Lillian Medhus is a Certified Nurse-Midwife and Women's Health Nurse Practitioner with a Doctorate in Nursing Practice. She has specialized training in sexual dysfunction, pelvic pain and pelvic floor rehabilitation. She lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband and 2 dogs,  where she practices at a large hospital based gynecology clinic. She serves female Veterans and uses a trauma informed model of care. Many of her patients are survivors of military sexual trauma which often overlaps with their gynecologic concerns. She sees many patients for pelvic pain, sexual dysfunction and urinary incontinence - All conditions that are under-diagnosed and under-treated. In this episode, we talk about the signs and symptoms, why they often overlap and how this leads to difficulty getting to the root cause. Finally, we share ideas for both clients and providers on how we can give and receive higher quality care when it comes to these conditions.

Resources

Websites

Apps

Books

Tools (Talk to your local provider first!)

Mother Wit Resources

Shout outs

The Midwife Center (Pittsburgh, PA)

My guests today are Heather Bradford and Signey Olson, they are both midwives and researchers who focus much of their energy on the topic of weight bias among healthcare providers. Today's topic is one that many listeners are going to learn a lot from, both healthcare consumers AND providers. I learned so much from them myself. I came to this conversation prepared to challenge my own deeply held beliefs about health and wellness as it pertains to weight, weight bias, stigma and especially how it pertains to ideas around weight loss and Im so grateful for their time and willingness to share their perspectives and expertise.

Guests

Resources 

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Articles

Bradford, H. M., Puhl, R. M., Phillippi, J. C., Dietrich, M. S., & Neal, J. L. (2024). Weight Bias Among Certified Nurse-Midwives and Certified Midwives: Findings From a National Sample. Journal of midwifery & women's health, 10.1111/jmwh.13608.

Olson, S. M., Muñoz, E. G., Solis, E. C., & Bradford, H. M. (2024). Mitigating Weight Bias in the Clinical Setting: A New Approach to Care. Journal of midwifery & women's health, 69(2), 180–190. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmwh.13578

Tomiyama, A., Carr, D., Granberg, E. et al. How and why weight stigma drives the obesity ‘epidemic’ and harms health. BMC Med 16, 123 (2018).

Tylka, T., Annunziato, R., Burgard, D. et al. (2014). The weight-inclusive versus weight-normative approach to health: Evaluating the evidence for prioritizing well-being over weight loss, Journal of Obesity.

Vadiveloo, M. & Mattei, J. (2017). Perceived weight discrimination and 10-year risk of allostatic load among US adults. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 51(1), 94-104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-016-9831-7

Ward P, McPhail D. Fat shame and blame in reproductive care: Implications for ethical health care interactions. Women's Reproductive Health. 2019;6(4):225-241.https://doi.org/10.1080/23293691.2019.1653581. doi: 10.1080/23293691.2019.1653581.

Wu YK, Berry DC. Impact of weight stigma on physiological and psychological health outcomes for overweight and obese adults: a systematic review. J Adv Nurs. 2018;74:1030–42.

Mother Wit Resources

I look forward to sharing this story in more detail but the Mother Wit Podcast is simply not the appropriate forum. The reasons that I started the Mother Wit Podcast are too near and dear to let this derail me now, so other than an unscheduled break and taking some time for self care and reflection, I hope to be back with your health care stories and expert interviews soon.

Resources

Mother Wit Resources

Meghan Garland PhD, CNM has been a Certified Nurse-Midwife since 2002. Her clinical work focused on low-resource and farmworker populations, providing high-quality and respectful care. She also served her community to reduce rates of preterm birth and infant mortality on the board of Healthy Start. In addition to a long clinical career, she has many years’ experience educating nurses to become Nurse-Midwives and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioners at Frontier Nursing University as a preceptor, clinical faculty, and academic faculty. Early on in her career, Meghan developed a research interest about the benefits of physical activity during pregnancy. She contributed several chapters to the American Journal of Nursing award-winning textbook Best Practices in Midwifery: Using the Evidence for Change and the American College of Nurse-Midwives 2015 book of the year, Prenatal and Postnatal Care: A Person-Centered Approach. Meghan has also published in the Journal of Emergency Nursing, the Journal for Nurse Practitioners, Worldviews on Evidence-based Nursing, and Nursing Research. She has given podium presentations at national and regional conferences on the topics of pregnancy physical activity, hypertension in pregnancy, determinants of physical activity and shared decision-making.

Meghan completed a PhD at Rush University in 2022, she expanded her body of research to examine the gap between physical activity recommendations and physical activity behavior among pregnant women. She has published a 2019 systematic review on the determinants of pregnancy physical activity in Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing Correlates of Physical Activity During Pregnancy: A Systematic Review with Implications for Evidence-based Practice.

