Perinatal Wellbeing - The Podcast about Prenatal, Pregnancy & Postpartum Health

Send a text Content Warning: Birth trauma, postnatal depression and anxiety, mention of childhood abuse, and breastfeeding trauma.   Today is part 2 of my interview with Vikki Stephenson, host of Blum Mumdays Podcast and mum to Stanley! If you haven’t listened to part 1, go back and check it out and then listen to today’s episode. Today Vikki talks about her experience with postnatal depression an...

Send a text Content Warning: Birth trauma, postnatal depression and anxiety, mention of suicidal thoughts, breastfeeding trauma and eating disorders. Today is part 1 of my interview with Vikki Stephenson, host of Blum Mumdays Podcast and mum to Stanley! Vikki shares her story with postnatal depression and anxiety, following a traumatic birth in such an authentic and vulnerable way that I know so m...

Send a text My guest today is Naomi from Queer Nest Club. Naomi uses she and they pronouns, and is Founder and head Doula of Queer Nest, where she coaches and supports Queer and gender-non-conforming folks and entrepreneurs through one of their biggest life transitions— becoming a parent! Through support, advance preparation, self-advocacy, and abundance, she helps you become the parent of your dr...

Send a text Date: May 11th, 2022 Content Warning: This episode contains discussions around sexuality including our body parts and sexual acts. We do use gendered language in this discussion and acknowledge that not all birthing people identify as female. If you listen to your podcasts with young kids in the room you can decide if you want to put headphones in or listen another time.   Today we’re...

Send a text Content Warning: Fertility challenges, mention of traumatic birth Today’s episode is in honour of World Maternal Mental Health Day, which is May 4th. The goal of World Maternal Mental Health Day is to raise awareness of maternal mental health issues so that more women will get treatment and fewer will suffer. This is definitely what we also work for at PWO, by sharing these stories on...

Send a text Content Warning: Fertility challenges Today’s guest is Katie Lamport, RSSW. Katie is a counsellor in private practice in the Barrie, Ontario area. I first met Katie when I started a new job as an addictions counsellor. Katie was fully pregnant and went on maternity leave a few days later. Katie was the first person I had met that was a gestational carrier and I thought WOW what an amaz...

Send a text Content Warning: Mention of birth trauma, baby blues, obstetric violence, NICU, some swearing, gendered language.  Today’s Guest is Kelley Hassanpour, RN who is the Founder over at Parenting From Within and we are talking about the unrealistic expectations of motherhood. We covered a wide range of topics from gendered stereotypes to patriarchy’s impact on motherhood and the systems tha...

Send a text Content Warning: Intrusive thoughts, birth trauma, postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, OCD, postpartum OCD, intrusive thoughts/compulsions around sleep and food, challenges with nursing, rage, trauma, fear, NICU experience, some swearing  Today is the 2nd part of my conversation with Lisette and Catherine from Together Waterloo. Together came out of a desire to increase the serv...

Send a text Content Warning: Intrusive thoughts, birth trauma, postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, OCD, postpartum OCD, intrusive thoughts/compulsions around sleep and food, challenges with nursing, rage, trauma, fear, NICU experience, and some swearing.  Hello and welcome to Perinatal Wellbeing episode #12! Today I’m talking with Lisette and Catherine from Together Waterloo, Together came...

Send a text Content Warning: Ectopic pregnancy, pregnancy loss, trauma, medical procedures, surgery, a near miss and grief. My guest today is Nicole Leijh, RSSW who is a perinatal therapist in private practice in Muskoka Ontario. Over the past few months, we’ve gotten to know each other and become friends and I was so honoured when Nicole agreed to share her experience with an ectopic pregnancy. N...

Send a text Content Warning: Today’s episode is all about relational trauma including sexual, physical and emotional abuse as well as birth trauma. Please know this is a heavy episode and you can take your time listening to it or come back to it at a different time.  My guest today is vania sukola, RP who is a feminist and trauma therapist and works with clients in the perinatal period. I first me...

Send a text Content Warning: Anxiety, stigma around medication, pressures to sleep train, intrusive and suicidal thoughts Today’s Guest is Kelley Hassanpour, RN who is the Founder over at Parenting From Within. Kelley experienced postpartum anxiety after the birth of her son. Kelley recognized the symptoms at 13 months postpartum and started her recovery journey then. Kelley experienced pressure t...

Send a text Content Warning: Fertility Challenges, grief and loss Hello and welcome to Perinatal Wellbeing episode #8. Today we’re going to talk about Queer fertility journeys and processes. My guest today is Laine Halpern Zisman, PhD, a Toronto-based queer doula who specializes in queer fertility support. She is also a queer culture and communications scholar and has published and taught on a ran...

Send a text Content Warning: Fertility struggles, Intrusive thoughts, anxiety, mention of birth trauma, and grief. Hello and welcome to Perinatal Wellbeing episode #7! On today’s episode I interview Sascha, who I met through PSI’s Peer Mentor program last year. Sascha is a mom to her 2-year-old son and lives with her husband in New Jersey.  Sascha experienced Postpartum Anxiety after the birth of...

Send a text Content Warning: Intrusive thoughts, anxiety and challenges with nursing. Hello and welcome to Perinatal Wellbeing episode #6 today is part 2 of my conversation with Dr. Jodi Pawluski. Jodi is a researcher, neuroscientist, therapist, podcaster, and parent! Jodi is from Canada and currently lives in France with her partner and 2 kids. Jodi researches the Parental brain and you can learn...

Send a text Content Warning: Intrusive thoughts, experience of baby in the NICU Today’s guest is Dr. Jodi Pawluski, researcher, neuroscientist, therapist, podcaster, and parent! Jodi is from Canada and currently lives in France with her partner and 2 kids. Jodi studies the Parental brain and you can learn all about it on her website and on her podcast, Mommy Brain Revisited. Jodi is also a perinat...

Send a text  Content Warning: In this episode we are discussing challenges with nursing and grief and trauma that can be associated with that. I use the word breastfeeding when discussing my own story and I continue to work towards more inclusive language including using either nursing, chest feeding or body feeding.  Let’s open up the conversation around nursing! There are so many stories of pare...

Send a text Let’s normalize how hard it is to transition to parenthood! On the podcast today we’re talking about the realities of transitioning to parenthood and that it’s not always filled with joy and elation. Transitioning to parenthood can be very exciting and scary at the same time and can involve grief for our old life. Seeing how others parent online can cause us a lot of distress and not l...

Send a text Content Warning: Examples of various type of intrusive thoughts  Episode description: On today’s episode we’re going to talk about Intrusive Thoughts in the Perinatal Period. I’m going to share the clinical definition, what this looks like in real-life, when it’s a good idea to ask for help and how to cope with these types of thoughts. I experienced intrusive thoughts in the Postpartum...

Send a text We want to welcome you to the podcast and tell you a little bit about what it’s all about and what you can expect.  You can find us at www.perinatalwellbeing.ca on Instagram @perinatalwellbeing_ontario or by email info@perinatalwellbeing.ca Support the show

Send a text Content Warning: Intrusive Thoughts, Suicidal Thoughts On today’s episode I share my story of having Postpartum Anxiety and Depression after the birth of my 3rd child. I share the different signs and symptoms that I experienced, what my journey to recovery looked like and how I made meaning from that challenging time.  Highlights: My Backstory highlighting previous breastfeeding and ba...