Since I Became a Mother: The Identity Shift No One Prepared Me For


Transcript

Speaker: Hello and welcome back to Since I Became a Mother, the podcast about the things that motherhood changes, the things no one warns you about, and where we figure out who we are becoming together. I'm your host, Taylor Rae Roman.

Speaker: Hello and welcome to Since I Became a Mother, the podcast about the things motherhood changes, the things no one warns you about, and where we figure out who we are becoming together. I'm your host, Taylor Rae Roman, and friend, this is episode one.

Speaker: I am so excited to bring you our first episode. Spoiler alert, I've already recorded and filmed a few, so I already know what is in store for this incredible season ahead of us. This episode is really just to tell you a little bit more about what you can expect on the show, get to know me a little bit more, my motherhood journey, why i created this podcast, and really just all the ins and outs of what you can expect on Since I Became a Mother This podcast was truly created as such a labor of love out of my motherhood journey. My son is 16 months old, still such a little guy, but also out of those newborn trenches, babe. i know some people call it the newborn bubble. For me, it was a trench, honey, okay? I was in the trenches, girl.

Speaker: And this is the show I wish I had when I was on those long stroller walks that soon became um Baby carrier walks because my son was screaming in the bassinet stroller when I was just trying to listen to something on my headphones during witching hour to ignore the crying while holding him in my arms and trying to regulate myself. on those moments where I actually had a little bit of free time when he was with dad or with grandma and I just wanted something to make me feel a little bit less alone. That's really what this show is. For all of those moments and so many more when you're driving your car with the windows down And you look in that mirror and think, wow, who am i now as a new mom? I hope that you can feel a little bit less alone and just meet me here at this show and get a little bit of insight, a little bit of info, and also just a little bit of community. That's really why I created this. So I kind of want to start at the beginning. I prepped for having a baby and i had a series on Instagram and TikTok that was what no one tells you about pregnancy. You might've found me through that where I really deep dived into so much information and all the data and all the research about pregnancy. And then my previous podcast, I did an entire season talking about all of the science and the research and the data around giving birth. and around just that moment when you're pregnant and thinking about, this is surely what motherhood will be like. And while I prepared for all of those things, I never really prepared for how it would feel, the emotional part. I was really so focused on the research and the data and the science and the facts and the planning and the registry and the items that that I would need. and getting through labor, which is obviously so important, but I didn't really know how it would feel. And i don't think anything could have really prepared me for how it would feel.

Speaker: ah it sounds so cliche and borderline annoying to be like, you don't really know what it's like to be a mom until you are one. But that's really been the truth for me. Nothing could have prepared me for what it really was like after that first moment of giving birth, having my son on my chest, and knowing that my life was... irrevocably and permanently changed forever, that my soul, spirit, body, mind priorities were just different, that I was no longer the me that I was before, that I was actually a new person. Grieving that, sitting with that, facing that, accepting that,

Speaker: and learning to truly and wholeheartedly love who I am now was a journey, babe. And we're going to get into it today. just Just a little bit more about your girl, Taylor.

Speaker: So, who am I? Who was I before I became a mother? i honestly feel like I've had so many different career paths that have brought me to this moment.

Speaker: um I've been in New York for 15 years. i live in Brooklyn now with my husband, Richard, my son, Jade, our Corgi Rowley. went to nyu for undergrad, did theater and English as a double major, was a theater girl, absolutely loved loved, loved, loved, loved theater my entire life, went on to become an actor, did Broadway national tours, Did some tv then kind of simultaneously became a trainer, was an amateur boxer. Boxing was kind of my main modality and focus. When I actually took my pregnancy test, i had a bruised rib because I was training for a fight. So I was really in my boxer girl era. Been every fitness app you can probably think of. And then simultaneously to that fitness career, went back to grad school, was doing research on access to outdoor movement and recreation for incarcerated women of color.

Speaker: was super focused on anti-racism education, super focused on mass incarceration research, and then became pregnant while in grad school. My due date and my graduation day were the same date. So I took all my graduation photos while I was literally nine months pregnant.

Speaker: And then I had my son and really just started sharing about my motherhood journey more and more throughout that entire time I was always creating content but now it feels like so much more than just creating content because I've created this community of moms which Moms are the most important people to me in the world now. um i have so much love and empathy for mothers and just want to create that community for moms. And that's kind of where I am now in my journey. I've had so much life before here, but I feel like I've never felt more myself than I have since becoming a mother.

