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Stephanie
Hi, I'm Stephanie.

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Seth
I'm Seth, and this is the Forever Young Show. The most powerful force in this world is a woman who knows who she is. Why she is here, and what she wants to accomplish.

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Stephanie
And that's where self-care comes in. As a woman, it is my opportunity and my responsibility to take care of me.

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Seth
Self-care for your mind.

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Stephanie
Self-care for your body.

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Seth
Self-care for your money.

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Stephanie
Our mission is to serve women as they fulfill their irreplaceable roles and families. Society. Business. The fabric of humanity.

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Seth
So let's get this show on the road.

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Stephanie
Morgan Brower is a women's health educator. Master esthetician, doula, and founder of Embryo Wellness. Through her work, she helps women reconnect with their bodies through fertility awareness, menstrual cycle education, and holistic birth support.

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Seth
She is also the vice president of The Birth Village, a nonprofit in southern Utah dedicated to empowering women through every stage of life. Whether she's teaching puberty classes for young girls, supporting mothers in labor, or hosting the birth village podcast, Morgan is on a mission to replace shame with knowledge and competition with community.

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Stephanie
Her work is grounded in the belief that women are powerful, especially when they support each other.

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Seth
Welcome to the show, Morgan.

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Morgan
Thank you.

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Stephanie
All right. Morgan. So what are you passionate about right now? And what are you doing about it?

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Morgan
Right now, it's funny, since we since we first met and since we, this is since I initially told you about myself and everything. My life took a little bit of a shift, and I am right now at the very beginning of shifting back, to what I'm passionate about. So I helped a friend start a preschool, and, I'm I'm finally.

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Morgan
It's finally at a place where I'm stepping back now into back into my passions. And so when you're like, what are you doing about it right now? I'm like, not enough. That's what I'm doing is not enough.

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Seth
Reclaiming your. It sounds like you made a decision to reclaim your time.

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Morgan
Yes. Thank you. So currently, I'm reclaiming my time. Now, I'm passionate about helping women. And I do that in a variety of ways. And, helping women, empowering women. It's funny, I, I sometimes I have a hard time saying I don't love saying empowering women because it feels like such a buzzword these days, but it really is when you break it down.

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Morgan
What is what I'm passionate about? At my core, I'm part of a I'm the vice president for a nonprofit organization called The Birth Village. We are currently preparing for, our expo, our annual expo that's coming up September 6th. So we are just a few weeks away from that and kind of in crunch time. So I'm, I'm it's part of my job as the vice president to put that on with the president.

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Morgan
So we're currently working on that. I run the Birth Village podcast, and, we took a long pause from that. Again, I'm like trying to get that running again. I do a lot of esthetic services for women, so I'm talking to women, just clients day in and day out, whether that's by doing facial like, a variety of facials or their eyelashes or whatever.

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Morgan
I'm like with women talking to women, solving the world's problems. Like I like to say, whenever we're being real chatty and talking about all of our problems, we're like getting stuff done. We're solving some problems, you know?

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Stephanie
That's right. Whether it's our own or somebody else's.

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Morgan
Exactly. We're we're talking about all the world's problems and coming up with solutions where we can and then I, I do fertility coaching as well. And that kind of encompasses a lot of different things. So I work with women who are trying to get pregnant. I work with, women who would like to not get pregnant, but not beyond traditional birth control.

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Morgan
So teaching them about their cycle. Teaching, teenage girls about their menstrual cycles so that they can, feel good about it and not ashamed or grossed out or whatever. And then birth services. So I'm also a doula, and I've got all of that going on kind of all of the time. My schedule is kind of chaotic, but it really works for me.

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Morgan
So I'm doing little bits of all of that all of the time.

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Stephanie
Wow, I love it. What what I wouldn't give to have somebody help coach me as a teen girl and about my administration and cycle and or cycles and everything. Wow. What a.

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Morgan
Gift.

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Stephanie
Michelle's girls.

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Morgan
It's it's one of the most, fun parts of all of the things that I do. I think, walking into a meeting that sometimes it's just a girl and me and her mom's, like, nearby, but not in the meeting. Sometimes mom's there, and sometimes it's a group of girls, like, a set of best friends that their moms wanted them to do a class together or a couple of friends.

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Morgan
And regardless of the situation, I always walk in and it's really awkward and embarrassing and nervous at first. And I will typically leave that meeting and the girls are like, I have, these like, plush, a plush uterus and and stuff like that. And, and I'm leaving there and they're like taking a picture with it, and they're so excited to hold it.

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Morgan
And, you know, at first they're like, don't want to touch it or look at it because it's so embarrassing. And that's my favorite part is seeing seeing the change in real time. It's so fun. Yeah.

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Seth
Well that's not.

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Morgan
It's.

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Seth
Not just it's not just a uterus.

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Morgan
I've got a pillow.

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Seth
Yeah, yeah.

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Morgan
Like I have, so. Well.

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Stephanie
How does how cool. Two summers ago, I got to go to Africa on a humanitarian trip. And one of the things we did was we went to a few of the high schools, and we taught them about menstruation and how to take care of their bodies and brought them reusable kits and how to use them and keep them clean.

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Stephanie
And it was really neat that I made it. I feel like it helped heal a little bit of myself because to be honest, like, I grew up in a home where you don't really talk about that that much. You know, maybe amongst the sisters or I might go talk to my mom, but. Yeah. And so it was just really healing for me to be able to open up as an adult woman, you know, I was 40 or almost 40 and give the girls permission to talk about it in a safe place and even in, like, a light hearted way as well.

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Stephanie
You know, some of them would start like giggling or whatever. When I get up there and I'm demonstrating how to use a cup, you know.

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Morgan
Yeah.

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Stephanie
Like, honestly, it was awkward for me. But yeah, I knew right before I did it, like there was just a voice to me that said, okay, you can either make this awkward for yourself and for all these girls, you know, or you can join them and laugh with them and let them know that it's okay to laugh and have fun with it, but also to learn.

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Stephanie
And I was like, oh, I'm so doing that. You know, I'm I'm gonna do that. So it was great.

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Morgan
To be honest, I still feel awkward going into those, like, appointments or those, like, scheduled sessions. And I sort of have that pep talk with myself each time, like, okay, you know the mission, you know the goal. Show up who you want to be even if you're not feeling like that person today. And, it's so important for these girls to feel like it's okay to be, like, light hearted about it.

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Morgan
And so even though I'm feeling like, like I want to die inside at first, at the beginning of it, like it makes the difference for you to to be how you want to be, even if it doesn't necessarily always feel authentic.

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Stephanie
Yes, I agree.

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Seth
Well, how important is it? How important is it? And then again, we're talking about women here. We could we could go on we could go on the, you know, onto the, the X, Y chromosome, as well. Right. And talk about the importance. But how important is it, is it even more so, honestly that a woman and a young woman who is journeying, progressing into womanhood knows her body?

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Seth
Oh my gosh, it's it's the whole identity. Is that the identity crisis versus the the identity capture where you know your identity and when you know your body and when you're proud of your body and when you love your body, when you accept your body and you like, just how important is that and how many people just like, honestly, we could jump into the whole sexuality.

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Seth
We've we've had shows on sexuality, but how many women don't, you know, don't truly understand their own cycles? Oh, yeah. And, you.

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Morgan
Already mentioned.

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Stephanie
It's true.

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Morgan
Large majority. Most women do not understand their cycles at all. Or, you know, 1% of it.

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Seth
And if that's the case, and how important is for men to to be able we all say men who know that from days for girls. Right. How important for men to be able to support it, you know, other than like Neanderthal, like apes, like, do you know, or running from it or or or dissing on it, right. Shaming it or or just kind of removing themselves and saying, you know, and like whatever.

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Seth
But if women don't.

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Stephanie
Go get your supplies at the store, it's embarrassing.

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Morgan
Yeah.

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Seth
Honey. Man.

