When it comes to postpartum, EVERYONE needs support. And even after accepting that you WILL need the help, it can be tricky figuring out how to ask for it, especially when most of our friends and family members don’t really know how to help (nor have the time!). Kaitlin McGreyes talks with Adriana about how combining community help with professional support can set you up for the perfect combination of care and knowledge to have the amazing postpartum experience you deserve. She also shares insi...
Jun 05, 2024•48 min•Season 6Ep. 5
Having had two flawless postpartum periods under her belt, Kayla Sanmiguel didn’t know how to cope when postpartum anxiety and severe panic disorder came out of nowhere after her third birth. She shares with Adriana how being blindsided by the experience compelled her to bolster her future postpartum plans, and approach the birth of her fourth baby with new tools and wisdom. Get the most out of this episode by checking out the resources, transcript, and links listed on its show notes page . If y...
May 29, 2024•50 min•Season 6Ep. 4
Understanding your parental leave benefits —with all its overwhelming fine print— can be a daunting task! To make the process easier, human resource professional extraordinaire Katy Dahl shares with Adriana how to approach the process so that you can not only maximize your benefits, but also understand if your time off will impact your health insurance, your paycheck, or your retirement age. Katy brings clarity and levity to the topic, to help you avoid unfortunate surprises during postpartum! R...
May 22, 2024•43 min•Season 6Ep. 3
Ivy shares with Adriana the overwhelming challenges of her postpartum experience after being overjoyed by her fast and furious unmedicated hospital birth. She explains the lactation issues that lead her to exclusively pump and the difficulties in healing her pelvic floor, as well as why she recommends everyone have a Pelvic PT assessment and be familiar with their breast pump before their baby arrives. Get the most out of this episode by checking out the resources, transcript, and links listed o...
May 15, 2024•50 min•Season 6Ep. 2
Perinatal health consultant Arianna Taboada goes through the ins and outs of paid and unpaid parental leave in the United States. She shares with Adriana Lozada how to be realistic about your options for the best possible return to work for you and your family, while lessening the overwhelm. To read up on state-by-state paid parental and medical leave laws go to abetterbalance.org Get the most out of this episode by checking out the resources, transcript, and links listed on its show notes page ...
May 08, 2024•55 min•Season 6Ep. 1
Laura Loos has had two non-medicated vaginal births, with her second one happening so super fast, that it involved birthing while in a moving car! She shares with Adriana how connecting with her inner voice and trusting the abundant preparation she had done during pregnancy allowed her to be calm, present, and pragmatic during the unexpectedness of it all. So much so that, once she got to her hospital room, she took full charge of the birth of her placenta. Get the most out of this episode by ch...
May 04, 2024•42 min•Season 5Ep. 13
Babies use a set of coordinated movements and specific reflexes that allow them to participate in the birthing process. Adriana Lozada explains how this fascinating process works, and how it helps get them earthside. Get the most out of this episode by checking out the resources, transcript, and links listed on its show notes page . If you liked this episode, listen to our interview on Baby's Position and Labor Flow and our episode on how to Have an Easier Pregnancy (and Birth!) with Chiropracti...
May 01, 2024•16 min•Season 5Ep. 12
Maya Ehnat was brought up to be comfortable with birth, and so from the get-go, her language and approach weren’t fear-based. Beyond that, much of the preparation she did during pregnancy was guided by a desire to minimize trauma and bring heaps of pleasure and joy into the experience. She shares with Adriana how although her first birth was long and quite challenging, she wouldn’t describe it as painful. Now her second birth? That one was filled with power, permission, fluidity, and delight. Ge...
Apr 27, 2024•59 min•Season 5Ep. 11
If you want to minimize sensations of pain and even move them into pleasure, this episode is for you! Debra Pascali-Bonaro and Adriana explore how you can bring more pleasure and joy into your birth, and why doing so can help you not only have a better experience, but also help support your birth physiology for a more flowing birth. Debra shares with Adriana a wide range of actionable suggestions on how to prepare during pregnancy, what to set in place and advocate for during birth, and ways to ...
Apr 24, 2024•55 min•Season 5Ep. 10
When Danellia Arechiga became a gestational surrogate, she felt strongly about having an unmedicated birth at a birth center. Even as her labor plan derailed into an induction, she pushed for few interventions and worked with her physiology, ultimately experiencing the elusive Fetal Ejection Reflex. She tells Adriana Lozada why doing so was important for her, the baby, and the intended parents. As a musician, Danellia (Dané Reál) has created the song Mother as an anthem gifted to those whose rel...
