Podcasts about when katherine

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 109, Rekindle Relationships by Remembering. Because of the global pandemic, it had been about 15 months since my wife Janet and I last saw our friend in person. I'll call her “Katherine,” a name I'm making up because she is a very private person and dislikes any attention drawn to her. She'll probably cringe when she hears this episode. But as we near the tail-end of Covid-19's grip on us all, Katherine did something so beautiful that I need to share it with all of you. It was such a kind and thoughtful gesture that rekindled her relationship with my wife Janet. It was something we can all do with our own relationships. Keep listening to pick up a great idea or two to stimulate your thinking of how you can come out from our global relational hibernation. My story starts with a phone call from Katherine. She asked if anyone was going to be home because she wanted to drop something off for Janet. When Katherine arrived Janet hadn't gotten home yet, so she gave me a card to give her and a medium-size house plant. What followed was a simple, natural, heartfelt expression of the ORA principle of deepening one's relationships we've been talking about in recent episodes: Observe - Remember - Ask. If you're new to the podcast I'll have links in the show notes to an episode or two explaining this concept. For today though, I'm going to change the A in ORA to something else, which I'll explain in a minute. Observe The Observe component of ORA started off with Katherine saying, “I've been thinking about Janet and how her mom died over a year ago, but because of Covid the memorial service she wanted to have for her never happened.” At this point Katherine started to get a little choked up, but continued, “I've been thinking how hard that must have been Janet, and how hard it must be now a year later because I know she had such a close relationship with mother. So I want her to have this plant; it's just like the one I have. It's easy to maintain, and when she looks at it, I hope it reminds her of her Mom.” So what does this have to do with Observe? Katherine observed something within herself in thinking how life must be for Janet, a year past her mother's death, unable to have honored her mom with a normal memorial service because of Covid. She put herself in Janet's shoes and imagined how she must feel. It's a great way to rekindle relationships with someone you have not seen in a while. I saw Katherine's empathy for Janet as she choked up in explaining about the plant. Katherine was feeling what she imagined Janet was feeling. It was really quite touching for me to see this in Katherine. Like Janet's mom, Katherine's mother also suffers from Alzheimer's Disease. I wonder if this shared experience enabled Katherine to more closely identify with Janet. Remember So what about the Remember component of ORA? Where does that come in here? I hope that's obvious, Katherine remembered a year ago when Janet's mother died and couldn't grieve in the normal way we grieve when a loved one dies. It was more difficult to remember, because there was no personal face-to-face contact over the past 15 months. A Zoom conversation and maybe a phone call took place, but Katherine's work kept her extremely busy, away from interpersonal contact with friends. Observing what was going on inside her emotionally, and remembering what Janet must be going through, prompted Katherine to move to the next stage of ORA. I wonder what difficult things your friends have gone through that would be helpful for you to remember and then respond as Katherine did. Act In the past, I've said the A in ORA stood for Ask. Ask questions, Inquire. Don't assume. Find out stuff first hand. Get people to define their terms. But this encounter with Katherine leads me to change the A from Ask to Act. Because that was what Katherine did. She acted. Now, I don't want to disregard “Ask” altogether. Asking is one form of acting. I'm sure we'll come back to this from time to time. In this situation, Katherine acted by bringing Janet a plant she thought she would like because it was a plant Katherine herself liked. And because she thought it would remind Janet of her mom, and that one of her friends cared and understood the loss she was experienced. In addition to the plant, Katherine also dropped off a card for Janet. It's a simple, but meaningful thing to do when you want to rekindle relationships. By the time Janet got home, Katherine had left. She was quite taken by the plant and told me she had been looking for a plant just that size. Then she opened the card from Katherine. The Greeting Card Now I need to tell you Janet is one of those people who really pays attention to greeting cards, and spends time searching for just the right one that captures whatever thought or emotion she wants to express. Katherine's card was just perfect. It would have been the kind of card Janet would have picked out herself for someone. The cover of the card shows a straw hat placed on the seat of an empty chair. It's placed outside among a group of black-eyed Susans and other wildflowers. At the bottom of the cover is simply the word, “She” followed by the tilde punctuation mark, ~. When you open the card, at the top, you see the imprint, “was quite a lady.” That's it. The whole card simply stated, She was quite a lady. Katherine then wrote in her own beautiful handwriting, "Janet, I've been thinking a lot lately about how you miss your mom every day, and that it must be especially hard on days like Mother's Day. From the stories you and John have told, I know that you inherited a lot of her qualities - you too are kind, a good cook, a servant, Keeper of a warm and inviting home, and always there for your kids and grandkids. Even though you miss her more than I can imagine, a part of her lives on in you, and you are passing on her legacy to your children and grandchildren as you love and care for them. Because you - like your mother - are also quite a lady. With much love, Katherine" After reading the card, Janet was quite moved by it and called Katherine to thank her for it and the plant. So what does all this mean for YOU? How can you use what you've heard today to rekindle relationships in YOUR life? Here are a few ideas: I bet if you were to think about it, you could come up with the name of a friend or two who's been in relational hibernation because of the pandemic. And I suspect in thinking about such a friend, you can probably recall a significant life event they've experienced recently. Maybe the anniversary of the death of a loved one, liked Katherine remembered. Or maybe the joy of a graduation or a birth. Or maybe a happy or sad experience your friend is going through now. After your effort to remember, ask God to show you what action he'd like you to take to acknowledge what your friend might be experiencing. Some action that lets your friend know you care. Just ask God. He'll tell you what to do. If you forget everything else, here's the one thing I hope you remember from today's episode. Coming out of the Covid pandemic is a great opportunity to rekindle relationships by blessing someone with a God-inspired action you can take. I'd love to hear any thoughts you have about today's episode about rekindling relationships by remembering. Just send them to me in an email to john@caringforothers.org. You can also share your thoughts in the “Leave a Reply” box at the bottom of the show notes. Closing In closing, if you found the podcast helpful, please subscribe if you haven't already done so. I hope your thinking was stimulated by today's show, to both reflect and to act. So that you will find the joy God intends for you through your relationships. Because after all, You Were Made for This. If you're new to the podcast, you might want to check out some of the prior episodes that talk about the ORA principle for deepening our relationships. I list four of them with their links in the show notes. Episodes 89 and 90, as well as episodes 93 and 96. Well, that's all for today. I look forward to connecting with you again next week. Goodbye for now. Related episodes you may want to listen to 096: Meaningful Questions Create Meaningful Relationships 093: Remembering Deepens Our Relationships 090: Encourage ourself by observing others 089: How to be a better observer of people  You Were Made for This is sponsored by Caring for Others, a missionary care ministry. We depend upon the generosity of donors to pay our bills.  If you'd like to support what we do with a secure tax-deductible donation, please click here. We'd be so grateful if you did.

*Support us on Patreon* https://www.patreon.com/enterthedark​ Katherine Knight lived in Australia and had spent all her life working in Abattoirs around New South Wales. She had many partners, but was known to be abusive and had been committed several times for threatening people with her boning knives. The name Katherine Knight had become known as a woman to stay away from, but that didn't stop John Price. When Katherine met John Price she exhibited the same pattern of behaviour until one night she took the next step. Police found the body of John Price beheaded and skinned, with his pelt hanging perfectly from a hook.

