Episode 14
From Swaddles to Solutions: Liz Hilton's Journey in Postpartum Innovation
Liz Hilton is revolutionizing postpartum support with her innovative swaddle technology, the Swaddelini, designed to help babies sleep through the night. Host Lucinda Koza delves into Liz's inspiring journey from founding her company, KnitIt, to navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship while raising a family. Liz highlights the importance of community feedback in developing her products and discusses the impact of her work on babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome. A significant part of the conversation centers around Liz's new initiative, Project CHIP (Cultivating Health in Postpartum), which aims to provide solutions for postpartum challenges through a documentary that emphasizes the necessity of proactive measures and community support for new mothers. Together, they explore how investing in postpartum care can transform the experiences of mothers and their families, ultimately fostering a healthier society.
Lucinda Koza's engaging discussion with Liz Hilton dives deep into the multifaceted world of postpartum support and innovation. Liz, an accomplished mother and entrepreneur, recounts her journey from launching KnitIt, a company specializing in soft goods, to developing the groundbreaking Swaddelini swaddle solution. This innovative product was born out of Liz's own parenting challenges, particularly the sleepless nights spent with a baby who would escape traditional swaddles. Drawing on her expertise in 3D knit programming, she crafted a swaddle that not only comforts but also addresses the developmental needs of infants, demonstrating how personal struggles can lead to impactful solutions.
Throughout the episode, Liz shares candid insights into the struggles of balancing her entrepreneurial ambitions with the demands of motherhood. She highlights the pivotal role that community feedback has played in refining her products and shaping her business model. This dialogue emphasizes the need for mothers to connect and support one another, illustrating how shared experiences can foster innovation and enhance wellbeing. Liz also introduces her latest initiative, Project CHIP, which aims to shift the conversation around postpartum experiences from one of struggle to one of empowerment and support.
Through a documentary lens, Project CHIP seeks to explore and promote healthy postpartum practices, emphasizing the importance of nourishing mothers and fostering community support. Liz's passion for creating a cultural shift in how postpartum care is viewed resonates strongly throughout the conversation, shedding light on the need for greater awareness and proactive measures in supporting new mothers. Her story serves as an inspiring reminder that with the right tools and community backing, mothers can thrive during the challenging early stages of parenthood.
Takeaways:
- Liz Hilton's journey from a 3D knit engineer to a successful entrepreneur shows the power of innovation driven by personal necessity.
- The viral success of Swaddelini highlights the importance of community feedback in product development.
- Project CHIP aims to redefine postpartum support by focusing on solutions rather than just challenges.
- Empowering postpartum women through community support can significantly improve their well-being and recovery.
- Liz emphasizes the need for proactive measures in postpartum care, advocating for prioritizing women's health after childbirth.
- Cultural practices around postpartum care can play a crucial role in nurturing new mothers effectively.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Knit It
- Swaddelini
- Project CHIP
- Village Postnatal Recovery Center
Check out @swaddelini https://swaddelini.com/
A special thank you to @VETTEDDermlab Backed by science. Created by dermatologists. Effective and ethical ingredients. No gimmicks or fads. Use code LUCINDAK15 for 15% off your purchase: go.shopmy.us/p-11688145
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Transcript
Hi, I am Lucinda Koza, and this is how I ally.
Lucinda Koza:Welcome to my guest.
Lucinda Koza:Would you please introduce yourself and give a little backstory, if you don't mind.
Liz Hilton:My name is Liz Hilton.
Liz Hilton:I'm a mother, inventor, and entrepreneur.
Liz Hilton: became a mother In August of: Liz Hilton:I'm a 3D knit programmer by trade.
Liz Hilton:I program 3D knit solutions on a computer, and then I knit it seamlessly in one piece on CNC knitting equipment.
Liz Hilton:And, you know, I started out basically doing this in my garage, and then, you know, wasn't very successful.
Liz Hilton:Um, and then, you know, that saying, necessity is the mother of invention.
Lucinda Koza:I was thinking about that.
Liz Hilton:That is like the living, breathing example of that, because I became a mother.
Liz Hilton:And of course, the number one problem you have when you become a mom is sleep.
Liz Hilton:And so I had a little Houdini baby who would escape every swaddle.
Liz Hilton:And you've heard a lot of entrepreneurs, mompreneurs, if you will, who've stayed, started swaddle companies.
Liz Hilton:But for me, because I was a 3D knit engineer, designing 3D knit solutions for office furniture companies and oven gaskets and shoe uppers and all sorts of things, I.
Liz Hilton:I had the tools at my fingertips to solve this problem in a whole new way.
