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

Today's guest shares her experience of an unintended pregnancy.

With almost every pregnancy women are expected to narrow range of reactions, from excited to ecstatic.

But stepping into pregnancy is such an enormous change that the limits to what we are expected to feel doesn't make sense.

In the first part of our conversation we talk how today's guest managed the mass of feelings that probably many of us feel in making this transition.

Living Compassion
https://centerformsc.org/
https://www.cnvc.org/

Unintended Pregnancy/JAMA
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2797874

You can find more about Jennifer and her work here: https://jennifererwincoaching.com/

This week I finish my conversation with Becky.

 She's a fertility mindset coach using hypnosis to help women who are struggling with their fertility, a technique she was drawn to learn after it helped her get pregnant after six years of infertility.

At first blush, this may sound woo woo (Becky's term), but when you dig into some of the details, it's understandable how mindset could affect physiology.

We pick up where we left off last week. Becky has decided to pursue an alternative route to fertility after trying all the conventional methods available to her for the previous six years.

Mind body connection
Enhancing Healing through guided Imagery

Stress & repoduction
Stress puts Doubly Whammy on Reproductive System, Fertility

Blocking Hormone Could Eliminate Stress Induced Infertility

Stress increases putative  gonadotropin inhibitory hormone and decreases luteinizing hormone in in male rats 

Find Becky at https://www.lilyandbeefertility.com/

In today's episode I talk with a woman about her very intentional trek through infertility--not intentional in that she was looking for it, but in the ways she managed all the OB, fertility and surgical issues that arose for her.  She talks about the importance of educating yourself and advocating for yourself. These are both lessons learned when the absence of both education and advocacy had real consequences for her. She shares both what didn't work and what ultimately did work (spoiler: it was hypnosis), and how it has changed her life. What follows is the first part of our conversation.

Chances of Getting pregnant in a cycle
https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(16)62849-2/fulltext

https://www.acog.org/womens-health/experts-and-stories/the-latest/trying-to-get-pregnant-heres-when-to-have-sex

What's Endometriosis?
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/endometriosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20354656

Hydrosalpinx
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24437-hydrosalpinx

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320677#infertility

Hypnosis for Health
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2515690X17748744 

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0156911

https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1567722/1/Barry%20et%20al%202017%20Relaxation%20%2526%20androgens%20in%20PCOS%20published%20in%20CH%2526IT.pdf

Podcast with Dr. David Spiegel (hypnosis)

In today's episode we hear the rest of Emily's story. 

She shares how she ultimately managed her first birth--a home birth that became a hospital birth, and tells us about the art her experience inspired, and how it's helping other women who unexpectedly experience a C section. 

We also hear briefly from Dr. Young, the OB/scientist who is working to better understand and measure uterine contractions.

 We pick up where we left off last week, Emily has been brought to the hospital and has to figure out whether to bring her doula or midwife to the hospital birth during covid.

Rebozo
https://www.verywellfamily.com/using-a-rebozo-in-pregnancy-and-birth-4111140#:~:text=Using%20a%20rebozo%20wrapped%20around,you%20and%20holds%20the%20ends.

You can find Emily's project, Our Cesarean Scars, here: https://www.ourcesareanscars.org/

In today's episode I talk with a woman whose pregnancy was straight forward, and who was aimed at a home birth with a midwife. 

She talks about why she decided on a home birth

How the home birth was progressing and her strategies for managing it

What sent her to the hospital

the ways that she managed the unexpected progress of her labor.

We also here from an OB/scientist who is working to decipher how the uterus creates contractions and how these contractions can be measured. What follows is the first part of our conversation.

Today we'll take a bit of a dive into the mechanics of how a uterus contracts. 

This is actually really important because drawing meaning from patterns of uterine contractions is how many doctors and midwives manage labor. 

I'm talking with Dr. Roger Young today, an OB scientist who studies, among other things, the details of how a uterus contracts.

Dr Young's paper on Uterine contractions (with illustration):
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002937822008602#fig1

Today I finish my conversation with Caitlin, the registered dietician who focuses on women's fertility issues. 

She shares the rest of her story about managing the challenges of PCOS.
She addresses changes she made to:
*her diet
*her exercise
*her mindset
*her ability to manage stress

 and how these changes led to  three children (and stay tuned, maybe more?)...we pick up where we left off last week, Caitlin is about to share the very specific things that she did to overcome her diagnosis.

Today's guest shares her journey through infertility generated by Poly cycstic ovarian syndrome.

She is a clinical dietitian and talks about things to consider when taking birth control.

 She gives a number of tips on what you can do to improve your fertility, but note: this is not medical advice. What follows is the first part of our conversation.

possible side effects of hormonal birth control:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9842494/#:~:text=The%20most%20common%20side%20effect,some%20point%20in%20their%20life.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159123003331?via%3Dihub

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10347535/#:~:text=Hormone%2Dbased%20contraception%20disrupts%20hormonal%20balance%2C%20creating%20artificial%20states%20of%20anovulation%20and%20threatening%20women's%20health.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2020.00603/full
To find Caitlin's podcast, Food Freedom & Fertility, click here

In today's episode:
 I finish my conversation with Jess. 

We talk about :
* how her research prior to the third postpartum set her up for a significantly better experience.
She describes concepts like constructive rest and matrescence
* practical tips on how much physical work should be done in the early weeks
* a useful time line to set your expectations 

we pick up where we left off last week, where jess is reflecting on all the advocacy she did on her daughter's behalf and how that might be applied to her own experience in a future pregnancy

What can you do naturally to induce labor (spoiler: not much)
https://www.webmd.com/baby/does-pineapple-induce-labor

https://www.nct.org.uk/pregnancy/your-pregnancy-week-week/third-trimester/can-i-make-myself-go-labour-myths-or-truths

Find Jess at:
https://www.instagram.com/motherme.io/

I talk to a woman who shares the story of her transformative births:
 in particular :
how the postpartum and aftermath of the second birth changed the way she viewed herself and her career. 

Its an impactful and inspirational story that I think many of us can relate to. What follows is the first part of our conversation.

hyperemesis and anxiety
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14767058.2022.2089550

https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1471-0528.14180

affect of fetal sex on pregnancy outcome
https://bsd.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13293-020-00299-3
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-75969-8
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2017.00144/full
to find Jess's company: https://www.instagram.com/motherme.io/