Hannah Sharick Postpartum Services

I'm praying each of you have a wonderful new year!

I have limited availability for daytime clients in 2023, so please reach out soon if you'd like to book my services. ❤️

Postpartum over the holidays presents a different set of challenges than at other times of the year. I thought I'd share some tips. There is not one right way to do it - these are just ideas to help you think through what is right for YOU.

*Consider your priorities. Is it super important to you to spend time with extended family that you never see? Or is it more important that you and baby don't risk any kind of sickness? Or maybe, you need to focus on creating your own family traditions. Whatever it is, let that guide you through the season.
*Choose your yeses carefully. Most of us are presented with a miriad of opportunities leading up to Christmas. As you consider which to say yes to, make sure it lines up with your priorities. And then make sure you're really up for it. Be honest about how you're feeling physically and emotionally. And is your baby really up for it? Extra tip: Remember, you can leave parties early. No one's stopping you.
*Your intuition is usually right, and your body will let you know if you're overdoing it. A surefire way to know if you've already overdone it is if your bleeding had lessened and then all of a sudden got worse. You have a large wound on your uterus - it takes time to heal. (Remember that if you soak a pad in an hour you should call your doctor.)
*Feel the feels - don't bottle it in and try to always put on a happy face just because you "should" (unless you're really always happy!). It's ok to be sad that this Christmas is going to look different than previous ones. And on another note - don't feel guilty if you're secretly happy to be staying home through all the busy-ness if that's what you choose to do!
*Practice gratitude. When you do start feeling sad, let yourself feel that but don't stay there. Think of at least one thing that you're grateful for (at least one thing is probably sleeping on your chest right now).

In the end, this most likely isn't the last Christmas you'll ever have - you'll have more energy to do all the things next year. But (especially if this is your first baby) it is the beginning of a whole new type of Christmases! Enjoy it as much as you can.

A lot of times, my clients want me to help them get a schedule in place for their newborns. I gently try to steer them towards using the word "routine". Obviously, which word you use is a matter of semantics, but in practice it matters.

Here's an example of trying to schedule a newborn:
Overnight: Baby is going through a growth spurt so he wakes almost every hour, including at 6:12am.
7am: Wake up and feed baby (struggle because he just ate and actually wants to take a long nap now!)...it takes an hour since he keeps falling back asleep.
8am: He's sleeping so you squeeze in a shower, but by the time you're done he's starting to get fussy.
9:20: Baby is obviously hungry now, but your schedule says 10am is the next feed. You feed him because he's crying, but you feel guilty for not sticking to the schedule.
..the rest of the day is now "ruined" because the morning was so off schedule.

A routine, on the other hand, looks like this:
Overnight - rough because he's going through a growth spurt. After his early morning feed, you look at the clock and decide you'll both sleep as long he wants to and start the day when he wakes up.
9:20: Baby wakes up with hunger cues. You feed and burp him, then while he's nice and calm you take a quick shower and get dressed.
10:15: He starts to wake up, but not acting hungry so you put him in the baby carrier and go find yourself something to eat (maybe a breakfast burrito that you have prepped in the freezer for just such a morning!).

After breakfast, you always take a walk. He stays calm and happy in the carrier.

When you get home, he starts to root and you feed him again. You have a little awake time - now is when you usually do tummy time. Then he fusses and you know he needs to sleep - you give him a paci or maybe nurse him to sleep and he goes into his bassinet (or wherever he's happy to sleep!)...Now you get yourself lunch....

Do either of these sound familiar? I've done both and a "flexible routine" is the winner for me. Babies through their first year of life is that things are constantly changing. Trying to have a fixed schedule is setting yourself up for frustration, but a flexible routine can be helpful for all!

It's a tough job 😆

Actually, it is tough sometimes, but this part isn't. ❤️ Mama is napping, dad washed dishes and I dried, and I made my special lactation cookies, which are waiting for her when she wakes up. Sweet boy started to fuss a bit before he was ready to eat, so we're hanging out and letting mama get a bit more rest and dad get a little free time. When he starts to wake, I'll change his diaper and weigh him before he eats and then after to check on intake.

I really love this job... Tough parts and all!

I have some daytime availability in November! DM me for more info.

My sweet birth worker friends and clients, I wanted to go ahead and announce now that I'll no longer be offering overnight shifts after the end of this year (really, after the middle of December).

There are multiple reasons for this change, one being that it's just not the right thing for my family at this stage of life.

