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

Today's guest experienced both extremes of the spectrum when it came to creating a family: uncomplicated pregnancies that led up to more challenging births. She enjoyed an easy step into her first pregnancy and wrestled with infertility leading to her second. Both pregnancies were straightforward while both births, strayed from the script, injecting unwelcome drama. While labor more or less spontaneously arrived, her cervix refused to heed the call, and that led to births she didn't anticipate, one after another. Importantly, both deliveries ended with healthy babies. Listen to how she navigates this uncertain terrain. 

We also have the insights of both an OBGYN and an anesthesiologist.

For more extensive show notes, see: https://warstoriesfromthewomb.com/

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

Our ability to delay pregnancy through various forms of birth control may lead us all to have expectations about our ability to manage our own fertility. It’s one thing to stop pregnancy, and something altogether different to initiate it. Today’s guest, a fan of control like the rest of us, is a master planner.  She planned to get pregnant quickly, have an enjoyable pregnancy, and a routine birth. But the birth refused to follow the birth plan. Pregnancy is, among other things, an educator, teaching hard and often valuable lessons.  All the events of that first birth helped to broaden her expectations in her pursuit of a second child, and as a consequence, she and her partner were able to create amazing birth memories the second time around.

I also get the insights of a fantastic anesthesiologist about epidurals.

For extended show notes, see: https://warstoriesfromthewomb.com/

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

Today’s guest stepped into her first pregnancy relatively easily,getting pregnant within a few months of trying…... and that was the last easy thing she experienced.  She describes herself as someone who is “not a pregnancy unicorn”.  She had body image issues while pregnant, felt nauseous, swollen and was generally physically uncomfortable for most of the pregnancy. And then postpartum recovery was even more challenging. A hormonal imbalance caused a too dramatic weight loss, she was visited by postpartum depression and anxiety, and a baby who wasn't particularly interested in sleeping through the night added to her 'non-unicorn' status. In an effort to dig herself out of a hole, she started researching nutrition and found a much better way forward for the second pregnancy, and ultimately for life.  I learned a lot talking to my guest today and hopefully you will too. You can find her at https://thenutritiondoula.com/ and in Instagram @thenutritiondoula. I also include the insights of a fantastic OB, Dr. Nicole Wilcox of Kaiser Permanente.

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

Today’s guest is no stranger to hard labor. As a strength and training coach she’s seen how disciplined effort produces results. But long runs and weight lifting sets didn’t prepare her for some of the consequences that the complicated chemistry of pregnancy can produce. Through the course of her different pregnancies she tangled with HELLP syndrome--a pregnancy complication that requires emergency attention, and a visit by gestational diabetes. Now, with three kids under 5, she can add a new exercise to her regimen: child wrangling. I also include the insights of a fantastic Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor, Dr. Patricia Robertson from UCSF.

Find out more about Brooke's training business here: https://www.wreckingroutine.com/
For extended show notes: see https://warstoriesfromthewomb.com/

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

It seems self evident that most doctors would agree that being the doctor and being the patient are two entirely different experiences. And being the patient as a doctor is a third, different path. Today’s guest is an OB, and got pregnant with her first daughter when she was still in residency. Unlike many guests, she probably knew too much about the world she was stepping into--which led her to have an anxious first pregnancy. As it turned out, that anxiety was well placed, as she did run into some complications in that pregnancy, and a delivery at 32 weeks. But what she learned from that first experience informed her next one, which was a much smoother ride. Dr. Rankins and I discuss advice she gives to mother’s to be, and the crisis in maternal health facing women of color. We are joined by a senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress who offers her insights on racial inequality in maternal health. Listen to this inspiring story.

For more detailed show notes, go to: https://warstoriesfromthewomb.com/

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

Like many women, today’s guest imagined that having a child would be straightforward–that’s the way she’d always seen it portrayed in the culture around her. And at the start, her expectation and experience lined up well. Getting pregnant wasn’t a challenge and being pregnant, was an exercise in smooth sailing for many months. But then the swelling hit, followed by an episode of fainting, and she and her husband found themselves caught up in the whirlwind of preeclampsia, including some of the more disconcerting features of this condition. Dr. Sarosh Rana, an MFM at the University of Chicago, offers insights about preeclampsia. She is fortunate to have excellent medical care and now both she and her baby seem to be enjoying toddlerhood. Listen to her story of overcoming.

For extended show notes, see:
https://warstoriesfromthewomb.com/

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

Some women waltz easily into pregnancy and motherhood, at least in the Hollywood version of the story.  This was not the version today’s guest experienced. Getting pregnant and being pregnant was not as straightforward as she was led to believe. Recovering from her first trimester loss was challenging, but my guest and her partner persevered and her subsequent pregnancy went swimmingly. The next challenge: birth--which was physically and emotionally daunting. And as she recovered from the birth, she was introduced to the relentless press of colic. Slowly, slowly the colic subsided and now the greatest challenge is planning weekend adventures with an entertaining and talkative toddler.  We also include the insights of Dr. Lisa Chamberlain, a pediatrician with insights on colic.

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

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

Like all great adventures, pregnancy rarely goes as planned, especially for first time mothers. For today’s guest, the journey had all the hallmarks of a grand adventure: pure joy when she found out she was pregnant, the excitement of an impending birth, the physical challenges of a natural labor, and a real dose of anxiety, pain and fear in the aftermath of that birth when a serious hemorrhage becomes life threatening. Listen to her tell her story of ultimate triumph. Read more about Ashley’s experience at http://thinkoutsidethecrib.com/, or follow her at @ashley_lewko; I also include insights about hemorrhage from Dr. Nicole Wilcox, an OB with Kaiser Permanente.

If you want expanded show notes, see https://warstoriesfromthewomb.com/
and visit the war stories website to sign up to share your story!

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

Every pregnancy is awash in chemicals--that’s how the magic happens, how we turn an egg and a sperm into another human being. But this chemistry can have other consequences, notably, peripartum depression. Peripartum depression, the condition formerly known as postpartum depression, has been renamed to reflect the fact that this form of depression can strike during a pregnancy, as well as after it. It is believed to affect 1 in 9 mothers, a full 50 percent of these cases are thought to occur during the pregnancy. Today’s guest didn’t share her feelings with anyone, first imagining that it was normal to have unsettling thoughts during pregnancy. After birth she experienced guilt about her lack of interest in connection. Fast forward five years, today she’s trying to help other mothers who find themselves in this situation.  For more about Maria, find her work at https://www.parentonboard.com

I also include the insights of Dr. Shosh, a clinical psychologist with exptensive experience in treating peripartum depression.

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

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

The project of starting a family involves some elements that are totally under your control (when you start trying to get pregnant, the doctors or midwives or doulas you choose) and other elements that you expect to be uncertain: what the pregnancy is like or when the baby comes.  But for today’s guest, almost every element of the process carried uncertainty: when she was pregnant, if the pregnancy would take, and if her other organs would behave during the pregnancy, to name a few. She weathered all these life changing events, some stressful, some lovely...and now has layered on top of them the blissful experiences of her three young children.

We also have the insights of a fantastic OBGYN, Dr. Wilcox.

For extended show notes, or to sign up to be on the podcast, check out:
https://warstoriesfromthewomb.com/

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