Preggers Can Be Choosers

My people, DeShaun is serious about all this. Listen as we talk funding, opening a birth center, and what's up with Medicaid.  Harmonious Birthing ~ https://www.facebook.com/Harmoniousbirthing2/ Article ~ Pregnant and Uninsured in Texas https://www.propublica.org/article/the-extraordinary-danger-of-being-pregnant-and-uninsured-in-texas Chat With Milea re cultural competency ~ https://youtu.be...

Elephant in the Womb:  Practical Prenatal Ed Meet Mary!  Y'all, I want you to meet Mary. She is special to me cause she's my practice partner and i think shes the bees knees, but what she can do for you  (esp if you are preggers or seeking to become pregnant) is pretty well-captured bu this quickie interview. She's also here to rep for the postpartum peeps who need the help getting...

Elephant in the Womb: 12/16/19 Labor Whispering, What that?!! Elephant in the Womb:  Practical Prenatal Ed Mary and Rowan chat about one of their service options, Labor Whispering Massage, and WHY folks don't go into labor. Or if they do, what starts slowing the roll. There are 4 basic reasons why labor doesn't start or progress, and our gig is to help which it is, and come up with a plan and...

AfterBirth, A Fourth and More Trimester Support Group: AfterBirth: 12/10/19 MYOB about the Size of my Family Topic: Unslolicitated Opinions about our Family Size Ever wanted to shriek "MIND YOUR OWN BIZZZZNASSSSSS" like Mary Catherine Gallagher when you get an unsolicited comment like these?!!! "Don't y'all know how to watch television?" "When are you going to try for a boy?" "You have your hands...

How to Become a Midwife: 11/25/19 Cultural Competency with a side of Cervical Scar Tissue My fellow newbie Houston midwife Malea and I chat out competency for different cultures interspersed with Cervical Scar Tissue remediation thoughts.  So here you go! A list of what we chatted about as we went through the video ( video version found on Youtube ) Also, I don't know what happened here but m...

AfterBirth, A Fourth and More Trimester Support Group: Topic: Making Friends, Batteling Anxiety I (Rowan) used to have a nutbar therapist that I ADORE named Patty Hewlitt, and she helped me come up with something we called the "friend-making exercise" which is essentially flexing the social muscle without drowning in anxiety and getting chewed up by the  "what if monsters" as defined Tiff. I...

AfterBirth, A Fourth and More Trimester Support Group: AfterBirth: 10/29/19, It's the End of the World as We Know It, And I Feel Fine. Topic: What prepares you for Parenthood?* We read an email from the rad folks at www.mommastrong.com           I never would have imagined how unprepared I would feel when I became a mother. Having the actual baby,...

AfterBirth, A Fourth and More Trimester Support Group: AfterBirth: 10/15/19, Time Travel Edition What Would You Tell Your Past Self About PPD? What are the things you would tell your past pregnant self if you could, what are the things to let go of, and what could be done differently? ZINGERS~ something that grabs you from nowhere and reroutes you, mostly in the negative direction. Term coined by...

Elephant in the Womb:  Practical Prenatal Ed 10/9/19 Arvigo Therapy Maya Abdominal Massage Mary and Rowan chat about one of their service options, Arvigo Therapy, and then it rolls into a chat about consent, privacy, and how we want you to have the safest most healing opportunity possible,  our goal is to help your body find homeostasis. We want to teach you how to heal your body. FYI Th...

AfterBirth, A Fourth and More Trimester Support Group: 10/1/19 Critical Turning Points in PPD Recovery I wanted to ask the folx in the group, what were turning points or events that were most critical for you on moving through postpartum depression. Both Tiff and Katelin had baller insight, and I threw out and Dr. B verified that research confirms that hormone drops can bring on depression and anx...

Elephant in the Womb:  Practical Prenatal Ed 10/1/19 PostPartum Depression after a Perfect HomeBirth Talking to our girl Wren about how she had two pretty idyllic homebirths, and still battled the mother of all postpartum periods, with depression, anxiety, agoraphobia and everything that rolls into that. Hear the tools that worked for her and those that didn't in this candid chat. I think thi...

Elephant in the Womb:  Practical Prenatal Ed 9/24/19 Talking Birth Photography w/Stephanie Shirley Talking to Shirley about getting the most out of your labor and birth photos. Yay or Nay on ~ flash lighting birth team cohesion makeup labor wants and needs when to call the photographer (whoops) and the power of how birth photography is changing the landscape of birth. We also like each other...