Speaker: So my birth story, actually becoming a mom... was everything I hoped it would be, which I don't think a lot of mothers get to say.

Speaker: i think I really had such a positive birth story and I love to share it because a lot of mothers don't get to have a positive birth story and I wish every mother did.

Speaker: I knew I wanted an unmedicated birth, not because I was trying to be a hero. If you went for the epidural, babe, love that for you. If you had any kind of birth story, any kind of birth journey, whether it was what you did or did not want, you made it, you did it. I'm so proud of you. but i always knew i would have an unmedicated birth. My mom did Both of my grandmothers did. Seven babies on one side, five on the other.

Speaker: And my aunts did. this was kind of like what I was always told, just like an unmedicated birth is just what we do. And I never thought I would do it any other way.

Speaker: So I had my doula. Shout out to Simone. Love you down. My doula is an angel, an icon, and she really is the moment. She was at my son's first birthday party because she's a relative now, babe. She's our family member. So my doula Simone really helped prepare me and my husband as much as possible.

Speaker: um Obviously, there's only so much you can prepare for because you can't imagine yeeting nine pound baby out of your actual vagina. That's crazy. What? um It was as crazy as that it sounds. i went into labor. I was at 39 plus three. i had a membrane sweep at my OB. b And um immediately after got Shake Shack, immediately after started feeling cramps, started listening to Shania Twain.

Speaker: Not even a huge Shania Twain lover, but she was just really on my heart and was listening to Shania Twain, doing my little circles on my birthing ball in my in my living room, told my husband, I think you should go to sleep because I feel like this might be real and I i think one of us needs to like sleep. So he went to sleep. um He literally took melatonin because he was like, I am not going to be able to sleep. Like I'm so on edge. But I was like playing it down. I was like, no, it's probably nothing. I'm probably going to be like in bed right behind you. But in my soul, i was like, no, I think this is real.

Speaker: I ended up laboring all night, like feeling contractions and just being up. On my birthing ball, I tried to sleep. I couldn't sleep. So that really made me feel like it was real. I thought I was going to be like all those girly pops vlogging and like making a TikTok of like my birth story. No, babe, I did not touch your phone for like two days because i was in another dimension. i was in another dimension, honey. Okay. first of all, I'm so proud of myself for French braiding my braids back into the tightest French braid of my life because it survived like 48 hours, just slicked that hair back And locked Okay. I called my doula at 5 a.m. and my mom. i was really feeling those contractions. I was like, okay, this is definitely happening for real. And immediately we like went into packing mode. My husband had a full cooler packed with like him and with our doula's requests of like what to bring to the hospital. My doula gets there. She was like, we need to go now.

Speaker: If you have wanted to do an unmedicated birth or you had one, you know, everyone on your care team support team is like labor at home as long as possible. Because when you get to the hospital, it's more likely that you're going to have medical interventions. I was giving birth at a hospital, not a birthing center. So that was kind of my plan. My doula was like, yeah, girl, we need to go now because these contractions are coming close. It was 9 um We get to the hospital. I was so shook by the fact that I had to like walk from the car to the hospital because like into the front door before i got a wheelchair because walking was like so hard. So insane. I get there. They're like, what's your name and your social security number? Babe, I don't even know who I am or like what space and time is. So for you to ask me my social security number is wild. Thankfully, my husband swooped in. He filled out all the paperwork. They brought me to triage. I was four centimeters dilated and got my room overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge. Quite a sleigh. It was Gorgina. I was at new York Presbyterian Lower Manhattan. Love them down. Had an incredible double birth experience there. Had five copies of my birth plan laminated on the table because you will learn I'm a type a girl. to the bitter end. And every single doctor read my birth plan, followed my birth plan to a T, babe. um And yeah, labored from 9 a.m.