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Morgan
Seriously. But you know, what's cool is when a man can support it beyond that, if they're not just like, cause some men are, they're like, this happens. It's whatever. It's okay. Don't want to look at it. Don't want to talk about it. If I have to go to the store to buy you some things, I can, I will.

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Morgan
But, like, that's the extent of their support. And that's that's even what we would say is like a really great guy, a really great man who's, like, willing to just go to the store and buy you something. But what if it's. It can go it can go far beyond that, because it can be him understanding your cycle and knowing how to treat you based off of what's going on in your body.

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Morgan
Now, that's a different tier of men. And so come on, guys like Mike, do you imagine, a man stepping up into that tier of like being able to treat you differently or support you differently, and maybe let's even raise the bar into he doesn't have to ask you. He knows he kind of knows where we're at based off of time, timeline or whatever.

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Morgan
Like, I think any woman would just be obsessed with that man. Let's be honest. Yeah.

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Stephanie
That's true.

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Seth
Okay, okay. Call out to men. Here's a level up full on masculinity of man. Understand the femininity of your woman.

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Morgan
Yes.

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Seth
And embrace it.

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Morgan
Yes.

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Stephanie
I mean, it's crazy that, like, I think I was in my mid to late 30s, so not too long ago, just understanding the ebbs and flow of the hormones and that there are different cycles. The period is not the only cycle, you know. And the biggest one for me was, understanding that a man goes through all the hormones and the cycles in 24 hours and a woman does it, typically in 28 days.

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Stephanie
I'm like, what? How? If I never heard this before? Like, no wonder there are certain things that men can do any day. And there are some things that women, you know are up for at certain times.

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Seth
Of the month. Seven days are the seven days of the month. Here we are. It's go time, right? And seven, another seven days of the month. It's like, don't bother me. It's time to read.

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Stephanie
Chocolate and tell me I'm pretty.

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Seth
Yeah, exactly.

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Morgan
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Stephanie
Want me to go take a bath?

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Morgan
If there. If there are any men listening, it really is a game changer. If you can, figure out that schedule and get on board for sure.

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Stephanie
Even the types of foods that you can eat to help with that, you know, cycle within the month. Like there's just so much out there that we can learn. There really is.

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Morgan
And it's amazing. It truly changes your life to when you can understand yourself and stuff like that. Like, what should I be eating right now? How should I be treating my body right now at the gym? At home? With friends? It changes your life in a really powerful way. Just taking very, very small bite size, steps to these baby steps to treating yourself the way that your body would like for you to treat it.

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Morgan
Gosh, if anyone's never tried that before, just do something teeny tiny and small, because it it's a big, big impact to just start small.

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Seth
Well, I can I could just say like, I can see it in my mind as you, you know, as you meet with these girls one on one or with their mothers, I mean, I think how powerful to be with your moms and have a discussion, right? These are things that that we as parents should be doing. But these parents, you know, are also involving you with with unique perspective.

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Seth
Not not every parent has the plush payables. Right. And you can have a pillow fight. Maybe we need to go get all of that.

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Stephanie
Honestly, maybe a lot of girls don't want their mom to have it. And to have that conversation with them, you know, it's it's more neutral to have a third party come in and talk about that, but still allow your mom to be there, you know, that can average.

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Morgan
It can be. And some moms don't know how to talk about it because they never had a talk about it. And so short of like reading a book or listening to some podcast, they don't know what to say. They probably don't even know very much about their own cycle, but they know that they want to give their child something better, their daughter something better.

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Morgan
And so they're, a lot of the time the moms are soaking up the information even more than than the than the girls are.

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Seth
Totally they've had a they've had a few more moons to experience all.

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Morgan
Of this. Yes. Exactly.

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Stephanie
Yeah, yeah. It's for me to to learn all these things about my cycles and about my body has really like, you know, we talked about at the beginning, empowered me and has helped me to have better cycles and to appreciate even the period, and what it's doing for my body and how it's a gift. It's beautiful. It doesn't have to be this big, ugly, dreaded thing.

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Morgan
Yeah. Have you did you used to have, like, painful periods or just a funky relationship with them?

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Stephanie
Probably some of both. You know, at times I would have some that were painful. I honestly didn't have, like, super painful. I mean, maybe some days I would, but I'm, I'm also like, well, I don't know, I've given birth at home a few times, so maybe my pain tolerance is different than others.

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Morgan
Sure.

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Stephanie
But, I think I've honestly probably been blessed with pretty good cycle or periods.

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Morgan
That's nice.

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Stephanie
But then at sometimes, like, you know, it has been debilitating where I'm like, okay, I don't want to move. Like I just want to lay here.

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Morgan
Yeah. And it's okay to do that too. And that's kind of what we're talking about when we say, let's do do what your body's asking you to do. Like if you feel like you just need to lay down, you probably actually do. And you probably actually should just like, lay down and feel okay about laying down and not feel guilty.

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Morgan
Like, oh, there's so much that I have to do or there's so much that I have to get done. Like, your body needs you to rest right now. Just rest. Like, just take care of your body because it needs you to rest. And, growing up, I personally, I never really felt like, which I, that I wouldn't, I didn't feel super grossed out by my period, but I also didn't have the relationship with it that I have now where when I'm in a group of girls and everybody's women, when I'm in a group of women and everybody's like, oh, yeah, I hate being on my period, or like, oh, you're on your period, I'm

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Morgan
so sorry. That sucks. So bad. I love to be the one to speak up. Or if they're saying that to me, you're on your period. That sucks. About would be like, I actually love my period. I love this time of the month. I love getting to connect with myself in this way that I don't have the opportunity connect to connect with myself any other time of the month.

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Morgan
And so like, stop saying that your period sucks. It doesn't have to change it. If it sucks, change it. You totally can. Yeah. There are there's a lot of things that you can do to change it. Yes.

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Stephanie
Some years ago I also heard that, it's common to have a lot of pain during your cycle or your period. But it's not normal. And once I heard that, then I became really curious as to why. Like, because that's what I grew up knowing was like, well, yeah, you're in a period. It's painful and you feel like crap and, you know, whatever.

00;18;02;28 - 00;18;14;00
Stephanie
And realizing that I don't have to feel that way and that just because it's common doesn't mean it's normal. Like really changed. My perspective on things.

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Morgan
I think the biggest part of that too, with it being common, is because we are not taking care of ourselves correctly, and so that most of us are not taking care of ourselves correctly. And that's why it's so painful. And I think there's another, though emotional or spiritual side of it where because it's so,

00;18;39;04 - 00;19;05;16
Morgan
We down deep in our core, have been taught that it is painful and uncomfortable and growth and sucks and that, that we feel that way about it. And there is some healing that can happen from just changing your mindset. If nothing else, you should change your lifestyle as well. But if you can just reef, reframe and go, this doesn't have to suck.

00;19;05;16 - 00;19;26;05
Morgan
And what sucks about it? Let's like break it down. And actually, you know, why is this so awful? It's not. If you can if you can change your mind about that, if you can change your own mind about that, there is some emotional and spiritual healing that can happen with that tiny little baby. Step two. It doesn't have to suck as bad as we're making it suck.

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Stephanie
Makes me start thinking about birth, obviously, that, you know, kind of leads into it. But,

00;19;35;03 - 00;19;41;25
Stephanie
I'm trying to remember some quotes that I've heard. I'll have to look them up later. I'm going on very little sleep.

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Seth
Welcome to motherhood.

00;19;46;01 - 00;20;11;11
Stephanie
But just how like we we are the portals, you know, from heaven to earth. And we get to bring these babies earth side. And I was like, oh, chills. You know, like, this is such a special privilege to be able to get pregnant and to have babies and go through that whole pregnancy and birthing experience and raising these beautiful children.

00;20;11;14 - 00;20;13;05
Morgan
Yeah, yeah.

