Pregnancy, Identity, & Occupational Transition

OT Uncorked

Guest: Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L

• Host of the OT 4 Lyfe Podcast
  • Subscribe
  • Website: https://ot4lyfe.com/
  • Instagram: @ot.4.lyfe
  • Twitter: @ot4lyfe
• Email: [e-mail]
• 36 weeks pregnant at the time of recording
• Listen to Sarah’s take on the episode at OT 4 Lyfe Podcast
• Also, check out episode 99 to hear Sarah’s pregnancy announcement and so much more in episode 100:
  • Episode 99: Reflections from the OT Community
  • Episode 100: The Good, The Bad, and Like, Umm Ya Know The Ugly

Topics we Uncorked:

• Pregnancy updates
  • Sarah was 36 weeks at time of recording and is now mom of one month old Baby A!
  • I was 17 weeks pregnant at the time of recording and am now 24 weeks pregnant!
• Occupational transitions of pregnancy
  • Identity
    • The moments that remind us of our new identity as “mom”
    • Telling our husbands they were dads
    • Sarah shares about her identities as both an OT who specializes in early intervention and a new mom
    • I share about my experience with having health conditions that are highly associated with infertility and the relief of finding out we had conceived
    • Changing expectations of ourselves
      • Asking for help
  • Changes to our occupations
    • How our identities and patterns of participation (high achieving, active, always doing something new and challenging, etc.) and symptoms (being exhausted, pregnancy brain fog) collide
    • Adapting our ADLs (dressing, donning shoes, changing diet)
    • Difficulty focusing and multitasking at work
    • Podcast interviewing and the difficulties of pregnancy brain (hello word finding difficulties)
    • Changing workouts and activity patterns
    • Projects that we wanted to do together with our spouses
      • Our home renovation “DIY”
      • Sarah and Ray’s furniture refurbishing
    • Grocery shopping is exhausting
      • Carrying bags
      • Walking around the store
  • Pregnancy symptoms and how we’re coping
    • Symptoms people talk about
    • Symptoms people DON’T talk about
    • The first trimester symptoms and experiencing them without others knowing we’re pregnant
    • Second trimester “surge” of energy
    • Third trimester (aka the return of the first trimester)
    • Pregnancy brain
      • I always thought this was a secondary effect of being tired, but pregnancy brain is REAL
  • Using our OT brains to help us adapt
• Finding the right health team
  • Seeking help and validation when we’re concerned
  • Not sure if you should call your OB to ask a question? Sarah and I had that question, too. Calling or messaging our practitioners gave us peace of mind and empowered us!
• Being pregnant during a pandemic
  • Pros
    • Wearing yoga pants to work! (aka my living room...)
    • Our spouses are home with us, too, and can be part of the daily ups and downs of being pregnant
    • Easier to keep pregnancy to yourself when you’re socializing and working over Zoom
    • Strangers don’t randomly approach to touch your belly
  • Cons
    • Going to appointments alone
    • Inability to celebrate and share this life milestone with people in the ways we had hoped
    • Additional fears of how to best protect ourselves and our babies during a pandemic
    • Social isolation layered with being pregnant and wanting social connection
• Lessons learned from being pregnant that will make us better therapists
• Our favorite pregnancy “hacks”

Wine we Uncorked:

• None! These two pregnant ladies enjoyed their favorite flavor of water (plain 'ol tap water)
• In episodes 27 through 30 of OT Uncorked, which were recorded since I became pregnant, I “reviewed” wines instead of drinking wine during the episode… did you notice the subtle shift in my wording? I felt clever! Now that the secret’s out, I want my listeners to know that those reviews were based on notes I took about wines pre-pregnancy. In some cases, I let my guest review a wine they were enjoying (check out Lindsey Vestal’s AMAZING wine review in Episode 30!)

Resource Recommendations:

Check out our favorite pregnancy resources:

• Podcasts
  • What About the Mama?
    • Hosted by Karena Skibinski, an OT who was featured on Episode 22 of OT Uncorked
  • Best of Both Worlds
    • Not pregnancy-specific but it’s all about making work and family life fit together
  • The Unstressed Mama
    • Co-hosted by a PT, fitness expert and military officer, and financial expert
• Instagram accounts
  • @thepassionatephysio
  • @pregnant.postpartum.athlete
• YouTube
  • GlowBodyPT
    • Pregnancy workouts
  • Kids OT Help
    • Pediatric development and pregnancy from an OT perspective
• Apps/ Website
  • What To Expect
    • Week by week development, advice, and symptom trackers
  • Ovia
    • They have both pregnancy and parenting apps
  • Peloton prenatal classes
    • In the episode, I said I wasn’t working out much, but I have since started using our Peloton bike and am also loving the Peloton prenatal yoga and strength training
• Book
  • Mama Natural by Genevieve Howland

More from OT Uncorked:

• Instagram @OTuncorked
• Twitter @OTuncorked
• Facebook @OTuncorked
• www.otuncorked.com
• Questions? Email me at [e-mail]

*Show notes may contain affiliate links. By purchasing a product through an affiliate link, OT Uncorked will receive a small commission from your sale, at no extra cost...