The Birth Lounge Podcast

Krystle Howald DPT educates and empowers women to take hold of their physical health. She specializes in orthopedic and women's health- treating patients in her clinic Empower Movement Physical Therapy in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. She also owns Expecting and Empowered- a prenatal and postpartum business aimed at helping women navigate both periods with safe and effective workouts. E + E also disseminates as much free information as possible to help every single woman understand the pregnancy and postpartum process better. 

Krystle is the co-founder of Expecting and Empowered. After going through our first pregnancies (our first kiddos are 6 months apart) we realized that women were being told, "Just listen to your body and do whatever you were doing before pregnancy." This type of message wasn't going to cut it, and women deserve better.

Our DREAM was to use our professional expertise to help women thrive from their pregnancy journey through postpartum. We created a roadmap for each period - one that accounts for all the changes and modifications that need to come with each phase of motherhood. We know that mamas are short on time, so our guides are made with that in mind to help you exercise efficiently to feel your best!

We are mamas who are passionate about giving ALL women the knowledge and tools to empower them to feel confident in keeping their baby safe during pregnancy and to heal properly during recovery from a c-section or vaginal birth.

Your Website:: Www.expectingandempowered.com

Mandy Major is on a mission to change how America handles the fourth trimester. After learning first-hand how little we support and inform new parents during postpartum, she left her 10+ year career in digital media to dedicate herself to birth work and closing the gap in postpartum care. Today, she’s a certified postpartum doula PCD(DONA), founder of virtual postpartum care company Major Care, and creator of the My Fourth app, the first daily tracker devoted to postpartum parents. She has been a spokesperson for Philips Avent and currently serves as the postpartum expert for BabyCenter’s medical advisory board. She holds a M.A. from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and has written as a perinatal expert for HuffPost, Healthline, Motherly and more.

Socials

Instagram @DoulaMandy and @MajorCareDoulas

Links

• My Fourth: https://www.majorcaredoulas.com/my-fourth 
• MomStrong culture article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/postpartum-support-mothers-united-states_n_60f42d83e4b01ba8eed7084b
• Code for your community: LOUNGE30

Download app with link above, head to Subscribe and enter the code for 1 free month of our doula texting plan/premium subscription.

Kaytee Crawford supports families in pregnancy, birth, and postpartum as a childbirth educator, birth and postpartum doula, and babywearing educator. She uses her training, combined with a wealth of experience parenting four boys, to create personalized care as well as fun, insightful social media content.

Kaytee is passionate about sharing her experiences in pregnancy and as a Black woman and a person living in a larger body in order to create safer, trauma-free experiences for others.

Kaytee lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with her husband and four sons. She owns and operates Doula Kaytee, her birthwork business, as well as Ahava Creative Co, where she creates art and graphic design.

Follow along with Kaytee:

Www.DoulaKaytee.com

Special offer: $5 off a babywearing consult. Sign up on Kaytee's website and put “podcast” in the notes during checkout!

HeHe sits down with Dr. Nidhi Kotak, pediatric dentist to discuss taking your baby in the dentist for the first time. We break down when, where to find a dentist, how to talk to your child about the dentist to get them prepared, etc.  Dr. Nidhi Kotak discusses when to start brushing, how we should be using toothpaste, types of brushing, teething, and so much more!

Follow Along with Dr. Nidhi Kotak: @babytoothdentist

HeHe sits down to chat with Tatiana Koontz- Licensed Midwife, Certified Professional Midwife, monitrice (advanced birth doula), postpartum doula, placenta encapsulator, and childbirth educator. Tatiana owns a home birth practice in San Diego, CA.

Tatiana and HeHe have PLENTY in common as birth workers, but today they are connecting on their shared experiences as birth workers without children or personal birth experience. 

Tatiana has devoted her life to birth and postpartum work since she trained as a doula in 2006 and has been privileged to walk with hundreds of families on parts of their special journeys. She has a deep love for postpartum support, helping families transition as they integrate their babies and overcome challenges. Tatiana has a passion for birth options, informed consent, improving connections within families, and aiding them in building their community both before and after birth. 

Tatiana is a dog lover that is fluent in Spanish after living in South America for several years. She loves to travel whenever possible, watch movies outdoors, and enjoy the sunshine.

Follow along with Tatiana: https://www.birthwavesmidwifery.com/

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Amanda Janzen is a registered nurse and international board-certified lactation consultant. With 8 years of L&D, postpartum, and special care nursery experience she has worked in a hospital setting, free-standing birth center, and now in private practice as a birth/postpartum doula and lactation consultant. As a mom of two, she knows the realities of postpartum and honors every parents "intuitive knowing" when something "feels off." She strives to bring all options to the table so parents can feel confident in their choices even if they go against the grain.