Welcome back to the next episode of Past Loves - the weekly history podcast that explores affection, infatuation and attachment across time - and this time it's the first ever Tudor love story!That's right, this week I am joined by Melita Thomas, author and co-founder/editor of Tudor Times, to discuss the love story between Lady Katherine Grey and Edward Seymour. After the death of her sister Lady Jane Grey, Katherine became the next Grey in line to the throne. So when her secret marriage to Edward Seymour was disclosed, it called down Queen Elizabeth's wrath.The couple had enjoyed a fragrant summer of banquets and garden walks at Eltham in 1559, before marrying the following year with Edward's sister Jane and a priest as witnesses. When Katherine realised that she was pregnant, it was time to tell the Queen. Predictably, the admission was to have disastrous consequences for the couple. This is, therefore, a story quite unlike any other, weaving together Tudor court politics, familial ties and romantic pursuits. With this, I think that it is safe to say that Katherine and Edward's relationship may just be the most romantic and heart-breaking Tudor tale there is. The story of their love for each other deserves to be told.With a special thanks to Llinos @thiscatladylife, to whom this episode is dedicated, for suggesting their story.Where To Find UsDiscover the joys of Tudor Times here: https://tudortimes.co.uk/Shop Tudor Times Insights - Lady Katherine Grey, Tudor Prisoner: https://shop.tudortimes.co.uk/collections/books/products/lady-katherine-grey-tudor-prisonerFollow Tudor Times on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheTudorTimesDiscover Melita's other book The House of Grey: Friends & Foes of Kings: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-house-of-grey/melita-thomas/9781445684970Join the Past Loves newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/d293dd27393a/past-loves-newsletterFollow Past Loves on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pastlovespodcast/ If Past Loves has become your current love, you can email me at pastlovespodcast@gmail.com

Katherine, LMFT, provides counseling to women, teens, and couples in Pleasant Hill, CA. She shared with us her experience as a single parent and newly licensed therapist stepping out into private practice, and all of the struggles in between.When Katherine found Bootcamp, she dove right in and got clear on the processes her business needed to thrive, and the clients she wanted to serve. Three months after joining Bootcamp, Katherine doubled her caseload and quadrupled her profits!

4:16 Katherine sees herself as a Stradivarius violin.5:00 Mr. Delicious is judging Katherine's love of roses and diamonds which is an issue because it is the true essence of Katherine.6:00 Katherine is seeking her maestro.7:15 Katherine's love of flowers and diamonds was not accepted by her family either.8:40 When Katherine doesn't feel honored she doesn't feel loved.9:35 Katherine requires things that Mr. Delicious doesn't believe in.10:00 Can he love her anyways?10:50 Katherine doesn't want to feel shame in wanting them.11:14 If Mr. Delicious judges Katherine, her body can't open13:44 The part of Katherine that makes her, HER, wasn't being accepted by Mr. Delicious14:15 Mr. Delicious had begun the process of Endurance.15:30 Katherine isn't ok with just being accepted for who she is. She wants to be honored.16:00 The Devil is in the details. Mr. Delicious fell in love with Katherine's light and beauty but has now begun to find fault in the aspects of her that actually give her the light essence.16:35 Krista discusses how she fell in love with Mr. Right Here Right Now because of his free spirit and youthful energy. But now how she is finding “fault” in some of his childlike traits that actually make him, HIM.17:14 Mr. Right Here Right values Krista's grounded-ness but this grounded-ness can also come off as stiff. The complete opposite of him.18:00 If Mr. Right Here Right now curtails his freedom, it will be deadly to the relationship.19:15 Mr. Right Here Right Now's choice to live freely has nothing to do with Krista. It doesn't mean he doesn't care for her. It is him honoring himself and his needs.19:42 By him maintaining his needs, he creates more respect from Krista22:48 Can we honor the other person without sacrificing ourselves25:00 The art of being present.26:00 Krista found herself picking at Mr. Right Here Right Now's personality. He called her out and asked if that was really what she was upset about.26:50 Krista questions investing her time in this relationship27:15 Krista realizes she wasn't feeling “chosen” by him.27:40 Krista didn't feel safe and secure so the conversation with him was scary28:00 Krista was trying to be the “cool” girlfriend instead of telling her true feelings.29:15 We don't know the future so how do we know what to commit to?29:50 Katherine's two commitments are number one to herself, and number two, to loving Mr. Delicious30:27 What does “til death do us part” mean?32:00 Mr. Right Here was afraid of hurting Krista and being turned into the bad guy for being exactly who he is.33:00 Krista commits fully to loving Mr. Right Here Right Now until one of them needs to make another choice. If things change, the commitment is to not make him the bad guy and continue loving him. Not staying with him. But not hating him.36:10 Love is being created from power, not victimhood.38:40 Krista reflects on being present with the loving and reminding herself she is happy NOW. Does she have to give up that happiness just because their relationship changes?40:00 Katherine remembers a revelation that Krista's ex-husband had that showed his commitment to Endurance41:20 His endurance created Krista's endurance.42:35 Do you feel safe to speak your needs to your partner?Subscribe to our podcast at www.twogalssoulschool.comFollow us on IG at @twogalssoulschoolSpread the love.

She's back. I hope you all are happy. It does something to my psyche and my confidence level when I hear "could you have her on more often" or " tell Katherine to get her own podcast" after having Katherine Diggs on the show. Now that's hurtful, America. But I get why you want her on here. Katherine was a guest on season 1, season 2, and now she's here for season 3. If you enjoy the show today, go back and listen to Katherine on season 1 and season 2 . Those are really great episodes. Katherine is a nurse practitioner who worked for many years at a very good OBGYN practice here in town. She left this practice to go work at the health clinic. A month later, she said it was one of the most fulfilling things ever. She's working with people and especially teenagers on the issues that are the most near and dear to her heart. Her work is about sex and our bodies. She hears stories in the clinic that are horrifying and heartbreaking. She is kind, knowledgeable, and sensitive. She speaks in a way that we get.  The thing I like about her the most is that she really loves our kids. She just loves young people. She wants them to live safe, long, and healthy lives. She wants them to make smart decisions and feel valued. She wants them to know their worth in ways where they don't have to demonstrate it with their body. I have Katherine on every season because I trust Katherine. She's someone who you can believe in. This episode isn't for little ears, but it will be helpful for teens.  Show Notes: [03:39] On social media, Katherine is referred to as Nurse Katherine. [04:13] We have listener questions for Katherine to answer. [04:31] It's fine to use proper anatomical names for body parts. If you have special family terms it's fine to use those too, but it's good for kids to know the proper names of their body parts.  [07:51] Start the precedent early on to talk about all things. [08:10] A question about establishing a more open relationship with kids and teens when it comes to talking about sex.  [08:50] Communication is everything. Rules without relationship equals rebellion.  [09:12] Open communication has got to start at ground zero.  [10:11] It's good to establish communication early and be comfortable and natural when it comes to talking about sex. [11:34] There seems to be pressure on boys when it comes to sexual practices.  [11:59] People are wearing condoms less these days.  [12:23] It's when we shame kids or make them think we are disappointed that they shut down. We should keep trying to talk to them in a positive way.  [13:10] Each child has a different key that opens up communication.  [13:42] An eighth grade teacher calls in about wanting sex education taught in their school. [14:04] This is an issue in schools and parents are divided on it.  [14:47] Don't bury your head in the sand. Talk about everything.  [15:16] Katherine goes into schools and talks to kids. She's a nurse practitioner and a parent. She now works in public health. [16:09] Sex education has become so political that many states don't have programs. Many existing programs are dated and not realistic. The abstinence based education isn't always helpful for kids who need practical information about what they are already doing.  [20:48] When Katherine talks at high schools, there's always a group who stays behind and has questions. She said young women come up to her and say they think they might be pregnant, and they're scared, and they can't talk to their mothers. [23:18] Is abstinence a pipe dream? No dream for your child is a pipe dream. You also have to be with your kid and talk through whatever is going on. [24:11] You can't talk too much to your child. Find out what the issues are and talk to them. Reinforce safety when you need to. [26:07] People are wearing less condoms these days. We still need to talk about safe sex. There is a stigma around getting condoms.  [29:09] Is a child's new preoccupation with sex normal? If there was abuse, it needs to be addressed immediately.  [30:30] If your kid has a sudden change of behavior, look at their browser history and see what they've been looking at. [31:53] If your kid is acting out, they could be watching porn. Watching porn can become their normal expectation of sex. Find out and get help from counselors etc.  [33:33] Porn today is really graphic and humiliating.  [34:19] Find out where your child feels more comfortable and talk to them.  [35:18] Be aware of the incognito button on the browser. Kids can also get exposure from other kids and devices.  [36:32] You know something is going on. You need to get to the bottom of it. Do the hard work for them.  [37:23] HIV is still an issue. There are HIV positive teenagers who didn't know their status. Regular kids are becoming HIV positive. Get them tested, because there is treatment for it.  [39:26] We want our kids to have long and full lives.  Thanks for joining us on Ordinary People Ordinary Things. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review. Just like your mother taught you. Links and Resources: Podcast Web Page Facebook Page Rise & Radke @MsMelissaRadke on Instagram @msmelissaradke on Twitter Sign Up for Insider Access How to Talk to Your Kids About Sex Without Crying Body Talk II… Stream(H)er Protect Young Minds Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today's Young Kids

