Meet Your Parenting Copilot: HelloGaia Makes Raising Kids Easier
Fourth Trimester Podcast Episode 123: Meet Your Parenting CoPilot: HelloGaia Makes Raising Kids Easier
Didi D’Errico, Storyteller, Marketer & Podcaster
In this episode, hosted by Didi D’Errico as a special edition, we focus on ACTIONABLE ways you can build more reliable, more accessible and more timely support as a new parent.
We know there are enough barriers to support for new parents as it is, as highlighted by March of Dimes in their recent report on Maternity Care Deserts – THANK YOU for providing insights and data!
Curating Your Fourth Trimester
We talk you through specific steps you can take to have a better-resourced fourth trimester and beyond. We highlight FREE birth & fourth trimester planning templates and tools that every new and expecting parent needs to know about, including a service we are very excited about called HelloGaia.
HelloGaia Parenting Copilot
HelloGaia is a FREE AI-driven search-based chat tool that is designed to help families find fast, trustworthy, always-available answers to questions that will arise during pregnancy, postnatally and as their child grows.
HelloGaia is free to use. Get started with HelloGaia here.
Example Ways To Use HelloGaia
HelloGaia is powered by the knowledge of highly experienced perinatal professionals and trusted sources. HelloGaia complements traditional care.
Receive fast and reliable information right when you need it.
Ask questions that are on your mind but that maybe you aren’t ready to share with others.
For example, when to announce your pregnancy at work and some considerations around that subject.
Seek alternative opinions vs what others insist is correct about sleep and naps and introducing food etc.
Gut-checking on topics where you feel you want a better grasp on the details.
Find resources (online and/or near you) and providers to support you and your family.
Sarah Trott, Founder, HelloGaia
“HelloGaia is one part of a bigger picture of support for families. HelloGaia complements traditional care. It’s powerful parenting tool that saves time and makes raising kids easier.”
— Sarah Trott, Founder, HelloGaia Parenting Copilot
Olivia Bowker, Customer Experience Professional, Parent of four
“Having a tool like HelloGaia to quickly and easily get the guidance of professionals and other reputable resources would have been so helpful at a time like this!”
— Olivia Bowker, Customer Success Professional, Mother of four
Full Show Notes
Three True Stories About Motherhood [00:02:52]
Challenges in Finding Support [00:06:46]
Proactive Steps for Better Support [00:16:07]
Overcoming Information Overload and Finding Trusted Resources [00:21:24]
What is HelloGaia? [00:30:15]
Usage Scenarios and Benefits of HelloGaia [00:34:55]
Three Tips For A Better Fourth Trimester [00:37:33]
Didi D’Errico: [00:01:46] Hello and welcome to the Fourth Trimester Podcast. My name is Didi D’Errico. Your regular podcast host, Sarah Trott asked me to host today’s show and to help her flip the script a bit for this special edition of Fourth Trimester.
Didi D’Errico: [00:02:01] Today’s agenda: We’re going to take a close look at actionable ways that you can build more reliable, more accessible, and more timely support as a new parent. Well, why? If you’re anything like us, you’re becoming more aware of that unnerving new parent feeling and reality of you don’t know what you don’t know. So we’re going to make it a little bit more relatable by talking about this topic with a group conversation today and perspectives from other parents. And finally, Sarah is going to unveil an exciting new service that she developed for parents and caregivers called HelloGaia. So before we get into today’s topic of finding better support for new parents, let me introduce our thought partners and we’ll each share context on our respective fourth trimester realities.
Didi D’Errico: [00:02:52] I’ll start. I’ll never forget arriving at my first OB-GYN appointment, and I’m ready. I’ve got my pen and paper, and I’m ready to take notes and learn everything I need to to ace this thing called motherhood. And my obstetrician stopped. She’s the mother of two. And she looked at me and she laughed. She laughed out loud. She laughed pretty hard. And she laughed for quite a good while. Huh. Gave me some pause, like maybe this is going to be a little bit more different than I imagined. It got serious when I found out that with my first and with my second pregnancy, that I was a high risk pregnancy. turns out that we have a long family history of being stubborn. My mother, myself, and both of my kids were breech presentation. And so we went through the process. My focus changed from acing motherhood to getting through delivery in a safe way for my kids. We tried external versions to get the kids in flip them around to have their head in the right position, and they weren’t budging. But luckily for me, my delivery ended up to be scheduled and my C-sections went very smoothly and everything went great.
