Birth Re-Imagined

On today’s episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Noam Shanker, Caitlin Francis’s husband, operations manager, and new dad to talk about life with a newborn baby. Noam talks with Elle and Taylor about taking a newborn care class, bonding with his new baby, his favorite things they got off their baby registry, white noise and ASMR/ambience sounds, getting pregnant, how to discuss baby care duties with your partner, how parenting is changing in our generation, and choosing baby names.

On this episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Caitlin Francis, a licensed speech-language pathologist from Southern California and a new mom to talk about her first birth experience. They talk about a baby’s very strict yet constantly changing schedule, being pregnant and giving birth during Covid, a husband almost sleeping though the birth, and stashing water and snacks all over the house.

On this episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Dr. Theresa Pulickal, a Doctor of Physical Therapy who specializes in pelvic health and a mother of 3 who loves nature and hiking, to talk about Pelvic Floor Therapy. We talk to her about the importance of pelvic floor strength and coordination, pelvic steaming for circulation and relaxation, and C-section scar tissue massage.

On this episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Ely Mitchell, a LGBTQ+ mama who works with LGBTQIA+ and special needs families to talk about how to meet the differing needs of these unique and wonderful families. Ely shares the five steps she uses to help families of every kind find support, learn how to make decisions, and do what is best for their family. They also discuss the different kinds of difficulties that LGBTQIA+ families and special needs families face. Ely shares a heart-warming story of a little girl named Kennedy. They discuss what caregiver burnout and loss of identity looks like and how to help combat that.

On this episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Trisha Goodall, a mom of two kids and the founder of Ostaria Parenting to talk about C-Sections. In this episode we talk to Trisha about the birth of her son and the unplanned C-section that brought him into the world, and birth scenario planning cards with “Healthy baby-Healthy baby” on both sides, being left alone after a birth, and forgiving ourselves for making the best choices we could at the time.

On this episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Dr. Katarina Rigali, a family practice chiropractor in Los Angeles, to talk all about the importance of crawling! They talk about what crawling helps develop in our brains, what kinds of things kids might struggle with if they skip the crawling phase, how cross-core development helps with things like ADHD and anxiety, and how we can help our kids work on those cross-core skills even from home! They also dive into how skin on skin contact and physical contact affects us and how the simple act of holding babies and hugging our loved ones can help our physical and mental health.

On this episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Kristen Wood, a registered dietitian to talk about diet and nutrition during pregnancy and postpartum. They discuss important nutrients for pre-conception, during pregnancy, and postpartum. They talk about how the healthy plate method of eating (as opposed to the food pyramid a lot of us grew up with), when pregnancy cravings can be dangerous, and how to give yourself some grace.

On today’s episode, Taylor is joined by Jennica Joyce, a prenatal yoga teacher and mama of three to talk all about prenatal yoga. She hosts yoga retreats at her home in Joshua Tree, as well as helps birthing people to calm their jitters and strengthen their bodies as they bring new life into this world. Jennica shares the story of her first birth, where her little one waited until almost 43 weeks to make his appearance earthside, and how her experiences with prenatal yoga empowered her to have a positive birth experience where she felt calm and in charge while trusting her intuition to meet her needs and the needs of her baby. Since recording this episode, Jennica has given birth to her third child, a beautiful baby girl.

On today’s episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Amber Purcell, a postpartum maternity travel nurse, newborn care specialist to talk about leveraging our strengths and how to build a solid team. Bringing a baby into this world is hard work, and learning to take care of a new human is even harder! This episode focuses on identifying everyone’s needs, talking out what your goals are as a family and as parents, and then figuring out ways to meet those goals (no guilt allowed!).

On today’s episode, Elle is joined by Val Rosas, a placenta encapsulation specialist to talk all about this amazing and mysterious organ. They talk about the benefits of placenta encapsulation, what the process of placenta encapsulation looks like, different ways to consume the placenta (placenta encapsulation – raw method of traditional Chinese method, placenta smoothies – immediately postpartum, pre-packaged, or cubed, tinctures, and cooked), and how to grow a healthy placenta.

On this episode, Elle is joined by Jana Smolenski, a birth photographer and doula to talk all about birth photography. They talk about what birth photography is (and what it isn’t), the benefits of having photos taken during labor, the different styles of birth photography, and how to balance being a doula and birth photographer simultaneously (doulatog).

On this episode, Elle is joined by Jan Shane Kowalski, who shares about his perspective on the births of his two sons with Coco Cabrel (who joined us on our last episode!). Coco and Jan had two waterbirths, one of which was a sunny-side-up baby, and ended with Coco tandem nursing her new baby and two-year-old together in the birthing pool.

On this episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Dr. Coco Cabrel, a Flamenco choreographer and professor, with an MD from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine to talk about the births of her children, and how flamenco dance affected her during pregnancy and postpartum. She shares the tools she learned through flamenco that assisted her during the births of her 3rd and 4th children, and how each of her births differed from each other. She talks about empowerment, the power of rhythm during labor, how to dig deep emotionally and physically, and how giving birth makes you into a god/goddess!

On this episode, Elle and Taylor are joined by Sarah Clark, a life, health, and fertility coach that specializes in helping people get pregnant through functional lab testing and support in diet and lifestyle changes. She shares her own journey through premature ovarian failure, IVF, and how she came to realize that her diet and lifestyle were the root cause of her fertility issues and how she now helps couples to get pregnant naturally.

Sarah talks about all of the testing, dietary, and lifestyle changes she helps her couples go through on their journey to natural pregnancy (and how these can support the couple, even if they ultimately end up using IVF or a surrogate). They discuss everything from the decline in nutritional density of food over the last 50 years to the decline in sperm counts, what supplements most people should be on when trying to conceive, and even how spirituality and religion can help people get pregnant.

