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MARISA'S RECOMMENDATIONS
My favorite podcasts, books, YouTube channels + tips and tricks for self-care
What information you take in during your pregnancy matters.  Here is a list of my favorite resources for gaining more information about pregnancy, self-care and the journey ahead.
Technology has given us the gift of having information at your fingertips. And you're thinking about having a baby or you may already be expecting. This is all really big stuff, life-changing, paradigm shifting stuff. You many be asking yourself "where do I start,?" My advice is to go slow and follow your instinct. If you encounter a some info or resource that does not connect with you after a chapter or 30 minutes in, try something else. You will find your way, follow your internal compass. If something connects with you, keep going. Lastly, be patient and say to yourself "I am still learning."
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Sending you love,
Marisa
EBB PODCAST
Evidence Based Birth Podcast
Evidence Based Birth®â€¯ was founded by Rebecca Dekker (she/her), a mother of 3 and registered nurse with her PhD, who got fed up with how the system treats birthing families.
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BIRTHFUL PODCAST
with Adriana Lozada
The tagline of Birthful is "To inform you intuition." I truly believe that trusting your birthing body's intuition is key. Birthful is full of current and important conversations around birth.
Read
"Drawing upon her thirty-plus years of experience, Ina May Gaskin, the nation’s leading midwife, shares the benefits and joys of natural childbirth by showing women how to trust in the ancient wisdom of their bodies for a healthy and fulfilling birthing experience. Based on the female-centered Midwifery Model of Care, Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth gives expectant mothers comprehensive information on everything from the all-important mind-body connection to how to give birth without technological intervention.
Filled with inspiring birth stories and practical advice, this invaluable resource includes:
• Reducing the pain of labor without drugs—and the miraculous roles touch and massage play
• What really happens during labor
• Orgasmic birth—making birth pleasurable
• Episiotomy—is it really necessary?
• Common methods of inducing labor—and which to avoid at all costs
• Tips for maximizing your chances of an unmedicated labor and birth
• How to avoid postpartum bleeding—and depression
• The risks of anesthesia and cesareans—what your doctor
doesn’t necessarily tell you
• The best ways to work with doctors and/or birth care providers
• How to create a safe, comfortable environment for
birth in any setting, including a hospital
• And much more
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth takes the fear out of childbirth by restoring women’s faith in their own natural power to give birth with more ease, less pain, and less medical intervention."
(Amazon bio)
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Listen
I WAS ON A PODCAST
Have a listen
"BIRTH MAGIC"-THE MEDICIN PODCAST
"Birth is something to be observed, not micromanaged." - Marisa Tervoort
Marisa has been a birth worker for the past 15 years, supporting and educating expectant families in a way that supports their ideal birth outcomes. She is currently a Doula at The Tourmaline Birth center in SD which offers holistic, evidence based care for every stage of the pregnancy journey.
This is the ultimate empowerment episode for any woman stepping into the world of pregnancy + motherhood.
Today we discuss:
The medical training that midwives go through
Myths + misconceptions of working with midwives
The cascade of interventions of the traditional hospital experience
Dangers of unnceccesary interventions
How birth is something to be observed, not micromanaged
How to be an empowered advocate for yourself during pregnancy and motherhood
How pregnancy offers you the opportunity to transform
And so much more
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Practice
AFFIRMATIONS
Say these out loud to yourself everyday. Remember you are limitless and your reality is what you make it (click to play).
Watch
"To change the world, we must first change the way the babies are being born."
-Michel Odent
Listen
THE HOLISTIC OBGYN PODCAST
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We don’t need to burn down the medical industrial complex to change women’s healthcare. We merely need a life raft to demonstrate how truly holistic care is better than pharmaceuticals and surgery. The Holistic OBGYN Podcast is the catalyst for a new take on pregnancy, postpartum, menopause, and everything in between. It features conversations about relationships, medicine, food systems, political activism, spirituality, and the sacred rites of passage in life, namely birth and death.
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This , directed by Abby Epstein, examines the ways that the American health care system approaches childbirth. The traditional form of U.S. birth involves hospitals, drugs and obstetricians, while births in many other countries utilize midwives. Interviews with parents and medical experts explain the realities of maternity care. When Epstein discovers that she is pregnant herself, the discussion becomes less theoretical, as she must decide which form of birthing she will employ.
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"A guide to help support women through post-partum healing on the physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual levels.
This holistic guide offers practical advice to support women through postpartum healing on the physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual levels—and provides women with a roadmap to this very important transition that can last from a few months to a few years.
Kimberly Ann Johnson draws from her vast professional experience as a doula, postpartum consultant, yoga teacher, body worker, and women’s health care advocate, and from the healing traditions of Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, and herbalism—as well as her own personal experience—to cover"
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"Dr. Britta Bushnell has created the transformative, intelligent, and empowering pregnancy and childbirth guide you’ve been waiting for.
This book embraces birth as a metamorphic experience―a rite of passage in which you are initiated by opening to the unbidden, embodying your own wisdom, and gaining freedom from limiting beliefs.
Our culture has inundated us with limiting ideals that prevent us from fully engaging in the journey of pregnancy and childbirth―including a need for control and certainty, vilification of pain, and reverence for technology and intellectual knowledge, among others. Dr. Bushnell helps you clear away unwanted beliefs and behaviors so you can open to the meaning and power of this uniquely life-changing experience. Here she offers daily practices, rituals, exercises, and more to help you cultivate resilience, power, and connection during this transformative time.
Childbirth is more than just having a baby. Transformed by Birth invites you to discover childbirth as a transformational experience that alters your knowing of who you are and lasts long after pregnancy and birth are over." (Amazon bio)