Nobody prepares you for how much intimacy and connection can shift after you have a baby — and yet it's one of the most common struggles new parents face. In this episode, Emily sits down with Krystle Gard, postpartum doula and Intimacy & Connection Coach, for an honest, shame-free conversation about what actually happens to your sex life after birth and what you can do about it.

Krystle's journey into this work is deeply personal. From a supported home birth in Alaska to having twins without a local support system, to serving as a surrogate three times — she has lived the full spectrum of postpartum experiences. That, combined with her work supporting families as a postpartum doula, showed her just how little guidance new parents receive about intimacy after birth.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why libido and desire commonly shift postpartum (and why that's not a failure)
• The role of sleep deprivation, hormones, and nervous system dysregulation in sexual desire
• Why self-pleasure is often the most overlooked tool in postpartum recovery
• The "three-minute game" from The Art of Giving and Receiving — and why it's a game changer for rebuilding connection
• The intimacy candle practice for keeping the simmer going without pressure
• Love languages, the red/yellow/green communication system, and the "favorite things list"
• Why lube is non-negotiable postpartum
• How birth trauma affects touch tolerance — and gentle ways to rebuild safety
• The importance of humor, playfulness, and letting go of how things used to be

Resources mentioned:

• The Art of Giving and Receiving by Harry Faddis
• Love Languages (Gary Chapman)
• Sex After Birth Workshops: www.bewellbaby.org/sex-after-birth-class

Find Krystle: 

• https://wholefamilydoulacare.com/ 
• [email protected] 
  

More about our guest:

With a background in engineering, Krystle brings organization, intuition, and problem-solving to help families find systems and flow that make life easier. She loves teaching and educating new parents, offering hands-on newborn care guidance, household support, and a listening ear. She also provides Intimacy & Connection Coaching to help couples nurture their relationships after birth.

More about your host:

Emily Spaeth is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and founder of Be Well Baby in Portland, Oregon. With extensive NICU experience and training in craniosacral therapy, she leads a team providing home-based health care for families navigating the tricky parts of pregnancy and postpartum. 

She also hosts the Beyond Birth Blueprint, an online birth and postpartum educational community available to families across the country—so no matter where you are, you have access to support, resources, and connection. Emily is also a mother of three and passionate about helping families move from surviving to thriving.

What if your baby has been communicating with you all along — and you just needed the tools to hear them?

In this episode, Dr. Emily sits down with Belinda on the Perfect Child Podcast to talk about one of her favorite (and most misunderstood) topics: consent with babies. From the NICU to the changing table, Dr. Emily breaks down what infant communication actually looks like, why slowing down transforms your caregiving, and how small everyday rituals build the foundation for a deeply connected relationship with your child.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why babies are whole, fully-present humans from the very beginning — and what Dr. Emily witnessed working with 23-weekers in the NICU that solidified this for her
• How to read your baby's body language: the cues that say this is too much vs. I'm ready
• What a finger splay, an arched back, and a full-body wiggle are actually communicating
• Why "gaining consent" from a newborn looks different than it does from a 6-month-old — and how to approach both
• The surprising benefits of infant massage (digestion, weight gain, brain development, bonding — and one story about a tumor caught early because of a daily massage routine)
• How to use deep pressure touch, slow movement, and oil to make massage more effective
• Why babies cannot self-soothe — and what co-regulation actually requires of you
• Dr. Emily's approach to the dreaded diaper change wrestling match (hint: you don't have to hold them down)
• How sign language gives babies a voice before they have words — and what Dr. Emily's 7-year-old still communicates across a crowded gym
• What it really means to advocate for your baby in the hospital, at family gatherings, and with well-meaning grandparents who want to hold your newborn

Resources mentioned:

• Beyond Birth Blueprint https://www.bewellbaby.org/beyond-birth
• Birth Partner Course (inside Beyond Birth)
• Infant massage mini course + video library (also inside Beyond Birth!)
• ASL classes (also inside Beyond Birth) 
• The Perfect Child Podcast! https://www.perfectchild.org/about

We have restructured Beyond Birth so that you can access it so easily. 