Liz Hilton:I thought if I could invent a swaddle solution that could hug my baby, that could help calm his central nervous system, activate his vagus nerve, and increases proprioception, while also allowing freedom of movement to experience active sleep and moral reflex.
Liz Hilton:I knew I'd have something, and so I prototyped it.
Liz Hilton:I put it on my baby, and I remember putting him to sleep in the crib that night.
Liz Hilton:He was like two months old.
Liz Hilton:I go to bed.
Liz Hilton:I wake up in a panic.
Liz Hilton:My husband and I both wake up realizing we slept through the night for the first time since we got home from the hospital.
Liz Hilton:And we run to the crib, make sure he's okay, and he's sleeping there peacefully.
Liz Hilton:And my husband grabs my arm and he's like, you're gonna sell a million.
Lucinda Koza:Of these, and it's fun.
Liz Hilton:I didn't.
Liz Hilton:I was not as excited.
Liz Hilton:In that moment, I realized, this is gonna be a lot of work.
Liz Hilton:Like, I had something, and this was going to take years of all my energy and focus.
Liz Hilton:And it did.
Liz Hilton:Like, it took.
Liz Hilton:While I was growing a family, I also had, like, my business wasn't doing well.
Liz Hilton:I had to go get a W2 job, you know, to pay bills.
Liz Hilton:And I, I still pursued Swadolini by going to baby shows all over the country, meeting moms.
Liz Hilton:And it really like Swaddellini is what it is today because of the feedback from other moms.
Liz Hilton:And I love that it's every new product we come out with is because moms asked for it or dads asked for like the caregivers.
Liz Hilton:So I love being so connected to them and so connected to the medical community.
Liz Hilton:Um, so we've done a lot with neonatal abstinence syndrome babies.
Liz Hilton:We've donated to babies who are born addicted to fentanyl.
Liz Hilton:And our, our products are engineered with hug technology which helps with the tremors, helps with exacerbated more reflex which these nast babies suffer from.
Liz Hilton:And then it, it is also doctors and nurses have used it in NICUs for babies with respiratory problems because they have trouble calming down to get the rest they need.
Liz Hilton:And our product helps with that.
Liz Hilton:So it's, it's been a wild ride.
Liz Hilton: ,: Liz Hilton:In one day I had a million views, 341 orders from all over the world and zero inventory and one machine in my garage, two kids and a full time job.
Liz Hilton:So I hired like the daughter of my mom's friend from Chen and who still works for me by the way.
Liz Hilton:She's amazing.
Liz Hilton:She's now a technician and programmer.
Liz Hilton:Yeah.
Liz Hilton:Anyway, yeah, the rest is history.
Liz Hilton:So now I have a, a 9,000 square foot facility, 17 machines and 11 employees.
Lucinda Koza:Oh my gosh, that is so incredible.
Lucinda Koza:It's just such a success story.
Liz Hilton:It is, it's the American dream and I love that it's all about manufacturing here and I'm like the lady I mentioned who helped me when I first went viral who's still working for me.
Liz Hilton:She's going to get a state certification for being a technician and honing all those skills.
Liz Hilton:And so I love that I get to invest back into the talent in my community.
Liz Hilton:It's, it's amazing.
Liz Hilton:I, I am, I'm very, I, I, I, I don't take my, this privilege for granted.
Liz Hilton:Like I know that this is a privilege and so part of understanding.
Liz Hilton:Wow.
Liz Hilton:I and a platform on social media.
Liz Hilton:I, I built this incredible community of new and expectant mothers online.
Liz Hilton:What am I going to do with this responsibility?
Liz Hilton:And I thought about how I could best add value and I came up with Project Chip which is cultivating health in Postpartum.
Liz Hilton:It's a documentary where we are following one woman's journey preparing for her postpartum cardan.
Liz Hilton:There are so many documentaries out there about the postpartum depression and all these jarring, shocking problems.
Liz Hilton:There's nothing about the solution.
Liz Hilton:And I, I, I want to make the first documentary about the solution.
Liz Hilton:So I actually got together with Han.
Liz Hilton:Oh.
Liz Hilton:Who wrote the first 40 days, which is a beautiful nutritional guy.
Liz Hilton:You know it?
Lucinda Koza:Yes, I do.
Lucinda Koza:I got, I bought it and I gave it to my husband.
Lucinda Koza:I was like, here's a gift of how to take care of me.
Liz Hilton:Well, did he use it?
Liz Hilton:Did he use it?
Lucinda Koza:So sort of, but hard.
Lucinda Koza:Yeah.
Lucinda Koza:I feel like it's like a whole, you know, concept that you mindset shift too.
