Ep 185: Navigating Postpartum: Heather's Journey (Part 2)

In this heartfelt episode, Heather opens up about her postpartum experiences with her two children, revealing the profound differences in support, mental health, and feeding challenges she faced. She shares candid reflections on the emotional highs and lows of new motherhood, the importance of therapy, and how medication played a role in her healing.

Through honest storytelling, Heather reminds us that no two postpartum journeys are the same—and that building a strong support system, practicing self-care, and asking for help are essential parts of the transition into motherhood. This conversation is a powerful reminder that vulnerability is strength, and community makes all the difference.

Part 1 - Episode 180 Birth Storwith Heather Fasano

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Heather's Journey
02:42 Postpartum Experiences: First vs. Second Child
05:22 Breastfeeding Challenges and Support
07:55 Mental Health and Therapy in Postpartum
10:34 Navigating the Second Pregnancy
13:32 Differences in Birth Experience
16:19 Support Systems and Their Impact
18:57 Challenges with Newborn Behavior
21:38 The Importance of Professional Guidance
24:23 Reflections on Support and Growth
28:10 Empowerment Through Support
30:59 Navigating Postpartum Challenges
34:40 The Journey to Sleep
43:49 Mental Health and Self-Care
51:12 The Importance of Time and Grace

Transcript

Aligned Birth Podcast (00:02.083)
Hello, hello, this is the Aligned Birth podcast. Today on our show, we've got a bit of an interview day. So both Rachel and I are here and we're going to backtrack and interview our friend and client and patient Heather again. So if you are joining us for the first time.

I'm going to recommend that you listen to the first episode that we did with her. So it's going to be episode 180. But this is going to be a lot about Heather's postpartum and pediatric experience, newborn experience. Heather is a dual client of Rachel's with North Atlanta Birth Services, Rachel and Hannah's, and then she's chiropractic patient of mine at Sunrise Chiropractic and Wellness. so the first

interview we did with Heather, we really talked about her prenatal care, the differences between the two, which were very, very different. Her experiences, had a lot of experiences. It's very, very insightful. And I think it's so good to hear from her and from her like firsthand experience in the differences in the two, what she did differently prenatally and how that support helped her. And now we're going to go into

that postpartum world and how those two were a little bit different. again, the first episode we did, it's going to be episode 180. And so it's titled The Importance of Advocacy and Birth, Birth Stories with Heather Fasano. And then today we're going to go, like I said, into our postpartum realm as well too. So Heather's a Georgia native. I'm going to do a little bit of tidbit on her, but she's a Georgia native, mom of two boys.

under three, still under three? Have we had a birthday? No, yes, under three. And she works as a medical education specialist as well. Her husband works too. And she, after reflecting on the care she received during and following the loss of her first pregnancy, and after the subsequent birth of her first son, she began her journey towards physical and mental healing. And so I wanted to mention that, like, this is that whole entire journey there. So,

Heather Fasano (01:56.622)
So I'd agree.

Aligned Birth Podcast (02:22.498)
Hey Heather, it's so good to have you. And hi Rachel.

Heather Fasano (02:26.382)
Thanks for having me back, guys. I appreciate it.

Aligned Birth Podcast (02:26.816)
Hello, hello.

Aligned Birth Podcast (02:32.062)
I know. I was trying to think of when we even recorded that episode because when we recorded it, was a while ago, but it just recently, well-ish came out because we're recording this in the middle of summertime. So not that that matters, but I try to wrap my brain about like where were we? Where are we now? What is going on? I know, like I don't know.

Heather Fasano (02:50.04)
Truly, every day's a journey. Everything's always changing and in flux. But I appreciate you guys letting me to come back on and talk about this little nugget of the journey.

Aligned Birth Podcast (02:56.96)
Hmm.

Yes.

Well, we had originally wanted to put it in that first episode. And I think we had these really big thoughts and plans. And then we realized, Heather's story is actually deserving of two episodes. If we want to do an honor and justice and really go in depth with it, because I want other moms to hear it and to learn from it as well, too. And I think we need to go in and explain some of the intricacies and the details.

of kind of what was going on. let's, and I don't even remember where we left off in the first episode, because we were just talking about that. So I don't know where we want to start, let's maybe in that, the differences between the two or maybe just a quick highlight of like, okay, this was different prenatally and then what was the start of postpartum for you? Or if you want to start with your first, you know, postpartum experience, whatever.

whatever works.

Heather Fasano (04:01.538)
I know I'll try and make it short short and sweet this time around. Right. So little recap. Forest is my first born. Liam is my second born. Forest was a little bit of a challenging prenatal experience. Although I felt great during pregnancy, just emotionally it was a toughie, a toughie, followed by just an interesting birth experience. And I learned a lot throughout that that that carried into Liam's

Aligned Birth Podcast (04:04.064)
Hehehehe

Heather Fasano (04:31.214)
prenatal experience and subsequent birth. Very much a different setup emotionally between the two. I had a lot more support the second time around, which really, I think, did a lot for me mentally and emotionally and then physically with the birth itself. Leah made a fast and furious arrival, which was like a totally different labor and delivery than first time around. Poor Hannah.

Dula Hannah didn't even make it to Liam's birth because he was like ready to be here. My midwife almost didn't make it. anyways, that being said, you know, starting that journey of, you know, being newly, freshly postpartum, first time around was again, a struggle emotionally and mentally more so because I really didn't have that level of support that I had the second time around, which I know we really hit home on that.

and advocating yourself in the last episode. And so, you know, first time around, luckily, Forrest was, and I hate the term, like a good baby, because no baby's bad, right? But he was pretty average now, looking back on what he was like as a little newborn. He did pretty good with just kind of...

Aligned Birth Podcast (05:41.953)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (05:56.738)
being content most times, like I could put him down, other people could hold him. Yeah, he didn't really challenge me. Exactly. I will say like breastfeeding was quite an experience with him, which I don't know if we wanna get into that necessarily, but it was, cause I learned a lot second time around, but.

Aligned Birth Podcast (06:02.806)
He wasn't challenging maybe. It's challenging. Because they're all good babies, yes. I like that.

