<p><strong>#143 —&nbsp;Overwhelmed, Scared, Exhausted—A Note For You</strong></p> <p>When we do things we’ve never done before, it can be crazy hard. Parenting made me feel overwhelmed, scared, and exhausted—all at the same time.</p> <p>Today I want to offer a short note of perspective, alongside some encouragement. I know you’re probably in the thick of it, and what you’re doing isn’t easy. Keep going.</p> <p>For me, whenever I get overwhelmed and bogged down by the magnitude of what I’m trying to do, I try to look back and remember how much I’ve grown already, and how much I’m actually expanding my capacity over time.</p> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href="http://www.startuppregnant.com/143">http://www.startuppregnant.com/143</a>.</p>

<p>#142 — Do you ever struggle with setting boundaries or saying no? Let’s talk about what to do when people ask you for things that you don’t want to do or you don’t have time to do. How do you handle the influx of requests in your inbox, or the deluge of “pick your brain” requests from family and friends?&nbsp;</p> <p>Boundaries are something I could talk about for so long, but the first thing I want to do is share my favorite phrase that works everywhere. I’ve got a script that you can use to say no to requests for your time, energy, or attention. Whether it’s family members, business owners, friends, colleagues, or any other unsolicited requests for your time, these magic words will help get you out of almost every situation.&nbsp;</p> <p>Today’s episode is just about ten minutes long, and it’s all about the two key phrases that you can use to say no. Because it’s important to learn how to say no.&nbsp;</p> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href="www.startuppregnant.com/142">http://www.startuppregnant.com/142</a></p>

<p><strong>#140 — How to design and facilitate group programs.</strong></p> <p>In today’s episode, we talk all about the ways I think about building mastermind programs, facilitating community, and bringing people together. Yes, I’ve overthought all of it—to the tiniest degree.</p> <p>In this episode, we have a really fun question I am excited to geek out about. We are going to dig into the Wise Women's Council and the year-long membership that I created, how I designed it, why I designed it the way that I did, and how I thought about the membership model.</p> <p>This specific question that I got is: “How did you decide on the model for your membership and have you been in other programs like this structured in the same way?” I’m excited to talk about this because I like to overthink things like this. I get really geeky about community design and creating really good containers for people and then testing them. I have been hosting mastermind programs for last five or six years, and one of the things that I like to do is to figure out and really test and tweak each year to make it better and better. Today, we’ll talk about the pieces that make it work, the components that make a mastermind or community program great, and how to setup the right infrastructure.</p> <p>I have been in things that have worked amazingly well and I have been in things that have fallen flat on their face. Each time, I observe and I take notes and I think about it and I say, “Okay. What worked really well there and what didn't work really well and how can we combine these elements to create the next container?”</p> <p>I hope you enjoy my iterative approach and hearing about all of the lessons I’ve learned so far in building mastermind programs. Take this, build your own, join one, or find a community space (or three!) to call home.</p> <p><strong>This is a full-length preview of our new podcast: Ask Sarah.</strong></p> <p>Many of you know that we just launched a second podcast last Fall — <a href="https://startuppregnant.com/ask-me-anything-new-private-podcast-for-patreon-backers/"><u>Ask Sarah: The Podcast</u></a> — a show where I go deep into your life, my life, and everything in between. This podcast isn’t just about my life, although you are welcome to ask me anything you’d like. This show is a place where you can ask me for my feedback, my opinion, and my strategy on whatever challenge or puzzle you’re currently facing.</p> <p>We’re sharing one of our latest Ask Sarah Episodes here as a preview on The Startup Pregnant Podcast so you can listen in.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></p> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href="http://www.startuppregnant.com/140">http://www.startuppregnant.com/140</a>.</p>

<p><strong>#139 — Lately I’ve been fielding a lot of questions from people about what to expect in the shift from non-parenting to the parenting world.</strong></p> <p>Personally, I find it really challenging when people smile at you and say things like, “Wait and see,” or “You’ll get it when you become a parent.” No, thanks—please tell me now!</p> <p>So for this episode, I decided to dive straight into the daily tangle that is the parenting logistics required of managing small humans. It is in these daily nuances—and the morning pitter patter of tiny feet—that our work lives and our careers begin to explode.</p> <p>But I don’t think it’s parenting that’s the problem. I think that we’re suffering from an urban design problem, from a lack of steady and consistent child care options, from a radical change in the makeup of what families look like, and from a work world that has slowly encroached to take up nearly all of our available hours yet pay us less over time.</p> <p>No wonder it’s not working.</p> <p>If you feel like parenting is driving you insane, or the commute to schools are making you cross-eyed, or if you hear another snide remark from a colleague about how you’re not devoted enough to your job, this episode is for you.</p> <h4>IN THIS EPISODE WE COVER:</h4> <ul> <li>The nitty-gritty of the morning routines, the logistics of childcare, commutes, and the after-school routines.</li> <li>Why school schedules are such a logistical nightmare.</li> <li>What’s changed about the American family and why having two working parents changes the game.</li> <li>What the work world is asking for, and why it’s designed based on the “Ideal Worker”—A.K.A. a child-free, single, unobstructed male.</li> </ul> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href="http://www.startuppregnant.com/139">http://www.startuppregnant.com/139</a>.</p>