00;20;13;07 - 00;20;13;19
Seth
I think it's.

00;20;13;19 - 00;20;16;13
Morgan
Beautiful. Very much a privilege. Yeah.

00;20;16;15 - 00;20;48;14
Seth
While we're on this subject, I have to, you know, we have some rapid fire questions, that that may ruffle feathers or may cause some deep thinking or may be contrary to prevalent societal trends, but aren't, I was gonna say aren't necessarily. And like, wait a second, but absolutely. Pretty much are lame ideas. So, weigh in on this.

00;20;48;14 - 00;21;02;00
Seth
Okay. What's your retort to this? Morgan, do you think that hormonal birth control has given women freedom? Or has it actually separated them from understanding their bodies?

00;21;02;03 - 00;21;41;13
Morgan
Unfortunately, the latter, I, I think that it has. Maybe it's provided some freedom to women. Yeah, it's it's in the way that it has given an additional option, that some people, are grateful to have and to use. But really, when it comes down to it, it if we did just understand our bodies and we had that education, especially in specifically from the time we were young, if we were tracking our cycles our entire lives, we wouldn't really need it.

00;21;41;16 - 00;22;19;21
Morgan
And there's a lot of a lot of risks associated that, to me, feel like significant risks. And so, with, with all the freedom that it has afforded with any freedom that it has afforded, it has also introduced a lot of risks. For one example, it's a it's a class one carcinogen. And so it's if you can take, understanding your body or having a relationship with your body, tracking what's going on in your body, over a carcinogen like I.

00;22;19;25 - 00;22;42;13
Morgan
To me, the answer's obvious. So maybe it has afforded people freedom. And I think that some people would feel that it's afforded them some freedom. And really, I think that it has put them in a box where it's out of now, now their body and and the cycles that their body is going through. First of all, now their body is not going through cycles, not real cycles, which is a health issue.

00;22;42;16 - 00;23;08;06
Morgan
And then second of all, now they have dismissed themselves from the opportunity to have this powerful information, and that can be dangerous. And have some grave, side effects, I guess. Yeah. Awesome consequences. Yeah. That's what I was trying to think of. Consequences. Yes.

00;23;08;08 - 00;23;22;00
Stephanie
I would agree with that. All right. So has the modern medical system disempowered women when it comes to birth?

00;23;22;03 - 00;24;03;15
Morgan
This question is a little bit tricky because of the controversial nature of it, but you already gave the introduction that that's what we would be discussing. So, unfortunately, I think, yes. And it has disempowered a little bit in specifically in the way that it has taken, a woman's autonomy and ability to make decisions about her own body, and giving it to someone else and in any circumstance that's going to disempower, by nature, when you're not able to make decisions for yourself and.

00;24;03;17 - 00;24;30;24
Morgan
Yeah. So our, our modern medical system is truly incredible. And, and we I am grateful for it. And I think there is a lot of times when it is useful and let's even say necessary. And it's overused, which causes a slew of problems, one of them being some disempowerment for women and maybe people.

00;24;30;26 - 00;24;36;02
Seth
When it comes to the the whole, you know.

00;24;36;05 - 00;24;42;03
Seth
Preconception, which frankly, nobody even hardly hardly people hardly even talk about and that.

00;24;42;05 - 00;24;43;12
Stephanie
But I think that's changing.

00;24;43;12 - 00;25;19;06
Seth
That is changing. We're starting to we're starting to get I mean yeah, I, we have never talked about it in my history, in my I was going to say in my last however many years of fertility, but that just sounds that's that's that'd be a first. But over the last, you know, number of decades, you know, as an adult man, never have I ever heard about, especially men, what they need to do pre-conception to create healthy babies and wow, the, the like.

00;25;19;09 - 00;25;37;12
Seth
For some reason, we kind of put that all on the woman. Oh. There's a problem with the baby. It reminds me of Henry. Is it Henry the eighth? Remy's remind me. Henry the eighth, right where he keeps on getting rid of his wives because they give in or, you know, have them killed because they're giving him daughters,

00;25;37;14 - 00;25;57;14
Seth
And, like, the whole idea is. Hey, dude, you're the one giving giving the X chromosome there, right? Or not? And not giving the Y like it's your wife has. She's got to die. They both say X on it. Right. But but we're starting to talk more about women, what they need to do. Anyway, I got it from the tangent.

00;25;57;16 - 00;25;59;04
Seth
But but what I was, what I wanted.

00;25;59;04 - 00;26;01;12
Stephanie
To say, what men need to do.

00;26;01;14 - 00;26;11;11
Seth
Oh. Yeah. We could definitely, absolutely talk about what men need to do and how that that leads to, to proper conception, right? Birth after birth, you know, healthy babies.

00;26;11;11 - 00;26;20;25
Stephanie
And read something recently. Maybe you can confirm this or not. Morgan, that morning sickness can also be contributed by the male.

00;26;20;27 - 00;26;47;07
Morgan
Yep. Yes, it can, morning sickness. A lot of the time miscarriage kind of point towards. That's right. Yeah, sure. There's there's a lot of stuff. So in fact. Okay, let me just share this this interesting experience that I just had is a friend of mine who is also a doula, was a just recently was a surrogate for this this family, in the area.

00;26;47;10 - 00;27;15;28
Morgan
And she hired me to be her doula. And it was if I talk about it very much, I will get choked up because it was just a very, very special and very sacred, experience that I was able to have with them. But she, we, we talked back and forth a couple of different times about how different her pregnancy was because it was not biologically their baby and that her pregnancy was significantly easier.

00;27;15;28 - 00;27;37;11
Morgan
Now, she also was able to spend a little more money on some things that maybe she didn't. As as frequently in her own pregnancies, like getting IDs or iron infusions or whatever. But, the baby was not biologically hers, and that pregnancy was significantly smoother than her own pregnancies.

00;27;37;13 - 00;27;43;19
Seth
We need to run an episode and talk about, like, the ten things that your man needs to know in order to have a healthy baby.

00;27;43;21 - 00;27;48;01
Morgan
Yeah, yeah, that would be cool. That would be a good one.

00;27;48;03 - 00;27;54;07
Seth
But anyway, I got off on that tangent. What I wanted to say was, what do we.

00;27;54;09 - 00;28;24;24
Seth
You being a doula, right. Assisting in home births. All of midwifery. Right. This this whole, this whole very historic, very what I was gonna say very historic, very historical. Okay, I'll just repeat myself. This this. Modality that has been handed out. Handed down literally for, we're talking about for millennia, right? Pretty much since, Adam and Eve.

00;28;24;27 - 00;28;57;23
Seth
Right, has has all this collective knowledge and and experience and information and connection with motherhood and and and maternity, and that's very different than we I think we experience in, in our hospitals today. Right. Having, having been in the hospital with, you know, with, with multiple children, of ours that have been born and having done home birth together,

00;28;57;26 - 00;29;21;07
Seth
When people argue against what you're doing, you know, or how you're approaching birth, Morgan, I have to say that one of the biggest, my my guess is one of the biggest concerns people have is, well, what about complications? Like, it's it's just better to have babies in hospitals because. Because of child mortality. You know, we.

00;29;21;09 - 00;29;35;19
Seth
What if what if. And we lose more, we lose more babies to those that are, that are, that are delivered outside of hospitals with midwives. Then we lose in hospitals. Is that true? Is that founded?

00;29;35;20 - 00;30;09;14
Morgan
No, no, that is not true. For one, high risk pregnancies do deliver in the hospitals. There's not really midwives that are going to take a high, high risk pregnancy and they shouldn't. That's why we have the medical system, right. So if we were to say, like just to throw around some numbers, let's say 1 in 10 births needed to be in the hospital because of a high risk situation or because a mother's body needed a little bit of help.

