everything from the pot, there's even. I think you can get rices on him. We have all sorts of bone broth. My favorite bone broth that's really clean. If you're not going to make it from scratch, which takes a lot of time, you can buy these things from Amazon, have it delivered straight to your doorstep. So we have a whole nutrition section that has these links and even just snacks. So like preparing snacks for postpartum things like having trail mix ready to go overnight. Oats, super easy to scoop the oats, the chia seeds, add a little maple syrup or honey, stir it all up with your almond milk or Whatever milk you choose, put it in the fridge, the next morning, pull it out. You can easily reheat it. If you're trying to eat warm, warm foods the first few days. Postpartum can be really helpful with digestion and you want to have soft, easy to digest foods. So there is a place on our Amazon storefront that has all those kind of things listed when you see oatmeal. That's why I'm explaining why if people are going looking at ch Nursing Amazon storefront, there's going to be postpartum or. Sorry, there is a postpartum section, but it's going to have like your oatmeal, your chia seeds, your bone broths, your snacks, your electrolytes, your coconut waters. All these things that are going to be nutrient dense and nourishing for mom. Postpartum.

Perfect. Yeah, I love that. I've sent so many people to that when they're like, I don't know what I need, like, right after or like, you know, middle of the night, I'm like, just go to choose nursing's Amazon storefront and buy what she says.

Yeah, coconut water trail mix will go a long way in the middle of the night when you're, especially if you're up nursing or pumping in the middle of the night, you're starved. It is like you are wrapping this. And so keeping things by your bedside is going to be super helpful. Peanut butter crackers, things like that, just to have grab and go convenient options.

Okay, so that's, you know, preparing for postpartum. We're talking about nutrition. What else should people keep in mind?

So my next one, I typically will say is you had started talking about house chores. Is household chores like delegating things ahead of time? So make a plan with your partner. Whether it's like, okay, we're gonna not do laundry for a week, we're not gonna do dishes, or we're not, you know, just set aside times where and for you to have this conversation with your partner about household chore chores, because they unfortunately do have to get done at some point. But, like, what can wait? Like, what are the balls that we can drop in the season to enjoy our newborn and to sleep when we can sleep and to eat when we need to eat. But, like, can the chores wait? Can we delegate? Can we hire someone? Can we budget for that while we're pregnant? Can we save for that for these few months? Can we put it on our registry? People will gift you a cleaning lady, put it on there. And then whether you hire A cleaning lady for this season, maybe for the first six weeks, 10 weeks postpartum, they come once a week or every other week and that or asking in laws like, hey, would you be willing to come and just do our dishes and laundry one day? I'm sure they'd be glad to help if they're wanting to show up and be there for you. If they're not, that's okay, too. Like, if a friend's offering, let people. I think it's so hard for us to want to shelter and hide the dirty laundry. Close the door, not let people see it, but let people help you in the season. So those chores that will weigh on you, the taking out the trash, it's going to. Because we, as much as we want to pretend we're not, we're going to ignore it for a week or we're just going to let it go. It causes a lot of people anxiety and stress, knowing it's building up and not getting done. So having a plan, plan in place prior to baby's arrival will ease this season because we do. We truly want you to experience the joy that comes with bringing a newborn home and the sweetness of the season. And so a way that you can do that is by mitigating some of these stressors that happen when you first come home. Cooking is not something you want to do, so plan ahead. You also don't want to live off uber eats. That's going to add up and it's not going to be super nutrient dense. And then two, delegating household chores, whether that's hiring, asking for help, having dad be a partner with you, and making a plan for how you're going to tackle all these household items.

