When I had my first baby during the pandemic, I was a bit lost on how to prepare and I went into labor just hoping for the best. After hours of induction and complications, my son was taken to the NICU almost immediately after birth. I only held him for a moment before he was gone.
I remember sitting in that hospital room by myself, crying and panicking, wondering what was happening to my baby. The anxiety followed me home. At times, I didn’t even want to put him down, I was so nervous. The “baby blues” hit me hard, and though I asked for help, most therapists had waitlists or weren’t taking new patients. I remember feeling truly isolated.
For my second pregnancy, I knew I didn’t want to feel like that again - ever. That’s when I found out through my insurance that I could get a doula with a company called Mahmee, and that’s when things took a completely different turn. I ended up doing things I would have never even thought to do. I also found out just how critical having a postpartum plan is within the context of your entire pregnancy - and life with baby.
When I first heard the term doula I honestly thought they were only for home births. When I registered with Mahmee, they connected me with a birth and postpartum doula, and even a lactation consultant. Usually a mom has to go out and search for and register for each of those separately but not with Mahmee. They made it really easy. For the first time, I felt like I had a team supporting me through every stage.
My birth doula at Mahmee gave me a lot of that confidence I didn’t have during my first pregnancy. She walked me through breathing exercises, stretches, and we even did a “mommy boot camp” session at the park. She reminded me that this was my body and my birth, and that I had the right to advocate for myself. That advice stayed with me in the hospital, especially when the nurses insisted I could only lie down. I was able to say exactly how I felt and what I preferred.
This time, my labor was fast - just two hours total. I remembered everything we had gone through: the breathing, the affirmations, even the trick of holding a comb in my hand for comfort. I ended up delivering without tearing, and feeling in control.
Could the planning have been at least some part of why this time things were different?
The biggest difference this time was the fact that I had meticulously created a postpartum plan with Mamee. This type of planning was something I didn’t realize you could do - it was a great addition to my birth journey.
When my doula brought it up, I thought, “wait, what’s a postpartum plan? Aren’t you only supposed to make a plan for labor?”
For my plan, my postpartum doula encouraged me to do things I didn’t really focus on in my first pregnancy. She encouraged me to rest, hydrate, and most importantly make time every day for myself. She asked me, “What’s something you enjoy outside of being a mom?” For me, it was knitting, journaling, and watching my favorite shows. It just made me feel so calm and centered. She reminded me that taking even 15–30 minutes for myself didn’t make me less of a mom; it actually made me a healthier, happier one. Everyone wins when a mom is happy!
This simple mindset shift changed everything and it was so freeing. With my first pregnancy, I ignored my needs. With my second, I healed faster and felt more balanced thanks to this postpartum planning strategy I had learned from my care team. It’s like there was this stuck that I didn’t realize I had. All it took was putting in some effort on what came after birth, and how to take care of myself too.
Breastfeeding had been another source of stress with my first baby since I couldn’t latch him right away. This time, Mahmee paired me with a lactation consultant who walked me through positioning and latching over Zoom. She had a little demo pillow and showed me exactly what to do.
That real-time support gave me incredible insights into my breastfeeding journey, and gave me a game plan on what to do when things went wrong. Today, I’m still breastfeeding successfully. I am not sure this would have happened without our thorough post-partum plan.
If you’re a new mom, my biggest advice is this: you need postpartum plan. It’s important, so don’t sleep on it. Everyone gets very ready for the birth - we think of everything that could happen, and every detail of what we could do to make birth comfortable and positive - but few make a plan for what comes after - your first few weeks and months with your new baby. It will make a huge difference in how your first year will go. That’s when you’ll need the most support.
Having a care team I could text, Zoom with, or meet in person made me feel less alone and more capable. I learned that I could be a mom and still make space for myself. There wasn’t anything wrong with me wanting to do things I loved and practice self-care. It made me even feel like a better mom.
With my first, I felt lost and unprepared but my second, thanks to Mahmee, I felt cared for, guided, and confident. The planning and education made the biggest impact, and set me up for a really wonderful birth and post birth experience.