00;30;09;16 - 00;30;12;21
Morgan

00;30;12;23 - 00;30;43;07
Morgan
The amount of births that are actually happening at home versus in the hospital is drastically different than, the amount of births that need to happen in the hospital. And so to to go back a little bit to your question, we aren't just losing babies left and right in a home birth. Because also there's transfers. Usually if a, if a home birth will transfer to the hospital, usually it is not for an emergency.

00;30;43;10 - 00;31;07;14
Morgan
Usually it's because the mom's tired and she's tapped out, and we need some medical intervention to help her body continue to move things along at that point. But if there is an emergency, we can catch it in time. Midwives tend to be a lot. A home birth midwife tend to be a lot more attentive then, a hospital staff, let's say.

00;31;07;16 - 00;31;33;14
Morgan
And that's maybe it's because in the hospital they have all these monitors and all of these things, so they don't necessarily need to be in the room with you. But, a midwife is going to catch an emergency in time. They're going to be able to transfer you in time, typically. And so these babies that are being born at home, they're not just dying left and right.

00;31;33;17 - 00;31;59;05
Morgan
They're they're oftentimes very, very healthy and happy babies. And so it's just a weird misconception that people have and a weird misconception that the reason that we have to have births in the hospital is because before they were in the hospital, all these babies were dying. It's like, no, they weren't. And if they were, probably didn't have anything to do with the birth.

00;31;59;07 - 00;32;19;20
Morgan
So and I and I do see births, I do see births in the hospital as well. I do go and be a doula in the hospital as well as at home. And both experiences can be lovely. But but it's crazy. People are so concerned about the what ifs, the what if this. But what if that.

00;32;19;20 - 00;32;40;09
Morgan
What about this emergency? What about that emergency? And a lot of times, unfortunately, the root cause of an emergency can often be traced to an intervention that happened. And hospitals, do way more interventions than home birth midwives do.

00;32;40;11 - 00;33;11;11
Stephanie
I think for me, you know, having two children in the hospital, epidurals, you know, doctors and then, going over to, use midwives and have them at home, which is drastically different in my opinion, an experience. For me, it was really kind of scary because when I got pregnant the first time, my sister had her baby stillborn, and that was only the second grandchild of the whole family at the time.

00;33;11;11 - 00;33;35;20
Stephanie
Now there's like 27 or something, but, and so after that, after that happens, you know, each one of my pregnancies, it's almost like I have, some form of PTSD from it or something because I'm constantly wanting to like, you know, like I got one of those heart Doppler so I can check the baby's heartbeat. At least, you know, every few days or once a week or whatever.

00;33;35;20 - 00;33;57;10
Stephanie
And, anyways, just because of the what ifs, because of what happened, you know, to my sister. And then two years later, my ex sister in law had a stillborn as well. And so, you know, that's been kind of on my heart. And so when I first went to the midwife clinic or midwife, oh my goodness, I need more sleep.

00;33;57;12 - 00;34;22;19
Stephanie
That midwife clinic, I was just praying to God to ask for, confirmation that this was the right thing for me and this baby that I was carrying. And to give me peace and to know what answer or questions to ask. And then any time that I did that and the midwives gave their answers, that always brought me great peace.

00;34;22;21 - 00;34;44;22
Stephanie
And they said some of the same things, you know, like most of the things we can catch before you actually go into labor, before you have your baby. And they also have requirements, you know, you have to live within a certain amount of time from a hospital, and they come into your home and they assess if it's a safe place to be able to have a home birth, you know, so that they can move freely to, you know, help you in the baby.

00;34;44;22 - 00;35;04;02
Stephanie
And all those things really helped me to understand, that it's not just like free birthing and the midwives are just going to show us, you know? Yeah, there's protocol and there's a system that they go through to make sure that everything is really, really good and safe. And that brought a lot of peace to me.

00;35;04;05 - 00;35;30;15
Morgan
Yeah. This isn't just some lady that lives down the street like, she's. She's very trained and very prepared. Yes, definitely. Even even to the point of, having resuscitation gear on hand. Some of them well, some of them don't. And some of them are allowed to carry pitocin, which a lot of times people are like, oh, I had to have pitocin because of the bleeding afterwards or whatever.

00;35;30;15 - 00;35;53;08
Morgan
And it's like, well, some midwives do carry pitocin. And and there are there are answers to all of these. What is that? If people are willing to like you, even though they feel scared, go and go and find out and ask their questions. It does provide a lot of peace. And it does provide I mean, ask the questions.

00;35;53;09 - 00;36;12;25
Morgan
There's there's answers to all of these. What if that that anybody is is scared about and the midwives are great at answering them and I'm I mean, I'm glad that you were able to to find peace in that because it sounds like you had wonderful experiences. And yes, you could have had great experiences in the hospital as well.

00;36;12;25 - 00;36;23;09
Morgan
But there's there's just something different that you can't explain to somebody who doesn't, who doesn't know. If you don't know, it's it's hard to explain it.

00;36;23;11 - 00;36;48;11
Seth
You having having children, bringing children into this world is is absolutely one of the most sacred things that you can ever do in this life. And and when they put those babies in your arms, after they've been born and you're, you're touching heaven, and the smell and just everything, they make you melt. It's amazing.

00;36;48;14 - 00;36;49;20
Morgan

00;36;49;22 - 00;37;09;25
Seth
Next level. Take all of that. All of the good next level. When we did a home birth. Next level when we moved we when we, when we used in education and and all of the you know the the the prenatal work frankly with our midwives I mean all you know, the endless, you know, nice endless the weekly meetings, whatever they were.

00;37;09;25 - 00;37;11;24
Seth
And it seemed like it seems like it was weekly.

00;37;11;28 - 00;37;14;21
Stephanie
It's not weekly till like the last but six, eight weeks.

00;37;14;21 - 00;37;42;26
Seth
Okay. For the last six, eight weeks, it's weekly. But but the, the connection that that you're able to create the participation frankly that that me as a father that I was able to have and to really experience with my wife was next level completely, completely elevated and magnified and, and truly one of the one of the most, two most beautiful experiences in my life.

00;37;42;26 - 00;37;46;22
Seth
And, and so thanks. Thanks for doing that, babe.

00;37;46;24 - 00;37;49;13
Stephanie
Anytime.

00;37;49;15 - 00;37;51;00
Morgan
Yeah. I mean.

00;37;51;02 - 00;37;53;19
Seth
That's not like a Friday night game. Hey, anytime. She's like, you.

00;37;53;19 - 00;37;56;19
Morgan
Want to go again? So we do. Yes.

00;37;56;21 - 00;38;10;00
Stephanie
You know, if I knew my body can handle, I would be a surrogate till the day I died. I love being like that. Love it. There's just, I don't know.

00;38;10;02 - 00;38;42;25
Morgan
Yeah, it really is, though, like you're saying, so, so incredibly spiritual and sacred and, I, I'm someone who's very sensitive to, spirits and angels, very sensitive to them. And I and I have been my whole life. And there it's it's present. That feeling is present in a hospital room. It's present wherever birth is occurring.

00;38;42;28 - 00;39;08;26
Morgan
But it's like you said, it's it's next level. It's very. It's so much stronger at a home birth. It's like tangible. It's. And usually everyone in the room can feel it. It's it's thick. This feeling of of of heaven in the room very, very thick and tangible at a home birth.

00;39;08;28 - 00;39;14;11
Stephanie
I will say, when I gave birth the first time with Seth.

00;39;14;13 - 00;39;15;06
Seth
In the home.

00;39;15;08 - 00;39;43;05
Stephanie
Yes, in the home, I was in shock. And so I honestly didn't feel anything. And I felt bad for a long time about that. But then realizing like I was in shock, like I couldn't really help it, you know, even to the point where after the baby's born and they're like, here, take your baby. And I'm like, he can hold her for a little while, you know, because I needed just that time to come back to myself, and to feel again.

00;39;43;08 - 00;39;49;05
Stephanie
I guess I just want to bring that up for those that, you know, don't experience heaven when that happens.

00;39;49;06 - 00;39;50;05
Morgan
Yeah.

00;39;50;07 - 00;40;09;01
Stephanie
My mom, you know, she was like, oh, I bet the angels were just surrounding you. And, I just, I, I wish I could be there, you know? And I'm like, well, I know they were there. Now, I am a very spiritual woman as well. And, I'm very connected with angels, and I'm like, I'm sure they were there.

00;40;09;01 - 00;40;15;11
Stephanie
I know they were there. However, in the moment I did not feel them. You know, I, I have the so I.

00;40;15;11 - 00;40;16;13
Morgan
Know.

00;40;16;15 - 00;40;17;16
Stephanie
Yes, I just I'm.

00;40;17;17 - 00;40;50;28
Morgan
I don't let you bring that up though. Yeah. It's it's really important to call attention to that actually, because when I'm saying those things and speaking as a doula to primarily, and not being the laboring mother in that scenario, it's it's much, much easier to feel that feeling. And it's also really important to call attention to the variety of experiences that you can have, and even having that home birth, even in that scenario, you were in shock.

00;40;51;01 - 00;41;15;09
Morgan
And we talked about your birth experience last week, and it. Yeah, rightfully so. That was shocking. Like, but and I'm a big believer in, in calling attention to those experiences, especially if you feel like your experience is a little bit different or an outlier, because if we can speak up about our experiences, then no one has to feel alone.

00;41;15;16 - 00;41;47;12
Morgan
There's very rarely a completely unique situation that we as human beings go through. Someone else has experienced something like that. So I'm really glad that you called attention to that, because, yeah, I'm not. When I'm speaking about that tangible spiritual feeling, I'm I'm more so coming from the standpoint of a doula who is in the room and able to feel that feeling and not have gone through some something dramatic.

00;41;47;14 - 00;41;55;28
Morgan
Regardless of how the birth goes, it's always dramatic. And, yeah, sometimes you're not going to feel it. But other people in the room probably. Well.

00;41;56;00 - 00;42;01;09
Stephanie
Yes. And clearly my husband did. So I'm grateful. It was.

00;42;01;09 - 00;42;11;27
Seth
Amazing. It was amazing. And I was I was glad, I was glad to take a little more of of the yoke of the burden because you already did the hard work. It was amazing.

00;42;12;00 - 00;42;21;04
Stephanie
All right. So some people say doulas are unnecessary because we already have doctors and nurses. What's your response to that?

00;42;21;07 - 00;42;57;20
Morgan
A doula has a very, very different job than a doctor and a nurse and a midwife. A doula is there to advocate and to support, and that looks like support physically, emotionally, mentally informational. And the doctors and nurses, frankly, they're not providing that support and that advocacy to you. First of all, it's not their job to it's a doula job to, second of all, they probably don't have time to a doula does because you've hired them to be there and to do that for you.

00;42;57;23 - 00;43;17;09
Morgan
So, yeah, if I mean, if you're feeling like your doctor has it and you want to give over all of that power to someone else to make over, to make all of those decisions for you? That's that's the that's your prerogative. And you are allowed to do that. But a doula is a completely different job than a doctor and a nurse.

00;43;17;09 - 00;43;56;03
Morgan
And some nurses are really fantastic in the way that they can do, like counter pressure and stuff like that to sort of step in as, as a doula would or could if you had a doula. There they are. Some nurses are really fantastic about trying to inform you of all of your options. If a decision does need to be made, some nurses are are really amazing at, being doula like, but no nurse is going to provide you the same support that a doula can, can, can give you.

00;43;56;05 - 00;44;13;18
Morgan
Not a single one, unless she's your family member and you called her in and, you know, she's whatever. But the jobs are very different, and some nurses can be doula like, but, you know, nurses are going to be a doula.

00;44;13;20 - 00;44;21;10
Seth
When you say doulas. Doulas are advocates for the birthing mother. What? What does that look like?

00;44;21;12 - 00;44;55;11
Morgan
Oh, it's going to look different for, each family. And it maybe there's two categories of, of families that it that we could split it into. So and it kind of comes down to the involvement of the father, or partner if, if there's not a father there, but there's another partner there, of any kind, your partner, your mom, your sister, whatever.

00;44;55;11 - 00;45;38;20
Morgan
But, if a husband and a father or a partner is really present and a great support person, sometimes a dual is there to support them, to make sure that they're getting the breaks, to make sure that that, labor of supporting a laboring women woman is spread out because that's exhausting to their job to have, to advocate, meaning to make sure that this family is getting the support that they deserve, the support that they want, to help keep things on track according to the desires of this family for how they'd like it to unfold the birth.

00;45;38;27 - 00;46;23;02
Morgan
So unfold as much as possible. There's a lot of things that are out of her hands. And then for a family, for a woman who maybe doesn't have other support people or they're not all that supportive, a doula can step into that role of really being that person's main support person. And I would say that the opportunities that I have had to be the main support person for a laboring woman are much fewer, most of the time the, the partner and, and I'll say husband or father, because that's usually the, the occasion that I have been a part of.

00;46;23;05 - 00;46;46;25
Morgan
A lot of times he's really great and he's really present and he's really there, but he doesn't know. He he doesn't know very much about birth. And so I can help him. First of all, I can help them learn. I can help him be like, hey, why don't you hand her this or why don't you push on her back this way or if they come in and and say, hey, we need to do such and such a thing to help keep things moving along.

00;46;46;28 - 00;47;09;26
Morgan
I can talk to that family and make sure that they understand what that means. Or, and an extra set of eyes, let's say, they, let's say Mom and dad want to do a delayed cord clamp, for example. And I'm there and Mom and dad are just staring at their brand new baby. And I'm noticing that maybe the the clamps coming out a little earlier than we anticipated.

00;47;09;26 - 00;47;27;18
Morgan
I can be like, hey, dad, why don't you there? It seems like they're ready to cut the cord. Are you ready? And then he can say, he can step in and be like, no, thank you. We'd like to wait a little bit longer or. Yeah, sure, or whatever. I'm not there to, like, bulldoze any hospital staff or any medical professional.

00;47;27;18 - 00;47;49;06
Morgan
I'm really not. And I'm really there. I'd like to be friends with them, and I want to be on their team. And and I think that I do a really good job of, of doing that. Usually I'm friends with the hospital staff as I'm leaving the hospital, but, they don't always, they, they follow their protocol and their procedures and their normal.

00;47;49;06 - 00;48;13;05
Morgan
What's normal for them. And so especially if a family wants something a little bit outside of the norm, I can help, advocate to make sure that that that's going on, especially if it's appropriate. Right. I'm not going to step in if, if to prevent, an important intervention or something like that. But, there's, there's a lot of ways that a doula provides advocacy.

00;48;13;05 - 00;48;20;28
Morgan
And so I've, I've shared some of them and there's definitely some details and things that I've missed there.

00;48;20;28 - 00;48;47;09
Stephanie
But I think some that I've heard, to go along with yours is that sometimes the doulas will need to step in and invite some people to leave the room if they're causing, problems for the laboring mother, or even talk to the nurse. And and if you know that person can't, step up and they need a new nurse, you know, they can advocate for that as well.

00;48;47;12 - 00;49;08;15
Stephanie
So I think it's great because, like when you're in the middle of laboring, the last thing that you want to have to do is fight for, you know, what is best for you and your baby, or to ask your mother in law or whomever, you know, somebody that shows up unwanted or wanted and then starts behaving unwanted.

00;49;08;18 - 00;49;09;00
Morgan
Yeah.

00;49;09;03 - 00;49;12;23
Stephanie
You know, the mother doesn't have to worry about, you know, just.

00;49;12;25 - 00;49;13;13
Seth
Managing the.

00;49;13;13 - 00;49;14;11
Morgan
Environment.

00;49;14;14 - 00;49;16;04
Stephanie
Yeah. You know, focus that.

