Kaile Hunt 0:09
Today, we are discussing the first week after giving birth, a sleepless night, many diaper changes, figuring out a feeding schedule and trying to take care of yourself. Some women opt to hire a postpartum doula during their first days or weeks of having their baby home. We'll discuss what a postpartum doula is and how they might be a good fit for your family, and when you should hire one, before or after you have your bundle of joy. Thanks for joining us. This is newbies.

Kaile Hunt 1:11
Welcome to newbies. I'm Kaile Hunt your host for today's episode before we dive in, make sure to check out our website, at New mommy media.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay updated on all of our latest episodes. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button in your podcast app so you never miss an episode. If you're looking for even more ways to connect, Join our online community. Mighty moms. It's a great place to continue the conversation from the show, share insights and even find out how to join us live for future recordings. Let's get started. Our expert today is Kristen. Revere. Kristen is the owner and founder of Gold Coast doulas, an experienced birth and postpartum doula agency located in West Michigan. At Gold Coast doulas, they specialize in providing comprehensive support to families during their transformative journey of pregnancy, childbirth and early parenthood. We love all those things here on newbies, so thank you for coming on the show. Please tell us more about Gold Coast doulas and your family.

Kristen Revere 2:06
Sure, thanks for having me. Kaylee, I'm excited to chat. And yes, I became a doula after having children. Like many doulas do, whether it's a great experience or a negative one. For me, it was a mix. So I was a political fundraiser with my first pregnancy, and was considered advanced maternal age, and so many of my friends had kids earlier in life, and so a lot of the resources they gave me were outdated, and so I needed to build my dream team of experts from scratch, and ended up switching providers. So learned a lot about pregnancy maternal health through my own experiences. And long story short, developed preeclampsia at 37 weeks, and was on bed rest and was induced at 39 weeks.

Kaile Hunt 3:06
I'm excited to dive more deep into that, especially with I love that you talked about how some of your friends had kids early on, right? So things are a little bit different, and doctors treat women a little bit different once you turn 35 which I think is so silly, absolutely, anyway, and so I'm excited to dive deep into all of that. How many kids do you have currently? And then you are still living in West Michigan, correct?

Kristen Revere 3:31
Yes, I live in Grand Rapids. I have two kids in my own, 12 and 14, and I'm a bonus mom to one and she just graduated college. Oh, how funny, yay. Well, we have so many more questions lined up, but first we'll take a quick break.

Kaile Hunt 3:52
Welcome back today. We're diving deep into postpartum doula so first, let's just get the easy question out of the way, what are the different types of doulas? Can you explain the difference Absolutely. So there are so many different types of doulas, and some of them we practice at both coast, and others we do not. There are fertility doulas. That is something that my team is not trained in currently, but they support preconception and through fertility appointments, with that guidance and emotional support, and then my agency offers bed rest support. And again, that is partly due to my own personal experience being on bed rest. And oftentimes, if families hire us for that service, they have other children at home to care for. So we're doing the snacks and also prepping them for birth with birth plans and so many childbirth classes, and we're tidying up the home and helping them prepare for whatever is planned for their upcoming birth. Birth and so that role is quite unique. We also do birth doula support so throughout pregnancy, depending on when a client hires, and doulas are non medical. So birth doulas are often confused with midwives, but midwives, similar to an OB would be responsible for the health of the mother and baby, where birth doulas are more responsible for the emotional health, giving resources, supporting physically with labor, massage and hip squeezes and positions in labor, and we take on a coaching role of sorts.

I hired a doula, a birth doula, for my birth, and she didn't make it because I had such a fast birth, so she kind of turned into a postpartum doula, yeah, and I only have one daughter currently, and so usually with the first birth, from what I'm told, I took a couple birth classes. You know, labor takes a while, and that was not my case. I think it was about my case at all. And so anyway, I have a little bit of experience talking or dealing with the postpartum doula, because my birth doula turned into one anyway. And so my next question is, why might someone hire specifically a postpartum doula, and what exactly do they do? I know you talked a little bit about how birth doulas get confused with midwives, which definitely is the case, um, and they focus more on the birth aspect. But what do postpartum doulas specify, or specifically help the mom with? And Why might it be a good idea to research? You know, hiring one yes.

