To close season six, host Alison Rice dedicates her Ask Me Anything episode to her little girl, Betty. 

So often, the stories we hear about pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period are negative and fear-based. Alison’s experience has been more soft than hard, and so she hopes that sharing a different perspective might help other women feel more excited than scared about this new chapter.

In this extended episode, Alison answers listener questions about her pregnancy, navigating pregnancy anxiety, her labour preparation, hospital bag must-haves and why she believes she had a soft and positive postpartum experience. 

She also talks about the sense of perspective she has following two pregnancy losses, the life lessons she hopes to teach her little girl, her thoughts on her career and earning after having a baby, the products she’s loved, the books she read, her emerging parenting style, and opens up about Betty’s personality and what she looks like. 

Below is a list of everything Alison refers to in this episode, plus a few extras she forgot to include. 

Books

• WOT Baby ebook
• I didn’t mention it in the episode but loved Dr. Harvey Karp’s Happiest Baby On the Block for general info and newborn settling techniques 
• Ten Moons
• Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth
• Spiritual Midwifery
• Spirit Babies
• The First 40 Days
• The Motherhood (would have liked more positive stories though!)
• The Montessori Baby 

Conception 

• We saw an IVF specialist after our second miscarriage for testing: AMH levels, reproductive carrier screening, sperm DNA fragmentation test
• I had weekly acupuncture from ovulation until week 12, then moved to fortnightly, then monthly during the third trimester. I see Jade at The Whiteowl Clinic

Pregnancy 

• Our OB is Dr. Alex Owen
• Acupuncture with Jade at The White Owl Clinic 
• I had a few osteo sessions to support some pelvic pain and one session after birth. I saw Nadia (French and amazing) at Sydney Osteopathy in Bondi Junction 

Labour Preparation 

• Epi-No Childbirth Trainer 
• Perineal massage
• Labour preparation session with a women’s physio (to test pelvic floor and learn how to push correctly)
• Hypnobirthing course with Lillian from Woven 
• Antenatal classes through the hospital

Hospital Bag

• I laboured in a black crop top and black maternity underwear
• Papinelle pajamas and robe
• Depends underwear
• Toms maternity pads. I then wore ModiBodi when I got home from the hospital
• Diffuser and lavender essential oil
• Portable speaker and charger
• Phone...
  

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