Lucinda Koza:It is, yes.
Lucinda Koza:Yeah.
Lucinda Koza:About, like, how to really take care of a woman after she gives birth, like, how to nourish her.
Liz Hilton:Well, it's not a Eastern and a little, like, west from Europe.
Liz Hilton:Almost every culture that's been around for more than 500 years has their own, their own way to support a woman in her rest and recovery journey.
Liz Hilton:Postpartum.
Liz Hilton:And America being so new and so lost.
Liz Hilton:We have lost how to mother in our country.
Liz Hilton:We need to relearn it.
Liz Hilton:And we.
Liz Hilton:It starts with investing more in preparing for our postpartum than our birth.
Liz Hilton:Our birth only takes a few hours.
Liz Hilton:Postpartum is years.
Liz Hilton:You want to plan your postpartum, especially in the first 40 days.
Lucinda Koza:Absolutely.
Lucinda Koza:And I have twins.
Liz Hilton:Whoa.
Liz Hilton:Hello.
Lucinda Koza:And God, I was so unprepared.
Liz Hilton:How old are they now?
Lucinda Koza:They're 19 months now.
Liz Hilton:Well, my gosh.
Liz Hilton:So you're still in the thick of it.
Liz Hilton:That's such a hard age.
Lucinda Koza:Oh, yes.
Lucinda Koza:I, I've been told that I'm at the hardest stage for twins.
Liz Hilton:Yeah.
Liz Hilton:Yeah.
Lucinda Koza:I mean, for any baby, probably.
Liz Hilton:I know by twins, it's double everything, so.
Lucinda Koza:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Liz Hilton:Oh, my gosh.
Liz Hilton:Yeah.
Liz Hilton:Did, did you get plugged in with Twinversity Nat, do you know?
Lucinda Koza:Yes, yes.
Liz Hilton:Yeah, she's a friend of mine.
Liz Hilton:I know.
Liz Hilton:Oh, really?
Liz Hilton:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Liz Hilton:The baby industry is so small.
Liz Hilton:We all know each other.
Liz Hilton:I've been to all the shows, so.
Liz Hilton:I know, Nat.
Liz Hilton:I know.
Liz Hilton:Yeah, we every, we all, we're very incestuous industry all night.
Lucinda Koza:That's amazing.
Lucinda Koza:It's, that's it.
Lucinda Koza:It's an incredible community.
Liz Hilton:She's great.
Liz Hilton:Yeah.
Liz Hilton:I love Nat.
Liz Hilton:If you got have twins, you gotta check out twinversity.
Lucinda Koza:Oh, yeah.
Lucinda Koza:I get the emails that are like, it's now week, blah, blah, blah.
Lucinda Koza:With your twins, you should have her.
Liz Hilton:On your, have you had her on.
Lucinda Koza:Your podcast I want to.
Liz Hilton:Yeah.
Liz Hilton:Yeah.
Liz Hilton:Well, I love that you're focusing on postpartum support, because women just aren't.
Liz Hilton:And that book that you bought and gave to your husband, that.
Liz Hilton:That only came out, like, nine years ago.
Liz Hilton:Hunt wrote that.
Liz Hilton:And.
Liz Hilton:And.
Liz Hilton:But in.
Liz Hilton:It's gained in popularity in the last few years, and I really feel like it's bringing to the consciousness of the American woman.
Liz Hilton:Hey, if you don't stop and invest in yourself and prioritize your nutrition and your rest and your recovery, you're going to pay for it later.
Liz Hilton:And I think we're finally starting to understand this, and I'm hoping so.
Liz Hilton:The big question that my documentary is going to ask is, what is postpartum support?
Liz Hilton:We always talk about it.
Liz Hilton:We talk about community.
Liz Hilton:I want the meat and potatoes of what is it?
Liz Hilton:So we are getting detailed and specific and giving people tools throughout the doc and illustrating stories of what you can do to help.
Liz Hilton:And I hope that people will take the call to action seriously and think, okay, if I want the village, I gotta be the village.
Liz Hilton:That's.
Liz Hilton:That's the.
Liz Hilton:And.
Liz Hilton:And that.
Liz Hilton:I didn't know that was gonna be the message of the doc.
Liz Hilton:But after talking to women, this is.
Liz Hilton:This is what it needs to be, and this is what we all need to hear.
Lucinda Koza:That's.
Lucinda Koza:That is the perfect sound bite.
Lucinda Koza:Thank you.
Lucinda Koza:But that is also so true.
Liz Hilton:Can I tell you a story that illustrates why it is so true?
Liz Hilton:So I learned about the first 40 days book from my.