Kristen Revere 6:38
Great question. Kaylee, so a postpartum doula could be a little bit different based on the doulas training, some postpartum training organizations focus exclusively on mothering the mother and that recovery support and daytime only so household help, light, meal preparation, sibling care guidance with all types of feeding and then giving them resources as needed, everything from pelvic floor physical therapist to feeding support groups to resources for perinatal mood disorders and other trainings, including the one I went through her doula, also include an infant care component to the training, so then we can offer overnight Postpartum Support, as well as more newborn care instruction, navigating all of the baby gear and technology and so on. So it depends on the scope of the doula and what they love doing. My entire team for daytime does not only those typical tasks that a postpartum doula would perform and the maternity leave phase, but we also include newborn and infant care. And my team works through the first year because we work with a lot of professional families who are busy and need that additional support, especially with overnight care. So overnight postpartum doulas are a growing but still need a lot more awareness profession, but we focus on getting the entire family rest so they can thrive, and that includes sleep shaping, not sleep training a newborn, and feeding support, and certainly doing the diaper changes the burping. Even with breastfeeding moms, we may wake our client and have her come into the nursery or bring baby to her when it's time to feed, but she's still optimizing her rest by not needing to settle baby. Do the diaper changes, burp and so on, or cleaning bottle parts, if she's pumping or formula feeding. And so we are able to help them feel confident, especially if their partner is going back to work right away, or travels, or sometimes when our clients are back to work after maternity leave, they travel quite a bit, so we might be supporting the partner.

Kaile Hunt 9:30
I love that, and I love that you do offer overnight support as well. I think a lot of women don't know that that's an option. I'm a military wife, and so I'm across the country from my family. And when I had my daughter, we were in Hawaii, and both my husband and I are from California, so that's a plane ride away. And so I remember my Doula in Hawaii, there's a big Asian population, and that is very common in the Japanese culture, the Chinese culture, even some of the Polynesian cultures, it's very big. On overnight support from doulas and aunties, and you know what I mean, and people in your community. And so I am very familiar with that, but I love that you talked about that, because it's so important for moms to hear that rest is so crucial in the first few weeks after giving birth, and it's hard to do. I know with me and my first I just wanted to do everything. I have a very capable husband, and I had a wonderful doula who would bring me sourdough and would check on me and text me constantly, you know, and send me resources and make sure I was pumping regularly and nursing my daughter and all of that. But it's still hard to just let go. And so next question for you is, do you notice more women looking for doula services? Or is there still that stigma? I don't even know why it's around. It's like, no mom has it. I can do it all. I'm super mom. What are you seeing currently within your organization? Yes, so I am seeing more awareness. But if you look in the media and the few articles that are out there about postpartum doulas are often shaming moms for asking for help. It's seen as only something for celebrities or a luxury service, yes, and there are similar fields. I happen to also be a newborn care specialist, and we have some NCS on our team as well. So that is a little bit different. And that term is also similar to night nurse or night nanny, the newborn care specialist career has taken over some that night nurse term, where they're not necessarily nurses, but they come in and care for baby alone, so not supporting the mother the way in overnight postpartum doula would their task is caring for baby exclusively. And so there is awareness, but we are intentionally as affordable as possible, and I spread a lot of awareness, whether it's blogging or getting on podcasts like your own, about how to pay for a birth and postpartum doula in my book, supported your guide to birth and baby, I map out different ways you can budget for birth and Baby the way you would for other major life milestones, like a wedding or building a home, for example. And looking at what your priorities are, if sleep is a priority, then certainly hiring an overnight postpartum doula, where a newborn care specialist would be something to budget for. And then looking at your benefits plans, your husband, your husband or partners benefits as well. HSAs and FSAs often cover both birth and postpartum doulas and Christian healthcare savings accounts cover birth doulas. Oftentimes it's a stipend amount, but there are these newer fertility benefits, like carrot is the biggest a progeny Maven that cover both birth and Postpartum Support. Carrot covers up to six weeks for day and overnight support, and it has been amazing for a lot of my families that would not have considered Postpartum Support if it wasn't for their benefit, and many of them have continued on beyond that six weeks of the benefit because they loved the support so much. I love that, and I love hearing that so much. And also, to throw in, TRICARE, surprisingly, military wife, military benefits also covers birth doulas. I'm not sure about postpartum doulas, but that was shocking to me. I was really surprised, honestly, that they cover it. I think it's up to a certain amount in Hawaii. So that was super positive to hear. Anyway, we have more questions coming up. I want to hear more about your birth story and your postpartum experience, but we'll get into that right after our break. Welcome back. We are continuing our conversation, so I teased before the commercial break, but I really want to hear more about why you specifically became a doula, and how did you create your organization? I know in your intro, you talked about, you know, how you have two kids, and because of your birth experience, that's kind of how you became a doula, and that is so common with a lot of doulas I speak to. But anyway, tell me about your birth story and how you became a doula and created your organization. Okay,

