The Healthy Post Natal Body Podcast
The Healthy Post Natal Body Podcast
Inside "TheRUBY Postnatal": Postnatal Care That Puts Mom First. Interview with Robyn Jedkins and Lisa Heim
This week I am delighted to be joined by Robyn Jedkins and Lisa Heim, who are the founders of "TheRUBY Postnatal".
TheRUBY Postnatal is a postpartum care facility in Houston and it's a concept I think is fascinating.
We constantly say things like "It takes a village to raise a child" and "postpartum mom should really have time to look after herself and the baby and not worry about....." but, in today's fragmented world, that simply isn't as achievable as it should be.
TheRUBY Postnatal is kind of like a blueprint for how things could work well for moms and babies.
It's a completely holistic institution which essentially allows you to temporarily connect with a new "village".
They have trained experts on hand to help with all the things moms might need a hand with, including medical professionals, as well as loads of other moms to sit with, support and get support from.
The world is what it is, and though we might well want to..and I definitely do, we can't always smash the entire system up. TheRUBY Postnatal is something that offers a blueprint for postpartum care that could actually work for all involved, and I believe that if we had more facilities like this it would greatly benefit many women (And, yes, it should be paid for by your insurance company/Health service!!)
You can check everything TheRUBY Postnatal related out online;
As always; HPNB only has 5 billing cycles.
So this means that you not only get 3 months FREE access, no obligation! (which is what most postnatal "programs" charge you £100 to buy)
BUT, if you decide you want to do the rest of the program, after only 5 months of paying $10/£8 a month you now get FREE LIFE TIME ACCESS! That's $50 max spend, in case you were wondering.
Though I'm not terribly active on Instagram and Facebook you can follow us there. I am however active on Threads so find me there!
And, of course, you can always find us on our YouTube channel if you like your podcast in video form :)
Visit healthypostnatalbody.com and get 3 months completely FREE access. No sales, no commitment, no BS.
Email peter@healthypostnatalbody.com if you have any questions, comments or want to suggest a guest/topic
Playing us out this week "Blue" by Cira Grandi
Hey, welcome to the Healthy Postnatal Body Podcast. WithI your post Natal and Expert Peter Lap. That, as always, would be me. This is the podcast for the 9th of November 2025, and that means I really have to get started on my Christmas calendars. I am talking to Robyn and Lisa from the Ruby Postnatal today. This is phenomenal. The Ruby is a very interesting concept. I haven't come across it before. You know, we talk a lot about how it takes a village to raise a child, um, and how the village has kind of fallen away. We talk a lot about I've done several episodes about Xiao Tzu, uh, the Chinese habit of sitting the month, and and how everybody helps take care of the mother and all this sort of stuff. Well, the village is kind of a the the the Ruby is kind of that that village for for for the Western world, so to speak. Um it's a fascinating concept. It's it's it's um it's it's like a facility set up by Robyn and Lisa to help uh take care of new mums, moms that need a break, mums that need a bit of uh help with anything, and it could be diet, it could be sleep, it could be medical attention, care and attention, taking care of baby, everything is included. It is like this self-contained sort of uh sort of facility, and uh and I really like the idea of it. So we're talking about what type of thing is actually required in such a facility and who that type of facility will benefit, but also mainly how important it is in today's world where we're a bit more disconnected from everything, how important is that there are actually more of these facilities about, and you know, then we're talking about cost impact and all that sort of stuff. Of course, we do, because it should be affordable and available to absolutely everyone, I would argue, right? Um, so without further ado, here we go. Awesome. Okay, so what made you start the Ruby post natal?
Robyn:Um, so I started the Ruby because I have three kids and have had three kids in four years. And after having all my babies, I realize that we have baby showers, we have um our nurseries painted, we have matching outfits ready, but we don't have actual care for the mom after we give birth. You go to the doctor, I can even tell you weekly, monthly before you give birth. After birth, there's checkups for the baby, but there's nothing for mom. And so we send women home with a newborn and a peri bottle, and we basically just say, good luck. And then in other countries, they actually give moms real rest and recovery. So I want to change that in Texas or in Houston and kind of hopefully, hopefully start a ripple effect all across the US.
Peter:Yeah, because it really is a weird uh concept, isn't it? When you think about it, like you said, in other countries, they have uh like Su and China, which is sitting the month, is a habit they have it all across Africa. I'm I'm just singling out China because that's the one I'm more familiar with. But in China in France, you get X amount of uh at least pelvic floor therapy sessions and all that afterwards, and in Scandinavia, you get an absolute ton of maternity and paternity leave, right? So that both partners can can can be there when required, and we're talking like a year for each, or so we're talking a huge amount of time, and they get to the UK where it's pretty dire. There's some obviously maternity leave is a thing, and then you get to do the US.
Robyn:We treat birth like it's a finish line, yeah.
Peter:Yeah, exactly.
