Sage Motherhood

I am a firm believer that we all have trustworthy intuition. You might be more or less skilled at using and trusting your intuition. I believe it's some part gift and some part skill.

In this episode, I share

• some working definitions of intuition
• different ways intuitive information comes in to your awareness
• several stories of my journey with trusting and following my intuition
• practical advice for discerning the difference between anxiety and intuition
• using body signals to determine if something is intuition or bias
• some journal prompts for connecting with your intuition

Important Links

Hire me as your Digital Doula!

Sage Mama Maternity - comprehensive digital doula program that gets you practical advice and education for healthy pregnancy, birth preparation, postpartum planning and newborn care. www.stefaniemelo.com/sage-mama-maternity-a

Prenatal Nutrient Supplementation

I've built a shopping cart for well-researched, sustainably sourced and safety tested vitamins, probiotics and omega 3 fatty acids. I also added four different protein powder options in case you're like me and struggle to get between 70-100 grams of protein a day.

I highly recommend clicking "create loyalty order" instead of add to cart. This way you get all the products you want each month. You'll also get different free gifts with purchase for orders over 100 and 200. Additionally, for each loyalty order you'll earn 10% in your first 3 months and 20% thereafter.

Prenatal Supplements

The Secrets of Healthy Pregnancy Birth & Postpartum

Learn how to reduce your own risks in pregnancy and birth. Improve fetal development and support postpartum mental health. Free class:

https://stefaniemelo.com/secrets

Breastfeeding Troubleshooting Guide Free interactive guide to direct you to your next right step in regards to milk supply, milk transfer and problems that might arise such as slow infant weight gain. https://stefaniemelo.com/page/lactation-support Virtual Lactation Support If you need help, get help. Waiting always makes it worse. https://stefaniemelo.com/page/free-breastfeeding-troubleshooting-guide Infant Massage Infant massage has profound research on the benefits to mom, baby and other caregivers. We're talking physical benefits and emotional benefits. https://stefaniemelo.com/page/infant-massage-online

If you are someone who is pumping, nursing and your baby is getting a bit older, they are likely going longer stretches of sleep at night. That first night baby sleeps longer, and so do you. . .is glorious Consistently missing that feeding time or pumping time will cause most people to lower the milk supply. Dive into the info on maintaining milk supply and navigating your unique path. If you're breastfeeding and need support, book a consult If you're pregnant and want expert guidance for all four trimesters, join me in Sage Mama Maternity. Learn more about reducing these risks in The Secrets of Healthy Pregnancy Birth & Postpartum. This is a free three part on-demand video series to help you optimize fetal development, reduce birth and pregnancy risks and support maternal mental health. You can start implementing changes as soon as you watch the videos. See you there! Sage Mama Maternity is your one-stop-shop for Prenatal, Birth, Postpartum, Breastfeeding and Newborn Care. Let's make sure you take steps in early pregnancy to reduce your risks and improve your baby's health. I want you to be equipped with the most evidence-based practices and connected to your mama intuition. Let me help you move forward to optimize your prenatal care and support you on this unpredictable journey. Sage Mama Maternity

Prenatal Nutrition isn't about fat or calories. It's about balanced blood sugar, macronutrients, fiber and micronutrients necessary for fetal development and reducing maternal risks. Learn more about reducing these risks in The Secrets of Healthy Pregnancy Birth & Postpartum. This is a free three part on-demand video series to help you optimize fetal development, reduce birth and pregnancy risks and support maternal mental health. You can start implementing changes as soon as you watch the videos. See you there! Sage Mama Maternity is your one-stop-shop for Prenatal, Birth, Postpartum, Breastfeeding and Newborn Care. Let's make sure you take steps in early pregnancy to reduce your risks and improve your baby's health. I want you to be equipped with the most evidence-based practices and connected to your mama intuition. Let me help you move forward to optimize your prenatal care and support you on this unpredictable journey. Sage Mama Maternity Favorite Resources: Real Food for Pregnancy https://amzn.to/4cxkkVe Real. Food for Gestational Diabetes https://amzn.to/3ZChgQf Not Pregnant Yet? Real For for Fertility https://amzn.to/4kKZlRe Book Your Fertility Consult with Stefanie https://stefaniemelo.com/page/fertility

The Doors Open Soon for Sage Mama Maternity!

Be the first to know when the doors open, get exclusive bonuses and discounts by joining me in The Secrets of Healthy Pregnancy, Birth and Postpartum. It's free and going to give you information that you likely don't know about how to reduce risks for you in pregnancy and birth, improve fetal development and support your postpartum mood. It's free, but it's only available for a short time register now!

www.stefaniemelo.com/secrets

Make your registry work for you!

Buck cultural norms around postpartum, we get terrible results in the USA so let's ditch the status quo and upgrade the baby registry, baby shower and mother blessing so that it actually supports biological norms for you and baby and your mental health.

You can dive deep into this in The Baby Registry Expert Guide, a one hour in-depth class and PDF guide for just $25. This investment could save you hundereds of dollars and lots of tears: https://stefaniemelo.com/page/babyregistry

Obstetricians aren't the only option, in fact they aren't even the best option for all women. In this episode we talk about

• Different care providers, education, certification and practices
• Different models of care
• Summary of a Cochrane Review on different Care Models
• 10 Questions to Ask Yourself as you choose your provider.

Join the waitlist! Doors Open in November for Sage Mama Maternity To kick it off, I'll be hosting the Secrets of Healthy Pregnancy, Birth and Postpartum be sure you're on the waitlist! Priority Waitlist

First Trimester Ultrasounds are Iconic. It's exciting, maybe nerve-wracking depending on your history, they can be really helpful tools and in some cases harmful. In this episode we'll talk about the best timing of a first trimester ultrasound, what your practitioner is looking for what you're looking at if you get to see the screen and different indications for use. Join the Workshop Series: The Secrets of Healthy PRegnancy, Birth and Postpartum Doors open in August for my new Digital Doula Support Program and I'm kicking it off with tons of great information and inspiration for your pregnancy journey. Join the Workshop

It's the first question everyone has for you, "When is Your Due Date"? Pregnancy is 40 weeks, right? Maybe your partner is confused that you are 4 weeks pregnant on the day you missed your period. What if your periods are irregular? Let's talk about all things Due Dates You can purchase the products I mentioned at this link Vitamins Be sure to use coupon code SHAREYL for 10% off your first order of 50PV or more Learn more about using Essential Oils in Pregnancy with my class Sage Mama Oils 101 Get on the List Doors open in August for my new Digital Doula Support Program Digital Doula Interest List

You're a go-getter, excited about you're suddenly hit by First Trimester Fatigue.

In this episode we talk about the

• Three Causes of First Trimester Fatigue
• Four Products to Help with First Trimester Fatigue
• Six Tips to Make First Trimester Fatigue more manageable

You can purchase the products I mentioned at this link

Prenatal Energy Boosters

Be sure to use coupon code SHAREYL for 10% off your first order of 50PV or more

Learn more about using Essential Oils in Pregnancy with my class

Sage Mama Oils 101

Get on the List

Doors open in August for my new Digital Doula Support Program

Digital Doula Interest List

There is so much data on the benefits of doula support in labor. It truly is powerful . However, even families who hire doulas miss out on the holistic long term benefits of doula support for the first, second, third and fourth trimester. Navigating pregnancy and postpartum in our current system with only prenatal care is a major factor in increased birth risks. It's disheartening as a doula to witness clients undermine their goals during pregnancy and postpartum.

• Registering for products that are harmful for infant development
• Agreeing to cervical exams that are unnecessary and risky
• Lifestyle choices that increase risk of serious complicaitons
• Introducing practices that undermine their breastfeeding goals

The truth is pregnancy, birth and postpartum are a bit of a wild card---but not as much as we've been led to believe. There are specific reasons women don't meet breastfeeding goals, why more and more women experience hypertension and gestational diabetes, reasons why they have precipitous labors. So many of these reason can be avoided with support of an expert. Your wonderful OB or midwife doesn't fill this role, their job is limited in it's scope. Like most professions, it's hard for providers to stay up-to-date on the peripheral research in their field. That's where I come in - I am a professional member of Evidence Based Birth with the latest data on Vitamin K, water birth, and so much more. I've also invested my time and money to have helpful information on complicated lactation, oral tethers, reflux, fertility nutrition, pregnancy nutrition and. hormonal health. Click here for the Supplements mentioned in the podcast, use code SHAREYL to get 10% off your first order. Set up a monthly order and save 24% on each order. The biggest problem is that women, mothers, dads, grandparents, friend and family do not know what the evidence shows is the safest, so we jsut assume that "more technology" equal better results. If you want to avoid this mistake: learn the evidence with me as your Digital Doula If you live in the East Valley of Phoenix and are looking for a Newborn Care Specialist or Night Nanny, work with me: East Valley NCS If you are expecting, join me in Sage Mama Maternity. Blending evidence and intuition is the key to experiencing a postitive pregnancy, birth and postpartum. Join Sage Mama Maternity

This is the primary mistake that I see expecting families make when seeking care and support for pregnancy and birth. You can avoid this mistake when you understand what Evidence Based Care looks like, and as a result you'll improve your chances of personalized, safe care for you and baby. Obstetric Care has practiced on women in the US for around 200 years and in that time we have learned that practicing

• X-Rays on pregnant women is not safe
• Prescribing Thalidomide caused birth defects
• Using Cytotec on a woman with previous cesarean can be deadly
• Episiotomy causes unnecessary damage to mother with infrequent benefits
• Hand washing reduces the spread of infection
• Inducing labor increases risk for cesarean in first-time mothers
• Twilight sleep prevents mothers from bonding post-delivery

Yes, of course we need some level of experimentation when it comes to science and the practice of medicine. For example, epidurals allow women to be awake when baby is born, and to bond with baby post-cesarean. Epidurals began being used because an anesthesiologist decided to try it out on a patient. However, most women and partners do not realize that the majority of interventions in pregnancy and birth are not offered AFTER the evidence is solid, it's being gathered with each family. The problem is most assume that for low-risk pregnancy, working with an obstetrician is the safest. The data shows that midwifery care is the safest for low risk pregnancy, and that referral to an obstetrician when risk or need arises leads to better outcomes for moms and babies. The biggest problem is that women, mothers, dads, grandparents, friend and family do not know what the evidence shows is the safest, so we jsut assume that "more technology" equal better results. If you want to avoid this mistake: learn the evidence with me as your Digital Doula If you live in the East Valley of Phoenix and are looking for a Newborn Care Specialist or Night Nanny, work with me: East Valley NCS If your baby is already here and you need help navigating all of this, work with me virtually -- join the waitlist If you are expecting, join me in Sage Mama Maternity. Blending evidence and intuition is the key to experiencing a postitive pregnancy, birth and postpartum. Join Sage Mama Maternity