Kristen Revere 14:35
so with my first birth, as I mentioned in the intro, I was on bed rest and induced, and luckily, my induction went fairly quickly, and I avoided a lot of different interventions. I had my membrane sweep swept, and then had some a cervical ripener. Sure. It's called servidel, and that was pretty much it, although my daughter was not responding well on the monitor, and I had to move into various positions. I didn't know what doulas were. I took Lamaze, hired nurse midwives and took a breastfeeding class to as much as I could to prepare for the labor. But birth doulas were not as known in my community at that time, and so my husband was helping to support my nurse came in, I remember for a minute and showed my husband how to sway my hips with the hip squeezes he was doing, and my daughter turned from being posterior, and I luckily was pushing at that stage, and it happened very quickly. So as I was delivering my daughter, the midwife mentioned that she had called for a cesarean minutes before that, but my daughter was born, so I narrowly avoided that, and we found that the cord was wrapped around her arm, which was causing a lot of the distress on the monitors. So but she was fine. I was able to achieve my goal of breastfeeding right away and some roommate in. But then, once we got settled in the postpartum room and they did the heel prick, I found that she had some glucose concerns, so she spent four days in the NICU, and was, you know, started on an IV, and then enhanced formula. I was pumping and going back and forth from my room to the NICU. And so it was not what I envisioned when all of these visitors were coming in, like the photographer, and I didn't have a baby there, the lactation consultant as I'm pumping, which was great for that guidance, but again, not what I imagined. And so I was finally able to attempt to breastfeed in the NICU toward the end of her stay, but it had to be at a specific time, and I only had 10 minutes to feed her. She needed to gain weight, and so that was quite stressful. So I went home without my daughter, and ended up going to the hospital's lactation consultants when she was released, because I really wanted to transition her from Pumped milk to breastfeeding, and that was still giving me challenges, so I had a lactation consultant come to my home, and that helped so much more to be in my own environment and have help with stacking pillows, and she was such a reassuring presence. And I also utilized a nonprofit, because postpartum doulas, again, were not known in my community. There were maybe a couple at the time, but there's a nonprofit called mom's bloom in West Michigan that brings volunteers, not doulas, who come into the home to help. And so I had a grandma who was retired and loved to hold babies as her grandkids were out of the area, and she gave me some reassurance, allowed me to take a shower and know that my daughter was in good hands, and she would come a couple hours a week for the first few weeks, so I appreciated that. But after my recovery phase, I became passionate about breastfeeding advocacy and joined a local organization and help create a rally in my area. And having worked in political fundraising, I invited some female elected officials to speak, and I met doulas at that rally. And so my kids are 21 months apart, and so outside of telling my husband the news that I was expecting, my first call was to one of those doulas that I met, and I hired her right away because I wanted to do the best that I could to avoid preeclampsia. I wanted to avoid a NICU stay. I wanted that emotional support that I felt was lacking in the medical system, and still do feel that it is and so it was a wonderful experience, but similar to your experience of having a fast birth, my second was quite quick, and I went past 40 weeks and had minor kind. Concerns about potential risk for preeclampsia, but nothing ever developed, and so I was very fortunate to experience labor on my own after having induct an induction the first time, and I barely made it to the hospital. I remember being in triage and getting checked, and the nurse telling me that was maybe a six or seven with a bulging bag. And by the time I got moved up, I was, you know, on hands and knees the whole time, as uncomfortable and my waters broke and my I was pushing. So a resident ran in my the nurse midwives I worked with throughout pregnancy had left the practice, so an OB in that same practice delivered, and it was a matter of minutes before he was born. So my doulas weren't able to, like, pull out my labor soundtrack or right, give a lot of hands on support. It wasn't what I imagined, but I having their support in pregnancy was everything, and so I slowly got into the work as a hobby. I started teaching childbirth classes, and wanted to make an impact that way, gathering women together. And of course, they wanted me to be their doula. So I thought that I would take a training and maybe take a client or two that I was really connected to from my classes. And so I took a training in Florida, brought my whole family there, and fell in love with the work. And so I slowly transitioned, although I had full time jobs for the first three years, between starting my dual agency and my solo practice, but slowly transitioned to doing the work full time. So started Gold Coast doulas in 2015 so we're nearing 10 years. Wow, that's huge, yeah, yeah, and had a solo practice and was in a collective prior to that. So I've been working in the field as a doula for over 12 years. And yeah, the the agency was the first to introduce a model for birth doulas to create more sustainability, because doula burnout is real. The average doula only stays in the field for three years, and yeah. So we created a partner model, and then I brought a postpartum doula trainer from out of state to West Michigan and held the first local postpartum doula training that focused on overnight care as well, and then ended up bringing on a lot of the doulas who were in that training to the Gold Coast team. And I then also was trained as a postpartum doula for the first time. And so it took a lot of education and going to pediatricians and mental health therapists and pelvic floor physical therapists and talking about postpartum doula work as much as we could, any stage, any blog, any way that I could spread the word I did. And so we are finally at a point where I feel like our community understands what we do. We had some setbacks, of course, with the pandemic and people not feeling comfortable having doulas in their home. Of course, during that time,