00;49;16;09 - 00;49;18;16
Morgan
Yeah. That should not be her job.

00;49;18;18 - 00;49;24;00
Stephanie
Yes. Focusing more on, bringing that beautiful baby to this world. So.

00;49;24;02 - 00;49;25;09
Morgan
Yeah.

00;49;25;11 - 00;49;28;19
Seth
Case in point, you talked about delayed cord clamp.

00;49;28;22 - 00;49;29;20
Morgan
Yeah.

00;49;29;22 - 00;49;48;25
Seth
It seems. Are we are we correct in, in in assuming kind of generally that if you're doing a hospital birth, there basically is a protocol and they want to clamp that cord sooner than we might in the natural birthing world.

00;49;48;27 - 00;50;12;15
Morgan
Significantly sooner even, now our hospitals are getting a little bit better about, delaying the cord clamp is becoming normal and more normal. And yet it is still significantly sooner than you would in a, in a home birth scenario or a birth center or something like that.

00;50;12;17 - 00;50;21;03
Seth
And just as a reminder, again, I mean, one of the things I'm literally just thinking, like, I feel like we're around a campfire, and there's a bunch.

00;50;21;03 - 00;50;23;03
Stephanie
Doesn't count as camping.

00;50;23;05 - 00;50;24;22
Morgan
No, that's exactly.

00;50;24;22 - 00;50;44;02
Seth
What I was to, know, but I feel like we're really having this ancestral type of discussion tonight. You know, the kind of stuff that's that's shared. You know, in, in lodges and, and your, you know, lodges on the American plains in your, in Mongolia. You.

00;50;44;02 - 00;50;47;17
Stephanie
Should come to one of my girls nights.

00;50;47;20 - 00;51;19;07
Seth
And, and girls nights and, you know, all around and all around the US. But just sharing the sage wisdom because you know what is communicated to us, the stream, if you will, the river of communication that that flows over us really determines our culture and our destiny. Right? So I think I think of sitcoms, you know, growing up where they typified men in a birthing situation in certain ways, right?

00;51;19;07 - 00;51;42;03
Seth
Or our fathers in a certain way, as, as Neanderthal idiots who don't know anything, who can't see anything. It's like, dude, you saw your wife naked, you know, you know, like when you are married and now you can't see her while she's giving birth. Like, come on, like like I. But anyway. But but but but that total separation.

00;51;42;03 - 00;52;18;00
Seth
Neither disconnection from life. And I feel like this conversation is so valuable for all the, all the women and men who are listening to it, just because we're we are setting those standards again. We're bringing the truth, right? The old ways where there's so much wisdom. Again, talking about cord clamp. But Morgan, can you really, really briefly just just clearly explain why why in the natural birthing world are we so adamant that we we want to delay that cord clamp?

00;52;18;02 - 00;52;28;11
Seth
In other words. Right. We want to delay severing the the connection B of the umbilical cord between mother and and baby.

00;52;28;13 - 00;52;31;12
Stephanie
Well, or the placenta and placenta.

00;52;31;18 - 00;53;14;10
Morgan
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. And before I answer that question, I did want to to draw attention to something else too, because you're totally right at how men are portrayed, in, in the media that we grew up with as well as now, they're, they're portrayed as not really having anything to do with birth and the, the best birthing scenarios that I have seen and the best birth outcomes, happen when the father or the husband and the husband, the father, is really involved in the birth, specifically in the way that he understands what's going on and he's not scared of it.

00;53;14;13 - 00;53;44;16
Morgan
So a lot of times, a really good birth outcome and a really good, happy birth experience comes down to, father, husband being educated and not and empowered. In that birthing birthing scenario. And, birth is also portrayed for the women in a really ugly way. It's it's scary. She's screaming. She's talking about how painful it is.

00;53;44;16 - 00;54;09;06
Morgan
She's like, get me the aperture. All right. Now, like, that's what this means. Yeah, yeah. She's mean. She's she's lost it. Having a really, really bad time. What an injustice to have that be the main way that birth is perceived. Because most of the births that I see do not go that way. They can be very beautiful and serene.

00;54;09;08 - 00;54;38;21
Morgan
And there might be primal noises going on, some roaring, some some growling, but they're not scary in the same way that screaming is. And it's it's extremely injust for society to portray birth this way. And I, I hate to be like they do it on purpose, but but look at what it has done. It has pushed everyone to be scared of birth and to hand over their power to the system.

00;54;38;24 - 00;55;05;07
Morgan
And so I, I, I hate to be like it was intentional. It was on purpose, but it it does sort of seem like it was intentional and on purpose. Anyway, so that's that's why I say it. Morgan, you can say no, I I'm just saying I, I could continue talking about this and about how, how ugly that is and how stupid that is, but it's I I've said it.

00;55;05;07 - 00;55;33;12
Morgan
I would just be rehashing it over and over again, and I could because, wow, I get fired up about it. But yeah. Yeah, it's it's it's bad, it's wrong. And and we need we need, to have different examples of what birth can be like, both for men and for women. And it would be it would be really amazing if we could start understanding if men could start understanding that this is not something they need to be scared about.

00;55;33;18 - 00;55;58;11
Morgan
It's something they need to be educated about. And and women, same thing. They don't. Women don't need to be scared about this. They need to be educated about it. And when you are educated, you feel powerful and you're going to have a way better experience, and you're way more likely to have a calm, serene experience. Whether or not that includes some intense noises.

00;55;58;13 - 00;56;04;13
Morgan
But to answer your question about the the cord clamping.

00;56;04;16 - 00;56;11;24
Morgan
At at the very most basic of it,

00;56;11;27 - 00;56;33;11
Morgan
If you can delay the cord clamp as long as possible, as long as you can delay the cord clamp. The baby is going to. Okay. When a baby is coming through the birth canal, they lose about a third of their blood volume. It's left behind in the placenta to help them get through the birth canal. And so if you can delay the cord clamp.

00;56;33;11 - 00;56;56;29
Morgan
First of all, baby's going to get their blood back, so they're going to pick up better. They're going to be healthier and happier and, you know, like look better and, and and whatever there. But there's also so many goodies that are left behind, like stem cells. If you don't know what stem cells are, they're they're extremely important.

00;56;56;29 - 00;57;28;13
Morgan
They're the building blocks of all of the cells in our body. So there's a lot of, a lot of good stuff that's left behind when we cut and clamp to quickly. And typically, babies are going to be okay if you cut and clamp quickly. And now I'm, I'm really just talking about physical things, but I think there's something spiritual and emotional to be said about letting that tie linger a little bit longer as well.

00;57;28;15 - 00;57;57;20
Morgan
And so the and that's, that's its own thing. And that's something that people can buy into or not. But there are some very physical, undeniable benefits to it. And then like I said, I think there's some emotional benefits to it as well. It's the lifeline. It is all that that baby has known since its existence. It's how that baby breathes and eats and gets its nutrients and its blood, and everything is through this umbilical cord.

00;57;57;23 - 00;58;19;17
Morgan
And we tend to be in such a rush to take that away from the baby and strip it away quickly and just get this baby right into real life right away. And there's a lot, it we can definitely introduce babies into this world in a more gentle way. And I, I think, I dare say a more respectful way.

00;58;19;19 - 00;58;29;02
Morgan
And, maybe that has to do with letting that baby have it. Have it tie to this umbilical cord. Just a little bit longer.

00;58;29;04 - 00;59;00;09
Stephanie
It's so interesting because I don't know if they still do this, but for some years, I always heard about how hospitals or banks, I can't remember not not like, the money banks, but they wanted to have your babies stem cells from their umbilical cords. And so I'm just like an and to, to bank, for you or for somebody else in case they had an emergency in need of those stem cells.

00;59;00;11 - 00;59;12;09
Stephanie
And so it just kind of baffles me, you know, like obviously they're super important. So why aren't we letting it go back into the baby so they can have what they need?