Speaker: till my son was born at 6.30

Speaker: My water was still fully intact when I got into the hospital. I, at one point, went to flip from like on my back to all fours and my water popped. Like I heard it like like a balloon pop and it popped like right in my husband's face. But that man is an angel. He is an icon. He is my BFF. He is... literally the wind beneath my wings. He is just the love of my life, the fire in my heart and soul. He's the best. And he was like, no problem. He just wiped, wiped his face and kept it moving. He was actually dripping sweat because he was like giving me counter pressure and like picking me up and put me down and like rolling me over while I was in labor to support me through all of the contractions because I was in 10 out of 10 pain. And he was truly just with me every single second. At the bitter end, um a doctor, not my like OB, b just another doctor in the room room or nurser I don't think it was a nurse. I still like don't know who this woman was, but she came and was like, hey, we're installing your squat bar on your bed because that was my request. to My birth plan looked like gymnastics equipment. And she was like, I need you to get down to a full squat. I said, babe, we're doing CrossFit.

Speaker: We're doing a gymnastics session. What do you mean? i'm I'm in outer space. She said she like whispered. She was like, can you come into a deep squat? I was like, no.

Speaker: And she was like, you can come on. So I get into a squat. If you didn't know, hospital beds can move into like a million different shapes. They put it in like a kind of chair position. I come down to a deep squat. I'm holding on the squat bar.

Speaker: And she's like, reach down. You can feel your son's head. And I was like, no no, no, no, no. And my husband's like, Taylor, do it. Like you want to like, this is cool. So he felt it. And he was like, come on, this is cool. So I reached down. I feel it. And I locked in. If you're watching this on video, you will see. i literally go like this with my face.

Speaker: And like, like I actually did that. I vividly remember. And I was like, lock in, bitch. It is go time. And I pushed my son out in one push, one giant push from the depths of my soul. And the doctor missed it. He was across room putting his like gloves on and his his mask, like all his PPE on. And I just pushed my son out and I felt every single second of it. It didn't really hurt though. It just like,

Speaker: I don't know. it just like I felt it, but it didn't hurt. And he just like flops out on the hospital bed like no one caught him. But thankfully, the bed was under me because I was like in that squat bar position. and He was born.

Speaker: He was born um almost nine pounds and I had a second degree tear and I did not feel pain at all because they brought him up. He latched right away. ah My breastfeeding journey is something that we get into in a very, very soon episode, um but I'm still breastfeeding. He's 16 months old. I've had a very long and beautiful breastfeeding journey that was very, very hard at the beginning. um But he lashed right away and that was it.

Speaker: i was a mother. Everything changed forever. It was the most incredible moment of my life. I've never felt... more proud of myself. I've never felt stronger. I've never felt more purposeful. Like I literally created this human being that's half me, half the person I love most in the world. And his name is Jade Ray Roman. He's the best thing in the literal universe.

Speaker: But after I became a mom, Yeah, everything really changed for me. um i had some really tough days in early postpartum.

Speaker: I thought that i was prepared. had the meal prep, i had the meal delivery, i had all of the products that you could buy. My mom came to stay with us. My mother-in-law was there.

Speaker: My husband is supportive. i was in therapy. I've been in therapy. i love my therapist. He's the literal best. I thought that I had everything prepared.

Speaker: to have a great postpartum experience. But those early days were the actual hardest days of my life. I have never felt more actually out of my mind than I did in those early days. And i suspected I would have postpartum anxiety because like I said, I'm a type A girl, but I'm also an anxious girl. So those things usually go together. I've been anxious my whole life, babe. And I've had like low level anxiety my whole life. um It's just like always been there, you know,

Speaker: I've in therapy forever, literally been in therapy since college with my same therapist. So that's kind of a flex because he's held me down through so much of my young adult life into my older adult life. But always kind of manage those anxiety symptoms, but was like, I'm probably going to have postpartum anxiety because that's kind of who I am. So I did expect that. What I didn't expect was to feel like every single day there was just like a dark cloud over me. And you're told like the baby blues are going to last like about two weeks. But first of all, the baby blues hate that name. That's actually insane. We should throw that out the window because baby blues actually feels like your brain is exploding. It feels like the deepest sadness and loneliness and like.

Speaker: You're grieving so hard because you did not know how relentless motherhood would be. And that's the word I always go back to is relentless. It is 24 hours a day, seven days a week for what feels like forever that you're keeping this small, tiny human being alive. Every single need they have, you must meet.

