Hello Postpartum

So grateful to discover this podcast in postpartum with my second baby. The “fourth trimester” is such an overlooked part of the pregnancy/childbirth/postpartum experience, and within the topic of proper post-childbirth healing alone (including c-section recovery, pelvic floor wellness) I’ve gained tremendous insight here. Host Carley goes well beyond, tapping into broader societal and medical system gaps that unfortunately leave many birthing parents unsupported and in the dark, to say the least. I love her thoughtful questions with each guest and relatable stories, and by the end of each episode I feel more informed, connected, and optimistic. Huge thank you to Carley for all the wonderful work you do to support and empower the rest of us mamas!

Listening to this podcast is like listening to friends talking. Carley’s experience and knowledge is woven in with her personal experiences in a way that is completely relatable. This is a must listen podcast for all new moms!

I’ve only listened to two episodes so far, and I’m finding myself feeling confused. The interviews are not structured so as to allow the guest to really share their expertise and share what THEY believe is really important to share. Instead, they seem to spend more time listening to the host share her personal experiences and thoughts and validating her. For example, on the episode about navigating the pressures of breastfeeding—I don’t think a breastfeeding consultant is really there to talk about unnecessary pressure to breastfeed. It’s great that she is supportive of mothers who decide to change their minds on breastfeeding vs formula, BUT the guest seemed to also want to talk about the importance of empowering moms who DO want to breastfeed but are discouraged and have heard horror stories that make them doubt their ability to breastfeed. That’s her actual job, not analyzing how society pressures women. I feel like the bulk of episode content should be centered on what the guest feels like is a really important theme to get across to listeners. Questions that are too pointed (“I’m guessing that for a lot of women you’re the one who is telling them, you know, it’s okay to stop breastfeeding if that’s what you want to do?”) result in conversations that are interesting, BUT I’m not hearing much of what the guest expert really thinks. Instead, the guest expert ends up just agreeing with and validating the host. Most of the main points of the episode have been introduced by the host and just agreed to by the expert guest. But…the host isn’t the expert on this topic. So why is the content being dictated by the host? To be fair, the quality of recording is high, and the host is interesting to listen to. I often agree with her. It’s well done and interesting. BUT I really think she needs to step back and let her guests direct the content of the episode and introduce the topics and subtopics themselves. The information loses immense credibility when it’s first shared by the host and just agreed to by the expert. Her experiences are interesting but should be shared to validate what the guest has shared—not shared and then be validated by the guest with a shorter story of a similar theme.

Carley was made for podcasting. Her passion comes through in each episode. I’m obsessed already! I cannot wait for future episodes and to continue learning from her and her amazing guest experts.