00;59;12;11 - 00;59;42;03
Morgan
Yeah. And, there's there's something to be said about like, would. Yeah, if that baby was able to just have their own stem cells right from the get go, is it really necessary that we bank them and save them for later? When these same problems occur and it's all speculation, right? I, I haven't read any studies personally, and so I can't, I can't say and I can't speak to that, but it, it does make me think they are very important.

00;59;42;03 - 00;59;49;16
Morgan
They're obviously very important if people are paying loads of money to have them saved for later.

00;59;49;19 - 00;59;55;19
Seth
Well, I don't think you're getting paid for your baby stem cells from the placenta. No, I don't I don't think you're part of that transaction.

00;59;55;19 - 01;00;09;17
Morgan
No, not at all. No, but some people are like some parents are paying basically rent for these banks to hold on to those stem cells just in case their own baby needs it later.

01;00;09;19 - 01;00;19;23
Seth
Holistic and conventional. What's the biggest misconception that women have when they hear the word holistic in relation to birth and wellness?

01;00;19;26 - 01;00;52;01
Morgan
Maybe that it's it's not for them. If people aren't typically holistic or they don't typically vibe with the hippie dippy stuff, maybe they feel like it's not for them. And, I know a lot of people who are not hippie dippy. We will holistic people that have had home birth and continue to live their lives, not holistically.

01;00;52;03 - 01;01;04;05
Morgan
So I think there's, if people if people understood more about birth, then it it wouldn't be exclusive to, holistic community.

01;01;04;07 - 01;01;15;09
Seth
Welcome to hippies, home care. It's been a really enriching. It's been like we've been camping. I really feel I just feel like we've been camping.

01;01;15;16 - 01;01;17;15
Morgan
Don't you feel like a blanket? No, not at all.

01;01;17;20 - 01;01;18;23
Seth
Around the campfire, I feel.

01;01;18;25 - 01;01;23;02
Morgan
I think we need to get together and go camping sometime. I think we should make that happen. There we.

01;01;23;02 - 01;01;24;13
Stephanie
Go. Oh, I been.

01;01;24;15 - 01;01;37;25
Seth
It's been a really important conversation. I just I feel like, Oh, just it's been beautiful. So thank you. Thank you. Both of you women, non hippie women.

01;01;37;27 - 01;01;41;13
Stephanie
I could talk about this stuff every day. All day long. I love it.

01;01;41;20 - 01;01;44;14
Morgan
We do. Oh.

01;01;44;17 - 01;01;55;13
Stephanie
Okay. So if you could redesign the way young girls learn about puberty, what would you throw out from the current system? And what would you add?

01;01;55;16 - 01;02;27;13
Morgan
There's not a lot going on in our current system. You have this really awkward class maybe in fifth grade and depending on the state that you live in and depends on whether or not your parents signed a permission slip and the boys go to a class where they feel like they got a pretty cool life and pretty cool bodies, and the girls go to a class where they're taught to conceal their period products and put them in this baggy, so nobody knows, and hide it in your sleeve and pass it to your friend.

01;02;27;13 - 01;03;05;05
Morgan
And, you know, girls leave the maturation class at school feeling dread about what is to come for them. Boys do not go through that same experience and and leave feeling the same way. That's wrong. Because our bodies are incredible, our bodies are amazing. And I think that if you can tap into your menstrual cycle and like being in sync with it, you're unlocking basically a super power.

01;03;05;08 - 01;03;40;08
Morgan
And that's what girls should leave their maturation class feeling like is like, whoa, if I can really, like, get in tune with my body, I can be unstoppable and powerful. And, that's a huge, huge problem to me. There is a huge myth of the mark to have girls leave feeling dread. They should not feel like that over something that is inevitable and will happen to them, and can actually be really amazing and powerful.

01;03;40;10 - 01;04;05;28
Morgan
First of all, because that's just the way that our bodies are, and our bodies are amazing and powerful and wonderful. And also because it's what gives us the opportunity later in life to do the coolest thing that anybody will ever do. And that is to be a portal of life. So cool. Hello. That's what girls need to be thinking and feeling and like, oh, this is cool.

01;04;05;28 - 01;04;30;11
Morgan
Like, sometimes I will feel like on top of the world, like I can get anything done. And sometimes I'm going to feel really like I want to plan ahead and like instead of just being like, oh, sometimes on your period, you're going to have cramps and, you know, it's going to be really lousy. What if if we were just taught that that's our winter, that that's our time of rest?

01;04;30;11 - 01;04;58;20
Morgan
There's power in that, too, that that's our time of introspection and reflection. Whoa. How cool is that? If a girl left her maturation class knowing that if she got really introspective and reflective on her period, that it would set her up for some amazing times in this next cycle to come. It's like men don't have that opportunity because they do have a 24 hour cycle.

01;04;58;20 - 01;05;28;00
Morgan
They're like the sun rises in the morning, goes down at night. That is, man's hormone cycle. But to be able to be like planning your life based off of how you're going to be feeling and looking ahead and just being in tune with it, there is seriously some power behind that. And instead of teaching these girls to find and feel the power behind being in sync with their cycles, they're just not.

01;05;28;00 - 01;05;57;12
Morgan
And I just it makes me so sad that girls don't have that because they could and because they could, they should, they should be happy about their bodies. They should be, uplifted and empowered just because they are a woman. Let's just be happy with who we are and what bodies we have. And, yeah, we're we're hugely, hugely missing the mark.

01;05;57;14 - 01;06;23;23
Stephanie
I also feel like for from my experience learning, a lot about the period and what it's doing to prepare me for, you know, conceiving and giving birth helped me to understand why, like one of the reasons why my body needed to go through this. And like you said, it wasn't a dreadful thing. It was a purposeful thing.

01;06;23;26 - 01;06;51;22
Stephanie
And to honor that, really, I feel like created a huge shift in me and not hating that I was a woman or hating that I had a period. It was like, no, this is part of that. Oh my goodness. It was the privilege of becoming that portal. This is part of that, you know, as part of that journey and helped me to look at it in a more beautiful way instead of a dreadful way.

01;06;51;25 - 01;06;52;11
Morgan
Yes.

01;06;52;11 - 01;07;12;25
Stephanie
And something that I learned just recently, like, I don't know, a year or so ago, which still blows my mind. I'm 42 now, but that something that women have that don't men don't have obviously is the period, but that it is one detox pathway that men don't have.

01;07;12;28 - 01;07;13;26
Morgan

01;07;13;28 - 01;07;14;14
Stephanie
I was like.

01;07;14;22 - 01;07;15;00
Morgan
Yeah.

01;07;15;05 - 01;07;22;27
Stephanie
How have I gone over 40 years not knowing this, that that is another detox that way. Incredible. What a gift. Like a.

01;07;22;27 - 01;07;53;13
Morgan
God special. Yeah exactly. It's it's special and it's, it's this, it's like a snake shedding at skin or something. It's like it's so powerful. And when you do, when you do add the purpose behind it, it feels special. And you can treat it like it is special. In some cultures, they like they, they save the period blood and use it for a variety of things, because to them it is special and it is sacred.

01;07;53;13 - 01;07;59;29
Morgan
And we have the complete opposite thing. Hide it, put it away. Don't talk about it. Act.

01;07;59;29 - 01;08;02;14
Stephanie
Like it's not even happening.

01;08;02;17 - 01;08;25;09
Morgan
Yes, yes. Go to your sports like it's not happening. Hang out with your friends like it's not happening. It is happening. Let's acknowledge it and treat it, like it's special. Because it is. And I think something else too, sometimes. As far as what we learn as young girls, is that, like.

01;08;25;11 - 01;08;48;23
Morgan
The reason you have your period is so that you can get pregnant some day, and where that is technically that is true. I think that we can we can talk about it in a different way, too, because some girls, if they're not, if they're not looking forward to that. I was not a girl that looked forward to having children.

01;08;48;25 - 01;09;12;20
Morgan
And so, then that that even exacerbated the problem of me looking at my period like a burden. And so it's not like your body's designed like your body can't desire to be pregnant like you don't. Your your uterus is not hoping to be pregnant. That's it's not a it's not a thing. You're attaching emotion to something that's not there.

01;09;12;23 - 01;09;30;29
Morgan
But it's, it's preparing to just in case it does happen. If and when it does happen. And so, yeah, I haven't perfected that yet, but I do think that that can be problematic for some girls, depending on the girl.

01;09;31;01 - 01;09;43;00
Stephanie
I could see that I definitely was one of the ones, since I was a little girl that wanted to be a mother. And so, yeah, this brings a new perspective to me, you know, because that wasn't my experience. So thank you for sharing.

01;09;43;04 - 01;10;06;08
Morgan
But it it I mean, yeah, it is special though. It is. Yeah. It does need to be talked about. I just haven't quite exactly figured out the way to talk about it, because it does allow you to have something super special one day, but it's also not the only the only thing, but it does add to it. Like you said, for you it added to okay, this is okay because it's going to someday allow me to have babies, I don't know.

01;10;06;08 - 01;10;27;05
Seth
Yes, goodness, we could talk like like we had so many talking points. Morgan. And I think we talked about what we needed to talk about. We we could have continued to talk. Let me tell you that. But but there is there is one thing I think we want to end with one, at least one other big question that that we really feel strongly, for men and women.

01;10;27;05 - 01;10;43;17
Seth
But but women, women need to act on this, you know, they need to know how to. You talked about being an advocate as a doula. But of course, it's all about women being advocates for themselves in a system that sometimes, is very disempowering.

01;10;43;23 - 01;10;51;06
Stephanie
So how can women advocate for their own health and navigate the health care system effectively?

01;10;51;09 - 01;11;27;27
Morgan
I think it starts with education and information. And, it's hard to even know where to start with that. And that would depend on a, on a person per person basis, depending on what she specifically, since we're talking about women, but what a person is going through, and so I guess I would say my advice would be to seek information and sometimes it can be scary and hard to find information, but it can be it can be pretty simple.

01;11;28;00 - 01;11;55;20
Morgan
Look for a class, talk to people who have done the thing before you, talk to people, talk to people that have had various, experiences. Like, for example, if someone were preparing to give birth, I would say seek out a birth class, see what options for birth classes are available, because maybe you want to do a birth class with the hospital provides.

01;11;55;22 - 01;12;17;27
Morgan
Or maybe you want to do a birth class that is run by someone that is, talks about evidence only and they don't give any opinions. Or maybe you want to talk to somebody that's super crunchy and teaches about home birth, whether or not that's what you want to do. But if we were talking specifically about birth and Jessica birth class, maybe read some books.

01;12;17;29 - 01;12;47;23
Morgan
And again, talk to people who have had a variety of experiences, talk to people who have given birth in the hospital, talk to people who have given birth at home, talk to people who have had a great experience. Talk to people who have had a bad experience and seek information, I think is the best way that you can be an advocate for yourself, because you have to know what your options are to know really what you want.

01;12;47;26 - 01;13;15;08
Morgan
If you don't know your options, you can't know exactly what you want. You only can know what you know. And this goes beyond birth as well. So if we're talking about birth control again, seek information. Seek information in favor of of, birth control pills and seek favor opposed to seek information that is as opposed to that, like whatever health thing we're talking about.

01;13;15;11 - 01;13;44;20
Morgan
If a woman wants to be her own advocate, she needs to seek information. And I really think that of it is important to get both sides of the coin, too. So, you're going to figure out what you resonate with when you know what's available to you. And so if you only go down one path again, let's say birth control, if you only go down the path of like birth control is bad, birth control is bad.

01;13;44;23 - 01;14;04;21
Morgan
Tracking your cycle is the only way. Now, maybe I personally agree with that, but if someone were to go down that path, only then they can't fully advocate for themselves because they don't know what else is available. So I think just to wrap it up and put a bow on it, seek information.

01;14;04;23 - 01;14;12;16
Seth
You talked about an acronym that that every woman should know and advocating for her health. Can you run us through that acronym?

01;14;12;18 - 01;14;27;29
Morgan
Yes, it is brain. So the acronym stands for B is benefits. You need to know if something is offered to you.

01;14;28;01 - 01;14;49;09
Morgan
I'm like, what example should I use? Let's talk about maybe an epidural. Okay. So if an epidural were offered to you just for this example, we need to know the benefits of it. We need to know what good it is going to do for you. The R comes in, and we need to know the risks because we do need to know the risks.

01;14;49;09 - 01;15;21;21
Morgan
And I would say it's pretty important to know the absolute risk, meaning, the actual numbers. So if somebody says, oh, one risk of it is, is a spinal headache, but it's really low. It's really rare that that happens. Or how often does it happen. Let's not just say it's really rare. Like how rare? Or you know, like and one, one, example of absolute risk that, that is really.

01;15;21;23 - 01;15;45;00
Morgan
Comes up a lot for me is, the hospital doesn't like to allow you to go be pregnant for 42 weeks. They'd really prefer that you cut it off before then. And a lot of the time, a doctor is going to tell you that the reason why is because there is a risk of stillbirth after 40 weeks. And if that is true, there is a risk.

01;15;45;03 - 01;16;12;23
Morgan
But if we're talking about absolute risk, it really, really, really, really minimal. And if we're talking about the risk goes the risk doubles between the weeks of 41 weeks and 42 weeks. Well, it's still really, really, really, really low. And so knowing the absolute risk is, is pretty important. Back to the epidural example. If somebody said, oh, there's a risk of being a little bit sore in your back, it's a really low risk.

01;16;12;23 - 01;16;40;07
Morgan
Well, how much? Because, 20% risk is significantly different than a 0.5% risk, you know, so knowing the absolute risk is is pretty, pretty important. I think. So that's b are the A's alternatives are is there anything else that we can do. What are all of my options right now? What are the benefits and risks of those options of those alternative options?

01;16;40;09 - 01;16;45;25
Morgan
Bre I oh gosh.

01;16;45;27 - 01;16;53;11
Morgan
I'm like, I need to look it up really quick. I is.

01;16;53;13 - 01;17;28;14
Morgan
Why can I not remember. Do you have it intuition. Yes thank you I is intuition I get my mind really want to be to say information. And I was like it's not information. AI is intuition. And I would like to say that you're going to have more power to tune in to your intuition with all of the information, with the information of the benefits, risks and alternatives you are going to be more in tune to your intuition and have basically earned that intuition.

01;17;28;16 - 01;18;02;18
Morgan
So what do you feel like? What is it seem like is is right for you? Because there's a lot of value in that feeling there. And then N is to do nothing. It's always an option to do nothing. And whether that do nothing means permanently do nothing or wait a little while, if it is an emergency, do nothing may not be an option and you will know, if you can if if you can ask your your medical professional, can I pray about it?

01;18;02;18 - 01;18;24;23
Morgan
And they say, sure. Then it's not an emergency. And you can do nothing, at least for the time being. So that's that's the acronym Brain. And I think that it can apply to almost any, medical scenario that you could find yourself in. I love that, yeah. It's really,

01;18;24;26 - 01;18;28;21
Seth
And cut it's a wrap.

01;18;28;23 - 01;18;43;25
Stephanie
Thank you so much for being here today. And thank you for sharing this episode with that one friend who needs this conversation. Thank you for all the ratings, the reviews, the comments, and especially the support we so appreciate you.

01;18;43;28 - 01;18;57;28
Seth
Now, if you want to take a peek behind the curtain and be the first to know about special previews, backstage updates here at the show and especially some private collection content that doesn't come out in the regular show.

01;18;58;00 - 01;19;03;00
Stephanie
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