Olivia & Jonathan’s Maven story: 24/7 care in moments that matter

First-time mom Olivia first gained access to Maven through her husband Jonathan’s employer. Olivia and Jonathan turned to Maven for compassionate care during the months after her miscarriage, into her second pregnancy, and after the birth of their son. To navigate their second pregnancy journey, they found 24/7 on-demand support through Maven from different types of providers including a mental health specialist, a nutritionist, an OB-GYN, and a career coach. 

Finding compassionate support after early pregnancy loss 

The first time Olivia got pregnant, she suffered from an early pregnancy loss that devastated her and her husband. When they discovered they were pregnant again, Olivia and Jonathan were painfully aware of how common miscarriage and infant loss are. Though it’s not often discussed, research suggests that more than 30% of pregnancies end in early pregnancy loss before 20 weeks. They didn’t want to live in fear throughout the pregnancy and knew that mental health support and trusted information about what was normal and what to expect during pregnancy would play an important role. “I relied on Maven to help me process, emotionally, mentally, and logistically,” Olivia explains. Maven helped her find providers she could count on as she navigated her parenting journey. 

Olivia soon discovered that the pregnancy evoked a new dimension of processing and grieving her miscarriage, and wanted to address it in a healthy way, so she looked for affirming care from someone with the same values and faith background. “I really wanted somebody who was going to understand where I was coming from with my faith and all the questions and cultural nuances I’m working through,” Olivia says. Olivia reached out to her Care Advocate, who quickly found her a mental health specialist to fit her needs. When she met with her counselor, it felt like she had found a safe space to work through the emotions surrounding both pregnancies as well as talk through various dynamics of family life. She met with her counselor multiple times as she reflected on her feelings and situation. “It was the first time I was able to articulate some components of what I was grieving and the hardships I was dealing with,” Olivia remembers. “It allowed me to process the miscarriage and have a healthy pregnancy and celebrate the new life.” 

Learning about her pregnancy alongside her husband 

As Olivia’s pregnancy progressed, Maven provided a way for Jonathan to feel more equipped with accurate information. Olivia and Jonathan had several joint appointments with Maven providers including career coaches and doulas, learning together about what to expect. Jonathan was able to ask questions about the birth process and how to support Olivia during birth and postpartum.  They also took the infant CPR course together. “We really used Maven to educate ourselves as much as possible on every stage of the journey,” says Olivia. 

Olivia also found Maven’s personalized content very helpful, and took a childbirth class, a newborn care class, and a lactation class. There are a lot of opinions out there about pregnancy and childbirth, but not all are helpful.  In order to avoid misinformation, whenever she or Jonathan had any questions, they sought out clinically-approved content on Maven. “We turn to Maven first before we search Google,” says Olivia. 

Olivia experienced the importance of having access to clinically-vetted information firsthand one day during Week 18 of her pregnancy.  She felt dizzy and faint like she was going to pass out. She was confused about why she was having such an extreme reaction to the summer heat, and looked on Maven for answers. “The first thing I saw on the home screen was that during Weeks 18 and 19, you have the lowest blood pressure of the whole pregnancy. It was another example of helping me not be scared during my pregnancy and giving me this really critical information.” When Olivia went to her in-person provider, they verified that her blood pressure was in fact the lowest it had been in her whole pregnancy. Maven affirmed to her that how she was feeling was normal and helped her understand the physical changes she experienced week-to-week during pregnancy. 

On-demand care during stressful moments 

When Olivia was 22 weeks pregnant, she contracted COVID-19. While in quarantine, she found a tick on her. Like many people from Massachusetts, Olivia had experience with ticks. She knew this was the kind that carries Lyme disease—and that waiting for care could make a bad situation worse. She had COVID, so she couldn’t go anywhere to get tested for Lyme. Olivia anticipated that her in-person provider wouldn’t be able to get her care as quickly as she needed it. So while she waited to hear back from her in-person provider, she set up an appointment that same day with a Maven OB-GYN. As it turns out, Olivia’s in-person provider didn’t return her call for four days, and when they did, they didn’t offer an appointment until the following week. Her Maven OB-GYN on the other hand was able to promptly deliver the care Olivia needed. Within 20 minutes of reaching out on Maven, Olivia was able to talk to a specialist and get the care needed to deal with the unnerving situation. “I don’t know what I would have done if it wasn’t for Maven at that point. My OB-GYN on Maven helped me when my in-person providers left me high and dry in a very urgent situation.” 

Maven was there for Olivia in the moments that mattered. “I’m just so grateful for Maven. I think every employer should offer this as a benefit,” Olivia says. “It’s made such a big difference.”