HERself

(Trigger warning: secondary infertility, miscarriage)

1:8 couples will experience secondary infertility. Allie Karagozian, Occupational Therapist, momma, and founder of @holdingboth, always knew she wanted to be a mom. After using fertility treatments to conceive her first child, she was overjoyed to become a mother. When she and her husband were ready for a second child, they were met with secondary infertility troubles. From that hardship, @holdingboth was created with the mentality that it is okay to be thankful to have a child, but still grieve not being able to have another. Allie wants to bring more awareness to secondary infertility and through her business she provides support and a safe landing place for those families walking through it. 

Allie wants you to know that it’s important to take care of your mental health during the journey of secondary infertility. She highly recommends that you and your partner seek therapy through any outlet you feel comfortable with, whether that’s through your insurance, BetterHelp, or support groups like the ones Allie hosts. And if you’re a friend of someone going through infertility, it can be hard to know what to say and ask. Allie gives us a great insight as to what thoughtful questions to ask to show you care without causing overwhelm.

And if you are going through a pregnancy loss, we want you to know it’s okay to ask for help. Ask a friend or family to take your other children for the day so you can rest. And please give yourself some grace during this time. We understand this is a sensitive topic, and if listening to this episode is too much right now, we understand, and encourage you to tune back when the timing is right. 

Links & Resources:

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Follow Allie on Instagram

Allie’s Website

Listen to Allie’s Podcast: The Secondary Infertility Podcast

The Miscarriage Doula on Instagram 


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If you follow us on Instagram, then you may have seen our stories the day we got colonics. It was an interesting experience to say the least! A lot of you, our listeners, had questions and wanted more detail about the process, how it makes you feel, what to expect, etc. Spoiler, one of us had a little bit of a poopy situation! And one of us unfortunately had a not so pleasant experience. Today we’ll go in depth about our individual experiences during our colonics and share about what you can expect if you think a colonic procedure is right for you. Would we do it again? You’ll have to listen to find out!

On a more serious note, Abby wanted to share more about her journey with Hashimoto’s disease. We have a real conversation about being aware of your body’s symptoms, knowing your triggers, and slowing down. Abby discusses her symptoms she was having when she was first diagnosed and how those have waxed and waned over time. Amy shares her concern over her heavy periods and that she is doing some hormone testing to see if any improvements can be made. If you have been experiencing symptoms similar to ours, or just not feeling yourself, we encourage you to get hormone testing done! 

Over on the Expecting and Empowered Podcast, we interviewed the owners of Your Hormone Balance, a women-owned business that specializes in hormone testing and coaching. We are so excited to share that Your Hormone Balance has provided a discount code specifically for our listeners. Getting testing can be your first step to feeling better and getting back in control of your body and your life!

Links & Resources:

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Your Hormone Balance; use code HERSELF for 10% off the “Build Your Own” Test Kit

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MEET AMY: http://instagram.com/ameskiefer

MEET ABBY: http://instagram.com/abbyrosegreen

After seeing some of Lindsay’s work through a friend, we knew we needed to have her on our podcast. Lindsay Bryan Podvin is a licensed social worker turned financial therapist, and the first of her kind in Michigan! As a financial therapist, Lindsay’s job is to look at the emotional side of money and help others with their mind/money connection.

Money is a hot topic whether you’re single, partnered, or married. Sometimes we think we are doing worse financially than we really are. Lindsay’s work with individuals and with community groups has shown that you may not be as bad off as you think! It’s important that we understand our emotions behind money and understand things like why it may be hard to stick to a budget and why we feel the way we do about money. And it’s people like Lindsay that can help you figure that out!

If you have a partner, discuss and get clear on what your financial goals are as a couple. And if one partner makes more than the other, it’s important to have a game plan on how your finances will be shared. Making sure that you are being transparent about your debts, salary, and spending habits is part of financial fidelity. 

Lindsay touches on other trending topics like “loud budgeting”, 9 financial goals for couples in their 30s and 40s, her financial type quiz and book titled “The Financial Anxiety Solution”, and even gives us a mini therapy session! You won’t want to miss today’s episode, and you’ll probably want to pass this along to your partner too! 

Links & Resources:

Enroll in the HERself Self-Care Course

Follow Lindsay Bryan Podvin on Instagram

Lindsay’s Website

Listen to Lindsay’s Podcast: Mind Money Balance

Purchase Lindsay’s Book; The Financial Anxiety Solution

Lindsay’s What’s Your Financial Archetype Quiz

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We both have experience raising children who seem to not respond to gentle parenting and the other well known techniques. It has been frustrating for the both of us at times because it makes us feel isolated and exhausted. We are so excited to revisit episode 157 with Claire Lerner as our “Greatest Hits” episode over this 4th of July week. Claire shares her expertise with us and we feel it is just as helpful now as when this episode first aired. 

