As a Minneapolis newborn and family photographer, I spend a lot of time with moms in those early, raw days after baby arrives. And the more conversations I have, the more I realize how much we just accept as “normal” when it really isn’t. The pain we push through. The mental load we carry. The fact that we’re back at Target three days postpartum because somehow that’s seen as impressive.
That’s why I started Made for Minnesota Moms. Real conversations with Minnesota women who actually support pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, with resources you can use actually use.
Today’s guest is Dr. Michelle Haggerty, founder and CEO of Fourth Trimester Doc, an in-home medical practice based right here in Minnesota. Dr. Haggerty is board-certified in family medicine, integrative medicine, and breastfeeding and lactation medicine. Her whole practice is built around one question: what if postpartum care actually came to you?
We talked about what is the fourth trimester, why the standard six-week checkup falls so short, and what moms normalize that they really shouldn’t. This conversation genuinely changed how I think about postpartum support, and I think it will for you too.
Meet Dr. Michelle Haggerty, Founder of Fourth Trimester Doc
Dr. Haggerty started Fourth Trimester Doc in 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic. She’d been working in a traditional family practice clinic, seeing patients every 10 to 15 minutes, and she knew that wasn’t the kind of care she wanted to give, especially to brand-new moms and newborns.
The idea clicked when a close friend asked Dr. Haggerty to be her baby’s doctor. Instead of saying yes to a rushed clinic visit, she pitched something completely different. What if I just came to your home? You’re snuggled in bed with baby, skin to skin, and we go through everything together right there. Her friend said sign me up, and Fourth Trimester Doc was born.
Today, Dr. Haggerty and her team of four physicians cover the entire Twin Cities area, and even people as far out as Duluth and Bemidji. Plus virtual support across greater Minnesota, and beyond.
What Is the Fourth Trimester, and Why Does It Matter?
Before we get into the conversation, let’s first answer the question “what is the fourth trimester”, because it’s a term that gets thrown around without much explanation.
The fourth trimester refers to the first 12 weeks after birth, the time when both mom and baby are adjusting to life outside the womb. Baby is learning to regulate their own body temperature, sleep cycles, and feeding. And mom’s body is going through massive physical, hormonal, and emotional shifts, all while caring for a brand-new human around the clock.
Dr. Haggerty leans on another term for this too: matrescence. It rhymes with adolescence, and that’s intentional. Just like adolescence, matrescence is a major developmental transition. Your hormones shift. Your body changes. Your relationships change, with your partner, your friends, your own parents. Even your finances and daily habits shift. It’s a huge transformation, and it deserves way more attention than a single ten-minute visit at six weeks postpartum.
What Postpartum Care at Home Actually Looks Like
Here’s where Fourth Trimester Doc really stands apart. Most family practice physicians manage 2,000 to 3,000 patients. Dr. Haggerty’s practice intentionally keeps their patient panel small, just a couple hundred patients a year total. That means:
- Visits that last over an hour, not 10 to 15 minutes
- Direct text access to your physician, with responses usually within 15 minutes to an hour
- Home visits within 24 to 48 hours of birth, whether you delivered in a hospital or at home
- About five postpartum visits, plus the two-month well-child check, all done in your home
Care often starts during pregnancy with a planning session in the third trimester. Dr. Haggerty talks through what postpartum will actually look like: where baby will sleep, where you’ll spend most of your time, how to set up your space to feel cozy and supported. Her own doula once told her something that stuck with her ever since: planning for the birth and not the postpartum is like planning for the wedding and not the marriage. That line stuck with me too.
Care That Stays in Your Home, Even When Things Get Complicated
One thing I didn’t expect was how much medical care Fourth Trimester Doc can actually handle at home. Blood pressure concerns, jaundice management, even breast abscess drainage, things that would normally mean a trip back to the hospital and time away from your baby, can often be managed right where you are.
The two-month vaccines happen at home too, and babies can breastfeed during the shots for pain relief. Dr. Haggerty’s team doesn’t require vaccines either. They support whatever choice feels right for your family.
Watch the Full Interview
If you want to hear Dr. Haggerty explain all of this in her own words, press play. There’s a warmth to how she talks about this work that’s hard to fully capture in writing.
