mothers — Mum's The Word (Writing)

A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Tu-Hien Le. She had a regular health and wellness series on Instagram for moms, but recently switched to creating a podcast to reach a wider audience.

Now, she has created The Mamaverse. The Mamaverse is a podcast, vodcast, a blog, and a health and wellness app for moms. The Mamaverse is a community to support moms.

Tu-Hien's mission is to make mamas feel valued and appreciated through a fun online community experience that fosters compassion and collaboration.

I am happy to say that I am a guest on The Mamaverse Podcast. Listen to episode 3 about how to heal chronic health conditions.

Nesting

Nesting is a phase of pregnancy when mothers have a great urge to prepare for the baby’s arrival, creating a safe, clean home environment for their newborns. Some women start nesting as early as when they are five months pregnant: getting the nursery ready and ordering baby clothes and items to take care of their child. But most women, experience it in the third trimester closer to their due date. However, many women experience it right before labor which could be a sign that labor is approaching soon.

For Dawn, from the U.K., she began preparing her nursery the week before giving birth. She created a full mural on all four walls. She added cartoon drawings such as Tom and Jerry. She painted a night sky with different variations of blues and day-glow stars on the ceiling. She even illustrated a tree in the corner, the tree of knowledge. Yes, that last week Dawn added books, a rocking chair, a changing table, a wooden chest with her son’s name on it and yes, she was the one doing all the painting. She painted an English landscape, a Palestinian landscape, pyramids, Aladdin, ponds, oceans, and lakes; her imagination was on fire with techno music playing in the background to keep her in the zone.

Advice from Mothers About Postpartum Illnesses

HI Everyone! It is the end of National Maternal Depression Awareness Month. On a previous blog, I shared a little of Carey’s story with her struggles with postpartum psychosis. Today I would like to continue the discussion of maternal depression awareness.

One recent study found that 1 in 5 women may suffer from maternal mental health disorders and 1 in 7 women may experience Postpartum Depression (PPD) in the year after giving birth. With approximately 4 million live births occurring each year in the United States, this equates to almost 600,000 postpartum depression diagnoses. Sadly, it is believed that postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety are much more common than these statistics reveal. Some medical experts believe that the rate of postpartum depression could be at least twice as much than what is actually reported and diagnosed. It is believed that while there are many diagnosed cases of postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety, only a limited number of women actually receive treatment, often because many women do not know they have postpartum depression/anxiety since they are simply adjusting to being a new mom.

Pioneer Women in Childbirth

Maria De Los Ángeles Chero and Ariela Waltzer pictured above are the first doulas of Peru. Dr. Angela Brocker is a doctor and a midwife in Peru who learned about doulas from living in Germany (where she is from originally) and decided to bring this tradition to Peru. In Lima, Peru, of all births in the private sector, the c-section rate is 85-90%, which is much higher than the national average of 35 to 40%. As a doctor in Peru, Dr. Angela Brocker witnessed a lot of obstetric violence and was even encouraged during her training to do practices against women that she did not agree with. In 2005, Dr. Brocker created a doula training program in Lima; Maria and Ariela were some of the first ladies to learn this tradition from Dr. Brocker at her birthing center, Pakarii. Both ladies continue to be doulas today and love it.

Ariela admits that in Peru doulas are not popular (compared to other countries) and that many women still do not know what a doula is, however, over the past fifteen years, more and more women are becoming aware of obstetric violence. She is happy to be one of the pioneers to support women.

Happy Mother's Day! Treat yourself like royalty!

Happy Mother’s Day, moms! Mother’s Day is celebrated in most countries around the world today. Treat yourself like a queen today!

Treat yourself to:

a bubble bath,

a walk in the sunshine,

or a day where you don’t have to do anything.

Put your feet up.

Watch a movie.

Allow your partner to make meals for you.

Take a nap!

Let yourself be pampered.

Do whatever makes you happy!

Self-care and rejuvenation is so important.

In this blog, I will be introducing the courageous women that I interviewed for my two book series on holistic childbirth around the world. Mothers from Canada, the United Kingdom (Ireland, Scotland, and England), the United States, France, Spain, Austria, Australia, Germany, Peru, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Israel, the Netherlands, India, Japan, and Uganda were interviewed.

Reducing The Stigma of Maternal Mental Illnesses

Today is World Maternal Mental Health Day and it is National Maternal Depression Awareness Month in the United States. World Maternal Health Day is a day once a year that raises global awareness of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and reduces the stigma of maternal mental illnesses. One in five new mothers may experience some type of perinatal mood and anxiety disorder (PMAD) such as postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety or postpartum psychosis. Unfortunately, many of these illnesses go untreated due to a lack of diagnosis, sometimes causing tragic repercussions for both mother and child. Luckily, postpartum depression/anxiety has become a more mainstream topic, but still many new mothers are not aware they experienced it, until it has passed. Postpartum depression is an all-encompassing illness and so is being a new mother.