Heather Fasano (06:24.578)
He wasn't a great eater. They, you know, when they first assessed him in the hospital, they were like, no, he doesn't have a tongue tie or anything. Like his latch looks good, all those things. And as a new mom, you're like, okay, just tell me I'm doing everything right. And I think I mentioned in the first one, he had jaundice. So we ended up starting supplementing him with formula quite early, actually in the hospital to get out of the hospital.

Aligned Birth Podcast (06:41.058)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (06:51.768)
quicker and so I think that that played a big role in his feeding journey and my breastfeeding journey with him. I was so worried about him getting enough food and worried about myself producing and there was just a lot of stress surrounding that and so we ended up seeing a second, we ended up going back to the lactation consultant with Forrest, the one that was in the hospital because you could make like a follow-up appointment with them.

and they were actually very helpful. It was like a, a dedicated appointment just for them versus someone just popping in, you know, to your postpartum mother, baby for like five minutes and then leaving. This was like a dedicated appointment and they did a more thorough assessment of his, like of his mouth. and they, you know, observed me feeding, they observed me pumping cause that was a journey as well. And they did make a recommendation to have his oral ties looked at and thought that that might be playing a role.

And I had very little knowledge of what even that meant. And so we took to the pediatrician and he was like, sure, I'll refer you out to my buddy who can do, he's like an ENT, pediatric ENT or whatever. And he can do the ties. I'm like, okay, cool. know, again, did it. sorry, that's my Google Home. I don't know if you've got that, but anyways, so.

Aligned Birth Podcast (08:14.978)
Out of your Google app.

Heather Fasano (08:19.842)
We ended up going to his pediatric ENT friend and they clipped his ties, but now I know that it wasn't a great release. There wasn't a whole lot of pre-work or follow-up exercises that I now know that you've got to do with babies with ties. so long story short there, I stopped breastfeeding probably around the like.

Aligned Birth Podcast (08:33.474)
you

Aligned Birth Podcast (08:39.936)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (08:50.432)
maybe one, two month mark because it was just, he was struggling, I was struggling mentally. I was really having a hard time and I think being present as a mom and being okay mentally is more important. Fed is best, Doesn't matter how, just make sure that they're fed and make sure you're okay and they're okay. So that was a little bit of a struggle. then

Aligned Birth Podcast (08:58.978)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (09:17.386)
Not too far after that, we started going and seeing you, Shannon, and you got to meet little Forest. And I think I originally came in and I was like, he's just like wiggly all the time and he doesn't want to be bound and he doesn't want to be like wrapped up and the legs he would like kick his legs back and forth starting a fire and have like something seems, you know, he's just whatever. And I think it was maybe a little bit of that, like emotion or like nervous system regulation.

Aligned Birth Podcast (09:21.833)
Mm-hmm. Okay.

Aligned Birth Podcast (09:31.875)
His little legs. Yeah, I remember his little legs. His little firestarter legs. Yeah, I remember that.

Aligned Birth Podcast (09:32.866)
you

Aligned Birth Podcast (09:40.898)
Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (09:46.891)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (09:47.438)
And then I ended up getting pregnant again shortly after that. So that's about it. Should I hit on anything else there or just talk a little bit about Liam?

Aligned Birth Podcast (09:49.516)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (09:59.779)
you

Aligned Birth Podcast (10:01.57)
Um, maybe I want to go into

What did you go back to work? What was your postpartum like? Like I want to touch on that because then maybe it leads into what did you do differently or did you have something different in that second time? So navigating all of those emotions.

Heather Fasano (10:13.705)
Yeah.

Heather Fasano (10:26.882)
I was super lucky. I had six months of paid leave, which I am just like immensely grateful for. And I know that that is not the norm. And it really allowed me to, I honestly feel like everybody should get at least six months because mentally, like I couldn't have imagined going back sooner, especially after my first. And so had six months leave.

Aligned Birth Podcast (10:38.528)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (10:50.978)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (10:56.814)
that first six months again, we were struggling with like feeding and just kind of finding our new groove as parents and understandings and things. And mentally I had, I think I mentioned this in the last episode, but I have like diagnosed anxiety, mild depression. And so I was really cognizant of my mental health first time around.

I did end up going to therapy a little bit in that first like six months postpartum, because I was struggling not only with like the birth trauma, so to speak, from that first episode and those stories there, but also just mentally, I think my hormones were just like, no one can prepare you for the hormone swings. I mean, they are, they are wild. Like you just, you're just along for the ride. I'll just.

never forget the feelings. And so going to therapy, I think was important. And that was kind of like the start of the healing process that led into kind of a different postpartum and, you know, second pregnancy there. And

Aligned Birth Podcast (12:10.796)
Did you, were you under therapy before pregnancy or was that something that came out like those thoughts and feelings or just the anxiety, depression, does that came out in pregnancy? Okay.

Heather Fasano (12:21.984)
I had it before. So I was already diagnosed before I got pregnant. It was mainly, it was more work related. But I had started going to therapy and then working with my GP to actually go on some medication. Cause I was really struggling in work and life beforehand. had, I think I had thought I had a better

Aligned Birth Podcast (12:26.326)
Okay.

Aligned Birth Podcast (12:31.286)
Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (12:37.996)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (12:49.192)
management or handle of my mental health before actually the miscarriage and then and then the pregnancy with Forrest but that really unearthed a lot of things that I did not address. And kind of like a new realm of anxiety I think adding and becoming a mom like you have you have general anxiety and then you have like mom anxiety right like it's there's kind of a different yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (12:52.352)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (12:59.415)
Yes.

Aligned Birth Podcast (13:12.736)
Yeah. Well, it changes, it heightens, and that's why I wanted you to mention it because I deal with a of moms where it's like sometimes we want to talk about beforehand because I'm like, this might throw you for a loop. Can you get the support and establish some things now, whether that's therapy, medication, something now to handle that transition most optimally? So yeah. No. Okay.

