Mom and Mind | Pregnancy and Postpartum Depression & Anxiety

Latest Episodes:

117: Sisters in Loss with Erica McAfee Sep 17, 2018

Show notes

Infertility, pregnancy loss, infant and maternal mortality----none of these are topics that we enjoy talking about, but the number of women and families affected by these obstacles is astounding. For African-American women, there is a stigma attached to these issues, and the compounding problem of their voices not being heard.Today’s show addresses these topics and more in honor of October being Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.

Erica McAfee is the founder of Sisters in Loss, LLC, a faith-based grief and pregnancy loss coaching company that helps black women turn their pain into purpose after loss.

Sisters in Loss provides consulting and coaching services to help women step beyond anxiety and fear into trust and peace after loss. The Sisters In Loss goal through courses, retreats, and conferences is to help women minimize regrets, maximize memories, and manage their path forward after loss. Their self-titled podcast spotlights faith-filled black women who share miscarriage, infant loss, and infertility stories and testimonies to heal, gain clarity and peace, find hope, and become victorious after loss. Launched in August 2017, the podcast has a community of 5000+ Sisters in Loss.

Erica is a Grief and Pregnancy Loss coach, pastor’s wife, and Mom to two angels in heaven and one rainbow baby, Maxwell, also known as Super Mighty Max. She is an alumnus of Virginia Commonwealth University where she earned a BS degree in Chemical Engineering.

Show Highlights:

How Erica found podcasts a few years ago when she had a long commute to work each day, but she couldn’t find one that told the stories that aligned with what she and her friends had experienced with traumatic loss
The year-old podcast shares weekly stories of real women of color and how faith helps them gain clarity, peace, and learning
Erica’s coaching work with those still early in their loss experience or those in pregnancy after loss
How loss affects everyone around you
How the podcast helps African-American women know what questions to ask their medical professionals, no matter where they are in their journey to parenthood
The example set by celebrities recently who have shared their pregnancy and birth stories
The power of storytelling in healing the pain of loss
How the podcast helps support women through the grieving process by building a community
Seeing success stories of others helps people in their personal experiences
How Erica and her guests share their faith on the podcast and the role faith plays in the journey to healing
How the podcast gives scripture, tools, and resources for support
How some people going through loss cling to faith and others push it away
Sometimes the grieving process isn’t “over and done” and we tend to shove those feelings down because we feel guilty holding onto them
What we should know about supporting women of color through loss: Maternal and infant mortality is an issue that African-American women face 3-4 times more than other races
Why black women are not taken seriously by their medical providers and their voices aren’t being heard
Erica’s message to friends and family of those who have lost: Continue to check on loved ones who have gone through loss, because they may have deep, dark moments. Be a listening ear for your loved ones.
How healing requires you to do the work

Resources:

Find Erica and Sisters in Loss:

www.ericammcafee.com

www.ericammcafee.com/podcast

www.sistersinloss.com

www.instagram.com/ericammcafee

www.facebook.com/ericammcafee’

https://www.ericammcafee.com/summit Find out about Erica’s free healing and prayer summit, Oct. 15-19

Therapy for Black Girls, a podcast by Dr. Joy Harden Bradford

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116: The NICU and Mental Health with Fawn McCool, LCSW Sep 10, 2018

Show notes

We all know that the path to parenthood can look very different than we dreamily imagine. Sometimes it’s a tough and traumatic experience that leaves us stunned. It’s when our personal struggles motivate us to bring about change that we use our experiences to help others. That’s exactly what today’s guest has done.

Fawn McCool, LCSW, is based in Portland, Oregon with Aiyana Counseling. She holds certification in Interpersonal Neurobiology through Portland State University and MamaCare certificate through Shoshana Center. She is the creator of Interpersonal Neurobiology of Perinatal Mood Disorders and Birth Trauma, an online training for professionals that explores the impact and practices of attachment and bonding, including development and interventions for families affected by perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and birth trauma.

