Preparing For Pregnancy After Loss

This week's topic on Ancestral Healing is not one that I've ever spoken to. And perhaps it was my ancestors themselves who inspired me to share this perspective with you.  As I am coming off of the heels on an Energy Healing training based in the ancient African wisdom, ancestral healing is ripe in my being.  The topic of connecting with ancestors might be a strange one for you. It certainly has b...

We made it, Birth Warriors! We survived, and in some cases, even thrived in 2020. Here we are stepping into 2021—perhaps with uncertainty or hesitation—but doing it just the same! In our very first episode for the New Year, I reflect on the moments in 2020 that brought me the greatest levels of joy, growth, and appreciation. And I end this episode with sharing the thought I am using as my guiding...

I've known Sophia for years. She's one of the dear friends who've been with me in the midst of my losses. In addition to being my Soul Sista, she's also an Endo Warrior. Endometriosis is a condition in which the tissue that normally lines the inside of the uterus grows outside the uterus. It often leads to debilitating pain and it isn't uncommon for it to go undiagnosed for years—which was also So...

Challenges around fertility and pregnancy activate an ancient wound within us—the fear of being ostracized from our tribe (whether the one we were born into or the one we chose through our partner), the fear of our partner replacing us with another, "more fertile" mate, and the fear of losing opportunities for recognition and upward mobility.    This ancient wound runs so deep that it operates on...

Pregnancy Loss on its own is difficult. Imagine when that loss happens in a country you've lived in for just a few weeks. And imagine spending all of that time under lockdown during the early, frantic stages of the COVID pandemic. Imagine seeking prenatal care and being told by one medical facility after the other that they not taking in new patients. This is the story of Donette and her husband,...

A few weeks ago during one of our Birth Warrior Wednesday sessions, I had the absolute pleasure of chatting with Shoshana Vogel, whose many gifts to the world include being a musician and vocal instructor. Shoshana also uses music, sound, and play in her work to support the brain development of babies. Because I intentionally used music and voice as part of my baby's therapy when he was in the NIC...

Today's podcast episode is all about restoring trust in your body. Wherever you are on the Birth Warrior journey, you may have experienced losing trust in your body, becoming disappointed, or even hating your body when it fails to do what you want it to do. I want to offer a gentle reminder that experiencing a loss or infertility may be our body sending us a message that we need to heal something....

This is where we move from understanding what happens in the body after trauma and difficult experiences in Pt 1 of this episode, to actually exploring ways to process, heal and release those experiences. So if you haven't already, definitely check out Pt 1 and then come back to this for a deeper dive.    While pregnancy after loss or infertility can be scary, there are ways to restore your trust...

Today's episode is an interview with Elizabeth Ortiz, the founder and CEO of EllisBearyLoved, a nonprofit that distributes comfort boxes to families grieving the loss of an infant. Elizabeth created EllisBearyLoved in 2018 after the loss of her son Ellisander Lorenzo Valerio, who passed away due to omphalocele, eight days after his birth.    Elizabeth and I met a year ago at the annual Pregnancy &...

I hear this question so often from Birth Warriors: " How do I know when it's time to try again?" I decided to make it one of the recent topics for our Facebook Live within the private Birth Warrior community. This is a recording of that live session.    Listen to this episode to learn what the markers are for getting to a place of "yes" in terms of trying again. And whether or not you've checked t...

September is NICU Awareness Month, a time when we honor NICU babies, their families, and the health professionals that support them.  If you're a Birth Warrior, I also want to acknowledge that the NICU may hold memories of painful experiences for you. It's certainly where I experienced most of the trauma after my second pregnancy with my preemie (I share a bit of my personal story in this episode...

We are all inspired by happy endings. After my pregnancy loss I would listen to the stories of women/birthing people with successful subsequent pregnancies as a reminder that this was possible for me too.   In this episode, we hear the story of one of the Birth Warriors I've had the pleasure of working with. Katie went through two years of trying to conceive, two years of fertility treatments, two...

Shame and guilt are two of the most difficult emotions to overcome after a loss or infertility diagnosis. They hit at such a tender, tender place. And because whatever we feel guilt or shame around, we tend to feel safer keeping it a secret, these difficult emotions fester under the surface. But staying in shame and guilt can have a negative impact on our emotional balance, which can then negative...

Jealousy, Sadness, Shame, Anger, Fear, Blame...these are some of the emotions we experience after a loss or infertility diagnosis. They are a natural and often necessary part of our healing journey, and yet we stifle them when they show up because they seem so ugly and icky. What if I told you that it's in creating space for them that you're able to heal and release them?  In this episode, I share...

Triggers are probably one of the most annoying things you go through after loss or infertility diagnosis. They often sneak up on you and take over your emotions, reminding you of past painful experiences. In this episode, I share some of my techniques for actually using triggers to accelerate your healing . They can become beautiful gifts once you understand how to work with them.  If you find tha...

After the painful and traumatic experience of a loss or infertility, there are invisible wounds that are often left unattended to. This isn't usually done intentionally, but we don't always have the space, support, or tools to process and heal our painful experiences. But unless that healing work is done, the imbalance those invisible wounds create will show up in our relationships, our career, in...

This is the first time that I publicly share the experience of losing my first pregnancy. I recorded this episode with my dear friend, Sophia (pre-quarantine in NYC), which is symbolic on many levels. For one, she was there with me in the hospital as I was losing my little one and she recounted an incredibly powerful moment that I had forgotten about. And second, the recounting of this experience...

Welcome to the Preparing for Pregnancy After Loss Podcast! This podcast is for you if you've experienced challenges on your pregnancy journey—a pregnancy or infant loss, infertility diagnosis, or difficult delivery—and have fears around your next pregnancy. I'm your host, Natalee Facey. In this first episode, I share the experience of my own loss and how it fueled my work to support other women an...