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Best-selling lesbian romance author Harper Bliss and her wife Caroline talk about their journey in writing and publishing. And television. And their cat.
Join Cynthia Overgard and Trisha Ludwig once per week for evidence-based straight talk on having a safe and informed birth, which starts with determining if you've hired the right provider. If we had to boil it down to a single premise, it's this: A healthy mom and baby isn't all that matters. We have more than 30 years' experience between us in midwifery, advocacy, childbirth education, postpartum support and breastfeeding, and we've served thousands of women and couples. Listen to the birt ...
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#206 | March Q&A: Choosing a Midwife, HELLP, Cold Sores, Drying the Baby, Lindsay Clancy, Covid & Aspirin, IUGR, Bottles, Parent Resources
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We are back with the March Q&A, and it is packed with your awesome questions! How do I go about choosing a midwife? Are there red flags? I had pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome. Can I still have a home birth? Is it safe to take Valtrex in pregnancy for cold sores or is there an alternative? Is it necessary to rub and dry the baby after birth or can …
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#205 | Six Principles of Holistic Fertility & How to Conceive with Dr. Nathan Riley
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Dr. Nathan Riley is an OBGYN who understands the holistic picture of women's health. You may remember him from Episode #165 where he discussed autonomous, empowered birth. Today, he joins us to explain why infertility rates are on the rise, especially for men, and gives us the six principles of holistic fertility that are important for healthy, con…
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#204 | The Return of Claude Racine-Valinsky From the Depths of Postpartum Depression to "Gangster" Mom Mode
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Claude Racine Valinsky is a former professional dancer and choreographer in Los Angeles who is now a mother who has recovered from postpartum depression and become a thriving mom-preneur. She returns to the show for the third time to share her "gangster mindset" for turning our most difficult moments in life into our greatest opportunity for growth…
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#203 | Pre-eclampsia: Diet, Nutrition and the Influence of Sperm with Lily Nichols
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Pre-eclampsia impacts more than 5% of pregnancies, is a leading cause of pre-term birth and is increasingly on the rise. When it comes to this difficult diagnosis, we often are told there is nothing we can do other than give birth, usually by induction, sometimes by cesarean. While the etiology of pre-eclampsia is not fully understood and much more…
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#202 | From Bliss to Rage: A Mother's Journey with Postpartum Depression
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When Lauren gave birth to her first baby, everything was seemingly perfect. Breastfeeding was going well, and she was totally in love with her baby girl. What she didn't see coming was a series of lifestyle changes including moving that set her up for her previously-managed OCD transforming into bouts of postpartum rage. At 9 months postpartum, whe…
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#201 | February Q&A: Tongue-Tie & Bodywork, Cervical Exams, Ovulation, Postpartum Baths, Placenta Accreta, Forceps, Synthetic Fragrances, Tearing
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It's time for our monthly Q&A episode with your Down to Birth Show hosts Cynthia & Trisha. After a quick chat about the brutally cold weather (how unoriginal), we jump right into our listener-submitted questions beginning with: How important or helpful is body-work for tongue-tied babies? Is there ever a legit reason for a cervical check in late pr…
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#200 | Physiologic Birth of the Placenta in Water, Optimal Cord Clamping and Preventing Postpartum Hemorrhage with Barbara Harper
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Active management of the third stage of labor refers to interventions that are taken to speed up the delivery of the placenta and reduce the risk of postpartum hemorrhage. This typically involves the administration of an oxytocic drug like Pitocin or Syntocinon to increase the contraction of the uterus and the use of techniques like fundal pressure…
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#199 | The Art of Spiritual Midwifery with Anna
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Anna is a Swedish-practicing midwife who was professionally trained in Australia. Anna discusses her view of birth as a rite of passage and a transformational experience, and she laments the current state of the maternity system, which often leads to birth trauma for women. She talks about the desire to control every aspect of pregnancy and birth, …
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#198 | Midwife Jessy's Undisclosed Breech Home Birth
