Episode 78: Don't Do It On Your Own with Bianca and Natasha of bebo mia

Today I so enjoyed chatting with Bianca Sprague and Natasha Marchand of bebo mia inc. Bianca is a birth doula and lactation educator and has supported hundreds of families through their pregnancy, birth and postpartum periods. She feels particularly passionate around maintaining the family's relationships and mental wellness. As a queer woman she advocates for inclusive language in the birthing space. She lives in Toronto with her spouse, Alana, and their daughter, Gray. Natasha is a pre & postnatal fitness professional and birth doula. After a long fertility journey with her first daughter, Natasha has positioned herself as a fertility expert. She specializes in working with families with a history of try to conceive through their pregnancy and postpartum period. Natasha lives in Toronto with her husband, Chris, their 6 year old daughter, Sadie, and just gave birth to her second daughter in September. bebo mia inc is a training & mentorship organization for women in the maternal health field, including pregnancy/birth professionals, childbirth educators & parenting specialists. They offer comprehensive skills, business support & community care through an innovative online structure that spans a global market. 

In their episode we chat about:

• bebo mia's origin story
• Why they have some focus on fertility in their business
• Inclusive gender language when it comes to birth work
• How they feel like they did the opposite with their postpartum experiences that they tell their clients to do and what they would've done differently
• The challenge of working in this field and people "expecting us to be really good at this"
• Postpartum planning and asking for what you want
• Their birth stories and Natasha's thoughts about her upcoming C-Section
• The importance of setting yourself up for a positive postpartum experience
• Their differing experiences with postpartum as Natasha is more social and Bianca more introverted
• Postpartum struggles with a spirited high needs baby
• Letting moms experience whatever they experience postpartum
• Don't do it on your own!!
• And more!

You can find this episode wherever you listen to podcasts or you can stream it here.

This episode of the postpartum podcast is sponsored by Aeroflow Breastpumps.  Aeroflow helps you navigate qualifying for a breast pump through your insurance. Just because its covered, doesn’t mean it’s easy. Let Aeroflow handle the bureaucracy so that you can enjoy your baby. Go to aeroflowbreastpumps.com/postpartum to learn more.

***

As always, please consider subscribing and leaving a review on iTunes here. Your reviews really help the show out because they allow it to be more visible so that we can reach more moms. 

Do you shop on Amazon?  Use this link and do your shopping as you always would and the show will get a teeny tiny kickback. 

Thank you SO much for your support!

Episode 41: "It's about Positive not Perfect" with Stephanie Dullanty

Today is a special episode because I got to talk with another one of my dear friends here in Sacramento. Stephanie Dullanty is a birth doula, postpartum doula and birth photographer and mom to Rio. Stephanie and I met through Capital City Doulas and she is such a sweet and wonderful person. I am so happy to share her and her wife Martha's story of how they experienced conception, pregnancy, birth and postpartum.  

In this episode we talk about:

• How she and Martha chose their sperm donor (They used Pacific Reproductive Services) and how complicated the process can be to conception
• How she came to birth work
• Ways that we can be more inclusive to queer families in birth education and parenting
• Her beautiful birth story with Rio
• The importance of finding community
• Struggling with Rio's colic
• Balancing going back to work when your baby or toddler has only had one primary caregiver

You can find out more about Stephanie at her website Rio City Birthworks

If you are local to Sacramento, please check out our calendar at Capital City Doulas to see when the next Mama Talks event is.

Also, check out  Capital City Music Together if you're local, or check out Music Together in your area if you're elsewhere. 

You can find the show wherever you find your podcasts, or stream it directly here.

***

As always, please consider subscribing and leaving a review on iTunes here. Your reviews really help the show out because they allow it to be more visible so that we can reach more moms. 

Do you shop on Amazon?  Use this link and do your shopping as you always would and the show will get a teeny tiny kickback. 

The podcast is also sponsored by Audible.com.  To get your FREE audiobook and 30-day trial, please go to http://www.audibletrial.com/postpartum   

You can also support the show by becoming a patron on Patreon.  No donation is too small, for as little as $1 per episode, you can make a huge difference for the show.  Click here to learn more. 

Thank you SO much for your support!

Episode 32: “Trust in yourself and find YOUR tribe with Nathalie Saenz of Dearest Doula

Today I’m really excited to chat with Nathalie Saenz of the Dearest Doula Podcast.   Nathalie is a Birth Doula and mom of one with another on the way.  I had the pleasure of being on her Dearest Doula podcast last year, twice! – you can listen to those episodes here. In this episode we talk about:

·      How she healed from her C-section from her first birth

·      And found her passion in birth work after seeing a play about birth and The Business of Being Born

·      How she is planning for a VBAC homebirth with her second child

·      Undergoing a mastotomy from mastitis during her first breastfeeding experience

·      The importance of not projecting our own expectations on new mom friends, supporting the fact that being a new mom is hard.

To find out more about Nathalie and find her podcast, visit her website here.

She also mentioned the Birth Without Fear Blog.