Speaker: every single second of the day. And that overwhelming feeling, the weight of that is like nothing I could have ever imagined. i was telling my husband the other day that i I like have to cover my face with shame when I think about the fact I used to say that like having a puppy prepared me for motherhood because ha ha no it didn't that's actually so crazy that i used to think that that was true because there is nothing like the feeling especially if you're breastfeeding mom in those early days like cluster feeding almost took me out it is I looked on my Huckleberry app recently there were days I was nursing him 16 18 times a day

Speaker: That's actually wild. Like the cluster feeding was so relentless. And at the same time, literally my vagina is ripped in half. Like I can't poop. ne Felt I was never going to poop again. Like your body is healing. I was limping. i was like so physically exhausted.

Speaker: I hadn't slept since the day before I went into labor and I was like, oh, I'm never going to sleep again. and it was just some of the actual hardest days of my life.

Speaker: So that's another reason why I wanted to create this podcast, because I really was feeling so lonely and I was feeling like no one else was having such a hard time. I was like, how are there this many people on earth? If every mother is going through this, I used to look out my window In Brooklyn, i lived right by the waterfront and i would see all the people like waiting for the ferry and like walking along the waterfront. And I would look at all those people and think, all these people have moms.

Speaker: Are their moms okay? are there Did their moms go through it as much as I am? And those early days were just so tough for me. So pretty soon I realized it's not just postpartum depression or postpartum anxiety. There's also some postpartum depression happening. And I remember being in like one therapy session and just feeling so bad, so, so bad. And for me, what it manifested in was so much hypervigilance would not leave my son.

Speaker: He never ended up being able to really take a bottle because I felt like it has to be me. Because I had no issues breastfeeding in terms of the latch and the gape and pain and supply, I had no issues.

Speaker: I felt like I would be the most selfish mother in the world to not breastfeed exclusively because i don't even have an excuse of why i i wouldn't do it versus if I had pain or a tongue tie or a lip tie or a cheek tie. are so many ties. Or if I had, um you know,

Speaker: bleeding nipples or, you know, if I had like a problem, then i could have an excuse why i i can't breastfeed, but like I don't have any of those things. And it would be so selfish if I didn't do this. So I ended up exclusively nursing, no bottles,

Speaker: And so the hypervigilance to constantly be within a five minute, you know, walk from my son was overwhelming because I was like, I can't leave him or he will starve. So that became my life pretty early on. And It was all-consuming. The only thoughts that I had in my brain were, take care of him.

Speaker: Feed him. Is he sleeping? He's not sleeping. Try swaddling him. Try this. Try that. Try, like, the never-ending focus on just what can I do more to be a better mom for him was all-consuming. And i wasn't really sleeping.

Speaker: Like, I will say my son would go down in the bassinet at night, but we did exclusive contact naps. I was holding him in my arms on my chest eight, 10 hours a day for the first three months of his life.

Speaker: That's like hundreds of hours that he was asleep on my chest because I was like, no, no, no, it has to be me. I need to be there to like like contact naps. They regulate their heart rate and their breathing and they they help them feel love and attachment and this and it'll help my milk supply. Like I had every reason why I had to do that and essentially put myself into such a place where I was sacrificing everything Every single thing for him in a way that was just leaving me so depleted.

Speaker: i showered every day. i'm really proud of myself for that. I showered every day. I used to put headphones on under my shower cap so that I wouldn't hear him if he cried because I would... run out of the shower if I heard him cry.

Speaker: Clearly, I had something going on, babe, but I suspected that the postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety was getting me. And it wasn't until he was eight and a half months that I night weaned him.

Speaker: We did it so beautifully. i feel so blessed and so lucky that it went well. I felt like it was the right time. it really just really worked out for us. And night weaned him slowly. and The first two weeks that I actually slept through the night, he slept through the night, my brain, i feel like, really healed.

Speaker: It really healed. And I was able to see clearly, oh wow, I was so depressed. I was so, so depressed. And like I said, because I had that hypervigilance, for me, it was all about I only felt kind of okay if I was, like, with him. And any time that you know my mom, my husband would be like, take some time for yourself, go do something for yourself, I actually somehow would feel almost worse because I was just worried about him the whole time.