Robyn:I think people need to realize it's more of a starting line, right? Like once the baby is out, all the focus is kind of shifts, and moms get told, like, see you in six weeks. And that's like running a marathon and being told to, I don't know, walk yourself home. And like you said, other countries they give moms that dedicated rec that dedicated recovery center and family support and government paid stays. So, you know, here we're we're stuck searching on Google all the time and lots of target runs.
Peter:Exactly, lots of target runs, yeah. Yeah, so so what brought you on board, uh Lisa?
Lisa:So Robyn and I have known each other for many years. Um, we were connected actually through her husband, who is actually one of my partners at um a gym facility that we own together. And so um in the last fall after she had her baby, I mean, it was just became such a uh poignant moment for her to say, this has got to be something. And she shared her concept with me in the over the holidays um of 2024, and I was willing to be an investor um as part of her um draw to really create this for women. I'm a mom of four, so I know what it's like to have to deal with toddlers and newborns and not sleeping and how crucial that time frame is. And plus, I come from um a Hispanic Latin culture where women are told not to stand up after you've had a baby and you shouldn't have all kinds of things. So all of that it was very important to me as well. And then as we uh began the Ruby and started our um getting our legs underneath us, Robyn asked me to join her um as the one of her partners and to help her actually run the company. So I got on board with her and here we are. That's correct, yes.
Peter:And because most of the I suppose the the postpartum resorts, can we describe the the Ruby as like a postpartum resort or a postnatal resort? Or what what what would you call it?
Robyn:We're curious. Yeah, we like to say postpartum or postnatal stay. Um retreat started confusing people. They didn't know do they come for a day, or how's it work? Is it a big group setting? So we changed it to stay.
Peter:Right, cool. So because most postpartum stays then, the most part a lot of postpartum facilities ignore the the postpartum postpartum fitness element of it, right?
Lisa:Oh my goodness, right?
Peter:Yeah, so so so so it makes complete sense to bring someone like yourself who comes from the fitness world on board with that because it's it's such a it it it's it's it's a blind spot in quite because quite often when we talk about postpartum self-care, first of all, we we come up with mental health, right? And rest and all that type of stuff, uh nutrition gets brought up, stress management, and then way, way, way in the distance, maybe a bit of yoga or something like that. Yeah, but but but that's it. So so did you were were you deliberate in that setup, Robyn? But did you thought okay, this or or you guys both that this is what we're going to have to do to make sure that we hit all the angles here?
Robyn:A little bit of both. Um, so kind of like Lisa mentioned, she owns the next level with my husband. Um, so I just one, I know Lisa's a mother of four, she understands my vision. Two, I knew we'd work well together. Um, three, she's very physically fit and very nutritious herself. Um, I always make fun of her because anytime I go into her office. If you want a snack, you don't go to Lisa's office for a snack. It's all like healthy, not fun snacks.
Peter:Yeah, just a waste of time. Yes, there's kale, there's kale chips there. Yeah, yeah.
Robyn:And they were like, what is this?
Peter:To be fair, that is borderline psychotic, Lisa.
Lisa:No, not really. No, actually, you know, it's funny that you um brought all of that connection in, Peter. Um, all of our um, we have a mother's lounge that's part of our stay at the Ruby. And the mother's lounge is a community spot where moms can leave the rooms, the babies can stay in the nursery. Um, and Robyn brilliantly realized that um you mentioned it earlier, pelvic floor recovery. Um, so our mother's lounge is a respite for moms, and we have specialists that come in and they don't just talk about nutrition, which is what we all push anyhow, right? Because it promotes great breastfeeding um, you know, habits and things like that to be nutritionally supported. But you have to turn and focus on mom. She's got to recover. And Robyn says something that is really brilliant. She's like, you know, after you, when you have a baby and then you have a baby, it's like being in a car wreck. Like everything inside of you is jumbled. It's like it's got to go back to its normal state. And it takes almost a whole year for a woman to really get back to where she is, and half of it doesn't land in the same space. So our journey is to help moms recover physically. So, yes, the physical side of it comes in as well as the nutritional side, and then you mentioned the other leg, which is the mental health side. So, our moms get all three of those components when they come and stay with us at the Ruby, which should be a standard if you just think about it. That should be a standard, you know, um, given that you do kick them out and send them home. And, you know, in the the village concept, all of those nonas and abuelas, they were all in the tent with you, bringing the mom back into her normal state of being, um, bringing that baby into a bonding environment. Um, and you just end up raising healthier human beings.
Robyn:Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. And I think in the United States, same thing, kind of touching what Lisa said, is here we believe postpartum is six weeks. And I think people are missing that. Postpartum is technically, it's like the rest of your life: your body, your hormones, your mental health, um, your family dynamic, all of it just kind of shifts. And moms currently we have the pressure to bounce back, and really we need the support to rebuild because and I I get it. Oh, you're a superhero, moms are superheroes. Sure, we're superheroes, but that doesn't make it right. It's not the right way to recover.
Peter:No, and I and also say, let's be honest, you're not superheroes, right? And this is always it, it sounds a bit like I'm crapping on that side of things. I just hate the phrase in the same way that I hate mom, because indeed it just it it ignores the the human that is actually. That's so interesting.
Lisa:The human side, that's right.
Peter:Because as soon as you go superhero, now then you can just plow on, right? Your superheroes by definition are almost indestructible. Whereas I am much closer to what what what you mentioned with regards to the it's a car crash, it's a traumatic experience giving birth. Literally, this experience, it's crazy.
Robyn:Have you ever looked up the statistics in the United States for um postpartum depression?
Peter:No, I'm familiar with them in the UK, but it is ridiculous uh over here.
Robyn:Yeah, so well, one in five women in the US experience postpartum depression, and a lot of them they go untreated because we don't have follow-up care. We do, but it's very minimal. And then also the US is the only developed country without guaranteed paid maternity leave. And then moms are typically sent home from the hospital within 24 to 48 hours. And if you have a C-section, two to four days, right? Which is even more crazy because you can barely, you know, walk.
Peter:Yeah, you can't function really.
Robyn:Yeah, yeah. And then not only that, like I said earlier, you know, then we're told, oh, see you in six weeks. But most complications like hemorrhaging, blood clots, mental health crisis, that occurs before that first follow-up appointment.
Peter:Right. Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, that this is one of my favorite things that I that I talk to people about when with regards to postpartum mental health. The reason, and I'll repeat this for new listeners. The reason your checkup is at six weeks, at least in the UK, is because at week three, they always ask you the are you gonna kill yourself question, right? Are you gonna harm yourself? Are you gonna harm the baby? The reason they have that appointment at six weeks, it's because after week three, in week three, you're much more likely to say yes. It's basically that six-week period is basically a cost saving measure because we have to intervene a lot more in week three and four than we do in week six. In week six, yeah, and yeah, and because after after about four to five weeks, your hormones start to at least settle a little bit. I'm not saying they're back to where they, but at least the the that's another reason why I don't use the term baby blues. I absolutely hate that. Hate that term. That is not what that is not what that is uh at all. Um yeah, so so we we have women hang on for six weeks, yeah, and then you get a checkup, and the checkup is like what Rob did said earlier, it's about the baby, it's not your checkup at all.
Lisa:It's really not, yeah.
Peter:You get if you're lucky, the doctor checks you out for uh diastasis recti. Um, right, they put a few fingers along the along the linear album and they kind of go, yeah, there's a gap there. Now go go and deal with that. Off you go. Um but the the main reason is the baby gets checked out. You get asked if you're going to kill yourself or hurt the baby, and the answer they're looking for is no. And then you go in your merry way, because even after that, there is no care.
Robyn:Yeah, and actually, you just hit the nail on the head when you said baby blues. I'm with you on that because baby blues, it minimizes what's really happening, right? It sounds like it's a mood swing or sadness that you know us moms should just kind of shake off. And in reality, it's the largest hormonal crash in human biology. Um, so I don't know if like I'm sure many people, I don't know if many people know this or not, but like after birth, estrogen and progesterone levels, they plummet within hours while the body is also healing from labor, the blood loss, and then of course your sleep deprive. Right. On top of that, they need to start calling it like postpartum crash or I don't know, yeah, something a little bit more detrimental. Yeah.
Lisa:So Peter, um, our goal, and I know that this has just been a mission for Robyn and I, um, is that this needs to be a movement, just like the movements that that get born in um for concepts that really are like ground, not even groundbreaking. It just should be normal, right? So our message has been in our marketing approach is because we don't want it to be a luxury, it should not be a luxury, it should be a standard. And so our our our movement, if you will, is something that's based on, you know, postpartum care is a standard. It's not a luxury. And so hence why we're careful about calling ourselves a luxury retreat or things like that. Um, because it does create, you know, and as you can imagine, I'm sure you've experienced this, you know, you can you can use some keywords and it really gets, you know, a certain set of population of people, you know, going at you because it's a topic that feels like it's only for you know for people who can afford it. And so um Robyn has we have got you know a big road in front of us, and it we need people like you to help us push through and go to the insurance companies and get the governments to look at why this is you know a critical point of care for women.
Peter:Um oh, this is just for rich and famous, like also because because the the the thing that I always think that is usually missing on this, and I I did an interview with Dr. What's her face? I can't remember her face, I'll put it in the show notes. Um a while ago, she was uh a Chinese American, a lady who now lived in Germany. That's what it was. She was uh married to an army officer or something, she moved to Germany, and and and she set up and she did something between the um the the way the Chinese take care of people postpartum versus the way it is done in in America, and and uh the the discussion we ended up having was very much centered on how we tend to talk about these things in um emotional terms, right? When we're talking about trying to convince people because it's so important for women to do and all that sort of stuff, and as I always point out on the podcast, middle-aged white guy here. I know I'm part of the problem, but I also understand other people who are part of the problem, so to speak. The only thing that our lawmakers, so to speak, seem to care about is cost benefit. Right? And and and and I think that something like something like the the the Ruby is relatively speaking, because like you said, most of these luxury resorts are five six. I know several that are really, really high end, and you're talking thousands and thousands of dollars a night, which is just you know insane amounts of money and unaffordable for most, and not something that uh an insurance company is likely to start paying. Because but if we can explain to people that the more we take care of women in the early postpartum phase, especially a holistic approach like you do, with regards to uh recovery and nutrition and mental health and um and physical recovery, uh the benefit three, four, five, six years down the line and money that it saves, I think is significantly larger than the amount of money it costs Upfront to do it. Um because I think if if I look just from a pelvic floor perspective and from a fitness level perspective, if you say let's spend a thousand, two thousand dollars on everybody's part and just say this, and here's doctor's appointments and and physios and personal trainers, whatever, however you want to run it, I'll be stunned if those uh women, and this is because this is my personal experience, uh if they don't go back into the office earlier, if they have less back pain, if they have fewer days off sick, um with whatever illnesses, we know how early postpartum recovery affects uh children's health and mothers' health and all that type of stuff. So, and and and Robyn, you you you might have experienced this like when you when you have three kids, one of them is always sick. But that that is kind of just how that goes, but that means you likely have significantly more days off, especially if we take into account that that first year of postpartum life is actually so important for baby's health or for the child.
Robyn:Yeah, and it even goes deeper into that. If you look at if you want to talk about lower costs, there's fewer readmissions.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Robyn:Um, because you know, many hospital readmissions after birth come from things like infection, complications, dehydration, poor breastfeeding support. And so a short stay at the Ruby, we can catch stuff like that. And if we're catching those issues before they're escalating, that can, I mean, a readmission can that readmission can save insurance insurancers between five thousand and twenty thousand dollars per case.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it should be a huge amount, right?
Robyn:And that's just then there's better um mental health, there's fewer claims in mental health and postpartum depression that costs the US, I think I've let me double check my numbers, but it's like 14 billion annually in lost productivity because of medical claims and infant health care. Yeah, um, breastfeeding, we kind of touched on earlier, same thing. It's you know, and it's funny because I feel like in Lisa and I, when we first started this, we were like, oh, this is a no-brainer. Why wouldn't everyone be signed up to like I don't understand why we're still stuck here or corporate or ROI? Same thing, right? So because the moms who were supported during postpartum, they return to work faster, they stay longer. Um, turnover for new hire, Lisa would know being at next level, that cost the companies like two times the employer's salary. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous, yeah. And so I'm like, wouldn't you rather just invest $3,000 in a postpartum recovery or lose hundred of thousand dollars in an employee because she can't balance recovery and work? I just doesn't make sense.
Lisa:Doesn't make sense.
Robyn:To me, it's a no-brainer.
Lisa:Yeah, exactly. But you can't do it, like she said, you can't do it without speaking in terms of ROI or um, you know, what it would cost to, you know, replace someone. I mean, it's just it though, and then you start showing that to someone and their eyes glaze over, it's like, okay, you don't get it, you're still not getting it.
Robyn:So yes. Or um when we met with one of the hospitals here and we were talking about it improving their HCA HPS scores, the hospital patient satisfaction. Um, and that's that is tied to federal reimbursement.
Peter:Right. That's a no brain, yeah. It's but it's it's people even it isn't quite quite often because I've had this conversation a lot with regards to my postpartum recovery thing, that that I got in touch with companies and said, Hey, uh insurance companies, saying, Hey guys, how's it that? I give it to you for a flat fee, and you can sign up all your customers to this. I don't care, and it's not even that much because you know, if you check out my program, and and and everybody who's who listens to this knows that this the max spend on this for like the nine months, and it's a home program, so it is standardized, it's like fifty dollars something like that. So it's cheap, right? And so if for an insurance company you think hey, you know, pay pennies, the bean counters care, usually the people that we end up talking to are not the numbers people, right? So I found with one or two corporate clients that I now have, I was quite often talking to the wrong person. I was talking to doctors, and the doctors are like, Yeah, that sounds great, but ROI, that's not what I do. I do fixing of stuff. Um, I had to talk to accountants, and you know, there is nothing more frustrating for I think people who who who care like like yourselves to have to talk to accountants all the time and explain that stuff because they don't understand necessarily understand the the the human element of it, which is why we go into this business.
Robyn:Yeah, yeah. So we need to get the doctor and the accountant in the same room and hopefully fundamentally, yeah.
Peter:Yeah, yeah. I think so, because I think you guys are on the same sort of mission that I am. It's in this stuff should just be available. I mean, it's ridiculous that that that it's not those parts when we cover that we're even talking about, right? It's it's almost offensive to me that that this is a thing. It's almost offensive that uh because uh we have because let's from from the outside perspective, right? The the Ruby is uh uh almost like a symptom of the society we have created in the last 30-40 years, as in where we've become more individualized and everybody has to work and and and the the the whole village has been uh separated, exactly like what you were talking about with nonas and all that sort of stuff. They're just not really uh there anymore. We've we've we've monetized things to such a level that people are now almost complete individuals, and therefore we now have professionals like yourselves and and myself filling a void that used to be filled by by um friends and family and takes a village to raise a child, yeah.
Robyn:Exactly. The tribe, yeah, yeah.
Peter:Yeah, we've we've replaced the tribe by professionals, and there's fundamentally nothing wrong with that. I I don't mind it's it's a shame, but there's fundamentally it that's okay. Yeah, the problem is no one no one's paying for the professional.
Robyn:Yeah, we actually my friend and I were talking about that. We I don't even think we're replacing them with professionals. Um, I think in the US, most moms are just trying to build that village out of Amazon Prime deliveries and group text messages. The village doesn't show up with cast rolls anymore. Like I remember with my first baby, I did have like a group that would show up nothing for the second, nothing for the third. Yeah, um, now what you show up with is a like on your Instagram post. It's just there's so many things that have shifted. And you know, historically, women never did postpartum alone. You touched that on that earlier, Lisa. There was the grandmothers, the aunties, um, all the neighbors helped with kids or the meals and older kids, and there was just so many there's just so many people there around. And now most moms they're isolated. Your family is far away, your partners have little to no parental leave. Um, cultural expectations say that you know we should handle it all. So I think the loss of the village is a huge reason why the US has such high postpartum depression rates and moms and it feels like they're failing.
Lisa:Right. And it can't just be a fix like three weeks after, like you said, Peter, earlier, six weeks later. I mean, babies go through these funky stages um where they have what do you call it, Robyn? The uh where they their cluster feeding and yeah, they do this cluster feeding because you know, they're you know, think about the human growth cycle. Nothing there is no other time in one's lifetime that you go through so many physical changes than your first year of life. I mean, if you think about it, right? So it's monumental. It is monumental. Like if somebody could tap into the drug of whatever that is, that human reaction, chemical, physical, everything emotional that happens in your first year of life. Um, and so think about the parent who's having to live through that with, you know, without no one. And then you even think about the single moms. I mean, and then think about parents who haven't even been through the birthing experience. They're actually adopting babies. So we don't just try to support um people that have just had babies. We try to support everybody who's ever had to deal with a newborn, and that's that's our goal is to do a bit of a stopgap and see where and how we can bridge all of those exceptional experiences. And Robyn puts words into things that I know I experienced raising four babies, having four babies, you know. Yes, the cluster feeding, that's why they woke up, you know, every 30 minutes, you know, when they turn six weeks old, you know. I mean, and you're a zombie, you're a complete zombie because in America, my husband went back to work, right? I had I was counting the days until I had to go back to work. And I know that Robyn's dealt with that as well. Um, and it's monumental. So it yeah, we're building that village. It's we are rebuilding them. We're trying not to leave mom on the side of the road, you know. Um, we're trying to pick her up and say, let's go. And we need gas in our tank. We need people to realize this is this is a mission. Yeah. Because we have, like I said, go ahead. No, no, no, please, please go. Yeah.
Robyn:Yeah, I wasn't saying, and that's why we have, you know, the nurses, the lactation consultants, other moms. We have a mother's lounge where you can sit in some with someone who just kind of gets it. We have journaling, pelvic floor exercises, a massage. And it's really just because we don't want that mom to ever feel like she's alone. Um we put cameras in the nursery because let's be honest, the first time you put your baby in a nursery, you're still spying on your baby. You're like, I just have to make sure he or she's okay. Um, but no, I think that with the Ruby and everything that we've talked about so far, it can definitely be fixed. It's just making it the standard, making it the norm, because right now people just if it's not happening to you, it's hard for you to justify today.
Peter:No, for sure. And and um, it's so so what is what is the process that you have? So so let's assume someone because I'm thinking 80, 90 percent of your people will be reason newly postpartum. Am I right? Rather than say adoptive parents or because I'm assuming people can join six weeks after six weeks as they're like, dude, I I need a yes, so zero to zero to ten weeks is.
Robyn:When we accept mom and baby. Um, and one thing that we love to tell the moms, because I'm not sure why this piece is missing, but yes, the baby is in the nursery, but only if the mom wants the baby in the nursery. If the mom wants the baby in the room, it's perfectly fine. If mom is breastfeeding our nurses, let's say mom rolls the baby in the nursery, our nurses will take baby to mom when it's time to breastfeed. Mom just texts our nurses, we're done. She'll pick up baby, swaddle, burp, change, put them back. So that way mom can go immediately back to sleep instead of the whole yeah, like 30, 40 minutes of you know, washing and trying to get everything together before you go back to sleep and wakes right back up. Um and then so for the moms that want to come after 10 weeks, we have something else, another package where it just includes your your stay, a massage, three meals a day. You can stay as long as you want, and just for you to recoup and recover. Um, the only thing you lose is our nursery services.
Peter:Because that that is quite often again, and and it's wonderful that that that you have that covered because that again is is quite a lot of parents only find out they're struggling relatively late on. Yeah, because we expect it to get better, right? We expect to struggle for four or five weeks, right? Everybody kind of it's gonna be tough. There's a new baby, right? So it's gonna be tough.
Robyn:We had someone check in when was it, Friday, Lisa? Thursday or Friday, and she was sent home, not stayed, she was sent my gosh, yes. Oh, now you're in her own time with a catheter in. And they're like, Go home, she just gave birth, you didn't use the restroom, you have to go home with a catheter. And she was like, How am I supposed to take care of this baby when I can barely move around if I have a catheter stuck to me? Kicked out of the hospital, like kicked out of the hospital, and so she called us and was like, please, do you have a room available? I really need to come tonight. And thank goodness one of our moms pushed because she hadn't given birth yet. And we're like, Yes, come. And I mean, we helped her with everything you can imagine because she could not pick up and just carry her baby around. And then now we got she's like, How do I change this catheter? Yeah, yeah, they syndrome with a permanent catheter. I I don't know, and then we have moms who we have one that's staying later um in the year, and she booked early because she said she knows she deals with postpartum depression, she's gonna nip it in the butt. She's like, I want people around me that know what they're doing. And so then we have people that, you know, when Lisa and I first opened this, I thought, oh, we're gonna be booked solid right away. And I was like, what happened? What happened? I'm really planning. We have bookings all the way until March. And so people are really planning ahead. And once we announce that we can accept their FSA and HSA to help cover it, I think that made a huge difference. And I can only imagine what will happen the moment insurance says, Yeah, we're gonna cover this, or HR slash benefits are gonna say we're gonna pay for part of it.
Peter:Yeah, so for sure. Because I know I think it's it's one of those things. I I I've I always I've I've I wrote about this years ago before I even set up HPMB. I used to have a different sort of personal training thing, and and I I used to write a lot for magazines and stuff. Um you know, I always said raising a child to the age of 18 cost in the UK 250,000 pounds. So that's what 300, 400,000, something like that. Right? Yeah, right. Plus college. Please, please, yeah, plus college. Yeah, I mean, yeah, if you raise an ignorant child, it's 300 grand. And if you raise a smart one that gets to go to Harvard or Yale, then you're half a million in that in the hole. Right? So fingers crossed that you have a not too brainiac uh not to not too smart child, or at least not to or three of them. But it's it's it's the we don't budget for immediately postpartum. Or at least we never used to be your own. We never used to. We we we never used to say so so so so when you're talking about um uh about the Ruby about the initial postpartum period, if you can swing it, if you can afford it, try to book that into the early expenses of of the baby and just say this is because we get a tremendous amount. I don't know you again, you've got three kids, Robyn. You'll know how much crap were you given at the birth cow?
Robyn:I kid you not, I shouldn't even say this out loud because I'm like, if anyone hears me say this, I actually did not even open a lot of my gifts, I kept them in a closet and I slowly returned them to Target, and I had thousands of dollars on a gift card and I went and bought things as I needed it. And but you know what's crazy? You think kind of what you just said, how people aren't budgeting for it. But when you're pregnant, you're spending months budgeting for a $1,200 stroller and the perfect nut nursery and cute um coming home clothes. But if you ever ask like the moms, did you set aside for your own recovery? It's like crickets, no one thinks about it. Um you'll Venmo a friend $50 for a diaper fun, but not a night nurse for recovery say, Yeah, yeah, so yeah, and it's just because here again in the US, postpartum is treated as an afterthought. Um, we don't have it for it, it's not our culture, and yeah, and we don't even present it as an option. Like postpartum recovery is now just starting to be talked about amongst females in the United States, and so well, and Peter, you hit it earlier.
Lisa:I mean, the doctors are like they know because they're the ones that probably see the most of it, you know, and that and and it's mostly the OBGENs and you know, psychiatrists, but they get it. So when we talk to doctors, they're like, This is so needed. I mean, they do, they just breathe heavily and they're like, This is so needed. Um, but it's interesting, and I'm gonna I'm gonna be pretty frank with you about this. We when we got um by a major city um paper, we got put in their front page of their business section because it is such a novel concept. Um, and then the negative um things that we receive were people who say, Well, we can't afford it. And you know, it's how it's amazing. I'm sure you've had this the platform of people that will come back and forth, and they're like, Well, they're not doing this because you know they don't have anything else to do in their life, they are in business to try to provide a service that's needed, and we've got to launch this somehow, somehow. And so Robyn and I have have taken though that to heart, right? Which which has set us on a different mission, but but we are in business to support ourselves and our families. Um, so again, I keep going back because it to me, the main message about all of this is that this should be a movement, it should be an absolute movement of uh care for women um and their and their families. I mean, think about who else benefits from this type of care. It's not just the mom and the baby, it's dad or their partner or the other kids that are in the family. And you just you just try to get people set on the right foot. And if you can get them set on the right foot, then when they travel down that road, they're hopping along well, you know, and that's just the message. And yes, the gifts that are great. I mean, so Robyn and I, we have a part of our website, we have give a little nudge. And if you want to, you know, you can grandparents and go in there instead of helping, you know, do a baby shower, they just help purchase a stay for the mom to go to when she has that baby. So all kinds of creative concepts to try to get people to understand that they should help.
Peter:Yeah, because that's that's the big thing. It's like what what Robyn said earlier is people used to show up with the casserole. And let's be honest, food is needed, those parts. Cooking, yeah, is is one of those things, cooking doing the washing, domestic chores, right? It's it's the old come back to the cyo two thing. So in China, basically, usually it used to be the mother or the mother-in-law moved in.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah.
Peter:And and and the the new parent wasn't allowed to do anything. There was there's no vacuuming, there's no cooking, there's no washing, you don't anything. You're with the baby, you eat a lot of hot broth, and and that's for for for recovery, and and that is it for a moment.
Robyn:And actually, you're not even with the baby, they have someone else taking care of the baby so you can heal. If if you are eating soup, everyone's eating soup. They are not ordering pizza on the side, making you feel bad.
Peter:They are exactly it is it is exactly it is one deal. And we've moved away from showing up with the casserole to I'll send a nice card and a baby girl. Well, if you've had three kids, how many baby girls do you still need, right?
Robyn:Well, and not only that, we've gotten to you know, if we're not gonna make a casserole, we're gonna just give you a Chick-fil-A gift card. And a mom during postpartum does not need Chick-fil-A.
Peter:No, not exactly.
Robyn:Sounds amazing.
Peter:It sounds, it sounds but but but yeah, you're right. It is it is just taking so it's much better to I always say give money first, right? And and then have the parent decide what they want to do with that money, but what they feel is the most beneficial to them. And I I make a point of I tend to give money and specifically say, don't buy anything for the baby unless the baby needs it with this money, because otherwise they're gonna feel obliged to buy the baby grow and go, Oh, look what I bought with your money, right? To show me because that's my own. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Robyn:So to hit on that, Peter, that's another thing. A lot of moms have mom guilt where they feel like they should not be taking care of themselves, it's supposed to be all about the baby, and so yeah, no, that's so true.
Peter:Yeah, and and and this is where I I think things like the Ruby coming, and like like like Lisa was saying, I mean, everybody needs to make a living, right? Let's be honest. Everybody needs to everybody has bills to pay quite often exactly because I I I used to get the same when I said, Okay, this is this is kind of what I do now. Oh, you're only in it for the money. Well, if you look at my house, only money to spend on my three dogs. I've got yeah, pardon my friends.
Lisa:I get you, Peter.
Peter:I totally get you. Yeah, three dogs are expensive, and I want the fourth, but I just can't afford them now. Yeah, it's fundamental. There are genuinely people like yourself and and myself out there that are trying to do something that is right, trying to do something that will benefit society, but we still have a few bills to pay, so we have to charge a little bit. We can't do it all for free. And I've I've had a little look at uh at the Ruby website, obviously, right? Otherwise, I wouldn't have had you on, right? And the prices you charge are significant significantly below a hospital stay.
Speaker 2:Significant.
Peter:I mean, it is a huge difference.
Robyn:This is what I tell people, Peter, when they're when they are upset about pricing or how we're not being fair about pricing, which the people that get it get it. You can look at it two ways. So we charge $11.75 a night. If you look up how much a nurse makes, $50 an hour. Okay, that's $1,200 for 24 hours. That's just your nurse. So you're staying at the Ruby for less than it would cost for you to have a 24-7 nurse. And that includes your stay, all of your meals, your snack, your pelvic floor, your lactation, your massage, your concierge service, plus your nurse. So it's your dedicated night nurse. I mean, that's another $50 an hour that people are spending. Yeah, sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Robyn:Um, so I think when people take a step back and really look at what it includes, it's a little different. Same thing I say, okay, $11.75. How much does it cost you to stay at a hotel? Oh $600, $500?
Peter:Yeah, at least. At least I I I offered some uh to give my wife uh a night at the Prestonfield Hotel in Edinburgh. It's one of the higher-end hotels, but it that comes out at like seven, eight hundred dollars a night. Oh, yeah, of course. You have all the taxes hotels, but that doesn't include your yeah, exactly. You need to get there, you need to eat stuff. Don't think the bill is included in the house. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yes, no, of course it's not. Well, neither that landed, yeah.
Lisa:But dad gets to stay, so that's the thing. Dad gets to stay, and dad gets a meal. So when you look at it, it's it's bring bring dad and get in here. We're gonna take care of him too, and you know, feed him. And so it's it is a good deal.
Robyn:Um I was like, it depends. Some moms are like, Yes, bring dad. Other moms, like, do not come. Do not tell him that he can come. Yeah, but we had one mom that dad wouldn't leave, and I was tracking up to the point where he just wasn't catching the hint that she wanted him to leave, and we finally had a room open up and we're like, Hey dad, you're gonna sleep in here tonight. Yeah, yeah, she wanted to sleep, yeah.
Peter:But but but yeah, so so you're gonna get but look, and and like I said, I mean when you're looking at the overall cost, and and Alex, listen, nobody saying a grand a night is cheap, right? That it's a thousand a month is a lot of money out of anybody's pocket, yeah. But you have to look at value for money and what you're getting in return for for of course type of stuff. Another RI, that is why it's yeah, exactly. You just have to you have to say, and especially when it comes to again insurance companies and all that type of stuff, right? I'm I'm completely with you. People shouldn't have to pay $11.75 a month, uh, an a night, but they shouldn't have to pay themselves, should be included in their insurance.
Lisa:I agree. I mean, it would be it would be the wisest thing for insurance companies to do, and I can tell you, as a woman who has gone down the road of having four children, and you know, you enter a different phase of your life. And fortunately, I I did have you know a mom who was adamant about a couple things that probably was pelvic health floor-driven that has staved off problems for me as a post-menopausal woman, and and I can just tell you that it all lays in together. There are so many things that you do in your early life, and especially having children, that will affect you as you get older. And um, when you have proper care, and if you really look at the investment that you put in yourself, it's gonna pay off later. And I say that not just in the physical stance, but in the mental way and everything else in the future, it just is part of it, and you know, and women's it's so funny. I guess it's because of social media, women's health has become more of a platform, and people now talk about uh which used to be so taboo, um, menopause and periods and how women feel. So we're just we're just trying to say it's really been here all along. This is not new. We're just making people focus on it and let's give some credit to the person who's having to go through all of this, right?
Peter:So yeah, and and especially with regards to because a lot of the postpartum discussion, I don't know whether you're finding that over in the States, is centered around self-care. Self-care being take some time for yourself, get a massage, and all that type of stuff, right? Yeah, yeah. If we could possibly bring that discussion about postpartum care into the realm of things like things like the root, as in you need more than just a weekly massage and call it self-care, right? You need you need help much more than than any the self-care element of it almost becomes becomes uh uh redundant in the way that we currently preach self-care with regards to I like to get my hair done. Yeah, boopie do. I'd I'd like you to not be yourself when you're laughing, right? Can we agree? Can we agree that nobody likes as a woman, especially especially especially women in business, right? This is how I pitched it to my corporate clients, and one of them is um very typical alpha female CEO, I think, and she had four kids, like much like yourself. She had the woman that had it all. I said, But how did you feel knowing that there was this faint whiff of ammonia in the lift whenever you were in the elevator? That's that messes up your confidence, it just does. Yeah, but you can't walk around going, I am badass boss bitch, whatever they use called on Ted Lasso, right? Just I am the badass bitch that is running the show. I demand the raise because I earn it because I make you millions of dollars, but I also smell a little bit of SP on myself, yes, yes, but you know, but if we can move away from that and just get that first bit done, and like you said, I mean, depending on how how long you stay, uh I I think it's uh I've I've I think it's it's a no-brainer, and and I hope we're going to see a lot more facilities like this uh around at least around the world where because they have them in China, but but uh at least around the world where these things are not that common at all.
Lisa:Yeah, yeah. It should be a new old world, you know? That's what it is, exactly the way it used to be a new old world, but fine-tuned.
Peter:Uh yeah, exactly. Yeah, we just we just fit it into how it works uh uh in today's society before you know the world goes to hell in a handbasket. Um cool on that slightly depressing note, which I consumer wanted to touch on before I press stop record here. I think we covered a lot of grammar, and as always, press stop record is exactly uh exactly what I did. Thanks very much to both Lisa and Robyn for uh for getting in touch and and uh for coming on. I I had a great time talking to them. I think it's really like I said, I I think the Ruby is a very interesting concept. Arguably, you could argue it we shouldn't need it and we should be more connected as a society in a utopian society, matriarchal society. There would be no such thing, or this such thing actually there would be tons of this stuff, but it would be freely available to absolutely everybody and would cover be covered by universal healthcare. Um but we live in the world we live in, and I think Robyn has done a uh uh Robyn and Lisa have have done a really interesting thing here by by setting this up, uh keeping it relatively affordable and all that sort of stuff, which is again uh uh as I discussed with them, it's one of the things behind healthy postnatal body is that the stuff that you're currently being charged a fortune for should be freely available or at least um affordable, affordably available is if that's a thing to absolutely everybody. I think healthy postnatal body for instance should be free, and I'm sure Robyn and Lisa also think that your insurance, if you're in America, uh should cover this, and that actually it should all be there should be tons of these facilities all over America and in my opinion all over the UK for everybody who needs it, and it should be part of whether that's your national health or or your insurance company. So I I think it's a no-brainer that this sort of thing can really benefit mothers and children, but also also husbands and uh and and partners and and all that sort of thing. So I think it's a really interesting thing. I wish them all the best. And you know, that's me done for another week. Uh in November. Next week it will be from the vault, and God only knows what I'm doing after that. Anyways, you take care of yourself, Peter at helpyplesnatobody.com. Uh almost forgot now. Um rate the postcard podcast if you can. If you don't mind too much, a little uh give a little rating. Um that's always much, much, much appreciated. You take care of yourself. Have a great week. Bye now.