About the Organization
Mom's Matter Now was created by mothers Holly and Calisa who "love to brainstorm about maternal mental health while covering terrain in the Chugach mountains, both together and with their kids."
online training and support
The Expectant Moms Empowered Moms Signature Online Course topics are like the best cliff notes combined with evidence-based mom life advice you've ever received.
Module 1 || Welcome
Module 2 || Identity Shift
Module 3 || Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders
Module 4 || Cognitive Distortions
Module 5 || The Mental Load and Emotion Labor
Module 6 || Prioritizing your Partner
Module 7 || Sex and Intimacy After Kids
Module 8 || Body Image and Motherhood
Module 9 || Be Her/Them Now
The Cost
Full Payment Up Front || $197.00
2 Monthly Payments || $99.00/month = $200.00
9 modules
30+ Videos
Over 10 hours of engaging content
Practical tools for action
365 Days Access
why?
Holly's Why
My greatest fear in life has always been the thought of losing myself in the journey of becoming a mother. Perhaps this fear was internalized by watching my own mom and the personal sacrifice she went through after having my triplet siblings. Or perhaps it’s the messages that I’ve consciously and subconsciously digested from our society that mothers are supposed to be martyrs and give everything they have to their children. Yes, times are changing and we’ve come a long way but there is plenty of progress to be made.
Like so many women, my journey to motherhood wasn’t linear or simple. I went 8 years without menstruating which at the time, I thought was convenient seeing that I was an Olympic athlete spending 5 months a year on the road. Yet as retirement grew closer, my goals shifted from athletic accolades to starting a family. My husband and I worked closely with an infertility specialist, planning our lives around ovulation and cancelling plans for ultrasounds. I had two pregnancies which resulted in miscarriages and then consequently, DnCs. After a long wait, we were elated to learn we were pregnant with twins and even more ecstatic to discover we had a boy & a girl!
At our expecting multiples class, I raised my hand and asked how often (if ever) twins were born 1, vaginally and 2, via C-section. Everyone laughed nervously and then the instructors replied, “not very often.” The joke was on us when a couple months later this very thing happened. Our twins were born three hours apart and almost had different birthdays.
Having two babies and feeding two babies was tough but my thoughts always went to my mother who had more babies than she had breasts to feed them with. For the first year + I battled with shame-inducing intrusive thoughts which I told no one, especially (not) my husband. Thankfully new research is coming out revealing just how common intrusive thoughts and postnatal OCD actually is. Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADS) are so much more than postpartum depression and sharing and normalizing this message before women are in crisis is a big part of my inspiration behind Moms Matter Now."
Calissa's Why
In 2011, living in Montana, my husband and I learned I was pregnant for the first time. We knew we wanted kids, but were still surprised to learn it happened so fast, and suddenly we didn’t feel ready to start a family. I was working three part time jobs while my husband was going to graduate school and working as an assistant coach at the University. We didn’t have great health insurance, adequate income, or family in town. My husband hugged me when I told him the news. “We’re going to be okay” he said.
During that pregnancy, I read every book, blog, and article recommended for the best baby preparing advice. Looking back, a few sources were focused on the mother in terms of what I should eat, supplements I should take, and recommendations for amounts and types of exercise, but I found scant help for the emotional and mental changes I may experience once my baby was born.
When I was 7 months pregnant, my husband received a job opportunity in Alaska. Health insurance and reliable income was in hand, we just had to make it to the last frontier. The news meant I had to scramble into a new kind of preparation mode, find a house and a midwife from thousands of miles away. Looking back, I was not prepared at all for how lonely life would be with a newborn, no family in town or having any friends with kids. We had a wonderful midwife and I was extremely sad when my daughter turned 6 weeks old and I was now “on my own.” Having that immediate and strong connection was very important to me during that time and looking back I realize how valuable that feeling of security, connection and support is in a mother’s journey while pregnant and postpartum.