Liz Hilton:My best friend Paige.
Liz Hilton:And Paige went through her first postpartum without a baby.
Liz Hilton:She had a stillborn at 36 weeks.
Liz Hilton:It was, you know, the most traumatic, horrible thing you can imagine.
Liz Hilton:And so her reaction to that was to really dig deep into her spiritual healing and her physical healing and what she needed from a.
Liz Hilton:A spiritual level, a psychological level, and a physical level.
Liz Hilton:So she threw herself into her nutrition, and through the teachings of the first 40 days, she threw herself into her community.
Liz Hilton:Community.
Liz Hilton:She made.
Liz Hilton:She made meals, postpartum meals, and then delivered it to the women she knew that were recovering from postpartum.
Liz Hilton:She's like, I don't have anything need take care of, so I'm going.
Liz Hilton:I'm going to be there for them, and I'm going to be their village.
Liz Hilton:And she said she received so much healing by stepping out into the world and doing this for other women who.
Liz Hilton:Who.
Liz Hilton:Who.
Liz Hilton:Who were, you know, doing their.
Liz Hilton:Their stuff with their newborn and didn't have time.
Liz Hilton:She had the time, and that was her gift.
Liz Hilton:And she said, I Mean, it's just so beautiful.
Liz Hilton:But she received so much healing from doing that and, and for after that.
Liz Hilton:But she now has a healthy baby girl who's 2 now, and she's pregnant with her third.
Liz Hilton:So, yeah, we're very, very happy and everything's going well.
Liz Hilton:She's almost at the end.
Liz Hilton:She's due any day now with her second.
Liz Hilton:But yeah, to.
Liz Hilton:To go through something like that and have such a.
Liz Hilton:A healthy reaction.
Liz Hilton:I mean, wow.
Liz Hilton:And now imagine, okay, she was in an extreme situation, but what if all of us women, even before we give birth, had this attitude of, of service for one another and showing each other love in this way.
Liz Hilton:You know that.
Liz Hilton:Because this is what we used to do.
Liz Hilton:And if we could get our get.
Liz Hilton:You know, I think what the first 40 days is doing is, it's created a cultural shift, and we're starting to value these small, these acts of service, of making someone a meal.
Liz Hilton:It's becoming more mainstream, and I think that's really great.
Liz Hilton:Postpartum women have started making healthy boundaries with in laws and visitation.
Liz Hilton:Now, of course, enforcing those boundaries is a totally different thing, but at least we're talking about it and we're setting them.
Liz Hilton:You know, it's.
Liz Hilton:And then teaching ourselves how.
Liz Hilton:How to mother, how to.
Liz Hilton:How to do what we need to do for ourselves first so that we can be the best caregivers for our baby.
Liz Hilton:And I, I know that the American people are not ready to hear this message.
Liz Hilton:A lot of them are not ready, because when I make a post about a moment, so I make a lot of posts about safe sleep.
Liz Hilton:I do.
Liz Hilton:I do a whole scene that exemplifies safe sleep practices.
Liz Hilton:If you're a new mom and you get sleepy, you put your baby down in a safe sleep environment, bassinet by your bed, and then you get rest.
Liz Hilton:And people online will see this and go, why don't you just hold your baby?
Liz Hilton:You're so lazy.
Liz Hilton:Moms are so lazy on their phone all the time.
Liz Hilton:And I'm like, oh, my.
Liz Hilton:Oh, my God.
Liz Hilton:Like, that woman needs to get the rest.
Liz Hilton:She needs to recover and be the best, best mother she can be for that baby.
Liz Hilton:And.
Liz Hilton:And you're on.
Liz Hilton:On my page judging her for that.
Liz Hilton:Like, people are.
Liz Hilton:Have lost their minds.
Liz Hilton:And, and social media has never made that.
Liz Hilton:It's made that very clear.
Lucinda Koza:Yeah.
Lucinda Koza:Yeah.
Lucinda Koza:I read something today that was.
Lucinda Koza:It was like, there's so much advice about how to parent, but there's no both.
Lucinda Koza:But what about advice about how to take care of people doing the parenting.
Liz Hilton:Yeah, that, that is a book that should be written.
Liz Hilton:Okay.
Liz Hilton:Because.
Liz Hilton:Well, one thing, some people think they're taking care of you by disciplining your child for you.
Liz Hilton:And I, I really don't like that.
Liz Hilton:Um, it's like, if I'm, I, I don't believe in policing.
Liz Hilton:I believe in guiding and coaching.
Liz Hilton:So if someone, like, wants to come in and disclaim a kid.
Liz Hilton:No, it's not okay.
