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Listen up if you're considering home birth. In this episode, we touch on the breadth of women's historical engagement with their perinatal care, including the shift from home to hospital, bias and racism in our care system, government programs and how they do and don't work, and some of the history of midwifery in the US and the UK.

Calisha Cobb is the founder and patented inventor of HANDY (Hands-Free Pumping Bra Tops). As a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and Mother of two breastfed daughters, she experienced the challenges of breastfeeding when she returned back to work, and shortly thereafter, as the result of common challenges that working breastfeeding Mothers face, the HANDY Top was invented! Her goal is to assist all Moms in achieving their breastfeeding goals.

Here's what the midwives of San Francisco have to say to all expecting parents on the safety of home birth amid the unprecedented global event of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and government-imposed social-distancing. Women are questioning, in new ways, what should be considered "safe" for giving birth.

We at Fourth Trimester teamed up with Career Coach Sharon Weinberg to create a guide to help you make a smooth transition between working and being on leave. The guide is useful for those who will be having a leave of one month or more, although elements of the approach can easily be used effectively for shorter absences. This preparation can enable you to create the necessary clarity, accountability, and continued execution to strategy by you and your team during your absence and set them up for success. Contact Sharon with discount FOURTH for your own customized coaching sessions sharon@sharonweinberg.com

Practical solutions for making necessary adjustments for a second baby to join the family in a way that helps meet everyone's needs, including your older child

Our amazing guest for Episode 78 is Jeanae Hopgood-Jones who has taken a tragic and powerful experience as a mother and found a space of creativity and inspiration.  Her blog  https://blackangelmom.com/  is not only beautiful and sincere, it addresses areas of parenthood and life that are all too often relegated to the purely personal and not given or allowed a voice by the larger culture.  The loss of her twin daughters and reaching towards families of color and their experiences of loss are the seeds of this endeavor.

Pelvic floor stability champion Susi Hately returns to the Fourth Trimester Podcast to talk about how she advocated for herself while she was pregnant with TWINS and had the complication of placenta previa. Hear her inspirational story of how she was true to herself throughout her pregnancy and postpartum period

We had the pleasure of speaking with Dr Adrian Villalba about perinatal chiropractic practices that benefit mothers. Having balance in your body both before and after giving birth can benefit new mamas in their recovery process. Adrian is certified in Webster Technique by the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association. Listen to learn more about out how this works.

In this episode, Lisa shares with us practical lessons on how to understand  our own body signs. Learn how to chart your own cycle. Hear how important it is to listen to what your menstrual cycle indicates for your wider health overall. For example, if your period doesn't return ~ 18 months after having a baby, that's a sign that something may be wrong, and it is a good time to have a medical professional help investigate. 

Here's a quick guide to the questions every new parent asks. 

Emily Flynn is a birth and postpartum doula and health consultant in the Bay Area. She specializes in connecting folks in various places in their gynecological health cycles with compassionate and evidence-based care providers best suited to their individual needs. Emily's journey into birth work started through her legal research work with international organizations supporting migrants and refugees, which has informed and inspired her work with other birth care providers in building solid contracts and safe, strong, and satisfying businesses. 

Suzannah Neufeld, MFT, yoga therapist has dropped by my house to have tea and discuss her new book Awake At 3AM and tell us about how she applies insights both from psychotherapy and yoga/mindfulness practice to help parents through the very challenging perinatal period. Suzannah herself suffered with grueling hyperemesis and was thrown into depression and anxiety as a result.  Hear her story and learn about her approach to helping us with the tough stuff.

Melissa Hurt is our guest this episode and she offers us an easy and rather fun and funny technique for "finding our voice" as new parents. This little exercise, known as the Y-Buzz will warm up your vocal chords and open your voice and tickle your face.  But it's not just for fun-- this technique is something you may find empowering as well as spirit-lifting.

How to avoid anemia (and recover from anemia) using nutrition. Anemia is common during and after pregnancy. Esther talks about how to stave it off, and how to use nutrition and what you eat to help recover from mild to severe anemia.

The Dos and Don'ts and Whys and Hows of being a respectful and HELPFUL visitor to your new-parent family and friends. This is some frank talk based on Esther's decades of observation and cultural comparison. Everyone can learn from this episode, whether or not they are, themselves, or know new-parents-to-be

Esther and Sarah return to the subject of visitors. A discussion of why visitors in the first two to six weeks aren't always the right thing for new parents from a physical, emotional-social and spiritual perspective, as well as why our culture doesn't foster appropriate support. This episode of the Fourth Trimester Podcast is a playbook for handling visitors, including:  setting boundaries for yourself communicating how you need visitation to work to your loved ones the difference between visitors who help vs visitors who don't know how to positively contribute  how to set up an appropriate 'meet the baby' event  why your birth story is a private experience you may or may not choose to share 

Wait, what is Postpartum OCD?  Yep. It's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that develops or is magnified as part of the postpartum experience. Women who don't have OCD can develop it as part of their childbirth experience. Women who already have OCD can see their symptoms intensify during postpartum.  Most simply defined, OCD is when "intrusive thoughts" become fairly constant, and a person starts acting on those thoughts.  On episode 67 of Fourth Trimester Podcast we focus on postpartum OCD and speak with Megan Ellow who is a licensed clinical social worker in the state of Delaware.   The episode covers:  -- Signs of Postpartum Anxiety and Postpartum OCD -- How to find help if you think you may have symptoms of Postpartum Anxiety and Postpartum OCD (Hint: start by calling an anonymous helpline 800-944-4773)  -- Megan's true story of postpartum OCD and her recovery 

I had a ton of anxiety about THE BIRTH. And then a fair amount of feelings about being a parent - would I be good enough? I appreciated talking with Leah Chalofsky about the New Parents Circle and Cesarean Birth Support Group, anxiety (as it relates to pregnancy and parenting), domestic violence, and teen pregnancy/parenting. The recorded conversation (Episode 66 of Fourth Trimester Podcast) includes all these topics: Hormones and their influence Emotions prior to birth  Anxiety, Depression and "feeling bad about feeling bad"  First two years of child's life - transitions physical and mental  Benefiting from being around other parents Ruling out physical issues - how physical and emotional are intertwined  LISTEN AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS - I’m a Mom doing this for other Moms :) iTuneshttps://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fourth-trimester-podcast-first/id1092879503 Google Playhttps://play.google.com/music/m/Izesbdsmwa5nltglhikqs5ooa7u?t=Fourth_Trimester_Podcast_The_first_months_and_beyond_Parenting_Newborn_Baby_Postpartum_Doula

We are so happy to introduce Nethal Abdul-Mu-Amin to our listeners.  In this episode we also give our listeners an opportunity to learn a bit about Islamic cultural diversity and how Nethal is helping Muslim families find their reflection in the Parenting Community. We discuss the following and more: Homebirth Midwifery in the era before legalization and the current state of access Nethal’s background and what led her to become a Birth and Postpartum Doula and Childbirth Educator Resources Nethal has helped develop  as a Childbirth Educator, specifically for the Muslim community

Here’s a good introduction to the topic of Perinatal Herbalism. Beth Rees is an Herbalist, a SF-based Doula and she has worked with families over 20 years. Beth tells us about how herbs can nourish us and add enjoyment, rest and recovery to our intensive work growing our families.  Listen to episode 64 of Fourth Trimester Podcast to hear: How Beth became a doula/herbalist Geeking out about Birth and Postpartum Heart-opening   Herbal self-nourishment and caring for the new mom and baby Herbalism/Acupuncture integration Local approaches Gentle Giants of the herb world Internal and external nourishment and healing How to make your own breastfeeding tea Go to fourthtrimesterpodcast.com to download recipes for specific herbal supports for parents and children