Are you considering which pediatrician you should choose for your child?  From personal experience, I know the importance of finding the right pediatrician who will not listen to the outside noise, but who will listen to you and make the best decisions for your child.

Joining me on the show today is Dr. Jennifer Trachtenberg, favorably known as Dr. Jen by her patients. Dr. Jen is a nationally renowned parenting expert, board-certified pediatrician, and has maintained a successful, private practice in New York, New York, at Carnegie Hill Pediatrics for over 20 years. Perhaps Dr. Jen’s greatest accomplishment is being a mother of three children! Listen to today’s show for the information you need to know straight from Dr. Jen.

Show Highlights:

• Dr. Jen discusses the importance of finding a pediatrician who will help educate and advise parents in addition to treating children.
• Parenting is different for each child because each child is unique in his/her own way.
• Dr. Jen advises parents to write down questions for their child’s pediatrician.
• Dr. Jen discusses the importance of making safety paramount when it comes to taking care of children.
• Dr. Jen shares pertinent information for new mothers regarding feeling overwhelmed after having a baby and caring for it.
• Don’t give space to guilt
• Dr. Jen shares the top 2-3 misconceptions new parents have about parenting.
• Dr. Jen says children see their parents as role models.
• Advice to parents of premature babies is given by Dr. Jen.
• Learn about the workshop Dr. Jen offers for healing from Postpartum Guilt, Grief and Trauma

Resources:

Pediatrician in Your Pocket, a one of a kind, comprehensive video guide for new parents created by Dr. Jen.

Dr. Jen’s website

Dr. Jen’s Facebook page

Parijat’s book, Pregnancy Brain

The worst advice anyone can give a woman (or couple) going through infertility, fertility treatment or a high-risk pregnancy is, “You have no control”. It is unhelpful and it is just plain wrong. Decades of research have shown the importance of believing in and maintaining control especially when it comes to health. Not only does it help you feel better emotionally, it creates physiological changes in the body, that during infertilty and a high-risk pregnancy, can increase your chances of bringing your baby home. On this episode, I share with you exactly how.

Having a high-risk pregnancy can make you feel like your whole world is collapsing. So many women have to cut back on work or stop working all together. And once baby comes, depending on circumstances, you may be unable to return to career for years, if at all. It’s stressful and heartbreaking but there is hope. On this episode, Meg shares with us how to create your dream career despite having a high-risk pregnancy so you can have your dream family and career and enjoy both too.

We all know avoiding important tasks isn’t helpful. And yet we all do it, because, let’s face it, it’s easier than making that doctor’s appointment, returning that phone call or doing the bloodwork. Did you know, avoidance builds up anxiety and ends up leaving you more stressed than the actual thing you’re avoiding? On this episode, I share with you how to end avoidance once and for all so you can get the health care and support that you need and deserve.

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Thousands of women experience pregnancy and/or birth trauma every year. Without proper support, resources and information, trauma is often overlooked and women are left feeling alone as they navigate their healing journey. On this episode, I share the critical step that’s involved in healing from trauma so you can experience joy and peace again.

A high-risk pregnancy is a uniquely difficult time because of the emotional and physical intensity. Within a short 40 weeks – sometimes less – you might hear difficult news, have to make impossible decisions all while feeling the weight of being responsible for another life. You hope for a miracle and yet you aren’t sure if you’ll be lucky enough to experience one. On this episode, I share with you why I believe everyone one of us has the power to create miracles during a high-risk pregnancy.

When you lose your temper on your child, it doesn’t make you a bad mother. Every single mother on this planet has done it. But it is an opportunity for growth and self-reflection so you can continue to be the best mother and raise the best version of your child. On this episode, we talk about those rage-filled moments, what they are, what they mean and how to make them stop.

With increased attention on postpartum depression in the media and in research, more and more women (and their loved ones) are becoming sensitive to recognizing the signs and symptoms early. However, sometimes the signs and symptoms of postpartum depression, like crying, are not necessarily pointing to depression. Sometimes, crying is not a sign of a mental health condition at all but a sign of healing. On this episode, I share with you how to tell the difference.

Experiencing a loss is heartshattering for any parent. Whether it’s a chemical pregnancy, miscarriage, due to prematurity, a stillbirth or any other reason, it is the hardest thing for a parent to survive. Getting pregnant again after a loss can bring up concerns about the health of the baby, fears of another loss and a tremendous distrust of your body. On this episode, Christine shares her personal experiences of pregnancy after loss, how she coped and how she turned her tragedy into personal and professional triumph.