Didi D’Errico: [00:04:02] And then there was the coming home part. I was super lucky to have my mom, who is a surgical physician’s assistant, there for my first trimester and my second and my third and many more after that, as well as my husband. And it was a good thing, because at that time I was leaning heavy into what to expect when you’re expecting. That was my guidebook. And boy, it ran out of steam quickly after delivering, and it didn’t answer questions for me that I had to juggle too as I was thinking about not only being a new mom, but also going back to work. And for example, one of my questions was, is it really okay to double pump in a moving vehicle? My boss did it. So the world got confusing quick.
Didi D’Errico: [00:04:45] And there’s my story to warm up the conversation. But let me also introduce someone else joining today’s show. And that’s Olivia Bowker. She’s a high-tech customer success professional. She has three kids and she’s expecting her fourth as we tape this show. Nothing more timely than that. So welcome Olivia. And maybe if you could talk a little bit about your expectations versus the reality about the fourth trimester for you and your family.
Olivia Bowker: [00:05:12] Absolutely. Thank you so much, and I’m so excited to be here. So as you mentioned, I have three kids and I’m currently pregnant with my fourth, but I distinctly remember with my first that I had this idea that I was going to be so prepared for labor and delivery and everything, and I was drinking all the red raspberry leaf tea, and I was doing squats so I could push really great. I ate six dates every single day. I was on top of it, and I was going to have a smooth and easy delivery, which was not the case. I ended up having a C-section, which I was fully unprepared for. It was not even in my mind that that would happen. And that was a huge reality check for me, is just that no matter how much I prepared, I couldn’t have accounted for that or planned for that. And then once the baby was here.
Another thing that I thought would come so naturally was breastfeeding. And we had some hard times at first with our latch and a tongue tie and you know, it was just a huge wake up call for me that these things that always felt like natural parts of being a woman, like delivery and breastfeeding were actually not always within our control. And I hadn’t accounted for that or planned for that, which made my fourth trimester tricky. Luckily we got through it. We figured it out. We had a smooth breastfeeding journey from then on. And with each kid, I would say it’s gotten a little bit easier. However, every single time, without fail, there’s still a surprise. There’s still something new that that new baby teaches me that I couldn’t have expected or planned for.
Didi D’Errico: [00:06:46] Thanks for that. I think the unexpected and also that thorny word called control.
Olivia Bowker: [00:06:53] Yes.
Didi D’Errico: [00:06:55] That’s a big slap in the face when you realize that you have very little of that. Once you cross over into maternity.
Olivia Bowker: [00:07:01] Exactly.
Didi D’Errico: [00:07:04] So finally, if you’re a return listener to this show, you already know Sarah Trott. She’s a seasoned technology executive, she’s an entrepreneur, and she’s also a mom to three kids. Sarah went above and beyond where most of us go in terms of realizing that there’s a gap in what she needed, and she not only tried to solve it for herself, she tried to solve it for the rest of us. And that’s what this podcast is all about. So, Sarah, maybe you can start by talking about why is it so hard to find support you need as a new parent, and has this situation gotten any better since you launched the podcast?
Sarah Trott: [00:07:38] Yeah, thank you for that question, Didi. Also, I want to take a moment to say thank you for helping host today and collaborating with me. I’m really happy to be here with both of you. Didi and Olivia. So thank you. But, yeah, that’s a really important question. I mean, you’re asking about support. And, you know, simply put, what I’ve learned talking to so many people and through my own experiences is that people just often don’t know what they don’t know. So much prep tends to go into the birth event and getting ready for that and also baby care. People are often really interested in learning how to care for their baby, which is absolutely appropriate and necessary.