<h3><strong>#138 — Why does my kid keep getting sick?</strong></h3> <p>In the first few years of having kids, it can seem like the snotty, runny noses are never ending. In a way, that’s true. Young children are building their immune systems, and in doing so, they are dealing with all the colds and viruses going around. They get sick a lot.</p> <p>Whether it’s in the younger years because they are at daycare, or the older years when they hit kindergarten, almost every parent I know says there is just a long season—about a year and a half—where their kids get cold after cold and seem to be a giant germ factory.</p> <h3><strong>Toddlers are a giant germ factory</strong></h3> <p>On this episode, I dive into my best strategies for keeping colds at bay, and the tools we use to manage the bugs when they do inevitably hit our household.</p> <p>My favorite tip? If you have older kids, have them change their clothes (or at least just their shirt) and wash their hands thoroughly when they get home from daycare. That toddler shirt is filled with grime, snot, and boogers and other kids’ sneezes. We adopted this trick when we had our second child, and it helped cut the spread of toddler germs down a ton.</p> <p>Listen in for my time-tested ways to keep the germs away, why we’re “super boring” in the winter and sleep a ton, and what we do when the colds do catch hold (because they do)—our portable steam inhaler and neti-pot are two of our favorite winter friends.</p> <p>Good luck, parents. It’s germ season, and winter can be rough. If you have extra sick days at your work with young kids, or you can slow down your work pace through winter, do it. No need to be a superhero with a tiny one at home. You already are a superhero as a working parent, and it’s okay to just do a “good enough” job right now.</p> <h4><strong>STREAMLINE YOUR BUSINESS — MINIBOOK</strong></h4> <p>Want to simplify your business—or your life? After the birth of my first kid, I was exhausted and overwhelmed, and my current systems weren’t working. So I got out my pen and paper, wrote down everything I was doing, and cut half of it off my list. How’d I do this? By identifying the things that are the most important for business revenue, and deferring the non-essential items until later. Now I’ve got a short book walking you through the process, with key questions that help you get clarity and find a way to breathe again. Download the book at <a href="http://www.startuppregnant.com/minibooks"><u>startuppregnant.com/minibooks</u></a>. Here’s to small moments of sanity. We all need it!</p> <h4><strong>THE WISE WOMEN’S COUNCIL 2020 IS NOW OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS</strong></h4> <p>Want to be part of the magic that is gathering together with smart, talented, wise business women? The 2020 Wise Women’s Council is now open for enrollment. Early bird applications are open through January 20th, and the program kicks off in March. Yes, we want you—all of you in your messy, imperfect, parenting-business-what-am-I-doing-madness. <a href="https://startuppregnant.com/wise-womens-council-community-mastermind/"><u>Apply here.</u></a></p> <p><strong>FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></p> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href="FULL SHOW NOTES Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/138">http://www.startuppregnant.com/138</a>.</p>

<p><strong>#137 — Broadway and Pregnant</strong></p> <p>A friend of mine reached out a few weeks after the birth of her second baby girl and said, “I need to tell you my birth story.”</p> <p>“Absolutely,” I said, “What do you want to talk about?”</p> <p>“How I changed my birth plan and care providers for my second pregnancy—I was much more intentional about who I wanted around me, and the people I wanted to be in the room.”</p> <p>Today we get to hear Tanya-Birl Torres share her two birth stories on our show, and the marked difference between her first birth and her second birth, and why she decided to create such an intentional environment for her second pregnancy.</p> <p>Tanya is an actress, dancer, and choreographer who spent a decade in a career on Broadway, performing in shows like The Lion King, On The Town, West Side Story, and many more. With her first baby, she was on Broadway throughout her pregnancy and back in the show not long after giving birth.</p> <p>Today she has a creative practice as a yoga and meditation teacher (which is how I met her), works as a director, and is the founder of <a href="http://sohumanity.com/"><strong>So Humanity</strong></a>, an organization dedicated to embodying, facilitating, and bringing out change in across individuals and organizations.</p> <p>In this interview, which we recorded with her 7-week old at home, she shares her background as a performer and a dancer, and what it was like to get started as a dancer and then, after performing for a while, to get pregnant and have a baby while working on Broadway. Today, six years later, she gave birth to another child and reached out so we could talk about what it’s like to advocate for yourself and what you need through the process. Every hospital, midwifery practice, and doula practice is different, and these institutions around us affect us. She shares how to listen in to what you need and why it’s important to find the right people to help support you in your birth, business, or life. She is a phenomenal storyteller. You’ll love this episode.</p> <p><strong><br> FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></p> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href="http://www.startuppregnant.com/137">http://www.startuppregnant.com/137</a>.</p>

<p>#136 — Not everyone has exactly nine months to plan ahead and prepare for motherhood — sometimes it can happen overnight, and other times it can take years. The process of adopting a child can be long, laborious and fraught with uncertainty. You never know when you’ll get the call or how long it will take, or when you might become a parent.&nbsp;</p> <p>For Priti Krishtel, she got the call late one night that her kid was here, and she jumped on a plane to be at the hospital on the other side of the country just 24 hours later. On today’s episode, we talk to Priti about her journey to parenthood, and her thoughts about becoming a mother, and how she felt about parenthood in her twenties and thirties.&nbsp;</p> <p>For a long time, she wondered if it was in the cards and whether or not motherhood was right for her. When she met her partner in her late 30s, she tells us how it was early on that he brought up adoption and kids. She was thrilled to find someone on the same page as her.&nbsp;</p> <p>Priti is a human rights lawyer and the cofounder of a company called I-MAK. They are a company focused on changing the way that people have access to medicines. Today, over 2 billion people live without access to critical life-saving medicines that are often priced so high as to be unattainable. One of the root causes that they’ve identified behind this problem is the outdated patent system which enables drug companies to get hundreds of patents and set high prices for extended amounts of time. This can be crippling to people who live in poverty. Her work is all about how to medicines more accessible for everyone particularly vulnerable populations.&nbsp;</p> <p>In today’s show, we hear the story about how she took a sudden, short leave from her company to welcome her child to her family, and how her company rallied behind her throughout the process. We’ll hear about her process of adoption, how becoming a parent influenced her work, and how her work changed in becoming a parent.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></p> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href="http://www.startuppregnant.com/136">http://www.startuppregnant.com/136</a>.</p>