Kaile Hunt 23:37
I can't believe how much you've overcome. I love, I love a good birth story. Honestly, I don't see pleasure. You had a full circle moment from geez, your first to your second. I can't even imagine how transformative that must have been. Like i You must have felt like Super Mom, seriously, to see like, you know, doing the work beforehand, hiring a doula beforehand and and also knowing, you know what I mean, kind of the stages of birth and what to expect, that does change in your second, you know, pregnancy, but wow, I just didn't like, I got emotional, like that was beautiful.

Kristen Revere 24:14
And I wanted to say that not everything is perfect. I did average after my son was born because he was born so quickly, but I avoided a transfusion, so that was a little stressful. And my son also had a tongue tie, so feeding was painful, yeah, so I had to get that revised and seek lactation help a second time for very different reasons.

Kaile Hunt 24:39
I can imagine that must have been kind of stressful, right? Because here you've had him, you know, since you gave birth to him, you haven't been separated. And then breastfeeding struggles. There's just so much to go into that. But we do have a whole podcast about breastfeeding, and they go all into, yeah, they go on to tongue ties and tongue tie reversions and all. That fun stuff. So I want to switch gears a little bit, and for anyone still on the fence, which I don't know why you would be, but about hiring a postpartum doula, talk me, just walk me through what a typical day would look like. Let's say I have a week old, right? Seven days old, and I hire a postpartum doula, and they show up. What does that typical day, 24 hours, I'm not really sure. But what does that look like for someone coming to your house? Do you work ahead of time? Do you come up with a plan? But I kind of walk me through what a typical day would look like for a postpartum doula working with a new family.