Speaker: So after i started sleeping a little, i started seeing the light a little bit, and that really helped pull me out of that dark mental place I really felt like I was in. I felt like every single day I was fighting for my life. And that coupled with just the identity shift that of course happens when you become a new mom really made those first months for me so hard.

Speaker: And it really wasn't even like the mothering him part and the loving him part and the caring for him part. It was doing that while also trying to take care of your home, trying to take care of my dog, trying to be a wife. Trying to take care of myself, trying to do one thing for me, trying to feel good at anything else except for mothering, trying to feel like a human, human being worthy of anything outside of mothering, trying to feel like my worth and my value wasn't just attached to how good of a mother I was. It was hard.

Speaker: It was really hard. It is still hard. Every day i am still trying to find the balance. But ah for me, it has truly gotten better every single month, every single week. It has gotten better. It has gotten easier for me.

Speaker: i felt like in those early days, especially, I was really searching so much for community. So I started my run club for moms. So if you're New York or nearby, come run with me. Started my run club for moms. and i really want to create this space here. And even like with my community on on social, I really have tried to create a space where i can be that thing that I was searching for.

Speaker: Community, conversations with experts, like the amount of misinformation, convoluted information, information that is kind of skewed so that we buy a product that you find on social. It's just overwhelming. And here I really am trying to create a space where like we're nonjudgmental. We let you know that you can do it a different way. But like this is what some of the data says. This is what some other moms are doing. This is the vibes. This is like what might have worked for us or for other moms. Experts here that have worked with hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of moms and babies and families that might have some insight and might also help you feel like you're not alone. You're not literal nuts out of your mind. um That's just what happens, babe, when you become a new mom.

Speaker: I think feeling less alone is so crucial because even if it feels really bad, at least you know you're not the only one that is feeling really bad. So every episode in this season comes from a question or a concern or a worry that I myself had as a new mom and bringing in someone, including people that like I read their books and people that I listened to their podcast episodes, people that I reached out to on Instagram. um Like the fact that they are coming here to have a conversation with me means everything to me because these are people I already was like obsessed with and loved and trusted parasocially before i met them. so getting to bring that info to you, babe, like a gorgeous, love it.

Speaker: And just really hoping that you feel so comforted with a little bit more knowledge You know, um every episode also ends with some recurring questions. And so I'm going to answer those myself for you guys in this one. The first question that I ask every guest is since you became a mother or started working with mothers becomes some of my guests are actually not mothers.

Speaker: What do you understand about motherhood now that you didn't before? For me, what i understand now that I didn't before is that... Motherhood is so profoundly transformative. And I used to think that's not going to be me.

Speaker: I'm going to fight to hold on to who I am so hard. Desperately, I will fight. And I thought it was noble. i thought that it was...

Speaker: important to fight to be who I was before. i thought I would be losing something so precious and important if I didn't fight to keep all of those parts of myself. And what I've learned is, wow I am so much better now than I was before.

Speaker: In the releasing of who I was before, in letting her go, in mourning her, in grieving her, and know that I did not get a chance to say bye to her the way that I wish I had.

Speaker: Who I am now is braver, she is kinder, she is more empathetic, she is more loving, she is so much cooler than who I was before. And I feel so grateful that I am just like every other mom. Every other mom that changes, that loses themselves, that finds themselves again, that struggles, that worries, that suffers, that sacrifices. I thought I was going to be somehow, I thought it would be stronger or braver or smarter to not let that happen to me.

Speaker: But it did. Of course it did. And I'm so grateful that it did. The next question that I ask all of my guests is, what is something mothers worry about that you wish they could give themselves permission to stop worrying about?

Speaker: Honestly, I think mothers worry about the smallest things and...

Speaker: what What I've really found is no one can tell you don't worry about that. Of course, you're going to worry about it. But what I've found is that I think about something that I used to worry about so much. So something that seemed really big, my so my son not taking a bottle. That was something I used to worry about so much.

Speaker: Now he eats food. Like he doesn't he doesn't even need a bottle. He eats three meals a day. He eats his snacks. He drinks water from his cup. Like...

Speaker: no No child, no person, like they will they will not need to be on a bottle forever. But that was such a huge worry of mine. In seeing, okay, everything worked out, I try and really catalog that in my mind and be like, okay, so the next time that you're freaking out about something, remember this lesson.