The term “mind-body connection” can mean a variety of things to so many people. Some take it to mean mental health, others take it to mean nutrition therapy, others take it to mean something about the stars or hanging crystals by your bed. But most of us can agree that it relates somehow to stress. But does it have any impact on the health of your pregnancy? Absolutely. On this episode, I share with you how.

When you’re a Type-A, go-getter person who loves to be busy, it hard to accept when your body needs you to go slow. You feel unproductive, helpless and useless, none of which are good for your mental or physical health. On this episode, we talk about how to listen to your body when you need to go slow and how to slow down without feeling like you’re stopping your life.

When it’s easy to have your first child, it’s a pretty safe assumption that having subsequent children will be easy too. You start planning out how to space them apart, when to start trying and believe everything will go according to plan, just like it did the first time. When that isn’t the case, and it takes much longer to have the second (or third or fourth)…or you have to rely on fertility treatment to continue building your family, it’s heartbreaking and life-shattering. On this episode, Sarah Argenal and delve into the realities of secondary infertility, what it means and how to cope when having more children ends up being so much harder than you originally thought it would.

The words and labels that you use during your family-building challenges matter. They inform what important anchor points define your story and they validate your experiences. The more you use them, the more others will follow. On this episode, I share with you why we should stop hiding from the terminology that makes us feel seen and heard so we can create a community of support around us as we go through the challenges and then heal after they’re all over.

Financial stress is a tremendous source of stress for women with a high-risk pregnancy. Whether it’s because you spent much of your savings trying to get pregnant or you ended up on bed rest and can no longer work, financial stress is very real and can leave women feeling even more helpless and anxious about their future than they already feel because of their pregnancy complications.

On this episode, I speak with financial expert, Aisha Taylor, on how she empowered herself to take charge of her finances when she found herself pregnant with twins.

Environmental toxins are all around us in our day to day lives. From what we eat to what we breathe to what we put on our skin and hair, all of these chemicals impact reproductive health and fertility. On this episode, I speak with Dr. Lora Shahine on how to reduce environmental toxins from your life without feeling like you have to burn down your house to do it. If you are trying to conceive, this episode is a must listen.

The NICU is an overwhelming, scary place that feels like a world away from the rest of the world. Whether you’re expecting to spend time in the NICU or it came as a surprise, it takes time to adjust to the pace and the life of the parenting in the NICU. On this episode, I share some of the items that were essential for me to keep my sanity and help me through our 109 day NICU stay. Plus, I share with you ideas for gifts to give loved ones who have a baby in the NICU.

When you have challenges creating the family of your dreams, whether it’s experiencing loss or infertility, a high-risk pregnancy or prematurity, it wreaks havoc on all aspects of your life. You feel alone and can have a million questions swirling in your mind that you don’t know where to find the answers to.

On this episode, I answer 4 of my listeners’ questions as they navigate their journey to building the family of their dreams.

When I first started watching This is Us, the very first episode reminded me of a good friend I’d met during my high-risk pregnancy. Not long before I was pregnant, she had been pregnant after fertility treatment. Not with one. Not with twins. But with triplets.

On this episode, she shares her experience of finding out she was pregnant with triplets, how she coped with her high-risk pregnancy and what her NICU journey was like trying to juggle three babies in the hospital.

For many couples who experience fertility challenges, adoption is often an option that’s considered the next step. But is it right for everyone? And is it only an option if you fail to get pregnant with fertility treatment?

The answer to both is no.

On this episode, I speak with Emylee Williams who shares her journey to motherhood through adoption, how they chose the route they did and whether they would do it again.

Ever feel angry to the point when you get a baby shower invitation or hear about a birth announcement? Feel that anger bubbling up when you see perfect families with their perfect babies. Ever feel ridiculous that you still feel that way even though you’re pregnant or have babies of your own?

On this episode, I share with you why getting rid of that anger isn’t the answer and what to do instead.

There are far too many misconceptions and incorrect stereotypes about maternal mental health. From believing a woman is crazy to labeling her as ungrateful, these judgments prevent women from receiving the help and support that they and deserve to be happy, healthy moms.

OBs, pediatricians and other medical providers play a key role in helping women receive the appropriate care as quickly as possible to help them manage postpartum mental health challenges.