Carey Kirkella, from New York City, had a history of bipolar disorder and was concerned that her symptoms could escalate after labor to postpartum psychosis.

Cancer and Pregnancy - Mothers Who Are Thriving Despite Having Cancer As Young Adults

Hi Ladies!

It is AYA (Adolescents and Young Adults) Cancer Awareness Week! This week brings awareness to those who currently have or who have had cancer between the ages of 15 to 39. Many people are shocked when they are diagnosed with cancer at a young age. Cancer is something many believe can happen as they grow older, not when they are still growing and developing. Women who are diagnosed young, not only fight for their lives, but they must make difficult decisions before they are thinking about having a child which may affect fertility later.

Some of the issues that AYAs face are isolation, debt, fear of death, problems with relationships, sexuality, infertility, and they often don’t receive the emotional support they need.

A friend of mine named Julia is a mother today, but when she was a young adult she developed leukemia and had to have treatment. Great news is that she beat leukemia and became a mother last year! Throughout her pregnancy journey, she felt great physically and emotionally. And in September, she had a beautiful, healthy baby girl. I was so happy for her!

Lauren is another woman who had cancer young and beat it. Lauren was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She beat it twice! But when she was 24 years old, she was told by her oncologist, when she had her relapse, that her treatment could prohibit for from having children.

World Health Day - Affordable Health For All

Hi Everyone!

Happy World Health Day! Right now, we are still going through the pandemic of the Coronavirus, but it is also World Health Day, one day a year to raise awareness/to highlight a concern of the World Health Organization (WHO). Every year World Health Day is celebrated on April 7 and this year’s theme is giving people access to healthcare without the prospect of financial hardship. The WHO asserts, following numerous studies, that “countries which invest in universal healthcare will make a sound investment in their human capital; indeed, access to a very bottom line of care and financial protection will not only truly improve someone’s health and life expectancy, but also protects countries from epidemics, reduces poverty and the risk of hunger, creates jobs, drives economic growth and enhances gender equality.” This is a very important topic and ties in with my research about childbirth around the world.

When researching for my book, I learned about birth tourism. It is a common practice for pregnant mothers to travel to foreign countries to give birth to lower the costs associated with childbirth. Sometimes it is also for citizenship, but mostly, it is to reduce healthcare costs. This tradition is especially common for pregnant women from Asia. Expectant mothers move to Canada at seven or eight months, so that they will give birth in Canada and not have to pay medical fees. After the birth, they fly back home.

How To Balance Yourself (During The Coronavirus)

Hi Ladies!

These are difficult times with the Coronavirus, but there are always steps we can do to empower ourselves and bring us back to balance.

One way to raise our vibes, clear our minds, release stress, and fear is to meditate.

Meditation can be easy. It can be as simple as breathing deeply. Inhaling and exhaling longer for several minutes. Or if can be listening to music, putting on headphones and simply listening to music that makes you feel relaxed. (If you can close your eyes and focus on your third eye chakra (in the center of your forehead) while you sit cross legged, breathe deeply, and listen to music, even better!)

Meditation can be as simple as watching water boil in a pan, to be fully focused on the bubbles coming to the surface, and not to be multi-tasking. Meditation does not have to long; It can be for 2 to 5 minutes or it can be for 15 to 20 minutes, if you have more time.

We should always meditate when we feel out of balance. Many people have the misconception that one has to completely clear one’s mind for it to be useful or that it requires a lot of time, but as I mentioned it can be as simply as breathing deeper, listening to music with your eyes closed, or focusing on an object and not thinking about anything else but that one object.

Let's Create An Open Discussion on Childbirth

Hi Ladies!

Let’s have an open conversation on childbirth!

As I mentioned in my first blog post, this blog is intended to be a conversation about childbirth around the world. I will provide some research, advice and tips from the mothers and experts who I interviewed for my book about childbirth around the world, but most importantly, this blog is for you to engage with one another. I hope that new mothers will come here with their questions on preparing for childbirth and pregnancy and how to make the postpartum period smoother. I hope women around the world will share their experiences and tips too. With so many countries around the world, I am sure there will be differences and that will be a great way for us to learn from each other.

Empowering Women To Support Each Other

Welcome to my new blog! This is my third health blog and my first blog about childbirth around the world! This blog is based on the new book I am currently writing about childbirth around the world, Shock and Awe: Unifying Women Around The World Through Childbirth.

In June 2019, I was inspired to start writing my first book after talking with a friend. My book is about childbirth around the world from a holistic perspective. I started doing research and I was fascinated with what I discovered. But quickly, it became apparent that a book about childbirth around the world would be more interesting told from the perspectives of mothers instead of piecing research together. I set out on a quest to interview 50 women around the world and hear their heart-felt stories. My passion and enthusiasm grew and I decided to interview experts in the childbirth industry too, and I didn’t stop at 50 interviews but over 60, representing about 15 countries around the globe, spanning the last seventy-five years, from all ages and points of view from home births, birthing centers, and hospital births, to natural and medicated births, short and long births, and women of all backgrounds.