On today’s episode, I have one of the most honest stories any new parent has ever told on this show. If you have been listening for a while, you know that each season, I feature clients who are willing to share. I invite people with all sorts of varied experiences and perspectives. But I do try to shine a light on topics for which people need more information, topics that people need to learn more about and especially where I think a personal story is the best way to talk about it. So today, Patti, a client who stands out in my mind as one of the people who struggled the most with a history of depression and anxiety before, during and after her pregnancy, graciously shares her story. At times, I worried that maybe I wouldn’t know how best to help her but she worked hard and was so willing to try almost anything I suggested. I found that to be such a unique quality because as you likely know, anxiety and depression can be debilitating but she was rather persistent in her pursuit of happiness.

Warning: This episode could be hard to listen to if you are struggling. So please, take care of yourself and if this one isn't for you, skip it. In fact, skip ahead to the resources listed below.

Resources

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Lo Nigrosh, IBCLC

Lo Nigrosh is a mom of two kids ages 8 and 4. She is a retired Paralympian who helped her team win a bronze medal in 2004 in Athens, but feels every bit as old as she is now at the age of 41. It was her intense first birth which made her feel even more disabled than she is, that made her consider a different way to birth her second, and insist that every person she encounters as a lactation consultant be treated as an individual. She is the host of The Milk Making Minutes, a podcast that explores breastfeeding struggles and triumphs through the lens of systemic barriers.

Additional resources mentioned in this episode

Mother Wit Options and resources

Today we are closing out the season with a very special guest.

My friend Carolina Murriel is a trauma-informed storyteller, teacher and artist. She is a longtime journalist and podcast producer who co-founded the award-winning podcast studio Pizza Shark. Through all of Season 3, Carolina has been helping me make improvements to the Mother Wit podcast behind the scenes.

At the same time, she was training as an end-of-life doula and embarking on a journey to take care of health issues we deal with a lot at Mother Wit.

Carolina is joining us today to talk about her work, her health journey and how we ended up here!

Resources

Mother Wit Options and resources

Dr. Rosen has been a chiropractor since 1981. Over the past 4 decades he has taught pediatrics, craniopathy, primary healthcare management, practice management and chiropractic philosophy nationally and internationally to thousands of chiropractors, chiropractic students, healthcare providers and on public forums.

He is a certified SOT® advance practitioner and craniopath, certified pediatric chiropractic practitioner, developer of seminars and has written several books on SOT and pediatric adjusting as well as numerous articles in chiropractic journals and research conferences.

With his wife Dr. Nancy Watson, they run the Peak Potential Institute, offering premier educational programs for healthcare professionals.  Their most recent book “It’s All in the Head”, was written to inform and bring awareness of the implications of growth and developmental challenges in the early stages of childhood development. Their book empowers parents to understand normal developmental milestones and to recognize problems in the earliest stages allowing them to seek appropriate care before problems become intrenched and create diagnosable disease processes.

As parents of two daughters, Drs. Rosen and Watson have been committed to helping other parents learn from both their personal and professional experiences.  Through their combined 80 years of teaching, writing and clinical experience they have brought a unique insight, motivation, and support to thousands of lay and professional individuals in numerous fields.

Resources

• Learn more about Martin and Nancy on their Website where you can find their books including, It's all in the head, online courses, seminars and a referral directory to practitioners who are certified by their institute, Peak Potential Institute . And of course follow them on IG @drmartinrosen 
• CDC milestones with free milestone tracking app 
• ParentData by Emily Oster - A brief discussion on one milestone, crawling. - Just to give you an idea of why there is debate about this. You can dive into the research to the extent you see fit.
• Wonder Weeks - A book and app that helps you anticipate some of the behavioral (and sleep) changes that arise in relation to what they call “leaps”
• Episode on Tongue Tie with Lisa Palladino, CNM, IBCLC - @tonguetieexperts - for new listeners - if this was new information and you want to learn more.

Contact Info

• Wellesley Chiropractic 
• [email protected]
• IG @drmartinrosen

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Dr. Karlie is the co-founder of a postpartum activewear brand called Jen & Keri. She is also a sports chiropractor and certified strength and conditioning coach who is passionate about providing practical tools to moms and moms-to-be, helping them restore their bodies and continue exercising after their babies are born.

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If you missed season 1 episode 12, I recommend listening to this one first. But for those of you who are not going to do that. Most of the time when I find a new show, I just jump in right and don’t look back either so I get it.  In which case, here is a quick recap... 

When she was on the show back in March she was pregnant with her first baby and suffering from hyperemesis. We talked about her experience and about why coaching and midwifery are so well aligned. Basically, we shared a soapbox for the better part of an hour. It is one of my most listened to episodes to date. So, I asked her to  join us again to share her birth story and to update us on her return to fitness. 

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Jessica Lynn is a Certified Nurse-Midwife, certified diabetes care and education specialist, and health coach in New York City. Jessica has a passion for supporting people with diabetes on their journeys from preconception, through pregnancy and beyond.

Gabi Rocha is the co-founder and COO of an impact organization called Laboratoria that runs tech boot camps for underserved women throughout Latin America. She is Brazilian and has lived all over the world, mostly in Latin America and the US.

She had a "normal" postpartum yet found herself grateful for the extra layer of support we provide here at Mother Wit.

Link to episode with Kim Weiss-Lewit on the virtual care we provided to Gabi as discussed in this episode.

Link to episode with Jennifer Hampton, an incredible therapist who works with people in the perinatal period.

Link to episode with Kayla Kajiyama, pediatric sleep coach.

Thriving After Birth (an online course)
Comprehensive Care
60 Min Consultation: Use discount code- FirstConsult10%off
Instagram: @mother.wit.maternity
You Tube Channel

Support the show

Everyone's postpartum return to fitness is a personal journey and deserves to be a personalized experience. I also think it can be hard to understand how virtual fitness coaching works when it's anything other than a zoom exercise class. So today, Jessica and I revisit the unique way we worked together and how she learned to give herself kindness and grace in this transformational life stage.

Check it out at Mother Wit and start your journey with me now! Schedule your first session at Mother Wit and start your journey with me today.

I think the title says it all but you will have to listen to get all the details. The biggest take away is the connection that you can literally hear and feel between these two women. Forming these real connections is one of the gifts that midwives give to our clients but it takes two and the people who choose home birth are open to and actively giving back to their midwives too.

Im not trying to change anyones mind about where the right place to give birth is. The right place is exactly where you want it to be, where you feel safest. But I do hope that this episode will help to answer questions that listeners may have about home birth and dispel some myths and at a minimum, help people understand why some choose home birth and help newly pregnant people better understand all of their options.

Guests
Dori Scallet is a home birth mama x2, partner to Joe, a therapist and social worker (a former performer like so many of my midwife and therapist friends). She works with individuals and couples and works with people who have experienced trauma.

Martine is a midwife in NYC. She attended Home births for 17 years! She is adjunct faculty at NYU and is the Founder and Executive Director of the Foundation for the advancement of Haitian Midwives (FAHM).

Resources

• The business of being born (Documentary by Rikki Lake and Abby Epstein)
• Maternidad la Luz (A famous- in the midwife world- birthing center in El Paso, Texas)
• Preparing for Home (New Yorker) A homebirth story by Keith Gessen, a home birth father (About Martine!)

Check it out at Mother Wit and start your journey with me now!

Schedule your first session at Mother Wit and start your journey with me today.

Thriving After Birth (an online course)
Comprehensive Care
60 Min Consultation: Use discount code- FirstConsult10%off
Instagram: @mother.wit.maternity
You Tube Channel