Yeah, Yeah, I think that's great. You know when people come over and they want to visit and they say, what can I do? I think sometimes we're like, oh, here, hold the baby. Because that's what we think you want to do. But sometimes people want to help and they don't want to be like, oh, well, I see a mess over there. Watch me go clean it. But if somebody can come. Something that we talk about in her bringing Home baby course is what we print out, like a PDF and so you can put it on your fridge and just say, like, here are the things that if you're coming over and think you want to help us do something, like, here's a list on our fridge. And it might be like, take the dog for a walk, will you, you know, put our dishes away, Will you, You know, something will you throw in a load of laundry for the baby, something like that. Where they just know, like, if I'm coming to visit, I'm going to look on the fridge and see what needs to be done. It's a good way to communicate between you and your partner, but also for that support system that comes over, you can, if somebody comes in like, hey, what can I do? Like, can you look at the fridge and see where we are?

Yes. I love that sheet. That's a great thing that you're giving out. I was talking to girlfriends recently who have babies and they were like, the postpartum rage is real. They were like, if you have a plan, like talking about these things early is so helpful because otherwise you literally, you feel like you get so mad at your partner and it's not that they're doing anything wrong, it's just that you want them to read your mind and you want them to be two steps ahead and they're overwhelmed and confused and probably stressed about providing for a baby and you. And what is, what does mom need? Was baby need? What can I even do right? And so we were, she was like, it's real. Like the postpartum rage is a real thing. Like, I felt it. I know I was like, it is. It's so real in the postpartum anxiety that some people you can't even fully explain sometimes. And it's like having plans in place ahead of time, like sit down with your partner and make a plan. How are you going to delegate? What are you going to print out and put on the fridge to remind each other and to remind your partner of things that he probably doesn't know you do on a day, like day to day basis, they might not even notice or realize. And it just gets done until all of a sudden when mom's in the bed for a week with baby healing and resting as she should be, all of a sudden things are not moving the way they normally do in the house and things aren't getting put away like normal. And dad's like, wait, what's happening? Why is my wife in the bed and sometimes crying and what. And like, why is my laundry everywhere? Like, what's happening? And it's like, she normally does these things when you're at work. And so it's just those kind of, these kind of conversations are so important to have before bringing baby home. And these are all like free conversations to have with your partner. Like in meal training stuff. There's so many options and things that you can do in your own home. To prepare, pair, and prep.

I just hear, like, talk about it early, talk about it often.

Yes.

Right. Is there anything else you think mom needs to do or.

The one most important, I feel like, is sleep. The importance of sleep. Once again, make a plan, Talk about it ahead of time. Sleep hygiene is vital for our health, our healing, our recovery, our mental health. For that anxiety and depression that we can battle with these shifts in hormones, Postpartum sleep is crucial. So one thing when people do come over, especially grandparents, especially if they're a little older and they can't, maybe they're not going to be as helpful, but they can absolutely hold baby and holler if they need you. Go take a nap when they get there. Sleep during the day is still sleep. Sleep when you can. I know we all say sleep when baby's sleeping, and it's easier said than done. And now there's tons of memes and videos on the Internet of moms pretending to fall asleep while the baby's on stroller and, oh, doing dishes and babies asleep so they lay down on the kitchen floor. And it is funny, but it's like, the reality of it is, is moms need sleep, too. And so we do need to allow mom to rest when baby's resting whenever we can. So if a grandparents, they're holding baby or a friend is holding baby, and you're like, more than anything, I just need sleep. Can you just keep an eye on, like, just keep an eye, Let me go get sleep. If you have the luxury and the ability to hire a night nurse, say, for it, budget for it, put it on your registry, prioritize your recovery postpartum, that's where I do feel like our job is just the coolest, because we truly get to see moms the next day light up and, like, be like, oh, my gosh, I feel more like myself than I have in five days. Because you're in the hospital for so many days, you're not sleeping good in the hospital beds. Also, 40 weeks pregnant and not sleeping well. And so it's just like that peace of mind, because even when you're sleeping next to baby, you're getting some sleep, but you're in this mom, like, primal.

Sleeping with one eye open, one eye.

