What You Didn't Expect in Fertility, Pregnancy & Birth: Real Stories & Expert Insights

This is a show that shares true experiences of pregnancy to help shift the common cultural narrative away from the glossy depictions of this enormous transition you can find on social media, and other media more broadly, to a more realistic one.  It also celebrates the incredible resilience and strength it takes to create another person and deliver them into the world. I’m your host, Paulette Kamenecka. I’m a writer and an economist and the mother of two girls. In this episode you’ll hear advice about managing miscarriage from a woman who has experienced numerous miscarriages, intermingled with the births of five children and she's a doula and a marriage coach. She also shares how each experience taught her something valuable. Today you'll hear the first part of our conversation. 
For more detailed show notes and an audio transcipt, see: http://warstoriesfromthewomb.com/

This is a weekly show that highlights real pregnancy, birth & postpartum stories.

This is a show that shares true experiences of pregnancy to help shift the common cultural narrative away from the glossy depictions of this enormous transition to a more realistic one.  It also celebrates the incredible resilience and strength it takes to create another person and deliver them into the world. I’m your host, Paulette Kamenecka. I’m a writer and an economist and the mother of two girls. In this episode you’ll hear more advice about things to think about on your fertility/ivf/pregnancy journey–knowledge that just might make the often challenging process of fertility a little easier to bear and maybe also (fingers crossed) to keep hold of a bit of your sanity, from the former writer who covered the “fertility beat”, before such a thing existed, for the New York Times. This is part two of our conversation. We'll pick up where we left off: talking about how all consuming the IVF procedure is.

For more extended show notes with links to the research mentioned in the show, see: http://warstoriesfromthewomb.com/

This is a weekly show that highlights real pregnancy, birth & postpartum stories.

 This is a  show that shares the true experiences of pregnancy to help shift the common cultural narrative, away from the glossy depictions of this enormous transition to something more realistic. It also celebrates the incredible resilience and strength it takes to create another person and deliver them into the world. I'm your host, Paulette Kamenecka, writer and an economist and a mother of two girls. In this episode, you'll hear suggestions about what to do with recurrent pregnancy loss and gain insights about the highs and lows of the often challenging process of fertility from a writer who covered the "fertility beat" ( before such a thing existed) for the New York Times. What follows is the first part of our conversation about her experience working her way through the infertility gauntlet. 

For in depth show notes, see: https://warstoriesfromthewomb.com/

This is a weekly show that highlights real pregnancy, birth & postpartum stories.

Many women enter pregnancy, coming from a life that feels firmly under their control. That was the case for today’s guest, whose past experience in the world led her to make detailed plans for her home birth. But the stars did not align, and what started out as a home birth ended with a hospital birth attended by a life threatening case of eclampsia.  Luckily, both she and her son survived. For her second birth, she planned to be in the hospital, and again the fates refused to abide--a precipitous labor forced a home birth. Although she and her children are healthy, the chaos of these births required some significant processing--an activity the pandemic made more accessible. She has come out on the other side of these challenging experiences with two beautiful children and a stronger sense of self. Listen to her inspiring story. To get more details on this story, look out for Jules’ book Born in the Beyond, available soon, and follow her on instagram www.instagram.com/thejoysofjules

For extended show notes and the chance to sign up to share your story, go to:https://warstoriesfromthewomb.com/

This is a weekly show that highlights real pregnancy, birth & postpartum stories.

Teenage girls are repeatedly told that pregnancy could fall on them at any moment. Caution is the watchword. But often when those young women grow up, pregnancy is nowhere to be found. That was the experience of today’s guest. When she and her partner set out to start a family, month after month, the pregnancy tests were negative. After some fertility testing the doctors believed that they had nailed down the issue, and almost as soon as it was discovered, my guest got pregnant, and her son was born 9 months later. When her newborn was 6 months old they set out to have another child, only to be stymied again. They undertook the challenging and expensive processes of IVF--which did not end in a pregnancy.  Once she had emotionally accepted that she would not have another child, she got pregnant again. She and her partner then went on to help another couple realize their dream of starting a family in a way that could only be written by the fates. Listen to her inspiring story.

We also hear from a fantastic audiologist, Dr. Hu, who walks us through some of the issues that arise with hearing loss.

For extended show notes and a chance to share your story on the podcast, see:
https://warstoriesfromthewomb.com/

This is a weekly show that highlights real pregnancy, birth & postpartum stories.

In today's episode we hear the second half of my conversation with Courtney Maum. She shares the motivation for her second pregnancy and the challenging end of that pregnancy. We'll pick up where we left off last week: with wise words from the French gynecologist that Courtney saw for the very first pregnancy appointment for her first pregnancy.

for more extended show notes, see: http://warstoriesfromthewomb.com/

This is a weekly show that highlights real pregnancy, birth & postpartum stories.

Today's guest shares her experience of pregnancy, birth and motherhood, none of which conformed to her expectation. She walked into pregnancy ambivalently....and to her surprise loved many of the aspects of the experience that people often find difficult; because of a lifelong struggle with insomnia, the nine month hormone bath of pregnancy gave her luxurious periods of long sought-after sleep; she approached the pain of delivery as a unique experience between herself and her future daughter, and those early sleepless months with a newborn, which so many find challenging, turned out to be a period she'd been trained by her insomnia to manage better than most. I've spoken to hundreds of women about their experiences, and I've never heard this perspective....what follows is the first part of our conversation.

for extended show notes, see: http://warstoriesfromthewomb.com/

This is a weekly show that highlights real pregnancy, birth & postpartum stories.

Today we hear the second half of my conversation with Joy about how her experience with preeclampsia played out and her efforts to understand what happened to her, why her hospital care was so chaotic, and how she and her husband returned to a more stable place. I also include more from my conversation with Dr. Oparil and Dr. Sinkey. Both doctors have done important work in the hypertension and preeclampsia space. We pick up Joy's story just after the birth of her daughter, and just before she is told she likely has preeclampsia.

For more extended show notes, see: http://warstoriesfromthewomb.com/

This is a weekly show that highlights real pregnancy, birth & postpartum stories.

Today's guest walked into pregnancy carefully. She is a health journalist who had researched and reported on pregnancy issues and this work influenced her ideas about the kind of birth she wanted to have. Things began swimmingly, and it wasn't until the third trimester when the first signs of what would become preeclampsia began to emerge, but nothing is diagnosed at this point. The birth was the beginning of a chaotic couple of days in the hospital. It's not until after the birth that preeclampsia is caught and the turmoil of her experience really impressed upon her the challenges of navigating a complicated medical event. What follows is the first part of our conversation.

I also had the opportunity to interview two scientist physicians, Dr. Rachel Sinkey and Dr. Suzanne Oparil who have researched preeclampsia and have tended to women with the condition. We'll hear more from these doctors in part 2 of the conversation.

for extended show notes, see: http://warstoriesfromthewomb.com/

This is a weekly show that highlights real pregnancy, birth & postpartum stories.

This week we hear the rest of my conversation with Nicole. At the end of last week she'd described her first birth, which ended in a C section and left Nicole feeling that the birth had been exacted without her full participation, and she was vowing to have a different experience in future births, despite the predictions of one of her doctors, who suggested that she might be too physically small to avoid another C section. We pick up Nicole's story as she affirms her goal of a birth in which she feels more intimately connected to the experience.

See Extended show notes

This is a weekly show that highlights real pregnancy, birth & postpartum stories.