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Jessy is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) in the state of Utah where breech home birth is against state law. In her second pregnancy, she made three attempts using gentle version techniques to turn her baby, yet her baby turned back to breech every time. Weighing out the risks of breech vaginal home birth versus cesarean, she opted for home b…
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#197 | January Q&A: Postpartum Hemorrhage; Mucous Plugs; Pumping for Work Trips; Beyond 42 Weeks; Flat Nipples; Starting Solids; Placentas
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We are back with our first Q&A of 2023. We begin today by discussing absurd comments shared with us around natural birth statistics before we jump into our regular Q&As, starting with: How can I prevent another postpartum hemorrhage when I feel like I did everything right the first time but still bled too much? What role does a doula play in a home…
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#196 | The Toughest Part of Being a Doula with the Dynamic Doulas of London, Ontario
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Sarah Hutchison & Lara Martens are the Dynamic Doulas of London, Ontario. Doula work is a delicate balance of keeping a "soft front and hard back", stepping-in and and not overstepping. The fact is, doula burnout is high, the emotional work can be heavy, and the lifestyle is challenging. But as any doula knows, those who are called to the work can'…
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#195 | Your Menstrual Cycle & Its Vital Role in Health Explained with Author Lara Briden
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If you are considering the birth control pill to fix your period, think again. Did you know the hormones in your pill don't replace the hormones your body naturally makes? Instead, they mask and suppress them. The period you get at the end of your birth control pill pack is not a real period; it's simply a withdraw bleed from synthetic hormones. Yo…
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#194 | Birth Trauma & PPD Healed Through EMDR and a Redemptive Hospital Birth
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When Emma's first baby was one year old, she opened her phone to review her baby's photos and realized she had spent that year completely avoiding looking back at any images from the first three months of her baby's life. It was clear in that moment, she had experienced significant postpartum depression and delayed bonding with her baby, and the ph…
We've decided to end this podcast for now, and for our grand finale, we're answering questions from our listeners, on a whole range of topics. This episode is part three (the very last one). Get in touch with us with your questions and comments at harperblissandhermrs@gmail.com. Get some free books by subscribing to the Harper Bliss mailing list. F…
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#193 | December Q&A: Rhogam; Premature Rupture of Membranes; Meconium; Fevers in Pregnancy; Cord Traction; Vitamin D; Waterbirth & Cold Plunges
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Hello everyone! It is that time of the month, and we are back with our December Q&A. To kick it off, we have a follow-up conversation based on one listener's response to episode #188 on Rhogam. Next, we jump into our questions discussing the actual risks of going past 24 hours or ruptured membranes without contractions and how you can mitigate thos…
We've decided to end this podcast for now, and for our grand finale, we're answering questions from our listeners, on a whole range of topics. This episode is part two of three. Tune in again next time for part three. Get in touch with us with your questions and comments at harperblissandhermrs@gmail.com. Get some free books by subscribing to the H…
We've decided to end this podcast for now, and for our grand finale, we're answering questions from our listeners, on a whole range of topics. This episode is part one of three. Tune in again next time for part two. Get in touch with us with your questions and comments at harperblissandhermrs@gmail.com. Get some free books by subscribing to the Har…
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#192 | Your Hospital Anecdotes, Our Comments
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If we could share every single woman's birth story on this podcast we would; but instead, today we are giving you a glimpse into a handful of hospital stories and anecdotes that represent the rhetoric, mistreatment, and disrespect that mothers experience from hospital staff, midwives, OBs and pediatricians. In this episode, you will hear such thing…
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#191 | Placental Abruption: Meghan's Third and Final Birth
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Meghan Murray and her husband decided to have one more baby. She'd already experienced beautiful vaginal births with her first two boys and, like so many women, she mentally went through all the things she could do this time around to get things just right. In preparing for her dream birth, Meghan hired new midwives who practiced outside of a hospi…
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#190 | Babies in the NICU: Three Mothers' Stories
