We all get it; postpartum and the years after having a baby is no walk in the park. But you know what? It isn't just about depression or anxiety either. Hey, my friend, I'm Maranda Bower, a homesteading mama with four wild kids. My life passion and education is all about supporting mothers and providers, understanding the science, the art, and the sacredness of healing after birth. What we know as common sense in the postpartum years has many women feeling just plain awful. It's time to bring back the truth and get you the tools you need to heal and thrive in motherhood and beyond.
Okay, I am here with Danielle Ganon, and we have had the pleasure of working together for the last five-plus months in my postpartum one-on-one program. Here we're going to talk with Danielle, and she's going to share with us her experience and all the goodness of what has come out of our time working together. I'm so excited that you're here. Thank you.
"Yeah, I'm excited to chat with you again. It's been a little while."
I know, I know. We kind of took a break. And you have some amazing, exciting news, and hopefully, you're after sharing that at the end as well. But let's start at the very beginning. Can you share a little bit about who you are, what you do, and where you were in your postpartum journey when you came to me? What had you reaching out?
"Yeah, so I am a mom of two kids. I have a four-year-old and an almost two-year-old. I am also a business owner and have been self-employed exclusively since 2019. When I first, I think, was introduced to you or thought to reach out to you, or saw you online — I'm trying to remember how I even first came across you — but I was just in a place where we were six months into COVID. My kids had been home full-time since COVID started, which previously they did part-time daycare. And it was just a lot. I was super overwhelmed in all aspects of life. I just wasn't feeling very well. I was about, must have been, almost a year and a half or about 15 months postpartum with my daughter. While her birth and recovery from that were actually much better than my son's, I just never really got back to feeling fully better. And I felt like right as I was starting to, COVID happened, and my life went crazy. So, I was just in this place of physically not feeling good, mentally not feeling good, just feeling super overwhelmed and feeling like I needed something. I clearly was not able to help myself in this moment the way I wanted to. I think I saw someone tag you in a Facebook group or something and started checking out your stuff and thought, 'yes, this speaks to me; this is exactly what I need.' It's always so random how people come to me. They're like, 'I don't know; I was searching in a thread in a Facebook group, or on Instagram years back, you had posted this thing,' and you're like, it's always some very random thing. So, I'm super glad that obviously, we had the opportunity to work together, and thank you for sharing that."
You had shared as well, like when you first reached out, maybe you can tell us a little bit of some of the things that you were experiencing, and the symptoms that you were having. It wasn't just overwhelmed; there were a lot of deeper components to what you were feeling. And that you had tried some things before that hadn't worked as well. So, maybe you can speak on those things.
"Yeah, so I just was not feeling well physically. I had, basically, since my son was born, really been having issues with joint aches and pains. Part of me was like, 'I'm just getting old, I guess,' but it seemed more than that. So, stiff joints, achy joints, and stuff."
I was having a lot of headaches. I was also experiencing skin issues, like acne. That sort of thing has been a lifelong journey for me, but it was particularly bad at this point in time. I was trying to remember what else was happening. Was I...? I was super tired all the time. Partially from life, but it felt like I was more tired than I should have been. And while this wasn't my primary motivation, my weight wasn't where I wanted it to be. I wasn't eating as healthfully as I knew I could. I had eaten gluten-free and dairy-free for many years and knew I felt good eating that way, but I wasn't maintaining that diet very well at the time.
“So, yeah, I think I had tried other workout programs. I had tried going back to the nutrition routines I used to follow back in the day. But none of it was really working anymore. I was having a hard time sticking with it and feeling good on it. I'm trying to remember if there's anything else major that was happening. I think it's so funny that you're having a hard time remembering. I know. It's something in the past, right? We're not even going there anymore.
“One other thing I recall is my periods. They were worse than they had been before having kids, even before having my daughter specifically. When we started working together, I had just gotten my period back a few months prior, and they were much more painful and uncomfortable than before. Absolutely. There was a lot going on. All these issues were based on a couple of core concerns. The primary focus when we worked together was on nutrition, sleep, hormone balance, and helping me get rid of the overwhelming feeling, even during a pandemic when kids are at home and life feels crazy.”
Maybe you can share with us a bit because so many people approach me. They hear about what we're doing, but they have no idea about the specifics. I even get inquiries from professionals and counselors. They say someone working with them is also collaborating with me, and they hear about the positive changes and wonder, "What exactly are you doing?"
Maybe you can speak to your experience of going through the program.
“Yeah, I think so. On the nutrition side of things, I think it was super helpful to me to have that six-week meal plan at the beginning. What I had been trying to do on the nutrition side of things was just like I had created these rules for myself of what I was going to eat and not eat. But I wasn't actually, like, I still had to figure out in each moment, "Okay, what am I going to eat right now for breakfast? And right now for lunch?" So, having the six-week meal plan where it's literally like, "This is what you're eating. This is what you're eating." In the past, I think I would have thought like I wouldn't like that sort of plan, but it actually was amazing to not have to think about what I was going to eat, like, at all. So, that alone was like took away a big overwhelm piece, and I felt really good eating the meal plan, so that was a big part of it.
“I also think though, like, the conversations that we had, while they were definitely about health and nutrition and all that, they ended up being about a lot more than that. I feel like we ended up talking about business stuff a lot, and just like general life, and like, how to actually, you know, focus on taking care of myself in addition to everyone else in my family. I think that was one of the biggest things for me really, was just like, it was the first time in a while that I was like putting actual effort and focus on myself and taking care of myself instead of just worrying about my business, my clients, my kids, my husband, and all the other things. So I think that alone, like at the root of everything else, was a big piece of it for me. Just to like, one, have another person to talk through all of this stuff with, but also just like I said, to actually be trying to take care of myself and have someone to sort of like help guide me through how to do that really well was really helpful.”
Yeah, absolutely. There's so much into this where we're like, we're creating new habits, which is not an easy thing to do, right? We're rewiring our brain. We're going through all of these different things and really supporting you and the life that you're living and creating what feels good for you and your life. And I think a lot of times people think that you have to have health over here in this little corner, rather than keeping it, it's interwoven into everything that you do. It's interwoven into your business life. It's interwoven in taking care of your children, right? Like this is not some compartmentalized thing that you do at the end of the day, right? That's usually how we shove our self-care time. So I appreciate that. So of course, I ask everyone this question, would you recommend this program with me to other people?
“Yeah, I definitely, definitely would. I think I have felt this way for a long time that there's just not enough attention put on postpartum health and care in general. I mean, I just think it's wild that you have a baby and they're like, "We'll see you in six weeks." And I've never understood that. And then after that, it's like, "Nothing. We'll see you in a year from now." So yeah, I mean, I think there just needs to be so much more attention on this. I'm at the age where all of my friends are having kids, and I was sort of like the trailblazer in the group. I had kids first. My kids are like, you know, a few years older. My oldest is a few years older than most of my friends' kids. And so they're all sort of, I've somehow become like the wise mom of our friend group even though I don't actually know any more than they do.
“But, it's clear from talking to them too that they all feel the same way. They don't understand what's happening to their bodies. They don't understand how to feel better. It's a major issue, I think. So, yeah, 100%, I would recommend it.”
Thank you so, so much. I'm so glad that you're here and you're sharing this because so many women want to hear the stories and the successes, and they need to hear that in order to decide whether or not they want to move forward with any type of support, really. Knowing that something out there resides and is available. And you have some amazing, exciting news that you were sort of planning. You definitely wanted to have, but you were feeling like you weren't in a place where you could do this. And now that you did, and here we are, and you are.
“I am pregnant. I am having a third baby.” (laughs)
Oh, I'm so excited.
“Yes, I know it's funny 'cause when we first started working together, which was way back in September, I think, it was when I first chatted at least. I was definitely in the place of like, ‘I don't know. I thought I wanted three kids, but I don't think I can handle this. Like I'm definitely nowhere near ready.’ And then just a few months later was when I did get pregnant, and then I ended up having a chemical pregnancy. But then a few months after that, it happened for real. So, it was kind of a quick turnaround for me going from ‘no, definitely not’ to being really excited about it.”
So, I love it. Thank you so much for sharing. Any other words of wisdom for any moms out there who are listening and maybe on the fence about reaching out?
“I would just say to not wait as long as I did to take better care of yourself or to put that focus back on yourself. It's super hard when you have any number of children, even if it's just one. And then with business or work and family stuff, it's just really hard to put the focus on yourself. But it's definitely worth it.”
Thank you so much for being here. I'm so glad to hear your story and connect again. I appreciate it.
Thank you. Thanks for tuning in and taking the time to learn about how to support your body and deep healing. We don't do this work just for us or for you. Your healing impacts your children, your relationships, and your community. We do this work because the health and vibrancy of our world begin with its mothers. I hope you have taken some valuable information today and applied it to your own life.
If you aren't sure where to begin, reach out about working together one-on-one. Or, at minimum, learning about my postpartum nutrition plan, which is where I start every single one of my clients. And you can do that by going to MarandaBower.com. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Let us know by leaving a review, and we will see you next time.