Things get a little tense today as the Gals take on an uncomfortable subject! Divorce, Separation and completion of the Marriage ~ and is completion a gateway for what you need to do next? ~ the gals weigh in on the part these phases play in dating and the readiness for partnership. See if these things are true for you too.In episode 28, Krista attempts to get clarity on whether she is looking for a long term relationship or just sex and games. Katherine proceeds to call Krista out in a big way bringing up some uncomfortable tension that is palpable through the airways. Does it bring up the same discomfort for our listeners too? Facing the truth can jar us out of our stuck-ness, but doesn't always feel good upon discovery.When Katherine magnificently facilitates Krista into some challenging territory Krista gets angry! Tune in to hear what Katherine touched on that might be a source to Krista's dating debacles and see if this phenomenon is true for you as well.What is getting in the way of Krista's dating life? Listen and find out what two opposing desires are battling inside of her, keeping her in a world of dating confusion. What is she afraid she won't be able to do and where does she discover her fear comes from? What assumptions did Krista make about herself since her marriage didn't work out and are they true?Spread the love.

When Katherine and Krista interview Sharon Pope all sorts of things come to light!Sharon is a certified Master Life Coach and Seven-Time #1 International Best-Selling Author on love and relationships. She has been featured in many publications including the New York Times, and is most recently the author of Stay or Go: How to Find Confidence and Clarity, So You Can Fix Your Marriage, or Move Forward Without Regret!Sharon has developed somewhat of a specialty as a non-judgmental coach who can hear her client's stories of betrayal and cheating. Are they the same thing? What is really beneath the decision to “step out?” Listen as the gals relate their own experiences and those of others they know while Sharon sorts through lots of juicy questions and has some brilliant nuggets to give to all Holy Fuck listeners! Discover the role of intuition on the “cheating journey.”Krista has some good pearls of wisdom that has Sharon taking notes as the conversation steers towards empowerment and speaking up for our needs.The Gals conversation leads to questions of: What is an affair anyway? Does “just the tip” count? Is an affair the kiss of death? What is the juicy secret that is necessary for reconciliation?With close to 50% of women and 60% of men admitting to what they call cheating, The Gals are thinking that many our audience will have some of these questions too!www.sharonpope.com

When Katherine's boss reprimands her for taking long breaks, she tells him the reason "there's no bathrooms for me here" and makes him aware that the nearest colored bathroom at NASA is half a mile away from their office. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/raediantlyspeaking/message

Today’s show is about overcoming fear on your way to chasing your dreams. We encounter moments of crossroads in life, where we are faced with decisions that determine our future. My guest had the guts to leave her chosen career behind--all to preserve her mental health. We are raising money for Mental Health America, so see the link below to donate and help us reach our goal! Katherine Knapke, RN, BSN, is the Communications and Operations Manager at the American Negotiation Institute, where she uses her experience as a psychiatric nurse trained in Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI) and a mediator to address the psychological, emotional, and societal concerns that impact women in the workplace. In October, Katherine is launching the American Negotiation Institute’s newest podcast, Ask With Confidence, designed to empower women and help them gain the confidence they need when engaging in difficult conversations. How Katherine arrived at her present work Do you enjoy doing things that scare you? Katherine says she is grateful for the new things she does every day because they scare her. She makes her own schedule and works with many different people as they talk through their shared experiences. When Katherine decided to give this new field a try, she started learning applicable skills and making new connections. Even though she began as an Administrative Assistant, she moved her way up because of her work ethic and sacrifice. TWEET: Take inspiration from others, not imitation. #chasingdreams Considering mental health consequences Do you think about the mental health consequences of the choices you make? Katherine knows that many people sacrifice their mental health to stay in a job they know isn’t right for them. She did the opposite by jumping into something new and untried--all in an effort to salvage her mental health! Katherine knew that she couldn’t continue in the nursing field that was leaving her unsatisfied and unfulfilled. Even though trying something new was a big risk, Katherine knew it was a step she had to take. TWEET: What is the point of having a job and earning money if you’re too stressed about it to enjoy your life? #chasingdreams Cultivating small acts of self-care When was the last time you focused on self-care? Hopefully, it was earlier today! Most people mistakenly think that self-care has to be extreme, like that once-a-year vacation. We need to realize that small things like daily journaling and hobbies are forms of self-care. Cleaning and decluttering your environment can be self-care because you feel better, and your outlook improves. Even the simple act of showering can be a refreshing way to reset your mindset! Katherine explains why we need to learn to carve out small amounts of time that bring us moments of joy every day. TWEET: We have to try and experience new things on the way to chasing our dreams. #chasingdreams Guest Recommendation: ONE action for a dream chaser to take--”Just start, no matter where you are. Make sure you can say no and set boundaries, so people don’t take advantage of you.” OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE: [2:49] Why mental health should be openly discussed in families [5:30] What young Katherine wanted to do [6:58] Feeling unfulfilled with nursing [8:37] Katherine’s work today [13:30] Trying out new things [15:37] The mental health consequences of choices [18:04] Setting hard limits [19:38] How to identify your limits [21:25] The importance of small acts of self-care [27:50] Taking inspiration from others [31:34] What’s next for Katherine [32:03] ONE action for a dream chaser [32:55] Get to know Katherine better   Resources mentioned: American Negotiation Institute Katherine on Instagram Katherine on LinkedIn Ask With Confidence Podcast Watch the episode on YouTube http://www.aimeej21.com/birthday  Donate to our fundraiser for Mental Health America TWEETS YOU CAN USE: TWEET: Everyone you see at Point Z had to start at Point A. #chasingdreams TWEET: Anytime you learn something new, the first few steps are difficult. #chasingdreams TWEET: Getting help for mental health blazes the trail for generations that follow. #chasingdreams

Special guest, 13 year old Katherine Adams is the co-CEO of her own business. When Katherine and her sister, Isabelle, learned that a child died every 15 seconds from unclean water, their passion for bringing clean water to the world was sparked. Their organization, Paper for Water, trades hand-crafted origami for clean water wells all over the world. Join us in an episode with Adams, wise beyond her years, as we talk about the over 200 wells built in the name of a passion and desperate need for giving back. You too can give back by visiting paperforwater.org or subscribing to their youtube channel and seeing how you can get involved. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/aserversjourney?fan_landing=true)

