Midwife Life: Midwifing you through health, motherhood, and the sacred mess of life’s transformations with Diane Ortega

Podfox Media
Podfox Media
  • 5.0 (9)
  • Alternative Health
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Welcome to The Midwife Life—part podcast, part revolution that empowers and educates women on all things related to pregnancy, birth, postpartum care, and careers in healthcare. Whether it's understanding the options available to you, advocating for yourself in a health care setting, or simply knowing that you're not alone, I want you to leave each episode feeling stronger and more equipped.

  1. 1d ago

    The Kitchen Table

    When was the last time you sat at a table you didn't set? I've been setting the table for 28 years. Four kids, the last 12 of them on my own. Three birth centers, where I made the breakfast trays for the families and ate my own lunch in the office. I can count on one hand how many times someone set the table for me. This week I made a decision, and it started at a kitchen table. Actually, a lot of them. In this episode: The kitchen table I grew up around, and the chair by the window nobody sat in The Thanksgiving dinner I cooked at 12 that showed me hosting lights me up What 28 years of setting the table for everyone cost me What happens when women sit around a table together that doesn't happen anywhere else The decision: The Kitchen Table, a monthly dinner for 8 to 10 women. I walk you in the door. Why "for once, you don't have to set it," and why receiving is a muscle Who this table is for, and the four ways she'll talk herself out of coming Want a seat? The first Kitchen Table dinner is before the end of the year in the Phoenix area. Eight to ten women, one beautiful meal you didn't make. DM me the word TABLE on Instagram @diane.ortega, or reply to my email with TABLE. You'll be the first to get the date and details. The seats are few on purpose. Local to the East Valley? Join me for Rebirth Conversations, "What Are You Keeping for You This Holiday Season?" Thursday, November 19, 6:00 to 7:30 PM, Erma Bombeck Room, Queen Creek Library. $10 holds your seat: themidwifelife.kit.com/rebirthconversations If anything in this episode resonated with you, share it with a friend who needs to hear it, and leave a rating wherever you listen. It helps the show reach more women.

  2. Oct 26

    The 11pm Questions

    There's a moment around 11pm when the house finally goes quiet. The dishwasher is running, the kids are in their rooms, and nobody needs anything from you. That's when the questions show up. Is this it? When is it going to be my turn? Who am I when I'm not taking care of anyone else? This week I'm talking about the questions mothers ask at 11pm, and why they show up then. There's nothing wrong with you. You're finally quiet enough to hear what you've been telling yourself all along. In this episode: Why the hardest questions show up at 11pm, when the house finally goes quiet "Does it get better, or do you just get used to it?" My honest answer "I'm so tired I could cry, and nothing is even wrong," and why a spa day won't fix being on call for years A practical note from the midwife in me: when to get your blood work checked "I miss having a thought that isn't about someone else's schedule," and the quiet grief inside it The half-joking laugh, and the truth it's usually wrapped around My own 11pm questions, the night we decided to close the birth centers What to do with your 11pm question tomorrow morning What's your 11pm question? Send me the real one, not the polished one. DM me on Instagram @the.midwife.life.co or reply to my email. I read every one, and I might answer some on a future episode. I'll never share your name. Something Is Shifting: a free 10-minute audio for the car or a walk, for when something in this episode hit home: themidwifelife.kit.com/shifting Local to the East Valley? Join me for Rebirth Conversations, "What Are You Keeping for You This Holiday Season?" Thursday, November 19, 6:00 to 7:30 PM, Erma Bombeck Room, Queen Creek Library. $10 holds your seat: themidwifelife.kit.com/rebirthconversations If this show has ever made you feel a little less alone, take a minute to rate it and send it to another mom who needs to hear it.

  3. Oct 19

    Crying in the Closet with Becky Mollenkamp

    By 35, Becky Mollenkamp had the life she was supposed to want: a good job, a beautiful house, a husband she couldn't say a bad word about. And she was sitting in her closet crying, asking what was wrong with her. Then, in 2010, her brother died of a heroin overdose at 30, and her marriage ended soon after. In this conversation, Becky and I talk about the "good girl" mask, the grief we call failure, and the shame so many women carry for problems that were never ours to fix. If your life looks fine on paper and still doesn't feel like yours, this one's for you. In this episode: The "good girl" path, and how Becky ended up with a great life on paper that didn't feel good at all The slow burn, then the "giant kaboom": losing her brother, the divorce, moving home to her mom at 37 Her mom's definition of grief: the gap between what you expected and what actually happened Why "grief has one job, and grief's job is to be felt" What liberation means: being free to set down the mask, or to choose when to wear it Why so much of what women call imposter syndrome isn't a personal failure The pile of shame mothers carry, and what happens as it gets smaller One first step if you've built something that doesn't feel like yours About Becky: Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) is a feminist business coach for service-based entrepreneurs who want to build human-first businesses that honor collective flourishing over profit-at-all-costs growth. Learn more about Becky at beckymollenkamp.com.  Connect with Becky https://www.threads.com @‌beckymollenkamp  Mentioned in this episode: Becky's book, Liberate Your Business: A Radical Guide for Entrepreneurs Building Inside a Broken System: beckymollenkamp.com/book Becky's websites: beckymollenkamp.com andhttp://smashingpatriarchy.com All About Love by bell hooks, Becky's pick for the first step Something Is Shifting: a free 10-minute audio for the car or a walk, for the woman who's fine. Tired, but fine.http://themidwifelife.kit.com/shifting Local to the East Valley? The next Rebirth Conversations is Thursday, November 19, 6:00 to 7:30 PM, Erma Bombeck Room, Queen Creek Library. $10 holds your seat:http://themidwifelife.kit.com/rebirthconversations If this episode meant something to you, share it with a friend, and leave a rating and a couple of lines on your podcast app. It helps the show reach more women who need these conversations.

  4. Oct 12

    The Pause You Didn't Choose

    Last week I opened the doors to my program, The Rebirth Journey. The doors closed and no one came through. This episode is me sitting in that pause, honestly. My first feeling was relief, and I wasn't sure I was allowed to feel it. After eighteen years of watching babies be born, I know what happens when something comes before it's ready. So I'm letting this one finish gestating. If you're in a pause you didn't choose, the career on hold, the plan that stalled because someone needed you more, this one's for you. In this episode: Why my first honest feeling was relief, and why that felt like something I wasn't allowed to feel Transition in labor: what happens when we try to push before it's time The labor I attended that simply stopped, and what happened when we let her rest What I did with the hour that was supposed to be our first call Why stillness feels unsafe, and what that has to do with your nervous system What I'd tell you if you're sitting in a pause right now Something Is Shifting: a free 10-minute audio for the car or a walk, for when you're in a season like this one: themidwifelife.kit.com/shifting Local to the East Valley? Join me for Rebirth Conversations, "The Pause You Didn't Choose," Thursday, October 15, 6:00 to 7:30 PM, Erma Bombeck Room, Queen Creek Library. $10 holds your seat: themidwifelife.kit.com/rebirthconversations If this episode meant something to you, share it with a friend, and leave a rating and a couple of lines on your podcast app. It helps the show reach more women who need these conversations.

  5. Oct 5

    I Deserved Every Penny

    This summer, one of the women in my pilot group came to week three with a story. When a real estate deal went sideways, she'd always quietly absorbed the cost. This time, on what she called "a miserable transaction," she fought for her commission and kept every penny. "That was super uncomfortable, but afterwards it was like, I should do this more often!" This episode is about the wall she hit, why mothers hit the same one every time they want something for themselves, and what got her over it. In this episode: Why knowing what to do was never enough, in her own words from week one The commission story, and the sentence she said afterwards The braces-and-cleats test: what you spend on your kids without a second thought, and what you won't spend on yourself Burn, Slow, Listen, Move: her four words across four weeks, and why the slow weeks have to be built in What a room of women witnessing each other actually does The Rebirth Journey: twelve weeks, a small group of women (eight at most), Wednesdays 6:30 to 7:30pm AZ, starts Wednesday, October 7th. Enrollment closes Tuesday, October 6th at 11:59pm AZ: The Rebirth Journey Close but not sure? Email hello@themidwifelife.co with "talk" in the subject line, and we'll find twenty minutes before the doors close. Not ready for any of that? Start with the free guided audio reflection, about ten minutes: Something is shifting audio

