Birth Education and Mindset Work For a Better Birth and Postpartum Journey!
Elizabeth Watson is a certified mindset and manifestation coach as well as an empathic intuitive. Working with moms who've let themselves get lost in everyone else's needs, and help them reclaim their power to live the life of their dreams.
Through a unique blend of science-based techniques, 'whole-self healthy' life balance, and Spirit-led structure; she helps women find their belief in themselves. Feel empowered to make the changes they've longed for, and ultimately transform their lives!
This process works because it is all the same tools she's used to battle infertility, lose over 100 lbs, emerge from severe clinical depression without medication, and pursue a career that is her calling!
As a wife and homeschooling mom of three, she keeps busy. Yet she's learned over time that it's vital to include care for all aspects of a healthy mind, body, and spirit. It is her privilege and honor to share this with others!!
Overview of our chat:
2 blissful births and 1 unexpected c-section
How every birth experience can be dramatically different
The importance of birth education for you and your partner
How mindset work can help with better outcomes
Honoring yourself as a person because you're not "just a mom"
Self-care no matter what season you're in
Connect with Elizabeth ⤵️
Instagram: @thesurrealdawn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSurrealDawn
Email: thesurrealdawn@gmail.com
Don't forget to subscribe to the Birth Junkie Podcast for more empowering conversations and insights on all things birth-related.
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✨ Check out the transcript here! Birth Education and Mindset Work For a Better Birth and Postpartum Journey!
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Transcript:
I want you to get ready to embark on a transformative journey, where there's no more suffering in silence, no more conforming to outdated societal norms. This is the podcast where we dare to crush those societal expectations and embrace the realities of pregnancy and parenthood with one honest conversation at a time.
It's time for us to rise above the shadows and ignite a movement towards a happier, more fulfilled world for every parent and child. If that's you and you're ready to challenge the status quo and embark on this incredible journey with me, then I'd like to welcome you to The Birth Junkie Podcast. All right.
So this week I am joined with an amazing guest. Her name is Elizabeth Watson and she is a certified mindset and manifestation coach as well as an empathic intuitive working with moms who've let themselves get lost to everyone else's needs. I know how that goes. Claim their power to live a life of their dreams.
Though a unique blend of science based techniques, whole self, healthy life balance, and spirit led structure, she helps women find their belief in themselves, feel empowered to make the changes they've longed for, and ultimately transform their lives. This process works because it is all the same tools she used to battle infertility.
Lose over a hundred pounds. That is amazing. And emerge from severe clinical depression without medication. And pursue a career that is her calling. As a wife and homeschooling mom of three, she keeps busy. Yet, she's learned over time that it's vital to include care for all aspects of a healthy mind, body, and spirit.
It is her privilege and honor to share this with others, and I feel so privileged and honored to have you on to speak about your experiences because I think everything that you're about is so important for everybody to hear. Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here. I'm really excited to share with everyone.
Thank you. So what brought you exactly on this journey? Oh my goodness. So I've been I've been reading for myself, um, tarot cards and on a spiritual journey on and off since I was in my teens in the nineties, we're not going to date ourselves too much, but, um, I'd always kept it very to myself. It always been something that was very, you know, when I had the time for it.
And as we know, life rarely gives you the time for things you have to make the time for them. So it went very much by the wayside. And then when I really got serious about wanting to have a family, my husband and I were really serious. I knew that I was going to have struggle because I knew I had PCOS.
There was no doubt about it. And I discovered when I was in college that I actually had a pituitary tumor condition that was releasing prolactin. And for those who don't know, that's the same hormone that's released when you're breastfeeding. And it's your body's way of preventing you from getting pregnant before your baby is done with the breastfeeding journey.
So, we had the cards stacked against us. So I knew that I was going to need to make some serious changes and I began my fitness and wellness journey in, I want to say 2013, 2014, somewhere around there. And that is when I really came into the understanding of how powerful mindset is. I'd spent my whole life feeling like the big girl, feeling like, you know, there was nothing I could do about it.
Everything I tried failed, but when I had a really. Strong, really deep connection with why I wanted to lose weight. Not just because of the surface level, not just because of how I wanted to look or what I wanted other people to see when I knew it was because I wanted to be a mom deep in my core. That was everything to me.
