Rebecca Egbert speaks really quickly. In my experience with fast talkers, I have found there to be underlying anxieties or ego to back up rapid-fire words. However, Rebecca doesn’t really fit that stereotype. I caught myself matching her speedy pace, but the way that she relayed information didn’t seem to stem from fear. In fact, her words felt so full of life and love that the speed in which she spoke was merely an exclamation for the exuberance that she feels to be alive.
Rebecca lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she developed and created Little Mother’s Helper. As a previously practicing midwife, Rebecca was privy to the trials and tribulations that new moms often face in understanding their role postpartum. Little Mother’s Helper, which is both a deck of cards and an online app, is a tool designed to reassure moms that everything they are going through and asking about motherhood is normal. It brings evidence-based healthcare information to new mothers in a fun way while building connected communities.
My conversation with Rebecca explores the ongoing cycle of life: birth and death, birth and death. She doesn’t shy away from talking about spirit and her personal relationship with “other worldly” experiences—those that cannot be measured or understood through science or quantitative data. One of the first stories Rebecca shares is about her first delivery as a midwife. Feeling unprepared for what was happening while the mother was in labor, Rebecca found herself accessing her inner resources and intuition to help guide her step-by-step through the birthing process. This was one of many moments in Rebecca’s life in which she chose to listen to the voice inside of her. That voice found not within her head but within her heart.
At this point in our conversation, I am both curious and cautious to name the elephant in the room. Before connecting with Rebecca, I had made the assumption that she had children. With confidence she laughs at my inquiry. She responds with a steadiness that demonstrates that she is not only used to being asked this question but also that she has no problem owning her truth. She went into midwifery because she believes in women’s health not because she wanted it to fulfill her own personal destiny with children. It was one of many moments in my life in which I was challenged to check my preconceived assumptions at the door.
For the majority of our time together, Rebecca shares a deeply personal recollection of a relationship she had with her soul mate. It went something like this:
Girl meets boy. Girl and boy’s timeline is misaligned. Girl’s father passes away and girl moves back to Montana. Finally, by living in the same place at the same time, girl and boy get it together and share one and a half years of love and intimacy. Girl and boy break up. Girl and boy continue to think about and engage in one another’s life. Girl and boy have a connection that is beyond this world. Girl and boy don’t talk for an extended period of time. Girl dreams of losing everyone that is important to her. Girl and boy are still out of touch. Two weeks later, girl wakes up to learn that the boy has died.
As Rebecca recounts this story, she stops at different moments, catching herself in tears. I can tell that she is sharing something that very few people have had the privilege to hear. It is a story of love and loss. It’s a story that could easily hold the essence of regret if she hadn’t allowed herself the time and space to embrace forgiveness and generosity of self.
The night that she received the call that her love had passed she recounts telling a friend,
“I don’t want to go to sleep tonight. I just knew that I was not going to be in my body... and that’s intense when you spend your whole life trying to be grounded on this planet, but you can go to other realms.”
Rebecca’s vulnerability to share her experience with spirit touches me deeply. It is so outside of what typical society is willing to discuss, and as a highly respected working professional, it takes immense courage to go there. However—when listening to her share her story—I can’t help but believe that all of us could benefit in believing in that which is nonsensical and unfounded as it creates a safe space for us to experience the unknown. Rebecca’s sharing reminds me of the poem Prescription for the Disillusioned by Rebecca del Rio,
Come new to this day. Remove the rigid overcoat of experience, the notion of knowing, the beliefs that cloud your vision.
Leave behind the stories of your life. Spit out the sour taste of unmet expectation. Let the stale scent of what-ifs waft back into the swamp of your useless fears.
Arrive curious, without the armor of certainty, the plans and planned results of the life you’ve imagined. Live the life that chooses you, new every breath, every blink of your astonished eyes.
In the aftermath of loss, Rebecca remembers pouring herself into her work. In her unwavering commitment to find ways for mothers to care for themselves postpartum, she regenerated herself through work, creating space to practice self-kindness and self-generosity. In knowing that the only constant in life is the cycle of birth and death, Rebecca states,
“We can either get trapped in the anxiety of them all and the depression [of] them all and the worry and all of that kind of stuff, or we can choose to go high… We can live on a high vibration. We can choose joy. We can choose love. We can choose hope.”
As Rebecca continues to put one foot in front of the other with her business and her healing process, I can’t help but smile. For whenever it is that she finds love—if that is what she seeks—her words most certainly will not be able to keep up with the rapid beating of her heart.
Rebecca Egbert was a practicing midwife for nearly 10 years. Often told she has the energy of seven people, hard work is part of her cellular body. Three years ago, she committed deeply to her entrepreneurial and innovative spirit, taking a giant leap away from clinical care into the “FemTech” world to build The Mother Love—a company that develops inclusive technologies and connected communities to improve women’s health. With a hint of intuition and playful communication, Rebecca and her team create fun, accessible, and actionable self-care tools that are designed to be used, most importantly, and shared to grow healthy women, cultivate strong families, and create connected communities.