AfterBirth: 9/16/19  Relationships, Change and TOUCHED OUT AF AfterBirth is a fourth and more postpartum support group. Amazing host Katelin led the group in talking about sex, how Touched Out means also the spouse, Martha asked her hubs if he wanted her to just lay there, Tiff told her spouse that alone time meant no one asking her anything and that included him. Tiff also wondered where all...

AfterBirth: 9/03/19   Kids and the Internet AfterBirth, a Fourth and More Trimester Support Group Lawd, like how are you going to make decisions around this, especially when your husband's brother lets their same age daughter watch "butts jiggling and women dancing on cars"  and you don't want your four-year-old daughter in on that yet. Join us while we navigate the hard stuff, the funny...

AfterBirth, a Fourth and More Trimester Support Group AfterBirth: 8/20/19 Fear, Gun Violence and Kids in School Whelp, after the last couple of weeks and of course the last 20 years, fear for our children's safety is on our minds. Solidarity, know your local gun laws, and let's figure out together how to be brave and scared and good parents all at the same time. Join us in our FB group~ https://ww...

Choosers 8/18/19 Talkin Vasectomy w/Sharfetter Choosers, where we explore different pregnancy outcomes and birth  and fertilty choices.  Adrian and I were co-workers at Houston Community College somewhere in the vicinity of 2004-2007, and we weren't especially close but have stayed in touch via social media. I noticed a post he had a few weeks ago and wanted to ask him about it. Like bes...

Choosers: 8/13/19 IVF to Adoption w/Joli Choosers, where we explore different pregnancy outcomes and birth choices.  Joli and I are buddies, in the same TLC Doula Group, and in general love each other. When she was going through her IVF journey I wasn't really hip to what all that entailed, so if you aren't either this might be to much deets.   She's got two little ones now, and she feel...

Choosers: 8/12/19 Abortion, A Mental Health Decision Choosers, where we explore different fertilty, pregnancy outcomes and birth choices.  I meet Lacey years ago when she was pregnant and suicidal. Her dr, her husband and even I had no idea what to do, except I knew she wasn't going to survive the pregnancy. SO this is what happened, and how she feels about it 5 years later.  If you are...

AfterBirth: 8/6/19 Post-Adoption Depression AfterBirth, a Fourth and More Trimester Support Group Yall, this is pure goldy gold GOLD Mama D starts by telling us what's up with parenting a newly promoted middle child after the birth of her third baby and navigating being the mean mom. New friend Martha tells us how she is wading through postpartum depression that has hit like a ton of bricks after...

Elephant in the Womb: Prenatal Education for the Preggers Person. Period. EIW: 7/30/19 The #1 Must Have to get the Birth You Want,  w/ Camellia May, old school midwife who started practice in the '80s. Camellia says the way to stack the odds for getting the birth you want is to get the magical CBE, otherwise known as Child Birth Education.  We also talk about the value of doula...

AfterBirth: 7/23/19 Pj Tells her Birth Story,  and talks about Post Partum Anxiety AfterBirth is an online support group that happens alternating Tuesdays, and we use the audio for this podcast. Why? So if you miss an episode with your beezies you can listen when you are up doing that middle of night feeding, or when you are lonely for us, or need some company. OR OR OR WHATEVER, we are here....

AfterBirth : 7/6/19 Mama D tells her Birth Story! AfterBirth, a fourth and more postpartum support group. Mama D got that homebirth, so we hear all the deets about that butterbirth, and then we talk about traveling, moving and returning to work postpartum! Join us in our FB group~ https://www.facebook.com/groups/PCBCAfterBirth/ Text reminders so you can join us LIVE, alternating Tuesdays at 11 cen...

Choosers : 7/16/19 Miscarriage, At Home w/Andrea Lewis Choosers, where we explore different pregnancy and birth choices.  I met Andrea at her sister's birth where she was the doula, and I was the midwife. Later on, she reached out to me, I supported her as she miscarried, and we met up virtually to chat out resources, options, and what we are doing now as a result of that experience.  An...

Elephant in the Womb: Prenatal Education for the Preggers Person. 7/2/19 Planning PostPartum w/Dr. Blythe Y'all, planning your postpartum, and by that I mean from right after birth till 6 months, is the key to making it through.  We have Dr. Blythe talk to us about how to anticipate if you will get a PPD, or PPA or allll the things. Hope on and lets chat! Join us in our FB group~ https://www....

Elephant in the Womb: Prental Education for the Preggers Person. 6/4/19 Safety First! for the Preggers Body  This topic was brought up because Mary Bratcher, EMT, LMT and aspiring midwife and she is speaking about information gathered at the Red Duke Trauma Symposium.  Injury breakdown by percentage: 55% Motor Vehicle Collisions 25% Falls 20% Abuse - but falls oftentimes are grouped into...