WHAT IS ONE PIECE OF ADVICE YOU WISH YOU COULD OFFER YOUR FORMER, EXPECTANT SELF?

Patience. I would tell myself that even though your first born will not arrive until 41 weeks gestation and that you will push for 3 hours, he will eventually come. Things don’t always happen in your time or when or how you want them to, which can be difficult to accept. But don’t try to rush it or force it to happen. Trust life’s timing. And the best things in life require time and patience. I’m usually in a hurry to get to the next stage or the next milestone, juggling ten different projects or commitments at a time, running full steam ahead to the next goal. So, I wish that I could tell myself to slow down, be patient, and enjoy the stage that you are in. Because time is fleeting and before you know it, your baby won’t be a baby anymore. 

(Honestly, I should remind myself of this every week.)

WHAT WAS YOUR PRIMARY MOTIVATION FOR DECIDING TO RETURN (OR NOT) TO WORK?

I actually never left work. When you’re an entrepreneur, you don’t really have the luxury of taking time off. I still remember being in transition during labor breathing through the contractions and my husband (and business partner) handed me his phone and asked me to write copy for social media for that day’s article. At that moment I wanted to punch him in the face. “Can’t you see I’m in the middle of having our baby?!” But there I was, in between contractions, typing away. Because he was right! The work needed to get done and the world wasn’t going to stop just because I was having a baby.

When you have a dream of what you want to achieve you have to be willing to put in the work. Your competitors aren’t taking breaks, and you don’t want to slow down your own momentum. If you want to achieve extraordinary things, you have to put in extraordinary effort. Don’t get me wrong, everyone needs a break from time to time, but I couldn’t take a “maternity leave” because the business needed me. It still needs me. And one day, I know we will look back and will be grateful for the hard work and sacrifices we made to achieve our dreams.

YOU ARE SO CANDID AND AVAILABLE TO NEW AND EXPECTANT MOTHERS, SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCES AND CONNECTING THEM WITH THE RESOURCES THEY MOST NEED.  WHAT ALLOWS YOU/DRIVES YOU TO BE SO PRESENT FOR YOUR MOMS?

Motherhood is extremely rewarding and the best thing that has ever happened to me. But I know that motherhood can also be overwhelming, exhausting, and, sometimes, lonely. With sleep deprivation and isolation, mothers are set up to feel like they’re failing. We need and deserve support. It’s essential for us to have companionship and support to thrive. 

I know that not everyone has a “mom tribe” or helpful family members or friends and this breaks my heart. Mothers must know that they are not alone. There is always someone out there that is willing to be your helping hand or listening ear. 

Mothers also need reliable sources when asking for help or recommendations. That’s why I’m here! I want mamas to feel like they have a friend that they can turn to that also has done the training and has years of experience working with expectant mothers and new mothers. 

What drives me is to support one more mom. For her to feel empowered in her motherhood journey. For her to know all of her options along the way so that she makes the best choices for herself and her family. And for her to feel less alone.

BABY CHICK HAS REALLY MADE A MARK ON THE WAY WOMEN APPROACH PREGNANCY AND MOTHERHOOD.  HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO BRING AND SHARE NEW WAYS FOR WOMEN TO BENEFIT FROM YOUR REMARKABLE RESOURCES DURING THE PANDEMIC?

Luckily, our business is online and was prepared for Covid. My husband, myself, and all of our team members have always worked remotely from our homes. Being a digital media resource for expecting and new mothers, we are all about education, inspiration, and uplifting mothers! Our articles, podcast, and social media presence was already there so we just amplified it even more.

When the pandemic happened, we didn’t slow down. We put our foot on the gas! We knew that this could be the opportunity to speed up and grow our company when other businesses were slowing down. We:

1. continued to push out helpful content on our website and social media pages
2. remained available to our audience and tried to be even more visible
3. reinvested and redesigned our website to be more user-friendly 
4. updated our branding
5. thought of creative and beneficial ways to work with our sponsoring partners

I feel very blessed that our business has always been online so we weren’t affected the same way as brick and mortar companies were. There were still challenges that we had to overcome due to the pandemic, but we knew that we just had to work smarter and figure out how to get through this time together and even stronger.

BABY CHICK IS A CANDID & AVAILABLE TAKE ON WHAT MOTHERS CAN DO TO FIND SUPPORT THOUGH THE ENTIRE PROCESS OF PREGNANCY AND MOTHERHOOD. THAT IS A BIG LIFT!  WHAT KEEPS YOU MOTIVATED? 

