Call Me Mama

Hey Mamas and thank you so much for tuning in for our Empowered Mama Segment! Today I have the pleasure of interviewing fellow Empowered Mama and Parenting Coach and owner of High Impact Club Marcela Collier.  We discuss mamahood and her work as a parenting coach. She is a certified Positive Discipline Parent Educator, and she helps parents respond to their children’s behaviors with what they specifically need.  

Mamas I highly encourage you to Marcela's website and check out all her parenting guides and tools and check out her podcast on Spotify, google podcast and apple podcast; you can find the links on her website as well!

Also, make sure to follow her on all of her social media channels below.  

Hey mamas! I wanted to update y'all on what's to come for The Call Me Mama Podcast along with my Empowered Mama Segment. Next week Wednesday May 11, 2022 Empowered Mama Segment episode; Parenting with Understanding will be the last episode of Season 1. I interview an amazing Empowered Mama Marcela Collier who is a Parenting Coach and the Owner of High Impact Club. You can check out her social media and website below!

Since it is the last few weeks of my pregnancy; I want to prepare myself for this new part of my journey in becoming a mama of 2 and being as present as I can in this new chapter. 

I have so many amazing things I am working on behind the scenes and am excited to share all this with you all in Season 2 coming at the end of the summer early fall! Make sure to stay up to date with my social media and of course to like and subscribe to my channels to stay updated! 

I feel so blessed to have been able to embrace my passion in starting this platform and am excited for what is to come within this amazing mama community! Make sure to stay up to date with my social media and of course to like and subscribe to my channels to stay updated!

Hey Mamas and thank you so much for tuning in for our Empowered Mama Segment! Today I have the pleasure of interviewing fellow Empowered Mama and Yoga Instructor Jenn Rivadeneira owner of The BX Yogi. We discussed mama hood her interests in wellness and mental health. She is helping make yoga accessible to BIPOC communities and with her practice she encourages body positivity and self love.   

Make sure to stay updated with her hikes and all the great events she hosts.   

I have had countless conversations with other mamas regarding the difficulties of balancing motherhood and womanhood in general and there is a resounding message that mothers are putting themselves last. We get so caught up in the day to day, balancing motherhood, relationships, the household amongst so many other things. We tend to lose sight of the things that we need!

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Hey Mamas and thank you so much for tuning in for our Empowered Mama Segment! Today I sit down with fellow Empowered mama Yesenia Ramdass; an entrepreneur mama and owner of Healthy as a Motha Vegan Kitchen where we delve into her story and how she was impacted to embark on this journey along with balancing mama hood! 

Healthy as a Motha Vegan Kitchen 

40-05 Skillman Ave, Queens, NY 11104 

When you look back on your life there’s a list of things that you’ve experienced that have significantly changed your life. It could have been something small like a talk or a word someone said to you. It could be a stranger you passed but something about that day stood with you and impacted your life in a way that you chose to make a certain decision based off of.

I have so many little moments that were big for me that changed my trajectory in this lifetime and I would love to hear some of yours. What happened in your life that made you shift; what made you look at how you were going along and made you want to change for the better? Leave me a comment, leave me a voice message on anchor podcast or send me a DM, email, connect with me. I would love to hear your story and share with our community!

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Hey Mamas and thank you so much for tuning in for our Empowered Mama Segment! Today I have the pleasure of interviewing fellow Empowered Mama & longtime friend Julia Gartner; owner of Hudson Valley Family Doulas. Julia describes herself as a crunchy mama who loves serving others. She is passionate about all things birth and American Sign language. She is a mama to a beautiful baby girl, wife and entrepreneur.   

Mamas if you're looking for support throughout your pregnancy I encourage you to check out Julias website and social media below!  

When I realized I was pregnant there was also the realization that I had no freaking idea what to expect. When you’re growing up of course you see the women around you being pregnant, the movies and the shows that talk about pregnancy in such a vague way. When you’re actually pregnant you realize that there was really no preparation for pregnancy. No matter how much TV you watched, your parents' birds and the bees talks, documentaries or even knowing people personally. Pregnancy is such a huge topic to cover that so many women aspire to have one day and not really understand what is in store.

I realized the need for a doula once I was in labor. We called my hubby Daddy doula because he was amazing. Super hands on and really worked hard to keep me comfortable and also made sure to advocate for me throughout the process. It was a huge load for him to take on and I felt it took away from his experience as a father. Had we had a doula; we would have had another set of hands, another person that could have partnered with him and I and rode the waves of labor together.