Heather Fasano (13:23.491)
Thank

Heather Fasano (13:33.422)
Totally, Yeah. And I will say in, had, I wanted to come off meds when I was pregnant because I was worried about the potential impact, side effects, you know, being on medication, even though my OB at the time was like, nope, it's totally fine. You can be on it. you know, the side effects or whatever, the risks are very low. It's more important that you're okay. But I did, I came off of meds.

poor forest pregnancy and then actually, and I think I mentioned this again on the first episode, but I want to say like in my third trimester, I got back on my anxiety meds because I was having those panic attacks going into my OB appointments. And I knew that with most anxiety meds, there's like a ramp up period. And you you don't really start feeling the effects of medication until a couple of weeks in and

Aligned Birth Podcast (14:18.242)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (14:18.242)
Mm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (14:26.082)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (14:31.928)
So I found and I heard from other people's stories that they waited, right? They wanted to get through their pregnancy unmedicated and then they start their meds immediately postpartum. But then you've got a couple of weeks there where you're going into this like ramp up of seeing the effects of the medication. And those first weeks are like, I think some of the hardest emotionally, mentally, whether your hormones changing. And it's like, if you really need that level of support,

Aligned Birth Podcast (14:53.09)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (15:00.726)
you kind of need to have them in your system ahead of time, which I didn't really, you I don't think a lot of people think about. So I did get back on my meds in like my third trimester with Forest. And I think that I'm really grateful I did. Because again, like you said, like I was not expecting, I was expecting some hormones, but the waves and just like the

Aligned Birth Podcast (15:08.662)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (15:23.381)
Right.

Heather Fasano (15:28.75)
the triggers. I'm just really glad I had that. And then the therapy as well, know, talking to somebody. I think also having just friends and family that you trust is really important. I didn't have as many folks first time around with Forrest during my postpartum period to talk to.

Aligned Birth Podcast (15:30.934)
Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (15:36.746)
the therapy.

Aligned Birth Podcast (15:44.352)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (15:57.73)
about what I was going through. And I think that that's also a huge thing to set up, you know, when you're pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant, having that whole line of support ready to go, because you never know when you're going to need to phone a friend.

Aligned Birth Podcast (16:09.782)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (16:13.826)
Exactly. So how did how was the second birth as well? And then we can come back into the differences, know, pediatric as well. But now that we've kind of covered that what did you do differently? Because then yeah, you started getting adjusted in that pregnancy, right? I know I'm having a hard time remembering. So, okay.

Heather Fasano (16:35.694)
Mm hmm. Yeah. So I came to you, I think I started with you and brought Forrest along with me. And then a couple of months in, I remember coming in, I was like, Shannon, I'm pregnant again. And you were like, I knew it or something like that. Because it was a surprise because we did struggle the first time around getting pregnant. So we didn't really think that we were playing with fire, so to speak. But but we got pregnant pretty quick. And I think Forrest was like

Aligned Birth Podcast (16:42.219)
Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (16:48.382)
Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (16:50.398)
Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (16:54.454)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (17:05.162)
seven, eight months at the time. So anyway, so I continued seeing you all throughout, but I think at that moment, you immediately jumped on, you were like, okay, because I had already filled you in on all of my woes of the first time around. And you just like, I call you like my wealth of resources, like your connector. And you were like, okay, well, have you looked into this? And let's chat about midwives versus OBs and doulas and.

Aligned Birth Podcast (17:06.796)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (17:20.79)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (17:34.188)
just all the things and I was like, give me all the information you have. And I think that really made a huge difference obviously in the pregnancy component, but postpartum as well. So Liam's birth, like I mentioned, was really kind of fast and furious. I think that had a lot to do with just being mentally confident, being able to advocate for myself, having a strong birth team, as I mentioned before. And then,

Aligned Birth Podcast (17:34.304)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Heather Fasano (18:01.678)
you know, he made his little arrival. And we had like a great experience in Mother Baby. We were only there for like, you know, a day and a half versus like the week that we were there for Forrest. I knew what I wanted that environment to be in Mother Baby. And the staff at the hospital was really open to, you know, hey, if you want to come in and check on

we, um, during the evening hours, like, let's come up with like a schedule or a game plan with the, you know, with the staff that's on the floor versus just the, you know, the tech coming in and, 15 minutes or 15 minutes later than the, then the nurse comes in and it's like, you never got, I like, I never got any rest postpartum, um, in the hospital with Forrest, but with Liam, we, we was more of a collaborative experience. Um, just being able to kind of like make that game plan with your, with your, um,

with your team there. And then we had like the twinkle lights and the sound machine. And like, again, I was like, I want it to be a different experience. And so I think a lot of that also has to do with Rachel, like your team, you and Hannah, just like all the prep and discussions that we had beforehand. We were just very confident and comfortable. I was like on it with breastfeeding. I knew we needed to be.

Aligned Birth Podcast (19:08.098)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (19:27.094)
skin to skin a ton and he needed to try and like, you know, practice nursing and try to keep him awake, like all these things. So we definitely made some changes there. And then we were able to go home, you know, after, you know, a day and a half. So that just initial mother, baby was like vastly different. I was feeling pretty, pretty good and strong and capable, you know, going home.

But then of course you get home and it's like, I've got a toddler at home and now I have a newborn. that no one, don't think anyone can really prepare you for that either. Watching your now oldest go from being an only child to being a big brother. And I honestly don't think he really had the capacity to understand what was going on necessarily. And I do have some mom guilt, of course, of that.