<h3><strong>#135 — Is minimalism and motherhood possible?</strong></h3> <p>Cary Fortin, who many of you have heard before on the podcast, is joining us again today to talk about minimalism, motherhood, and decluttering. Cary is a writer, a storyteller and a designer, and she is the co-founder of New Minimalism, a company focused on de-cluttering and design. She and her business partner, Kyle, help people regain meaningful relationships with their stuff and their things through organizational philosophy and design.</p> <p>They founded the company in 2011—before the Marie Kondo craze hit—and they started their business by going into people’s homes and helping them find a new way with their things. In 2018 they released their first book, <em>New Minimalism: Decluttering and Design for Sustainable, Intentional Living</em>. The beauty of this book is in its deeper philosophy, behind why we have things and what we surround ourselves with and what to do about them.</p> <p>Behind all of our stuff are a series of questions: What is the purpose and the joy of the space? Who is it serving, and why? What are the meanings behind the things you have, and what do you want the space to do for you?</p> <p>In this episode, we talk about rethinking your spaces and how to do so with intention, compassion, and understanding. Moreover, I ask her about minimalism, motherhood and staying sane in the chaos of kids:</p> <ul> <li>What do you do when you have the chaos of a toddler, or all those endless things it seems like babies need?</li> <li>How do you set boundaries and communicate a sense of simplicity amidst the madness, and is it even possible?</li> <li>Do you really need a baby shower, or a registry—and if so, what should you put on it?</li> </ul> <p><strong><br> FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></p> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href="http://www.startuppregnant.com/135">http://www.startuppregnant.com/135</a>.<br> </p>

<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>#134 — Careers Twists and Turns</strong></span></p> <p>When Brea Starmer was seven months pregnant while working at a startup, she was laid off. In her third trimester, she started a consulting practice and interviewed for jobs—quickly starting her own consulting practice and then launching her company. Between having her first kid and then getting pregnant with her second, she decided to focus on building her own consulting agency to create flexible jobs for working parents. She hired her first person at the end of 2018 and has since grown her company to 50 people today.</p> <p>Tara Zimmerman had a similar career pickle, but of a different nature. When Tara Zimmerman first became a parent, she didn’t have a master plan to be a stay-at-home mom. But then, four kids and eight and a half years later, she was running a household and juggling a massive schedule with six humans at the core. But where was she, and did she want to get back into the work world? Turns out, the answer was yes. She signed up to join the Wise Women’s Council to support her while she transitioned back into the work world and back into a finance and operations role at the company she used to run with her husband.</p> <p>Today’s careers are no longer linear, and they don’t follow a map. Most of us have unconventional career paths, because we’re living through a time when the world of work is rapidly changing. Not only that—our lives are unfolding and changing, too! From children to parents to unexpected bumps along the way, we’re navigating a new world of work that hasn’t existed before.</p> <p>If you feel like you’re entering the world of parenting and it’s madness, because your job is changing, your dreams are changing, or the company you thought you’d be with completely folds one day, trust us—you’re not alone. Whatever it is that happens in our stories as it unfolds, we all eventually arrive at a place where we look around and say, “Wait a second, where am I? What happened? And what do I do next?”</p> <p>That question—what do I do next—is at the heart of the work that comes up time and time again with the women in our community here at Startup Pregnant. It turns out, it’s not always an easy question to answer, and it’s through conversations and connections with other people that we can see who we are and wake up to the changes we want to make in our lives. If you’ve been through a career pivot, or you’re wondering what you’d do during a layoff, or a work break, or you’ve even left the world of work for a while—today’s episode is for you. </p> <p>Today's conversation is between me and two of the women who just finished our year-long <a href= "https://startuppregnant.com/wise-womens-council-community-mastermind/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wise Women's Council</a>, our annual program for parents navigating entrepreneurship and parenting. If you listened to last week's episode, we talked to three women in the program about navigating your career path when you have kids, and the many ways entrepreneurship can show up in your life. This week, we get to meet two more women who have been in this community mastermind all year.</p> <p>What I learned over and over again from each of these women is how many of us are figuring it out as we go and doing what we can with what we have, even as the world continues to change around us.</p> <p> Whether you are reentering the work world after a break or you're facing a huge amount of uncertainty after a layoff or you're starting to build a new company from scratch, or maybe you're even creating a new role for yourself within an existing company. The challenges that face us as we level up in leadership while becoming parents are not easy. I'm so thankful to both Tara and Brea for coming on the show and sharing their stories with you today.</p> <p><strong>FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></p> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href="http://ww

<h3>#133 — What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?</h3> <p>One of the things I keep learning from gathering groups of working women together is how broad and diverse the realm of entrepreneurship is. Common culture would have you believe that entrepreneurship looks like a single white dude building a company out of his garage with a bunch of coding co-founders. Eating ramen. Dropping out of Harvard.</p> <p>Sure, Silicon Valley has that.</p> <p>But there is so much more to entrepreneurship than this.</p> <p>I've met women who are building so many different businesses, in many different forms. What I’ve learned in interviewing and working with hundreds of you is that building businesses is a huge, broad landscape—and that women are building businesses faster than almost any other demographic group. (Black women are starting businesses at unprecedented rates.)</p> <p>From private practices to PR firms to new companies serving women and families, to big tech companies to investment companies to research-based practices—women’s entrepreneurship is diverse, phenomenal, and important.</p> <h3>There is no one path to entrepreneurship</h3> <p>For some people, they became entrepreneurial by accident—stumbling into entrepreneurship when a career path reached a dead-end, or wasn't fulfilling anymore. Others, like the story <a href= "https://startuppregnant.com/what-matters-rebrand-episode-037-tara-gentile/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tara McMullin</a> shared on our podcast, found themselves jobless and pregnant and with a choice: start a new adventure or try to find another gig? Still some people start down the path because of a product idea they can't get out of their head, or a market segment and a population that needs to be served. Some people become entrepreneurs because it’s their calling. Some people don’t even know they’re building a business until long after they’ve been serving clients and realize that they’re in the thick of it as a full-fledged business owner.</p> <h3>People are creative. We like building things.</h3> <p>Here's a secret: most of us scroll Facebook and Twitter and Instagram because we are bored out of our minds, lonely, or craving more stimulation. The "news" is a stand-in for the type of deep satisfaction that comes from making things with our bodies and minds, and truly connecting with other human beings. Humans naturally crave learning, growth, and being with other people.</p> <p>Entrepreneurship—the art of making new things, of creating a new business in the world, and serving other people with your gifts and talents—can be deeply challenging and immensely satisfying. I've met and interviewed entrepreneurs of all types and what I've learned is that it's not about how you look, whether the media covers your type of business, or the “hustle” you’re supposed to have.</p> <p>Entrepreneurship is about listening to your own inner wisdom, it’s about knowing yourself and deeply understanding people around you, and it’s about making things that change other people’s lives while also changing yours. It’s about the call to leadership, business, and growth.</p> <p>Last year, in The Wise Women's Council, we had 18 women join us for a nine-month journey following the ups and downs of building businesses, careers, and lives. Some of the folks we had joining us on the journey included:</p> <ul> <li>A tech employee who used the courage of the group to quit a lucrative leadership position and venture out onto her own to test two of her ideas for upcoming companies.</li> <li>A service-based entrepreneur who helps other business owners build maternity leave policies and stay sane while taking parental leave.</li> <li>A marketing consultant who was fired from her job while pregnant and vowed to build a better business, launching a marketing consultancy from a small studio shed in her backyard in Seattle. (You’ll hear her story on the latest podcast roundtable.)</li> </ul> <p>Today, I bring three of these women onto the pod

<p><strong><span style="font-size: 14pt;">#132 — How To Streamline Your Business: New Minibook</span></strong></p> <p>Last time we talked, I was in the middle of a midstream flop.</p> <p>Sometimes forward progress doesn’t look like progress at all—because other things take a spot on the front burner. It’s hard to acknowledge all that’s happened here at Startup Pregnant without still feeling like I have twelve burners cooking and I’m constantly burning something. Maybe, actually, the more accurate metaphor is that I forgot to start the boiling water in the first place. That’s what it feels like, at least.</p> <p>Getting things done is not linear, and it’s not easy—especially not with kids. Despite the best laid plans, trying to show up in a consistent, regular fashion and maintain focus and momentum can be hard. For me, especially when it comes to writing and entrepreneurship, it feels like some days are a scramble of fixing the things that broke, and it’s hard to measure forward progress.</p> <p>What I’ve learned, and what I continue to learn, is that I need to focus on as few things as possible in order to make real moves forward. I have to make hard decisions about what to cut from my plate in order to bring the next project to life.</p> <p>Today I’m excited to share the latest minibook with you, brand-new and out in the world: <a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/minibooks" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">How to Streamline Your Business</a>. It’s the process I use to painstakingly cut back on initiatives in order to find focus and actually ship things in the world. It’s the process I used to focus primarily on the podcast in the first year of building Startup Pregnant, and the process I used again to stay focused on building only the next branch—<a href= "https://startuppregnant.com/wise-womens-council-community-mastermind/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wise Women’s Council</a>—for the year following.</p> <p><strong>FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></p> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href="http://www.startuppregnant.com/132" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">http://www.startuppregnant.com/132</a>.</p>

<h3>#131 — What happens to the dud weeks? Weeks can go by where it feels like no progress is being made.</h3> <p>I’m back for a short and sweet update, and I’m a little nervous to share that I haven’t really made any forward progress over the last few weeks. In fact, I’ve been avoiding recording an update episode because I want to be able to come back and show off a shiny new project—like, voila! Here ya go!</p> <p>But my writing and building progress isn’t like that. The last few weeks have been full of work and deadlines, but I haven’t had space—or made space—for writing. Instead, I shipped important work and I still have a goal that’s on the back burner.</p> <p>Here’s a short update from the writing cave, and what I’ve learned even though it’s been a lull for a moment when it comes to writing<span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><strong>FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></p> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href="http://www.startuppregnant.com/131" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">http://www.startuppregnant.com/131</a>.</p>

<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>#130 — Goal Setting, Making Progress, and Minibook Updates</strong></span></p> <p>It's almost the midpoint of the quarter and I want to check in with progress notes.</p> <p>My goal this Fall has been to step back from the weekly recording to gain enough space and clarity to do some of the writing projects that have been on the back burner. It turns out “doing all the things” isn’t a useful plan or viable option when you’re a parent and a business owner. If you want to hear more about how I made the decision to take a temporary break, check out <a href="http://startuppregnant.com/127" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">Episode #127: Pivot or Pause</a>, and <a href= "http://startuppregnant.com/129" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">Episode #129</a> where I share the first update on my writing progress.</p> <p>What’s the big-picture goal? I want to write, publish, and ship the first draft of some of our <a href= "http://startuppregnant.com/minibooks" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">minibooks</a> in our collection. I’ve had ideas burning a hole in my pocket for ages and it’s time to take them out of my head and put them onto the page.</p> <p>The good news? We shipped the next MiniBook!</p> <p>Over the last three weeks I’ve been focused on creating a MiniBook called <a href="https://leanpub.com/pregnancyreadinglist" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Pregnancy Reading List: Short, Sweet Summaries of All The Books So You Can Take All The Naps</a>.</p> <p>I've read probably at least 100 books on motherhood, parenting, pregnancy, fertility, women's health, wellness, and postpartum care. And I get this question a ton from all over—'Hey, what's the best pregnancy book for my friend?'—or "Do you have any favorite parenting books?"—I mean, gosh do I have a few favorites. But I also know how overwhelming it is. Many of these books can be massive—900 pages!—and it can seem like a second college degree just to read all of these books.</p> <p>The book is now available on our website. If you go to <a href= "http://startuppregnant.com/minibooks" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">startuppregnant.com/minibooks</a>, you'll see the books we're working on, and you'll see that The Pregnancy Reading List is available right now. It comes in PDF, mobi, epub, and web format, so you can read it on your e-reader, Kindle, on any website, or download it as a PDF.</p> <p>Also, when you buy a copy of the book, you also get free access to all of the future versions of the book—every time I update the book, add more summaries or notes, or edit it, you get a free download of the latest version.</p> <p><strong>FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></p> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/130">http://www.startuppregnant.com/130</a>.</p>

