Here and Now Motherhood hereandnowmotherhoodpodcast

Today is our final episode. Nicole, our founder, shares her story of her transition into motherhood. 



Here and Now Motherhood is closing its doors, thank you for your support!


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Lyndsay gave birth to her first baby during graduate school. They tried thirteen times to get her epidural in, and Lyndsay goes into detail about how it felt more like this was happening to her rather than the birth being an empowering experience. When the time came for her third baby, she started having an extreme upset stomach - luckily her doula was training as a midwife and checked her urine protein levels, and sent her straight to the hospital. At the hospital, Lyndsay found out that she had HELLP syndrome. However, she took the reins and transformed the birth into a powerful, empowering, God-filled experience. People who entered the room commented on how peaceful it felt, when Lyndsay was actually fighting for her life. Lyndsay and the baby were totally fine  - a miracle. Listen to Lyndsay tell her powerful story in this episode!


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Dr. Diana Morelen is a clinical psychologist and professor at ETSU. She researches maternal and infant mental health - so you can imagine the surprise that came with her own mental health struggles as she became a mother. Diana had a miscarriage and even shares her journal entry about that day with us on this episode. 

Diana later became pregnant with twins and gave birth at 31 weeks due to twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. The twins stayed in the NICU for a time, and one of the babies needed heart surgery. Diana shares about her strong community and how she actually felt elevated once she became a mother. She shares, "We're not meant to do it alone."


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Brianne experienced postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety during the early years of her matrescence journey. After having a long history of postpartum anxiety, she felt her mental health become more intense after having a baby. For her, part of postpartum depression was feeling an overwhelming sense of doom, being tearful, self-isolating, and being angry at her baby.

To read Brianne's story in her own words, read her story our on our blog at https://www.hereandnowmotherhood.org/post/my-story-of-postpartum-depression


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Struggle breastfeeding, infertility, mom identity. Brittany shares her matrescence story, or about her transition into motherhood. Brittany had been married to her partner for 7 years before getting pregnant with her son, and they had been together for 11 years. It was very important to Brittany to have her schooling and career finished and settled before having a baby. Once it was time for her to start her motherhood journey, she found out that she wasn't ovulating. After some trial and error, she went on Clomid. Brittany tells us about her pregnancy being surrounded by friends and family, and how her birth was long but empowering - and how surprising it was to her that her medical chart reflected otherwise. Brittany talks about how she wish she'd known that shed be bleeding for so long after coming home, and we talk about the whole caddy of items we need to bring to the bathroom postpartum! She and her son initially struggled with breastfeeding as well. Brittany is currently pregnant, and has been pregnant during the pandemic. She shares about her trying to juggle her identity as a mom with her identity outside of motherhood. 

We mention the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility. Check it out here on Amazon - when you purchase through this link, we get a percentage of your purchase! 

We also mention the Frida ad - watch the video here.

To learn more about Here and Now Motherhood, visit www.hereandnowmotherhood.org


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Plancental abruption, bedrest, c-section, postpartum anxiety. Rachel tells her story of her rough pregnancy, traveling to Japan and being nauseous  the whole time - and her story of having a placental abruption. In her vivid retelling, Rachel tells us what it was like to wake up in a pool of blood, be rushed to the ambulance, and then be on bedrest the rest of the pregnancy. Join us as Rachel tells her matrescecne story, and shares how having a solid identity was really important to her before she started having kids. As a photographer, she got her business running and then decided she was ready to have a kid.

In this episode we also talk about the risk factors for postpartum depression. Here are the surprising risk factors for postpartum depression in moms:


A personal or family history of depression, anxiety, or postpartum depression

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD or PMS)

Inadequate support in caring for the baby

Financial stress

Marital stress

Complications in pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding

A major recent life event: loss, house move, job loss

Mothers of multiples

Mothers whose infants are in Neonatal Intensive Care (NICU)

Mothers who’ve gone through infertility treatments

Women with a thyroid imbalance

Women with any form of diabetes (type 1, type 2 or gestational)


Bisexual women paired with men are also at a higher risk for having postpartum depression. You can read more about postpartum depression risk factors here: https://www.postpartumspecialist.net/post/postpartum-depression-how-to-know-if-you-re-at-risk

Want to learn more about Here and Now Motherhood? Visit www.hereandnowmotherhood.org


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hereandnowmotherhood/support