Aligned Birth Podcast (20:00.075)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (20:24.846)
and then after a couple of days, know, Liam was really, fussy all the time. And that was not something I experienced with forest. Like I could put forest down, but Liam, wanted to be on me. He wanted to be nursing. He, was like above and beyond cluster feeding. And I was really struggling because I wasn't able to get any rest, or time away or time with forest.

and forest was struggling, you know, in that regard too. And so I remember Hannah came over, and Rachel, came over one day, just to help us like, try and figure out how I could get a little bit of rest, as well as, know, support Liam and his feeding journey. You guys gave, you know, such good tips and tricks there, some more referrals for different lactation consultants.

cause I felt like we needed to probably start going down that route. Cause it was really important to me that I, I tried to stick with breastfeeding longer. and so that kind of started the, the, the journey with Liam. he, and I hate like the diagnosis of colic, but technically my pediatrician gave him the diagnosis of colic. but knowing that the

Colic is kind of like all encompassing. It's not really like the root issue, right? And I know Shannon and Rachel, you guys can probably speak to that a little bit more like clinically. But he was just, he was never content. He couldn't put him down. He wanted to nurse all the time. It was just really, really tough. And we ended up going, I didn't go back to the same ENT because I,

Aligned Birth Podcast (21:58.785)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (22:04.638)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (22:09.142)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (22:22.956)
wasn't a huge fan after the experience with Foresto. Shane and I chatted with you a lot about places we could go to get his ties looked at. Had a great lactation consultant, Bree. What is her handle? Booby Ninja or something like that? I can't remember now. I want to give her a shout out. Yes.

Aligned Birth Podcast (22:39.616)
you

Aligned Birth Podcast (22:40.578)
Yeah, she's mama mantra, but that's like her business. her like social media handle is something fun with the word booby in it. Yeah, I think it is booby ninja.

Heather Fasano (22:50.06)
like the booby ninja or something like that. Yeah. but she came in and she did like house calls and she was like a wealth of knowledge. I loved her approach. She was very thorough, and very open to supporting me and, know, trying to continue to breastfeed and the things that we could do and try with Liam to help. She gave me exercises to try with them, even, to start before

Aligned Birth Podcast (22:51.775)
You

Heather Fasano (23:18.07)
Any ties were released, anything like that. So it was definitely a different experience there and being able to reach out to her and call on her with questions was huge. and we ended up going to, the tongue tie center in Atlanta and they also follow that approach. Like they're very strong in, okay, you've got some pre-work here, like some like physical therapy that has to, that it really should go on before we do a release.

Aligned Birth Podcast (23:32.705)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (23:45.058)
then you get the release done and then you have follow-up care. And if you think about it, that's how most procedures are, right? Like as adults, you you prep for a procedure, you have it done, and then there's PT, OT, whatever stretching that you need to do to make sure that you have that whole like a spectrum of care. And I think that's really, really important when you're talking about ties.

Aligned Birth Podcast (23:52.59)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (24:11.672)
for people to understand that it's not just the release. There's a lot that needs to go with it for it to be truly successful. So we started down that journey and the folks down there were great, great with Liam. He ended up being a little bit of a challenge for them, I think, just from the PTOT sense. They were also trying to help with him just being able to regulate and calm down and be able to put him down and...

hated tummy time and when I say hated tummy time, like he was so mad all the time, but it really wasn't beneficial. You know, I learned from them that if he's not, if he's losing his mind when he's in tummy time, you're kind of voiding out the benefits of tummy time. So the goal is to keep them, you know, okay, flip them back over, get them calmed down. Okay, try again, you know, to keep them regulated throughout that process.

Aligned Birth Podcast (25:09.312)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (25:10.062)
Cause like Forrest, you could just put him on his tummy and he was cool. know, he got mad after a while, but like, okay.

Aligned Birth Podcast (25:14.146)
That, right. And that's also that insight into what's going on nervous system internally as well too, because anytime I've got one, a little one that doesn't like tummy time, that tells me that, you know, whether it's ties, what does it call it? Like he kind of had that little perfect storm and every baby is so different and every treatment is so different. And so for you to kind of call in those things and be like, okay, something different is going on here. Yeah. But it's not fun to just

put them on their belly and if they struggle with it, that's not beneficial. So yeah, we've got to do some things to help. So you called in all the reinforcements.

Heather Fasano (25:53.742)
Yeah, he ended up being like, they had, they had like a training, I guess, for practitioners like in the southeast or something. And the OT there was like, can we have Liam come in and be one of our demo babies? Like, so that, you know, get some insight. And so I took him down like one Saturday morning and they were doing like a training and I'm in medical education. So I'm like, yeah, like I know all about, you know, training like

Aligned Birth Podcast (26:09.571)
huh.

Aligned Birth Podcast (26:19.842)
You're like, this is great. I know.

Heather Fasano (26:22.58)
sure, like I have a case study on my hands guys, like help me out. And it was really great to, not great, right? Like they saw the struggles or the difficulties, but it was really great to have like a room full of folks that are supporting and also trying to give you strategies and things like to help, you know, both you as a mom and then your child too, that's just.

Aligned Birth Podcast (26:30.743)
Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (26:45.644)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (26:51.18)
you know, who's having such a hard time like being on this earth, you know, he's just like, he's really struggling and having a hard time getting comfortable and they were great. And I remember, because mentally this was obviously very challenging for me. And there were lots of tears on my side throughout all of this because he wasn't sleeping. I was so worried he was getting enough nourishment. My babies are small. Like that's just

Aligned Birth Podcast (27:14.594)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (27:19.968)
You know, that's one of the things. so having, you know, your pediatrician point out that like, they're on like the lower end. you know, it's just this constant like game you play in your head as a mom of like, am I doing the right thing? Am I doing enough? And I felt, you know, you feel helpless a lot of the time, you know, you've got like your spouse there and you got like friends and family that are there to help, but you just, you constantly question if you're doing the right thing. And so.

I remember the girls at that training, I think like at the very end or at some point they looked at me and they were like, you're doing everything. Like you're like good for you. And I remember Shannon, you you would say the same thing and you're like, it takes a lot of strength to like, to keep trying and just know that you're doing everything you can. And

Aligned Birth Podcast (28:00.792)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (28:06.881)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (28:11.02)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (28:15.244)
be proud of that. And it was like, you just need to hear that I think as a mom who's having a hard time.

Aligned Birth Podcast (28:19.434)
Mm-hmm.

especially when that second one or that first one is so different than the other. And you even got to meet Michelle Emanuel. Is that the training that you're talking about? So I had Michelle Emanuel on, we had her on the show. She's with Tummy Time Method and she's an OT and she is fabulous and I loved her. And I was like, my gosh, this is full circle moment because you got to go and Liam got to be in that training. And I was like, and she's on a podcast. was like, my God, it's just like amazing thing. And so I...

