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Fit For Motherhood
Fit For Motherhood episodes
- Life As A Pediatric Oncology Nurse
As a follow up to our episode 2 weeks ago with Erin Nahorny (Episode 28), Alyssa talks about what it has been like working as a pediatric oncology nurse. She shared how she became interested in nursing, some of the highs and lows and a little advise for parents.
Follow us on IG @fitformotherhoodpod
Join our community at www.fitformotherhoodpodcast.com
48 min - Never Say Never
In this episode Ali and Alyssa talk about the decision Alyssa's family made to leave Chicago and move back to her hometown, how they're adjusting, along with some life updates from Ali and our random thoughts on sleepovers for kids.
Follow us on IG @fitformotherhoodpod
Join our community at www.fitformotherhoodpodcast.com
54 min - Mom, Caretaker, and Advocate: Celebrating Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month with Erin Nahorny
In this episode Ali and Alyssa had the honor of interviewing Erin Nahorny, the mom of Sammy, a now 12 year old, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at the age of 4. She shared with us what it was like to find out that Sam had neuroblastoma, what his journey looked like and how she and their family all came out the other side. She also told us about the foundation that she helped start which is giving money each year to further research in childhood cancers.
Erin Nahorny is a busy wife to Chris and mama to Ella (16), Sam (12) and Jacob (9). She is a passionate advocate for childhood cancer awareness and funding. People who know her would describe her as motivated, hard-working and passionate about what is important to her.
Erin grew up in Columbus, NE and returned to the area in 2005, when her husband, Chris, began working for her family's business. Erin completed her education with a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology from Doane College. She worked in the social services industry for 15 years, but left her position as the Children's Services Director at the Center for Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Survivors when her son, Sammy, was diagnosed with Stage 4, High-Risk Neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer, in 2012. For several years following Sam's diagnosis, Erin made caring for Sammy and her family her #1 priority.
In 2013, Erin, Chris and a group of close friends founded Sammy's Superheroes Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting childhood cancer awareness and research. To date, the all volunteer foundation has funded over $1,000,000 in research grants to hospitals all over the country.
In 2017, Erin began to consider returning to a career of service, but didn't feel the same passion to continue her career in social services. After much soul-searching, Erin decided a complete change of career was in the cards and she began studying real estate. She found a great balance between her love of helping others through her work with the foundation and helping families navigating the difficult path of childhood cancer and also having her own career.
Outside of Sammy's Superheroes, Erin has been actively involved in various volunteer and non-profit entities for many years. She has worked with the American Red Cross as a Critical Incident Stress Management/Debriefing therapist. She worked with the grief support program, Mourning Hope, as a group facilitator and served on their Board of Directors. She was the Chair for her local United Way's "Kids for Change" Campaign. She is a member of St. Isidore's Catholic Church and loves to volunteer at her children's school.
To connect with Erin or find out more about Sammy's Superheroes visit them on
Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/SammysSuperheroes/
and on
Instagram @sammys_superheroes
Follow us on IG @fitformotherhoodpod
Join our community at www.fitformotherhoodpodcast.com
47 min - Vanishing Twin Syndrome
In this episode Alyssa talks about her experience losing a twin at 5 weeks. Hear about how she found out about the loss and how she is doing now.
11 min - Baby Wearing and Journey Into Motherhood with Soukaina Benhaga
In this episode we talk with Soukaina "Akina" Benhaga.
Soukaina is married to her engineering school sweetheart and they blessed with their sweet baby Luna. She works as a business intelligence analyst and love taking pictures, creating content, DIY, home styling and weightlifting. She and her husband are originally from Morocco and they currently live in the beautiful city of Montreal, Canada.
We talked with her about her experience with baby wearing her daughter. She also shared her journey into motherhood starting with her birth story and then the transition back to work after a year of maternity leave. We also talked about the importance of self care along with a nightly bowl of ice cream.
Connect with Soukaina (and see her beautiful feed) on IG @akinasway
Follow us on IG @fitformotherhoodpod
Join our community at www.fitformotherhoodpodcast.com
49 min - Ask Us Anything- Summer '20
This episode is just the two of us doing our very first Ask Us Anything episode. We are hoping to do these quarterly as a way for you to get to know us better.
Listen in to find out about our SSB (you have to listen to find out what this is), our favorite and least favorite parts of motherhood, how we have maintained a long distance friendship for so many years and more!