It suddenly clicked, everything clicked and it became easier. I'm not going to say it's easy. It's never easy to make change. If it was, nobody would be unhappy. We'd all be our perfect weight. We'd all be in our perfect job. That is not the reality. But connecting with the deeper why on such a visceral level, because I could feel in myself, you know, they call it the biological clock, call it manifest destiny, whatever you want to call it.
I could feel that I needed to be a mother. And so I started doing the things I started doing little things that compounded. I was able to, despite all of these struggles, I was able to get pregnant almost, almost to the date, two months from when we started really getting serious about tracking cycles and ovulation periods and things like that.
Um, and I had an incredibly healthy pregnancy and I had the kind of labor that they tell you about to keep you having children. I'm not kidding. I woke up on the morning of my due date with my first child at 6 AM. And I was like, Oh, that's a contraction. Okay. Then got ready. Went about my things, woke my husband up a little bit later and said, would you like to meet your daughter today?
And he goes, where's my shoes? I'm going to go. Oh, you have a fire break. And he's panicking. I'm like, no, no, shh. All right. It's all right. We're good. And labored quietly at home until about the middle of the day, when they finally convinced me to go to the cop and convinced me to go to the hospital because it was about 45 minutes away from us, and I had this.
Terror in my head of, I am not going to go there and not be ready and have them send me home. I'm not going to be laboring in the car for multiple trips. That's not how this is going to go down. Right. So they finally talked me into going, I saw my OB, she got me in the stirrups and she said, okay, you're going down to triage, honey.
We are having this baby. So that was around noon. By two o'clock, they had called her into the room because I was all in there and everything to break my water because it hadn't broken yet. I excused myself to the restroom really quick because I was feeling something. I wasn't quite sure. My mother was a labor and delivery registered nurse.
So I had these horror stories going through my head of, I just really don't want to move my bowels while I'm having my baby. I just really don't want to do that. I know it's natural, but I don't want to. So I'm going to go to the bathroom now and get ready because they're going to break my water and then we're going to go.
And so I go to the bathroom and the water breaks. And they get me back in the bed. While they're checking everything, the doctor walks in, in time to catch my baby without gloves. Two pushes, she was out. Wow. Yeah. That's amazing. It was total blur. Um, and I'm really coming back to myself as my, my firstborn is on my chest and I'm like, Oh my God, this life is real.
And then they're sewing me up because when you go that fast, you tear inevitably. There's no, there's no answer about it. And that, then it got real and it got really real. So. As I was coming into motherhood and realizing what this was for me, I also realized that I did not want to let go of my fitness journey.
I knew how easy that is. I knew how all consuming this motherhood would be, but I knew also that I needed to continue to take care of myself or her. And that mindset really came back into play. And even before I was done with maternity leave, I was baby wearing while I was on a treadmill. And I was just like, yeah, let's do this.
And she loved it. She napped through every single one of them. I bet. But it really drove home that mindset for me. Again, it all starts with mindset. And my second child, a little more complicated, but again, very much, uh, easy labor by all standards. Then I had my third and it was the complete opposite. I had ended up in a severe clinical depression and because I was a stay at home mom by that point, I really didn't feel comfortable taking medication when there was no one there to back me up.
I did not have time or the funds for therapy. So I was dealing with it on my own. My husband was doing everything he could to support me, but he was also supporting our whole family financially. So there was only so much he could do. And we had a miscarriage during that time, which only made the whole thing worse.
My entire weight loss journey backslid and then some I lost all my progress and then some and then we got pregnant again and I knew I couldn't let anything happen to this baby and I would love to tell you that I started my fitness journey there, but I didn't. And there were some complications with blood pressure and things throughout the pregnancy.
And I did my best to try and take care of things, but was still struggling with depression. Had the other two that I was working with. And then I go into the doctor's office for my 38 week appointment. And I'm feeling so much better. I had been sick through so much of the pregnancy, but I was feeling so much better.
I was really positive. This was just before July 4th. And my due date was two weeks away. And I thought, okay, I'll have this long weekend with my husband home, I'll get things clean, ready for the family that's going to come and help us take care of them because all our family lives a state away from us.
We have no support here where we are. So I'm thinking, all right, this is perfect timing. I can make all this happen. And they check my blood pressure and it's not good to the point where they send me to triage to be monitored and they put me on medication and my blood pressure just keeps climbing. And my husband at this point has our two older daughters at the park playing because they expect all of us to go home when this is done.
And the doctor comes in and says, we are going to have to deliver you today for your, and the baby's safety. You are going to have to deliver today. And I just start sobbing and just start sobbing. I feel like we're biggest failure to my baby, to my husband, my kids, myself. Like I just, I lose it. Because there's no way my husband can be here.
He has to take care of our other two. There's no way our family can get there on a moment's notice on Fourth of July weekend. Like that. I'm going to have to do this all by myself. I'm scared, terribly upset. And the whole process is going through. I let my husband know. He's like, well, you know, let me try and find someone.
Let me try and get there. And I'm like, no, we're not going to trust our children to strangers. At a time like this, they're going to be scared enough as it is. And I'm adamant that he not come. And so they take me into the room. They get me on Tocin. They're monitoring. Things are not going good. He's not responding well.
I'm not responding well. And we come to the realization that it's going to be a C section. We're going to have to do it now before it gets to be any more of an emergency situation. And by this point is about 10 o'clock at night and they're wheeling me into the operating room. And they were very good about not telling me what was going on to the, to.
Too much like they were giving me information, but not all the information and, uh, they end up not having time to even give me an epidural. So I'm going to have to be sedated for this entire process. So I'm going under and all I can say to them is just whatever you have to do. You save my child. That my baby comes first, if it comes to a choice, there is no choice.
You save that baby. And so I go to sleep not knowing what's going to happen. And I wake up and there's, they still have me in recovery and I'll, I'm, you know, they're like, okay, you did so well, everything's going so well. I'm like, tell me, is my baby okay? And they're like, yes, your baby is fine. He's with your husband.
I'm like, what? My amazing husband had found someone to be with the girls. They had already gone to sleep. He found someone to watch them while they were sleeping that we knew and trusted who dropped everything at the last minute to be there. He rushed to the hospital and walked into the operating room as I was being sedated.
He was there for the whole thing when my son was born. He was there to be the first person to hold him. He was there with him while they got me back into the room, and I couldn't tell you how grateful I am. Oh, I bet. The journey just got crazier from there. Wow. Um, I ended up with what is known as help syndrome.
It's a hypertension situation that also leads to low platelets, low white blood cells. So I had to be transfused in the operating room before they could even operate on me, or I would have bled out on the table while they were trying to remove my, move my son. So, I didn't know any of this at the time. Um, obviously they don't want your blood pressure climbing from that stuff.
Of course. So my son ended up needing assistance to maintain his temperature. He wasn't able to nurse right away, so he had to be, get a feeding tube. He had to go into an incubator and he had to go up to the NICU. Cause this is still COVID time. So there's still a ton of regulations and now I can't even see my son.
I get to hold him for maybe 30 minutes and then he's up in the NICU and I'm fresh out of a C section and incredibly sick and I'm not allowed to go see him. And there's not a day that goes by that I don't hurt from that. After these two amazing pregnancies where they were on me, the minute they were out, they were on me before they were even cutting the cord.
Now I've got this incredible separation from my son and it was devastating. And it took me five days before they would release me from the hospital before everything was for my blood pressure had regulated and everything was well enough to send me home. And it took another four days after that before we could get my son out of the NICU.
So then we're going back and forth, you know, I'm trying to take care of my older two because they were still pretty upset. Family had thankfully gotten there by then. So they had people they knew and trusted to be with them. My husband's working all the hours going back and forth between everybody he's up in the NICU as much as he can be.
So at least somebody's with our son. And then coming to be with me when he can be, we're going back and forth for my appointments to see my son. It's just. All the insanity. Wow. That's a lot. We finally get to the point where I can breastfeed him and be with him pretty consistently. And I was pumping from the moment I could be.
And his weight starts to come up rapidly as soon as that happens. And so we were, that's why we were able to get him home so quickly. Oh, wow. Maintaining his temperature. He was gaining the weight really quickly. We got him home four days after I was discharged. So about a week and a half of a NICU stay, which is pretty great.
And then we got him home and He's almost two now and he's loves running around with all that little boy energy. And I just want to hold him all the time and he gets so sick of it. Yeah, but in that process, you know, it was, it's one of those things. It's those moments that, you know, can crush you can absolutely ruin you if you let it.
And I had just come, I was just crawling out of that depressed state. I know I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I really had to make a choice. I could let myself wallow in my perceived failings as a mother in all of the upset and trauma around this birthing experience and my separation from him, or I could move forward and I could make each day a new start and I could really work on building the relationship with him now and not letting that week and a half define everything for all of us and from that point.