Liz Hilton:That's not okay.
Lucinda Koza:Yeah.
Lucinda Koza:If someone wants to come in and, and say, this is how things should go, this is how things are going to go, then that's just not helpful at all.
Liz Hilton:Yeah.
Liz Hilton:Or if somebody wants to come into your, your room when you have a newborn and say things like, oh, are you, Are you breastfeeding?
Liz Hilton:You're not breastfeeding?
Liz Hilton:Like, getting into your business like that, that's not helpful.
Liz Hilton:Not helpful at all.
Liz Hilton:But yeah, parents also need to know that perfect parenting does not exist.
Liz Hilton:Like, so you will mess up and you just gotta, you know, try again, get back up.
Liz Hilton:And it's not a, it's not a job for a perfectionist.
Lucinda Koza:Right.
Liz Hilton:What a job.
Liz Hilton:Yeah.
Liz Hilton:Um, yeah.
Liz Hilton:And it's hard to deal with imper.
Liz Hilton:You know, people are imperfect, so it's hard to deal with the imperfect comments that are made when you're a new mom and everything is triggered and nobody gives you grace like that.
Liz Hilton:That's another thing I would love to normalize.
Liz Hilton:Can we normalize giving a postpartum woman grace?
Liz Hilton:Because, you know, I, I have a type A personality, and so when I'm postpartum, I am very sensitive and I don't think I'm alone in that.
Liz Hilton:And so I, I would love to see, okay, I might have a moment of postpartum rage, but can you, can you give me a break?
Liz Hilton:Can you give me some grace there?
Liz Hilton:You know?
Liz Hilton:Right.
Lucinda Koza:Like, instead of using postpartum rage, instead of using that term to, like, shame me and make me feel like I'm crazy, how about it's normal that you have a moment of postpartum rage, you know?
Liz Hilton:Yeah, yeah.
Liz Hilton:Or just like, say, oh, okay, well, let it.
Liz Hilton:Let.
Liz Hilton:Or just say nothing.
Liz Hilton:Just let it brush off and then go about your day.
Liz Hilton:Right.
Liz Hilton:Oh, gosh, the things I want to normalize.
Liz Hilton:I mean, I just imagine if, like, every woman invested as heavily into their postpartum recovery period as they did into their birth.
Liz Hilton:I mean, the whole.
Liz Hilton:Our society would be different.
Liz Hilton:The way we bond, our children would be different.
Liz Hilton:And especially as moms, I feel like if we prioritized our rest and Recovery postpartum, we'd have less resentment toward our kids because that's, that's where the mom guilt comes from.
Liz Hilton:Ah, that's my belief.
Liz Hilton:I'm a, I'm speaking out turn.
Liz Hilton:I'm not a psychologist, you know, but I do have four kids.
Lucinda Koza:You have four?
Liz Hilton:Four, yeah.
Liz Hilton:So I have the, the baby I had that, that inspired me to make the swadolini is now seven.
Liz Hilton:And then I also have a, a four year old and a two year old and my baby just turned one.
Liz Hilton:Yeah.
Lucinda Koza:So you are still postpartum?
Liz Hilton:Yeah, yeah.
Liz Hilton:Oh yeah.
Liz Hilton:I'm still breastfeeding, yeah.
Lucinda Koza:Wow.
Lucinda Koza:Yeah.
Liz Hilton:And actually one of the things I did for a friend, she had a nesting party and everybody signed up to like do dishes one day, do laundry, bring her a meal.
Liz Hilton:I signed up for bedtime routine.
Liz Hilton:So I came over about eight and she was making a bottle and I was like, you know, I'm breastfeeding right now.
Liz Hilton:Like, would you, I could be your wet nurse.
Liz Hilton:And she was like, oh, go for it.
Liz Hilton:And I've done this for my sister's kids.
Liz Hilton:So I did.
Liz Hilton:She went with her husband into their bedroom to rest.
Liz Hilton:Their baby was only a couple months old and I hung out with him.
Liz Hilton:I tried to keep him awake as long as possible, changing his diaper.
Liz Hilton:I fed him a couple times and I think he finally went to bed around like 9:45 or so.
Liz Hilton:And then I made sure he was still.
Liz Hilton: nd I think I creeped out like: Liz Hilton:And she said that he woke up at like 6:05am the next day, slept through the night.
Liz Hilton:I love that.
Liz Hilton:So I feel like I, I, I might explore this, that I might have a new career path.
Liz Hilton:You don't know.
Lucinda Koza:Sure.
Lucinda Koza:Like a, like a, I mean like.
Liz Hilton:Hair'S night nanny, you know, if I.