<p><strong>#129 — If you feel like you don't have enough time for it all, you might be right.</strong></p> <p><br /> I’m tired of all the advice to hustle harder and put better productivity systems in place. I’m great at systems and great at productivity and I’m really good at working harder. </p> <p>Sometimes you don’t have more bandwidth to give, or more strategy to apply.</p> <p>For me, realizing that I have to shift things around and really focus—and prioritize—has been painful yet key in building my business. </p> <p>I cannot claim to be able to podcast, write books, run a business, be a parent, get enough sleep, and stay well-connected in all of my friendships. That would be a lie. I’m tired of being sold this lie.</p> <p>If you’ve been following along on the podcast, I’m sharing my real-time decision to ‘pause’ the podcast while I bring something else into focus: the writing and publishing work I want to do both for myself and for Startup Pregnant. I’m taking you behind-the-scenes of my other projects, and giving you a glimpse into how it’s working.</p> <p>Why? Because these shorter mini-episodes take me significantly less time than the longer-form interview podcasts, and I’m publishing them only as frequently as I can manage. </p> <p>Join me this Fall as I share how it’s going, and we’ll be back with longer episodes when the time is right.</p> <p>PS: If you’re hankering to join us for the next 90 days and you want to focus on getting one thing done in the next year, take a listen to the previous episode, <em><a href= "https://www.startuppregnant.com/128">The Next 90 Days</a></em>, and <a href= "https://www.facebook.com/groups/startuppregnant/permalink/2261002867362028/"> join us in our Facebook Group</a> and tell us what you’re working on for the rest of 2019.</p> <p><strong><br /> FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></p> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/129">http://www.startuppregnant.com/129</a>.</p>

<p><strong>#128 — What's it going to take?</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> As business owners—and parents!—we’ve got limited time.</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">SUCH LIMITED TIME.</span></em> <span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s crazy how fast the days fly by and how maddening it is to slot in all of the family logistics across work time and still get anything done.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As we approach the end of the year, and think about the last quarter of 2019, it’s a great time to focus on one final project or sprint. What would make 2019 great for you? What project, if you made some major headway on it, would really move the needle for you? </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In today’s episode, I share what I’m focused on for the next 90 days, and how I’m changing the podcast format for the rest of the quarter to help me get even more focused on what I want to ship. If you want to join me and take the next 90 days to focus on a specific goal, share with us in our Startup Pregnant Facebook Group and stay accountable over the next 13 weeks to finishing the year strong.</span></p> <p><strong><br /> FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></p> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/128">http://www.startuppregnant.com/128</a>.</p>

<p><strong>#127 — Should I stop podcasting?</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> As we geared up for Fall, I felt the urge to stop this podcast for a while. To be honest, it scared me a little—I couldn’t stop, could I? So I asked the group of smart women in our online Startup Pregnant community group and got a ton of wonderful feedback. You all helped me think about this process and what felt like a hard decision from so many new angles. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In this episode, I share some real talk, behind-the-scenes of what it takes to be a content creator, why I feel like the podcast is blocking other work that I want to make, and just how hard it is to build a business as a working parent sometimes. Honestly? I just want more time! But in lieu of that, I had to step back and make some hard decisions. Listen in to hear where the podcast is going next.</span></p> <p><strong><br /> FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></p> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/127">http://www.startuppregnant.com/127</a>.</p>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Every week, I get questions from listeners about business, life, parenting—and more. And I want to answer them! From building a company vision to dealing with burnout to negotiations in your partnership, I’m willing to go there and share everything I know.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, we are experimenting and trying something new here at Startup Pregnant. We're starting a private monthly podcast, a fireside chat session between me and you. From time to time I'll bring on guest experts to help answer the questions, and you'll get to listen in to all of the challenges people bring our way.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Right now, I’ve got a long list of questions from all of you, and I’ll be rolling through them and publishing these conversations as a private Q/A podcast. In today's episode, I'll share with you how to submit your question to us, some of the juiciest questions we have so far, and what you can do to get access to this private podcast.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS: </strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/question">www.startuppregnant.com/question</a></span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>GET ACCESS TO THE NEW PRIVATE Q/A PODCAST:</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When you become a backer on Patreon at the $7/month level, you'll get exclusive access to all of these episodes, including the back catalog of past episodes. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Head to</span> <a href= "http://www.patreon.com/startuppregnant"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">www.patreon.com/startuppregnant</span></a> <span style="font-weight: 400;">to become a supporter and get immediate access to the episodes.</span></p>

<p><strong>#125 — What's next?</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We’re back from summer hiatus, and it was wonderful. Better than expected, honestly. I didn’t take enough time to rest after either of my babies, and this break, while three years delayed, was everything. In today’s episode, I share how we set up a family sabbatical, why breaks are essential for entrepreneurs, and what’s next on the horizon for Startup Pregnant. If you’re struggling with entrepreneur burnout, if you’re in need of a break, or you’re curious about what’s coming up next on the show, come join and listen in.</span><br /> <strong><br /></strong><strong>FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></p> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/125">http://www.startuppregnant.com/125</a>.</p> <h4> </h4>