Heather Fasano (28:25.729)
Yeah.

Heather Fasano (28:30.348)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (28:52.064)
I thought it was great. I mean, know it was a tough, I know it was so tough in my mind. I'm like, this is amazing. You get to meet the greatest, you know, in tummy time world. But I know she gave you some really good feedback as well too and things. But everybody, think with you too, it was kind of interesting to hear. And I remember everybody kind of giving you the same feedback. Like, okay, you're doing all the things. And sometimes it's, there's an element of time, you know, and which is really, really tough to hear.

but it's the aspect of I think you had the support system this time around. I often wonder how that would have panned out if that was your first and not your second. And not only just in your experience because yes, experience can definitely make that second birth and postpartum different, but sometimes you have these things that run in and it's like, whoa, this is outside of...

the second of, you know, like handling and managing that. So I think it's, there's an element of who you pulled in prenatally that is also really helping in that postpartum. Like I think yours is a beautiful example of that. Cause it even goes into that birth because if I think that having that healing birth,

Heather Fasano (29:52.898)
and

Heather Fasano (30:12.237)
sure.

Aligned Birth Podcast (30:20.042)
and that healing postpartum set you up to be able to have the energy reserves or whatnot and knowledge base for that second time around. I mean, as difficult as it is, I do see that silver lining. Yeah.

Heather Fasano (30:35.022)
For sure. Yeah, I think about it all the time. Like you mentioned the, like, how would I have handled that if that was my firstborn? You you're the great connector and I always felt like there was, I could come to you and you always had like, not necessarily a recommendation, but you had like a person or a thought or something for me to look into, which, and you were a trusted part of like,

Aligned Birth Podcast (30:43.97)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (30:58.764)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (31:02.188)
my birth team, I'd known you for a while at that point in time. And so just knowing that there was like a toolkit, if you will, of like people or directions we could look into made me feel empowered to feel like I was trying all the things, right? And I think there's some level of, because I remember it, because you mentioned you're like time, it's just gonna be time now.

Aligned Birth Podcast (31:10.594)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (31:17.867)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (31:29.378)
you

Aligned Birth Podcast (31:29.538)
remember saying that and I was like, man, I hate saying this, but I know. But yeah, I know.

Heather Fasano (31:29.934)
Oh my God, I remember you saying that. It was so hard. It was like, how? But that also speaks to, I think this piece of, you know, I can pretend my, not pretend, but I can talk about my prenatal experience and my birth as like this empowering, like journey back and, you know, ideal case scenario, right?

And you can still have a really hard baby, like a really difficult, challenging postpartum time. Like it doesn't guarantee anything. Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (32:02.59)
Mm-hmm. One, actually, it does it guarantee. Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (32:06.846)
There are no guarantees. I mean, that's what we know for sure. you know, when you that's why we like having this conversation because we when you have multiple birth experiences and different babies, different births, different postpartums, like it's just driving home what we try and pass on to our clients of like trying to prepare in an intentional way because you don't know what you're going to get for your birth or for your postpartum, but you got to have a good support team.

Aligned Birth Podcast (32:11.617)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (32:35.21)
and people who you can lean on and you've got to have those resources and kind of like gain a little bit of education in all the ways. So that's like, you can identify like, okay, this doesn't feel right. then you're enhancing your innate wisdom because like you have that and it grows with each subsequent child and you can see that in your stories. But what you did though is you used your resources and you used your support team because like

Aligned Birth Podcast (32:51.562)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (33:04.284)
We're not the fix. We're just here to support. You have to use. You have to implement. You have to explore. You have to advocate. And that's what you did. And I think that is, you know, that's what I want people to hear of like, you have to be part of this process in order to get through it and that it's not always easy. And even if parts of it are easy, multiple things are usually true at the same time. We love that phrase and

Aligned Birth Podcast (33:09.782)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (33:09.901)
Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (33:32.767)
And so it's just being able to continue to adapt, explore, but leaning on trusted professionals and resources instead of maybe getting lost in Facebook forums or well-intentioned family members or friends, or anyone kind of bringing fear or bringing doubt, setting boundaries for those so that you can protect yourself because there's still mental health components going on.

Heather Fasano (33:44.59)
Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (33:56.448)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (34:00.546)
And everyone has that experience on one level or another. So I just, that's like, I really want people to hear that. And that's cause that's what you did. And I think that's how you were able to get through a hard time and be able to kind of reflect and be like, look what I did. Like, this was not easy, but I've overcome a lot and I've navigated unknowns and I've navigated things that people kind of scratch their head at and you know, and you did it. And, and so I just kind of want to highlight.

Aligned Birth Podcast (34:29.416)
No, I'm so glad you said that. Mm-hmm. Because you took action. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (34:30.614)
that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you took action for sure.

Heather Fasano (34:33.484)
Yeah. And it's not easy. mean, you've got like a newborn essentially. like I was going to, I think I was going to you like twice a week and then I would go down for OT at Tongtai Center once a week. And then at home I was doing all the exercises and you know, the, the everything I was learning. Yeah. Yeah. And then, and then, also tried to manage, you know, a husband and an older kid, bless his heart.

Aligned Birth Podcast (34:36.673)
Mm-mm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (34:41.612)
We were doing twice a week.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (34:54.208)
You still had a toddler. You still had an older child at home. I know. And a husband.

Heather Fasano (35:02.466)
dad or Matt stepped up and they would go, you know, hiking or go to the park. And they really bonded during that time, which I'm just so grateful for. then luckily we were close to family. And so my mom would come down and help. remember, I think, and this is one thing I want to, I want to touch on and I don't want to forget. Not only, ask for help, but accept help when you're in it, because I think

Aligned Birth Podcast (35:02.774)
I know.