Lucinda Koza:Had known that that existed, I, I, I think I would have with twins, like I, I would have.
Liz Hilton:You didn't know about night nannies when you were postpartum?
Lucinda Koza:No.
Lucinda Koza:I mean, which I didn't know anything.
Liz Hilton:Oh no.
Lucinda Koza:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Lucinda Koza:So I'm like a cautionary tale.
Lucinda Koza:Um, yeah.
Liz Hilton:Basically a night nanny can like will like do what I did for, or my friend or, or, or postpartum doula type person or like whenever the baby wakes up, if they're really young, like this baby was like two or three months old that I, I did the routine for.
Liz Hilton:But you, they'll bring the baby to you so you can nurse them and then, and maybe they'll bring you water.
Liz Hilton:Maybe they'll do some laundry or something while you're sleeping.
Liz Hilton:Whatever.
Liz Hilton:You negotiate into it.
Lucinda Koza:Yeah, that's.
Lucinda Koza:That's a huge act of service.
Liz Hilton:Yeah, but.
Liz Hilton:But the thing is, what I did was for free.
Liz Hilton:It was.
Liz Hilton:Or another new mom in my community who definitely could not have afforded a postpartum doulas.
Lucinda Koza:Right.
Lucinda Koza:Yeah, Right.
Lucinda Koza:That's the caveat there.
Liz Hilton:Yeah.
Liz Hilton:Well, there is, like, where was.
Liz Hilton:I think it was Sweden is doing a time bank system where you volunteer time to help and aid with an elderly person and you'll be like their aid for a day.
Liz Hilton:Right.
Liz Hilton:And you bank that time.
Liz Hilton:So when you get old, then it's reciprocated with the next generation.
Liz Hilton:And I think that is beautiful system.
Liz Hilton:Would love for it to work here.
Liz Hilton:Maybe for postpartum.
Lucinda Koza:Absolutely.
Lucinda Koza:No, I mean, why is Sweden perfect?
Liz Hilton:I know.
Liz Hilton:Oh, cool.
Lucinda Koza:Oh, man.
Liz Hilton:There.
Liz Hilton:Anyway, there's a lot of little solutions and big solutions.
Liz Hilton:Right.
Liz Hilton:But I think what my documentary is getting at is how can you be the solution in your own way, in your own community and explore that?
Liz Hilton:I mean.
Liz Hilton:Well, so the way we're doing it is we're following this one woman's journey through preparing for postpartum, living it out, and then interviewing her on, you know, what worked, what didn't.
Liz Hilton:And I'm doing this with Han, the author of the first 40 days.
Liz Hilton:So she obviously.
Liz Hilton:Han is Chinese American, and the subject of our film is Chinese American.
Liz Hilton:And she really wanted to practice the ancient Chinese practice of confinement when she.
Liz Hilton:With her first child that she had a few years ago.
Liz Hilton:But it just.
Liz Hilton:It didn't work out.
Liz Hilton:Her family members were not able to be there for her through for one reason or another.
Liz Hilton:And it just.
Liz Hilton:It was.
Liz Hilton:It was a disappointing experience for her.
Liz Hilton:And so I'm really excited we get to give this back.
Liz Hilton:So I actually have a friend who owns the Village Postnatal Recovery center In San Francisco, 15 minutes from this woman's home.
Liz Hilton:Her name's Alice Eisman, and she just gave birth a few days ago, and she's checking in on Monday, and I'm flying to San Francisco on Tuesday.
Liz Hilton:We're going to film Wednesday.
Liz Hilton:And she's.
Liz Hilton:We.
Liz Hilton:So Swadolini has sponsored this and we're sponsoring her Chinese meals that are going to be brought to her every day, and her family can visit.
Liz Hilton:And I.
Liz Hilton:I'm just.
Liz Hilton:I'm so excited to showcase this because although people might think, okay, I can't afford a postpartum doula for like 35 to 65 an hour, in San Francisco, it's like $65 an hour.
Liz Hilton:So if you want 24.7care, it's out of the question.
Liz Hilton:But at a postnatal recovery center like the Village, it's $800 a night, and it's 24.
Liz Hilton:7 postpartum doula care.
Liz Hilton:So it's, if you need a break that's available to you.
Liz Hilton:Um, it's, it's, it's amazing.
Liz Hilton:And could, could it be systematized?
Liz Hilton:Sure.
Liz Hilton:Where I, I'm also exploring the counterpoints to that, because I thought this was all fine and dandy, like, how much I would have loved to go to a retreat center and just be away from my home and my responsibilities for a few days.
Liz Hilton:That would have been amazing for me.
