Motherbirth

Today’s guest, Amy Griffith uses the calming power of yoga and relaxed breathing to slow her life down and to enjoy the present moment. She utilizes these techniques daily as a mother, and found them to be invaluable during each of her four births - including her recent twins’ birth that didn’t go according to plan at all.

Amy gets personal on her first two empowering homebirths and the dramatic tale of her twins’ birth, including being threatened with a court order if she didn’t agree to a cesarean. A force to be reckoned with, Amy didn’t back down and secretly pushed her first baby out. We have been so excited to share this story since we first heard about it!

We get into how yoga and breathwork affect our pregnancy, birth and postpartum experiences, and the joy she feels in helping other women through their motherhood journeys.

As a professional dancer in New York City, Amy used yoga to counter the hustle and bustle of city life. She has always been fascinated with pregnancy and after her first baby, she decided to create videos for expectant mothers that focus on positivity, presence, stillness, and healing. Her collection of videos now includes postnatal care and she offers postnatal fitness classes locally in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Expectful is a guided meditation app for each stage of the motherhood journey — you can sign up for an exclusive one-month free trial here!

In This Episode:

● How yoga can assist pregnant women before, during, and after birth

Show Notes:

Expectful — One Month Free Trial for MotherBirth Community Members

Exercising Balance

Exercising Balance on Instagram

Exercising Balance on Facebook

Today’s guest, Echo Zielinski, is a private doula and mother to three children who couldn’t wait to get out of the womb. Echo helps run the non-profit MamaBaby center in Haiti - a birthing center created with the mission of empowering local support to save the lives of mothers and babies who have little-to-no access to prenatal care, education and ongoing support.

In 2006, when Echo started assisting birthing mothers, the word ‘doula’ was practically unknown to most people and becoming certified in the practice of midwifery was limited. She offered her time and help to anyone in need and often found herself assisting immigrant women, many of whom had no one else to support them through their births.

During our conversation, she shares the intimate details of her own three homebirths, what it’s like to work in a developing country and the difference between pain and suffering.  Echo’s love for women and the birth space is palpable and contagious - we loved this conversation!

Expectful is a guided meditation app for each stage of the motherhood journey — you can sign up for an exclusive one-month free trial here!

In This Episode:

● Why she became a doula

Show Notes:

Expectful — One Month Free Trial for MotherBirth Community Members

Echo Zielinski

MamaBaby Haiti Website

Heather always desired to be a mom. When she was unable to have children biologically, she and her husband decided to embark on the emotional process of adoption after deeply considering IVF. The couple now have three adopted children, two who have Down Syndrome. Heather shares her emotional motherhood journey, how she raises children with different abilities and what it feels like to receive three miracles.

Heather was so completely vulnerable in this conversation and will make you think deeply about your own experience of motherhood, how to step outside of your comfort zone, and how to support families around you that look different than your own.

Expectful is a guided meditation app for each stage of the motherhood journey — you can sign up for an exclusive one-month free trial here!

In This Episode:

● Why she decided to adopt over the IVF process

Show Notes:

Expectful — One Month Free Trial for MotherBirth Community Members

Heather Avis Website

The Lucky Few Blog

The Lucky Few Podcast

The Lucky Few Podcast on Facebook

Macy Makes My Day on Instagram

Today’s guest, Lauren Smith Brody is the Founder of The Fifth Trimester Movement and author of The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom’s Guide to Style, Sanity, and Big Success After a Baby. She worked in the publicity industry for many years as an Editor for Glamour Magazine. During her first pregnancy, she found there to be a lack of resources for women who are transitioning back into their careers after having children. Determined to make a difference, she began to research ways to help companies better support women during their childbearing years. “The Fifth Trimester” was born - focusing on the transitional and critical stage of going back to work.

Culturally, the United States falls short of what she considers to be the gold standard in maternity/paternity leave for a mother's emotional health and a baby’s physical needs. Her foundation works to promote deep cultural shifts in corporations on the financial viability of retaining women in the workplace after childbirth.

As a woman who has experienced the transition twice and who consults with tech giants on the subject, she shares her tips for negotiating with employers, making self-care a priority and ways to create a cultural shift around motherhood.

Lauren gets vulnerable with us as she shares the struggles and joys of her own journey, what she did different the second time around, and how women don’t have to just accept the “way things are” even when change seems impossible.

Expectful is a guided meditation app for each stage of the motherhood journey — you can sign up for an exclusive one-month free trial here!

In This Episode:

● How we can better support ourselves and coworkers in the transition back to work

Show Notes:

Expectful — One Month Free Trial for MotherBirth Community Members

The Fifth Trimester Website

The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom's Guide to Style, Sanity, and Big Success After Baby, by Lauren Smith Brody

After her oldest was conceived during her honeymoon, Ashley struggled with long-term postpartum depression that lasted through her second pregnancy. Despite being caught up in the typical throes of motherhood with 2 kids under 2, they began to notice that their older son wasn’t developing verbal skills, leading to a series of evaluations that resulted in an unexpected autism diagnosis.

Through a local Early Start program that offers in-home Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy, she and her partner have been able to create and maintain a family environment where both their boys can flourish. Yet, Ashley doesn’t hide the fact that their journey has been incredibly difficult at times.

She shares her struggles, her joys, and the contradictions of accepting and synthesizing both so other mothers who may be on a similar journey feel supported and know that they are not alone. She also offers advice on coping strategies, how she takes care of herself and how she and her partner make time for both children.

Expectful is a guided meditation app for each stage of the motherhood journey — you can sign up for an exclusive one-month free trial here!

In This Episode:

● How she dealt with postpartum depression well into her second pregnancy

Show Notes:

Expectful — One Month Free Trial for MotherBirth Community Members

What is Autism?

Information on ABA Therapy

Finding Your Local Early Start Intervention Services

Dez and her same-sex partner chose their own path to getting pregnant — after carefully selecting a sperm donor through a personal connection, they successfully performed at-home insemination with sterile tools purchased on Amazon. The couple has been able to use the same donor for both of their children and maintain a relationship with him that feels just right.

Dez had two distinctively different births — during her first birth, it was decided to induce labor at 39 weeks. Her blood pressure plummeted after her first epidural and the staff gave her a second. When her contractions started, the staff prepped her for it to take awhile, but her labor from there was unbelievably fast!

Throughout her next pregnancy, she combated gestational diabetes and a complication during birth which led to a NICU stay for her son and the possibility of losing her own life.

Dez’s story may be unique but its themes are so common — reminding us that every journey into motherhood takes us to the edge of ourselves and also awakens love we never knew we had.

Expectful is a guided meditation app for each stage of the motherhood journey — you can sign up for an exclusive 1-month free trial here!

In This Episode:

● The alternative at-home options to fertility clinic procedures

Show Notes:

Expectful — One Month Free Trial for MotherBirth Community Members

30 Days of Mindfulness with Motherbirth and Expectful

From a very young age, Stephanie Tillman was called to care for people. After a short time of studying to become a physician, she discovered the model of midwifery was more aligned with her personal goals of providing humanistic care to people. She is a passionate and vocal advocate for women’s rights, queer and trans health care, reproductive rights and for breaking down power dynamics in health care relationships.

On her Feminist Midwife blog, she writes about her experiences in serving people’s sexual and reproductive health needs and provides educational resources for providers looking to adopt an empathetic approach. Her compassionate method of care includes talking through the intimate experience of gynecological care, the importance of asking for consent, and empowering the people she provides care to.

During this inspirational and informative conversation, she shares why it’s important that caregivers prioritze the transfer of power and knowledge to the patient and details the process she uses when working with people including assuming everyone she works with comes from a place of trauma.

Expectful is a guided meditation app for each stage of the motherhood journey — you can sign up for an exclusive 1-month free trial here!

In This Episode:

● The history of midwifery and the many roles of a midwife

Show Notes:

Expectful — One Month Free Trial for MotherBirth Community Members

Feminist Midwife Blog

30 Days of Mindfulness with Motherbirth and Expectful

When Jannie and Carrie decided to have children they both hoped for the experience of being pregnant. After multiple IUI and IVF fertility treatments for both of them, Carrie was finally the one to get pregnant. The story of her pregnancy and how they both transitioned to motherhood together is raw and beautiful.

The playful couple is trying to get pregnant again. They have had several unsuccessful insemination attempts and choose to stay positive and supportive despite the challenges. They are well aware of the physical, emotional and mental drains that go along with the fertility process but the love and fun a baby brings into their lives make it all worth it.

We talk about career, going back to work after baby and how they make it all work while running a booming business together - hint, hint… it takes lots of communication!

Jannie and Carrie’s spunky outlook on life, motherhood and work will have you laughing and also thinking about how similar our stories are even when they might look different on the surface. You’ll love this episode!

Expectful is a guided meditation app for each stage of the motherhood journey — you can sign up for an exclusive 1-month free trial here!

In This Episode:

● Their unconventional method for choosing a sperm donor

Show Notes:

Expectful — 1 Month Free Trial for MotherBirth Community Members

Feast Portland

Little Green Pickle

30 Days of Mindfulness with Motherbirth and Expectful

Today’s guest, Anna Gannon, is a Mother, Writer, Yoga Teacher and Co-Founder and Community Guide at Expectful.com. At 7 ½ months pregnant she was let go from her position as a yoga instructor and uncertain of her next steps. Anna had always struggled with depression and while she had never previously used meditation as a tool, a timely connection opened her up to the world of mindfulness - and had a life-saving impact on her postpartum experience.

Anna hadn’t done a lot of preparation for her daughter’s birth, reflecting the experience of her mother who never complained and had seven children. But, when she experienced breastfeeding issues so severe her nipples were cracked and bleeding and she had difficulty sleeping, the meditation she’d been experimenting with would become a non-negotiable daily practice.

Anna is passionate about the benefits of meditation for mothers. Facing postpartum depression and at one point questioning whether her daughter would be better off without her, she describes meditation as saving her life. As the Co-Founder and Community Guide at Expectful, she has created a safe place for women to share, to listen, and to be heard in supportive conversations during their fertility, pregnancy, and motherhood journey.This episode launches our collaboration with Expectful, a guided meditation app for each stage of the motherhood journey - you can sign up for an exclusive 1 month free trial here!

In This Episode:

● Overcoming emotional and physical challenges during pregnancy

Show Notes:

Expectful — 1 Month Free Trial for MotherBirth Community Members

Emmy Low feels fortunate to have a beautiful baby girl and to enjoy all that motherhood has to offer. Before birthing her daughter, Rooney, Emmy experienced several miscarriages. When she shared her story with the other women in her life she was surprised to find that half of them had also had miscarriages but never felt comfortable talking about it.

Emmy posted a blog about her experience intending to share her story of loss and let other women know they were not alone. But, just seven days after publishing the post she discovered she was pregnant again. There was an outpouring of empathy and compassion from strangers who had read her story and Emmy went through a bout of ‘survivor’s guilt’ when she was found herself unsure of how to announce she was already pregnant again.  We dive into how to navigate both loss and the birth of a new stage where you move into motherhood even when others you’ve connected with aren’t there yet.

When Emmy went into labor she wasn’t sure if it was really happening - but her body knew exactly what it was doing!  Don’t miss the exciting tale of her fast and intense birth - she tells it with so much joy.  :)

In This Episode:

How few women talk about miscarriages

Show Notes:

Rooney’s Birth Story