She offers clinical therapeutic services through Aiyana Counseling and also sits on the board of NICU Familes Northwest, as well as volunteers with Baby Blues Connection. She is the mother of two girls, the oldest of which was born prematurely at 29 weeks. After 8 weeks in a southern California NICU, Fawn vowed that she would work tirelessly to change the mental health outcomes for NICU parents nationwide through advocacy and education. In today’s episode, Fawn discusses her experiences as a parent in the NICU and the work she’s doing to support families in their NICU experiences.

We are discussing the common stressors in having a child in the NICU and what it’s like to spend time there and then take that baby home. Fawn also shares about the strength and resilience she sees from parents with their NICU experiences and how we can better support children and parents through their time in NICU.

Show Highlights:

Fawn’s gratefulness to the maternal mental health community for the support she’s received
With her first child, Fawn knew something was wrong at 28 weeks, but she was sent home for bed rest
How she had to be pushy and insistent to save her baby’s life
How she never felt safe, secure, or cared for through her emergency birth and NICU experience
Her baby was diagnosed with reverse blood flow and was not getting the nutrients needed to survive, so an emergency C-section was scheduled, with Fawn being told her daughter had a 50% chance of survival
Why the mother’s mental health should be at the forefront
The financial stress and the loss of parental autonomy in the NICU experience
How NICU parents find strength and resilience--”The size of the body does not reflect the size of the spirit.”
NICU parents learn to celebrate their child’s uniqueness and learn that they can’t control outcomes
The support Fawn would like to see: advocacy for more peer support, counselors, zero separation, psychological education about the effects of trauma, massage, connection to mental health support, and to prioritize maternal mental health
Fawn’s message: “There is strength in numbers and you are not alone. Believe in your child.”

Resources:

www.fawnmccool.com Find out about Fawn’s work and her online class

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115: The Highly Sensitive Mother Sep 03, 2018

Show notes

We all know that the challenges of new motherhood can be many--and overwhelming. If you are an HSP (highly sensitive person), then those challenges may be magnified---and you probably aren’t focusing on any self-care. This topic resonates deeply with me and intrigues me in the way the trait interacts with motherhood and its challenges.

Julie Bjelland is an LMFT, an HSP psychotherapist, and the author of Brain Training for the Highly Sensitive Person: Techniques to Reduce Anxiety and Overwhelming Emotions. Julie’s mission is to help sensitive people reduce the challenges and increase the positives.Through her website specializing in highly sensitive people (the trait also known as Sensory Processing Sensitivity), she offers many valuable resources for both HSP’s and parents of sensitive children. Julie has a mission to spread awareness and education about the trait of high sensitivity and believes the world needs the gifts of sensitive people.

Show Highlights:

High sensitivity is a trait and not a disorder--and it’s NOT the same as introversion (30% of HSP’s are extroverts and 20% are introverts)
From Elaine Aron’s work on HSP’s: Depth of Processing, Overstimulation, Emotionally responsive, and Sensitivity to subtle stimuli (DOES)
The judgment around being sensitive and its connection to weakness
How scientific research shows real brain differences in HSP’s
On the positive side, HSP’s are more empathetic, more aware, and more compassionate
Common for the HSP mother is to put themselves at the bottom of the priority list and take care of others first
Trained HSP vs. untrained HSP
Self-care---a conscious action you take to lower your stress and bring you to a balanced state
A key for HSP’s is getting enough sleep in order to understand and meet specific needs
An HSP mom’s default setting is to be hard on themselves and focus on everyone else’s needs
Certain parts of the brain in HSP moms will be overactive, like merging into everyone else’s moods and experiences
Many people who seek treatment for anxiety will also have the HSP trait
How HSP contributes to overall perinatal depression and anxiety, since everything changes in mind, body, and spirit
Why HSP’s need creative ways to get two hours of alone time each day
The tendency to measure everything in ourselves and others against the standard of perfection
Self-talk, with low levels of self-compassion and criticism of themselves
Common characteristics of HSP’s: perfectionism, sleep-deprived, overstimulated, and misunderstood
Steps to help HSP’s:
Develop self-compassion (Kristin Neff outlines 3 steps)
Take breaks when needed
Practice mindfulness
50% of clients in therapy are HSP’s
Supporting moms and dads better in pregnancy and the postpartum period could impact parenting differently and offer more support
Using the right tools for support in children can prevent many problems and help them gain confidence and have an easier time accepting who they are

Resources:

Brain Training for the Highly Sensitive Person: Techniques to Reduce Anxiety and Overwhelming Emotions.by Julie Bjelland

The Highly Sensitive Child by Dr. Elaine Aron

Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff

www.juliebjelland.com

Find Julie on Facebook: The Highly Sensitive Person

Instagram: hsp psychotherapist

Twitter: @juliebjelland

LinkedIn: highly-sensitive-juliebjelland

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114: Minority Maternal Mental Health Aug 27, 2018

Show notes

Do you think there is a specific need for therapists of color to help African-American women and other women of color who are PMADS (perinatal mood and anxiety disorders) sufferers? You may not think race, ethnicity and culture are factors to be considered in this treatment, but it can be--mostly due to stigmas, access, and the dynamics around seeking out services as a woman of color. Join us for today’s conversation around this important topic.

Shivonne Odom, LCPC, is the founder of Akoma Counseling Concepts, LLC, which is the only minority-owned private practice in Washington, DC that focuses on minority maternal mental health. Shivonne provides continuing educational training on cultural competence and minority maternal mental health. She loves to promote awareness on these important issues via community panel discussions, podcasts, and local media outlets. She is passionate and excited about all things mental health and advocacy for women’s health initiatives. In today’s episode, she talks about things on her mind and things everyone needs to hear about more culturally competent services, the need for more therapists of color to be trained in maternal mental health, and the stigma around postpartum depression for black moms. She even touches on how some organizations could do much more to support perinatal mental health.

Show Highlights:

How Shivonne started her practice just a year ago in response to the realization that there were no local counseling spaces for moms of color for perinatal mental health
How she worked at a community healthcare clinic in DC and saw the need, noticing that 90% of their clients were African-American
Why she wanted to make as many mental health services as possible open to as many people as possible
What Shivonne saw at the clinic: services focused on diabetes, hypertension, and reproductive services---but not on maternal mental health
What it means to provide culturally competent care
What Shivonne has seen in pushback regarding mental health from reproductive justice organizations
The story of Erica Garner, who died a few months after giving birth and losing her father to police brutality----how she could have been helped with more comprehensive services
How mental health and stress affect one’s physical condition
Thoughts on the changes that meed to be made and securing more therapists of color being trained to help with culturally competent care during the perinatal period
The dominance in healthcare of hetero-normative care and the need for diversity in patient-centered training
The trainings Shivonne offers: Perinatal Mood Disorders in Minority Mental Health (See the link below for more info on her upcoming webinar on Sept. 28)
At her trainings, Shivonne helps therapists discuss and identify cultural and spiritual issues to be able to assess PMADS and to explain how perinatal health impacts mental health in the African-American community
The class teaches what a therapeutic dialogue should sound like with a client of color and what help-seeking behaviors might look like for a mom of color with PMADS
The feedback she has received about the “powerful experience” of the webinar, and how people felt connected and established professional relationships with each other
How Shivonne’s work has been the most rewarding therapy ever
The far-reaching impact of this work to help families
The myth that moms believe: that it’s selfish to consider their own mental health

Resources:

Shivonne’s website: www.akomacounselingconcepts.com Use promo code “momandmind” to receive 10% off Shivonne’s webinar on September 28!

Find Shivonne on Twitter: https://twitter.com/akomacounseling

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/akoma_counseling

Facebook: Akoma Counseling Concepts

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113: Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Aug 20, 2018

Show notes

How would it feel for your own doctor to discount your postpartum anxiety? Today’s guest experienced this, along with pregnancy loss and depression. The important part of the story is how healing showed up for her and how she is using her experience to help others.

Ivy Sias earned her Master’s of Science and Mental Health Counseling from Walden University and became licensed in Louisiana in 2015. In 2017, she founded Ivy Counseling and Wellness Services, a private practice with a focus on assisting people with planting seeds of insight, growing in self-awareness, and making life changes that flourish from the inside out. After her experience with postpartum depression and anxiety and her struggle to find assistance and support in her community, the focus of her practice shifted to maternal mental health and the treatment of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. A Compton, California native, Ivy has always believed that change happens when people are loud about injustice and when those who have experienced adversity boldly stand in their truth. She’s a wife to her loving husband, Joseph, and the mother of a son, Carter, 4, and daughter, Ryan, 1. Ivy is a National Certified Counselor (NCC) and a Licensed Professional Counselor and Supervisor (LPC-S) in Louisiana. She is passionate about helping underserved populations through therapy, advocacy, and promoting total wellness as a way to heal and grow.

Show Highlights:

Her son was born in June 2014 after an easy pregnancy, but he had breathing issues and pneumonia which landed him in the NICU for 10 days, while his parents felt helpless
How high blood pressure put her on bed rest for 2 days after giving birth
Her baby came home, Ivy went back to work soon after, and life returned to the “new” normal
In 2016, they decided to have another baby, but had an early miscarriage in June
After deciding to try again, Ivy got pregnant right away in September, even though she didn’t feel emotionally ready
How she felt disconnected to this pregnancy and felt guilty for not processing the loss and not celebrating the coming daughter
How her pregnancy was uncomfortable and full of guilt and worry, with Ivy being constantly upset, frustrated, and in tears
In June 2017, her daughter was born during a difficult labor and delivery, in which Ivy had an allergic reaction to the epidural
How she didn’t see her baby for several hours after the birth
She went home and started feeling sadness and didn’t have much of a support system
Upcoming for Ivy is a way to reach out to local daycare centers who might see moms who need resources and support
Ivy’s parting advice to moms and families: “You’re not alone. There are social media connections you can make until you find local services. Trust your instinct if you feel that something’s wrong. Share your story.”

Resources:

Find Ivy on Facebook and Instagram: Ivy Counseling and Wellness

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112: Motherbirth Aug 13, 2018

Show notes

How have your personal experiences launched you into a certain line of work or the pursuit of a passion? Today’s show is about someone who used the tough and challenging journey into motherhood to find ways to help others through their difficulties. If your road to motherhood has been anything but smooth sailing, then you don’t want to miss today’s show!

Mellisa Reeves is a doula, coach, and the co-founder of the Motherbirth podcast and community. She shares her personal story around postpartum anxiety and the difficulties that caused in connecting with her son, along with the subsequent loss, birth trauma, and milestones that came and went. She shares about what she had to overcome and how she felt disconnected after the birth of her son and how her experiences have shaped the work she does today. Mellisa works with women who have experienced pregnancy loss and want to trust their bodies again, helping them find their path to hope and healing through the innate intuition they each possess. Brought up with an innate love for simple, natural, rhythmic living, Mellisa’s perspective on motherhood and life comes from a slow reawakening to the depth of feminine wisdom through her experience of stillbirth, multiple miscarriages, and postpartum anxiety. Mellisa is based in Portland but travels semi-fulltime with her husband and two children.

Show Highlights:

How Mellisa’s interest in perinatal wellness was sparked by her first pregnancy loss, and then intensified with a difficult postpartum period with her son and the stillbirth of her second son
As the oldest of ten siblings, she grew up on a farm in Canada with a hippie mother who was either pregnant or breastfeeding for Mellisa’s entire childhood and youth
How her mother was very intentional, thoughtful, and present as a mom, and how Mellisa drew confidence from her about the manual aspects of motherhood, but felt severely lacking in the emotional preparation
The challenges with a difficult birth, postpartum, and bonding issues with her son
How she struggled with postpartum anxiety and felt like that trying time period would NEVER end
How she was so overwhelmed that she couldn’t comprehend having more children, lacked any peer support, and lacked connection with her intuition and inner voice
How her son reacted with force to her attempts to control him and she thought she would never have a connected relationship with him
Why it’s difficult to admit that our relationships with our children are less than ideal because of what it says about us as mothers
How her podcast shares stories and experiences of women and the significant identity shift that takes place with the birth of the firstborn
How the podcast shares stories of the transition to motherhood and its themes and narratives that are common and shared
Her co-host, Laura, is finishing up her doctorate in Nurse Midwifery and focuses on the power of storytelling and group coaching

Resources:

The Conscious Parent by Shefali Tsabary

Find Mellisa online, along with her courses and group coaching: www.trustyourbodyagain.com

Find the Motherbirth podcast: www.motherbirth.co

Connect with Mellisa on Instagram

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111: The Empowered Mama: Lisa Druxman Aug 06, 2018

Show notes

What are the most important needs of women during pregnancy, postpartum, and the days of new motherhood? You might guess that nutrition, healthy habits, physical fitness, and emotional support are some of the most important needs---and they are! Wouldn’t it be ideal if there was a way to wrap up all of these AND a sense of connection and community with other moms? Join me for today’s show and find out how my guest has found the perfect intersection in meeting the needs of women embarking on their journeys to motherhood---and it just might be available in your hometown.

Lisa Druxman is the Chief Founding Mom of FIT4MOM, the parent company to Fit4Baby, Stroller Strides, and Body Back. With nearly 2000 class locations nationwide, FIT4MOM is one of the fastest growing franchises in the country. Lisa is the author of The Empowered Mama and the host of The Empowered Mama podcast. She has been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, and more. Lisa is a speaker, writer, and thought leader with a passion for helping moms get out of overwhelm and into a healthy and happy life. We connected through the podcasting network, Parenting on Demand, where we both have our podcasts.

Show Highlights:

How Lisa felt “lost” 17 years ago on maternity leave with many questions, no confidence, and a loss of identity
Why she started a stroller workout to help moms get back in shape as they helped her learn about motherhood
The growth of Stroller Strides from 2001 until now, through word-of-mouth advertising; now, it’s a nationwide program that provides a sense of community and much more than just a workout for moms
The programs offered now: Fit4Baby (prenatal), Body Back (transformational, high-intensity), and the new brand, FIT4MOM, with 300 franchises and 2000 class locations across the US
Our Village, the play group and Mom’s Night Out program as part of Stroller Strides
How the positive support leads to success with many motherhood issues
How they provide fitness classes and provide education for moms to understand fitness and exercise science
The instructors are not therapists, but are trained to be aware of signs of postpartum depression and recommend needed resources
How the classes are benefitting new moms and creating amazing success stories of life-changing reconnection and rebuilding relationships and confidence
How the classes teach moms to treat themselves the way they hope their kids will someday treat themselves
A main point is the focus on inclusivity and that every mom is welcome
Lisa’s podcast and book: helping moms reclaim their time, their selves, and their health
The podcast format: solo episodes where Lisa shares personal experiences and body image issues, and interviews with amazing moms about their expertise and how they balance their lives
Mama Well, the new digital program with 42 weeks of exercise videos, birth preparations, and nutritional guidance---and it includes a private Facebook group
Why this holistic program works for general health and wellness for moms---and is different from anything else in the country
The new programs coming later this year
Lisa’s #1 takeaway: “Every single minute of every single day, you are writing the story to your only life.” ---Katherine Center

Resources:

www.fit4mom.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lisadruxman

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lisadruxman

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/lisadruxman

The Empowered Mama by Lisa Druxman

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110: Preeclampsia & Perinatal Loss with Stacey Porter Jul 30, 2018

Show notes

Every woman’s pregnancy experience is different, and each pregnancy brings its unique challenges. Today you’ll hear one woman’s story of her pregnancy, loss, and the obstacles she faced due to pre-eclampsia, which can affect women during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. My guest is gracious enough to share the heartbreaking details of her story, with the hope that those in similar circumstances will know they are not alone.

Stacey Porter is president and founder of The Tangerine Owl Project, a nonprofit devoted to offering peer support to families, started in memory of her daughter after a NICU loss in 2012. Stacey has been dedicated to efforts centered around supporting families who have suffered infant loss and traumatic birth since 2013. Stacey is heavily invested in efforts to support maternal mental health as it intertwines so greatly with traumatic birth and bereavement experiences for these families. She works as a contractor with the 2020 Mom Project, leading a volunteer program, social media, and a handful of other projects. She sits on the board of directors for local nonprofit Beyond the Baby Blues, which offers clinical group support to women suffering from perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, and she serves on the bereavement committee for the Mothers’ Milk Bank of the Western Great Lakes. Stacey is a member of the National Perinatal Association and Preemie Parent Alliance, and has collaborated on projects for patient education including online curriculum for staff on psychosocial support for NICU parents.

Show Highlights:

Stacey was pregnant with her third child in 2012 after two picture-perfect pregnancies with her son and daughter
Why this was a completely different pregnancy experience, when swollen ankles at a 24-week appointment prompted her doctor to probe further and discover pre-eclampsia
Within a few days, she found herself hospitalized and then transferred to a more equipped hospital
The baby began to decline rapidly and her doctor told her to be prepared for delivery
A C-section was scheduled and the baby was given a 40% chance of survival
What is pre-eclampsia? A pregnancy condition in which maternal blood pressure rises to dangerously high levels, the baby is deprived of oxygen, and the placenta’s health can be affected
Pre-eclampsia can occur in pregnancy or postpartum, causing vision problems and seizures, and can decelerate the baby’s heart rate
Pre-eclampsia can affect people in different ways; Stacey didn’t have the typical risk factors, which include: the first pregnancy, a pregnancy with a different partner than previous pregnancies, smoking, and advanced maternal age
Pre-eclampsia can be mild or severe and can affect women of every race and every age
Her baby became lethargic and the doctor discovered an infection from hospital-acquired bacteria
The baby became septic and they tried antibiotics for the aggressive Pseudomonas infection that they couldn’t get control of
After three days of sickness, they spent the last moments with her and held her as she passed away
Stacey realized that there is not a lot of peer support for people going through infant loss
The Facebook connection that became Stacey’s lifeline, because even though friends and family tried to help, they just couldn’t understand like someone who had been through the same experience
How people feel helpless and like they want to help but don’t know what to do or say
How the Tangerine Owl Project was inspired through the experience with her daughter, Delilah
How Stacey has grown and learned through her grief, starting the organization on the anniversary of her daughter’s death
How anxiety, depression, and panic attacks started a couple of years later, even though she was doing everything she could to deal with her feelings
How Stacey has become an advocate for maternal mental health

Resources:

www.tangerineowl.org

Find Stacey on Facebook: @Tangerine Owl Project or Stacey Dunlap Porter

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109: Healing After Postpartum with Graeme Seabrook Jul 23, 2018

Show notes

How do we, as mothers, keep ourselves centered while raising our little ones? It’s a tough question to answer, but it becomes even more difficult when perinatal mental health is in jeopardy. Many times, we think that dealing with the crisis is the most important focus, but it’s the time period that follows the crisis---and the healing--that deserves big attention. Don’t miss today’s conversation covering these important topics.

Graeme Seabrook is a Motherhood Life Coach whose approach to coaching is that YOU must be a priority in your own life in order to thrive. Following a traumatizing birth experience that left her with PTSD, and surviving postpartum depression and anxiety, Graeme began a healing journey as a mother and a woman. That healing journey led her to train as a life coach and to create spaces where mothers can come to be witnessed, nurtured, inspired, and supported, so they can integrate motherhood with personhood and not the other way around. She does this work because she believes we are living in a global culture that treats mothers as if we are inhuman and expects us to be superhuman. Graeme’s work is dedicated to helping mothers reclaim their humanity. Today we discuss her work in helping mothers recover from recovery, the stabilization after a perinatal mental health issue, and the way to build resilience after the crisis passes.