The Case:  Katherine is 37years old and 20 weeks pregnant Since early in her pregnancy, she’s had stiff joints and been exhausted and extremely nauseous. Prenatal vitamins made her morning sickness worse and time wasn’t making anything better.  Katherine was having trouble keeping food down and was worried about getting sufficient nutrients to the fetus.  The Investigation During the first trimester of pregnancy, it’s common to experience nausea and fatigue. For most women, the body finds it’s new equilibrium by the second trimester. When Katherine came to me with continued issues, I knew we had to dig a bit deeper into her diet and look at what she’d done to prepare her body for pregnancy.  Kristin Mallon is a Registered Nurse (Certified in Inpatient Obstetric) and a midwife. She’s a pregnancy expert, published author and co-founder of Vibrant Beginning Pregnaceuticals. She’s delivered thousands of healthy babies. Her focus is on helping women prepare their bodies optimally before, during and after pregnancy through high-quality nutrients.   The First Trimester Kristin explains that the body experiences an influx of hormones (specifically estrogen, progesterone, and human chorionic gonadotropin or hGC) when fertilization occurs. This is why so many women experience symptoms like morning sickness, nausea, and fatigue in the first few months of pregnancy - their bodies are reacting to the change in hormones. Some women may also experience breast tenderness, low-grade headaches, gastro-intestinal upset, and change in appetite (which may be caused by an aversion to food or smells). When Things Don’t Get Better in the Second Trimester For most women, the body learns to deal with the increased hormones and the symptoms dissipate after three months of pregnancy. However, for some women the symptoms persist. This may have to do with genetics - some women are predisposed (based on how fast their body metabolized hormones) to experience a more difficult pregnancy. However, these symptoms may have nothing to do with the increased hormones, they may, in fact, have more to do with nutritional status.  Metabolic vs. Nutrition It’s important for a woman to know if her persistent symptoms are related to nutritional status or a metabolic issue. If it is nutrition, than the course of action would be to adjust the diet and increase supplements to support nutritional needs. This is often the traditional approach. However, if it is a metabolic issue, this approach won’t help and may in fact be fruitless since the additional nutrients won’t be metabolized and absorbed.  Preconception Nutrition Many women shift their focus to nutrition after they get pregnant. Kristin recommends starting to focus on nutrition at least twelve weeks before attempting to get pregnant. This includes focusing on nutrition and taking prenatal vitamins. However, not all prenatal vitamins are formulated optimally.  Selecting a Prenatal Vitamin For most women, a single prenatal vitamin is not going to do the trick. Most prenatal vitamins are not formulated correctly and may include unnecessary elements like dyes, fillers and non-natural ingredients.  Prenatal Iron Many prenatal vitamins contain iron and this is something that Kristin does NOT recommend. Iron slows down your gastrointestinal tract and can cause constipation. Your digestive system will also slow down due to pregnancy so having too much iron in your system when you become pregnant can exacerbate the nausea and vomiting common in the first trimester. In addition, iron binds with calcium which decreases the body’s ability to absorb both minerals. Only 9 - 10% of women actually need to supplement their iron during pregnancy so it should not be the default.  Unclear Pregnancy Nutritional Needs The only official recommendations Americans have (from the Food Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine, or the CDC) for nutritional needs during pregnancy is 400 - 800 micrograms of folic acid and 100 - 150 micrograms of iodine. That’s it. Kristin recommends also including at least 250 milligrams of DHA and 100 milligrams of EPA (essential fatty acids and omega 3s) which are beneficial to fetal brain development. B vitamins , specifically 100 micrograms of methylated B 12. The other B vitamins (1, 3, and 6) are also important to keep energy up during pregnancy and for neurological development for the fetus. Pregnant women should also be getting 500 mg of calcium, and look at magnesium, zinc, selenium, chromium, copper, vitamin A and D. Healthy Diet May Not Be Enough Even women with a very healthy, clean diet may need to take a second look at their actual nutrient intake. With farming practices being what they are, food doesn’t hold as much nutrients as it used to. This is why many women need supplements to get all of the nutrients they need. Eating macro (not from big farms) is another way to increase nutrient intake through food. To be sure, women can have their micronutrients test through a functional medicine doctor (or clinic) to determine if they are deficient on a cellular level. Make Sure its Methylated When considering supplements with B vitamins, look for the “methylated” form. This is the bio-available version so it makes it easier for the body to absorb and digest. Specifically, methylated folate and methylated B vitamins.  Mystery Solved Conversations with Katherine revealed that her preconception of nutrition had not been ideal which meant that her body was starting the pregnancy at a deficit. In addition, her current tests showed that she was extremely low in all of her vitamins and minerals. Plus, her test were high in a few inflammatory markers (specifically High Sensitivity CRP) so it was no wonder she was dealing with joint stiffness.  Getting sufficient nutrients when you have morning sickness can be a challenge. This is why choosing activated, natural and methylated vitamins is so critical because then the body can absorb them very quickly and use them more efficiently. Katherine started with the methylated prenatal vitamin Prenatal Brilliance by Vibrant Beginning. Within a week the nausea had subsided. This prenatal has a good blend of all the necessary vitamins but Katherine was so deficient we topped it up with extra B6 and Vitamin D. To further treat her inflammation, we added an EPA and DHA blend form Prenatal Brilliance which would also help the baby’s brain development. Eliminating Health Mysteries For Katherine we were able to identify the cause of her extended morning sickness and help her feel better and provide more nutrients to her baby in less than a week. She thought she was doing everything right, but she’d chosen the wrong prenatal supplement. Who would have guessed that the cure was the cause? Could this be the missing clue for you or someone in your life?  Links: Thanks to my guest Kristin Mallon. Please check out her website www.integrativeobstetrics.com and connect with her (and learn more about Vibrant Beginning) on Facebook or Instagram.   Suggested Products: Prenatal Brilliance  Brilliant DHA   Overcoming Hashimoto’s Summit Claim your free spot to this 7-day virtual summit featuring the top experts in Hashimoto’s and Hypothyroidism so that you can overcome this diagnosis and feel better.  Sign up here:   https://bit.ly/2KigemW    Thanks for Listening If you like what you heard, please rate and review this podcast. Every piece of feedback not only helps me create better shows, it helps more people find this important information. Never miss an episode –  Subscribe NOW to Health Mysteries Solved with host, Inna Topiler on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. Find out more at http://healthmysteriessolved.com   PLEASE NOTE All information, content, and material on this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider. Some of the links provided are affiliate links. This means we may make a very small amount of money should you choose to buy after clicking on them. This will in no way affect the price the product but it helps us a tiny bit in covering our expenses. 