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No matter how beautiful, long, short or difficult your birth experience is, nothing compares to the agony of your brand new baby being whisked out of your arms and admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) or Special Care Nursery (SPC). Mothers in this position often experience less autonomy and authority over the decision-making and info…
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#189 | November Q&A: Cholestasis; Growth Curve Worries; Petite-Women Birth Concerns; The McRobert's Position; Retained Placenta; Burping & Formula
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Hello everyone! It is Wednesday, and we are back with our monthly Q&A! In this month's extended Q&As (always ad-free and available to all by subscribing to Down To Birth + on Apple or joining our Patreon community) we discuss an interesting situation reported by one mom regarding her "retained placenta" - or was it? How would you know if it's reall…
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#188 | Rhogam for Rh Negative Mothers: How It Works and When It Doesn't
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In today's episode we discuss the problem with Rh negative blood types and how it impacts future pregnancies. We've invited Courtney, mother of three, and her midwife, Jessica, to discuss her experience as an Rh negative mother who became isoimmunized against her baby, resulting in the need for multiple in-utero blood transfusions to save her baby'…
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#187 | Carrying the Torch of the Midwives Before Us: An Off-The-Record Kind of Conversation with Home Birth Midwife Lindsey Meehleis
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Lindsey Meehleis is a midwife in Southern California who practices traditional midwifery and has supported women in home birth over the last nineteen years. We invited her on the podcast today without a specific agenda (a rather unusual twist on our style) and let the conversation take on a life of its own. We discussed what is happening with midwi…
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#186 | Five Tips for Your Easiest Birth with The Naked Doula
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Emma of the naked doula is a mother, instagram phenomenon, artist, and passionate, bold birth educator residing across the pond from us, in England. She uses bright colors, raw imagery and impassioned language to teach her birth philosophy and method. Today, she joins us on the Down to Birth Show to share her secret sauce to your easiest and best b…
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#185 | Reyna's Unmedicated Twin Birth Against Doctors' Orders
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When Reyna learned she was pregnant with twins she was told she would need to be induced and get an epidural and that there was no point in staying pregnant beyond thirty-eight weeks. Refusing induction, she went into labor naturally at 39+2. As labor progressed, her obstetrician told her she needed to give birth in the operating room. Without a se…
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#184 | October Q&A: Evening Primrose; Breastmilk Storage; IUGR; Pumping the Second Side; Bacteria in Urine; Longer Gestations & Early Milestones; Postpartum Meals
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Hello Friends! It is Wednesday, and Cynthia & Trisha are here with your October Q&A episode. To kick it off, we share a story from a listener who wanted everyone to know how a routine gynecologic exam in her twenties turned into a precarious moment in her VBAC experience. Next, we dive into our questions beginning with the potential association bet…
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#183 | Group B Strep: Screening, Risks, Protocols, Problems and Alternatives
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Our long awaited deep-dive on Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is here! GBS affects approximately one-third of all pregnant women, and involves widespread use of intravenous antibiotics in labor even though the screening tests are known to be highly imperfect, and some women are at significantly greater risk of GBS colonization than others. Further, the…
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#182 | Labor Induction: Risks, Reasons and Results with Dr. Rachel Reed, PhD
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Dr. Rachel Reed, PhD, author, midwife, researcher and expert in physiologic birth joins us for the second time on the Down to Birth Show to discuss the differences between physiologic birth and induced labor. She shares with us the different ways in which Pitocin/Syntocin impacts the course of labor, including significant risk to mother and baby, v…
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#181 | A Motherless Mother in Recovery Experiencing Birth As the Ultimate Surrender
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Melissa Pennel was thirty-four years old when she was pregnant for the first time. She already had experienced significant life challenges: She had lost her own mother a few years earlier, plus she was seven years sober. Her pregnancy presented several health scares along the way, such as a two-vessel cord and a perceived hole in the baby's heart, …
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#180 | September Q&A: Family Boundaries; Induction; Cesarean Predisposition; PROM; Marriage After Baby; Lotus Birth; Nausea; Amnio-Infusion
