Episode 25: A Different Journey with Every Baby

Averjill Rookwood (The Corporate Doula) is a passionate doula who is trained to serve in the holistic fertility, birth and postpartum arenas. She also brings over fifteen years of employer benefits management experience to the table to assist her clients behind the scenes with the business of healthcare. Amy and Averjill talk about what both employees and employers need in terms of holistic support for working parents, and Averjill shares amazing insights, both for parents and companies who truly want to support one another through this time period. It's more important than ever as we are seeing such an exodus of women from the workforce due to COVID-19.

In today's episode, Amy sat down with Whitney Heins and Laura Norris of The Mother Runners. Join them in conversation about what it's like to be both a runner and mother, how that changes during pregnancy and postpartum, and why now, more than ever, is a great time to get your shoes on and get outside. They also spoke about how motherhood makes us better runners, and running makes us better mothers, and when we really embrace the fusion of the two we're able to thrive as athletes, casual runners, and parents. Enjoy!

Lisa, on our team, had to go have a baby in order to be a guest on the pumpspot, and today is that day! Lisa is in a very special season of postpartum as she is home nursing and navigating life with her sweet fourth baby. She came back to talk about how different the journeys of motherhood are with each baby and we talked about breastfeeding, her favorite products, and what postpartum mothers really need. Enjoy!

This week on the pumpspot we were so excited to sit down with Kate Torgersen, the founder and CEO of Milk Stork and a mother of three. Kate founded Milk Stork when she was traveling and pumping for her twins, and was floored by the lack of resources, support, and understanding available for working, traveling, and pumping parents. Amy and Kate talk about what their journeys have been like as founders of breastfeeding companies, what the state of life is like for working parents right now, and how we can all do better to drive change.

Welcome to the pumpspot! We are here sharing nourishing conversations about the beautiful, challenging, and wonderful ways that we feed our families. In today's episode, Amy sits down with Christine Meehan-Berg. Christine is a comedian, mother, and an early advocate for mothers in the world of comedy. She and Amy have a very open and honest conversation about the challenges of postpartum, breastfeeding, and what it's like to be navigating a very male-dominated world. Christine brought her whole self to this conversation and we hope that you will enjoy it as much as we did.

This week our very own Nina Emlen spoke with Sarah Reardon for a fascinating episode about pelvic floor health. Sarah is a pelvic floor physical therapist who has an incredible wealth of knowledge to share with us about pelvic floor health, normalizing a visit to a therapist like her, and her personal experiences as a breastfeeding, working mother of two. Sarah has been really open and honest on social media about her experience. She's made us laugh, she's taught us so much about our personal health, and we hope that you will enjoy this conversation between Sarah and Nina.

There are some unique challenges to navigating both parenthood and a career in the legal profession, especially when it comes to breastfeeding and taking the bar exam. For this energetic, vital conversation Amy sat down with Amanda Fisher, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California Irvine, and Jamie Szal, a tax attorney who calls Maine home, just like Amy. Both of these women are members of Mothers Esquire and they are passionate about changing the world for mothers in the field of law. They covered everything from breastfeeding, to what it was like for Amanda to take the bar exam while pregnant, to Jamie pumping in the middle of the Supreme Court, and their "Pump Up the Bar" campaign. This episode feels especially relevant right now, and if you tune in to find out the name of Jamie's pump, you'll see why. We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did, and as always, if you want to continue the conversation please join us over on the pumpspotting app.

Is it possible to breastfeed your baby if you didn't give birth? That's a question we've heard a lot and so we've invited a guest who has a beautiful story and answer to that question. Lisa had the pleasure of speaking with Paola Mitchell, all the way from Australia. Paola has a really special feeding story as both she and her wife breastfeed their baby boy. Lisa and Paola talk about both the challenges and joys of inducing lactation as the non-gestational parent. They talk through the medical process of inducing lactation, the challenges of pumping at work, and why Paola is so happy to have made this decision for her family.

The journey to feed does not look the same for every mother, every family. For some, the journey might be made up entirely of pumping. Exclusive Pumping is a form of breastfeeding and a part of the feeding journey that many mothers experience for many reasons, and it's one that comes with a lot of challenges, a lot of commitment, and a lot of time spent with your breast pump! We've gathered three exceptional women who all have experience exclusively pumping for a special round table discussion. Sarah Lang is an IBCLC, a registered nurse, and the founder of Milk Sprouts based out of Indianapolis. Jasmine Tillery is a New Jersey native, a wife and mother, a quality engineer in the aerospace and defense industry, and also the founder of Money and Momming. Amanda Glenn is a Certified Lactation Counselor, an expert on exclusively pumping breast milk, and is the author of the Exclusive Pumping Schedule Workbook, Weaning from the Pump, and the Ultimate Pumping at Work Planner. Tune in as we talk about what exclusive pumping is, why parents might exclusively pump, and what these extraordinary women have learned in terms of tips and tricks to share with our pumspotting community.

To continue celebrating National Breastfeeding Month and uplift Black Breastfeeding Week, we took this opportunity to celebrate with an inspiring and enlightening roundtable discussion! Amy convened with Kiddada Green, Founding Executive Director of the Black Mother's Breastfeeding Association (BMBFA) and co-founder of Black Breastfeeding Week, and Lead BMBFA Mommy Ambassador Malikah Garner and Victoria Washington, treasurer of the Black Mother's Breastfeeding Association to discuss the joys, challenges and disparities, stories, and strength within the community of Black breastfeeding mothers. These women share their passion, their moments of triumph and struggle, and the wisdom that followed. Join us as we celebrate, encourage, and commune with our breastfeeding family. The bond of nourishment truly unites us all.