Claire shares what to do if your child is wired differently during moments of aggression towards others. She explains that our children are not trying to be manipulative in any way, just that they need boundaries to help themselves regulate. 

Have you ever wondered if timeouts are truly a thing of the past? Claire explains her concept of a safe space break and how this alone time can help kids get back to a place of calm. 

With it being the summer season with lots of gatherings with family and friends, we know these gatherings can be major triggers for our kiddos who tend to be big reactors. Claire helps us navigate the conversations we can have with our friends and family. 

Links & Resources:

Enroll in the HERself Self-Care Course

Follow Claire on Instagram

Claire’s Website

Claire’s Book

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MEET AMY: http://instagram.com/ameskiefer

MEET ABBY: http://instagram.com/abbyrosegreen

Whether you’re a teacher, a nurse, or a therapist, professional burnout is real. Our guest today, licensed psychologist and mother of two, Dr. Nancy Grechko, specializes in supporting women therapists and women working in the mental health field. And while Dr. Grechko’s main focus is with women in the mental health field, they are usually also mothers. The tips she offers in today’s episode are really relatable as busy mothers who want a healthy work/life balance.

As mothers, we are caregivers. And sometimes it can be easy to over commit ourselves in our personal and professional lives to help meet the needs and care for the other people in our lives. We can squeeze in that play date on Thursday evening with friends, right? And we can squeeze in one or two more clients on Wednesday morning too? Well, Dr. Grechko tells us today that overscheduling can cause increased stress and resentment over time leading to burnout. It’s important for us to recognize our limits and set boundaries to prevent burnout from occurring. 

A lot of us have flexible work hours or are able to work from home some days. However, this can make it harder for us to “turn down the volume” of work when we can see emails popping into our inboxes. Dr. Grechko reminds us that we need to be more mindful of being in one place at a time and create more separation between our work and home lives. She has some wonderful teachings to help us create that mindful space.

Overall, the importance of recognizing, honoring, and communicating your limits to prevent burnout is what we want you to take away from today’s episode with Dr. Nancy Grechko. And remembering that we weren’t meant to do this motherhood journey alone. There are several tangible tips in today’s episode to help you work through things internally, with partnership, and with a greater support community. 

Links & Resources:

Enroll in the HERself Self-Care Course

Follow Dr. Nancy Grechko on Instagram

Dr. Nancy Grechko’s Website

Dr. Grechko’s Complex Trauma Online Course - use code HERSELF for $10 off

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We (Amy and Drew, Abby and Colin) just got back from our amazing trip to Kaui, Hawaii to celebrate our 10 year anniversaries. We had such a great time vacationing as separate couples exploring North Shore Kauai, and then also as a group enjoying the South Shore. The best of both worlds! 

Coming home from Hawaii, we felt compelled to record this episode and talk about friendship. As busy moms, wives, and entrepreneurs, our schedules are pretty full. Which makes the time we dedicate to friendships very sacred. We have learned over the years that not only is time precious, but who you keep in your inner circle is just as important. Are you okay with the habits and behaviors of those friends and their children rubbing off on your kids? Do their values line up with yours? It’s important to choose wisely which friendships you nurture. Choose ones that will build you up and leave you feeling energized and happy instead of drained.

Enriching friendships takes a lot of work. A new friend can’t be a best friend immediately. Maintaining surface level friends is okay, but digging deep, asking questions, and spending quality time together can get you to that best friend level. Being open to new friendships in our 30s and 40s may bring a new best friend (or two!) to walk through life with. We are so thankful to have developed our great friendship over these past years and witness each other's vow renewals in Hawaii. We encourage you to keep an open heart to new friendships as they may provide you with joy you didn’t know you were missing!

Links & Resources:

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MEET AMY: http://instagram.com/ameskiefer

MEET ABBY: http://instagram.com/abbyrosegreen

We have some news to share today… Pursuing HER Purpose, our other business focused on helping entrepreneurial moms with our friend Kat, is officially closing its doors. As we mention in today’s episode, while PHP may be ending, we are bringing over the best of that brand to the HERself platform! Our consulting services and coaching courses will still be available on our website.

In honor of one season ending and another beginning, we thought we would replay one of the most listened to episodes from the PHP podcast titled “The Episode You Need if You Are About to Return From Maternity Leave” for you today. The season of your maternity leave ending can be bittersweet. It can seem daunting to leave your infant just as you were getting the hang of being a new mom, or new mom again! In this episode we go through many tips and tricks to help you during this transition like what to wear to pump at work, how to prepare the night before for a smooth morning and daycare drop off, as well as how to lean on your partner during this season. 

