In this episode, Lisa shares with us practical lessons on how to understand our own body signs. Learn how to chart your own cycle. Hear how important it is to listen to what your menstrual cycle indicates for your wider health overall. For example, if your period doesn’t return ~ 18 months after having a baby, that’s a sign that something may be wrong, and it is a good time to have a medical professional help investigate.
First-time Parents
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The 10 Questions Every First-Time Parent Asks
We hear the same questions from parents time and again. Here’s a quick guide to the questions every new parent asks.
Birth
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Why You Need A Contract For Your Doula
Emily Flynn is a birth and postpartum doula and health consultant in the Bay Area. She specializes in connecting folks in various places in their gynecological health cycles with compassionate and evidence-based care providers best suited to their individual needs. Emily’s journey into birth work started through her legal research work with international organizations supporting migrants and refugees, which has informed and inspired her work with other birth care providers in building solid contracts and safe, strong, and satisfying businesses.
Sleep
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Hyperemesis And Being Awake At 3AM
Suzannah Neufeld, MFT, yoga therapist has dropped by my house to have tea and discuss her new book Awake At 3AM and tell us about how she applies insights both from psychotherapy and yoga/mindfulness practice to help parents through the very challenging perinatal period. Suzannah herself suffered with grueling hyperemesis and was thrown into depression and anxiety as a result. Hear her story and learn about her approach to helping us with the tough stuff.
First-time Parents
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Learn The Y-Buzz & Find Your Voice As A New Parent
Melissa Hurt is our guest this episode and she offers us an easy and rather fun and funny technique for “finding our voice” as new parents.
This little exercise, known as the Y-Buzz will warm up your vocal chords and open your voice and tickle your face. But it’s not just for fun– this technique is something you may find empowering as well as spirit-lifting.
Complications , Nutrition
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How To Avoid Anemia (Before & After Pregnancy)
How to avoid anemia (and recover from anemia) using nutrition. Anemia is common during and after pregnancy. Esther talks about how to stave it off, and how to use nutrition and what you eat to help recover from mild to severe anemia.
Postpartum Support
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The Dos & Don’ts Of Being A Respectful & HELPFUL Visitor To A New Parent
The Dos and Don’ts and Whys and Hows of being a respectful and HELPFUL visitor to your new-parent family and friends. This is some frank talk based on Esther’s decades of observation and cultural comparison. Everyone can learn from this episode, whether or not they are, themselves, or know new-parents-to-be
Postpartum Support
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How To Handle Visitors When You Have A New Baby
Esther and Sarah return to the subject of visitors. A discussion of why visitors in the first two to six weeks aren’t always the right thing for new parents from a physical, emotional-social and spiritual perspective, as well as why our culture doesn’t foster appropriate support.
This episode of the Fourth Trimester Podcast is a playbook for handling visitors, including:
setting boundaries for yourself
communicating how you need visitation to work to your loved ones
the difference between visitors who help vs visitors who don’t know how to positively contribute
how to set up an appropriate ‘meet the baby’ event
why your birth story is a private experience you may or may not choose to share
Mental Health , Recovery
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Postpartum OCD Is A Thing
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