Birth Re-Imagined

On today’s episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Noam Shanker, Caitlin Francis’s husband, operations manager, and new dad to talk about life with a newborn baby. Noam talks with Elle and Taylor about taking a newborn care class, bonding with his new baby, his favorite things they got off their baby registry, white noise and ASMR/ambience sounds, getting pregnant, how to discuss baby care duties with your partner, how parenting is changing in our generation, and choosing baby names.

For full shownotes and resources for this episode, please visit: https://ellekennedyphotography.com/2021/06/26/34-a-dads-perspective-on-life-with-a-newborn-with-noam-shanker/

On this episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Caitlin Francis, a licensed speech-language pathologist from Southern California and a new mom to talk about her first birth experience. They talk about a baby’s very strict yet constantly changing schedule, being pregnant and giving birth during Covid, a husband almost sleeping though the birth, and stashing water and snacks all over the house.

For full shownotes and resources for this episode, please visit: https://ellekennedyphotography.com/2021/06/18/33-caitlins-birth-story/

On this episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Dr. Theresa Pulickal, a Doctor of Physical Therapy who specializes in pelvic health and a mother of 3 who loves nature and hiking, to talk about Pelvic Floor Therapy. We talk to her about the importance of pelvic floor strength and coordination, pelvic steaming for circulation and relaxation, and C-section scar tissue massage.

For full shownotes and resources for this episode, please visit: https://ellekennedyphotography.com/2021/06/11/32-pelvic-floor-therapy-with-dr-theresa-pulickal/

On this episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Ely Mitchell, a LGBTQ+ mama who works with LGBTQIA+ and special needs families to talk about how to meet the differing needs of these unique and wonderful families. Ely shares the five steps she uses to help families of every kind find support, learn how to make decisions, and do what is best for their family. They also discuss the different kinds of difficulties that LGBTQIA+ families and special needs families face. Ely shares a heart-warming story of a little girl named Kennedy. They discuss what caregiver burnout and loss of identity looks like and how to help combat that.

For full shownotes and resources for this episode, please visit: https://ellekennedyphotography.com/?p=2921

On this episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Trisha Goodall, a mom of two kids and the founder of Ostaria Parenting to talk about C-Sections. In this episode we talk to Trisha about the birth of her son and the unplanned C-section that brought him into the world, and birth scenario planning cards with “Healthy baby-Healthy baby” on both sides, being left alone after a birth, and forgiving ourselves for making the best choices we could at the time.

For full shownotes and resources for this episode, please visit: https://ellekennedyphotography.com/2021/05/29/30-trishas-birth-story-c-sections/

On this episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Dr. Katarina Rigali, a family practice chiropractor in Los Angeles, to talk all about the importance of crawling! They talk about what crawling helps develop in our brains, what kinds of things kids might struggle with if they skip the crawling phase, how cross-core development helps with things like ADHD and anxiety, and how we can help our kids work on those cross-core skills even from home! They also dive into how skin on skin contact and physical contact affects us and how the simple act of holding babies and hugging our loved ones can help our physical and mental health.

For full shownotes and resources for this episode, please visit: https://ellekennedyphotography.com/2021/05/07/29-the-importance-of-crawling-with-dr-katarina-rigali/

On this episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Kristen Wood, a registered dietitian to talk about diet and nutrition during pregnancy and postpartum. They discuss important nutrients for pre-conception, during pregnancy, and postpartum. They talk about how the healthy plate method of eating (as opposed to the food pyramid a lot of us grew up with), when pregnancy cravings can be dangerous, and how to give yourself some grace.

For full shownotes and resources for this episode, please visit: https://ellekennedyphotography.com/2021/04/30/28-pre-and-postnatal-nutrition-with-kristen-wood/

On today’s episode, Taylor is joined by Jennica Joyce, a prenatal yoga teacher and mama of three to talk all about prenatal yoga. She hosts yoga retreats at her home in Joshua Tree, as well as helps birthing people to calm their jitters and strengthen their bodies as they bring new life into this world. Jennica shares the story of her first birth, where her little one waited until almost 43 weeks to make his appearance earthside, and how her experiences with prenatal yoga empowered her to have a positive birth experience where she felt calm and in charge while trusting her intuition to meet her needs and the needs of her baby. Since recording this episode, Jennica has given birth to her third child, a beautiful baby girl.

For full shownotes and resources for this episode, please visit: https://ellekennedyphotography.com/2021/04/23/27-the-benefits-of-prenatal-yoga-with-jennica-joyce/

On today’s episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Amber Purcell, a postpartum maternity travel nurse, newborn care specialist to talk about leveraging our strengths and how to build a solid team. Bringing a baby into this world is hard work, and learning to take care of a new human is even harder! This episode focuses on identifying everyone’s needs, talking out what your goals are as a family and as parents, and then figuring out ways to meet those goals (no guilt allowed!).

For full shownotes and resources for this episode, please visit: https://ellekennedyphotography.com/2021/04/16/26-leveraging-our-strengths-with-amber-purcell-schaul/

On today’s episode, Elle is joined by Val Rosas, a placenta encapsulation specialist to talk all about this amazing and mysterious organ. They talk about the benefits of placenta encapsulation, what the process of placenta encapsulation looks like, different ways to consume the placenta (placenta encapsulation – raw method of traditional Chinese method, placenta smoothies – immediately postpartum, pre-packaged, or cubed, tinctures, and cooked), and how to grow a healthy placenta.

For full shownotes and resources for this episode, please visit: https://ellekennedyphotography.com/2021/04/09/25-placenta-encapsulation-with-val-rosas/