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

In today's episode I talk to a Birth Warrior. She's:
* a mother of six 
* has been a birth advocate for decades 
*was a doula
*started Improving Birth
*Is the CEO of Birthify,
and
* has done amazing work in this field to try to make birth safer for all of us.

We discuss both:
*how birth is conventionally organized, the common traps we all fall into
AND
*What you can do to improve your chances of getting the birth you want

You can find her at: https://birthify.net/

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

TW: Medical Racism in this episode...

In today's episode I talk to a posptartum doula and gentle sleep coach about: 

*what she learned from her own experience of birth and postpartum

*what  pp doulas do

*how to better afford their care

*what a gentle sleep coach can offer

*links for the pelvic floor:
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/22729-pelvic-floor-muscles
*links for the role of depression/bipolar history in PPD risk

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032721007461

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5561681/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519070/

* links on induction

https://www.webmd.com/baby/inducing-labor

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/24270-amniotomy

How to reach McKayla : https://www.bountifuldoulas.com/

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

In today's episode I finish my conversation with Alasen Zarndt, the nutrition doula. In the rest of our conversation, she shares

* why she offers different recipes for pregnancy and postpartum

*why oatmeal is often suggested for breastfeeding

  *suggestions for how to get quality sleep, even if the quantity is limited in the early period

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

In today's episode I talk with a woman who shared her story back in 2021. She's on again to share a passion inspired by the challenges she faced in postpartum.

 A mechanical engineer turned integrative nutritionist, Alasen gives insights on the many ways you can take care of yourself in postpartum; She talks about important:

*foods for pregnancy and postpartum,

*why many women gain weight while breastfeeding, even though they are expecting to lose weight,

*sleep regimens and exercise.

I learn something every time I talk with her.

Nutrition Doula:  https://www.instagram.com/thenutritiondoula/ 

Healthy As A Mother: https://www.instagram.com/healthy.asa.mother/

6 Week Reset: https://thenutritiondoula.com/health-reset/ 

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

In today's episode I finish my conversation with Carlota. We delve more into:

*glandular issues with breastfeeding

*managing the guilt of not being able to breastfeed

*concerns navigating her own care 

*the surprising difficulty of finding health care providers who are fluent in Spanish.

 I also include the insights of a doctor who has authored research on breastfeeding. 

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

There are so many surprises each and every one of us meet in the course of  getting pregnant, being pregnant, the birth and postpartum. 

Often times how we think about these major life events reflects the difference between what we expected and what we experienced.  For example, many people expect breastfeeding to be easy because it's natural.  If their experience is different from that expectation, its easy to describe it to yourself as a failure.  That was the case with last week's guest and breastfeeding. In this mini episode, I wanted to learn a bit more about the science of breastfeeding.

I spoke some more with Dr. Kandace MacGuire, professor of surgery at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine who has done research on breastfeeding. 

Last week she talked about the anatomical changes that take place in pregnancy and after birth to make breastfeeding successful. In this mini episode she shares some insights about the intricate changes in hormones that have to happen to breastfeed.

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

In today's episode I speak with a woman about some of the specific challenges women of color experience when they get pregnant.

We talk about:
 her fears about being forced into an unnecessary C section, or having her pain ignored
and 
How she managed significant Issues with Breastfeeding.  

 I also include the insights of a surgeon who has authored research on breastfeeding. 

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

In today's episode I finish my conversation with Leah Lax, author of the memoir Uncovered, which tells the story of her entrance and exit from an insular religious community.

Her story illustrates some of the powerful ideas around what it means to be a mother and a women in society, and how those ideas shape our expectations and behavior.

We talk about how the abortion she had saved and fundamentally changed her life, how this choice was the spark for her ability to change her circumstances . We pick up where we left off last week: Leah needs her doctor to tell the rabbi that the pregnancy is life threatening in order to get permission for an abortion...

You can find her book, Uncovered, here

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

In todays episode my guest and I talk about both physical and emotional challenges of pregnancy.

She wrote a memoir about living in and then leaving a highly structured religious environment.

Her story is about many aspects of this difficult transition, but one aspect that was of the utmost importance with respect to her entry into motherhood was her bodily autonomy.

I'd characterize her book as a love letter to choices--the choice to use birth control, the choice to end a pregnancy, and the ultimate choice: she makes herself a priority in a cultural space in which women's interests are not prioritized.

You can find her book, Uncovered: How I left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home, here

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

In todays episode we hear about the pregnancy and birth experience of a pediatrician.  It’s always interesting to me to hear how medical pple experience this transition because they tend to enter it with different expectations than the rest of us.
We talk about :

*birth plans
*if home deliveries are exclusively for pizzas, or can legitimately refer to birth as well
*the challenges of being a parent

and other things that surprised this doctor on the way to becoming a mother

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