I can’t wait to meet you on the inside! 

Emily Spaeth is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, childbirth educator, and founder of Be Well Baby® in Portland, Oregon. With extensive NICU experience and training in craniosacral therapy, she leads a team providing home-based health care for families navigating the tricky parts of pregnancy and postpartum. 

She also hosts the Beyond Birth Blueprint, an online birth and postpartum educational community available to families across the country—so no matter where you are, you have access to support, resources, and connection. Emily is also a mother of three and passionate about helping families move from surviving to thriving.

Our mission is to fundamentally shift healthcare could look like for pregnancy, postpartum, and babies. Please help us spread the word by leaving a review! Every review matters!

If this episode helped you, please send it to someone who's pregnant, postpartum, or supporting someone through birth. Thank you for being here. 🤍

Colic isn't real! I will die on that hill.

This week Dr. Emily Spaeth brings you Dr. Kirin Palmer, a pediatrician, functional medicine practitioner, and founder of Pure Joy Pediatrics in the Portland metro area in Oregon. Through her work in clinic and through her digital class, she helps expectant parents understand how maternal health during pregnancy can influence their baby’s digestion, immune system, and long-term wellness.

They talk about the one thing most pediatricians aren't yet doing: putting the gut microbiome at the center of newborn care.

If your baby has struggled with reflux, colic, eczema, gassy uncomfortable feeds, weird-colored poops, or just a general sense that something is off with no answers… this episode is for you.

We use the terms mother, mom & birthing person interchangeably in this episode. 🌈

In this episode, we cover:

• Why your microbiome as a pregnant person is your baby's literal starting point
• What actually happens in a newborn's gut in the first hours of life (hint: it's a clean canvas, and what you paint on it matters)
• The real reason so many babies are diagnosed with "colic" and "reflux"
• Why vaginal delivery and breastfeeding matter for gut health, and what to do if neither was possible for you
• How antibiotics during pregnancy (for UTIs, GBS, and more) affect your baby's microbiome — and how to recover
• What microbiome testing looks like, and when Dr. Palmer recommends it
• The cascade of interventions: swallow studies, MRIs, NG tubes, hospital admissions… that all could be prevented with early gut support
• Why not all probiotics are created equal, and why single-strain OTC probiotics often don't work
• What healthy newborn poop looks like and why poop color and consistency absolutely matter, no matter what social media says
• Dr. Palmer's Tiny Tummies program and how microbiome support is changing outcomes for families

Resources mentioned:

• Pure Joy Pediatrics: www.purejoypediatrics.com
• Dr. Kirin Palmer on Instagram: @purejoypediatrics and @kirinpalmermd
• Ninni Co Pacifier — code BEWELLBABY for 10% off 
• Beyond Birth Blueprint membership (Nest, Bloom, Thrive): [bewellbaby.org/beyond-birth]
• Book a consult with the Be Well Baby team: [bewellbaby.org/book-now]

Everything on this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice.

More About Your Host

Emily Spaeth is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, childbirth educator, and founder of Be Well Baby® in Portland, Oregon. With extensive NICU experience and training in craniosacral therapy, she leads a team providing home-based health care for families navigating the tricky parts of pregnancy and postpartum. 

She also hosts the Beyond Birth Blueprint, an online birth and postpartum educational community available to families across the country—so no matter where you are, you have access to support, resources, and connection. Emily is also a mother of three and passionate about helping families move from surviving to thriving.

If you’ve read this far… please leave us a review :) It helps spread the word more thank you could ever know. Love, Em

One in three births in the US starts with an induction. Another one in three is a cesarean. And yet most people walk into those experiences confused, scared, or feeling like the decision just happened to them. This episode is here to change that.