Hey Mamas and thank you so much for tuning in for our Empowered Mama Segment! On today's episode I had the pleasure of interviewing fellow Empowered Mama Elizabeth Balay. Elizabeth is a mama to 3 beautiful kids, wife, and speech language therapist with over 11 years of experience working within the pediatric setting and who happens to also be my sister in law!   

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No matter how much mama content we see on the parts of motherhood there's no explaining the little moments. There’s no way to perfectly explain the little bits of peace in between the chaos of life. No one prepares you for those times where you know you’ve created little core memories for your library to look back on once the little feet have grown and your kids are no longer babies. The feelings of those last moments before you even realize they no longer snuggle into your neck the way they first did mimicking your breath as they laid on your chest finding comfort in the sound of your heartbeat. The sound they heard from the inside while they grew.

Recently I’ve experienced some disappointment from people that I have been friends with for many years. Essentially we grew up together. We’ve laughed, we’ve cried, we’ve celebrated sweet sixteens, and graduations, career milestones and many birthdays through the years. Some of us have gotten married and had kids while some have experienced a different path of dating and travel all the while taking time to link up and catch up with the nuances of our journeys. I’ve always been the person that would say friendship doesn’t mean talking everyday or seeing each other frequently. I have always defined friendship as showing up for each other during the big moments. Big moments aren’t always happy or celebratory; some of them are quite sad and come with tears and sitting in silence and just being there for one another. 

Once I became a mom my views have shifted because of what I've experienced and I know many other mamas out there that have similar stories. 

There are things that I wish I knew and done differently for my prenatal care. One of those things was to hire a Doula to help support me through my journey and advocate for me throughout my labor. My husband was great but we were both in the unknown of what to expect. We both did a lot of research but of course since everyone's pregnancy journey is so different you can learn through those experiences. One huge factor in choosing a provider was asking the right questions. But how can one ask questions about something they don’t really know about. We don’t learn these things in school; and if many of us are first time parents you don’t always have others that you know to give you advice or support throughout your pregnancy.

Questions to ask your midwife/medical practitioner  

• How many births do you attend a year?
• What is the hospital transfer rate?
• In what situation would you push for a transfer?
• What’s your view/team view on my partner catching the baby and cutting the umbilical cord?
• Once I go into labor and arrive at the center how soon do I expect your arrival?
• What is the cesarean rate?
• How do you approach the use of tools and interventions in the labor process? What is your philosophy on this?
• What are your routine newborn procedures immediately following the birth (skin to skin, delayed cord clamping, newborn exam etc)?

It was as if a switch was flipped the moment I discovered I was pregnant. My mind was racing from the thought that I would be growing this baby inside of me that I didn’t even know I would ever get the chance to even experience. I felt lost. I felt overwhelmed and I felt unseen. No one really knew how I felt. I felt alone. This pregnancy signified change to come and something to look forward to and although I was excited to meet my baby I was scared. There were so many unknowns.

The importance of speaking love to ourselves is how kids learn and grow up to be better adults that respect themselves and know their worth. Boy or girl it’s important for us to understand our voices become their inner voice and oftentimes it becomes their inner critic. We have to look inward to understand our own triggers and get a hold of ourselves and our reactions in order to give kindness back to ourselves and to our kids. The way we speak to ourselves and them matter; it’s the beginning of how they learn to treat others and most importantly how to treat themselves.

Read the rest of my blog post at www.callmemama.com

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It’s no secret that mama hood is hard! We all have heard the stories leading even before we became mothers. Can we change the narrative like yes it's hard but honestly if we had some proper resources and support it would be so much easier especially if we had that village! 

Check out my blog post on my website at www.callmemama.com 

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Hey Mamas! My first episode delving into the idea of being a "conventional mom" and how so many of us are more like jack of all trades. Mama hood is not an easy journey but we don't have to do it alone. Join me in building a community of mamas that try our best, love our kids and most importantly love ourselves. I want to inspire other mamas and empower other mamas; you are not alone! Motherhood wasn't meant to be lived alone; we're in this together! Make sure to check out my blog at www.callmemama.com and follow me on my social media! 

 IG: @_empowered_mama_ 

TIK Tok: @empowered_mama 

Blog: www.callmemama.com