Labor Lessons Carly Verdi

Sonia is a former educator turned health coach. She developed preeclampsia suddenly at 34 weeks pregnant with her second child. This was during covid quarantine, and she was teaching from home while caring full-time for her toddler daughter. Sonia didn't have much time or energy to care for herself. She also didn't have many in-person visits with her OB. Most of her appointments were virtual and she was responsible for taking her own blood pressure. During one of her virtual appointments, Son...

Natalie is a second-time mom and co-host of The Golden Hour podcast. Last year, I spoke with Liz, the other co-host of The Golden Hour podcast, about her postpartum anxiety. In this episode, Natalie shares her battles with prenatal and postpartum mood disorders. After Natalie's son was born, she had postpartum anxiety. That anxiety was never fully resolved before she got pregnant with her daughter, and it carried over into her pregnancy. Natalie struggled with prenatal anxiety and depres...

Allison is an intuitive medium and owner of Souls of a Feather where she offers readings online. In this episode, she shares her experience with both prenatal and postpartum mood disorders. Allison suffered from PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), and tried for two years to get pregnant. She finally decided to take a break from trying to focus on her health. She asked her doctor for birth control and in the time it took to fill the prescription, she got pregnant. Allison suffered from severe ...

One year ago today, Natalia's son Xavian was born. Just 12 hours later, he passed away. Natalia is originally from Russia, and currently lives in Brazil. She and her husband love to travel. While in Egypt, she found out she was pregnant. They looked for a place to settle down and have their baby, and at six months pregnant decided on Brazil. She found a Russian midwife there and was excited to start a new chapter of her life in a new place. Natalia said she had a beautiful lab...

Maureen Farrell is a lactation counselor, doula, herbalist, and homebirth midwife practicing in rural West Virginia. She is also the co-host of the Milk Minute podcast, which provides evidence-based and entertaining breastfeeding information. Maureen had her first child at home before she became a midwife. Preparing for her first birth, she read a lot of books and thought that she needed to be calm and relaxed during her labor. She progressed fairly quickly and then stalled. She felt frustrat...

One of the most common things I hear when talking with women about their birth experiences is that they didn't know how to advocate for themselves going in. Whether they were overwhelmed by what they were feeling, or they were mistreated by the medical staff, they were unsure how to make themselves heard and respected. In this episode, 10 doulas share their best piece of advice for advocating for yourself during labor. Listen, check out their websites, and follow them on social media. Y...