If you’d rather read, keep scrolling. I pulled out the questions and the parts of this conversation that stuck with me most.
Q&A with Dr. Michelle Haggerty, Founder of Fourth Trimester Doc
1. Tell us about yourself and your journey to becoming a physician.
Dr. Haggerty likes to introduce herself as a human first. She’s a mom of three boys, ages eight, six, and four, and she’s also navigated pregnancy loss, something she talked about openly and hopes more people felt more comfortable discussing. She said, “It’s such an important part of so many people’s stories, and it’s not talked about enough.”
On the medical side, she’s board-certified in family practice and completed fellowships in both integrative medicine and breastfeeding and lactation medicine. She’s also a yoga instructor and Reiki practitioner, which shapes how she approaches mind-body support with her patients.
2. What is the fourth trimester, and why is in-home care so important during this time?
This is where Dr. Haggerty’s own postpartum experience really shaped her practice. After having her first baby, she was told to bring the baby in for a weight check while she herself was still in diapers, still incontinent, and barely able to pull on a pair of jeans.
Her body had just gone through an enormous transformation, and nobody acknowledged that. The entire focus was on the baby. That gap, the lack of acknowledgment for what a mom’s body and mind go through, is exactly what Fourth Trimester Doc was built to fill.
She also pointed out something I hadn’t fully thought about: babies still depend on our bodies even after birth. Whether you’re breastfeeding or bottle feeding, you’re still the one waking up at all hours. Your baby’s nervous system is developing in relation to yours. She said, “if you’re just barely treading water, it’s not helpful for anyone.” Moms deserve support and acknowledgment, not just for the birth, but for everything that continues afterward.
3. What’s different about how Fourth Trimester Doc structures patient care compared to a typical clinic?
Most pediatricians and family practice doctors manage panels of 2,000 to 3,000 patients. Dr. Haggerty’s practice keeps it intentionally small, just a couple hundred patients total per year. That’s what allows for hour-long visits and direct texting access to your physician, usually with a response in 15 to 20 minutes.
She gave a great example of why this matters: those middle-of-the-night intrusive thoughts that almost every new parent experiences. What if I trip and drop the baby? What if I crack their head on the counter going around the corner? These thoughts are incredibly common and don’t mean anything is wrong with you. But left unaddressed, they spiral. You start Googling at 2 a.m., you stop sleeping, and then anxiety and depression creep in.
Having direct access to a physician means you can text, “Hey, is this a scary thought or something I should worry about?” and get a quick answer that stops the spiral before it starts.
4. How does Fourth Trimester Doc support partners, not just moms?
Postpartum depression and anxiety aren’t limited to the birthing parent. Partners experience it too, often around the six-month mark, and it tends to go even more unrecognized and untreated. A lot of partners aren’t even connected to the healthcare system. They haven’t seen a doctor in years simply because they’ve been healthy.
Because Fourth Trimester Doc works with the whole family, partners get to know Dr. Haggerty too. She proactively gives them a heads-up about what to watch for, increased anger, wanting distance from family, throwing themselves into work, and lets them know they can reach out for support directly. Supporting the partner ends up supporting the entire family.
5. What’s actually happening in the body during the first 12 weeks postpartum, and why isn’t the standard six-week checkup enough?
Dr. Haggerty was refreshingly direct here, “the six-week visit is a joke.” By six weeks, you’ve either figured things out on your own (because you had to) or you’re barely hanging on, and either way, you did it without much support. The visit itself tends to focus heavily on birth control, with little room for the bigger picture, like whether breastfeeding is going well, how your mental health is doing, or what “getting back to exercise” actually means for your specific body.
Recovery doesn’t start at six weeks. You can begin focusing on your breath, your body, and gentle recovery immediately after birth. And Dr. Haggerty is a big advocate for pelvic floor physical therapy for everyone who’s been pregnant, regardless of delivery type, ideally starting during pregnancy so you’re already connected with a provider postpartum.
6. When should families start working with Fourth Trimester Doc, and what does ongoing care look like?
Care typically begins with a pregnancy planning session in the third trimester, done at home. This is where you map out what postpartum will look like: sleep setups, nutrition, relationship changes, and what matrescence might bring for your specific situation.
After birth, Dr. Haggerty’s team usually visits within 24 to 48 hours, whether you had a home birth or just got home from the hospital. From there, it’s about five postpartum visits, plus the two-month well-child check, all in your home. Many concerns that would normally send you back to the hospital, like blood pressure issues or jaundice, can often be managed right there too, so you’re not separated from your baby.
7. What are some things moms normalize that they really shouldn’t?
This question got some of the most important answers in the whole conversation. According to Dr. Haggerty, here’s what should not be brushed off as normal:
- Feeling like postpartum has to be miserable. It can be a supported, even beautiful experience, not just something to survive.
- Being unable to rest, mentally or physically, even when your body and mind are telling you to slow down. Being “up and at ’em” days after birth isn’t something to celebrate if your body isn’t actually ready.
- Painful breastfeeding. Some discomfort during the early adjustment period is normal, but ongoing pain, cracked or bleeding nipples, isn’t something to grit through. There’s support available, often before it gets to that point.
- Urinary incontinence. Continuing to leak urine isn’t just “part of having kids.” It’s treatable.
- Feeling a bulge, ongoing constipation, or hemorrhoids. All of these are common, but common doesn’t mean you have to live with them long term.
Her bigger point was that so many moms grit through these things because we’re conditioned to put our kids first and just push forward. But pushing through isn’t the same as healing, and support exists so you don’t have to choose between the two.
The Real Life Rescue Kit
At the end of every episode, I ask guests for three Minnesota-specific recommendations that help moms in real life. Here’s what Dr. Haggerty shared:
- Takeout rescue: Italian Eatery in South Minneapolis. During her pregnancies, this was her go-to. Any pasta on the menu is a safe bet, and it’s all delicious.
- Kid-friendly outing worth it: Minnehaha Falls. It’s gorgeous, walkable, and has a playground, live music at the pavilion, and Sea Salt Eatery for summer treats. Dr. Haggerty’s family used to bike there weekly when they lived in South Minneapolis. (And if you’re looking for a photo spot nearby, Longfellow Garden right across the street is one of my personal favorites too.)
- Local resource for moms: Amma Parenting’s new mama groups. Dr. Haggerty said this one was hard to narrow down, since she’s constantly referring people to amazing pelvic floor PTs, therapists, doulas, and lactation consultants. But these groups stood out because they don’t just meet, they also go out into the community together each week, which makes it so much less intimidating to be out with your baby (especially as a first time mom), blowouts and all. Amma Parenting offers new mama groups, second-time groups, and more, and Dr. Haggerty is still close with her first childs group eight years later.
Side note: I’d add Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) classes to this too. My family used them for all three kids, and having that built-in community made a huge difference, even when COVID hit mid-group with my third.
Where to Find Dr. Haggerty and Fourth Trimester Doc
Fourth Trimester Doc serves the entire Twin Cities metro with virtual support available across greater Minnesota, including areas like Duluth and Bemidji.
- Learn more about their services
- Read more about the practice and team
- Browse their top postpartum resources and recommendations
- Get in touch through their contact page
- Follow on Instagram
A Note from Me
I hope I answered your question about what the fourth trimester is. This conversation gave me so much to think about, especially the idea that postpartum doesn’t have to be something you just survive. We put so much energy into the event and our babies but so little into what we are going through.
If you’re pregnant or newly postpartum and looking for support that actually meets you where you are, Fourth Trimester Doc is worth reaching out to, whether you’re in the Twin Cities or anywhere else in Minnesota with virtual care.
If you’re still preparing for baby and looking for local resources, grab my free Minneapolis Pregnancy Guide. And if you want more conversations like this one, join my newsletter so you don’t miss the next episode.
If you’re ready to document this season of your family’s story with beautiful photos, I’d love to connect with you.
Disclaimer: This blog post is for educational and informational purposes only and does not provide medical advice. It is not a substitute for professional medical care, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek advice from your physician, midwife, or other qualified healthcare provider with questions about pregnancy, labor, postpartum, or your health.
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