Thank you. There was a deepening to the intuition that I'd always had and the connection to spirit and just bigger energy than myself that I really needed to help me through this. And I, I remember thinking, this is what I've been missing. This is that element that I've been missing for when I can't do it on my own.
This is what I needed. And as I started to bring reading cards into my daily practice, again, as I started to pay attention to the signs that are around me, the synchronicities that were around me, I started to get more messages that not only was I in the right place for myself, now is a time when I needed to start to share this with other people because I had gone through these incredibly powerful experiences because I was coming out of this horrible depressive state and paying attention to the steps I was taking to get there because I was Restarting my fitness journey and losing the weight again and making the healthy choices again and balancing everything again, I needed to pay attention and I needed to begin to share it.
And so that. is why we're here talking today. I love that. And I think that's really important because as much as we would love for our pregnancy and our birth experience to be this perfect, beautiful dream birth, we could plan till the cows come home. But, you know, there could be something that happens that we didn't expect to happen and it's hard once everything is said and done to not kind of put that blame on us, like, what did I do different?
What did I do wrong? It was me. It's my fault. And that's also when we're in this fresh postpartum, uh, just season and we have all these hormones surging through us. And. It's we're not sleeping. Exactly. Yeah. So it's so hard, but I think it's important that you talk about mindset and getting back into what you feel is balanced because obviously what you feel is balancing is not the same for somebody else.
And I think it's important to figure out what is it that is balancing for me or how can I better integrate these things into my life to make it make sense for me and my family. So, yeah, and it's an ever evolving thing and we all say we want balance, we want balance, we want balance. But I think where a lot of people trip up is that they don't understand balance is constantly in motion.
What balance means to you in your twenties is so radically different than your thirties than your forties than your fifties. What you balanced yourself as, as a single woman is worlds different. Then what you'd balance as a mom, it's something you have to constantly be evaluating and it's work. It takes work.
It's worth it, but it does take really mindful, intentional work. And that's one of the things that I work on foundationally when I'm working with a client is understanding what life balance means to you, customizing it to you, because it is so personal and it is going to change, but when you have the tools to understand it, evaluate it and work on it.
That's where that empowerment comes in. That's where you feel like, okay, nope, I got this. I can do this. Yeah, and I feel like you're speaking my love language right now, because I originally started out like my, I guess, niche, you would call it is because I had a V back, which, you know, is vaginal birth after C section.
And I had a vaginal birth after three C sections. So I was like, yeah, incredibly passionate about helping women achieve their V backs. But as I've been diving deeper into it, I've realized that I really focus on the mindset. Part of it, because there's a huge mindset aspect to preparing for something that has a lot of fear surrounding it.
So, I mean, that is just, it's, it's not just pregnancy and birth, it is. Whole life like it is your it surrounds your whole life anything That's a decision that you're fearful of or you know have any kind of negative feelings towards It's like that's something you have to work on on a daily basis. It's not something you can work on once and be done No, no, it's an ongoing thing because you're always growing and you're always evolving Let alone your life and the things that happen around you.
And it's so, so ingrained in us that, you know, this is the way it is. And that's the, that's just that. And there's all these external factors that really play into it. I mean, all of our belief systems come to us from external factors. They're all from well meaning adults. You know, the people who are trying to keep you safe and raise you, right?
Um, you know, parents, teachers, ministers, what have, you name it, coaches, everybody is so full of advice. On how to keep you safe, but those things implant in us and create these limiting belief systems that hold us back and it's so much easier to listen to them. You know, that's when that inner critic starts coming into play or that imposter syndrome starts to pop up that we all end up dealing with and.
You know, low self esteem, scarcity mindset, all of these things come from these limiting beliefs that have been ingrained in us from other people. And we don't even know we necessarily have them. They can come from things as simple as, you know, the phrase money doesn't grow on trees. Well, now that ingrains the scarcity mindset in you, and it's that one particularly cracks me up because it's literally lost.
So technically it. Actually really does. I mean, it's part of a tree, right? Initially, so that's such a fallacy. But it, you know, we all hear it. It's a part of our daily lives and that ingrains in us and creates all these subsequent beliefs and limiting beliefs are maddening because no matter how much evidence we have that we can do things, we listen to the limiting sides that tell us we can't.
And as moms, especially, we have the evidence that we can make miracles. We create life. Yep. We literally gave birth to life. We created life. We raise life, which is a whole nother kettle of fish. Oh yeah. And miraculous. The fact that we don't go absolutely insane on a more technical level. I mean, we all have crazy days, but the fact that we make this work amazing, it's magic.
There's no other word for it. This life is created, you give birth to it, you raise it, you teach it, it grows, it becomes its own person, and suddenly this personality is going to change the entire world, but it started with you. And that is amazing. If you can do that, why do you believe there's something you can't do?
Oh my gosh, I love that. I love the way you put that in perspective because it's so true! What makes us think we can't, even though we've done this miraculous thing? Like, there's nothing holding us back except for ourselves. And it's crazy. I want us to get that message out to everybody so that, you know, we can realize we have this amazing power.
We can literally create whatever world that we want to live in. Whatever it looks like. That's exactly what belief is, too. Belief is... You know, the things that you've been told, but they shape your perspective and your perspective is what shapes your reality on a very, very literal basis. What you perceive is your reality.
It's also individualized. Your reality is not anybody else's reality. There are certain things we all agree on that are true. But the fact of the matter is if that you woke up tomorrow convinced that the sky was purple and you convinced your mind to the degree that you saw it, then the sky is purple for you and that's your reality.
Thank you. I'm not saying you should, but the fact is your brain has that kind of power. It really has the power to shape it. And when I was going into my labor experiences. As I was going through my first childbirth classes, and I had, thankfully, this really amazing understanding of the entire process because I'd grown up with a registered nurse who did labor and delivery for over 30 years, I knew that I didn't necessarily want medication.
I wasn't anti medication, but I had a bigger fear of an epidural needle than I did of contraction pains. I know that makes no sense, but I just... That was me, and I didn't want to deal with it unless I had to, and that was the mindset I came into my labor experience with, and I talked about it with my husband.
We were both on board. We put it into our birth plan, and they always tell you, you know, this is, this is a plan. This is not your. This is not a schedule. This is not how it's going to go. This is just what we use to, you know, roll with the punches as we go through this process. So make sure you understand that.
But I went into my labor experience with that mindset that I did not want medication, that I was more afraid of an epidural needle than I was of my body's own natural pain. And I was going to see how far that would take me. And between that mindset and just breathing through it and taking the pain, I can vividly remember this.
I would take the pain in my mind and I would push it out of me because when we're in pain, our body really, it clenches up, we tighten up and that's the worst thing we can do that only increases the pain. So I very mindfully took the pain and would try and expand myself and push it out and push it into my body and make it into energy and I would keep repeating to myself when I was.
Able to when I was cognizant enough through the breathing and everything, I would repeat to myself. This is not pain. This is energy. And this is helping me bring a healthy, happy baby into the world. This is not pain. This is energy. And I would use that through the whole thing. And before I knew it, I had a baby in my arms.
Yeah, and the first one was a quicker process. I mean, I started at six a. m. And the baby was out around two. So I was experiencing contractions through the whole time. And I was doing that the whole way through, um, you know, right up to transition. Um, the second one, she showed up, um, midnight, right after her due date, like the, her due date, midnights or the day after, and that's when my water broke with her.
Um, and so I'd been spending about four days actually laboring with her on and off. Um, pro journal labels, pro journal labor is what they call it, where you really slow build and then everything happens really fast at the end of it. Um, so I went into it again with that mindset that I'm just going to use this as energy to help me bring this baby into the world.
And before I knew it, I had this baby in my arms and I'm not saying that makes the pain go away. Nothing does that. Anybody who's telling you that tell them to shut up, please. I'm sorry. That's that is bunk, but you do have a choice. You have a choice of what to do with what is happening around you. You may not be able to control the world around you, but you choose how you respond to it, how you let it impact you, how you move forward with it, with these things that happen to you.
And that, that is incredible. When you stop and think about it, that is the pure definition of magic, because you have a choice, and your choice can be an intention, and from there, it becomes a reality. Yeah, no, I think you're, you hit the nail on the head, like, beautifully, and I kind of want to go back to your C section experience, and I just, I'm curious, because, you know, it sounds like your husband was so amazingly supportive, So if somebody were experiencing this, how would you feel like the best way their partner could support them through it?
It's a wonderful question, and my answer is, don't listen to her. So what I mean by that... Is I was adamant. I tried to make him promise me that he would not come to the hospital, that he would stay with our older two girls, because I was terrified for what they would go through, you know, they expected mommy to go in for an hour and then we would all go get dinner and we would go home and we'd all be together.
