In this episode we talk with Jessica King, an EBB Childbirth Class graduate, about their journey to parenthood and the importance of finding support networks before, during, and after pregnancy.  

 

Jessica grew up in Upstate New York and then moved to Boston to get her Master's in architecture. While in Boston, she met her wife and fellow upstate New Yorker, Sarah. They started working on creating their family three years ago, and they welcomed their daughter this past November! Jessica and Sarah are graduates of the Evidence Based Birth Childbirth Class with EBB Instructor, Anna Sutkowski. Their family currently lives in St. Louis with their two dogs.

 

Jessica and her wife, a surgical resident, decided to take the EBB Childbirth Class to ease their anxieties and demystify the process of labor and delivery.

 

In this podcast episode, Jessica opens up about her family’s struggles, setbacks, and joy in their journey from assisted reproduction to postpartum. Jessica also shares how she was able to use the skills and knowledge learned in the course to advocate for herself postpartum when she had difficulties with lactation and a postpartum mood disorder. We wrap up this episode by talking about how knowing you are not alone can make all the difference in the world.

 

Trigger Warning: assisted reproduction, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), pregnancy loss, bleeding in pregnancy, epidurals, preeclampsia, newborn jaundice, and postpartum mood disorders.

 

On this episode the EBB Podcast, we talk with Brandi Jordan, the founder of The Cradle Company and the Dear Doula podcast, all about supporting infant mental health using a whole family approach.

 

Brandi is a board-certified lactation consultant, pediatric sleep specialist, newborn care specialist, and a postpartum doula. Brandi's work as a consultant, parenting group leader and in-home practitioner have led her to develop a unique philosophy of gentle parenting techniques that are pragmatic, practical, and a healthy approach for the whole family. In 2018, Brandi founded the National Association of Birth Workers of Color and currently hosts the Dear Doula podcast.

 

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Child Development and a Master of Social Work from the University of Southern California where she's also an adjunct faculty lecturing in infant mental health and culturally competent mental healthcare.

 

Brandi talks with us about how to find our unique skills and assets to bringing our whole selves into birth work. Once you know what sets you apart, you can connect with the right clients for you to make this work more sustainable. Brandi believes that whatever you think might be your deficit in this work – is actually your assets – it is exactly the type of support certain clients will need. Additionally, she discusses the growing field of infant mental health and how we can support families across the spectrum of development and bring a more holistic and comprehensive approach, a whole family approach, to caring for infants in the prenatal and postpartum periods.

 

Resources: 

 

Follow Brandi's work:

• Follow Brandi on Instagram
• Follow the Dear Doula podcast on Instagram here
• Listen to Rebecca Discuss Circumcision, Water Births, and Evidence Based Care on Brani's Dear Doula Podcast here
• Connect with the Cradle Company here 

Listen to the following EBB Episodes: 

• EBB 118 – How to Have a Healthy Postpartum Transition with Dr. Alyssa Berlin

 

 

In this episode of the EBB podcast, we talk with Cheyenne Varner, the founder of The Educated Birth, about intersectional reproductive health and the importance of birth education to be more inclusive and representative.

 

Cheyenne, is a professional certified birth and postpartum doula and founder of The Educated Birth. The Educated Birth creates intersectional reproductive health education content, from online articles to social media posts to digital and print teaching tools for reproductive health workers. Cheyenne also publishes Everyday Birth Magazine, a print and digital magazine with the same mission to make information and education about pregnancy and postpartum more inclusive.

 

Cheyenne shares her journey from nonprofit work to doula work to now finding herself as the founder of The Educated Birth and the publisher of Everyday Birth Magazine. We discuss the importance of how we talk about pregnancy, how it is shown in pop culture and how most often, images and stories of pregnancy and childbirth are not realistic, representative, or inclusive of real people and their communities. Cheyenne has a passion for making everyone feel safe, seen and protected during vulnerable times. This is evident in how she centers all of her projects in the support, protection and education of communities who have historically been excluded from storytelling and imagery within the birth space.

 

Resources: