This week I’m doing a solo episode discussing one of my favorite things: birth scenes in media! I recently watched Netflix’s Inventing Anna and Hulu’s Pam & Tommy, both of which feature pregnancy through lines and birth scenes. I argue that one of the two broke some real ground on depicting birth on film while the other sorta pretended to while delivering viewers with a lot of the same old fat & farty stuff we’ve always seen, but dressed up in a cloak of post-#Metoo fourth wave feminism. Was I entertained? Sure! Was I bored at seeing more waters breaking in the most inopportune time for the millionth time on screen? You betcha! So I keep asking myself, in the age of a glowing and glamorous pregnant Rihanna, why is pregnancy in Hollywood still written like it’s from a man cave? If you want more pop culture pregnancy and birth commentary, head on over to my new Substack - www.doulathinking.substack.com

What do online dating, doula agencies, doom scrolling, comment trolling, care work, and parenting all have in common? They all are influenced — usually for the worse — by scarcity mindset. This week, returning guest Meg Pirie of Inclusive Care Doula Services helps walk us through how scarcity mindset is imbedded in us even at a young age, how it manifests in career choices, partnerships, social media presence, and importantly — the birth worker community. From agencies promoting “value adds” which drive up rates and drive down doula autonomy to how the gamification and commodification of human bodies is making us lose our empathy in dating and work and friendships, this focus on what we DON’T have is making us all honestly a bit more crap to one another. We discuss action steps doulas can take to combat scarcity mindset without getting into some of the culty #girlboss MLM abundance manifestation that’s too easily promoted and offer some productive and compassionate alternatives to doula competition. This was one for the books and couldn’t hit me at better time. You can find Meg on IG @inclusive.care.doula.services *when she feels like it lol* and likewise me @rosewoodrepro. Please give the show some abundant likes, rates, subscribes, and tell your friends 😉 And check out the bonus episode with more on scarcity mindset, Black Mirror, and baby tech up on the Patreon later today

This week it's just me rambling on about my passion research project - baby tech. I read from an essay I wrote based on the prescient 1995 essay "The Californian Ideology" by media scholars Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron, which details the unlikely political, social, and economic philosophies behind Silicon Valley's influence on our world. I use that lends to discuss how it's impacting parenting, birth work, and domestic care. All this to promote my upcoming talk as part of the Bay Area Doula Project's virtual Salon Series on Oct 26th from 6:30-8:30 pm PST. You can find out more about that lecture on my biz page: www.rosewoodconsult.com and on IG @rosewoodrepro

This week’s episode has been long in the making - both in how much had to be shifted and collided to make our schedules line up, but also in the nearly 25 years of combined experience in the birth world we packed into this interview. I sat down with full spectrum doula, advocate, herbalist, parent, author, poet, and new friend Carrie Murphy to talk about what it means to be a “long haul doula.” We note the arcs and variations occurring within doula trainings and policy shifts, give some tips for new and experienced doulas on making connections to one another and staying connected to this work, and a whole lot more. Plus, Carrie tells us about her new class offering - Writing Your Birth Story - an inclusive and affordable online course for parents wanting to tell their own narratives around their experiences in birth and parenting. You can find Carrie on IG @carriethedoula or @carriemurph to learn more about that class. You can find me @rosewoodrepro on IG, @Whatisadoulainfo on Twitter, and patreon.com/rosewoodrepro for member bonus content and my advanced doula trainings. Please give the show a rating and hit subscribe!

And we’re back on the topic of toxic positivity this week. This was the theme of my first episode, which was the main impetus for starting this project, not even thinking I’d be in a season 2 with 17 episodes and counting, but through it all, my first episode on toxic positivity and parenting is STILL the most downloaded and shared episode — and for a good reason, I think. So it was worth it to me to sit down with another doula colleague, Krista Smith, to talk about how toxic positivity can leech into childbirth education, birth, and doula spaces with disastrous outcomes. It’s a great convo with tons of important info on expectations around working with a doula, how to choose childbirth education programs, how doulas can effectively work against toxic positivity in birth prep, how TP contributes to obstetrical violence and birth trauma, and so much more. Plus, there’s a bonus episode on TP and doula competition over collaboration over on my Patreon www.patreon.com/rosewoodrepro. You can find Krista @sageandspirit on IG. I’m @rosewoodrepro on IG and @Whatisadoula on Twitter. Please give this episode a rate and review and hit subscribe to show us some love.

Are you a kid of the late 80’s? Do you love John Travolta? Do you have reoccurring nightmares about driving a runaway car with a breadstick? If so, you likely saw Look Who’s Talking on VHS about a million times like most 30 year olds I know. This week I rewatched that classic 1989 flick with doula Heather Williams. We chat about the impact it made around our ideas of birth and parenting as 80’s/90’s kiddos and what we think of it now as longtime birth workers. How does it hold up? You’ll have to listen to find out! As always, you can support the show as well as get a ton of bonus content through my Patreon at Patreon.com/rosewoodrepro and follow me on IG @rosewoodrepro Twitter @Whatisadoula and learn more about the podcast at www.rosewoodconsult.com. You can find Heather on IG @ohheyheath

This week I sat down with my very own mother to chat about a show we both love, Bones. There are three seasons of the show featuring a main character who is pregnant plus three birth scenes, so there was A LOT to talk about. Mostly complaining because these writers lost their danged minds when writing about birth...it's wild. My mom shares a good bit about her own birthing experiences and turns out she's a huge supporter of doulas!! Thanks, mom! As always, you can rate and subscribe to the podcast wherever you are listening now. Please drop a comment and pass the show along to a doula friend. You can follow me @rosewoodrepro on Instagram, @Whatisadoula on Twitter and Patreon.com/rosewoodrepro for bonus content.

This week I sat down with Darcy Sauers aka Doula Darcy to chat about a topic I felt like I needed a lot of clarity on — Imposter Syndrome. My students ask me about overcoming it all the time and I honestly didn’t feel that equipped to do so, but Darcy has made it her mission to help new and experienced doulas overcome this sometimes crippling feeling. She also talks about her decade long experience in the advertising world prior to becoming a doula and how it’s helped her expand her business in a time and place which had barely even heard of doulas as she was getting started, and how she supports other doulas craft their authentic voice to get the word out about their businesses online and in person. You can follow Darcy at @thedouladarcy and thedouladarcy.com. She also has private FB Doula Groups where you can connect, grow, and learn more from her expertise. As always, you can support the show via Patreon at patreon.com/rosewoodrepro and follow me @rosewoodpreo on IG and @Whatisadoula on Twitter.

The ICPP recently published their 2021 Climate Change Report and oh man...not good. Soon after it was released, I sat down with environmental engineer turned doula Ila Shimabuku of Happy Island Births to talk about all things climate change and how we can bring in environmental conversations into our client sessions without being pushy, judgy, or downright wrongheaded. We steer clear of purely doom and gloom and focus on action items, resource guides, and conversation starters to hopefully leave you feeling like you can take on these difficult conversations in your practice head on. You can find me as always at patreon.com/rosewoodrepro and @rosewoodrepro on Instagram. You can read up on Ila’s work on her blog at www.happyislandbirths.com. Please give the show a rate and review and pass it along.

"Community" is a word so tossed around lately it's almost cliche. It's used to sell us underwear and get us addicted to social media groups, but we're actually lonelier now than we've ever been - a trend emerging since even before the pandemic. Isolation and social distancing were sadly regular features of the American postpartum experience of the past few decades. Kerry Ingram of Community Supported Postpartum seeks to change that by honoring the "magic in the mundane" of in-person community parenting gatherings focused on getting our needs met by our own local networks. We talk time banks, the vulnerability of breaking bread together, the power of story telling, defeating "swipe left culture" in seeking parent bonds, and a whole lot more. You can find out more about Kerry's wonderful Facilitators course via www.communitysupportedpostpartum.com As always, you can find me on IG @rosewoodrepro and support the show by joining my Patreon at patreon.com/rosewoodrepro