  6. Sep 28

    Reclaim You: The Workshop

    Last Tuesday I taught a free workshop called Reclaim You. Two women came. I taught it like the room was full, and I walked out surer than I walked in. This is the teaching, start to finish, so you can do it with me. Grab a pen. There are two places where I'll ask you to write, and I want you to actually pause me when I do. In this episode: Why I went into this workshop treating it as a test, and what happened when one woman came The Missing Phase: how mothers absorb everyone else's schedules and needs until they lose their own data points The Root prompt, and what to do with whatever you write down The Reclaim prompt: one piece of yourself you're ready to take back because of who you are now Why I stop before Rise, on purpose The two prompts, if you want them in front of you: Root: Look at your last 48 hours. If we stripped away everyone else's schedules, demands, and "I'm fine" moments, what did you actually want to do with just one free hour? Write down the raw, unfiltered truth of what you are currently tolerating. Reclaim: Think of the version of you before motherhood, or the version of you that existed before this current season shifted. What is one piece of her, a feeling, a boundary, a hobby, or a standard, that you didn't notice slipped away, but you are ready to reclaim because of who you are now? The Rebirth Journey, twelve weeks, eight women, Wednesdays 6:30 to 7:30pm AZ, starts Wednesday, October 7th. Enrollment closes Tuesday, October 6th at 11:59pm AZ: The Rebirth Journey Not sure yet? Email me at hello@themidwifelife.co with "talk" in the subject line, and we'll find twenty minutes. Not ready for any of that? Start with the free guided audio reflection instead, about ten minutes: Something is shifting audio

  7. Sep 21

    Do I Need a Costume?

    A woman I worked with spent twenty-six years as a midwife and is becoming a lawyer. She told me both outfits feel fake. This episode is about what she said next, the real question underneath "which one is really me," and why the answer isn't about choosing the right costume at all. In this episode: The line a 26-year midwife said to me about leaving her career for law, and why it stopped me Her worth monologue, and the specific thing she doesn't believe about herself that has nothing to do with her competence My own version of this, said out loud months before I said it to myself: what it felt like to close three birth centers Why "wife-shaped, mother-shaped, employee-shaped" isn't a character flaw, it's a nervous system response What actually changed things for her, and it wasn't insight What Root, Reclaim, and Rise mean when the thing you're releasing isn't a person, it's a costume Join the free live workshop, Reclaim You, Tuesday September 22nd at 6:30pm AZ: themidwifelife.kit.com/reclaimyou Not ready for a live room yet? Start with the free guided audio reflection instead, about ten minutes: themidwifelife.kit.com/22d2e5d807

  8. Sep 14

    I'm Scared You Won't Think You're Worth It

    Eight days out from the workshop I've been building toward all year. I almost didn't record this one, because the truth in it isn't the polished kind. In this episode: Where the idea for The Rebirth Journey actually came from, and the rebirth I was living while I built it What it was like to sit in a room during the pilot and watch women say out loud how seen they felt The fear I didn't expect to have about this launch, and it isn't that nobody shows up The twenty minutes I sat staring at this episode before I could make myself hit record Reclaim You, live, September 22nd, 7pm AZ, free: Register HERE Not ready to register yet? I made a free 10-minute audio for exactly that moment: three questions, no fixing, no crisis: Something is Shifting

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Welcome to The Midwife Life—part podcast, part revolution that empowers and educates women on all things related to pregnancy, birth, postpartum care, and careers in healthcare. Whether it's understanding the options available to you, advocating for yourself in a health care setting, or simply knowing that you're not alone, I want you to leave each episode feeling stronger and more equipped.

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