On this episode, Taylor’s mom, Velane Spotville, joins Elle and Taylor to share the story of Taylor entering the world! Velane shares her journey through ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, and Taylor’s birth (with episiotomy). They talk about bedside manner, the importance of individualized care, how things have changed from the 80s to now, pregnancy guilt and expectations, and postpartum depression.

On today’s episode, Elle and Taylor sit down with Caitlin Francis, a speech language pathologist to talk about speech, language, and communication development in babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, what you should be looking out for, when to think about intervention, and how to get assistance.

On this episode, Elle sits down with Dr. Jay Warren, a prenatal and pediatric chiropractor in San Diego. He is the host of two popular podcasts, “Healthy Births, Happy Babies,” and “The Dadhood Journey.” He is also an ICPA instructor, and has created online courses to help pregnant women learn prenatal bonding techniques, as well as a New Dads Class that helps men with the transition to fatherhood. Jay comes on the show to talk about how (specifically) men experience their partner going through labor and birth, the male archetypes of Protector and Provider and how these can be translated into the birthing room in a productive manner, and what postpartum depression looks like in men and how to find and look for help and support in your community and friend groups.

On this episode, Elle and Taylor sit down with Yaya Atabey Samudra, an Afro-Indigenous Queer + Trans Herbalist, Activist, Full-Spectrum Birthworker, Artist and Initiated Womb Healer based in Los Angeles, CA. They discuss the sacredness of birth, how to initiate ceremony and celebration back into the birth space, the four feminine archetypes period-having people go through, and how to move through our lives following our energy levels during the different phases of our moon cycles to tap into the Divine within us.

On this episode, Elle and Taylor sit down with Kate Bean, a mother of 3 lively boys, and former and future foster mom. Kate shares her emotional journey with suspected PCOS, multiple miscarriages, the birth of two biological children, foster care, and adoption.

On this episode, Elle and Taylor sit down with Dr. Devin Geser, a board certified and licensed acupuncture pediatrician practicing in Los Angeles, California. She specializes in pediatric integrative functional medicine. Devin also teaches yoga and meditation along with volunteering for Acupuncturists Without Borders providing free interventional community crisis care. They discuss acupuncture and how it can help with a myriad of different pregnancy-related symptoms (like morning sickness, breech babies, aches and pains, labor induction, etc) as well as the spiritual nature of pregnancy. They talk about ancestry and how genetics are linked across time and how those links affect our health and the health of our children.

CW: suicide, risky behavior.

On this episode, Elle sits down with Ellie Dote, a transgender, lesbian woman who has a deep and beautiful relationship with Christ. They discuss being LGBTQ+ while raising LGBTQ+ kids, the experiences we’ve had that have shaped how we parent our LGBTQ+ kids, and the things that we think society and individuals need to think about and find solutions for to make our communities safer and more accepting for people across every spectrum.

On today’s episode, Elle and Taylor sit down with Dr. Whitney Sippl, a women’s health physical therapist and a women’s clinical specialist. They discuss pelvic floor relaxation, how to prepare your pelvic floor for birth, and easy steps and actions you can take to help get your pelvic floor health back to normal after birth. She uses a ton of easy to understand metaphors to explain all of the concepts she talks about, and makes it super easy to understand, even if you don’t currently know anything about the pelvic floor!

On this episode, Elle and Taylor sit down with Amanda Armstrong, a Women’s Mental and Physical Health Life Coach specializing in anxiety, depression and postnatal recovery through her business Rise As We. She was raised in CA, but currently lives in Virginia with her husband, son, dog and countless house plants. Like many, her birth didn’t go according to plan, but in this episode, she shares how she used her physical and mental preparation to move through it all.

On today’s episode, Elle and Taylor sit down with Jill Magoffin, a certified birth Doula and postpartum Doula with DONA INTERNATIONAL.  In addition to being a Doula, Jill is also trained as a New Parent Educator and Newborn Care Specialist. Additional Doula training has included courses such as Hypnobirthing and advanced Rebozo skills for birth and postpartum care. They discuss comfort care and self-care during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum.

On this episode, Elle and Taylor sit down with Courtney Riel Owens, a performer, a Hypnodoula, and is studying to become a Hypnobabies Trainer. Courtney shares the birth story of her older daughter, Hazel, her journey to becoming a Hypnodoula, and how Hypnobabies has helped her and many of her clients to have a peaceful, relaxed birthing experience.

On this episode, Elle and Taylor sit down with Allison Tartari and Maral Shabak of the Tourmaline Collective, which offers prenatal, postpartum, and birth services alongside a wellness team of holistic practitioners, to talk about Postpartum Plans. They discuss what a Postpartum Plan is, why it is essential to mental and physical recovery after labor and delivery, and how to go about creating one (along with tons of ideas about what to consider when making yours).

On today’s episode, Elle and Taylor sit down with Kelila Green, who shares her surrogacy birth story. As an Orthodox Jewish woman, her journey started by making sure her religious beliefs would support and affirm her desire to help another family have a baby, and led to two families who are now friends (and family) through the birth of that beautiful baby.

On this episode, Elle and Taylor sit down with Tatiana Koontz, a midwife and postpartum doula in San Diego, where they discuss Informed Consent. They dive deep on the difference between consent and informed consent/choice, the importance of individualized care, and how the pregnant body is designed to give birth naturally. 

On today’s episode, Elle and Taylor sit down to talk all about Chiropractic for Pregnancy. They dive into the Webster Technique, what chiropractors do and don't do, and how chiropractic care addresses the physiological health of the pregnant person (and the baby) during pregnancy and during labor.