Episode 7

About

Michelle’s journey into motherhood took more unexpected turns than she ever imagined. From a high-risk diagnosis to navigating months of bed rest during the pandemic, nothing went according to plan. But through it all, Michelle found strength in her commitment to health, her pursuit of community, and the grace she and her partner have learned to show each other as they navigate the ups and downs of parenting.

At 36, Michelle is a stay-at-home mom to her 4-year-old daughter, based in Alameda, CA. With a background full of unique experiences, she brings a fresh perspective to parenting. She spent years in Uganda working as the primary caretaker for 13 toddlers at an orphanage — a time that prepared her well but taught her that mothering a single child can be just as challenging. Michelle is also a certified rescue diver and loves raising chickens in her backyard, bringing a little bit of the farm life into her home in the Bay Area.

Join us in this episode as Michelle shares the twists and surprises of her pregnancy and parenting journey, reminding us that sometimes, the path you didn’t plan can be just as rewarding.

What you would tell your best friend before they have kids?

Sleep Deprivation: Remember sleeplessness is the first part of torture. So give yourselves a little grace. apart from that, I remember just to have grace on myself and my partner, you know, if you're lucky enough to be parenting with a partner, it's. It's impacting you guys in dramatically different ways. And sometimes I don't remember to think of how differently it's impacting somebody else. 

Communicate: And just negotiating, having the sit-down talks and negotiating, what do you actually need to do to help me in this space or to help our child in this space? that is really helpful.

 Community: And to reach out to other people, meet new moms if you can. Because even though you have friends and there some friends who are really going to support you no matter what stage of life you're in, I think it does really help to have somebody else who's going through the same things that you are. 

What unexpected joy has parenting brought you?

The community or the mom friends that I've made because quite honestly, you know even in our little group of mom friends. 

(Talking to Sam) No offense, but I don't know if we would have gravitated towards each other if we weren't experiencing the exact same struggle at the exact same time. And so like, wouldn't have met, I wouldn't have met you guys or I wouldn't, we wouldn't have connected. 

And then even like people at our schools, you know, like at our co -op preschool, it's like, we're automatically already trauma bonded together. 

There's a connection with people who are experiencing parenthood of young children immediately, where it's like, you're going through the same thing. We have similar lives in many ways. And so that has been a really unexpected joy because you have this automatic bond with all these other people who are doing the same thing. Yeah.