Aligned Birth Podcast (35:06.56)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (35:14.294)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (35:29.164)
Mmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (35:29.826)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (35:33.012)
as a new mom, you feel like you should be able to do everything and it's okay to not like and accept that, accept that help might not be the way you would do something. So if someone's going to come and offer to fold your laundry, let them fold your laundry and it might not be the way you normally fold it, but it's done and it's clean and you have underwear like it's okay and kind of like let it go like pick pick what's

Aligned Birth Podcast (35:48.32)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (35:57.782)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (36:02.808)
gonna get what you're gonna give your energy to in that moment. And for me, it was very much Liam and his and I relationship, the breastfeeding component, it was getting him regulated. Those were all like really important things to me. so accepting help was a big challenge for me. It was something that I struggled with like my whole life.

Aligned Birth Podcast (36:06.21)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (36:30.114)
very tight, you know, I've always been a really type A person and really independent. And this was, it was a humbling experience to sit back and watch other people do things that I felt like I should do. So I did want to mention that, but yeah, going, I mean, it was, you know, three plus days a week of driving places to get him what he needed. I was not content to sit with the colic diagnostic and just

say, okay, well, it's just time or like you could cut out dairy, you know, like that's like the first response that you get from your pediatrician. And it's like, sure. That might be one of the components at play, but there's probably a lot more going on. And you know, you're just trying to nourish yourself as a mom. And so if you're having to cut out all these foods, you know, that also is is a stressor. So just continuing to use your resources and explore it.

I know it takes a lot of bandwidth and a lot of time to do, but it truly matters. And not being content to just say, okay, well, that's all I could do. Even if you know there's other options out there or more things that you could possibly explore, I felt like there was no harm in continuing to ask for feedback and opinions. And I think that that did really matter.

Aligned Birth Podcast (37:36.404)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (37:58.732)
long-term in that postpartum spirit. And I was on the thick of it for like, at least, you know, that four solid months of just like, he was not content ever. He was not a happy baby. I know.

Aligned Birth Podcast (38:08.706)
It was a while. That's why every time Liam comes in now, I'm like, look at you. Like, cause he loves me. I'm to say he loves me. Um, and he loves the office and he's so smile. And so every time I see him, like, Oh, we've come a long way. But then I learned, I'm like, you're so worth it. Like you just, but yeah, yeah. He's such a good, mm hmm. You just needed some time.

Heather Fasano (38:24.969)
Yeah. He's a goof, but like I totally think like he'll go and like he can play by himself now. Like he's you can really see the level of like regulation, like just, you know, this whole journey now, because he's like what year and a half, little over a year and a half now. And it's just stick with it, you know, stick with it.

Aligned Birth Podcast (38:37.366)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (38:43.618)
Wow.

Aligned Birth Podcast (38:44.353)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (38:50.402)
Everybody's different. Everybody takes different things. Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (38:50.646)
When did things smooth out for you? When did things smooth out for you? You said four months, that?

Heather Fasano (38:54.446)
So four months was the point of like, I could get him off of me. Like he could for short periods of time, like he literally was like attached to my booth for the first four months of his life. Like he was not happy doing anything else. So we got to like the four month period of time and he could like hang like with my mom a little bit more and be happy just playing. I think when he was able to gain

some semblance of like strength, like he could not necessarily sit up, but he could kind of control himself a little bit more to play with things or engage with things I think was really helpful. Obviously doing all the exercises with him, you know, I think I did all of the exercises with him like orally and then movement wise, probably for at least the first six months. And then we started solids, which I think is a hump that a lot of people like.

Well, if I can just get to starting solids, right? And I think that you also have to be cognizant of that because you don't want to push solids too early either. Like you want them to be able to hold themselves up to eat, you know, that component. So I didn't want to push it too early, but was really, there was a, I think a market change once he was able to like eat a little bit, right? Not just, not just nurse.

Aligned Birth Podcast (40:03.168)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (40:14.273)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (40:17.546)
And in full transparency, we did start to add in some formula here and there because pumping was tough for me. I went back to work at, I think it was five months this time around versus the six months and I had to travel or I had to get on meetings. And so I would pump and he would get a bottle or if there wasn't enough, he would get some formula mixed in and that was okay with me. did, you know, I did still continue to try and nurse though and like have those,

connection and those sessions with him. And then I'd say he didn't start sleeping though, until like eight, nine months. And so I was, he would never sleep longer than like an hour, hour and a half stretch at a time at night. And that was completely exhausting. So to be frank, like I didn't want to do like the sleep training, so to speak.

Aligned Birth Podcast (40:55.35)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (41:08.79)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (41:16.586)
I wasn't a fan. There's a bajillion methods out there right on how to sleep train your kid and what you should be doing. There's this book and that book and it's just insane. And, you know, try this lotion, try this supplement. There's so much out there. And I think Shannon, again, you mentioned you're like, it might just be time. Like it just might just take a little bit of time. And so around like I think that eight, nine month mark.

Aligned Birth Podcast (41:41.311)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (41:45.984)
I started exploring getting some additional like actual help, not just like a self help book or Instagram. And so I consulted with, I can't remember what company it, I think it was Sleepwise.

Aligned Birth Podcast (41:52.908)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (41:59.203)
I can't remember. think it was, because I think we talked about, because I liked the book Babywise, and I think that's when I found out they're like part of the same thing, and it blew my mind, because I was like, wow, yeah.

Heather Fasano (42:05.229)
Mm-hmm

Heather Fasano (42:10.21)
Yep. Yeah. I think, I think that's exactly how I landed on it. Cause there is so much out there and I had gone the route of the, like the, the non cry it out methods, if you will. And they weren't, I wasn't seeing a lot of progress. And again, I didn't want him to get so dysregulated, getting so upset, just trying to sleep. Cause I felt like that was a step backwards, but I was like, I need something out. Like,

Aligned Birth Podcast (42:14.518)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (42:25.856)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (42:33.29)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (42:40.546)
We got to explore some options and I'm grateful because the consultant that I worked with with Sleepwise or whatever it was, have to double check on that. But it wasn't just like, okay, lock them in a room and leave. I was like, thank you. But there was, you know, it was a little bit of a challenge. They...

Aligned Birth Podcast (42:56.012)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (43:04.888)
they were able to actually, cause I needed like in-person support. They were able to like live stream or get access to my baby monitor. We used a wifi one during, I think it was a wifi one. Anyways, we used one that they could log into for that period of time. And she was able to be there with me, quote unquote, live when we were trying to go through bedtime and dealing with his false starts, which he was just notorious for.

Aligned Birth Podcast (43:33.0)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (43:34.048)
and she would text, we would text live. And she would say, you know, try this. And she noted that he did need the extra support. Like not all babies need that level, but she did acknowledge like he's gonna be a toughie and he needs a little bit more help. And that's okay. Like it's not one size fits all for every baby. And you can stay in the room with them. You can, you know.

Aligned Birth Podcast (43:54.912)
Hmm. Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (44:02.188)
you know, rub their back. You can do like all these other things to where they're not just losing their mind by themselves. And it took a couple of weeks. I think I had like a four week kind of sign up with them a couple of days of live support and then continued follow up with them. And he started sleeping and it was like, I'm a new woman. But again, it was eight, nine months in.

Aligned Birth Podcast (44:17.398)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (44:24.226)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (44:31.062)
and he had to, he ended up turning out and being a tummy sleeper. Okay. So this kid that hated tummy time, now loves it and loves to lay on his belly. And I think that part of that journey was coming, kind of getting over the hump of, okay, you really hate tummy time. You're panicking when you get on your tummy in the crib, but if you just relax a little bit. So again, just lots of work with him being comfortable there and then you pass out. Exactly.

Aligned Birth Podcast (44:35.766)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (44:56.098)
He was all nervous. No systems. That's what we would always say in the office. All nervous. No systems.

Aligned Birth Podcast (44:59.49)
You

Heather Fasano (45:00.576)
All nervous system. yeah, truly. And that was like a total game changer. And that helped his disposition as a whole too. I think being able to sleep is so important for their development. So it's that balance, right? Like, you don't want them crying out all the, you know, crying out and you want to rush to them and help them all the time, but they also need longer than an hour and a half block of time to sleep, to develop. Right. So like, how can we help them?

Aligned Birth Podcast (45:09.654)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (45:13.59)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (45:17.984)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (45:27.234)
Hmm

Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (45:31.054)
get there in a safe way, in a way that's not taxing their nervous system any more than they're already being taxed, taxing your nervous system, fine, either. yeah, eight, nine months was really like the complete change of feeling like I could be a human a little bit more again. So it was a long ride.

Aligned Birth Podcast (45:38.742)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (45:55.651)
Wow, that's incredible. That's hard. That's really long and that's hard without sleep. Both of mine were tough sleepers until about a year. And I, with my second, had to get extra support as well. And I talk about that because I'm like, it's okay. Sleep is one of those same thing with breastfeeding. think those two, like having a true trusted support person versus the internet or a book is really important.

Aligned Birth Podcast (45:56.893)
Mm-hmm. I know. That's long.

Heather Fasano (46:09.154)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (46:25.246)
and helpful, especially if there's some challenges. Like with breastfeeding, having a lactation consultant who can come and really give you like more in depth than like that quick visit in the hospital, right? Like where you're you talked about that, looking at latch, maybe weighted feeds, like so many more components. I am pumping. You were like we were looking at the whole thing and then with sleep, if and you know, for some people, sleep happens pretty easily. But for a lot of people, sleep is very challenging and under

Aligned Birth Podcast (46:49.108)
and

Aligned Birth Podcast (46:54.754)
understanding normal newborn sleep as well as like how sleep changes as they get older and then when extra support might be needed. There's so much misinformation out there of like babies sleeping through the night at six weeks or sleep training before 12 weeks or you know all these things and why babies do what they do and all their different cries.

There's just so much to learn. It's so complex. It's so nuanced. There's like so much there. It's just not like, and I think so much advice is one side or just like black and white. And so getting the extra support in there. Yeah, that is not one size fits all. but yeah, we got some extra support, like an actual person, because I was similar. I didn't want to do cry it out, which is fine. Everyone do what you want, but I didn't want to do that. but I had my, my sleep consultant help.

Aligned Birth Podcast (47:27.714)
A one size fits all.

Aligned Birth Podcast (47:39.36)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (47:50.571)
helped me. It was a was more really a it was a me thing not a not a him thing literally once I did just a few things that she recommended. It was about me. He started sleeping beautifully and I was like hi I'm the problem it's me. But it was a it was like therapy kind of but but anyways I mean nothing is one size fits all like if we were all to share

Aligned Birth Podcast (48:00.065)
That's so good.

Aligned Birth Podcast (48:07.426)
I love it. Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (48:18.894)
individual things, like there's differences there. And the time frame too of like getting to normal sleep and getting through some challenges and time is sometimes all we need, but that's a long time. So how was your mental health through all of that and what did you do to take care of yourself?

Aligned Birth Podcast (48:31.296)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (48:37.96)
It's not great. I think it was, I was still, I'm still on medication, been on meds. I think that that plays a role and sometimes you just need them even if you don't want to take meds, like there's nothing wrong with it. I think having a strong partner who was willing to jump in and really be dad for like my toddler for Forest was, took

It was heartbreaking because I wasn't that like, you know, person for Forrest anymore to see and like see them go and have fun. But I was also simultaneously so grateful that he had that person that he was able to spend so much time with his dad and connect with his dad. And I'm really grateful to and we're blessed in our situation of like I am the primary worker.

And so Matt's job is very flexible. So he didn't have to like go in an office every day. So he could truly be there with Forrest. So we didn't have to, you know, he, he, he still got that connection that I think he was craving. Having family close by was good for my mental health because I, remember texting my mom.

You know, and I'm gonna be fully transparent. I was like, what's the return policy? Because I'm exhausted. It was like another one of those nights where I got no sleep. And she was at my front door before the sun rose. She was there and she was like, go to bed. I got him. And like without me even having to ask. And I'm just so grateful for her. like, my dad came down one weekend and I think I was like.

Aligned Birth Podcast (50:15.586)
Hmm.

Heather Fasano (50:27.786)
At one point I was upstairs like folding laundry on the floor and I was I was just crying and he just looked at me and he said, Heather, and he just gave me a big hug. And so having I'm so blessed to have family that's so supportive. I'm so blessed to have you guys and a birth team that I could always call on. Like I remember texting.

Every time I come into the office, like Shannon, I think you saw me cry several times. Like it was just having the outlet. And then I also have a couple of close friends who don't live nearby, but that I could call to, right? To phone a friend. And mentally, I cannot stress that enough of like, you gotta have people. You gotta have people, whether it's your chosen family, whether it's the family you're born with, whether it's, you know, these...

this birth team that you set up prenatally that's so important because you can't do it by yourself. You shouldn't have to do it by yourself. And so that's been big. And still I struggle to this day. I'm going to therapy now still. And I just started making more time for myself again, we're a year and a half in.

Aligned Birth Podcast (51:33.737)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (51:50.958)
And Shannon was like, I just signed on with a personal trainer to help me. It was time.

Aligned Birth Podcast (51:55.045)
It was time. Yeah. But the thing is, is it's just this like, I don't know. I want to tell you, like you show up. I hope you give yourself credit for that. You show up. You do it. And that's what even what Rachel was saying earlier is you were pulling in all of these people. And so you needed a little, you just needed time to heal in that postpartum as well too.

And so then we got to the point where I was like, okay, now it's time to get into that movement where you finally feel instead of forcing certain things on yourself. It's like, okay, I can branch out a little bit bigger now in how I heal, you know, like you were doing the things here and it stays kind of here and then we're able to branch out and go and go and bigger, bigger, bigger to pull in of all those healing things. So, but you show up, you show up.

Heather Fasano (52:48.805)
Yeah. Thank you. That makes me, that makes my heart full. But yeah, I mean, takes, it's just time. Liam needed time. I needed time. And now, now we're here and I'm obviously back at work, you know, just the daily grind, but also blocking my calendar of like, okay, I get an hour to myself and it's okay. Like, cause that's the other thing of being a working mom of

Aligned Birth Podcast (52:50.666)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (52:58.092)
Sometimes it's time.

Aligned Birth Podcast (53:15.106)
huh.

Heather Fasano (53:18.37)
You know, you have guilt when you're not at work, but then you have guilt when you're not with your kids. And I would go from working and I work from home also. So there's no like, there's no buffer, you know, immediately from my office at home, downstairs, what do I need to do with the kids? And there's, there was never a break for my brain to shift or think about what I needed. I think the most quote unquote selfish thing I would do would be like, I need a nap. Like I gotta, I gotta get a nap in.

But that's not really, like there's something to be said of rest, but also moving your body. You know, that's where I'm at right now, really getting back and feeling strong. It's gonna, you know, it's doing a role for me physically, but also mentally. And I'm not doing it to like lose weight. I'm truly doing it to get my strength back mentally and physically. You know, eating better. Don't just eat your kids leftovers. Like you can take time.

Aligned Birth Podcast (54:08.994)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (54:15.916)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (54:17.356)
It's okay to put on an episode of cars or whatever and make yourself a nourishing meal. That's okay. Like the world's not going to stop that your kids get a little screen time. Like just giving yourself grace to take what you need. I think that that's, that's now the phase of healing, if you will, that I'm in. And it's okay. So.

Aligned Birth Podcast (54:24.226)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (54:44.074)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (54:44.61)
I love all your insight. It's been amazing and I know people will benefit from hearing about your stories and just a reminder for people to go listen to your birth stories in episode 180 and that this conversation is so important for people to hear because I think for people to kind of go into their first birth experience with some of this wisdom is beneficial. This is something we're always trying to

Heather Fasano (54:48.738)
Go.

Aligned Birth Podcast (54:48.906)
I know.

Aligned Birth Podcast (54:54.806)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (55:13.556)
impart onto our clients, especially the first timers about the approach and the mindset and the accepting of help and all of that, how important that is. But sometimes it takes going through it. You have to live it to kind of learn what you need. And each one is different. But just hope people have gotten a little nugget of something from you. I know I have. So thank you for sharing.

Aligned Birth Podcast (55:37.928)
yeah, I know.

Heather Fasano (55:38.19)
Thank you. Yeah, I hope so. I again, not one size fits all, right? And I'll say it. I've listened to the podcasts. I read the books. I was on Instagram. you take pieces of everybody's story and see how it can serve you or help you. also, you guys, you said it, like, do the work, too. It's more than just listening or learning. You've got to have...

Aligned Birth Podcast (56:00.866)
Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (56:05.089)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (56:05.804)
you have to put it into practice, too, and show up for those appointments or make the time. Or sometimes it's spending a little bit of money to work, you know, just it's, you gotta kind of, you gotta do the work too. if you want to, if you want to grow and then at least, and then at least if it's still just time, which it wasn't my case, I think everything, obviously everything I did for Liam and myself for that matter played a role in where we are now.

Aligned Birth Podcast (56:21.035)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (56:35.246)
but also time. So, you know, at least you can hang your hat on. I've done it all. And I can give myself the grace. I need to say, now it's just time and I'm okay with that. And I can be okay with that. It can still be hard. I can still cry. I can still need my mom or my dad or my husband or my dog. You know, I can still need that.

Aligned Birth Podcast (56:35.51)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (56:43.682)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Fasano (57:01.847)
and be upset, the two things can still be true, but I can also be content with this is where we're at now and I've done my best and it's okay.

Aligned Birth Podcast (57:12.146)
Yay. Well, that's why I wanted you on for part two. See, we couldn't fit all this in just one episode. You had too much knowledge to share. Yeah, no, I know that this was, this is beneficial for me. So I liked hearing everything and I hope others learn as well. Again, thank you for joining us. Heather, always fun to chat with you too, Rachel. yeah, stay tuned every two weeks or so where we put out.

Heather Fasano (57:18.433)
No.

Aligned Birth Podcast (57:41.762)
episode.

Heather Fasano (57:44.238)
Thank you guys.