Pregnancy Loss and Motherhood

Jon headed back to work after 5 weeks of paternity leave... Here is what happened! I had a really hard week and I wanted to share some of my thoughts with you!!! I tried to be so intentional with my week and lower my expectations because I knew it would be difficult. Boundaries were violated and I was upset and just realized how important it is that we really hold our boundaries and make sure we a...

Every year there is a month we all may dread, be saddened about or is bittersweet. Maybe some are excited to celebrate their sweet babies and look forward to it. Where ever you are on that scale, there is no right or wrong. Sometimes I have ALLL the feelings- you know what I mean. One minute we are filled with love and feel blessed to know our babies are always with us and we can still celebrate t...

One thing that gets affected after pregnancy loss is our marriages or relationships with significant others. It's not something we think about until it happens to us and we are forced to deal with it. What I have learned is you can either grow apart or work hard on growing together. I find grief is a powerful force to make the greatest change. Sometimes we need things to be completely broken to de...

Grief can be so heavy. It can also make you believe so many things that are not true by creating intrusive thoughts, that we can often put on loop in our brains. Grief can create these lies that we start to believe and I see this so often- especially in my own story. I share my story and the thoughts that my grief tried getting me to believe and how to change them. We have to be intentional in the...

I'm so excited to have Katie on the show today! You will see like I did, how much love and kindness just radiates from this woman. I'm beyond blessed to have such a beautiful conversation with this mama. Katie Joy Duke is an author, mindset coach for women, transformational speaker, and mom of 2 daughters...one living and one in spirit. She practiced social justice law for 9 years before her first...

I've recently learned that gender disappointment actually goes really deep. It is not a surface-level issue that comes up. There are so many things including your upbringing, your experiences, social interactions, and much more that go into feeling gender disappointment. I've gone through gender disappointment twice after my full-term loss because all I wanted was another girl since that is what w...

Maternal Mental Health is actually considered a crisis these days. Which is disheartening and scary. But now we are ALL going through something even if things look close to perfect on the outside. The last few weeks have been SO challenging for me as I'm shifting internally and externally. Working on my mindset, limiting beliefs, and constant thoughts about missing my daughter and being pregnant h...

Have you ever become aware of a limiting belief you didn't even know you had?! Well I did recently and I wanted to share my experience and what I did to start to change that messaging in my head! I hope you love this episode and I hope you'll leave a comment so we can chat more about this! Have a great week. xx Vallen --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/vallen89/me...

Are you pregnant after a loss or trying to be? This episode is for you. I've had some pretty interesting experiences after loss with providers. I know how it feels to "suck" it up and just deal with however you get a referral or just don't know how to switch or don't know who else you can choose. You don't have to stay with an OB provider if they are not meeting your needs, allow you to feel safe...

I wanted to give an intro to who I am and the story behind what I do. My heart is centered on helping moms live after loss with intention, purpose, and joy. Here is my story about my daughter Evelyn who was born July 20th 2019, still. She died the day before at 40 weeks and 4 days. I share my story in hopes that you feel less alone and less scared about sharing your story. I've become the go-to gi...

As a mom do you ever feel like your confidence has somewhat slipped away from you? Like you don't know who you are or what you are doing and lack the intention it takes to build it back up? But also have no fricken idea where to start or how to build confidence? Then this episode is for you love! You will learn about confidence and how you get it. You will learn that in every new version of yourse...

Holidays are iconically wonderful parts of the year that are full of family, traditions, food, and fun. But what if it's not? What if you don't have a family? What if you don't have the will or energy to create a spectacular holiday for your kids? Are you still a good mom? Will your kids be mad at you? Let me just say, I think it is MORE common for a lot of us to struggle during the holidays than...

Every get stressed about a new year coming up? You have goals, ideas, celebrations, dreams that you want to come alive, but don't know where to start? Come chat with me about easy, actionable ways to plan a joy filled year!!!!! I know especially after losing my baby girl, Evelyn, this time of year is just a bit harder. But there can be joy found for the new year! Let's talk about intentions, livin...

Friendships are a huge part of our lives. One of the most important, especially for moms. We depend on our friendships to give us hope, save our sanity, love each other, and mostly to share our chaotic lives with. When we have friendships that don't light us up anymore but we are too scared to end them, that can really hurt us in the long run. We will talk about friendships, when it is time to end...

THere are so many different reasons we can be stressed during the holidays, whether it's financial, relationship issues, family drama, health issues, etc. Listen to hear a few ways you can counteract the inevitability of Murphy's Law and stress during the holiday season!!!! SO happy your here, please leave a comment or review if you loved the show. If you have any ideas you'd like to share about w...

No matter how long ago your loss was holidays can be a particular trigger or just a very sad time for moms and dads who have lost a baby. I wanted to share 3 things you can do to help support your physical and mental self. You deserve to take care of you. You matter, you are worthy. I hope you find the joy in even the littlest moments mama, xx Vallen --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters...

I think there are a lot of things that we are not taught growing up. Even as grown ups difficult things are often put to the side or not talked about. Being a mom is so hard, why are we not taught what motherhood actually is and what it means to be a mom? What are your thoughts? Share them in the comments, I read and respond to all comments personally! Enjoy mama, --- Send in a voice message: http...

Being a Mom is hard, especially when we are always trying to be selfless and meet everyone's needs and neglect our own. The last half of this year I dedicated to my health... little did I know I would be pregnant a month later! After loss, it is even harder trying to take care of ourselves, whether it's our subconcious telling us we aren't worthy or don't deserve it, or it stems from childhood or...

I wrote out a list of 5 things I believe everyone should know about pregnancy loss. And I mean everyone. The more conversations we open up about stillbirth & miscarriage, the more support we can start helping moms get who need it. My goal is to help all moms get on a path to healing and finding joy again, loving themselves again, because if you lost a baby, you know. You know the toll it takes...