Kristen Revere 25:33
Okay, so I would say it's so different based on the family's needs and the needs in that day. So we are quite flexible, but I start, I'm the matchmaker at Gold Coast, so I talk to all of the potential clients and hand pick the right doula or team of doulas for their family. And I have a communication form that I have the family fill out upon hire in that really gets into everything from where the doula will park, to their ideal schedule to any goals that they have, any medical concerns to be aware of, what their self care looks like. So when a doula is there, we can help them to read a couple pages of a book or sit on their deck and they have feel the sunshine on their face and whatever it might be in that day to give them a little bit of serenity during a time that can be stressful for some and certainly sleep deprived for many and so typically, with daytime support, we do a lot of newborn care. So we are helping families with questions about anything from optimizing their nursery for sleep, we talk about the importance of naps and daytime sleep and support feeding and any questions with the latch. And so it really can vary, and some families that have other children at home really want us there for more of the household tasks and that meal preparation, and they want to be able to spend time with baby and rest, and we aren't doing as much newborn care in those instances. And then sometimes we're hired where we're essentially like a friend, and we're there for guidance and someone to talk to, but they don't even really need us for that many tasks. So again, it can vary based on the family and the needs. I love that. It's kind of like an old, wiser older sister that comes through. Yeah, it helps full of knowledge. I think that's so important. So switching gears, what about a nighttime postpartum doula? What typically does their evenings overnights look like? Okay, so with overnight care, it could be, you know, 12 hours max for us could be a minimum of eight hours. So if it's an eight hour shift, we would come in at 10, hopefully the family settled, and we would then look at the goals of the family for the night, and we often have a bassinet in either the nursery or a guest room, sometimes living room or basement somewhere where the doula can be near the baby. Otherwise, we use a monitor, if that's not possible, but our doulas, unless a family pays for a weight care, they rest when babies resting other than doing some quiet household tasks, cleaning bottle parts, tightening up the nursery. But we are focused on optimizing sleep and supporting feeding, and of course, those diaper changes in burping and other newborn aspects, so our families are able to get more rest, or if they are formula feeding, then they're sleeping through the entire night. I love that so much. Well, we have more questions coming up first. Let's take one of our last breaks.

Kaile Hunt 29:27
Welcome back to newbies. We are continuing our discussion. So first, this has been so inspiring. I love listening to birth stories. I like I said I hired a doula for my birth who turned into a postpartum doula. But where can our listeners find you and or work with you? Shout out your organization again. Yes, Gold

Kristen Revere 29:47
Coast doulas. And that's Gold Coast doulas.com. We are located in West Michigan, but for day and overnight Postpartum Support, we also serve southwest Michigan. Michigan and northern Michigan. So everything up and down Lake Michigan, which is also known as West Michigan's Gold Coast. Wow, we got our name. I love it, yes. And then we have virtual services that people can take advantage of anywhere. And that includes everything from sleep consulting from three months to five years and baby registry consultations, we teach a virtual grandparents class to keep grandparents up to speed on everything from doulas to safe sleep to feeding changes to child proofing their area if they are caregiving to car seat safety and the changes with car seats. And so we have a multiple class newborn survival. We created an online course called becoming a mother that can be also found on the Gold Coast website. That is a six week self paced course to prep you, not only for birth, but also for baby. And that is how our book came about. The book supported your guide to birth and baby is actually based on the course. I love

Kaile Hunt 31:16
that I was actually going to bring up that. Can you please? I know you mentioned your book in the beginning of our episode, but talk more about your book supported your guide to birth and baby. Where can we get our hands on it and what exactly give us a quick synopsis of it.