Dr. Jennifer Lincoln is a board-certified OBGYN, OB hospitalist in Portland, Oregon, and one of the most trusted voices in evidence-based birth education online. She's the author of the brand-new The Birth Book: An OBGYN's Guide to Demystifying Labor and Delivery (out March 2026) and has spent her career making sure people walk into birth feeling informed — not afraid.

Emily and Jennifer have the honest, warm, non-judgmental conversation that so many people wish they could have with their own provider. Nothing is sugarcoated, and nothing is left out.

In this episode:

• Why social media birth content is often the worst-case scenario
• What an induction actually looks like, step by step (hint: it can take days, and that's normal)
• The ARRIVE Trial:  what it actually showed, what it didn't, and the critical caveat almost nobody mentions
• How to know when to trust a provider's recommendation vs. when to ask more questions (and the magic questions to ask)
• The truth about Pitocin, hemorrhage risk, and why the uterus gets tired
• Advanced maternal age: what the data actually says and when age alone is a reason for induction
• A walk through what happens in the OR from the moment the C-section decision is made to when you're sewn back up
• Why cesarean recovery is a full year, not six weeks, and what to do differently
• The fundal massage nobody warns you about
• Postpartum mental health after an unexpected cesarean — what to watch for and why Jennifer brings it up in the discharge conversation

Resources mentioned:

• 📖 The Birth Book by Dr. Jennifer Lincoln — available wherever books are sold (audiobook available, read by Dr. Lincoln herself)
• Dr. Jennifer Lincoln online: drjenniferlincoln.com
• Follow Dr. Lincoln: @drjenniferlincoln on Instagram and TikTok
• 📍 Live event: Dr. Lincoln's book signing, June 14th, 4:15 PM at Vancouver Community Library, hosted by Childbirth Allies! Click the link or search "Childbirth Allies Jennifer Lincoln" on Eventbrite to register!
• The Ninni pacifier — use code BEWELLBABY for 10% off 

Helpful framework from this episode:

The BRAIN acronym for decision-making in labor: 

B — Benefits 

R — Risks 

A — Alternatives 

I — Intuition 

N — Nothing (what if we wait?) 

Connect with Be Well Baby:

📲 Instagram: @BeWellBabyPDX 🌐 bewellbaby.org

More About Your Host

Dr. Emily Spaeth, PT, DPT, IBCLC, is the founder of Be Well Baby® in Portland, Oregon. She leads a team specializing in home visits for the trickiest perinatal cases. She also mentors perinatal providers navigating complex clinical work. Mom of 3, passionate about helping families and clinicians move from surviving to thriving.

This week, we're flipping the script. My doula, Alison Akan of the BirthLinked YouTube channel, sits down with me to talk through all three of my birth experiences, and nothing is off limits.

I went into each birth with more knowledge than the last, and somehow that made things both easier and harder. We talk about what it's like to plan for a home birth and end up in the hospital, what it means to truly surrender in labor, and why knowing too much can sometimes work against you.

Alison's passion for birth began in her teens in Sweden, where she went on to study medical assisting with a goal of midwifery. She supported her first birth at 22 in a high-risk labor and delivery unit in Lund, and brings experience from over 300 births to every family she serves.

After returning to the USA in 2017, she became a certified birth doula and hasn't looked back. Alison is deeply committed to evidence-based education, helping expectant parents understand their options and move from fear to excitement. Her goal is for every client to look back on their birth as empowering, even when it doesn't go as planned.

Alison always says that it's a true honor to be invited into such a sacred space, and that reverence is at the heart of everything she does.

BIRTH VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwSlgH3B1Do&list=PLbvrHEJRpfbj4TdUGNNcGPYJ6Dr67KTW8

In this episode we cover:

• How my first birth started with a yoga class in San Francisco — in Depends
• Undiagnosed bacterial vaginosis, prelabor rupture of membranes, and a four-day labor that ended in a hospital transfer
• What actually happens to your psoas muscles in labor — and why an epidural was the best clinical decision I made
• My second birth: swift, an uneventful nuchal cord with baby still en caul
• Deciding to have a third child on a hard parenting day — and what my partner said that made the decision for us
• Asynclitism, cervical lips, a birth tub filled with buckets, and a placenta that went rogue
• What my husband was most afraid of — and it wasn't pushing the baby out!