The other is that I've realized more and more over the past year that my passion lies in mom and newborn care AND education. Overnights are 100% mama and newborn care... I'm so glad that there are doulas in our community who offer this service because I KNOW how important sleep is. But I'm also really excited to have more energy to put towards some things that have been on my back burner this year that I hope will be a blessing to lots of mamas.

Thank you for understanding... Thank you to my overnight clients that I've had... I've loved the sweet newborn snuggles in the night! And thank you to my fellow birth workers for the referrals. Keep them coming for day clients! 😘

Soaking in the cool morning weather and doing my Bible study outside while my little boys play in the dirt... Pretty sure they're trying to dig a hole to the center of the earth 😆 but I'll take the peace and quiet time. Sometimes cooler weather results in wilder children... Anyone else notice this?

This has been on my heart for a while -and no, this post isn't going to cover all of it. Not even close. I'm working on something that will though...announcement to come. I'm super excited about it. In the meantime, here are a few tips:

Physically - Meal Prep. This could mean spending days filling your freezer. This could mean asking friends to set up a meal train for the first 6 weeks after birth. This could mean ordering some kind of healthy meal kit. There are options for every budget and personality, but the key is to PLAN before birth.

Emotionally - Understand your hormonal changes and how they affect your mood. Know what to expect and when. The baby blues occur in 80% of new moms, postpartum depression in as many as 1 in 4. Know the difference and when to seek help, and also make sure your partner knows the difference and when to seek help for you.

Spiritually - Give yourself grace- God has already! Know that you most likely won't be having one-hour, uninterrupted Bible reading and prayer time for a while- but that doesn't mean you can't continue to grow spiritually. In fact, I believe I grew the most spiritually during each of my postpartum phases. It'll look different for everyone, but I'll have more tips on this in the future.

I'd love to hear from you - how did you (or are you planning to) stay healthy after birth in these three categories?

"Because mothers are world-shapers and postpartum can shape a mother, my mission is to stand in the gap left by the dispersing “village” by providing resources and services to newborn moms and families during the postpartum. I will support expectant moms by helping them to plan a peaceful and lifegiving postpartum."

From teaching mom and grandma how to do a basic swaddle pre-birth, to sweet newborn cuddles while mommy napped, to yesterday giving mom some tips and tricks on feeding solids and other stuff that comes with this new stage of almost -mobility.

I've loved working with this family so much and missed them over the past two months!

Not pictured from the early days:
*Meal prep
*Breastfeeding education
*Newborn care tips
*Babywearing tips
*Accompanied on their first outing
*Lactation cookie baking
*Lots of long chats with mama

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

"When a baby is born, so is a mother."

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

*Pictures used with mom's permission.

I had so much fun baking cookies with these two sweet big sisters. Baby brother is about 1 month old and takes much of mom's attention, so it was my pleasure to give them a little during my shift. 🥰

Also, I'm going to post the link to the recipe for these cookies in my stories! They're lactation cookies and I've made them about 6 or 7 times, but different ways each time with whatever ingredients my client had on hand, and they turn out delicious every time. So I'm renaming them "no fail lactation cookies"!

P.s. don't count on lactation cookies to fix supply issues...see a lactation consultant if you're struggling!

Our bodies were designed in a pretty amazing way! 💜

Mama Glow - SKIN-TO-SKIN CONTACT
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There are so many Benefits for Baby: Skin to skin advances brain development. It’s a multi-sensory experience, increases the development of essential neural pathways, which accelerates brain maturation. It also helps to calm, soothe and reduce stress and increases oxytocin production which creates a sense of well-being, warmth and bonding.

Skin-to-skin helps to improve the quality of sleep.
Development of mature brain function in infants depends on the quality of their sleep cycling. During skin to skin, most infants fall asleep easily and sleep for longer stretches.

Baby’s immune system is stimulated when placed skin to skin. This hydrates the baby’s skin and provides a barrier of protection, so skin-to-skin can boost the immune system. After just one hour of skin to skin, the infant’s digestive system is restored to the right balance for optimal GI function. Dads and partners can be skin-to-skin to bottle feed, or use a nursing supplement to nourish the baby.

The baby’s body learns to self-regulate, resulting in a regular and stable heartbeat and breathing pattern after spending time skin-to-skin. Regulation of body temperature is not possible through skin-to-skin with dads, this is something that only the mother or birthing person can offer. That’s right- yet another reason that breasts are amazing! The birthing person’s breast tissue regulates a baby’s temperature, and can either cool or heat, a male’s breast tissue can only heat a baby. Since dads can over heat the baby, they should only hold the baby skin-to-skin for an hour at a time.
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📷 🙏🏽
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