I first started working in the pregnancy/mom/baby field ten years ago. What I’ve seen time and again is that mothers need support and encouragement. Period. We shouldn’t have to do it alone. Our world has shifted away from the proverbial “village” and into singular unit homes. We must adapt and create our own modern day village and a lot of that has shifted online. This is truer now more than ever before due to the pandemic. Being a reliable resource and cheerleader for moms is what keeps me motivated. We want them to know that they can do this!

HOW EASY WAS IT TO PUT A CHILDCARE ARRANGEMENT TOGETHER AND DID IT WORK FOR YOUR FAMILY?

Pre-pandemic: Our entire team has always worked remotely from home. I had a homebirth with my son, so life continued as it was before the minute he arrived. We just gained a really cute coworker. 🙂 

Our childcare arrangement was parent swapping and having my mother’s help. One of us would take a few hours caring for our son while the other one worked. When my mother was able to come over, she would help watch him so we both could get work done. It was a good system for us.

When our son turned 18 months old in 2019, we signed him up for Montessori school and started with two days a week and continued to parent swap every few hours on the days he was home. We didn’t want him to feel overwhelmed with a big change. After a few months, we upped it to 3 days a week. Having him go somewhere to learn and socialize for the majority of our work day for a few days a week was wonderful for our work.

When the pandemic happened and schools closed, we shifted back to how things were. We didn’t have help from my mother or other grandparents, so we did what we could between just the two of us, my husband and me. It wasn’t easy, but we knew we could do it because we had each other.

WHEN DID THE “NEW NORMAL” SET IN FOR YOU?

For me, it was probably June 2020. We had gotten into the groove of our new routine at home with our son and our workload and we had a solid plan for what we needed to do for our business to not only survive but thrive. 2020 has been our best year yet for our company and 2021 is looking like it will be even better!

WAS YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE WORKING? IF NOT, WHAT?

My biggest challenge, pre-pandemic and now, is wanting to give my full attention to my son when I am working, and feeling like I need to be working when I am busy caring for my son. Mom guilt is real. I’ve never had a work/life separation — dropping my baby off at daycare and going into the office. We’ve always worked from home even when he was born. So my life didn’t change very much when Covid happened. I’ve had to learn how to juggle all of my responsibilities and create some sort of schedule to take care of my child’s needs and my business’s needs. 

I feel like mothers, oftentimes, believe that we are never doing enough. We feel that if we’re stay-at-home moms we should be working, and if we’re working moms we should be home caring for your children. (Also, I’d like to add, every mom is a working mom. This is why I like to differentiate the two by saying ‘stay-at-home moms’ and ‘career moms’ because whether you are in an office or at home wrangling children, you are working.) No matter which we identify with, we have to release the mom guilt and remind ourselves that we are doing the best that we can with our own unique circumstances. 

WHAT PRO-TIPS DO YOU HAVE TO SHARE WITH OTHER MOTHERS?

Trust your gut. Even if you are new to motherhood, your intuition is usually spot on. Listen to it, get second opinions just in case, but always do what you think is best for yourself and your family after researching your options.

Create a schedule/routine. Babies and children thrive on routines. Their bodies and brains like predictability and in the end it will be much easier for you. A routine is what made my life with a newborn possible. I paid attention to his cues, found a pattern to his eating and sleeping habits, and worked with his schedule around my workload. As a working mother, you need routine to get everything done. I know that our consistent routines have helped with our son with his sleep. By having some sort of schedule or routine and being consistent, your baby (and you) will be so thankful.

Give yourself grace. We all make mistakes. No parent is perfect. Learn how to apologize to your children and to yourself and let it go. Parenting is learned one cry at a time. As long as you show up, put your heart in it, and do your best, you’re doing a great job. You are enough.

WHO WAS YOUR BIGGEST SOURCE OF SUPPORT IN RETURNING TO WORK?

I never left work after I had a baby, but my husband, Brian, and my mother were definitely my biggest support people after giving birth. Brian is a true partner in our business and in life. He is always there willing to help, step up, and do whatever is needed for our business and for our family. He’s an amazing business partner and father and I consider myself very blessed. 

My mother was also instrumental after giving birth to our son. She basically moved into our house for two weeks after I gave birth and came over almost every day after that to help for a few hours for a year. Her help allowed my husband and me to catch up on sleep and get our work done. I don’t think I could have done it without either one of them.

FILL IN THE BLANKS:

As a working parent, I never expected _juggling my work responsibilities and taking care of my baby and feeling guilty for doing both______ would be so hard and __that sleep training him_____ would be so much easier.

OTHER STORIES YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN