Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Glenn.
Hi Sarah, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
As a child, I was known as the “midwife” of the community—a caretaker at heart. Since I was an only child in an Irish Catholic community, I sought out other families to gain experience caring for others. Most families I was surrounded by were large, 5-10 kids each. As I became aware of puberty and body changes, pregnancy and childbirth became a significant component of my interest. When I entered college for psychology, it became clear that I would pursue the maternal healthcare route. I was married and pregnant by 19 and learned firsthand about my babies. After my first childbirth class, I became an educator, doula, La Leche League Leader, and Lactation Consultant. Before I was 25 years old, I was supporting families through childbirth, breastfeeding, and newborns.
After having 2 cesarean births, my focus was on guiding families through VBAC. My 2 surgical births were traumatic, and it took time to heal, but following my passion for supporting other moms made those experiences worthwhile. I’ve since had 4 more vaginal deliveries (7 kids total) without any issues. For an extended period, I was on track to become a midwife. Later, I decided to stay as an assistant (due to my family obligations) and eventually left to make changes in the hospital system. For 9 years, I fought the medical system to bring understanding and empathy back to childbirth and breastfeeding, including a Johns Hopkins facility in Washington, DC. I taught breastfeeding education at a hospital and obstetric and pediatric practices for the American Academy of Pediatrics Best program in Pennsylvania.
I began a breastfeeding coalition in my county in PA. Today, I am the Education Chair for the SC Breastfeeding Coalition. My experiences and education grew while working on my yoga, herbalism, and perinatal mental health certifications. Sharing my expertise with other birth and breastfeeding gurus has been a large part of my practice. Others must gain reputable knowledge to pass on evidence-based research and empathy. We need to stay fluid and evolve with the next generations.
Since 1990, Lactation Station & More has been a private practice supporting families through pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and beyond. For some of those years, my private practice was a part-time gig, and I worked full-time in a hospital, midwife, or doctor practice. At other times (like today), my private practice has been my whole life. Today, I employ 5 others, and we have a busy practice encompassing many facets of the perinatal field. I’ve worked my entire life to make sure this type of care is affordable to others. We offer discounts, payment plans, and freebies all the time. My favorite part of what I do is the connection I have with others., the friends I’ve made along the way, the look on a mom’s face that just needed validation, and the circle of moms we bring together every week.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No! I am a mom of seven and a grandma of 10. My life is super busy. I’m also an only child, so when my mom was sick with cancer for 10 years, it was mainly me taking care of her. Working for a broken healthcare system was the hardest. The atmosphere always made you feel you were “beating your head against a wall.” Gaining respect from the medical community was difficult for a long time. It is much better now, but there is a long road ahead. From a financial perspective, raising that many kids and not having a livable wage yearly was hard. My husband also owns a business, so there were hard times. We often needed better healthcare insurance and worked in the broken healthcare system to get benefits. Finding reliable and compatible help has been difficult.
I appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Lactation Station & More?
Lactation Station & More was born on the idea that women needed more support, education, validation, and guidance during the perinatal period. However, we will never turn families away with questions regarding any life stage. We will offer a reputable resource if we don’t know the answer. As a team of certified perinatal support specialists and lactation consultants, we possess the expertise to guide Charleston area families through this delicate phase. Our focus is empowering women to trust their body’s innate ability to give birth and care for their babies holistically. Instilling this confidence early on is a foundation for strength in all aspects of a woman’s lifelong journey. We offer prenatal classes, birth doula, postpartum doula, lactation consulting, newborn care, night nursing, mental health counseling, specializing in advanced lactation support for those that have “tried it all,” free mom circle weekly, and mentoring programs.
We specialize in extensive feeding problems from infant digestive concerns, tongue ties, poor weight from superior issues, low maternal milk supply from medical conditions, inducing lactation, pumping fears, and many others. Guiding mothers in the tender first weeks after a baby is our specialty for many. Finding a way to help a new family cope with newborn care, mental health, and maternal healing is the precipice to fixing the broken system. Known for being “baby whisperers!” As we have been told by the families we support, we are thorough and patient. We turn no one away and will give the “shirt off my back” to help you. We are proud to be able to offer support to low-income and teen families within their budget. We also provide insurance-covered care and accept what the insurance will pay. For military families, this is amazing. We are so excited to give back. We run a transparent company that prides itself on listening and giving back honest, straightforward guidance with a touch of empathy. We treat the whole dyad!
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check?
So many! I enjoy all the education by these authors: Ina May Gaskin, Dr. Jack Newman, Dr. Thomas Hale, Christine Northrup, Dr. Todd Wolynn, Suzanne Arms, Pam England, Evidence Based Birth, La Leche League, Lactation Education Resources, Penny Simpkin, Henci Goer, Nancy Mohrbacher, Diana West, Lisa Marasco, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, ILCA, Lamaze, Spinning Babies, Dr. Sears, Birthing From Within, The birth hour podcast, located podcast, milk minute podcast, badass breastfeeding podcast, Postpartum support international. SAMHSA, Fair Play- I’ll stop here because there is too much. I could truly keep going!
Pricing:
- Breastfeeding $200 initial home visit
- Breastfeeding $150 initial office visit
- Walk-in Wednesday is $25/ 15 minutes
- Birth Doula $1000
- Postpartum doula and Night Nurse is $40/ hour
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lactationstationandmore.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lactationstationandmore/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lactationstationandmore
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahglenn/
Image Credits
Janine Nicole Photography