Liz Hilton:It might not be for everyone, but it's one of the things we're exploring.
Liz Hilton:The other thing we're exploring is postpartum doula support in home.
Liz Hilton:And, and then, of course, the other thing we're curious about is her, her friend circle support.
Liz Hilton:So she did have a nesting party.
Liz Hilton:She did have a signup sheet.
Liz Hilton:And we're going to be interviewing her friends, like, how they want to be there for their friend in her postpartum period.
Liz Hilton:So because the, the, the person we're doing, who's the subject of this doc.
Liz Hilton:Alice.
Liz Hilton:She's a giver.
Liz Hilton:Like, she's one of those people who's always giving and giving and giving to others, but is really, really hard for her to ask for help.
Liz Hilton:I think that's never going away.
Liz Hilton:Women will always have trouble asking for help.
Liz Hilton:But what we can get better at is giving it and giving, giving it without asking.
Liz Hilton:Just showing up.
Liz Hilton:Just showing up and giving.
Liz Hilton:I, I, we could get better at that.
Lucinda Koza:Yeah.
Lucinda Koza:Delicious.
Lucinda Koza:I, I love how proactive you are.
Lucinda Koza:It, for lack of a better word.
Liz Hilton:Well, that's the key word.
Liz Hilton:I love that word.
Liz Hilton:Proactive.
Liz Hilton:Like, I, I don't like seeing a problem.
Liz Hilton:Oh, my baby's not sleeping.
Liz Hilton:I'm gonna engineer a swaddle for him.
Liz Hilton:And this.
Liz Hilton:Oh, postpartum support is absolutely non existent.
Liz Hilton:Let's change this.
Lucinda Koza:Yes.
Lucinda Koza:Yeah.
Lucinda Koza:I think the most important thing is that a new mom feels empowered.
Lucinda Koza:Right.
Liz Hilton:Well, and to have the words, that's one thing I learned in birth that I think could also be paralleled to postpartum.
Liz Hilton:You know, I, I wanted to birth naturally, but I didn't have the words and the tools to communicate what I needed in the moment I needed it until I trained with, retrained my brain through hypnobirthing, which life Changing.
Liz Hilton:Honestly, if you're not pregnant, I would still read hypnobirthing.
Liz Hilton:Wow.
Liz Hilton:The ideas in that book are fantastic because it's giving you the tools you need mentally and changing your mindset so that you can have the words to advocate for yourself.
Liz Hilton:And when you're postpartum and you're under a lot of stress, you don't have the, the tools ready to feel what you need to feel in the moment.
Liz Hilton:You need to feel it.
Liz Hilton:So postpartum emotional distress may not hit you till six months a year down the road.
Liz Hilton:If you don't prioritize yourself in the first days and weeks postpartum, it will hit you like a ton of bricks.
Liz Hilton:That happened to me.
Liz Hilton:So I know really well my first day back from the hospital, my husband worked a 22 hour day.
Liz Hilton:It was manufacturing.
Liz Hilton:And he came home and I lit him up and he was like, Liz, I took four days off for the birth and I was like two of those days were Saturday and a Sunday.
Liz Hilton:Six months in, we go on a vacation and he leaves me with the baby two days into the vacation to go back to work.
Liz Hilton:Yeah, I'm serious.
Liz Hilton:And, and then I get back from the vacation and I tell him, you quit your job or we have no more children.
Liz Hilton:And, and he quit his job and he actually got a job making it.
Liz Hilton:He was six months unemployed.
Liz Hilton:It was tough and I had to get a real job, a much higher paying job.
Liz Hilton:I wasn't really making much money, so I had to get a job.
Liz Hilton:He got a job making a third less than what he was used to.
Liz Hilton:Which for a man who has his whole identity wrapped up in that, it's amazing what my husband did for his family.
Liz Hilton:And it all worked out cause he has quit that job and now we work together.
Lucinda Koza:So yeah, that's incredible.
Liz Hilton:It's a very happy story.
Liz Hilton:But.
Liz Hilton:And you know what?
Liz Hilton:I got to experience that happiness because I had the words to advocate for myself and my foot down.
Liz Hilton:And I see some women that are just so buried in their postpartum stress, they don't have those words.
Liz Hilton:But my postpartum.
Liz Hilton:Oh my postpartum stress story, I almost, my son almost got kicked out of daycare because I blew up.
Liz Hilton:It was bad.
Liz Hilton:Not like me, okay?
Liz Hilton:I blew up at one of their workers cuz I thought they, they misplaced or stole a blanket, which they hadn't.
Liz Hilton:Okay.
Liz Hilton:Brad put it in a different place and, but it was my fault.
