Two years ago at a friend’s baby shower, Oakley resident Jess Kerr had an epiphany: The pink and blue gift bags were filled with lots of cute clothes, blankets, diapers and other baby necessities, but not much for mom.

That seemed unfair. After all, she’s doing all the work, right?

Months later, Kerr later received a sobbing phone call from her friend who was standing in the aisle at her neighborhood Target store less than 24 hours after leaving the hospital following delivery. "I had no idea I would leak everywhere," her friend said as she cried. "No idea what to get or what to do here."

Her friend was in pain with no idea what she needed to buy to be more comfortable. And she was too embarrassed and uncomfortable to ask strangers for help.

“I felt like we, her friends, had failed her,” Kerr said. “She didn’t need the six matching onesies I gave her, she needed mesh underwear and overnight pads.”

Giving moms what they need after delivery

That haunted Kerr, and she decided to take action. After a two-year gestation, Kerr is delivering a new product, postwell gift boxes, filled with what new moms need to look after themselves following delivery.

She has experience working with launching businesses. "I tell people to fall in love with a problem, then build the solution," she said. "So I took my own advice."

“Childbirth is a mother,” is the tagline on her mom-care product boxes. “We turn postpartum into post wellness."

Kerr said she was frustrated with the Instagram-world depiction of life after childbirth. "It's like models holding babies," she said. "And if your experience isn't like that, how does that make you feel? It's not real," she said.

Postwell is going to deal with what's real.

What's in the postwell box?

Postwell has two boxes available now, with two others in development.

Kerr said the $60 basic box has all of the postpartum recovery essentials with no frills, helpful regardless of birth plan — vaginal, C-section, home birth or natural. For mom’s relief and comfort, the box contains:

Rael Overnight Pads

Earth Mama Herbal Perineal Spray

Earth Mama Herbal Sitz

A Momwasher Peri Bottle

Lansinoh Soothies Gel Pads

Tucks Pads

Medline Deluxe Perineal Cold Packs

The $30 Trifecta has the three absolute "must have" products for postpartum recovery: Rael Overnight Pads, Earth Mama Herbal Perineal and the Momwasher Peri Bottle.

She said she's interested in adding quality products that are a good value. And she's seeking products produced by companies that are owned by women and moms.

Postwell box a way for women to share what to expect after birth

Kerr said she hopes the box is not only useful because of what's inside it, but that it acts as a conversation starter so women can share what to expect with the mom-to-be.

"I am hoping thepostwell box will help women talk. Your friend or sister gives this to you and you have a real talk about real-life expectations. I want women to be prepared and empowered to own that time. They have just given birth."

She's also hoping postwell's Facebook page and website will help that conversation move along and become a community and a resource.

Kerr, a 2016 graduate of the University of Dayton’s Entrepreneurial Studies and Marketing program, is well versed in what it takes to start a business. She’s currently a program manager for The Brandery, a Cincinnati startup accelerator that invests in five to six high-growth startups per year and helps them launch.

Practice what you preach

Now she's putting into practice what she tells other startups.

She did a lot of research before launching her new gift line, spending months interviewing first-time and experienced moms as well as hundreds of doctors and NICU and delivery nurses, midwives and doulas to find out what every new mom needs in those days after delivery.

She said moms were a great source of what works. "I don't have kids," she said. "So I was interviewing everyone I could find."

Then she set out to build boxes that would help those moms when they come home after delivery.

What's next for postwell?

Kerr has new boxes in the works. In the planning stages are a “motherload” box sometime in the next month that will have extra pads, packs and more breastfeeding aids for mom. She’s also planning a C-section box soon.

There will also be a special packaging line for moms who experience delivery and place babies for adoption or experience the death of the baby following delivery. "Those moms still need the physical aftercare," Kerr said.

The boxes are available online at https://postwellbox.com.

All the feels

Kerr said she's grateful for what she's learned working with so many start-ups, "I've learned from the best and they've been incredibly helpful," she said.

"When it's all said and done, and you are getting ready to launch the site, it's exhilarating and terrifying," she said. "That moment before you hit send… I never understood what I was asking others to do until it was my send button being pushed. It has increased my respect for them, and now I understand.

"It's so rewarding."