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Hello all! We are back with our monthly Q&A. To kick it off, we have a short conversation on maternal instincts. Next, we discuss how one woman should handle her mother-in-law's request to be called "Mama". Then we review the very few reasons when an induction is absolutely needed, how long you can go with ruptured membranes before inducing labor, …
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#179 | Creating Healthy, Independent Infant Sleep Habits with Ellie Lindenmayer
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Infant sleep is one of the most important topics on the mind of every new parent. New parents are left wondering what normal infant sleep looks like, how much their baby needs at each age, and how create easier sleep routines resulting in longer stretches of sleep during day and night. Many of today's parents are afraid that any degree of crying wi…
We were absent last week because the arrival of a dog in our home has caused quite the commotion. We had the deluxe edition of At the Water’s Edge recorded by Abby Craden and it’s available everywhere now. And Harper’s other scandalous romance, In the Distance There Is Light, has been out for six years! We really loved season two of The Capture on …
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#178 | How Out-of-Hospital Birth Prejudice and Provider Bias Harms Mothers and Babies With Attorney Hermine Hayes-Klein
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Hermine Hayes-Klein is a fearless legal advocate for sexual and reproductive rights with a particular passion for defending women’s human rights in childbirth, which, she says, are routinely violated in maternity care systems. You may recall attorney Hermine Hayes-Klein from our previous episodes with her: Episode #138 | Legal Case Study #1: Trauma…
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#177 | Going Clean & Green for a Non-Toxic Lifestyle with Carly Hartwig
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There are over 85,000 chemicals approved for use in personal care products and fewer than 200 of those have been tested for safety. Carly Hartwig is a home-birth mother of one, Instagram influencer @cleanlivingwithcarly, and soon-to-be certified endocrine wellness and fertility counselor. Her passion for clean living grew out of her own hormonal ha…
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#136: Harper and Her Mrs Reveal a Massive Plot Twist
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The writing of Harper’s current work-in-progress is going very slowly. There will be a lot of drama before it’s done. Harper has revealed her fantasy casting for A Family Affair on her blog. And we’ve received the audio recordings from Abby Craden, so it’ll be available to listen to very soon. We binged The Dropout on Hulu. Amanda Seyfried should g…
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#176 | August Q&A: Multiple Miscarriages; Evening Primrose Oil; Safe Bed-Sharing; Breastmilk Stashes; Failure to Descend; Pushing; High Blood Pressure
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Hello! It is the last Wednesday of the month, and you know what that means. We are here with our August Q&A episode. Today, Cynthia & Trisha are discussing weight loss after having a baby--can you lose too much too fast? What tests should be done if you've had multiple miscarriages? Can you give us the scoop on Evening Primrose oil for getting labo…
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#135: Harper Guarantees a Happy Ending for the Women
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A Family Affair has had a great launch, so thank you to everybody who bought it or read it in Kindle Unlimited. We’re doing a lucky draw, and you can win a signed paperback book, or naming rights for a future book. All details can be found HERE >> Harper started on her next book after a two month break, which is her longest hiatus so far. It’s a ne…
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#175 | Optimizing Your Fertility at Any Age with Naturopath Dr. Aumatma
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Dr. Aumatma is a holistic fertility expert who, through her own hormonal challenges, became impassioned about supporting and optimizing women's cycles and fertility irrespective of age. Today, she shares with us the three most common myths in infertility and fertility management, explains what tests we must do to better understand our hormones, and…
Harper’s newest book, A Family Affair is out on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered, bought or borrowed it!And the German translation of This Foreign Affair, Eine Französin zum Küssen is out today as well!Harper is preparing to start writing her next book, but she hasn’t even told Caroline anything about it yet. We finis…
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#174 | This is How Your Marriage Ends with Author Matthew Fray
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Matthew Fray's new book "This Is How Your Marriage Ends: A Hopeful Approach to Saving Relationships" is directed primarily toward a male audience, and asserts most marriages end with a whimper, not a bang. Matthew helps us understand how good people like him "can be terrible husbands" by unknowingly causing harm to their wives. Did you know most di…