Liz Hilton:And they told me that, Liz, if you react this way or behave this way, you can't have your child here.
Liz Hilton:And they were totally in their right to say because I acted completely horribly and I took it to my doctor.
Liz Hilton:I'm like, look, this is not like me.
Liz Hilton:And I don't know what's going on.
Liz Hilton:I feel like I have no control.
Liz Hilton:And she put me on 50 milligrams of Zoloft.
Liz Hilton:Amazing.
Liz Hilton:And I, I did that for about eight months and it was great.
Liz Hilton:I love sharing this story cuz I really believe 50 milligrams of Zoloft never hurt anybody.
Liz Hilton:And for me, I needed that.
Liz Hilton:I didn't have postpartum depression.
Liz Hilton:I wasn't thinking of hurting myself or my kid.
Liz Hilton:But I had postpartum emotional distress, which is totally normal.
Liz Hilton:And I, because of the stress, like not having my husband available in the first few weeks and months, he had no paternity leave that I, I didn't hit me until like six months, eight months later, you know.
Lucinda Koza:Yeah, yeah, I think that's what happened to me too.
Lucinda Koza:And my husband also did not have paternity leave.
Lucinda Koza:And I, I needed the words and I needed the tools to advocate for myself and I didn't not to have the words at all.
Liz Hilton:What eventually did you do it?
Liz Hilton:Eventually, yes.
Lucinda Koza:So eventually I figured out what it was that felt so awful and was able to, to talk with him about it.
Lucinda Koza:It's still an ongoing conversation, you know, because it, because you're right, it's, it hits you like a ton of bricks and you know, it's like icky, sticky, like sticking with me, you know, their.
Liz Hilton:Man has no control over it and he's like, well, what can I do?
Liz Hilton:And, and that's where, you know, like, hey, ask me if I'm thirsty or just bring me a glass of water every time you come up to check on me or bring me a snack every time you come up or to just.
Liz Hilton:And then if, and if I'm, I get very snap.
Liz Hilton:I remember I was very snappy.
Liz Hilton:It was very bad.
Liz Hilton:But I've gotten better.
Liz Hilton:I've gotten better because when you start thinking about, okay, I know this time is not going to be perfect, then you know what you're going into.
Liz Hilton:And I didn't get postpartum emotional distress anywhere near as bad as the first time because I had the words for it.
Liz Hilton:I knew what it was, I knew what was happening.
Liz Hilton:I didn't have to go on so often the subsequent pregnancies because I knew what to expect and I knew I'm going to need support during these hours.
Liz Hilton:I'm going to need, you know, easy nutritious foods accessible at all times.
Liz Hilton:I made sure he put a mini fridge by my bed and a microwave and a tea kettle and, like, all these things.
Liz Hilton:I had a little pantry right by our.
Liz Hilton:I had, like, a second kitchen in our bedroom.
Liz Hilton:And that's.
Liz Hilton:I.
Liz Hilton:I.
Liz Hilton:What I needed.
Liz Hilton:And I.
Liz Hilton:My.
Liz Hilton:My fourth postpartum was my best because I followed a lot of the practices in the first 40 days.
Liz Hilton:So the fact I get to work with the author, Han.
Liz Hilton:Oh.
Liz Hilton:On this project, Chip it.
Liz Hilton:It's.
Liz Hilton:It's amazing.
Liz Hilton:And I.
Liz Hilton:I hope we inspire women all over the country to.
Liz Hilton:To invest in their postpartum experience.
Lucinda Koza:I can't wait to share it and see it and just celebrate it.
Lucinda Koza:And I thank you for doing it.
Lucinda Koza:I mean, it's.
Liz Hilton:Oh, yeah.
Liz Hilton:And it's.
Liz Hilton:It's gonna.
Liz Hilton:I don't need to make money on this.
Liz Hilton:I'm not out to make money on this doc.
Liz Hilton:It's gonna be launching on YouTube for free, and it's gonna be on my website.
Liz Hilton:And I, you know, I've got, like, 700,000 followers across all my social media platforms.
Liz Hilton:I'm just gonna be pushing it out social media, hoping other people share it too.
Liz Hilton:And.
Liz Hilton:Yeah, I'm just.
Liz Hilton:It's that.
Liz Hilton:That's the way I think it's.
Liz Hilton:It's meant to be.
Lucinda Koza:Absolutely.
Lucinda Koza:Well, thank you so much.
Lucinda Koza:I'm so glad that we did this.
Liz Hilton:Yeah.
Liz Hilton:Likewise.
Liz Hilton:Have a great day.
Lucinda Koza:Oh, you too.
