If you’ve been following along with us lately, you’ve got to know that pregnancy and motherhood is very front of mind for both Stella and I! Baby Ernie is almost three months old now (no one is kidding when they say it goes fast!) and Stella’s due date is closing in on 100 days away! With all of the life changes that accompany pregnancy, all things postpartum, and the newborn phase, I’ve been very intrigued to hear how other mothers and families have brought this new life into being. Enter these five podcasts: I binged some of them hard in the last few weeks of my pregnancy, and it has been nice to keep up with them in the first weeks and months of having a baby. There have certainly been episodes that have had me a bit puzzled or thinking, “that’s not going to be my strategy,” but more often than not I’ve been super psyched to gain a better insight into how so many women are able to hold onto their own identity in this entrance to motherhood.
1. Motherhood Mondays with Ali on the Run
I’ve been a fan of Ali’s since her early days of blogging and have loved her podcast for the last couple of years. When she started a “Motherhood Mondays” series the day before I had Ernie, it felt like such a lovely little gift! She has had guests on that specialize in pelvic floor physical therapy, postpartum depression, and midwifery, as well as some of her closest mom friends. The discussions always centers around some aspect of motherhood, whether that’s those early weeks and how stressful and tiring they can be, or how the guest’s childcare situation has evolved with going back to work, a second (or third! or fourth!) child coming along, etc. I’ve loved the series and hope her 10-episode run gets expanded on soon!
2. The Longest Shortest Time
This is the first “parenting” podcast I ever listened to, and I actually started listening quite a few years ago, way before the thought of trying to start a family had entered my mind/timeline. It has been super helpful in making me think about the different ways to start a family, and to hear about some of the struggles that accompany trying to have a baby. Both the original host, Hillary Frank, and current host, Andrea Silenzi, have taught me, and many other listeners, way more about parenting, the female reproductive system, and so much more than I’m sure they ever envisioned!
Favorite episodes include: Weird Parenting Wins, The 36 Questions to Ask Your Partner Before Having Kids, Rewriting Your Adoption Story, Awkward Adventures in Infertility, and the It’s a Real Mother series.
3. Motherhood Sessions
This is the newbie to the motherhood podcast scene, but Gimlet has once again nailed it. Taking a cue from Esther Perel’s “Where Should We Begin?” show, Motherhood Sessions episodes are recordings of therapy sessions between host, Doctor Alexandra Sacks, and her patients. Topics range from coparenting with an ex and asking if and when a second child is ready to be added to the family, to parenting through medical trauma and the loneliness of single motherhood.
4. The Startup Pregnant Podcast
Self described as “a place to ask questions and share stories about motherhood, business, and entrepreneurship,” Startup Pregnant’s podcast does just that with audio. Exploring the ways working mothers go above and beyond just “making it work,” the podcast’s guests are shining star examples of how motherhood can not only enhance a business but can be at its very core of women’s leadership making it thrive.
Favorite episodes include: The Myth of Equal Partnership in Parenting, Redefining Startup Success, Universal Paid Family Leave by 2020, and The First Few Weeks of Parenting: What Nobody Tells You.
5. The Motherly Podcast
If you’re a new mother I am 1,000% sure that you have found yourself at 2:00am, struggling to stay awake while feeding your infant, and scrolling through a Motherly article (or twelve). The website covers everything about new parenting and answers many of the questions we find ourselves typing into Google in those wee early hours. The podcast is an equally helpful resource interviewing high-profile mothers on their tips, tricks, and techniques of child-rearing. Last week’s episode with Angela Duckworth on the art of teaching perseverance to your kids is already top of my favorites list for this show.
Has anyone else gotten the podcast bug and subscribed to motherhood or pregnancy related ones? Have any other podcasts to recommend?? Let us know in the comments!