Open all the time. And it's so natural and nurturing and it's normal. But it's like, for you to have someone come and stay the night with you, even if a best friend's offering, like, and they're like, let me take the night shift for you, that's how I started this business. I told a girlfriend of mine, I was like, let me just, like, babysit. But at night time, she was like, wait, really? I was like, yes, go to sleep. I'll do all the in between. I can still bring you baby to nurse, or I can get bottles if you want me to get bottles. And she was like, you're a godson.

Like, that's amazing.

So prioritizing sleep, whatever that looks like for you, if that's hiring a night nurse, finding a doula or someone in your town who will come and do that, or letting friends, family, letting grandma stay the night with the baby, sometimes they're like, oh, so eager to do it. And, like, let them. You need sleep and trust. I mean, I always tell moms, trust your gut, trust your intuition. If you feel like something's off or you get a bad feeling about it, you do not have to move forward with it. You do not have to book that or allow that person to stay. If you don't feel like they're safe in your home, obviously do what is best for you and your family. But sleep is so important for our recovery, for our mental health. It. It's. It's hard on us when we don't.

Get sleep right after. I always tell people that after, you know, pregnancy is postpartum and parenthood. Those are very different in my mind. And I feel like starting off, we think like, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna have a baby. This is great. It's almost, for some people, like an accessory. But this is the biggest transition of your life, second to marriage. If that's a step that you've taken in your life, if you have a partner for this, stepping into parenthood, it is just so important that you are well nourished, well supported. Right. All of these things are super important. And so I think the more that you can prepare, the more that you have these conversations early and often, like we talked about, the more and the more that you bring people in. This is not meant to be a solo sport.

Absolutely.

Starting off strong and pacing yourself, it's like a whole new marathon. Like, you just survived pregnancy and now you have 18 years.

Yeah. You're like, wow, really just getting thrown into the deep end here.

But seriously, jump on in.

Yes.

Any other thoughts? Lauren?

As we're saying this, it's so funny. I've actually never told a family this in one of my classes. But while we're talking, it came to me and I'm like, I bet someone out there needs to hear this. So if A mom is the one who's doing paying the bills and say a bill's due around the time baby comes home. This is once again why it's so important to have these conversations with your partner before baby is born. Sit down with the calendar, talk about delegating any chores you can delegate, delegate meals, if you can delegate them or prep in advance. All the preparations in advance are going to be vital and so important. But I just thought about paying bills. Like if mom is the one who typically pays the bills, they're not maybe set up to auto pay or you're like the right checks old school. I feel that I get that there are definitely things I don't have set up to auto draft because I enjoy knowing when they're coming out of my like, I just like probably the control of it and being sure I'm paying my bills on time versus letting them fall on a random day in the holidays and all that stuff. So all that to say, that's another important thing to talk about beforehand. So if mom's the one who typically manages the bills in the house, but she's just had a baby, you don't want your electric bill to be like, you haven't paid this or your water.

Bill, your water turns off.

That would. Right, that would be brutal. And so things just that truly preparing ahead of time, having the conversation saying, hey dad, I'm gonna need you to log in and pay this this time or mail these checks this time. Just preparing, it's just so important and it will help ease the stress that comes with that postpartum season and the exhaustion. If you can prepare as best as you can ahead of time.

I love that. Yeah, I love that. So good. Okay, so any final thoughts other than preparing anything else that you're like, hey, before I go, I need to impart this to you.

The only other one I kind of thought about was sharing. I had my top three of like food, household chores and sleep like those I want you to prioritize in your house. Yeah. Another thing that crossed my mind was when preparing for birth or preparing for baby, preparing for coming home is moms right now are really into setting up their stations. Like the trolley thing that you get on Amazon that wheels around the house, it's so handy. It's so helpful. However, keep in mind you don't know if you're going to have vaginal or cesarean ideal. I mean you might know and if you know right, then you can plan accordingly. But if you don't know, being open minded can be super beneficial versus like breastfeed or bottle feed. You don't really know until you get home and you get in your groove and you get to figuring it out. And I've had people fully set up breastfeeding carts and fully set up certain carts a certain way and it's like, oh, all this stuff, I need a return or what do I do with all this stuff? We didn't go that route or so I would encourage people to kind of wait a little bit. Maybe once you've delivered baby and you're kind of in the hospital, seeing what you're needing, what you're feeling, then Amazon prime things. Right. They get delivered.

