The unique challenge with traumatic events on the family-building journey (my shorthand for Trying To Conceive, are pregnant , healing postpartum or parenting your child[ren]) is that there are 2 layers to the trauma. 1 is the real/perceived danger to yourself and 2nd is the real/perceived danger to your child. Traumatic events include loss of embryos when you're doing IVF to pregnancy complications to neonatal loss and anything in between. The triggers are often internal, bo

For many, being part of conversations about infertility, loss and miscarriage , high risk pregnancy, preterm delivery, life in the NICU, or parenting a child with medical needs can be uncomfortable. It's hard to hear about our favorite people struggling to grow their family. It's heartbreaking to hear about an innocent child's life threatened or gone too soon. So, we fill our discomfort with words. Advice, encouragement or stories we think will help. Sometimes they do. But mo

I alluded to this in my stories yesterday but this week was a phenomenal week for so many of my clients. Every single one of them shared some version of, "I didn't think this was possible" as they reflected on the health and life changes that they've experienced on their fertility journey and through their pregnancy. Each and every one of my clients has experienced devastating moments on their family building journey. Some of them even found themselves at the edge of life the

Whether you are officially diagnosed with PTSD or not, a traumatic experience affects all of us on a physical level. Without adequate recovery, the trauma sits in the body, creating roots like a seed growing in the soil. This keeps your body stuck in the fight-flight-freeze mode. This chronic activation of the stress response acts sets the stage for pregnancy complications such as gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes, and preterm contractions among others. In fact

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 tra

Dealing with a high-risk pregnancy can make you feel terrified, completely helpless and and out of control. The problem is, nobody is talking about how to get back IN control when you're faced with pregnancy complications, scary test results and the possibility of delivering too soon. As a clinically-trained therapist and women's wellness expert, I knew the importance of being in control on your emotional health. But it wasn't until I went through my very high-risk pregnancy

Experiencing a loss is heart shattering 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 tr

A while back, I was having a conversation with a friend who was trying to get pregnant. She, like so many women, assumed because she was healthy and in her early 30s, getting pregnant would be a breeze. Until it wasn’t. Months and months went by without a positive pregnancy test, which left her confused. Her periods were pretty regular. She had no known health issues that she was aware could impact her ability to get pregnant. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. She wasn’t

My pregnancy had been really difficult from the start, beginning with finding out about my first health complication before I found out I was pregnant. After I was recommended to limit my activity 6 weeks into my pregnancy, I started accumulating pregnancy complications like I hoard Thin Mints. At first, I took it in stride. I needed IVF to get pregnant, I had endometriosis and scar tissue gluing organs to places they shouldn’t be, so I wasn’t surprised that the pregnancy was

There's SO much junk information out there and it infuriates me how it feeds into the fear-mongering that is prevalent in the fertility

Today I want to share with you the story of "Cassandra", a woman I worked with a little while back. (To protect my true client's identity I've changed her name and identifying details about her in the story below.) Cassandra was a 32 year old woman when she got her first positive pregnancy test. She had been told that after 30 it may take her a few times to get pregnant but after her first try, she saw the words clearly on her digital test: PREGNANT. She was elated, as was he

Last week I was scrolling to social media and I squealed when I saw the headline pop up, “Jamie Otis and Doug Hehner Announce Pregnancy Six Months After Losing Their Son”. Last year, Jamie and Doug lost their son Johnny when he was born at 17 weeks and 1 day, too soon for this world. They were very open about their loss, even sharing a photo of the two of them with Johnny on the day he was born. I had tears in my eyes when I read that she found out she was pregnant with this

Dealing with a high-risk pregnancy can make you feel terrified, completely helpless and and out of control. The problem is, nobody is talkin

Pregnancy. Plan. Put those two words together and two things come to mind: 1. Planning to become pregnant. 2. Creating a birth plan once you’re pregnant. But there’s one more type of plan that’s critical for pregnant women to have, especially if you have pregnancy complications. That is a Pregnancy Wellness Plan. What is the High-Risk Pregnancy Wellness Plan? It’s a guideline for how you want to experience your pregnancy, covering your medical, emotional and physical preferen