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong>#124 — Summer Break? Where Do the Kids Go While Their Parents Work and Other Thoughts On Summertime</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /> Summer break.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">As a child there was no sweeter words in the English language. With its promises of long, warm, lazy, school-free days, summer break was essentially synonymous with freedom.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">But now that the vast majority of households include two working parents, summer means something very different: the end of the public school year, gaps in childcare, expensive camps, and impossibly long waitlists for affordable care options.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Today, Sarah digs into her own family’s experience with summertime care gaps (hint: it involves lots and lots of logistics) as well as her personal and professional goals to take a true summer break. She also pulls back the curtain on Startup Pregnant’s two year history (!) and shares the advice she’d give someone starting out on their own business building venture (hint: take a break).<br /> <br /></span></p> <h5><span style="font-size: 10pt;">IN THIS EPISODE WE TALK ABOUT</span></h5> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The existential summer break question of the modern era of two working parents: what actually does happen to the children? Have we solved for that yet and what does it look like?</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How there are 81 days every single year when kids are out of public school but parents are supposed to be working and what solutions people come up with to make conflicting schedules work.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Sarah reflects on where this podcast started and shares some of her process for why she decided to take a summer break and why she’s so excited about it.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Sarah shares that taking an August break is a decision she made for herself as a person and as a business owner, but also because she believes deeply in the power of rest for all people, including her audience.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The benefits of taking maternity leave as an experiment in stepping back from the day-to-day of running a business.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">What the pace and intensity of Startup Pregnant interviews and podcast will look like beginning in September and moving forward into 2020.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How Sarah noticed her attachment to consistency and doing things the way they’ve always been done and how that worked in the beginning but how it now possibly holds her back.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">What she’s looking forward to in this time away and hoping for the audience during the break (hint: if there is someone in your life in the thick of parenting or entrepreneurship, share this podcast with them)! </span></li> </ul> <p><strong><br /></strong><span style= "font-size: 10pt;"><strong>FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/124">http://www.startuppregnant.com/124</a>.</span></p> <h5><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /> RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE</span></h5> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/ask">www.startuppregnant.com/ask</a></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/courses">www.startuppregnant.com/courses</a></span></li> </ul> <h5><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /> IF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE, CHECK OUT</span></h5> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href= "https://startuppregnant.com/002-future-work-flexible-interviewing-annie-dean/"> The Future of Work (and Feminism) Is Flexible — Episode #002 With Annie Dean</a></span>

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong>#123 — How to Focus When You Feel Totally Overwhelmed or Unclear</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /> You wake up in the morning, look at your to-do list, and find that you have 27 things on it. Then throughout the day, somehow projects just keep unfolding and expanding in front of you. No matter how much coffee you drink or deep breathing you do, you just feel totally overwhelmed by it all and don't know where to start. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Sound familiar? It's an experience almost all of us can relate to, and these feelings of being overwhelmed can take even the best of us down.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Today Sarah shares her three best tips for how to focus and regain clarity when you're in the fog of overwhelm, so that you can keep going and get your most important work done.</span> </p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Having clear priorities, using quarterly and monthly planning, and getting a good nights’ sleep are all great tools for planning and mapping out your time—but as a parent? Yeah, that’s harder. Invariably, as a mother and a worker, unexpected projects and challenges will constantly get thrown in your lap. So how do you handle those days when you just can’t seem to get ahold of your to-do list or even figure out how to get started when so much is being asked of you?</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">If you are feeling swamped, or you're back in that place where it's hard to focus and you don't know what to do, listen in. This one's a good one.</span></p> <h5><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /> IN THIS EPISODE WE TALK ABOUT</span></h5> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The three tools Sarah uses when—despite her planning and best of intentions—she ends up feeling overwhelmed.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The danger of prioritizing little wins and counting on that momentum to guide you through the day.  </span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How many big projects Sarah believes people can truly prioritize at any given moment. </span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">What “Yak Shaving” means and how to stop yourself once you realize you’ve gotten off course. </span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Why, intense metaphors aside, working moms need to not just “kill their darlings” but “stab their YouTube dreams in the eye.”</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How to use your calendar to prevent overwhelm and account for even the smallest tasks. </span></li> </ul> <p style="text-align: left;"><strong><br /> <span style="font-size: 10pt;">FULL SHOW NOTES</span></strong></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/123">http://www.startuppregnant.com/123</a>.</span></p> <h5><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /> RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE</span></h5> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/ask">www.startuppregnant.com/ask</a></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/courses">www.startuppregnant.com/courses</a></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/question">startuppregnant.com/question</a></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href= "https://startuppregnant.com/review/">Annual, Quarterly, and Monthly Review Templates</a></span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <br /> <strong>IF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE, CHECK OUT</strong></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href= "https://startuppregnant.com/maternity-leave-when-you-run-business-031-with-stacey-trock/"> Taking a Maternity Leave When You Run Your Own Business — Episode #031 With Stacey Trock</a></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href= "https://startuppre

<h3><span style="font-size: 10pt;">#122 — How to Win More Business, Make More Friends, and Get More Money, aka: How to Listen Better</span></h3> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /> What happens when we listen fully? Without interjecting with our own opinions or experiences? Without asserting a best possible outcome or stating facts to support a specific viewpoint?</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How often do you leave a conversation—with a friend or colleague—and think to yourself, “They just don’t get what I mean/how I feel/how complicated this is.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How often do you catch yourself offering advice or trying to fix a problem for a friend before you realize they really just want a safe space and a friendly ear to empathize and process with them?</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Sarah digs into these overlapping experiences and asks the big question, “How can we create space in our personal and professional conversations to allow for real connection, true empathy, and beautifully nuanced understanding of one another?"</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Today we’re talking about how deep listening and thoughtful questioning lend themselves to much more open, nuanced, thoughtful conversations and relationships. Sarah is going to share the incredibly simple and astonishingly powerful tool she uses in her personal and professional life to connect more deeply with people, to grow her business, and to be of the deepest service to her clients, friends, and mastermind groups.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p> <h5><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /> IN THIS EPISODE WE TALK ABOUT</span></h5> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How we tend to believe we know what’s best for others based on our own experiences, information, and desires.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How quickly we lose sight of the true goal of conversation—connection—and instead move into problem solving, telling our own stories, or moving on to the next point.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Sarah’s experience in her second birth of hiring and then ultimately choosing not to work with a doula who, rather than listening to Sarah and Alex’s preferences and desires, attempted to “educate” them into choosing a different path.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The delicate and crucial difference between presenting useful information so someone can make a thoughtful decision for themselves and believing that someone “ought” to choose a specific choice due to the information you have.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The profound power of a woman’s birth story and her decision to experience a pain-free birth.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Why we strive at Startup Pregnant to present a wide range of experiences of pregnancy, parenthood, and work and why we always begin those stories with “in my experience.”</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The not-so-secret reason that coaching and therapy are so highly in need in our current culture.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The super simple, incredibly effective tool Sarah uses in her life, masterminds, and with her corporate clients to build relationships and close deals.</span></li> </ul> <p><br /> <span style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong>FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/122">http://www.startuppregnant.com/122</a>.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong><br /> RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE</strong></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/ask">startuppregnant.com/ask</a></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/courses">startuppregnant.com/courses</a></span> </li>