Amanda landed a job as a new graduate in labor and delivery and began to recognize patterns that led to the rarest/scariest birth complications. She questioned the "norm" early in her career and now realizes these experiences have shaped her into the practitioner she is today.

These same questions carried over into her postpartum nurse role when educating parents about the "ABCs" of sleep at hospital discharge. She was secretly bed-sharing (safely) with her own baby at home, yet telling parents this was not an option for them with a hospital "gag order" in place.

She refuses to teach abstinence only education when parents want more information on bed-sharing and believes lives can be saved when we intentionally teach parents how to make this a safer practice.

Follow along with Amanda: www.midwestmommacollective.com

Generously, Amanda has offered $25 off a virtual safe sleep consult. These consults look at each families unique medical histories, feeding practice, sleep situations, and home/bedroom setups to help determine if bed-sharing is right for you. Mention you heard the podcast on The Birth Lounge!

Join in today as HeHe sits down to discuss homebirth with Anne Margolis, CNM, LM, MSN, BSN, RN.

Anne Margolis is a Licensed Certified Nurse Midwife, Licensed Femme! Teacher, Certified Clarity Breathwork Practitioner, Yoga Teacher and practitioner. She is a 3rd generation guide to mommas birthing babies in her family. Anne has helped thousands of families in her 25+ year midwifery practice and has personally ushered the births of over 1000 healthy babies into the world. She has also guided countless human beings to heal from emotional pain, inner stress and trauma, tap into their strength and power, live fully and vibrantly, and reclaim their radiance, joyfulness, calm and overall sense of well-being.

Through her online childbirth course 'Love Your Birth', her online and in-person midwifery for pregnancy and postpartum support coaching, her birth professional mentoring, holistic gynecology, Clarity Breathwork, Yoga and Femme! experience offerings she infuses wisdom, compassion, inspiration, and joy into the entire process of women’s health care from teenaged years to menopause, as well as facilitating incredible healing and wellness for both men and women of all ages.

Anne is a two times number one national and international best selling author of 'Natural Birth Secrets: An Insiders Guide How To Give Birth Holistically, Healthfully and Safely, and Love the Experience', and also 'Trauma Release Formula: The Revolutionary Step by Step Program for Eliminating Effects of Childhood Abuse, Trauma, Emotional Pain and Crippling Inner Stress, to Living in Joy without Drugs or Therapy' both out in second edition. Anne’s work, insights and advice have been seen on TV shows and movies including 4 episodes of 'A Baby Story' on TLC Discovery Channel, and the award winning feature documentary, 'Orgasmic Birth' and 'The Human Longevity Project.' She has been interviewed for multiple local, national and international radio programs, shows and podcasts. Anne has also been a featured speaker and expert panelist at distinguished events for Weil-Cornell School of Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, RCC State University of New York School of Nursing, and Birthnet Association of Childbirth Professionals and Hudson Valley Birth Network to name a few. Anne's Clarity Breathwork and Femme! healing movement workshops have been hosted at numerous private events, as well as several yoga studios and wellness centers, including the conscious, high vibration and transformational community at The Assemblage in NYC. Anne is a proud founding member of The Health and Wellness Business Association, which was created to promote initiatives that support better collaboration, interaction and ethical business practices within the health and wellness business community.

She has midwifed mommas and babies for over two decades, and guides individuals to birth themselves as healthy and whole human beings capable of immense joy and inner peace. Her clients describe her as “passionate, sensitive, big hearted, and a playful ball of light.” When she’s not helping mommas around the world you can find her doing yoga (anywhere and everywhere), dancing, riding her bike, paddle boarding, swimming, taking or facilitating powerful growth and healing workshops, enjoying family time and watching comedy and historical drama.

Follow Along with Anne:

https://homesweethomebirth.com

Today HeHe sits down with Kayla Bitten to discuss Diversity in Lactation Support.  Kayla Bitten is a black, queer medical racism and equity activist, educator, and writer with over ten years in the world of birth work and her work in rooted in tradition, advocacy, and her Southern culture. She is a student midwife in Alabama and working to provide equitable support and options for BIPOC families and educate fellow birth workers on the importance of skills and cultural humility through her business The Southern Midwife. She is also the owner of Alabama’s first black-owned lactation clinic, The Postpartum Clinic, providing accessible lactation and postpartum care that goes beyond the American standard and prioritizes the uninsured and BIPOC postpartum families.

Follow along with Kayla here: www.thesouthernmidwife.work

Rixa Freeze, PhD studied at the U of Iowa and is a researcher, professor, and mother of 4 children. Her current research specialization is vaginal breech birth. She is president of Breech Without Borders, a 501(c)3 nonprofit.

She blogs at Stand and Deliver (rixarixa.blogspot.com) and is passionate about all things birth- and breastfeeding-related. 

Content Warning: We discuss statistics of infant and maternal mortality.