Yeah.

So buy your cart, you can have.

Your cart, fill it after you know.

What'S happening, once you know what your plan is a hundred percent versus because once you, you know, if it's all just stuff from the registry that can be helpful but you also can't return it, it's past the 60 to 90 days or whatever's happened. Sure. So if you for sure gonna want snacks, you're gonna want snacks in your postpartum cart. You're gonna want water bottles, you're gonna be, you need to hydrate postpartum. So having water bottles, having snacks, like package things, grab and go things in your cartoon, go ahead and prep that for sure. You can absolutely put newborn diapers, a set of wipes and some passes in your car that can be prepped and ready. An extra blanket, extra burp rags, hundred, one hundred percent can be prepped ahead of time.

Yeah.

But when it comes to like your bottom or is it going to be, you know, C section that we're looking after, we're caring for, that we need protect, or is it going to be pumping? Is it going to be bottles? Is it going to be breastfeed? Do I need nipple balm? Do I need. So what do I need? That's the one thing I would say. Just being open minded. I think a lot of people don't even think about that till they get home and they're like, oh whoops, like I bought all this, I spent all this money or I have all these gifts and what do I do with them now? Yeah, sure, there's an organization you could donate them to in town. But I thought about that when I was thinking about our call. I was like, you know, this cart can be very, very helpful.

Yep, yep.

Also they have realistic expectations on like we don't know what we're going to need till we get home. So maybe you only stack it with the stuff that you know baby will need and you know you're going to need snacks. So prep that and then wait on some of the other things.

Yeah, Even ordering.

I've told moms that recently. They're like, what do you recommend? I'm like, every mom so different. My biggest recommendation is to wait until the. You want that 30 day return window, right? You want to be able to send it back. Yeah. And so if you did it three months prior to baby coming, you're not using it yet. You haven't even got out of the box yet. So wait for some things. Yes, we want to prepare for these other things. We've talked about preparing, preparing. But some of these products that you want to be able to return and send back. Moms are like, oh my goodness, even think about that. Our first baby that happened to me, I couldn't return this pump and it didn't work for me. But I had had it for six months. Nobody was going to take it back then. So waiting till a little closer, till baby's here. Ordering different ones, multiple ones, seeing what works best for you and then you're able to return what you don't need.

I love that. I love that. So good. Lauren, thank you for coming on Becoming Maternal now, where do people find you on the socials or the interweb? Yes.

So we are at Choose Joy Nursing on Instagram. I always tell people to find us there. That's going to be where you get the most tips and tricks and just affirmations and prayer and praise and we just really try to support, support you there. We love that little corner of the Internet. We just think it's fun. It's just pretty. There's babies and little toes and breastfeeding tips and tricks and yeah, all sorts of fun. So our Instagram is amazing. The Amazon Storefront is linked on our Instagram. You can go and explore our Amazon storefront. It's a great way to find products that I recommend to moms without having to pay me for a private visit. You can just see what I recommend and click away and see what speaks to you and order what you need. So Instagram is great. And then we're just. Www.choosenursing.com is our website. Yeah. The best places to find us. Find out more.

Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us.

Yes, thank you for having me. I'm honored to be here and in this space with you, of course.

All right, you guys, thank you so much for joining us for another episode of Becoming Maternal. We will be back next week. Have a great week. All right, y', all, thanks so much for joining us for this week's episode of Becoming Maternal. We hope that you have a really excellent week. Come back and join us for another episode next week. Hope you have a great week. Bye. Bye.