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong>#121 — Redefining Startup Success: Shutting Down A Lucrative Startup </strong></span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size: 10pt;">What happens when your vision of success changes while you're building a wildly "successful" company?</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Allie Siarto built an incredibly successful company by all of today’s metrics and standards. She and her partner were ready to sell the company—but then she hesitated. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">What changed? </span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">In today's episode, we talk with Allie about how walking away from a “successful” business taught her to rethink what success really looks like. Together, she and her spouse decided to shut down a wildly crazy successful business and fire all of her employees shortly after having her first daughter. She realized she could not stand the thought of sending her to daycare and then going to work every day to work on something she didn't love. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Redefining startup success: shutting down a company to build a vision of a different life.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The business had been all about making money and pursuing the idea of success that other people had told her she should pursue, but it had not been about creating the life that she really wanted for herself. When she shut down the business, she worried, of course, what other people would think and whether or not they would think she had failed as a business owner, especially. She worried about what her employees would think of her, but the result was that it left her with more time to pursue a completely different business, a more fulfilling and flexible career, one where she built a team of wedding and portrait photographers. Her clients used to call her at all hours with all sorts of emergencies and cause a huge amount of stress in her life. Now, she plans her schedule way in advanceShe also spends a month in Florida every year and plans sailing trips across Lake Michigan without worrying that she will miss an urgent call from a demanding client. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Today, we’re going to talk about how she shifted from one to the other. We cover what it felt like to walk away when Allie had little kids at home and how to stop worrying so much about what other people tell you success should look like: instead, focus on what you truly want and need in your own life right here, right now.</span></p> <h5><br /> <span style="font-size: 10pt;">IN THIS EPISODE WE TALK ABOUT</span></h5> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The early days of building Loudpixel (her first company), and the stress it caused on her life and partnership.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How she listened in to what “selling” felt like and how she realized she was building a company—and trying to sell it—for reasons that weren’t really hers.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Why the birth of her first daughter prompted her to rethink what she was building in business, and why she eventually shut down the company.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How the space and freedom from shutting down a company let her rebuild a new vision of success, with her life and priorities in mind, and what she is now doing today.</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong><br /> FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <a href= "http://www.startuppregnant.com/121">http://www.startuppregnant.com/121</a>.</span></p> <h5><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /> LEARN MORE ABOUT ALLIE SIARTO   </span></h5> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Allie Siarto runs a team of award winning portrait and wedding photographers out of East Lansing, Michigan, along with the Photo Field Notes Podcast, an educationa

<h3><span style="font-size: 10pt;">#120 — Beyond Mom: Exploring and Nourishing Our Non-Mother Selves </span></h3> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /> What does it look like to take your work from the corporate world to the freelance world and begin the path of entrepreneurship? How do you take the piecemeal career acquired from many different projects, companies and job-hopping and then go into starting a business?</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">One of the things that I am fascinated with here at Startup Pregnant is the idea that we are in perpetual startup mode in many senses of the word: in our own lives, in our own careers, in our own journeys. We don’t just pick corporate versus entrepreneurship. That is a false dichotomy. Instead, I find that people end up with these really interesting layered careers where they follow projects or purposes or people and they embed their time and their energy in these various different projects whether or not it looks like a traditional tried and true company, or it looks like building a new endeavor on the side as a branch of a company, becoming an entrepreneur, starting a new initiative or starting a freelancing or side hustle career or even starting a company on your own.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Today, we talk to Randi Zinn, who is the founder of Beyond Mom. Randi lost her father when she 25, which affected her emotionally, philosophically, psychology, and also, it set her on a new career path. Her dad was an entrepreneur, and while she thought that she would be going straight from graduate school into a world of media, she ended up on a slightly different path.</span></p> <p>Randi is an author, a wellness expert and the founder of a site, company, blog and suite of tools called Beyond Mom. Beyond Mom is a company that provides things like wellness retreats, mindfulness at work, encouragement for women an overall philosophy and ethos supporting women interested in taking back their right to self-love, self-care and community. Randi encourages moms to cultivate a life beyond mom, one that embraces the gifts of motherhood, but expresses all that they are as individuals.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /> <strong>IN THIS EPISODE WE TALK ABOUT</strong></span></p> <ul> <li>How Randi’s first pregnancy ended in miscarriage but going through a loss with her husband brought them closer together.</li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How as an only child herself, Randi loves to learn about the sibling relationship by watching her son and daughter together.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The way the loss of her father impacted her career trajectory, leading her away from a traditional path in media to following in her entrepreneurial father’s footsteps.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How yoga entered her life as a stress mediator through this process, but that once she was a mother, teaching and “schlepping” from studio to studio became untenable.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Her surprise at meeting other mothers who were using their transformation into mothers to gain momentum in changing their career paths as well.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The organic origins of Beyond Mom and how by spending time with and serving her ideal customer, Randi was able to create an authentic, deeply desired service and brand.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Beyond Mom’s focus on supporting the entire woman, both on her journey through motherhood and, above all, on her personal journey as she evolves and grows as a whole person.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How in the inspiration behind her book was to make her message and platform accessible across socioeconomic and geographic lines.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Why, despite all of the challenges, she commits a large portion of her business to bringing women together in person because that is w