Beyond the physical things we can do to prepare to go back to work, we encourage you to embrace a mindset change too. Instead of feeling guilty for needing to step away from work for 15 minutes to go pump, changing your mindset to “I’m doing this for my baby” can help you stay motivated and empowered to go pump. Going back to work can be stressful, but reminding yourself that your role of providing for your family is important and your kids will be so proud of you for doing so! To wrap up, Kat shares with us a heartfelt letter she wrote to her children when her maternity leave was coming to an end.

If you are coming over from the PHP podcast, thank you for your support over the years and your continued support here at HERself!

Links & Resources:

Enroll in the HERself Self-Care Course

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Check out our newest partner Goodwipes 

Follow Kat’s other business @theyesandco

Pursuing HER Purpose website

Let’s connect!

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MEET AMY: http://instagram.com/ameskiefer

MEET ABBY: http://instagram.com/abbyrosegreen

Today on the podcast, we are excited to welcome back Dr. Emily Jamea, who was last with us for episode 192. Dr. Emily is a sex therapist who works with couples and individuals to overcome relationship and sexual hurdles to enjoy more meaningful lives. She sits down with us today to discuss how we can talk with our kids about all things related to sex. Here at the HERself podcast, we plan on talking to our kids about sex, but understand that if this topic does not align with your beliefs, please feel free to skip this episode! 

“Mom, where do babies come from?” If you haven’t already been asked, you will be at some point. And when is the right time to give our kids “the talk”? Dr. Emily points out that it is important to use proper anatomical terminology while she walks us through how to answer these questions with age appropriate responses. 

She also emphasizes the importance of discussing different scenarios when sex may come into play with our older children. By helping them establish their personal sexual values, they will be better prepared for when those scenarios happen in real life. While privacy settings and activity monitoring apps can be useful on teen phones, nothing can replace the conversations we need to have with our kids about being safe online. We know this can be an uncomfortable topic to talk about, but we encourage you to get uncomfortable and have those conversations. We thank you for listening to today’s episode!

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Links & Resources:

Dr. Emily’s Website

Follow Dr. Emily on Instagram

Order Dr. Emily’s book, Anatomy of Desire

Listen to Dr. Emily’s Podcast

Enroll in the HERself Self-Care Course

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MEET AMY: http://instagram.com/ameskiefer

MEET ABBY: http://instagram.com/abbyrosegreen

For today’s “Greatest Hits” episode, we are revisiting our interview with Dr. Morgan Cutlip. She joined us for episode 162 and episode 190. This episode we are focusing on how we take care of ourselves as mothers; how do we feel good inside motherhood? So many of her answers spoke directly to both of us.

In her book, Love Your Kids Without Losing Yourself, Dr. Morgan explains three core concepts moms face. She chats with us about these concepts including what we can do to help ourselves with the conflict of sacrificing our own identities in motherhood. We also discuss the core concept of idealization of motherhood and how intense our standards are on ourselves as parents. 

Ever feel like your needs aren’t being met by your partner when it comes to sharing the load? Do you ask them for help but it never seems to go anywhere? Dr. Morgan shares actionable steps you can take when our own needs are not being met. She talks about how you can best manage all of our commitments and why that means you can’t be 100 percent committed to everything at once. 

If the HERself podcast has made an impact on your life we would love it if you could help us in return. Leave us a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts and while you’re there also hit the follow or subscribe button. That way we will land in your inbox every single Monday!

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This episode was produced and edited by @pivotballchange.

We’ve all experienced the feelings of happiness, sadness, fear, anger, etc. And if you are a mom, you’ve seen your children experience all of these emotions too.  But why is it that when our children are displaying anger, it makes us so uncomfortable? Today we are talking with Certified Parenting Coach, Leda Rawlins, about why anger in children is normal and what we, as parents, can do when our child is angry. Leda will walk us through how, and when, to teach our children how to react in a frustrating moment.

We know that angry behaviors from our kids at home is stressful enough, so it’s normal to worry about those same behaviors while they are at school or extracurricular activities. Leda will explain when and who we should collaborate with to make the best team to support our child in those settings. 

Sometimes as parents it can seem daunting to change our own behavior when responding to anger from our child. Leda acknowledges that the help of professionals can be beneficial and sometimes necessary to teach us the tools and strategies we need to help our child succeed. The main thing we want you to know is that it doesn’t take a perfect parent to implement the strategies Leda teaches us today. It’s about being better, and that’s what’s important! You’ve got this, mama!

Leda’s Website

Leda’s Instagram


Leda's Newsletter

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Links & Resources:

Leda’s “Smoother Transitions” Guide

Enroll in the HERself Self-Care Course

Let’s connect!

HERSELF PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/herselfpodcast

HERSELF INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/herselfpodcast

MEET AMY: http://instagram.com/ameskiefer

MEET ABBY: http://instagram.com/abbyrosegreen