Kristen Revere 31:31
So the book is a very concise guide that would support any family from conception, and a lot of people have found it beneficial, even pre conception, as they're planning through that first year. And so it takes you through communicating your needs to others, budgeting for birth and baby sleep, as we talked about many times here feeding options, and I found that, as a doula recommending different classes, that there are so many books and classes that are slanted in one way or the other. So we wanted to create a judgment free guide that was affirming no fear filled stories and has experts like pediatricians and mental health therapists and lactation consultants offering those medical areas of advice that as doulas, we are not able to, and a lot of resources like the top apps and podcasts And books on the market, but I found that with sleep and feeding and childbirth classes, again, like everything seems to be, this is the way to do it, and there's no other gray area. And I don't feel that life is that way. And people have choices, and if you don't know your options, you have none, and I also have short birth and baby stories from clients weaved in each chapter. And so can you find your book? I'm looking it up now on Amazon. I do see it's on Amazon all the online booksellers we're starting to get into libraries and select bookstores. So supported. Your Guide to birth and baby can be found in paperback, hardcover, Kindles. So the E version and we also recorded on Audible. So lovely that experience, instead of hiring actors, we recorded the book ourselves in a local studio. Ellen,

Kaile Hunt 33:37
I love that. I am a huge, huge book reader. Last year I read like over like 40 books anyway, and so I have a bunch of book friends, and I feel like this would be a great gift for a newly postpartum mom, or even at a baby shower, something that's for moms. I know for baby showers, which we've done episodes on. It's mostly for the baby but I always like to slip in something for the mom as well. This would be a great gift. And Mother's Day, yeah? And so this is perfect. Oh, I love that, yeah. Well, I'm happy we spoke about that. Well, this has been such an inspiring episode. I love talking to midwives and doulas here on newbies. It's just right up my alley. I just love that you guys are so in the birth and postpartum space, and you guys really care. And I love, I think that's why I love having so many of you guys on my show. But anyway, to wrap it up, I always like to end off on such a positive note, for any mom listening who's in the trenches. And you spoke a lot about newborn care, but then you also spoke about, you know, how you guys do work with families up until the first year for anyone in the trenches who may be listening to this, who's maybe two weeks postpartum, four months postpartum, you know, what advice would you give them coming from, you know, a postpartum doula like yourself, to kind of help them feel better, because inviting or having, you know, a new family member, bringing in. New Baby? Is it? It takes a village literally. So what advice would you give for anyone who's in the trenches right now? Yes, so we aren't meant to do this alone. In communities like Malaysian culture, for example, there is a full breadth of support from women, whether it's newborn care, feeding support, with healing teas and foods and that focus on the first 30 to 40 days. And so in American culture, it's like, get back to work. Fit into your old genes. Don't ask for help or your week. Well, we're not meant to do this alone, and it's okay to ask for either personal help or professional help, like a day or overnight doula, and it's never too late. You can hire a doula after you deliver. You can hire a doula at six weeks and four doulas like my own agency, who work through the first year you can hire it nine months, so it's never too late. I love that. Well, yay. Look, Kristen, thank you so much for coming on the show. This has been such a great episode for our listeners, and I'm so excited for them to hear more about your organization, especially if they are in the area. But I love that you guys branch out and offer online information for anyone across the country. I think that is so amazing.

Kristen Revere 36:29
Thank you. Yes, as much impact as we can possibly make, we're all about it, yay. Well, thank you so much.

Kaile Hunt 36:42
You That wraps up our show for today. If you love listening to newbies as much as we do, we'd love for you to check out our amazing businesses that sponsor our shows week after week, and don't forget to share this free resource with another new mommy who might enjoy it. Looking for more great content, be sure to check out our other podcasts, like preggy pals, parent savers, boob group and twin talks by visiting our website at New mommy media.com and don't forget to follow us on Instagram at New Mommy Media for updates, giveaways and more. Thanks for joining us on newbies.

Disclaimer 37:22
You This has been a New Mommy Media production. The information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts while such information and materials are believed to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional medical advice or care, and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or pre any medication if you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider you.