<h3><strong>#119 — The Myth of Equal Partnership in Parenting</strong></h3> <p>Why is it that the burden of childcare, children and the home is so unequally dumped on women's shoulders? Where did this come from? Why is it happening and what can we do about it?</p> <p>Women have fought for equality in the workplace for a long time. It’s something that is publicly talked about and advocated for and a current movement in today’s society. But what about our not-so-public lives? What about life at home?</p> <p>For many women, there is nothing as maddening as coming home and realizing that there is the second shift and an incredible amount of work that disproportionately falls on your shoulders. For women across the country, this includes the domestic labor of the home, caring for children and all of the maintenance required from invisible labor to mental load. Some would call this emotional labor to the organizational and the logistical work. Well, it’s enough to drive people crazy, or to divorce.</p> <p>The hardest part is that once children enter the picture, people who believe that they are in equal partnerships often find that women are the ones that take on the burden of domestic work. Why is this happening? Why isn't it budging and why is it so enraging?</p> <p>Today we get to have Darcy Lockman on the show to talk about exactly this. Darcy is a former journalist turned clinical psychologist and the author of a book called <em>All The Rage: Men, Women and the Myth of Equal Partnership.</em>&nbsp;Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Psychology Today and Rolling Stone, among others. She lives with her husband and children in Queens.</p> <h5><strong><br> IN THIS EPISODE WE TALK ABOUT</strong></h5> <ul> <li>How Darcy and her husband entered both their marriage and parenting assuming that all household duties would be shared, but how Darcy nonetheless found herself managing most of her daughter’s needs herself. &nbsp;</li> <li>The role resentment plays in modern parenting as couples enter parenthood assuming parity and find that culturally we’ve never gotten above men carrying 35% of the childcare load.</li> <li>Why Darcy decided to utilize her background in journalism and psychology to investigate her frustration with how differently her husband and she lived in their parenting roles.</li> <li>What Darcy’s goal for this book is: to draw attention to and move the needle on the amount of unpaid labor mothers do, because, as she notes, it's not without great cost to women’s well-being, potential career success, and earning potential.</li> <li>How cultural beliefs undermine potential parental parity from pregnancy with the belief that mother’s have an innate instinct for parenting. Meanwhile, the truth is that fathers and mothers undergo the same hormonal changes during pregnancy and have the same starting aptitude for parenting.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p><strong><br> FULL SHOW NOTES</strong></p> <p>Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.startuppregnant.com/119">http://www.startupparent.com/119</a>.</p> <h5><strong><br> LEARN MORE ABOUT DARCY LOCKMAN &nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></h5> <p>Darcy Lockman is a former journalist turned clinical psychologist. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Psychology Today, and Rolling Stone, among others. She lives with her husband and baby daughter in Queens.&lt;/</p>

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong>#118 — If You Work Hard Enough You Can Do Anything, Except Get Pregnant: A Journey Through Infertility</strong></span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size: 10pt;">What happens when the medical establishment ignores your concerns, complaints and symptoms? When your doctor tells you everything is normal even though everything in your body is telling you it's not? How do you recover from a traumatic birth and near-death experience that could—and should—have been prevented?</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Today we get to hear from Lucy Knisley, New York Times bestseller and author of the brilliant, brave, terrifying, and hilarious graphic memoir <em>Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos</em> about all of those questions.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Having always known she wanted to be a mother and having considered herself very well-informed on reproductive rights and health, Knisley was shocked by how daunting the actual process of becoming pregnant was. In her words, “I was like, ‘All right. I'm informed. I know what to do. I'm healthy. I'm ready for this. We've got a home. We've got a stable environment to bring a kid into.’ They say there's no perfect time and there isn't, but we were prepared as well as we could be. Then everything went wrong.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Everything that went wrong included two miscarriages, uterine surgery, grueling nausea once she finally became pregnant and then total exhaustion later in pregnancy. Most frightening and serious of all, Lucy suffered through undiagnosed preeclampsia for much of her third trimester. By the time she finally gave birth to her son via C-section, she suffered a number of seizures, lost half her blood and was in a coma for several days. Knisley almost died because her experiences, symptoms, and fears were dismissed by several medical professionals over months of her pregnancy and birth. (Yes, we are enraged by this too.)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Today we also hear from Knisley about the following: her very structured schedule for creating her graphic novels, why she has decided that it’s best for her son to be an only child, her partner’s journey through deciding whether he wanted to be a parent, and why, despite the deep trauma of her birth story, Knisley feels incredibly fortunate.</span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong>IN THIS EPISODE WE TALK ABOUT</strong></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Knisley's view on her comics and graphic novels as a way to share and connect while being true to her introspective, introverted self.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How, despite volunteering at Planned Parenthood and receiving sexual education in school, Knisley felt shockingly uninformed about what it takes to actually get and remain pregnant.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The way that experiencing miscarriages flipped her previous understanding of delivering a healthy baby as the top response to intentionally unprotected sex.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The enormous disservice we do to all potential parents by not properly educating our children on the frequency of miscarriage, infertility, and undiagnosed infertility.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How shame inducing and isolating it is to be told to keep early pregnancy to yourself, which also of course means, “Keep your losses to yourself. They’re personal and private.”</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How deeply alone and ignored Knisley felt in her grief over her miscarriages until she chose to share her own story. “After I started to talk about it, it seemed like everyone I had ever met had experienced something similar. All of a sudden, these stories came out of the woodwork and everyone had something to offer. That was so incredibly healing for me to hear these other stories of surviva