Continuing on the topic of mental health, this week’s episode is an interview with the CEO and founder of Canopie, Anne Wanlund. Canopie is an app that works in tandem with top perinatal mental health experts to give parents access to clinically-effective therapies. Their mission is to make mental wellness support universal and a standard part of pregnancy and postpartum care. I appreciate the preventative approach of Anne’s work. It helps bridge the gap between those who need care and the services that can help them. Her own experience inspired her to create a solution: something streamlined ..read more

Megan is here to share her experience of moving cross country during her pregnancy, having to find a new OB, and then needing to be induced at 39 weeks. Although things didn't go exactly as she would have liked she was ultimately very happy with her experience and she says a big part of that was because of the education that she got from being a member of The Birth Preparation Course! We talk a lot in this episode about the shortcomings of the American healthcare system when it comes to pregnancy and birth. Even with the best care staff you’re oftentimes very much on your own. Megan does a gre ..read more

In this episode we have Marielis sharing her experience with postpartum psychosis. I usually don’t do two birth stories in a row but in light of the Lindsay Clancy case I thought it was important to release this one today. If you haven’t heard about it yet, Lindsay Clancy strangled her three children and is now a paraplegic as a result of a suicide attempt. It is suspected that this was due to postpartum psychosis. Postpartum psychosis is relatively rare, occurring in only 1 to 2 births out of 1,000. And homicidal behavior is uncommon among those with the diagnosis. Psychosis is a disturbance ..read more

This episode is being brought to you by Bamboobies. Use the code “ALLABOUT” to get 40% of full price items through Oct 23. Today we’re talking about what happens if there is a suspicion that your baby is big. I originally did an episode about this back in 2019 but since then I’ve had so many people reach out and ask about this subject that I thought I should revisit it and update it. I think it’s coming up more often because more doctors seem to be doing routine third trimester ultrasounds which actually aren’t necessary. These ultrasounds aren’t great at identifying whether or not your baby w ..read more

In this episode of the podcast you’re going to learn what it means to be Rh negative and the implications for pregnancy. The short story is that Rh negative has to do with your blood type. If you’re Rh negative and your baby is Rh positive, it can potentially cause problems for the baby. Alloimmunization is what occurs when an RH negative mom's immune system is exposed to the baby’s Rh positive cells. When this happens the mom's immune system may attack the baby's red blood cells. There are effective treatments and not all exposure will necessarily result in alloimmunization however it’s very ..read more

I have been wanting to have a midwife on the show for a long time. It’s a big topic and I knew I had to get it right. That’s why I’m so thrilled to have Gianna Fay on the show today. Gianna Fay is a Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM) and Women's Health Nurse Practitioner (WHNP-BC). She has been a part of 600+ births and has worked in a variety of settings including out of hospital birth centers, large hospital teaching facilities, smaller community hospitals and private practice. Throughout her career, she has seen pregnant families struggle with navigating the maternity care system. Race and socio ..read more

Hey there! I’m on vacation this week and spending some time with my family so enjoy this rebroadcast episode of the podcast with birth photographer Tavia Redburn. I used to think that birth photography was a bit of a luxury, but the more I learned about it the more I started to think that all parents should consider whether they'd like to have a photographer present for their birth. To talk about all things birth photography, we're joined by the wonderful Tavia Redburn. Tavia is a birth & newborn photographer in Oklahoma, and she also trains other new birth photographers.  Tavia and I ..read more

In this episode of the podcast, being brought to you by Ellement prenatal supplements, we have Tarynn sharing her birth story. Tarynn is actually one of the members of The Birth Preparation Course. Things didn’t go exactly as planned with her birth, in fact they went exactly the opposite. Now it would be easy for me to only share birth stories from course students where everything went great but that would be dishonest of me. The reality is that sometimes things don’t go as you’d like, despite having done great childbirth education. Birth is an unpredictable process that can’t be controlled. B ..read more

This is the 3rd episode in a series about preterm birth. The first episode, 163, was about risk factors for preterm birth. 164 was about preterm labor which accounts for 40-50% of preterm birth. That episode covered what preterm labor is, how to recognize it, and how it’s treated. In this episode you will learn about preterm premature (or prelabor) rupture of membranes (PPROM).   Approximately one third of preterm births are associated with PPROM. Prelabor rupture of membranes, or PROM, refers to membrane rupture before the onset of uterine contractions - when this occurs before 37 weeks ..read more

Sydni had her son at 19 and is now 25. Even though Sydni’s story is from a few years ago, there’s still a lot to learn from it. She had her baby a little early at 36 weeks and you’ll hear about how, after a slower start, things went super fast - so fast it shocked her mother and caused her to faint at the hospital! She had her baby at a young age and although it forced her to step up, her partner at the time didn’t necessarily do the same. She also found out that some of her friends weren’t necessarily true friends. But now Sydni’s getting ready to get married, she’s in school and happy and do ..read more