Apr 20, 2024•31 min•Season 5Ep. 9
During labor, you want contractions that are longer, stronger, and closer together. But why? Dr. Sarah Buckley and Adriana take a deep dive into the amazing and fascinating hormonal dance that happens during the birthing process, and how interventions such as synthetic oxytocin or an epidural can lead to a cascade of interventions that negatively impact the process for both the birthing person and their baby. They also talk about ways to support the physiology of birth (regardless of what path i...
Apr 17, 2024•51 min•Season 5Ep. 8
Celeste and Claudiu Bancos share their perspectives of their son’s birth (who chimes in too!), often surprising each other with moments the other didn’t remember or knew about. Ultimately, Celeste achieved her birth goals of not whining and avoiding getting an epidural, with the help of a veterinarian’s memoir book from the 30s, strong vocalizations, a crisis of confidence, realizing how well her hormones were working, and the live narration by Claudiu of her baby’s beautiful emergence into the ...
Apr 13, 2024•38 min•Season 5Ep. 7
Rhea Dempsey is one of the foremost thinkers on the topic of working with pain in childbirth. She shares with Adriana the physiological purpose of pain during labor, why it gets such a bad rap, and suggests the pain relief paradigm is a medical construct that undermines our capacity for peak performance and body potency that ultimately facilitates birth. In other words: bring it on! Get the most out of this episode by checking out the resources, transcript, and links listed on its show notes pag...
Apr 10, 2024•47 min•Season 5Ep. 6
Megan Othling explains how birth can happen as much in your head as in your body and how facing the unexpected feelings she was having during the birth of her third child was just what was needed for them to be born. She shares with Adriana the profound growth and transformation she experienced through her four births and postpartum experiences, and how she stepped into the vulnerability of accepting all her feelings–even the unpopular ones. Get the most out of this episode by checking out the r...
Apr 06, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 5Ep. 5
Pregnancy is a great time to realize what the heck motivates your choices as you venture into the great transformation of birth and becoming a parent. Nekole Malia Shapiro shares with Adriana how using the embodied approach of connecting with yourself and your body can help you find your own best expert birth guide, while also building the awesome habit of bringing more oxytocin into your life. Get the most out of this episode by checking out the resources, transcript, and links listed on its sh...
Apr 03, 2024•52 min•Season 5Ep. 4
Hailey McHone’s first birth was what her OB called "a textbook hospital delivery," which came with an epidural-Pitocin combo, and, frankly, little consent. She talks with Adriana about getting more intentional with her wishes and choices for her second birth and ending up with a confidence-boosting, self-affirming, physiological experience that included a concoction of grape juice and papaya nectar, some much-wanted chicken nuggets, and waiting for her sister to arrive. Get the most out of this ...
Mar 30, 2024•40 min•Season 5Ep. 3
We try to make birth practical by measuring, overseeing, and monitoring it… when really, it’s an experience that flows seamlessly from one stage to another, taking the birthing person deep into their physiology and intuitive altered states. Whapio Diane Bartlett shares with Adriana how to better describe what the laboring person goes through, by explaining the Holistic Stages of Birth. In this second episode of a two-part series, we go deeper into the Quietude, to then finally emerge into immedi...
Mar 27, 2024•45 min•Season 5Ep. 2
We try to make birth practical by measuring, overseeing, and monitoring it… when really, it’s an experience that flows seamlessly from one stage to another, taking the birthing person deep into their physiology and intuitive altered states. Whapio Diane Bartlett shares with Adriana how to better describe what the laboring person goes through, by explaining the Holistic Stages of Birth. In this first episode of a two-part series, we start with embarking into labor, and just past what is usually c...
Mar 23, 2024•50 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Welcome to the Best of Birthful. Creator and host Adriana Lozada curated and edited each selection in this playlist of the show’s most popular episodes. It's a tailored introduction to the expansive catalog she amassed over the first five years of Birthful's 300+ episodes (which is now in its 9th year!). Whapio, a midwife and founder of The Matrona, explores the modern management of pushing, and challenges our preconceived notions in the process. She gets into pushing’s effects on the baby, and ...
Mar 20, 2024•23 min•Ep. 419
Welcome to the Best of Birthful. Creator and host Adriana Lozada curated and edited each selection in this playlist of the show’s most popular episodes. It's a tailored introduction to the expansive catalog she amassed over the first five years of Birthful's 300+ shows (which is now in its 9th year!). Leading high-risk pregnancy expert and mind-body health specialist, Parijat Deshpande, discusses the anxiety that comes with high-risk births. She offers tips on how to manage these feelings by mak...