Follow us on Instagram @fitformotherhoodpod
Join our community at www.fitformotherhoodpodcast.com
1 hr 4 min - Experience Using a Night Nurse with Hillary BeharIn this episode Alyssa spoke with Hillary Behar about her experience using a night nurse with her son and plans to use one again with her daughter. We talked about the role of a night nurse and the things they are responsible, the different avenues to finding and booking one, and the many benefits to having an extra set of hands around to help. Hillary opened up about her hesitancy at first to allow another person into their home to help, but then how having the help allowed her to decrease some of her anxiety, get some sleep and be the best mom to her son. As moms we have this desire to do everything and be everything for our kids and family. We hope this episode helps any mom out there who is struggling to know that it's okay to ask for help whether your kids are newborns or running around the house. To connect with Hillary: email her at [email protected] Follow up on IG @fitformotherhoodpod Join our community at www.fitformotherhoodpodcast.com40 min
- Finding Hope After Child Loss with Grief Coach, Megan HillukkaLosing a child is an experience that can turn your life upside down. You wonder how you will ever find hope again or how you can keep going. This week we had the chance to talk with Megan Hillukka who is a grieving mother herself and who is now working with other grieving mothers as a grief coach. Megan is a grieving mother turned grief coach who is encouraging, coaching, and supporting grieving women as they navigate one of the most difficult experiences of their lives. She has found that with the right tools and support, every woman can have life and happiness after child loss, if they want it. She has 6 children, one of them, Aria, lives in Heaven. Megan lives in Minnesota with her husband of 9 years, Justin. She is passionate about showing what's possible, and continually learning and doing the work in her own life as well. She shared her story with us about how she and her husband, Justin, lost their 15 month old daughter Aria, and about the trauma and PTSD that came after. She shared her journey of healing and how she then turned to grief coaching to help other women. She believes in post traumatic growth. That it's possible to have a life that's better than before. She says, "I support grieving moms in being able to discover life again to be able to instead of just surviving everyday instead of living under the mask, instead of just functioning everyday but not truly living. I help them connect with their bodies and their emotions and be able to move through grief in a way that I think a lot of people don't think is possible." To connect with Megan Check out her podcast at www.meganhillukka.com/podcast Join her Facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/cultivatedfamily IG @cultivatedfamily Follow us on Instagram @Fitformotherhoopodcast Join our community at www.fitformotherhoodpodcast.com52 min
- Pregnancy, Miscarriage and Home Birth with Lauren WilliamsIn this episode Alyssa chats with Lauren Williams about her pregnancies, how she and her husband walked through having three miscarriages and about her home birth experience with her little man Oliver. Lauren is a mama to 3 angel babies, 3-year old Ollie and baby girl on the way. She is the wife to a chiropractor, business owner at Roots Family Chiropractic, occupational therapist + happy homebody (enneagram 5w6 all the way!). You can most likely find Lauren enjoying an oat milk at her favorite coffee shop or strolling around the beautiful neighborhoods of Chicago with her little family. She says, "Life is crazy, but I always make time for a hot shower at the end of the night and scouting out the newest non-toxic product. Oh and I love sharing my world rooted in health and simplicity on my Instagram, @growingmay. I'm pretty much an open book! Ps- Virtual cheers to all those ladies out there trying to figure it all out + chasing the dream of drinking coffee while it's still hot. You are my people!" To connect with Lauren, follow her on Instagram @growingmay or at www.growingmay.com Follow us on Instagram @fitformotherhoodpodcast Join our community at www.fitformotherhoodpodcast.com49 min
- Quarantine Life Update with Alyssa and Ali
In this episode Alyssa and Ali give updates on their lives in quarantine. They discuss the home improvement projects that have been keeping Alyssa busy and Ali talks about her family's first overnight vacation.
Follow us @fitformotherhoodpodcast
Join our community at www.fitformotherhoodpodcast.com
34 min
About Fit For Motherhood
From the publisher's feed
Hi friends, welcome to the Fit For Motherhood Podcast!!! Thank you for taking time out of your day to listen, we are SO excited to have you with us!
We have been friends since early childhood, grew up together and are currently the moms of littles 5 and under.
A LITTLE BIT OF INFO ON US
Ali lives in central Illinois with her husband, Matt, and their three kids (4, 3 & 1). She is a part time hair stylist and spends the rest of her time at home with her kids.
She is an enneagram 9w1.
Alyssa lives in Chicago with her husband, Grant, and their two toddlers (3 & 1). She works part time as a pediatric oncology nurse and is also a certified holistic health coach & life coach and the owner of Grounded Roots Coaching. She especially loves working with women during their first year postpartum.
She is still trying to figure out her enneagram.
WHY ARE WE PASSIONATE ABOUT THE TOPIC OF MOTHERHOOD?
• We're MOMS
• We've both experienced difficulties in our journeys as moms and have felt alone in dealing with those challenges.
• We're tired of the perfect images that are crafted on social media to which we find ourselves comparing our lives.
• For Ali, she has become more self-aware in the last year or so and is tired of being dragged along by life. She has challenged herself to find ways to be more proactive about her mental and physical health because she realizes how much those things affect her ability to parent effectively.
WHY ARE WE DOING THIS PODCAST?
• Letting moms know that they are not alone in questioning their fitness for parenting
• Encouraging other moms to know that we can do the hard things of motherhood, even when we doubt our abilities.
• Sharing practical applications and also ideas that can be helpful in keeping ourselves mentally and physically fit for motherhood.
We would love to have you with us every week as we talk together through topics that are important to us (and hopefully you!), interview other moms who are walking through all the different issues that come with the different stages of motherhood, and bond together over the things we have in common that truly make us fit for motherhood.