But what tends to happen is that very little goes into care for the new parents and what life is really like at home with a new baby. And it’s so common. Women and families tell me all the time they wish they’d known XYZ about how they could have been better prepared. And you know, there’s those questions that you hear, like, why didn’t anyone tell me about whatever it is. And the truth is, the experience of postpartum is really vast and different and different for each individual. And it’s also different culturally. And it’s a lot that you could potentially cover. So I don’t know that it’s possible to know everything just to set that expectation. and really, you know, the podcast is there as something that I thought would be really helpful for others as I was learning in my own way.
Sarah Trott: [00:09:17] And so I’ll share a funny and true story from my own experience, which is that I knew I wanted a birth doula to help support me. And I found someone who I really connected with and I liked. And during one of our first meetings, she sat me down and we were talking about all the things you do ahead of time to talk through the birth preparation. And she asked me, so what are you thinking for your postpartum / postnatal care. And I looked at her and said, well, you know, my husband has a few weeks off. And that was my plan. So I hadn’t really done a lot of preparation or thinking about what the practical reality of life was like at home with a new baby. And I thank my lucky stars for having the doula that I had, because she was also a postpartum doula.
Sarah Trott: [00:10:10] And if anyone doesn’t know what that word doula is or what I’m even talking about, we have talked about it at length on this program, and we have episodes dedicated to that, so we can link to those in the notes for anyone who wants to learn more. As a definition, doulas are non-medical professionals who are there to support women and families through the birth, and then the number of weeks post birth with practical support, social and emotional support. And really, they’re there to help point you in the right direction if you need certain additional resources.
Sarah Trott: [00:10:47] I ended up saying yes to getting postpartum support, and thank goodness I did. It was very helpful in so many ways. And Esther Gallagher was my postpartum doula, and she’s the one who has been a co-host for many years on this program with me. And so, yeah, the different types of support that exists are things that we’ve talked about a lot on this program. We bring in OB-GYNs and other professionals with credentials to talk about different topics and be the experts for us.
Sarah Trott: [00:11:24] And we do know there are real challenges. So in some ways the situation has gotten worse with issues ranging from, having access to support or just really not having any support for whatever reason to the inverse, with lots and lots of access to information on the internet, so it can feel like an absolute deluge, with tons of information competing for your attention.
Sarah Trott: [00:11:52] And one of the things that I would highlight if anyone is going through pregnancy and birth for the first time – something shared extensively on a number of programs, but highlighted recently by Doctor Melissa Dennis, who’s an OB GYN on the show – she talks about the standard of care in the six week gap is what it’s known as, which means that for the 98% of births that happen in the hospital in the US, a typical experience looks like a night or two in the hospital, and then six weeks will go by before you’re seen again to assess the the birthing person / the mom. And that’s a long time.
It’s a really tender time of bonding for the mom and the parent and the baby. And it’s also a time of physical recovery and hormonal shifts. And often what people report is feeling pretty isolated. So that gap is a real opportunity to step in and have different kinds of resource and care around you. And I would encourage people to really think about how they want that experience to look and to feel like.
Sarah Trott: [00:13:07] There are other very real serious issues that can be a challenge when you’re seeking support. Simply put, unfortunately, there is systemic racism that plays a role. Doctor Amanda P Williams has done a lot of research in this area and highlighted that black birthing people face a maternal mortality rate that’s 2.6 times higher than the rate among white individuals.
Sarah Trott: [00:14:14] There are also maternal care deserts, which if you don’t know what that means, I’ll just take a moment to share. Recently it’s been discovered that around 35% of counties here in the United States are considered maternity care deserts. It means that over 100 US counties lack a single birthing facility or obstetric clinicians. So these areas with no access to care affect over 2.3 million women of reproductive age and over 150,000 births. So obviously access is an issue because it means in that case, you’re not getting guidance from a medical professional directly.
