))
The Essential Nature of Birth and Postpartum Storytelling with Whitney Molitor
Manage episode 314901088 series 2936047
Content provided by Julia Sparkman. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Julia Sparkman or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
Whitney Molitor is a mother to two girls, a wife, and a Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in eating disorders, body image, and disordered eating. Above and beyond her titles, Whitney is a Minnesotan at heart and a woman passionate about connecting with other women and storytelling.
Julia and Whitney’s conversation was truly just that - a real conversation where they shared their experiences with conception, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Whitney was humble, genuine, and vulnerable as she offered her story to A Podcast for Moms. This episode will speak to any woman looking to reflect on and honor their experience becoming a mom.
We Discuss:
- The conception, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences with both of Whitney’s daughters
- Whitney’s intention/plan for her first birth and her experience with hypnobirthing
- Postpartum depression and anxiety – Whitney referred to the first 4 months postpartum - with her first daughter - as the hardest time of her life
- Julia shares about the suffering she experienced after there was a “rapture” from her birth plan during her first pregnancy
- Whitney shares her breastfeeding journey with her first daughter and how chiropractic work and craniosacral therapy aided them on their journey
- How shame around her birth and breastfeeding experiences kept Whitney from receiving support
- Whitney references the emotional and physically healing practices she has pursued to care for herself postpartum
- Whitney shares about her postpartum experience with her second daughter and what she did differently to better support her and her family: being okay with hiring outside support and letting go of the notion that we “have to do it all”
- Whitney and Julia share their experiences with relinquishing control in parenting, the power of surrendering, the emotional load of motherhood, and the journey of parenting as opposed to arriving to a “destination”
Powerful Words from Whitney:
- Speaking to a Change in Her Birth Plan: “That also was another pivotal point of feeling really crushed because I had such a strong attachment to, ‘I need to do it this way’…”
- On healing trauma: “I don’t necessarily think that it was the actual birth that was traumatic to me… I think the word trauma is - [sometimes we so often] view it as oh I have to be a war veteran or I have to go through this terrible abuse to say that I’ve gone through trauma -but, I personally I think trauma is anytime we disconnect from - our nervous system just gets flooded and we go into fight, flight, or freeze and it’s really hard for us to integrate back into our body and I think that birth experience was the catalyst to me experiencing postpartum depression and anxiety because of how much shame and disappointment I felt towards myself and the experience…”
- Describing her postpartum experience: “The beautiful thing - I needed to crack to that degree to find my place in motherhood and to find my feet and to find stability but it took a lot of time and a lot of support…”
- On the power of sharing our stories: “It’s essential as women, not even just mothers, but as women for us to find a space where we can share our stories and our truths without the other person or group of people needing to fix it, change it, or interject with their agenda…”
Resources:
Instagram:
Mentions:
17 episodes
Share