Meghan published her secondary analysis of physical activity determinants among Black mid-life women in Nursing Research Self-Efficacy, Outcome Expectations, Group Social Support, and Adherence to Physical Activity in African American Women.

Meghan’s dissertation research examined the influence of theoretical and non-theoretical determinants of pregnancy physical activity among pregnant Black women. This foundational research will inform the development of a culturally tailored physical activity intervention.

Connect with Meghan via LinkedIn or by email at [email protected]

Resources

Ashley Brichter is an educator, speaker, consultant, and entrepreneur. Despite her experience with hundreds of families as a doula and birth educator – like so many, her first birth did not “go as planned.” Better for it, she founded Birthsmarter in 2019, which provides unbiased, inclusive, and award-winning practical wisdom and guidance to the next generation of families. Ashley was born and raised in New York City, though she’s temporarily relocated to Salt Lake City, UT and is enjoying the mountains and Red Rocks of The West with her husband and two amazing kids. She is a Certified Fair Play Facilitator, and sits on the board of ProNatal Fitness.

Mother Wit Resources

My guest today is Star Lee. She had an easy time getting pregnant at 40. But after her first birth and 20 months of breastfeeding, when she didn't hit the "first ovulation jackpot" for the second time, she intuitively knew that time was of the essence if she and her partner were serious about having a second child. 

This is a story of being proactive by someone with a strong sense of self and a natural ability to advocate for herself and even still, it was a difficult experience that she is still sitting with and working through despite beautiful babies and joyful births. 

Resources- Vocabulary from this episode

Mother Wit Resources

Kallista helps pregnant mamas get ready for their baby by preparing their self, space, and significant other. She does so through her podcast, The New Mom Boss Podcast, as well as coaching, and online course New Mom Prep School. Kallista is a Registered Nurse, a Certified Lactation Counselor, and is a mom of 3.

Her dedication to helping first-time moms was born when she had her first 2 kids 13 months apart -- experiencing the new mom phase back to back. It is her mission to make preparing to be a new mom simple and thorough so that women can enter motherhood with confidence and joy so that they can build a strong bond with their baby.

Website  |  www.newmomboss.com

Instagram  | @newmomboss

Podcast  |  The New Mom Boss Podcast  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-new-mom-boss-podcast/id1518217955?i=1000510614087

Community  |  New Mom Lounge  https://urlgeni.us/instagram/newmomboss

Email  |  [email protected]

Mother Wit Options and resources

Lo Nigrosh, IBCLC

Sophie Strauss is a mom and a stylist. She is passionate about personal expression, inclusivity and sustainability AND she loves working with pregnant and postpartum people. She works with and for normal everyday people, not celebrities. She recommends things like buying second hand, hand me downs and even runs clothing swaps in her community. She is the real deal stylist for regular people!

Want to work with Sophie?

You can find her on IG @SophieStraussStyling or visit her website SophisStraussStyling.com

Mother Wit Options and resources

Lo Nigrosh, IBCLC

Today’s episode is about infant loss. If you are not prepared to listen to this story today, please skip it. Take care of yourself and reach out for help if you are in need. See resources below or on my website.

This episode is dedicated to the Shenoy family and to all families who have survived the loss of a child.

My guest today is Divya Shenoy. She was pregnant with twins when she came to me for postpartum care. She started early because she knew the risk of preterm birth was increased for twin pregnancies. Shortly after we began working together, she learned that her cervix was shortening and that she required a cerclage- that is a stitch placed in the cervix to help it stay closed and keep the babies inside where they belong. Unfortunately, a few days after her cerclage was placed, her water broke. She spent the next couple of weeks in the hospital so that she and the babies could be monitored closely for the right time to have her babies. We actually had our first session while she was in the hospital and still pregnant. On Jan 14, 2022, she gave birth to two beautiful baby boys, Arvin and Ajay. They weighed less than 2 lbs each. She knew that what was to come was going to be difficult and likely not look at all like what she had seen others go through as they made their transition into parenthood. 

Stay with us as Divya to tell the rest of her story on her terms.

Resources (AKA Divya’s “unsolicited advice”)

Mother Wit Options and resources

Lo Nigrosh, IBCLC

In this episode, Marielle and I discuss some of the things worth considering when trying to decide where to have your baby. We talk about how vague and ultimately unhelpful terms like "Low risk" and "High risk" are when it comes to sorting through this decision. We also get to hear some of Marielle's story of how she became a homebirth midwife and what its like working with the Amish community in Lancaster, PA.

Resources

Mother Wit Options and resources

Lo Nigrosh, IBCLC