You can find the show wherever you find your podcasts, or stream it directly here.

***

As always, please consider subscribing and leaving a review on iTunes here. Your reviews really help the show out because they allow it to be more visible so that we can reach more moms. 

Do you shop on Amazon?  Use this link and do your shopping as you always would and the show will get a teeny tiny kickback. 

The podcast is also sponsored by Audible.com.  To get your FREE audiobook and 30-day trial, please go tohttp://www.audibletrial.com/postpartum  

You can also support the show by becoming a patron on Patreon.  No donation is too small, for as little as $1 per episode, you can make a huge difference for the show.  Click here to learn more. 

Thank you SO much for your support!

Episode 28: "This Won't Last Forever" and Fertility Awareness with Danielle Stratford of Appleseed Fertility

I first learned about Danielle when Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein were running their Kickstarter to make the documentary "Sweetening the Pill" about hormonal birth control.  Danielle is a major fertility awareness advocate, the creator of Appleseed Fertility and a new mom!

In this episode we chat about:

• Fertility Awareness Method (of course!) and knowing all of your choices when it comes to birth control
• Her Birth Center Birth Turned Hospital Birth
• Restructuring our ideas of what productivity looks like with a small baby
• How important it is to ask a new mom what THEY need or want in postpartum. 
• The return to fertility while breastfeeding
• The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding

To learn more about Danielle and Appleseed Fertility visit her website here. 

To learn more about the Sweetening the Pill Documentary, go here.

To see the HelloFlo video check it out, here. 

You can find today's episode wherever you get your podcasts and you can also stream it here. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~As always, please consider subscribing and leaving a review on iTunes here. Your reviews really help the show out because they allow it to be more visible so that we can reach more moms. 

Do you shop on Amazon?  Use this link and do your shopping as you always would and the show will get a teeny tiny kickback. 

The podcast is also sponsored by Audible.com.  To get your FREE audiobook and 30-day trial, please go tohttp://www.audibletrial.com/postpartum  

You can also support the show by becoming a patron on Patreon.  No donation is too small, for as little as $1 per episode, you can make a huge difference for the show.  Click here to learn more. 

Thank you SO much for your support!

Episode 23: From Lawyer to SAHM - how choosing our path in birth & work can help us feel like "real" adults with Monica Denniston

Today is a very special episode, I talk with one of my best mama friends, Monica Denniston.  Monica and I met when our daughters were just 5 and 8 weeks old in a mommy baby yoga class.  Our girls are nearly two now and have literally ‘grown up’ together.  Monica is due with baby number 2, a boy, in January.  We’ve been talking about having her on the podcast since I began recording them, and I’m so glad to be able to share her story.

In this episode we talk about:

• Monica’s unique vaginal breech birth story. Monica delivered at the same hospital I did here locally. If you check out the Mama Sherpas documentary, Sutter Davis is featured and includes her OB delivering another vaginal breech birth.  (Shout out Annette Fineberg!)
• How Monica made the decision to go from being a corporate lawyer to staying at home with her daughter and the ever-present pressure society puts on women to stay in the workforce.
• How to deal with “helpful” advice from friends, family and even strangers
• The importance of mom friends, hiring a doula and reaching out to a lactation consultant.
• How being able to make the choice to stay at home was the first time she really felt like a “real” adult because she was doing something for herself and not just because society said she “should.”

I know you will love this episode and our conversation! Love you, M.

You can find Monica’s blog “Cest’ Law Vie” here.

As always, you can find the podcast on iTunes or stream it directly here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don’t forget! You still have a couple weeks to submit your stories for The Postpartum Year anthology.  More information at www.kelliejoy.com/book

Thank you again for listening, supporting the show, and supporting moms!

Episode 18: The Importance of Owning and Sharing our Stories with Katie Clemons of Gadanke

Today I got to interview Katie Clemons, creator of Gadanke and blogger at Making This Home. In this episode we talked about how Katie was inspired by her 90-year-old grandma and Story Corps to start her journaling and writing prompt business Gadanke.  She has a fantastic pregnancy journaling course and she explains how that came to be. 

We also talk about how even though storytelling is her business, she struggled with sharing her own positive birth story for fear of what others with difficult births would think.  She shares her experience of giving birth around the same time that she lost both of her grandmothers and how that affected postpartum for her, and finally how it was to give a TedX talk at 7 months pregnant.

Katie is such a wonderful soul, I am sure you will be encouraged by her stories!

You can find Katie’s TedX Talk here.  

You can learn more about Katie's journal company Gadanke here. 

Be sure to check out her pregnancy journaling course, also!

You can find Katie's blog Making This Home here.

You can find here on Twitter and Instagram.

As always, you can download the episode on iTunes here and stream it directly here.

While you’re on iTunes, I hope you consider rating and reviewing the show so that we can reach more moms! It only takes a couple minutes and it really helps out the show.

Ready to share YOUR story? The Postpartum Year: Tales From the Trenches in the First Year of Motherhood anthology is accepting submissions now!