The End of the World as We Know It: A First-Time Parenting Podcast

The End of the World as We Know It: A First-Time Parenting Podcast

By Erik & MayaParentingKids & Family
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The End of the World as We Know It: A First-Time Parenting Podcast episodes

  • The First Month: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance

    Yeah, not sleeping and having to breastfeed and change diapers all the time is hard, but it turns out the most challenging part of having a baby is... the many complicated feelings you will have about your new life. In this episode, we dive deep into the 5 stages of New Parent Grief™ (just invented that), including the good – we kinda like this baby! – and the bad (Erik really has been crying in the bathroom). Generally though, we have accepted that this is really happening and things are getting a tiny bit easier every day.


    Some things that have made us feel better recently:
    • This blog post about paternal post natal depression
    • This Reddit thread about how much the newborn phase really does suck
    • This book about how to get your baby to sleep for 12 hours a night! We're not starting sleep training yet, but this book has some great common sense ideas that made us feel like it'll be doable when we get there.

    Want to share your own story, send us feedback, or ask us to cover something on a future episode? You can email us or send in a voice message; we’d love to hear from you.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    52 min
  • The First Week: Breastfeeding, Sleep, and Baby Blues

    We knew bringing a baby home from the hospital would be hard, we just didn’t know it would be THIS hard. And we certainly didn’t anticipate the complicated emotions that come along with becoming parents and facing the reality of being responsible for another human, forever.


    This is a little bit of a dark episode, but we’re publishing this a couple weeks after this was recorded and we promise we’re feeling better now!

    Suggested resources:
    • Breastfeeding: La Leche League, Kelly Mom, and doing whatever the f works for your family. Since we recorded this episode we've talked to a bunch of our mom friends, and while they all have different stories about breastfeeding, ALL of them said they wished they hadn't stressed so much about it and that they now understand that any version of feeding their kid would have been totally fine.
    • Sleep: Precious Little Sleep, Taking Cara Babies
    • Commiseration: r/beyondthebump

    Want to share your own story, send us feedback, or ask us to cover something on a future episode? You can email us or send in a voice message; we’d love to hear from you.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    46 min
  • Childbirth: Induction, Epidural, and an Unplanned C-Section

    Our first post-baby episode! Get ready to listen to some very, very tired and shellshocked people.


    Childbirth, like getting pregnant, is different for everyone. In our case, it required an induction (which didn’t work), an epidural (inductions hurt even if they don’t get the baby out!), and a C-section we were not at all prepared for. As you can probably imagine, this episode is pretty graphic and we’d only recommend listening to it if you really want to know what giving birth is like – or at least, what it was like for us. You have been warned.

    Want to share your own story, send us feedback, or ask us to cover something on a future episode? You can email us or send in a voice message; we’d love to hear from you.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    57 min
  • Pregnancy: A Stroll Through the Three Trimesters

    Recorded a day after our "due date" with no baby yet in sight, this episode finds us reminiscing about the highlights and low lights of each trimester of pregnancy, including miscarriage fears and extreme fatigue in the first, blood tests and telling people in the second, and shockingly debilitating pelvic pain in the third. There's a lot people don't really talk about!


    PS: This episode was published 41 weeks and 2 days into our pregnancy. Still no baby. Due dates are a scam.

    Suggested reading:
    • Expecting Better
    • Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn

    Want to share your own story, send us feedback, or ask us to cover something on a future episode? You can email us or send in a voice message; we’d love to hear from you.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    51 min
  • Trying to Conceive: “Unexplained Infertility”, IUI, and IVF

    Getting pregnant looks different for everyone. For us, it took 3+ years of trying, and multiple rounds of both IUI (intrauterine insemination) and IVF. In this episode, we talk about the logistics of all that, and also our feelings. So many feelings.


    Suggested resources:

    • Taking Charge of Your Fertility
    • Maya also kept a detailed blog of our fertility journey. We don’t share the link publicly (it’s, uh, extremely graphic and personal), but if you’re going through or about to embark on something similar and the details would help you out, email us and we’re happy to share it with you.
    • We highly recommend the Master of None episode about IVF (season 3, episode 4 – it's on Netflix)! Extremely accurate portrayal of the IVF process. Just be warned, parts might be triggering or upsetting if you're about to do IVF or had your own emotional experience with it.

      • Want to share your own story, send us feedback, or ask us to cover something on a future episode? You can email us or send in a voice message; we’d love to hear from you.

      Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

      49 min

    About The End of the World as We Know It: A First-Time Parenting Podcast

    From the publisher's feed

    After a looooong process of trying to get pregnant, Maya and Erik are finally about to become parents for the first time and they're kind of freaking out. Luckily, they have an outlet: oversharing…