Mar 16, 2024•30 min•Ep. 418
Welcome to the Best of Birthful. Creator and host Adriana Lozada curated and edited each selection in this playlist of the show’s most popular episodes. It's a tailored introduction to the expansive catalog she amassed over the first five years of Birthful's 300+ shows (which is now in its 9th year!). Midwife Gail Tully, founder of the Spinning Babies approach, explains how a baby’s position can dictate the flow and ease of a birth. Learn how to prepare your body for labor with personalized exer...
Mar 13, 2024•30 min•Ep. 417
Erin Patterson’s birth was in many ways, the reverse of what she expected: It started strong from the get-go when she was expecting it to be slow and sporadic, she loved the car ride even though she had been dreading it, and when it came to pushing, she never imagined she’d be on her back. She shares with Adriana how the most unexpected thing was ending up with pelvic floor muscular trauma that made for a slow and difficult recovery requiring months of PT work, and how laid-back breastfeeding sa...
Mar 09, 2024•54 min•Season 4Ep. 14
It’s estimated that 1 in 5 pregnant people will experience urinary incontinence during their first year postpartum! Exercise physiologist and perinatal educator Lindsay McCoy talks with Adriana about how noticing your habitual body movements and establishing easy, daily-life habits to increase your body’s responsiveness can lead to a healthier and happier pelvic floor. They also highlight the mind-blowing connection between your pelvic soft tissues and your nervous system. Get the most out of th...
Mar 06, 2024•50 min•Season 4Ep. 13
Adriana Aleman Crane’s first birth involved several days of prodromal labor— and if you don’t know what that is, you really want to listen to this episode! But her second birth? Her husband almost missed it! She shares with Adriana Lozada that sleep is glorious, acupuncture is worth it, and how releasing control (and her bag of waters!) gets her labors to flow. Get the most out of this episode by checking out the resources, transcript, and links listed on its show notes page . If you liked this ...
Mar 02, 2024•37 min•Season 4Ep. 12
Acupuncture can help alleviate nausea, constipation, and back pain. It can encourage breech babies to flip and labor to start. But how does it work, and what does it feel like? Acupuncturist, massage therapist, and birth doula Dr. Patrick Boswell talks with Adriana about how acupuncture gets to the root of the issue, with the happy result of improving more than the symptoms you came in for! Get the most out of this episode by checking out the resources, transcript, and links listed on its show n...
Feb 28, 2024•1 hr•Season 4Ep. 11
After giving birth twice before, Victoria Wilson thought she had “life with a newborn” pretty much figured out. But when her third daughter was born fussy, frustrated, and just wouldn’t settle, Victoria was thrown for a loop. Was this just who her baby was? Or was something wrong? Victoria shares with Adriana how making her own wellness a priority during pregnancy allowed her the strength to navigate and surrender to this extremely difficult experience from a place where she was well-resourced. ...
Feb 24, 2024•53 min•Season 4Ep. 10
It’s estimated that about 80% of pregnant people experience insomnia by their third trimester, and newer research is showing how melatonin and circadian rhythms may impact fertility, implantation, miscarriage, risk of preeclampsia and postpartum depression. Mar De Carlo shares with Adriana how small and mindful changes to your sleep habits can help you tap into more rest and improve your family’s sleep— before and after the baby arrives. Get the most out of this episode by checking out the resou...
Feb 21, 2024•46 min•Season 4Ep. 9
After a difficult first labor with interventions she was unsure about, Alyssa Jennings was determined that her next birth would be on her terms. Little did she know that she’d be having to contain the fetal ejection reflex until her doctor arrived! Alyssa shares with Adriana the magic words her husband used to help her wait (no, they didn’t have anything to do with the doctor), along with a great solution to when you don’t want to labor in the hospital but you want to be close by (even though yo...
Feb 17, 2024•59 min•Season 4Ep. 9
You’ve probably been told to do prenatal yoga, but is it really for you? Trauma-informed yoga teacher Abigail Lauren Geller says not if it’s another overwhelming thing on your to-do list! But if you are curious about the benefits of prenatal yoga for your body, your mind, your pregnancy, and your labor, and want to create a space of self-reflection to better connect with your body and protect your energy, then prenatal yoga may be just what you need. Abigail also shares with Adriana how lying on...
Feb 14, 2024•49 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Anya Cutler had originally planned to give birth at a birth center with midwives, then at nearly 37 weeks (and after trying practically everything possible to encourage her baby to flip) she ended up transferring care to an OB/GYN experienced in vaginal breech delivery. Anya shares with Adriana how even though this challenged her need for control, having an OB who was comfortable with breech and confident in her ability to give birth made all the difference. Get the most out of this episode by c...
Feb 10, 2024•52 min•Season 4Ep. 6