Katherine Cooligan is the Regional Managing Partner at Borden, Ladner, Gervais LLP. Katherine is a practicing lawyer who specializes in family law.  Katherine has faced many adversities in her personal and professional life and her ability to overcome is inspirational and has helped her reach her goals.    IN THIS INTERVIEW:   How It Began  Katherine found her passion for Family Law while working at her uncle’s law office during high school and during under grad program.  She was exposed to many areas of the law but felt most connected to family law because of the personal connection with her clients.  Overcoming Adversity to Stick to the Vision & Mission  One of Katherine’s most challenging experiences was the loss of her five-month-old son on the day she became Partner at Gowlings Law Firm. The experience profoundly changed her life and brought a depth of compassion and understanding that has translated to her passion to help families during times of crisis and need. When Katherine started her law career, leadership positions in law where predominantly filled by men. There has been a considerable shift towards balance in more recent years thanks to women like Katherine who has become part of a select group of female leaders and partners in law.  Operational Wisdom Your path to what you call success does not have to be a straight line, most often it is not. Katherine encourages others to expect delays, expect bumps in the road. make the adjustments necessary, ask for support and step back if necessary but do not step out.    Connect with Katherine at: blghttps://blg.com/en/Our-People/Cooligan-Katherine Tedx Talk: Tackling Fear and Unleashing your Full Potential  For more Speaking of Business Podcasts visit speakingofbusinessshow.com.  

On this episode Engrid sits down with fellow podcaster Katherine Weltzein to discuss what initially drew her to start her personal training business, how her business fostered her recovery from an eating disorder & exercise addiction. Katherine is a blogger & podcaster, who created a platform where self-identified young women can show up as their honest, imperfect selves, and still be considered important. When Katherine interviews she asks thoughtful, non-obvious questions, and holds space for her guest to share. The tables have turned as Engrid share’s how business acts as a mirror for our mental and emotional health, practical advice on exactly how to deal with people who say things we disagree with, and the importance of allowing your business to evolve with you. To Connect with Engrid click HERE To Listen to Katherine’s podcast: Brain’s Behind The Brands click HERE For show notes for the original episode click HERE Check out more of Liveng Proof HERE Join the Liveng Proof Pod Squad HERE Email Engrid HERE: engrid@livengproof.com This episode was brought to you by S.K. Coffee. Order your small batch specialty brew coffee at skcoffeeplease.com  and get 20% off at checkout with the code: LIVENGPROOF IN THIS EPISODE WE […] The post LPP #98 Eating Disorder Recovery, Being A Solopreneur, and Evoloving With Your Business with Engrid Latina & Katherine Weltzien – of Brain’s Behind The Brands Podcast appeared first on Liveng Proof.

On this episode Engrid sits down with fellow podcaster Katherine Weltzein to discuss what initially drew her to start her personal training business, how her business fostered her recovery from an eating disorder & exercise addiction. Katherine is a blogger & podcaster, who created a platform where self-identified young women can show up as their honest, imperfect selves, and still be considered important. When Katherine interviews she asks thoughtful, non-obvious questions, and holds space for her guest to share. The tables have turned as Engrid share’s how business acts as a mirror for our mental and emotional health, practical advice on exactly how to deal with people who say things we disagree with, and the importance of allowing your business to evolve with you. To Connect with Engrid click HERE To Listen to Katherine’s podcast: Brain’s Behind The Brands click HERE For show notes for the original episode click HERE Check out more of Liveng Proof HERE Join the Liveng Proof Pod Squad HERE Email Engrid HERE: engrid@livengproof.com This episode was brought to you by S.K. Coffee. Order your small batch specialty brew coffee at skcoffeeplease.com  and get 20% off at checkout with the code: LIVENGPROOF IN THIS EPISODE WE […] The post LPP #98 Eating Disorder Recovery, Being A Solopreneur, and Evoloving With Your Business with Engrid Latina & Katherine Weltzien – of Brain’s Behind The Brands Podcast appeared first on Liveng Proof.

Katherine's unassisted VBA3C was truly redemptive in every way. After three unwanted Cesareans and a traumatic VBA3C, she decided that her fifth birth had to be different. When Katherine's intuition told her that she was not getting the support she deserved, she knew that birthing unassisted was the path for her. Katherine worked hard to research, plan, and prepare as safely as possible. Her birth was intense, healing, and just what she needed. We talk about the risks and benefits of unassisted births and what things you can do to make sure you are making the best (and safest!) choice for your situation. While we will always advise birthing with a VBAC supportive provider over birthing unassisted, we also ALWAYS applaud women for following their intuition!  Additional linksThe VBAC Link on Apple PodcastsHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull transcriptNote: All transcripts are edited to correct grammar, false starts, and filler words. Julie: Good morning, Women of Strength. It is Women of Strength Wednesday and let me tell you, I couldn't be happier to say that. I love that alliteration, Women of Strength Wednesday. I don't know if that's exactly an alliteration, but it feels really cool to me. Women of Strength Wednesday. No matter what day you are listening to this on, this podcast was released on Wednesday and so you can proudly be a part of Women of Strength Wednesday.We have a really, really, cool, cool, cool story to share with you today. We have Katherine with us. She has five kids. She had three Cesareans and then two VBACs. Her first VBAC was a traumatic and really hard experience for her and her second VBAC after three Cesareans was a planned, unassisted birth. And so, we are going to talk about all those things. We're going to talk about when you might need to consider an unassisted birth and how to do that safely, although we always recommend first if you can possibly find a supportive provider to support you in your VBAC, we always are going to recommend that first. But we realize that that's not possible in every area and so we want to talk about it instead of going into an unassisted birth irresponsibly, let's talk about options. We'll go over the risks. We will talk about how to do it responsibly if you find yourself in that position. Review of the WeekKatherine's going to share her story with us, but before we share her story and before we get to meet sweet Katherine, Meagan has a Review of the Week for us.Meagan: Yes I do. I was scrolling through reading and I was like, “Oh, I totally want to show this one, and then we like to show who it is from. I scrolled over and guess who it's from? It's from Paige.Julie: Our Paige?Meagan: Yeah.Julie: Aww.Meagan: Yeah. I'm excited to read this. So the subject is “Best birth podcast in all the land.”Julie: She's so sweet.Meagan: And I love that. I was like, “That is the cutest.” It says, “The VBAC Link is THE most empowering space on the internet. The birth prep content combined with the safe, beautiful sisterhood and support is truly unmatched anywhere else. I have prepped twice for a VBAC-- once before The VBAC Link existed and the other having podcasts in my ear multiple times a day every day during my pregnancy. The transformation I was able to have physically from doing the bodywork they recommend and in my heart and soul has changed me forever.“Julie and Meagan become your virtual doulas. They hold space for YOUR story and stay with you every step of the way. I can't express enough what a catalyst their podcast was for me to find my strength, find my voice, listen to my intuition, and have the confidence to completely throw myself into a journey without a guaranteed outcome. I didn't get my VBAC or my VBA2C, but The VBAC Link gave me so much more than the natural birth I hoped for. Forever and ever grateful for these two women. For their hearts. For their mission. For this safe and uplifting community in a world that has never needed it more.”That gave me chills.Julie: Oh my gosh, Paige. You're the best.Meagan: Seriously.Julie: She's going to be transcribing this.Meagan: As you transcribe, can you say, “I am the best”?Julie: Give yourself a high-five from us because we love that review. I just wish I could be a fly on the wall when you are transcribing this episode so I can see your reaction to us reading your review on the podcast and how much we loved it.Meagan: I know. It's beautiful. Yes and we love reviews so if you haven't yet, please drop a review. We have tons of podcasts that we have to record and we love to read reviews of the podcast on each recording. So leave us a review. No matter where it is, just drop it even if it is just a message. Message us and say, “Put this on your review.” We would love it.Julie: We just read one of those the other day.Meagan: Yes we did.Julie: An email review. We never share email, instant messenger, or direct messages without asking permission first, but if you leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts or Google, just regular old Google, it's free game. So you're probably going to get your review read on the podcast one day. We are really excited about that. The warm and fuzzies really keep us going and we are grateful for our sweet Paige for giving us that wonderful review.Katherine's storyJulie: All right, all right. Now it is time for Katherine. We are really, really, really excited for her to share her experiences with us. She lives in Georgia. In Georgia and other states in the south like Florida, Louisiana, and Alabama, the Cesarean rates are really high. The VBAC rates are really, really low and it's hard to find a truly supportive VBAC provider. There are a few gems here and there, but you're a lot more limited in your options there than you would be in some other parts of the areas just because of legal guidelines, VBAC policies, and de facto VBAC bans where the hospital will allow VBAC, but no providers will support you through a VBAC or they are really barely tolerant best. And so, Katherine is going to share her journey with us navigating through all of that in the south and then she's going to talk about her to VBAC after three Cesareans, one in hospital and one unassisted. Before I just start rambling on anymore, I'm going to turn it over to Katherine.Katherine: Okay. I do want to add something. So I am in Georgia currently, but I was born in Virginia where I had my first two kids and my husband is military, so we moved to California and we had our third, and then our last two were in Georgia. So it's going to be kind of all over the place.Julie: You'll fit right in.Katherine: Yeah. My first two, I was 17 turning 18 with my first and like a lot of people on The VBAC Link podcast talk about, at that age, you don't know a lot. No one tells you anything. You just think about the movies and you think, “It's just going to happen like this,” and you don't realize that there is so much that goes into it. So where my story goes is, I didn't actually see a provider until I was 19 weeks. I found out instantly we were having a girl and had my first obstetric abuse type thing where a doctor called me “stupid” because I didn't want to get the genetic testing done.Julie: Oh my gosh.Katherine: Fast forward towards Christmastime when I was 36 weeks, I ended up moving back home because I was in college at the time. I moved back home and I switched to a practice that was well known around us and everyone heard good things. I was born at the hospital, all the classic stuff. I wanted to see as many providers as I could, but they kept scheduling me with the same lady. My daughter was breech all the time, essentially. Every appointment she was, but I kept telling them that she would flip at night. I felt it. I knew she was flipping every night and then for some reason in my morning appointment, she would be butt down again. And so, at my 38-week appointment, I remember talking with the doctor and I really didn't like this lady, but that's all put aside. She told me that I could have an ECV, but I asked her what was her honest opinion on it, and, of course, she gave me her honest opinion which is that it is really risky and it might end up in a C-section anyways.So with that being said, my mom had three C-sections, I am her VBAC baby, but because of her traumatic experience, she ended up having more C-sections. All I was told is, “Oh well, just have the C-section. It is okay.” I showed up at 39+4 to the hospital. You know, a scheduled Cesarean. They didn't check her position. We had a C-section and one of the things I can clearly remember is the doctor saying, “This baby isn't breech.” And so, there's that. I had an unnecessary C-section. I didn't know I could ask for an ultrasound. Didn't know it was supposed to be done. I just thought, “They know what they're doing.” Recovery for that was really easy, nothing traumatic. I didn't even really think about the trauma of it until years later.My second C-section was when I was 20 right before I turned 21. It was with my son. Normal pregnancy, everything was great. I wanted a VBAC but didn't know a lot. My mom was constantly in my ear about how traumatic her VBAC was. I still wanted it. I got to my 39-week appointment and I was still high and closed. I still didn't know a lot about birth and I remember asking if I could go another weekend. They were perfectly fine with it and then for some reason, they ended up calling me that night with C-section dates for that week.My then-boyfriend, now-husband was going back to school and I didn't want to do it by myself, so at 40 weeks exactly, we had another C-section. Probably the best C-section I've ever had. They made me feel like a person and not like someone just laying there on a table. The anesthesiologist got awesome pictures of my son. It was just a really good experience. Recovery was rough. But I feel like I guess, I don't know. It just came and went. You know? It was normal, kind of rough. I remember getting shots that were in my shoulders, I don't know how they did it. It just made my shoulders really stiff, so the first week of my son's life was rough because I couldn't really pick him up.But going past that, my next C-section was when I was 23. It was 2016. No, 22. I don't know. But with him, I really wanted a VBAC after two Cesareans. I was dead set on it. It was going to happen. I traveled 45 minutes to a provider who backed me up, didn't talk about C-sections until well, you know. She wasn't supposed to talk about C-sections until 42 weeks, but we ended up hitting a speed bump at 40 weeks. But before that at 37 weeks, he flipped to breech. 38 he flipped back on his own and then at 40 weeks he had severe decreased fetal movement. Our appointment came and we tried to do a non-stress test and he was really non-reactive on it. We had a serious talk about what we should do and how we should proceed. I was really scared because even though he had a heartbeat and he was doing fine, he wasn't moving like he was supposed to and I just decided that a C-section would probably be best.We had it the next day at 12. He was born perfectly fine. He had a double nuchal cord which sounds scary, but knowing that it happens in 30% of births, they said, makes it seem not as bad and that it is normal. So yeah, that happened. I had a really bad recovery, postpartum depression. I remember in my six-week check-up, my doctor who did my C-section was really supportive of me and she told me that the day before she had a VBAC after three Cesareans. She assisted one. I thought that was really cool because she was essentially telling me, “There is still hope.” Now, we were in California this time and where we're about to move to Georgia. I met a lady who was a doula who had a home birth after three Cesareans. We had met out of coincidence and she told me in Georgia about a well-known doctor there. So I was really excited to find out we would only be two hours away from him. We move and unexpectedly get pregnant almost immediately as we move. So thus, the panic set in. I decided that I was tired of being ignorant to birth, and what can happen, and how it works, and things like that, so I took a birth class. It was a really good one. It was The Bradley Method birth class. That ended up being probably one of the best decisions I ever made. I learned a lot. I learned coping techniques and then I spent a lot of my time healing my past traumas. So, working on the fact that I have to forgive myself for things I didn't know and for things that were always said to me and that I just kept believing. You know better, you do better. So I had my provider, had really good support. We were on top of things. I had a really healthy pregnancy until 35 weeks. At 35 weeks, I ended up having high blood pressure and my swelling was out of control. We had to have a serious talk about how we were going to proceed because he couldn't induce me because the hospital, even though it was a medical thing. We decided on a 24-hour protein.We did that and it came back that it was just above the line for what is diagnosed as pre-e. From there, we chose to do weekly monitoring, so BPP, NST, and at 39 weeks, my son flipped to breech. That was the biggest shocker of my life. I cried, and cried, and cried and got through the weekend, and then just decided, “It's going to happen as it's going to,” because my provider wasn't pushing me. He was breech supportive. It was like, everything was there and even when we were talking about our options, ECV was still an option, even though I was 39 weeks and I had semi-on the lower end of fluid.I declined that. I just knew he would flip back on his own. So I decided to wait and at 40 weeks he was back head down, to everyone's amazement. And then after that essentially, 41 weeks came and went, 42 weeks came and we had to have another serious talk about, “How are we going to proceed? Did I want to just settle for a C-section?” Because nothing was happening. I didn't do cervical checks at all for this pregnancy because, in past pregnancies, they just made me feel really defeated because nothing was happening. No effacement, nothing. He asked if I wanted one and I told him, “No.” He asked if I wanted the membrane sweep and I told him, “No,” because that goes with having a cervical check too. And so we decided no more appointments because at that point, it was sort of like I was meeting a goal each week. Every single week, I was just meeting a goal. So I said, “No more appointments.” On that day I had my NST, I swore I was having contractions, but none of them were picked up on the NST.I drove home. I woke up the next morning. I was 42+1 at that point, and I cried my eyes out because nothing was happening. I remember telling myself, “I should just do the C-section. On Monday, I'm just going to call. I am just going to get it over with. I can't do this anymore.” I remember I ate a pint of ice cream. I folded some clothes. This is at four in the morning. And you know, me and my husband did our thing. I took a nap and I woke up in labor. So from there, I did 19 hours out of the hospital. We labored at home for 11 or 12 hours and then, we moved to Atlanta, so we had to drive for two hours. Made one pit stop because I had to go to the bathroom and then, we got to the hotel. Spent 5 to 7 hours there. That's where our doula met us. I remember that deciding moment for us going to the hospital was my husband. I had just woken up from a nap. I guess I had passed out in the bathroom sitting on the toilet, best place to labor ever, and my husband and doula, I can hear them talking. He was like, “When do we go to the hospital?” She was like, “Oh, I guess it's whenever she wants to.” I really didn't want to. I honestly didn't even want to go to Atlanta. I wanted to stay home. I really didn't-- I don't know. I guess I was afraid, or I was just comfortable, or something.We go to the hospital. When I get there, I was 7 centimeters, -2 station and my water was bulging. I remember being in so much shock because I didn't think anything was going on. I was totally in denial that I was in labor even though it was really hard to get through. We ran into a couple of bad nurses. The first ones that we met were awesome, but the nurses that when shift change came were rough, but I'm not going to go into that too much.Yeah. Essentially from there, it took us five hours to go from 7 to 10 because I assume he was posterior. No one ever actually said that, but I was on my back a lot because I was really tired. This was going to 25 hours of labor. I remember the nurse looked at me and she asked if I wanted fentanyl. Mind you, I had no idea what that was. The way it was advertised to me was, “Oh, it will just take the edge off.” And you know, that could mean anything, but my tired self took it. From there, I remember passing out multiple times because I was so exhausted. That was part of where a lot of my trauma came from because I felt like I was really out of control. I could still feel all of the pain, but I couldn't control or focus on anything anymore. It was like the room was spinning and I would pass out, wake up to pushing. It was bad.So I had a cervical lip. We pushed that over the baby's head and then we did two more rounds of pushes. It was coached pushing. Not really my favorite thing, but I guess I needed it because I couldn't really control anything anyways. I think by the third set-- it was like, the first push did nothing, the second push got his head out, and the third push got him out. I suffered a second-degree tear. Recovery wasn't terrible. It was definitely way better than a C-section, but it took me a good eight weeks to feel anywhere close to back to normal. And then after that, I sat with myself and had to figure out how to process everything that had just happened. I noticed that the more I talked about it, the more I cried because it was just hard to deal with everything that happened. So we ended up getting pregnant again, Father's Day of 2019. We ended up losing that baby and then we immediately got pregnant with our son Logan. That pregnancy, I tried to stay with people closer to the area because I didn't want to travel again. I guess from my experience, I just couldn't do it again. I didn't want to go back there. It wasn't even the provider. It was the hospital. And so I didn't want to go back there, but I tried to look around. Essentially, I already knew most of the places around here were going to tell me, “No.” I knew that for a fact. I even looked into a midwife, but the backup that she wanted doesn't support VBAC for herself. I just decided that wasn't for me and I didn't want to go with that midwife. So I ended up at a teaching hospital and they had midwives there. They were just starting it and I was really excited. I kept hitting dead ends with them because they follow ACOG guidelines and ACOG doesn't have a stance on VBAC after three Cesareans So they kept saying, “No” even though I had already had one. Then from there, I decided reluctantly to go back to the old place. I was like, “Maybe it will be different this time.” So I went back and I met a new midwife who, in my first appointment with her, shamed me for everything that I had gone through with my son. Like the fact that we chose weekly monitoring instead of just getting a C-section and she was like, “Well, that's really dangerous. You shouldn't have done that because it could have changed any second,” to which we planned for that. I would've just gone to a hospital near me and just gotten a C-section. It wasn't like I was all or nothing.I didn't really feel comfortable anymore. When I finally got to see the doctor for the first time, the one that was so supportive, I didn't really like the answer he gave me when I talked to him about how to help myself from the nurse side when going to the hospital because obviously you can fire and nurses, sure, but it doesn't mean that your next nurse is going to be someone that supports your decision either.In that moment where I was so panicky and I needed someone to be calm, it was like I felt like they were yelling at me because I couldn't-- I don't know. I was really panicky and I just felt like they were yelling at me instead of going, “Hey, calm down,” and talking me through what was going on. So when he had said to me that, “Well, you just need to use your voice more,” I was like, “Oh. Well, that is not what I wanted from you.” I want you to tell me like, “Okay, we can try this this time,” or give me actual ways to try to work on what was going on. It sat with me for a while. I remember going to my ICAN meeting and talking to the leader there. She was really someone that helped me with my first VBAC after three. This time around, I just told her that I couldn't do it and I was really leaning towards unassisted. It was calling to me. I felt in my heart that I had to do it. Everything with my first VBAC after three Cesarean and wanting to stay home was the right choice. I should have done it the first time around.So from there, I joined a Facebook group that was recommended to me. I looked around for a little bit and I thought stuff out, and then I started doing my research on unassisted birth stuff going beyond what you learn in a birth class. My husband was on board the whole time. He actually was telling me today that if I hadn't known my stuff and made him feel comfortable, he wouldn't have been comfortable. So he trusted me explicitly to make this decision and know how safe that was. And that's okay. Because it really was my body, my birth, so I'm just happy that he was really supportive of me. And really, everything went great. I remember doing Brewer's diet for my last birth also because I wanted to make sure that pre-e wouldn't be a thing again and if it did, I would have gone to the nearest doctor and gotten stuff sorted out. But everything went well. No swelling, no BP issues. I just kind of sat through it and my doula was behind me also.So it was really nice to have all that support for something that is so, I guess, I don't know the word to use for it. Like, man. I don't know. I don't want to say risky because it's not risky. I mean, you determine your level of risk and for me, it didn't--Julie: It's just not common. It's just not common.Katherine: Yes, uncommon. I don't know. So essentially going past that, like I said, everything was great. I was wondering how far I was going to go this time because the last time was 42 weeks and I was getting really antsy. I was so hoping I would go into labor sooner, which I did, but it wasn't by much. It was only by like a week. So I went into labor at 41+1 weeks. This was after two days of spotting. Oh man, I feel like things went so differently because I chose to do the Miles Circuit and I chose to do Spinning Babies actively. I went into labor at nine at night and had him at 5:18 in the morning. It picked up so quickly and I think it was just because I tried to keep off my back and keep myself moving. I remember that I wanted to do a water birth and so we had our tub and everything set up. My husband was filling it and everything and I remember getting that feeling like something was between my legs, like that bowling ball feeling that I had never felt before, and I was like, “Oh, I have to get in the tub.” So I got in the tub and I think within 30 minutes, he was born.That was interesting to me because it's so night-and-day to the experience I had the first time around. One of the things that I always found so interesting too is with my first one, I remember feeling nauseous, but I never puked and I feel like that's something that's hardly talked about in birth, but then with this one, even though I hadn't eaten anything, I remember puking at least two or three times before he was actually born. And that was so uncomfortable, but you don't even think about it once they are born. It's just like, “Oh my God, you're here.” He was perfect. Honestly. It was so nice to finally be able to have that time with my baby. No one is messing with you. No one is touching you. He was just so perfect. I can't even tell you how beautiful that moment was for me because it's hard to even explain. For such a night-and-day experience, it was just the best thing that has ever happened to me to be surrounded by love, and support, and people that aren't doubting you or putting unnecessary pressure on you to stay in bed. No one is offering medicine to you. I actually just had my experience. It was me, the labor, and the baby. We were together and we were one. It was just so nice.But yeah. I have been doing, I guess, as much support as I can on the VBAC side for other moms since then because I feel like after my first VBAC I didn't feel that, not responsibility, but I didn't feel like I was ready to because I still had a lot to process and to deal with from my first VBAC. So the fact that my second VBAC went so well, it's like, okay. There is a redeeming factor for some people. Just because you had one bad VBAC doesn't mean that your next one has to be horrific also. So, yeah. I think that's it. I am sorry if I rushed through anything. I just didn't want to get into too much.Meagan: No, you didn't rush.Preparing for an unassisted birthJulie: No, you did great. Yeah, I want you to talk a little bit more about things you did to really prepare for that unassisted birth and what you would recommend people do if that is an option that they are considering.Katherine: Okay. That's a fun one. Okay. So first I would start with-- I think when you're first considering that, you should really sit with yourself and evaluate your own risks for your births. Like past births and even possibilities for a current birth. Once you sit with yourself and if you feel in your soul and in your heart, however, you want to explain it, your gut, if you feel like that's a good feeling and that it's possible, then from there, it's finding the right outlet. So for me, it was asking people who have had an unassisted birth what groups they went to for support. There is one group on Facebook that I really loved. It's not like something where they sit there and tell you how to do everything. It's more of how you should look at this resource or if you really have a question that you can't find the answer to, they point you in the direction of resources you can use. It was also really nice to see so many like-minded women talking about herbs and tinctures, delayed cord clamping, or even just going full-on lotus birth. It was so nice to see that and experience that environment. And then from there, you just do your own independent research on birth emergencies, and how often they happen, and how to handle them if you can handle them because sometimes you can't and that's just a fact of life. There are certain things that you can't handle and you do need to get medical attention for. And then from there, so specific to me, one of things I really looked up was breech birth because I've had three breech babies. I have no idea if my fifth ever flipped to breech because I wasn't seen by anyone. I did all of my own prenatal care. I didn't really feel like he ever flipped, but it's possible that he did.So I needed to look that up for myself and to say, “Okay. How is breech birth handled?” And you know, a lot of the time you'll see it's hands-off. And so doing that research about hands-off and what to look for in an emergency with a breech birth, I am very thankful I didn't have to do that because I feel like my husband would have freaked. And then I think after you do your research, then comes making sure you know how to handle prenatal care and learning about how to take your blood pressure, what urine test strips you look for, and what everything on it means. And then from there, I took my weight religiously. I took my blood pressure religiously. I had my own Doppler. Lots of unassisted birthers use fetoscopes instead, but I had not even heard of that until after he was born. So I used a Doppler and we tracked his heart tones. During his birth, I wanted to check it more, but it ended up being something where we tracked it in the beginning and how I was feeling. If something felt wrong, I would have asked, but we only checked my blood pressure and his heart rate one time throughout the eight hours because I didn't feel like anything was wrong. I feel like a lot of unassisted birth, that's what it is. It's going off your intuition and how you feel. You have to feel secure in yourself when you're going for an unassisted birth because if you don't feel secure, that's where the problem lies. You can't go into it not knowing what's going on with yourself and your baby. I don't know. I think that's where I would cut that off because it goes, I feel, so much deeper than that too.Meagan: Yeah. It's a big decision. It's a very big decision and you have to be prepared. You have to be prepared on all aspects. You have to be prepared for a great outcome, a not-so-great outcome, and a bad outcome. And yeah, it's hard for some. You know? But then there are some people that are like, “Nope. I've got it.” And then they do. They dive in and they do. They just sponge it all up and they are ready.Katherine: Yeah. I love those types. I love those women. I am so serious. I have met a few of them and they are just beautiful people. I love how they're just so solid in themselves. And I understand. You can be a mom and not be solid in yourself and that is perfectly fine because I mean, it took me what? Four births to even feel that way about myself? So, you do. You have to understand, and really trust yourself, and trust your baby, and you have to trust that things are going to work out how you want them to and if they don't, how to handle those outcomes.Meagan: Yeah, but it happens. There's seriously some areas where there's not even a provider if they wanted a provider.Katherine: Yep.Meagan: They can't even get where-- like the times right now that we live in, it's wild. It's just wild. And it's scary sometimes when you're like, “I don't know what to do.” So the only thing you can do is educate yourself and prepare yourself.Katherine: Speaking specifically towards a VBAC after three or more Cesareans, the ICAN leader I had hosted a really beautiful seminar on what to do when you are going for a VBAC after three Cesareans and you keep hitting dead ends. That largely lies in knowing your rights. So if you are in a place where they are telling you, “No, you can't do this. Hospital policy won't let you do this. Yada, yada, yada,” it's then knowing your rights and that they can't deny you care if you are in labor. They can't force a Cesarean on you, but coercion is a thing. They will say and do very scary things to make you submit to what they want. It's knowing that you have to fight for the right. That's terrible to say, but you have to fight for that. You have to fight for the birth that you want. I think that's interesting how unassisted birth and that ties together because it's, I don't know. I don't know how to explain it. It's just interesting. If you're not going unassisted, that's what you're doing essentially is, you're telling doctors, “No. I am doing this,” and it's being okay with that. That's interesting to me.Megan: Oh, thank you so much. Julie, is there anything else that you want to say? I know you were wanting to close it up?Julie: No I just want to say, we always encourage you to do your best to find a provider that is going to support you and your VBAC journey, but here's the thing. You need to be able to trust your provider, but if you can sense that your provider doesn't trust you back, there is a big disconnect there and it's going to cause a lot of problems. We know like I said earlier in the episode, that there are some states and some parts of the world where it's not easy or even possible to find a VBAC supportive provider. Especially now, in the COVID area where hospitals are forcing parents to birth alone. Now, husbands are allowed at least, or birth partners, or baby's fathers, or the other parent, whatever you want to call it, are allowed in the hospital now, but at the beginning of this coronavirus, women were birthing alone and providers were coming into the room in hazmat suits. Women were being forced to choose and not always making responsible decisions about their care. And so I think the thing that we really want to hit home here is, we don't necessarily say, “Hey, if you can't find a supportive provider, go have your baby by yourself,” but what we do want to encourage is finding that provider that you can trust. Interview as many providers as you need to, but if you feel like you are forced in this position between birthing in an environment that you feel is hostile, or that does not support you, or give you the autonomy over your own body and birthing unassisted, you need to get busy. Get educated and learn all of the things and then there's going to be more and more to learn. The more you learn, the more there is to learn about all of these things. You have to be diligent. You have to know all about different types of emergencies and how to handle them, and how to react in different types of situations, and really trusting your intuition and your gut instincts about what's right and what's not right, and learning how to follow that really really well. And then, there you go. If it feels like that's the right thing for you, then trust that. We always encourage people to trust their intuition. If your intuition is telling you to go down that route, do it, but do it in a very prepared, and educated, and smart way. All right. Well, Katherine. We are so grateful to you for sharing your story with us today and being an inspiration for people who might choose to birth a little bit outside of the box. We always want to make sure that we are covering all types of birth scenarios and all types of birth outcomes on our podcast. We are happy you shared your story with us here today and we hope that those listening learn something from you. I think that everybody should.ClosingWould you like to be a guest on the podcast? Head over to thevbaclink.com/share and submit your story. For all things VBAC, including online and in-person VBAC classes, The VBAC Link blog, and Julie and Meagan's bios, head over to thevbaclink.com. Congratulations on starting your journey of learning and discovery with The VBAC Link.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy