What You Didn't Expect in Fertility, Pregnancy & Birth: Real Stories & Expert Insights
Creating a family is a life transforming event that’s a lot harder than the culturally-generated marketing suggests.
Relying on the glossy media depictions of this transition leaves many women feeling like they are broken or failing when their actual experience doesn’t match their expectation.
I tripped over every step of this process: getting pregnant, being pregnant and giving birth on my way to having two kids.
This podcast showcases the really, really of people’s experiences:
* what they didn’t expect when they were expecting
* what they wish they’d known.
You’ll hear shareable insights gleaned from time in the IVF gauntlet, ways to manage the flattening nausea and fatigue of pregnancy, 40 hour labors and much more including expert medical insights to remake our expectations, making them more real, more human and more useful.
Episodes
194 episodes
What's the difference between PTSD & PPD: Teaser for *new show* Making Sense of Pregnancy
For this season, I'm going to migrate over to a new show called Making Sense of Pregnancy What Experts Want you to Know about Your Body:This show is meant to be a new pr...
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Season 5
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Episode 3
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11:40
What happens when Endometriosis & Age aren't the final word on Fertility: Julia's story + Expert Insights, Part II
This week, we hear the rest of Julia's story. More endo, a bit older, a shorter menstrual cycle, a medical community that was suggesting the pregnancy was unlikely again. But Julia story should remind us to never bet against mother natu...
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Season 5
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32:25
Rebroadcast: What Pregnancy can look like when it started with Undiagnosed Endometriosis: Julia's Story + Dr. Insights, Part I
Pregnancy involves massive changes, and for some of us, one of the first hurdles is overcoming issues that have developed in our bodies that make getting pregnant and being pregnant difficult.On the road to becoming pregnant, today's gu...
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Season 5
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Episode 1
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30:08
What Inspired this Mother to Do an Iron Man & Swim Solo Across the English Channel: Gil's birth story + OB insights, Part II
This is the second half of my rebroadcast conversation with Gill, a mother from England who experienced lots of physical challenges with her premature birth, which changed her life. The birth gave her a beloved son, but it also dramatically shi...
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Season 4
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36:42
REBROADCAST: What One Woman Did to Turn Birth Trauma into a Movement for Resilience and Awareness: Gil's Birth Story + OB insights, Part I
Today's guest overcame all the challenges that met her in birth, including a premature birth, a fourth degree tear and a misdiagnosis and a fistula and a stoma. Despite that list, this is an amazing story of resilience. Having had so many...
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Season 4
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35:17
What this mom learned about Triumph and Heartache through 7 pregnancies: Sascha's Birth Story, Part II
Today I finish my conversation with Sascha. We hear about her triumphant home birth with her fourth pregnancy and the challenging outcomes of the two pregnancies that followed: what her experience was with the screening and diagnostic testing, ...
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Season 4
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34:01
What is the Key to zeroing in on the right approach to Birth? Sascha's Birth Story, Part I
Today we hear the really really from a woman whose experiences dramatically changed her approach to birth, from having the first one at a hospital, assuming that was the norm, to having her husband catch the fourth baby at her home birth, with ...
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33:51
What Happens when GBS visits your pregnancies repeatedly? Atara's birth story, Part II
In today's episode we hear about the rest of Atara's experience. She talks about managing GBS and its consequences with her newborns, and the importance of nutrition before pregnancy.We pick up today where we left off last week. Atara i...
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32:06
What Happens when a Birth Center Birth Moves to the Hospital? Atara's Birth Story, Part I
In today's episode my guest, who is a therapist, shares her experiences of four births and all the many things she learned things like holding lightly to the birth plan as she's moved from the birth center to a hospital when her cervix is reluc...
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Season 4
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33:05
What Mindset helps you manage Miscarriage that Doesn't go as planned? Kristen's Story, Part II
Today I finish my conversation with Kristen. This week we hear about:* two challenging miscarriages* drugs for miscarriage versus D and C procedure* Insights on how to think about the miscarriages* Her current pregnancy<...
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Season 4
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29:45
What Happens when Infertility Gives Way to Pregnancy Before IVF is started: Kristen's Story, Part I
Today we hear from a woman whose experience ran the gamut from infertility, on the brink of IVF, to smooth pregnancies, quick births, and difficult miscarriages.Throughout this process she learns:* important lessons about the limits...
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Season 4
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26:39
What happens when you have to be your own Doula for an Accidental Home Birth? Darla's Birth Story, Part II
This week I finish my conversation with Darla. She has another uneventful pregnancy, that ends in a bang--* An unintended home birth*Significant challenges when-- in the early thick of Covid-- Darla has to jump through hospital hoop...
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37:19
What Difference can a Doula Make in a Case of Retained Placenta? Darla's Birth Story, Part I
Today we hear from a mother of two who has a degree in public health and was trained as a doula before her first pregnancy. She didn't expect her water to break the way it didShe didn't expect a retained placenta or the he...
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Season 4
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34:05
What Can Turn Around a Hard Hospital Birth? Jennifer's Birth Story, Part II
In today's episode I finish my conversation with Jennifer, the Doula in RenoShe shares how she managed all the complications of her daughter's tenuous condition: * Born with RDS, a lung co...
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Season 4
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27:52
What Can Happen when Infertility gives way to that first pregnancy? Jennifer's Birth Story, Part I
Today my guest, a DOULA and birth worker, talks about her challenging experience with INFERTILITY: * All the minor surgeries* How hard it was to manage at the age of 19 more or less alone *How challenging it was to go ...
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Season 4
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28:39
What happens when you decide to Bed Share with your Infant? Kim's birth story & Expert insight on Infant Sleep
In today's episode I finish my conversation with Kim about her experience, both having kids and becoming a sleep coach. NOTE: I should mention upfront that we talk about a full term still birth and how Kim managed that very challen...
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Season 4
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28:39
What happens when Your Birth Center Birth ends up in a C section? Kim's birth story, Part I
In today's episode I speak with a woman who worked in the field of mother and infant health before she became pregnant. She shares the challenges she encountered in her birth--going from a planned birth center birth to a C section, what...
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Season 4
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27:50
What Happens when You Apply Ayurvedic Principles to your Pregnancy Journey? Shri's birth story, Part II
In today's episode I finish my conversation with Shri. She shares her experience of birth, and the things that made postpartum a challenge--in particular Covid and the isolation it involvedShe shares the ayurvedic approach to bo...
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Season 4
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34:57
What happens when you experience a Stroke before Pregnancy? Shri's birth story, Part I
In today's episode I speak with a woman who had her whole life turned around by an unexpected health crisis when she was in her early thirties. She shares *what she did to reclaim her health * how it influenced her fertility...
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Season 4
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26:49
What you can do to manage a new born surgery for a heart defect: Amy's birth story, Part III
This is the THIRD and last part of Amy's story. In this episode she talks about * the importance of accurate ultrasound in utero * her experience of navigating a surgery on her newborn* the challenges ...
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Season 4
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26:35
What a congenital heart defect could look like after delivery: Amy's birth story + Ultrasound insights, Part II
In today's episode we hear part 2 (of 3) of Amy's story--she talks about her induction and her experience becoming the parent of a baby with a significant heart condition, the operation that saved his life, and tips for parents who might find t...
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Season 4
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31:02
What does it look like to manage challenges with miscarriage, breastfeeding and family trauma? Amy's birth story, Part I
In today's episode I speak with a woman who talks about her experience:* growing her family as part of a same sex couple* her experience with miscarriage and how that changed the way she approached her next pregnancy* issues with br...
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Season 4
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30:45
What happens when your partner experiences some version of PPD? Jelena's birth story, Part II
This week we hear the rest of Jelena's story:* How she manages a postpartum period marked by the mental and emotional struggles of her partner and a new baby. * Her use of Montessori ParentingWe pick up where we lef...
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Season 4
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21:52
What does a Natural, Early Induction look like? Jelena's story, Part I
In today's episode I speak with a woman who enjoyed a completely healthy pregnancy...until she didn't-- when cholestasis shows up. Cholestasis of pregnancy, I learned this week, is an issue with the liver that sometimes arrives in ...
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Season 4
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23:43
What can a home birth teach you about your hospital birth? Brandy's birth story, Part II
Today I finish my conversation with Dr. Brandy Cummings, who has an advanced degree in clinical nutrition. We talk about *all the challenges of her first birth in the hospital in contrast to her home birth and what it taug...
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Season 4
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48:29