People + Events Mentioned:

• Alison Akan: [BirthLinked YouTube Channel]
• Angela Truby: Glow Midwifery [midwife]
• Tami Lynn Kent / Holistic Pelvic Care™
• Katie Kanda 
• Beyond Birth Community Calls 
• Birth Prep. But Better. (https://www.bewellbaby.org/birth-prep-but-better)

Want to keep the conversation going? Join me most Tuesdays at 10am PST/1pm EST/7pm in Sweden! Beyond Birth

Have you ever fallen into bed completely exhausted — only to lie there wide awake, running through everything you forgot to do, respond to, or organize? That bone-tired exhaustion that doesn't let you rest? There's actually a name for what's happening, and this week's guest coined it.

Stassi Chaillé, LPC is a therapist, educator, and founder of System-Keeping™ — the first framework to name the root cause of women's self-abandonment.

With dual master's degrees from Columbia University in Culturally Oppressive Systems and Psychological Counseling, Stassi coined System-Keeping™ to describe the invisible, anticipatory labor women perform to keep families, workplaces, marriages, and entire economies functioning — labor that was never consented to, never credited, and designed to be impossible to stop.

Through her monthly masterclass, private liberation container, and writing, Stassi works with high-functioning women who can't understand why burnout interventions keep failing — until they see that the system requiring their self-abandonment is still intact. System-Keeping™ is why.

Once a woman understands she was conditioned into this, the question stops being what's wrong with me and becomes what was I trained to carry.

By the end of our conversation, you'll see your life differently. We promise.

We cover: 

• What System-Keeping™ is — and why "mental load" doesn't tell the whole story 
• The three-part triangle: conditioning, invisible contracts, and the nervous system loop
• How System-Keeping™ shows up physically in your body — and what the research says 
• The self-abandonment at the center of it all 
• What one realistic first shift looks like when you're ready to start putting something down

Events mentioned:

Stassi's System Keeping™ Masterclass on the last Thursday of every month → Sign Up Here

Book a 1:1 30 minute consult with Stassi here!

🪺Birth Prep. But Better. with Dr. Emily May 30th at New Mom School® → https://www.bewellbaby.org/birth-prep-but-better

🎼 A Notion, A Scream! Choir Concert - May 31st in Portland! 

About Dr. Emily: 

Emily is on a mission to change the way we prepare for the chapter of welcoming a baby into our homes. Emily is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and the founder of Be Well Baby® — a multidisciplinary in-home practice in Portland, Oregon serving families from pregnancy through the early years with baby. She's also a mom of three, and creator of the online educational community the Beyond Birth Blueprint.

Bringing a new baby home is one of the biggest transitions your family will ever navigate — and that includes every member of your household, including your four-legged ones. In this episode, Emily sits down with McKenna Neale, certified veterinary technician, behavioral specialist, and fellow new mom, to talk about everything you need to know about preparing your pets for a new baby.

Mckenna shares her own experience as a pit bull mom who delivered her daughter a month early and had to scramble to find care for her dog — and how that shaped the advice she now gives families every day through her work at Dove Lewis Emergency Medicine and the Oregon Humane Society.

In this episode, we cover:

• Whether animals can actually sense pregnancy (and what the science says about their incredible sense of smell)
• Simple, low-effort ways to begin preparing your pet during pregnancy — starting as early as you want
• Why playing YouTube baby sounds might be the most underrated thing you can do right now
• The "place" command and other foundational training tips that will save your sanity postpartum
• How to think about your home environment before baby arrives — baby gates, playpens, sleeping arrangements, and more
• What a safe, low-stress baby introduction looks like for dogs (including McKenna's own story)
• Cat-specific guidance for a species that plays by entirely different rules
• The body language cues most pet owners completely miss — licking, whale eye, whisker position, tail tension, and more
• The emotional reality of postpartum pet relationships, including the grief of feeling disconnected from an animal you love
• How babies raised around pets benefit developmentally and immunologically
• The beauty of watching your child and your pet grow up together

