Pelvic floor symptoms are common after birth, but “common” does not mean “normal” or permanent.

If you’ve been leaking when you sneeze, feeling pressure or heaviness, or dealing with pain you’ve quietly brushed off, this episode gives you the language and the next step you may have been missing.

Ciara gets real about the postpartum changes people are often told to ignore, and why that advice can keep you from getting help that actually works. She breaks down what the pelvic floor does, why pregnancy and birth can affect it whether you had a vaginal delivery or a C-section, and how pelvic floor physical therapy can be a game-changer for recovery.

You’ll discover:

• The most common pelvic floor symptoms worth naming out loud

• Why generic “just do Kegels” advice is not always the answer

• What pelvic floor physical therapy actually includes, from breathing and pressure management to manual therapy and personalized assessment

• When to ask for a referral, including during pregnancy or long after birth

• Why leaking, heaviness, and urgency are worth bringing up even if they feel “mild”

Ciara also shares her own postpartum experience with not being able to hold her urine, how pelvic floor PT helped her, and why she wishes more people were told about this before they were in the middle of it. Her message is simple: you do not need to wait until symptoms are unbearable to ask for care. If you’re pregnant, newly postpartum, or years past birth and still dealing with leakage, pressure, or pain, this episode is for you. It’s a clear, compassionate reminder that your body deserves support and that there is real help available.

Take the Fourth Trimester Readiness Check quiz. Find the support, recovery, feeding, and care-navigation gaps to address before the baby arrives. https://whatwehold.com/quiz

You can have the nursery ready, the hospital bag packed, and the car seat installed - and still be completely unprepared for what happens to you after birth. This episode flips the script on postpartum planning and shows you how to build a real fourth trimester plan before you need it.

Ciara pulls from both her nursing experience and her own postpartum journey to break down the four areas most parents overlook: recovery and care navigation, mental health and emotional support, feeding and daily rhythms, and village logistics. If you have a baby on the way, are freshly postpartum, or keep telling yourself you will figure it out later, this is the wake-up call. You'll discover:

• why postpartum prep needs to go beyond baby gear and registry items

• how to know what warning signs mean “call now” versus “mention it later”

• why a vague “let me know if you need anything” is not a support plan

• how to think ahead about feeding support, emotional health, and recovery before the chaos starts

• the four-part framework Ciara uses to spot the biggest gap in your postpartum readiness

Ciara also shares the very real gaps she had herself, even as a labor and delivery nurse, from mental health support to breastfeeding help, and how having a plan in place changed everything. Her story makes one thing clear: knowing what to do when you're exhausted is different from hoping you'll handle it in the moment.

This episode also introduces Ciara's free Fourth Trimester Readiness Check, a two-minute quiz that helps you identify your biggest postpartum opportunity and gives you a nurse-created prep plan to start closing the gap. It is not a test - it is a tool for getting more prepared, more supported, and less overwhelmed. Essential listening if you want to stop winging postpartum and start entering it with a plan that actually fits your life.

Your six-week postpartum visit is not the finish line — it's one checkpoint in a much longer recovery. In this episode, nurse Ciara breaks down what a real postpartum check-up should cover (mood, feeding, physical recovery, intimacy, sleep, and chronic conditions) and exactly what to ask before you walk out the door.

In this episode:

• Why the 6-week visit often misses more than it catches

• The 6 areas your postpartum care should cover, not just a blood pressure check

• A prep list to bring with you so you don't forget what matters most

This episode is for education and general support only. It is not individualized medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or a substitute for care from your own qualified healthcare professional. If you have urgent symptoms or feel unsafe, seek emergency care or contact local emergency services.

Follow Unapologetically Well with Ciara for honest, nurse-led conversations on pregnancy, loss, postpartum, and motherhood.

Postpartum mental health difficulty does not mean you are ungrateful, broken, or a bad parent. In this compassionate conversation, Ciara discusses the difference between normal adjustment and symptoms that deserve support, including persistent sadness, anxiety, rage, intrusive thoughts, isolation, and difficulty functioning. This episode is educational and supportive, not therapy or individualized medical advice.

• Your OB-GYN, midwife, primary-care clinician, or mental-health professional

• Postpartum Support International: postpartum.net and HelpLine 1-800-944-4773 (U.S. and Canada; verify local availability)

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the U.S.: call or text 988

• Call 911 or local emergency services if there is immediate danger or you cannot keep yourself or your baby safe

The postpartum period is not just a six-week checkup. In this nurse-led episode, Ciara explains urgent maternal warning signs that should never be ignored after giving birth, including heavy bleeding, severe headache, vision changes, chest pain, trouble breathing, leg pain or swelling, fever, severe abdominal pain. Plus the mental health emergency signs: intrusive thoughts of harming yourself or your baby, that require immediate support.

This episode is educational and does not replace individualized medical care.