We were talking about the long week when we're going to have, I was so terrified for them that that was all I could think about. And I made, like, I tried to make him promise not to come to the hospital and if he had not, I don't even want to think about what that experience would have been like for my son, let alone for myself, you know, the terror of being brought into this world and then not being around any of those familiar smells or sounds.
I couldn't be with him. You know, my husband was able to go up to the NICU with him when they took him from me and. If I had, if he had listened to me in that moment of pain and stress and sorrow, it would have been such a different, horrible experience. So my advice for partners in this is when she's in the thick of it, she can't think as clearly talk before talk a lot before you get to those places, understand what she wants on a level where she's thinking clearly, you know, my husband knew my priorities because we've been together for almost 20 years now.
So we know each other very, very well, and he knew what my, my core beliefs are, what my deepest focuses and passions are, what I would really matter to me. And so he took care of our girls, and then he came into care of me and our son, and he found a way to make all of it work beautifully. He stayed until our girls were asleep.
He got someone to be here while they were sleeping, and then he came and he took care of us. And he was in contact with family the whole time. It's, you're going to have to do the hard things. You're going to have to handle all of these logistic things. You're going to have to be the one who makes decisions when she's in pain and fear, and you need to do that from a place where you know what she's going to want when she's out of that.
And you're going to have to handle all of the, you know, talking to family, talking to the doctors, making sure the insurance cards, where it's going to need to be, that everybody has transportation that she's going to have her clothes and everything. Like I had a backpack and it was in the car. With us because I knew the drill, but I didn't take it in with me to my appointment.
So he had to park and, um, he left our two girls with a nurse at the triage station to bring my bag into me when we initially knew that this was going to happen. And I was still like, no, no, no, no, no. You stay with the girls. You stay with the girls. You stay with the girls. But he knew better what I would want when I was not panicked and I was not so sick.
I couldn't think straight and he made decisions from that place and he was right. Yeah. You know, every husband in the world is like, Oh, why is that it? But he was right. And I will admit it. Yeah, yeah. And I mean, I think it's super important to talk about those things, like you said beforehand, before it becomes a situation that is not ideal.
Like, like you talked about a birth plan. Yes, have a birth plan because that doesn't necessarily mean that's how your birth is going to go. But that brings up these conversations beforehand that you might not have had if you didn't decide to make a birth plan. So exactly. Yeah, that's great. Go, go to the childbirth classes.
I don't know a hospital or an OR that doesn't offer it. Midwives offer it. OBs offer it. Even if it's a fee, it is worth it. We went to one when I had, when we got pregnant for our first time. Even though I had literally attended multiples of them because my mom used to teach them and I would go after school because that would be the time that she'd have them and I'd be sitting there and it's not like I was, you know, 12.
It's not like I was 12 sitting there listening avidly. No, I was doing my homework or trying to like listen to music and drown out the crazy pregnant people. You know, some of that stuff sticks and it's, even though I had that foundation, I wanted to do it again when we were pregnant and it, this was when it was us.
It was real. It was now. And we did it through our hospital because I wanted to know their specific policies and things, how they would approach everything, get the education, go as a team as well. That was the other reason we did it. I wanted my husband to have that information because what I had, I wouldn't necessarily remember to tell him.
And it was important he felt like he had the knowledge, so he was empowered to make the right choices as well. And then you take. Those classes and you start out your birth plan, you know, you're usually doing that somewhere in the second trimester. So you're feeling better from some of the first trimester stuff.
You haven't quite gotten to the, well, this is really real stage of third trimester, but you have that you have a better feel for everything and you can make informed calm decisions. At that point, you can look at worst case scenarios a little more clearly. And you can make some plans for them. Don't let them stick in your head.
Because again, that mindset thing, like if you focus on the worst case scenario, chances are, you're going to find a way to manifest it. That's the power of that reticular activating system. What you tell it to focus on, it's going to, and it's going to find ways to make that your reality. Don't feed it that, but don't be so afraid of it that you don't make plans for it.
You need to make plans for everything and think about all your options. You know, do you want to labor in a birth center or do you want to do it at home? Do you want to be on the ball? Do you want to be in the tub? Talk about what your options are and if you don't feel like the place you're going to where the people you're working with are Going to support what really matters to you think about changing it because this is your support team.