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#133: Harper Can Only Achieve Shortness in Her Stature
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We’re back after a long hiatus, hurray! And Harper wrote a book while we were off the air: A Family Affair. It’s available to buy direct now, or will be available on Amazon only (and in Kindle Unlimited) as of 17 August 2022 (for at least three months). This book was supposed to be more “women’s fiction” but ended up “scandalous lesbian romance”. W…
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#173 | Obstetric Violence with Home Birth Midwife Anne Margolis, CNM, RN
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Anne Margolis is a Certified Nurse Midwife, author, and trauma specialist who has been catching babies for over twenty-seven years. Anne began as a nurse, whose first birth experience ended in a fourth degree episiotomy and vacuum delivery after being told she needed an emergency cesarean because her baby's heart rate was decelerating. She was so "…
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#172 | Our Sexual Energy as The Secret Weapon to Our Best Birth and Best Life with Kim Anami
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Sex and birth are inextricably linked. Both functions operate optimally under the same conditions: trust, safety, security, surrender. Furthermore, they both require oxytocin. So it is no wonder that birth can actually be the biggest oxytocin rush and/or orgasm of your life. But the importance of healthy sexual energy goes far beyond birth. It is a…
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#171 | July Q&A: Premature Rupture of Membranes; Hyperemesis Gravidarum; Aspirin in Pregnancy; Waterbirth Safety; Nipple Pain in Pregnancy; Quickies
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It's the last Wednesday of the month, and you know what that means! We are back with our monthly Q&A episode. Today, we are discussing how long it is safe to go after your bag of waters releases (see link to our amazing birth story below); What can be done to treat or prevent Hyperemesis Gravidarum? Is Aspirin in pregnancy really necessary and what…
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#170 | An Empowered Cesarean Recovery with Nicole Alfred
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Nicole Alfred the @csectionrecoverycoach is a cesarean recovery coach, massage therapist, and mother of two. She has given birth two times by C-section: one emergent and traumatic, the other empowered and planned. Her different experiences opened her eyes to the abject lack of support mothers receive post-operatively. Nicole sees a need for much mo…
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#169 | Protecting Today's Children with Integrative Pediatrician Dr. Joel Gator Walsh
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Should we really be treating fevers in young children? Why are babies so gassy? Are germs helpful or harmful for our kids? Do kids actually need cows' milk? What is the problem with dairy? Dr. Joel Gator Walsh , an integrative pediatrician in Los Angeles, CA, joins us today to discuss what is happening in our environment that is contributing to mak…
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#168 | The Business of Birth Control with Abby Epstein: The Importance of Safety, Autonomy and Informed Consent
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The Business of Birth Control is a new documentary directed by Abby Epstein and produced by Ricki Lake, who achieved international acclaim for their revolutionary 2008 film, "The Business of Being Born". Abby joins us today to discuss why she and Ricki made their new film, which boldly shines a light on some of the severe side effects that accompan…
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#167 | June Q&A: A Small Pelvis, Plugged Ducts, Vaginal Exams, ECVs, Libido Woes, Castor Oil, Cord Prolapse & Painful Sex, Plus Bonus Content
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Hello! This month's Q &A begins with a story from one of our Instagram followers on the pressure to have a vaginal exam to document cervical status so that her doctor can schedule an induction that she didn't need or want. Next, we jump into our questions starting with, "I have a narrow pelvis and grow big babies; what can I do stretch my pelvis fo…
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#166 | Developmental Toilet Training: How to Train Your Baby for Big Kid Success
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Danielle Daure holds a Master's Degree in Education and has over 20 years' combined experience in education and behavior analysis. She is a Board Certified and Licensed Behavior Analyst (BCBA, LBA). For years, Danielle worked with children as old as five with extreme anxiety around toilets, to the point where they had severe constipation through te…
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Bonus Episode | Midwives Under Assault by Hospital Administrators
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"There is something going on against midwives, against birth centers, and against choice for women." Cathy Parisi is the director of the Connecticut Childbirth & Women's Center in Danbury, Ct since 1999. The center is the only free standing birth center in Connecticut and promotes physiologic birth under the midwifery model of care, offering women …