On this episode, I speak with perinatal mental health specialist Dr. Kat Kaeni about what physicians need to know and do to help more women access mental health support postpartum. Plus we discuss what women can do to advocate for themselves if their OB or pediatrician is not supportive.

No matter the circumstances, when you feel like all options are gone and your back is to the wall, we feel extremely frustrated. That frustration can lead to making poor choices, lashing out at loved ones and/or feeling hopeless or worse, falling into a depression.

On this episode, I share with you how to take back control during some of the most helpless times of your life.

Episode Highlights:

My postpartum looked NOTHING like what I had thought it would, due to the timing of my son’s early birth and the following 109 days spent in NICU. Life was crazy and unpredictable during that time, and my own nutrition was the LAST thing on my mind. I craved the wrong things, didn’t even remember to eat sometimes, and certainly didn’t realize the importance of nutrition in the healing my body was going through after giving birth. I wish I had known THEN what I know NOW!

My friend and colleague, Lily Nichols, is a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist, Certified Diabetes Educator, researcher, and author. She has a passion for evidence-based prenatal nutrition and exercise, and her unique approach has helped thousands and influenced nutritional policies around the globe. Lily has researched and written about traditional diets recommended for pregnancy in different cultures. She shares with us the long-term effects of poorly-managed gestational diabetes, how “warming” foods help with postpartum healing, and the nutritional needs of the breastfeeding mother. We also discuss suggestions for good nutrition when you’re like I was, stuck in the NICU for 12-13 hours for day after day—focusing on your baby’s nutrition but not caring about your own nutritional needs. There are supplements that can help in healing, but Lily’s top tip is to rest, recover, and receive support during those postpartum weeks. We all need to lean on the people around us for the support we need!

“Self-care is sometimes about not doing anything extra to take care of yourself, but about taking things off your plate.”

Resources:

Real Food for Gestational Diabetes by Lily Nichols

Real Food for Pregnancy by Lily Nichols

www.realfoodforpregnancy.com

Even though pain and I are complete enemies, I feel like we are best friends in a way, simply because we know each other so well and I don’t live a day without it. When pain becomes a normal part of your life, then you can’t imagine a day without it and you “just get used to it.” Some people choose to deal with pain with pills, but many of us are forced to consider other options. Are there other options? My guest today is here to share interesting techniques and perspectives that can help us manage pain without medications. Dr. Beth Darnall is THE specialist on pain management from Stanford University. As the author of three books, she is “dedicated to empowering life beyond pain.” Beth shares her practical tips to help you get control of your chronic pain and gives words of hope for anyone who longs to live life to the fullest without being a slave to pain. Learn to tap into the control of your mind and your body and break the power of pain!

Bringing your baby home from the NICU sounds like its the end of the hard part. But sometimes its even harder to deal with the feelings of loneliness and anxiety. You need t build a postpartum team, just like you need a prenatal team and a NICU team. I’m very excited to introduce this weeks guest, Hannah Chelsey. Hannah is the founder of “The Baby Maven” She helps first time mothers gain the confidence and control they need to feel supported and successful as a parent. She will walk us through the support you need once baby comes home.

Trust. I want to talk to you today about what it means to trust. Webster defines it as “assured reliance on the character ability strength or truth of someone or something.” Quite a heavy load, but we do it all the time. We trust that the builders made our homes sound. We trust our cars will turn on when we go to work in the morning. We see trust the most when we look at children. Something happens along the way as we get older, we think more critically about what we are putting our trust in.

Sometimes we are in so desperate need of help, that we don’t even realize it. That may seem ridiculous, but sometimes we really can feel like we are “doing fine” when really we need support from others. Today I’m joined by Abbi Perets, Founder of SuccessfulFreelanceMom.com. She teaches at-home moms how to break into freelance writing. She’s going to share her story and how she built her village, her support network of friends and family because when it gets down to it, we all need our community, we need our village.

Ectopic pregnancy is not often talked about, but this happens to many women and can actually be quite dangerous. As someone who has gone through an ectopic pregnancy, it is important for me to talk about this experience, and that we understand how it is different from a miscarriage. In this episode, I will talk more about what an ectopic pregnancy is, share my personal story, and offer some advice and tools you can use if you or someone you know is experiencing this.

The words you use can be so powerful for healing if you allow yourself to be exactly where you are. I will never tell you not to say or express the fears and negative thoughts that you are experiencing. I will never tell you that you are not broken because healing can begin wherever you are and however you feel, though many people want to push you forward and make it all nicer. By acknowledging and sharing the emotions that you’ve been carrying, even if they seem scary or negative, you will actually be able to heal faster. In this episode, we will talk about some ways that you can address these feelings without feeling that you need to push them away or make them nicer than they are.

Today we’re going to shed some more light on recurrent pregnancy loss. If you’ve experienced recurrent pregnancy loss, you know how hard it is to cope with, especially when there is often no reason or explanation for it. Joining us today is Dr. Lora Shahine, Reproductive Endocrinologist, who specializes in recurrent pregnancy loss. She will tell us about what drew her to Reproductive Endocrinology, and share some invaluable information and advice about how to navigate this difficult territory and find the support you need.

If you want to know more about Dr. Shahine’s work, you can find her book, Not Broken, on Amazon, or reach her at lorashahine.com and on social media @drlorashahine.

Women going through pregnancy complications know that they didn’t do anything to cause their fertility challenges or pregnancy complications, yet our brains are trained to go to a place of guilt and self blame. This is a difficult process, because as humans we want someone or something to blame, but we need to have strategies to prevent this unnecessary guilt from creeping in. In this episode we will talk about how to learn to let the blame go and truly deeply heal.

We often romanticize the idea of having twins, but twins are actually considered a high risk pregnancy. So today to show the true, realistic side of twin pregnancy, we are joined by Brittany Dixon. Brittany Dixon is an organizing and productivity strategist for stressed out and exhausted women entrepreneurs. She’s here today to share her experience carrying twins and her own high risk journey.

We all know that stress isn’t good for our bodies, but we often tend to push it to the side and bottle it up rather than dealing with it. Stress extremely impactful on pregnancy health. Stress during pregnancy has been found related to pre-term birth, low birth weight and much much more. Today I want to dive into ways to manage your stress; in simple and effective ways to keep your pregnancy healthy. Because it’s not your fault, and you do not deserve to be stressed out.

While being on bed rest might be necessary for you and your baby physically, your mind can wander and get caught up in all the “what ifs.” A question I faced and I know many other women have faced is: “What’s going to happen to my career.” It can create so much extra anxiety and you don’t deserve that. So toady I’m joined by Arianna Taboada, a maternal health consultant, she helps women construct their maternity leave plan and return to work. We’re going to talk about how you can babyproof your career, so you can cut down on some of that stress and anxiety.

So much of medicine today is a “one size fits all” approach, and if you’ve been listening to this podcast for awhile, you know how much I don’t believe in “one size fits all.” Today I’m going to walk you through a number of alternative therapies that could be beneficial to you; if you find yourself experiencing the limitations of modern medicine.

Today on Delivering Miracles our guest is Lori Bregman, a renowned doula, life coach, healer and author of The Mindful Mom to Be. She’s here to explain what exactly a doula is, and how they can help you through your pregnancy journey from fertility, through pregnancy and into motherhood.

“Don’t give up.” a comment I’ve heard all the time, through every stage of my journey and I’m sure many other women have heard as well. It’s a comment that is meant to be kind and supportive, but it has really rubbed me the wrong way for a long time. Today I want to discuss why I don’t like telling people “don’t give up.” and talk about real advice that can help someone who has lost that hope.

We often compare our experiences to others and see ours as “imperfect.” Today we our guest is Jillian Grover owner of the “Doing away with Perfect” blog. She joins us today to share her imperfect delivery story and to show you that you are not alone, and to change the way you remember what you’ve been through.

There is no “one size fits all” solution to fertility treatment. So today I’m going to break down all of the possible options so that you have and idea of which ones are for you.  There is no one solutions for everyone, you have to listen to your body.

In this episode we are joined by Lindsay Stenovec, a San Diego based dietitian nutritionist and owner of Nutrition Instincts who is focused on helping women make peace with food and their bodies. We discuss the importance of maintaining a healthy body image, and how you can support your own body image, especially when your fertility and pregnancy  journey are less than ideal.

Today we talk about something that is rarely discussed, surrogacy. there is a lot of misinformation and mystery around surrogacy and gestational carriers, so here to help demystify the topic is Eloise Drane. Eloise has been an egg donor as well as a 3 time surrogate mother. She is now the founder/owner of Family Inceptions International, a family planning agency specializing in surrogacy and egg donation. I hope her experiences can shed some light on this often controversial topic.