  Resources mentioned:

• Oregon Humane Society community classes: oregonhumane.org
• Rover gift cards (registry idea!)
• Frozen Kongs and licky mats for enrichment
• YouTube baby sounds for desensitization training
• Connect with Mckenna: Mckenna generously said you are welcome to email her any questions and she will try to send you in the right direction! Email her here: [email protected]

Your Host

Emily Spaeth is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and founder of Be Well Baby in Portland, Oregon. With extensive NICU experience and training in craniosacral therapy, she leads a team providing home-based health care for families navigating the tricky parts of pregnancy and postpartum. 

She also hosts the Beyond Birth Blueprint, an online birth and postpartum educational community available to families across the country—so no matter where you are, you have access to support, resources, and connection. Emily is also a mother of three and passionate about helping families move from surviving to thriving.

Our mission is to fundamentally shift healthcare could look like for pregnancy, postpartum, and babies. Please help us spread the word by leaving a review! Every review matters!

What if the most powerful thing you could do for your new baby had nothing to do with a product, a schedule, or anything you saw on TikTok,  and everything to do with a room full of other moms who just get it?

Today I'm sitting down with Liberty Planck, owner of New Mom School® in Lake Oswego, Oregon and mom of three, who channeled her background in experience design and her own deeply isolating postpartum season into building something truly special for families. New Mom School® is a franchise with locations all over the country. 

We cover a lot of ground in this one — and honestly, it went places I didn't expect. Liberty is thoughtful, funny, and refreshingly honest about the gap between the village we think we're building and the one we actually have to show up for.

We use "mom" and “mother” throughout this conversation because it reflects the language of our guest and her community, but we see and welcome every birthing person, non-binary parent, and family structure here, and so does New Mom School® Lake Oswego! 

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why isolation is one of the biggest risk factors for new moms and babies — and how New Mom School® was born out of Liberty's own pandemic postpartum experience
• The "education meets support meets community" model that makes New Mom School® different from just a mom group
• How to give parents real clinical information without undermining their confidence as caregivers
• What actually happens in a room full of postpartum women when a pelvic floor PT, lactation consultant, or infant development specialist walks in
• Why the floor is the cheapest baby toy you own (and how Liberty's third baby became her most capable gross motor kid because of it)
• The hidden gift of the New Mom School® model — and why showing up to class doesn't automatically mean you have a village
• What it really takes to build friendships as a new mom, and why the pandemic made all of this harder
• Birth as a great equalizer, and why age, background, and parenting philosophy don't matter as much as being in the same season
• The beauty of alloparenting — and why your baby doesn't just need you, they need a whole cast of safe, loving adults

This conversation is for you whether you're currently pregnant, postpartum, a provider who works with families, or just someone who cares deeply about how we support mothers in this culture.

Resources mentioned:

• Find a New Mom School® near you: newmomschool.com
• Local to Portland? New Mom School® Lake Oswego is right off the freeway and draws families from Vancouver, Happy Valley, Bethany, and beyond
• 💸 Use code BEWELL50 for $50 off your first cohort
• 🍼 Providers: reach out to Liberty directly to get pamphlets and referral cards for your patients

Follow New Mom School® Lake Oswego on Instagram

Your Host:

Emily Spaeth is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and founder of Be Well Baby® in Portland, Oregon. bewellbaby.org

Movement during pregnancy isn't just safe — it's one of the most powerful things you can do for yourself, your baby, and yes, even your grandchildren. In this episode, Dr. Emily dives deep into the science of exercise during pregnancy, habit formation, and the fascinating brain changes that make pregnancy one of the most important windows for building the identity you want to carry into parenthood.