Show Highlights:

How the conversations are now happening to help those who are “in it,” but still have active triggers
Why we don’t talk about how your life may be changed for years or even decades
Carrying the guilt and pressure to be “the perfect mom” and “make up” for what you’ve put your family through
Readjusting and cleaning up after the “storm” has passed
How Graeme is using the pain and anger as a catalyst to tell her story and do her advocacy work
The process of “recovering from recovery” and how Graeme borrowed the phrase from a therapist who helped her
How Graeme figured out the next step in recovery: resilience
Recognizing triggers and going through the checklist to make a totally different experience in the process of healing
Explaining the process of recovering from recovery: when you have made peace with your journey into motherhood
The grieving process inherent in motherhood over what we thought it would be
Learning to be a mother in the storm of mental illness trauma
The tendency to neglect self-care as we recover after the crisis
Our underlying drives and how we deal with them
How to cultivate resilience: learn to prioritize, make connections, and learn what “balls” to juggle and when
Graeme’s program of online coaching: 12 weeks, with no more than 10 people at a time, for moms who are out of the crisis period
Graeme’s passion-filled and heart-centered work, which is what she was looking for a few years ago
The power and potential connections through the internet
Success stories of how moms have transformed with Graeme’s help and become more in control of their lives

Resources:

Website: www.graemeseabrook.com Twitter: @graemeseabrook Instagram at @Graemeseabrook

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108: Hyperemesis Gravidarum and Therapeutic Termination Loss with Kaleigh Mancha, MFTI, Doula, Yogi Jul 16, 2018

Show notes

We are all familiar with morning sickness that is a common part of pregnancy, but have you heard of hyperemesis gravidarum (HG)? It is a very significant medical issue that is very different from “normal” morning sickness, yet it’s been minimized even in the medical community, and the expectant mothers who suffer from this condition have not been treated with the care and respect that they deserve. Knowledge is power, so I hope with today’s show comes the education to help people empower themselves in this extreme condition that affects 1-2 out of 100 pregnancies.

Kaleigh Mancha is a licensed mental health therapist, certified full spectrum doula, body positive yoga teacher, and mother. She runs her business, K.a.y. & M.e., offering various wellness services in the Las Vegas Valley. Advocating for underserved and underrepresented populations has been a lifelong passion of hers and is what brought her into the mental health field ten years ago. She has also been heavily involved in advocating for equitable access to education. Her practice specialties include trauma, anxiety, life transitions, and concerns related to reproductive justice, pregnancy, postpartum, and parenthood. As a body positive yoga teacher, she believes that all bodies, abilities, and experience levels are welcome on the mat, and her goal is to reach people who, like her, didn’t grow up in spaces where wellness was a familiar experience. Kaleigh lives by the motto that “Wellness is a necessity, not a luxury.” She believes all people deserve better access to resources and the knowledge to help them live their best lives. She’s here to share her personal story about HG and how this condition has affected her life in many ways.

Show Highlights:

Ten years ago, she was pregnant with her daughter, extremely sick beyond what is “normal,” but filled with gratitude because a prior surgery had jeopardized her fertility
At 8 weeks pregnant, her doctor downplayed her nausea and sickness, but she became dehydrated and was diagnosed with HG
From 8 weeks to 8 months, she was severely sick, but it went away immediately at the birth of her daughter
As she planned for a 2nd child, she prepared her partner for the idea of more extreme sickness
She quickly became pregnant in December 2017, felt symptoms right away, but didn’t think it would be a big deal
At 5 weeks along, her partner was overwhelmed and decided not to continue to be a part of the journey
How she dealt with full-time work as a yogi, therapist, and doula while pregnant and so sick
Planning for a home birth with a midwife, but was hospitalized again with dehydration; she then tried acupuncture and CBD oil and was hospitalized again
Symptoms and facts about HG: Affects less than 2% of pregnancies and is characterized by intense nausea and vomiting (10-20 times/day); can lead to severe dehydration, organ failure, and extreme weight loss. It can vary in severity, can last the entire pregnancy, and is thought to be genetic.
The impact on Kaleigh was hopelessness and isolation
How her doula, Christina Hernandez, helped her formulate a plan
Trying a couple of different medications, which don’t really treat HG well. One was a mixture of B6 and Unisom (a sleep medication)
How she had to move in with her parents so they could help care for her and her daughter, close her practice, and cancel her doula clients
How the illness left immediately and she felt like herself again, but then she had to deal with the grief and loss. She took 3 weeks for self-care and healing
Her recommitment to her patients, to use her experience to become a better doula to help others who don’t have the same support that she did. She now offers free help for those suffering from HG.