They don't get to dictate to you when it comes time for your health and safety, listen to the people who have these degrees and experience, but when you're making your plans plan for your best case scenario plan for the worst and the best and then go into it with an open mind and let the experience be what it's going to be because in the end, all that matters is you're going to be holding a healthy, beautiful baby and that moment in time will pass and then comes the lifetime of love that you get with this baby.
Exactly. Yeah. And it can be such a transformative experience that you go through. So I think doing it on your terms is the best thing to do, no matter what. Absolutely. So, and I love that your mom was a labor and delivery nurse and you got to sit in on her childbirth education classes. So how was that? Oh man, when it came time for talk about the birds and the bees, it was not, it was not a light, fluffy conversation though.
It was some really real stuff. Like my mom, um, for the longest time she worked graveyard shifts, she worked night shifts. So she would come home fresh off of work and we'd have breakfast together. And there were times where she would share war stories and that, that got in my head. Like there were some.
Interesting things. People do some interesting things when they're in that level of pain and, um, that level of fear and stuff. And so breakfast and sometimes dinners, right before she was getting ready to go to work, we'd get some interesting stories out of her. They weren't always the most appetizing. So you grew a really thick stomach.
And then when it came time, like I said, for the talk about the birds and the bees. She was sharing at that point she was heavily into the education aspect and she was sharing videos that she was thinking about showing her Classes, so I'm watching these live births happen And as you can imagine the safe sex conversation came about a lot with the end result that's possible Do you want to experience this?
Okay. Well, then let's talk about getting condoms Oh, wow. That's quite an introduction. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, man. Yeah, I had quite an understanding of what was possible and they, um, the high school I went to was one of the ones that did the program where that you could take the baby simulator home and it would be one of those ones where you'd put the key in when it was crying and you have to carry around the whole time.
And part of me was curious. Like, I really wanted to do that. And my mom was like, no, yeah. That is not happening. I am not going through that. I don't care. Here, you wanna know what having a baby is like? Sit down and watch this series. Oh my god. Okay then. Wow. That is amazing. I can only imagine. The things that she's It was also It was also an amazing resource to have someone with that level of knowledge and experience that I could call at a moment's notice throughout every pregnancy who could be there.
She was there with me through both of the first two labor experiences, and she was able to be there with me as I was recovering from my third one. She couldn't be there in time. As soon as she got the call that I went into triage, she knew what was going on, and she got in the car, um, and she drove to come be with us.
And to be with me and support me. So she was able to be there when my husband couldn't. So I had this great support system and his mom had come to be with the kids so that he could travel back and forth and do all the things, my poor husband. Oh my God, it's amazing. But. Between his support and my mother in law with being with my elder two and my mom being with me as I was going through that recovery process, it was amazing.
So I cannot tell you enough. If you do not have that in your family, reach out to doulas, reach out to midwives, reach out to lactation consultants. These people are amazing. They are such a spectacular resource. You know, talk to your OB, talk to the nurses. They know. All the things that you're going through.
No question is dumb. No question is undeserving of being asked. You are going through, as you said, a transformative experience. This is life changing on every possible level. I mean, your body, literally your hips literally move. They are never the same after you're done. Your hip bones, the inside of you, your body, everything changes on such a level.
It is okay that you are scared, that you are curious, that you are never feeling prepared. It is okay. Use the resources that you have. Use them. Because it makes such a difference when you don't have to spend all that time thinking, Okay, well, do I really not get to eat this now anymore? Like, would one sip of coffee make my baby have brain damage?
Ask the questions. It's okay. Yeah, exactly. There's no dumb questions. There's no dumb fear. Like you said about pooping. Like, I've heard that too. Like, oh my gosh, I don't want to poop. I don't want people to see me poop. But it's like, talk about it. Talk about it with somebody. And, you know, so you can decide what is like the worst case scenario.
You can learn more information. Or, you know, whatever it is that spins off of whatever your fear or concern is. Because nine times out of ten, it's worse in our mind Then it actually is when it happens. So, yeah. And again, that's where you have to really think about your mindset. Because when you're focused on those things, what are you letting slip?
Like if you're so stressed about moving your bells while you're on the table, delivering your baby, are you paying attention to your breathing? And if you're not, that can be damaging to you. It can be damaging to the baby. It can prolong the process, increase the pain levels. Like, so talk to your OB first, talk to the labor and delivery nurses who are in there with you.
Let them know, okay, I, this may sound silly, but I'm really concerned about their, this, you know, is there anything we can do to make sure I'm not pooping at the same time as I'm pushing? You know, they'll do their best to help you. You have to communicate it, though. You have to really talk to them about it.