Memories of traumatic pregnancies are not just stored in the mind but the body as well. Today I’ll tell you about my own experiences, and discuss ways to confront and conquer your own traumatic memories within your body.

Today’s guest is the expert of experts on gestational diabetes, Lily Nichols: registered dietitian nutritionist, certified diabetes educator, researcher, speaker, and author. Gestational diabetes was Parijat’s 7th complication during her high-risk pregnancy and today she chats with Lily to candidly discuss her experience and how you can feel better guided in your pregnancy journey.

We hear a lot about women’s age correlating to fertility, but not as much about men’s age. This can translate to a lot of pressure. In this episode, we discuss child development from both the perspective of a man and a woman’s age with special guest Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh. Dr. Aimee is the egg whisperer — one of America’s most well-known fertility doctors. Her success rate at babymaking is what gives parents hope when all hope is lost. This is not an episode you want to miss!

Postpartum anxiety is almost 2-3 times more common than postpartum depression. Unfortunately, too few people know about it, talk about it or even understand it, leaving too many women to suffer in silence. That ends today. On this episode, I share with you the truth about postpartum anxiety including what signs to look for as well as 2 powerful techniques to try for quick relief.

Growing up you learn all the ways to prevent getting pregnant, but no one really discusses what happens when you want to get pregnant and can’t. Today’s guest is fertility expert Dr. Marc Sklar and he’s here to give you some real advice on how to get pregnant and debunk some of the myths regarding fertility.

It really is this hard. Let this sink in. Don’t minimize your feelings. If it feels hard, it’s okay. On this episode of Delivering Miracles, Parijat talks you through this important statement that every woman going through a high-risk pregnancy needs to hear.

This episode of Delivering Miracles with Parijat Deshpande is all about the Type-A person. Parijat explains what this means, how this impacts your high-risk pregnancy, and what you can do to accommodate this.

We don’t share our stories enough – it can be hard to get to that place where you’re comfortable sharing, but storytelling can help you heal. Today, Parijat opens up Delivering Miracles as a platform for high-risk mom’s to share their stories. Our very first brave mom is Khadya Hale.

Pregnancy is a time of learning how to relinquish control. So many new things are going on in your body and in this episode high-risk pregnancy expert, Parijat Deshpande, helps you combat the feeling of helplessness while these changes are happening.

You HAVE to ask questions! In this episode, Parijat talks about questions the questions you should ask about fertility. She brings on her friend and colleague, Jay Palumbo, to share the questions fertility patients ask her as a fertility advocate.

In this episode, Parijat brings back her husband, Sonil, to answer your questions — he gives us great insight into his perspective from the other side of a high-risk pregnancy. You guys sent in some really good questions!

In this episode, I discuss the controversy that is Gwenyth Paltrow’s lifestyle company, Goop, vs. OBGYN Dr. Gunter. When I heard about this I was furious and knew I had to talk about this. Tune in to hear my thoughts!

Whether it be Beyonce or Amal Clooney we just can’t get enough of celebrity pregnancies. Something about these huge names going through the same thing the rest of us do is so intriguing. On this episode of Delivering Miracles, Parijat Deshpande discusses different celebrity pregnancies.

On this episode of Delivering Miracles, Parijat Deshpande talks about the continuous struggle of high-risk pregnancies, and how to make it more manageable.

Having a baby is a HUGE life adjustment and can put a strain on your relationship. On this episode of Delivering Miracles, Parijat Deshpande discusses tools for creating a solid marital foundation for the arrival of your baby with special guest Debbie Cherry, licensed marriage and family therapist, and creator of the Passion While Parenting program. Debbie will help arm you with the right tools now so you can have a solid foundation of your marriage once your baby comes home — no matter what happens between now and then. I am so excited to introduce you to Debbie Cherry!

Today on Delivering Miracles, Parijat Deshpande chats with certified advanced birth doula and postpartum educator Adriana Lozada to discuss new motherhood and share their top tips to prepare you for your first few weeks as a new parent.

There is a whole other side of health that we don’t always hear about – lifestyle wellness. Pills don’t always solve everything! In this episode, Parijat Deshpande discusses why standard prenatal care isn’t always enough during a high-risk pregnancy and the importance of wellness.

Sleep is so important not only for your health and well-being, but for fertility too! In this episode Parijat brings on sleep strategist, coach, colleague, and friend Christine Hansen to talk to us about all things related to sleep, fertility, and pregnancy.