In this episode:

• The evidence-backed benefits of exercise during pregnancy, from reduced gestational diabetes risk to shorter active labor and faster postpartum recovery
• How your baby's cardiovascular development is influenced by your movement
• Intergenerational epigenetics — why the choices you make right now are part of your grandchildren's biological story
• The landmark 2016 Nature Neuroscience study on gray matter changes in pregnancy and what it actually means for your brain
• The neuroscience of mental rehearsal and why visualizing your habit in vivid detail is not manifesting — it's motor learning
• Implementation intentions: why "I am someone who moves their body during pregnancy" outperforms "I want to exercise more" every time

Action step from this episode: Pick one movement. Make it small and doable. Put it on your calendar. Name yourself as someone who does it. That's the whole assignment.

Resources mentioned:

• Episode 2 with Barb Buckner Suarez on mommy brain and gray matter changes
• Episode 20 with Emily Sferra on matrescence
• Beyond Birth Blueprint — bewellbaby.org
• Flourish Center Friday sessions (Portland locals!)
• Ninni pacifier — use code BEWELLBABY for 10% off

Connect with Be Well Baby: 

• bewellbaby.org
• @bewellbabypdx on Instagram

Emily Spaeth is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and founder of Be Well Baby in Portland, Oregon. With extensive NICU experience and training in craniosacral therapy, she leads a team providing home-based health care for families navigating the tricky parts of pregnancy and postpartum. 

She also hosts the Beyond Birth Blueprint, an online birth and postpartum educational community available to families across the country—so no matter where you are, you have access to support, resources, and connection. Emily is also a mother of three and passionate about helping families move from surviving to thriving.

Our mission is to fundamentally shift healthcare could look like for pregnancy, postpartum, and babies. Please help us spread the word by leaving a review! Every review matters!

What does it feel like to give birth while still figuring out who you are? Malakai Benson (they/them) is a non-binary parent (“Baba”), Head Baker and Bread Manager at Moxie Bread Company, and a fierce advocate for queer visibility and representation, especially in birthing and parenting spaces.

Through their lived experience navigating pregnancy, birth, and parenting outside of binary assumptions, Malakai challenges dominant narratives of connection, caregiving, and identity. Their work invites a more expansive, inclusive understanding of who birthing and parenting spaces are for—and how language can either reinforce exclusion or create belonging.

In this deeply moving conversation, Dr. Emily (she/her) and Malakai talk about what it's really like to navigate pregnancy, birth, and parenting when the systems around you weren't built with you in mind.

Malakai shares with honesty and grace what it was like to be pregnant while their identity was still unfolding, why they opted out of prenatal community spaces, and the jarring hospital lactation experience that shaped their entire feeding journey.

They also dive into what becomes possible when we expand our definition of who gets to be a birthing person.

In this episode:

• How pregnancy accelerated Malakai's non-binary identity journey
• Why they isolated during pregnancy, and what they wish had existed
• Navigating a binary medical system as a gender-diverse birthing person
• A lactation consultant experience that changed everything
• Why language matters so much in birthing and parenting spaces
• The concept of "assumed connection" — on playgrounds, in hospitals, and beyond
• What to say when someone can't seem to get pronouns right
• What Malakai's daughter taught them about being seen

Resources mentioned: Field Therapy (Colorado), queer birthing panels as a community resource.

Inclusive Birth Terminology

If this episode resonated with you, share it with a provider, a parent, or anyone who needs to hear that space is not finite.

Connect with Be Well Baby: 

• Oura Ring (10% off sleep and recovery tracking)
• Ninni Co. Pacifier (code: BEWELLBABY for 10% off)
• Be Well Baby Website

About Your Host Dr. Emily

Emily Spaeth is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and founder of Be Well Baby in Portland, Oregon. With extensive NICU experience and training in craniosacral therapy, she leads a team providing home-based health care for families navigating the tricky parts of pregnancy and postpartum. 

She also hosts the Beyond Birth Blueprint, an online birth and postpartum educational community available to families across the country. Emily is also a mother of three and passionate about helping families move from surviving to thriving.