Recovery

Turning Pregnancy Loss Into Empowerment

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Our amazing guest for Episode 78 is Jeanae Hopgood-Jones who has taken a tragic and powerful experience as a mother and found a space of creativity and inspiration.  Her blog  https://blackangelmom.com/  is not only beautiful and sincere, it addresses areas of parenthood and life that are all too often relegated to the purely personal and not given or allowed a voice by the larger culture.  The loss of her twin daughters and reaching towards families of color and their experiences of loss are the seeds of this endeavor.

Recovery

Postpartum OCD Is A Thing

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Wait, what is Postpartum OCD? 
Yep. It’s Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that develops or is magnified as part of the postpartum experience. Women who don’t have OCD can develop it as part of their childbirth experience. Women who already have OCD can see their symptoms intensify during postpartum. 
Most simply defined, OCD is when “intrusive thoughts” become fairly constant, and a person starts acting on those thoughts. 
On episode 67 of Fourth Trimester Podcast we focus on postpartum OCD and speak with Megan Ellow who is a licensed clinical social worker in the state of Delaware.
 
The episode covers: 
Signs of Postpartum Anxiety and Postpartum OCD
How to find help if you think you may have symptoms of Postpartum Anxiety and Postpartum OCD (Hint: start by calling an anonymous helpline 800-944-4773) 
Megan’s true story of postpartum OCD and her recovery 

Recovery

Perinatal Herbalism Can Provide Enjoyment, Rest & Recovery

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Esther introduces Beth Rees and the topic of Perinatal Herbalism to our audience. On our show we like to hear about all sorts of supportive approaches to pregnancy, postpartum and parenting. Beth tells us about how herbs can nourish us and add enjoyment, rest and recovery to our intensive work growing our families. 
We discuss:
How Beth became a doula/herbalist
Geeking out about Birth and Postpartum
Heart-opening  
Herbal self-nourishment and caring for the new mom and baby
Herbalism/Acupuncture integration
Local approaches
Gentle Giants of the herb world
Internal and external nourishment and healing
Show notes for specific herbal supports for parents and children

Birth , Recovery

Healing Birth Trauma

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Every woman deserves the opportunity to fully heal and recover from birth trauma. It is never too late to address a past trauma.
Listen to this episode of Fourth Trimester Podcast to hear: 
How to recognize that you’ve experienced trauma or PTSD 
How to begin addressing a potential trauma – the first steps to take for healing 

Nutrition , Recovery

Spring Childers Demystifies All Things Placenta

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Even Kourtney Kardashian ate her own placenta. Some women eat their placenta because they believe the organ contains the nutrients being transferred from mother to child while the baby is in the womb. Some benefits could include increased breast milk production and a decrease in post-natal depression.
Listen to hear everything you never knew you TOTALLY WISH YOU KNEW about placentas, including: 
what is the placenta
what prenatal foods and practices can benefit the placenta
what is placenta encapsulation
what are some of the ideas and benefits around the practice
how have women historically used their placentas
what are some of the placenta traditions in other cultures
where to go to find someone to make capsules for you
what happens with the placenta after birth – how transported to person doing encapsulation – how to store
other beautiful things done with the placenta (e.g. artwork prints)