It's the only way you're going to get through it. And then try your best to let it go. Try your best to let it go. Yeah, definitely. We have to let that go. But, okay, so I would love for other people to be able to get into contact with you because, I mean, I think what you're doing is so important for Anybody in general, but oh my gosh, so how would they be able to work with you or you know, Just get into contact with you.
I love it. I love it. Um, thank you for asking I am gonna have you have all my notes so there are links so they're gonna be included in this Um friend me on facebook do not be shy friend me on facebook You will see all of the stuff you will see the craziness of my three kids and the homeschooling journey We're on and all that jazz, but I love to friend people on facebook.
I can um Get you link to my booking calendar, so we can schedule a free 30 minute discovery call where we talk about what your dreams and goals are, what may be stopping you from getting there on your own and how we might be able to work together to get you past that, to get that mindset really dialed in so that it's working for you instead of against you.
And then I also have for your listeners, my free three minute manifestation hack. Now, this thing is dynamite and it can be a really helpful resource to moms because we do not have all the time in the world to sit down and visualize our ideal future or, you know, make these really detailed smart goals that we can schedule out because.
Our schedule doesn't belong to us. It belongs to them. That's just reels. So this three minute manifestation hack is free. My gift to you to really help you get started on that process of bringing these things that you want to need back into your life because you are mom, but you're still a person and you deserve to have things for yourself too.
Exactly. Yeah, exactly. I mean, who were we before we had kids? You know, we were a person, so. Who can remember? Right, I know. Pretty sure I used to sleep. I remember that being awesome. What is that? I really, I look forward to that someday. Yeah, we'll get there. Maybe, when they're like 30 and you kind of think they figured out what they're doing with themselves.
Yeah, we'll see. All right. Well, thank you so much for joining me today in this wonderful chat. I've so enjoyed talking to you and I think it's so valuable for everybody to get into contact with you and get to listen to this because, oh my gosh, we're changing the world one, one person at a time. I believe it.
Absolutely. Absolutely. And I mean, we're moms. So if you aren't doing it yourself, you're doing it through raising these amazing kids. Yeah, so. Model what you want them to be. That's one of the things I really want to tell moms when I'm working with them. When I'm working with my mom, clients model what you want them to be.
Don't expect them to grow up, to be the kind of person who asks for help and goes for their dreams. If you're not showing them that they learn through you. So help them by showing them if you've got a dream or a goal. Now, this is me giving you permission, go for it. You deserve it. And they deserve to see you doing it.
So I look forward to talking to you guys. Thank you, Petra. This was wonderful. I've loved talking with you today and I look forward to talking to so many more of you in the future. Awesome. Thank you. We'll chat again soon. I hope.
Gosh, that conversation with Elizabeth was amazing and so insightful and we touched on so many important things that I think. It is so good for people to just, for you to research about, like we talked about birth education and how important it is to just take the birth class. And I just wanted to remind you that I do actually have a birth education course that I teach and I do teach it in person via Zoom.
Also, I have it completely online where you can just do it at your own pace. It's not in a class setting and I do have a Facebook group that is connected to it so we can connect outside of the birth education course. So, uh, if you want to head to the link below, you can go ahead and sign up for that.
Right now, the price is 149. I've been debating on raising it, um, because I want to make sure that it's affordable. Because I think it's important for everybody to get birth education, so that you are just knowledgeable about all things birth, and not to say you need to be an expert, but at least you can know some things.
Head to that link if you'd like to learn more, or you can also book a discovery call if you would like to. Chat about what exactly this course entails. I'm so happy to answer any questions that you have before you even purchase this course. So head to the link below if you would like to book that free discovery call about the course.
Or just go ahead and head to the other link below if you are just ready to buy. And also if you have a HSA or FSA
account You can pay for it with that. Also, I do have Klarna hooked up to it. So if you'd like smaller, more manageable payments, you can get it in for easy payment. Alright, well, I'm going to let you go for now, but I really hope that you enjoyed this conversation that Elizabeth and I had. It was amazing. I loved it.
And like I said in the episode, mindset is my love language. So if you want to talk all things mindset or birth, because you know I'm obsessed with birth, I am a birth junkie, then go ahead and connect with me. Uh, on Instagram. So many ways you can get in touch with me and Elizabeth. So I will leave everything below.
Uh, until next time. Bye!