Sarah Trott: [00:15:00] And then, yeah, just to top that off regardless of the access situation, you know, there’s just like we said before, tons of competing information online about parenting and care for women and families. There are so many books it can be really overwhelming for one philosophy that says one thing, you can find something else that disagrees. So it’s kind of like I would say, it’s like driving down the Las Vegas Strip with flashing lights and you just feel overwhelmed by everyone trying to get your attention. So it could be a lot to navigate.
Sarah Trott: [00:15:36] So it’s kind of not surprising that parents are struggling to find the care that they need, access it, cut through the noise. I am happy to share that there are ways to be better supported, that I’ve learned from the many experienced professionals who have been on the Fourth Trimester Podcast over the years. So a bit of a long answer, but yeah, I would say those are some of the main issues that people are facing.
Didi D’Errico: [00:16:07] It’s a long answer because you’ve got a lot of knowledge to share. So thank you for framing that for us. I’ve never been a fan of the Las Vegas Strip, but oh my gosh, thinking about being able to answer tough questions with a crying baby in the Las Vegas Strip. You just kind of raised my blood pressure a little bit there, that whole analogy. But maybe if you could just warm us up a little bit and talk about some proactive steps that the listeners can take to create a well-resourced experience regardless of their situation.
Sarah Trott: [00:16:41] Yeah. So the easiest thing that parents and caregivers can do right off the bat is to start to think about the issues around postpartum, like what is the term, what does it mean? If you want you can start very simple there. But just like what are the issues to consider during that time?
Sarah Trott: [00:17:17] So we have a guide that you can download for free that provides a framework for a fourth trimester plan, and it covers some of the main high level topics you might want to consider, plus a neat little journaling exercise to kick off your planning process with some prompts. And the output of that becomes the draft plan that you can review with others, including your medical professionals, that you’re working with, the people who are supporting you, that are going to be close to you.
And some of those topics, for example, include things like your vision and your expectations for what it is and what it will be like. Including things that you’ll want to discuss with your partner if you have one or others who will be close to you during that time. Things to think through as it relates to preparing mental health support, lactation support, and some real ideas for how your friends and family can help you.
Sarah Trott: [00:18:10] And I just want to highlight that I said the word “expectations”. One of the things that could be really helpful is understanding just there’s a lot of value in some flexibility in your mindset, because you might plan for things to go one way, and then they go very differently from what you might have planned or expected. So we also have a birth plan template that we like to call the “birth intentions template” that you can also download for free. So we’ll link to those. But the idea here is that just being open minded about the possibility of things going in different directions and that being okay can go a really long way for you.
Didi D’Errico: [00:18:53] I was just reading today that the Webster’s Dictionary chose manifesting as the new word of the year, that you can put forward whatever you want to happen. It’s like except maybe if you’re a new parent. So I’d love to segue back to speaking of manifesting and planning and eating dates and doing squats and and a few other things, maybe. Olivia, if you could jump in here and talk a little bit about your state of mind, your intentions, I guess, when preparing and if you fell prey to information overload or that whole Las Vegas Strip scenario that Sarah was just talking about?
Olivia Bowker: [00:19:31] Absolutely. I was very confident that I had manifested my birth journey to go the way that I thought it would. I was so prepared for the baby. I had three different types of passies and all the different types of swaddles and different bottles, and I had everything that I could think of. But I really didn’t prepare for myself at all. That just wasn’t even really a thought in my mind. I had my maternity leave and I thought I would be good.
Olivia Bowker: [00:19:58] So in all reality, I felt pretty unprepared coming into that. and I couldn’t agree with Sarah more about the information overload piece. I think it’s one of the interesting parts of parenting in today’s world, especially with social media at our fingertips and Google at our fingertips. There is so much information out there. I specifically remember I talked about our breastfeeding journey a little bit, and when we started having issues, I was looking into it and was reading there might be an issue with the latch.
And I started just getting so much conflicting information. There were some people saying, don’t look into a tongue tie. That’s abusive. It’s terrible. It’s mean. It’s going to hurt the baby. And then there were other people saying, like, everybody should get a tongue tie. Everyone needs it. Everyone will make your breastfeeding journey so much better. And it just felt so polarizing and like any decision I made was the wrong one. so after consulting with a few professionals we ended up deciding to get her tongue tie clipped and it helped a lot with our breastfeeding journey.
Olivia Bowker: [00:21:03] But I’ve had so many situations where you don’t know which information to trust. And you don’t know what information is going to be right for you or your family. And it’s really hard to make decisions as a parent, especially a sleep deprived parent who’s brand new to this in that situation.
Didi D’Errico: [00:21:24] Yeah. So this is a great example that tees up what Sarah is going to be talking about next, which is how do you, as a sleep deprived human being, try to make the right decisions with trusted information? So Sarah. Let’s dig in a little bit here and talk about your inspiration to better leverage this impressive depth of content you developed and clearly have memorized all in your great brain of yours with Fourth Trimester Podcast. Where do we go next? Let’s talk a little bit about that.
Sarah Trott: [00:21:58] Yeah. I was a lot like Olivia, doing a lot of research on my own, feeling like I was getting conflicting information. And I really sought out a lot of people to support me. So for challenges with baby sleep, I found someone who had their PhD, who was a pediatric sleep consultant, who I really aligned with in terms of philosophy and relied on her to give me and my family the guidance I needed. And I was just so astounded being in the middle of the fourth trimester with how much prep I’d done on the birth, a little bit of baby care and so little on postpartum and recovery. I could take some time to research and work with professionals who could give me the guidance that I was lacking.
And so I realized recording these conversations with experienced professionals was really helpful for me as I went along in my own journey. And the best thing I could do for others who might benefit is to put that information out there freely available on the podcast. And really, the goal is to help find the best resources for new and expecting parents so they can be proactive and have a well-informed experience themselves.
Sarah Trott: [00:23:21] My podcast is one of many resources out there. The episodes that we have can help provide a framework for parents to help guide people on topics to think about, so that you can end up with a plan for your birth and postpartum, that you can share with a medical team, your family, and your broader support network. And part of what that looks like is connecting listeners with real world services and providers along the way. A lot of the guests on the program have a wide range of service offerings and their own referral networks to help people get connected with real life support.
Sarah Trott: [00:23:57] And at this point, we’ve generated over 100 episodes and counting, which is incredible. We have guests ranging from OB-GYNs, doctors, midwives, registered nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, nutritionists, geneticists, childhood development professionals. The list goes on. We’ve had over a million downloads, which is such a testament to people seeking information to learn how to improve their experiences during pregnancy, birth and beyond. It really speaks to the need for people to seek information they want to learn. And it is a lot of content.
Sarah Trott: [00:24:47] So I started thinking about different ways to use it and how to make it easier to sift through it all, so you can find the exact information that you need in the moment that you need it. And, the stories of so many new parents and perinatal professionals that I heard really pointed to how little awareness there was for postpartum support and a lack of information. Even though there are so many resources out there, it’s kind of bewildering.
In fact, some of the questions that I had while having my children were with the same questions that my postpartum doula, who’d had her children some 30 years prior, had when she had her children. So you know, to some degree, some of this stuff is universal but at the end of it, navigating all of this can be really overwhelming. And so one opportunity I identified was to create a new way to filter that information and to make it easier to navigate and find. And so that’s why I created HelloGaia.
HelloGaia is a response to what we continue to hear from parents and caregivers – that there just needs to be a better way to find trustworthy information quickly, and have it communicated appropriately and with care.
Didi D’Errico: [00:26:07] Awesome. Okay, so it begs the question, what is exactly HelloGaia, and how does it work?
Sarah Trott: [00:26:15] Yeah. So I’ve been describing HelloGaia as a virtual parenting assistant or as a parenting copilot, if you will, and what it is is an AI-based on-demand guide powered by the knowledge of the many, many birth and postpartum and parenting professionals who have been on fourth trimester and by other trusted sources that we’ve curated, including sources like Postpartum Support International, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Urogynecologic Society, the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine, Black Women Birthing Justice, and La Leche League. So sites and resources that are reputable and considered authorities in their area.
Sarah Trott: [00:27:09] And so one of the neat things about HelloGaia is that it’s available 24-7. The information is coming from highly experienced professionals who align with our values of prioritizing self-care for parents and developmentally appropriate, baby-friendly practices.
Sarah Trott: [00:27:09] And if you want to try it out, I would encourage you to go online. It’s hellogaia.ai. And an early decision we made was to make it freely available to use because as we’ve just discussed, we think there are already enough barriers to finding support.
Didi D’Errico: [00:28:17] So freely available means free, right?
Sarah Trott: [00:28:21] That’s right. It is free to use.
Didi D’Errico: [00:28:23] That’s fantastic. And so let’s talk a little bit about a couple of other examples of things that people might use helloGaia for.
Sarah Trott: [00:28:35] Yeah. So you can talk to HelloGaia to discover topics to explore as you plan for your pregnancy, your birth, or your postpartum. It also works for parenting topics outside of the early perinatal phases, so if you have older kids, it can work for that as well. You can use it to find resources to help you online or real world. So we point to helplines and individuals who can help depending on the subject matter.
And I’ve found it can be really helpful to sort of gut check or sense check topics where you just might want a better grasp on something whether it’s breastfeeding or child development or you name it.
And there might also be use cases where someone has a question on their mind, but they’re not necessarily ready to share it with others. Like for example things like when you would announce your pregnancy at work what are the considerations of that around that subject?
Or perhaps seeking an alternative opinion or idea versus what your friend or mother in law insists is correct about sleep and naps and introducing food or or whatever.
And, you can get really fast information in the middle of the night. When you don’t want to search through the whole internet for something you just kind of get a very concise, quick answer.
Or maybe you don’t want to listen to an entire podcast episode – you can just get the pointed information that you want right away. So, I think those are just some examples.
Sarah Trott: [00:30:15] Another thing that’s been really neat is that some of the perinatal professionals who have been using it have said they’ve been trying it out to better serve their own clients by researching topics that they’re working on with others.
Didi D’Errico: [00:30:29] That’s terrific. So this, of course, makes me think of Olivia, and I imagine you have a lot of empathy for that time crunch example that Sarah just mentioned. How have you been using HelloGaia, and what’s your biggest a-ha?
Olivia Bowker: [00:30:44] Absolutely. Yeah. So Sarah introduced me to the tool a few months ago, and it had been a while since we caught up. So I told her it was very timely because I was pregnant with our fourth kid. and I’ve been using it ever since. And recently I had an example that really stuck out to me. I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes as I have been in every single pregnancy, so I’m pretty pretty comfortable with it at this point.
But I have a new doctor because I just moved out of state, so it was someone I was unfamiliar with, and they gave me some guidance on where my glucose levels should be that I just wasn’t really comfortable with. And it didn’t sit right with me, and it didn’t align with what I had been told historically. So I started second guessing myself and being like, well, maybe the standards changed. Maybe, I don’t know, maybe my old doctor was wrong and I haven’t been doing it right these other pregnancies. I first started on the Google rabbit hole and immediately got overwhelmed because there was a lot of paid articles and it was hard to get into. And then I remembered, oh my gosh, I have HelloGaia that I can use for this exact example.
Olivia Bowker: [00:31:50] So I put in my question of what my recommended glucose level should be one hour after my meals for gestational diabetes, and it immediately gave me the answer from ACOG that I was trying to get. And it was an article directly from the source, which is exactly what I needed, and affirmed my concern and suspicion that the information that I was given wasn’t really sitting right with me.
So that kind of empowered me to make a better decision and find a new care provider that I felt aligned with my standards and expectations a little bit more. and that’s the thing that I think I really love about the tool the most is I’m a bit of a science nerd, and I’m really into evidence based parenting and science based parenting, and it pulls directly from ACOG and the CDC and American Pediatrics. And so I know that the information coming from it is trustworthy. And it provided exactly what I needed in that moment.
Didi D’Errico: [00:32:55] It’s such a great example. It’s like you want to dig into something that you trust and it’s usually going to cost you. And so not only does Sarah’s service not cost you, but you dig into the layers of the trusted information underneath. That’s pretty powerful. Thank you so much for sharing that.
Didi D’Errico: [00:33:17] So we were talking a little about you. It sounds like a doctor change in the process of getting the right information. And I want to loop back to Sarah because you mentioned that HelloGaia isn’t intended to replace healthcare professionals. So if you could just frame this up to make sure that we are very clear on how it fits into the bigger picture of support for new parents.
Sarah Trott: [00:33:37] Yeah, 100%. So in no way is HelloGaia providing medical advice. We make that very clear. It’s an information resource. And always we encourage users to seek out medical professional advice or the advice from any professional as appropriate to the topic, but it is going to provide you information and be a reference guide for you to help point you in that right direction.
Sarah Trott: [00:34:05] Right. So, HelloGaia, you can think of it as one part of a bigger picture of holistic care. HelloGaia complements traditional care. It’s just another tool in your parenting toolbox. You can think of it that way. You’re going to have a support network that could include your medical team, midwife, mental support, breastfeeding support, physical therapy. You’re going to think about social support groups, mom groups, dad groups, parent groups and practical support from real world doulas. You may have friends and family who can potentially step up for you and be part of your support village. and the list goes on. And so HelloGaia is a complement to these other types of resources.
Didi D’Errico: [00:34:55] That’s super helpful. Thank you for that framing. So now we’re at the close of the show. And just to make sure that everyone comes away with the key actionable takeaways that we teased at the beginning of the show. Sarah, if you could just wrap up for us and and talk about three things to take away from this conversation today.
Sarah Trott: [00:35:15] Yeah, for sure. So I think we covered a lot of this, but we’ll just recap here.
Sarah Trott: [00:35:21] So number one, I would say just be aware of the issues and topics ahead of your birth or postpartum if possible. But it’s never too late, of course. It just goes a really long way. So even if things don’t go as planned, having gone through the process of researching the topics that would go into a birth plan or a postpartum plan, they provide so much value for you and those supporting you. so I would encourage you to, to check out the free resources we have around those.
Sarah Trott: [00:37:33] And then lastly, of course, HelloGaia. What we’re talking about quite a bit, this new service that’s available now and it’s free to use. So again, it’s hellogaia.ai, and that’s something that you could include as part of your overall parenting support system that complements the other resources that you use.
Didi D’Errico: [00:37:57] Wow. What a great conversation. Thank you so much, Sarah, for inviting us. Thank you, Olivia, for sharing your story. And what’s your countdown until baby number four?
Olivia Bowker: [00:38:10] Yes. Thank you. We have like 11 weeks left. I think we’re in the final stretch in the third trimester. Getting ready for the fourth.
Sarah Trott: [00:35:48] And secondly, just being proactive in identifying resources for your postpartum or fourth trimester before your baby arrives again, if possible but not necessary is really, really helpful. So identifying resources such as specific friends or family members or neighbors, or people from your church or whoever in your community you have around you who’s trustworthy and reliable. Find out specific people who are willing to do different tasks that can help you. Think of practical things like maybe they can stop by and drop off some groceries, cook you a meal, help watch an older child for a little while, help you take care of the baby for a little while so you can rest. Different things like that can go a really long way.
Sarah Trott: [00:36:36] And another example, know that there are resources available for mental health like talk therapists and also Postpartum Support International is a fantastic resource. And knowing that you are not alone, and you are enough is a message that we hear repeated over and over from different guests on the program. So I want to reiterate that as well.
Sarah Trott: [00:36:57] And lastly, just to echo some advice from Dr Amanda P Williams, make sure you update your baby registry to include a few really important things that can be potentially life saving. So a blood pressure cuff, make sure you have a breast pump and a doula who can support you through your birth and your postpartum.