Speaker: that all of those worries can resolve. And like the tiniest things that I used to worry about, what should he sleep in? Should he sleep in pajamas with or without feet? Should I keep his feet in or should I keep them out? Should he sleep in socks? Should he sleep with a onesie under his footsie? Should he sleep with a one or 1.5 or two tog sleep sack? Like I used to drive myself insane with all these little teeny tiny worries.

Speaker: They will be okay. I watched to like seven hours of screen time a day and I was reading my journal that my mom wrote for me when I was a baby. I was eating like chips ahoy as like my favorite snack and like grapes and pretzels, all choking hazards, not cut at all when I was like 15 months old. I'm fine, babe. I had the most like microplastic down formula of that you ever experienced in your life, girl. Those microplastics, they are flooding my brain, my soul, my spirit. They are in every cell of my body is to the brim of microplastics. Probably. I'm good. I'm good, girl. I'm thriving. So I try to think about the fact that like all of those things were happening when I was a kid and I am good.

Speaker: I'm good to go. I'm one of the smartest people I know. Sorry. Sorry. Humble. Not being humble. Bragging. But like, it's fine. Your baby is going to be good if you give them a little bit of sugar and a little bit of screen time. i say that to you. Meanwhile, I like freak out if my son sees a phone. So you know what? We find balance.

Speaker: We find balance. But what I wish mothers wouldn't worry about is literally everything, including myself. And lastly, what would you say to the mother listening right now who feels like she's the only one struggling?

Speaker: For every episode, I ask my guests that about whatever topic we're talking about. And i guess I'm just like speaking generally about motherhood. So I would say every mother I've ever met is struggling. The tens of thousands of mothers that follow me on social media, or I guess hundreds of thousands across all of my platforms, the endless DMs that I get. of them telling me that they feel more seen or more heard because of something that I shared. The hundreds of comments on my my spoken word poetry or on my videos that I get from all of these moms saying, me too, me too.

Speaker: I thought I was alone. Like you are not alone in any of your motherhood struggles, no matter how trivial they may seem or how huge they are. If you are experiencing something as extreme as postpartum anxiety, postpartum depression, postpartum OCD, postpartum psychosis, all of those things are so real so valid, so overwhelming, and you are not alone in any of those feelings from the tiniest thing, stressing out about what heaviness their sleep sack is and if they're gonna be cold at night, all the way to the biggest and hugest questions and worries and concerns that you might be experiencing, you're not alone.

Speaker: And by feeling less alone, by talking about these things, by being more vulnerable and more open, I hope that you can see that there is always a solution. There is always support out there for you. And i hope this is just one teeny tiny piece on your motherhood journey to feeling more in community with other moms. My favorite thing ever is walking down the street and seeing a mom with a teeny tiny baby, especially because I live in the city. So like everyone's walking with their strollers and

Speaker: stopping and being like, hey how old's your baby? oh my God, how are you? most of the time they say, oh, we're okay. And I say, no but like, are you out of your mind? Are you not sleeping? Are your boobs falling off? Like, are you still wearing diapers? Is your brain in another dimension? Like, are you literally losing your mind? do you actually hate your partner right now?

Speaker: Are you in another dimension, babe? Like, are you good? Because I actually say like half of those things. I'm not gonna lie. I really do. I genuinely do. And they're like, oh my God, this is insane. That's one of my favorite interactions because I just feel like I joined such a sick, incredible 10 out of 10 best group on earth when I joined the group of motherhood. Like,

Speaker: Being able to just click with and talk to and connect immediately with other new moms and be like, hey, babe, is this actually insane? And they just immediately can tell you like their deepest, darkest secrets because you know that you're just in the same in the same club. That's my favorite thing about motherhood. And that's what this is, babe. This is our secret club. This our our group. It's a secret, but it's open to everyone. It is the most open, welcoming, inclusive groups that you can ever be a part of.

Speaker: So that's all I got. That's the tea. That's the chit chat for today. um I'm so happy that you're here. Slide into my DMs. Hit me up. Let me know what you think. um This season, we're going to be talking about breastfeeding, babe, because breastfeeding is a lot. Breastfeeding is actually wild. We're going to be talking about...

Speaker: Having a pediatrician to talk about all of the things that you're like, is this normal? Is my baby good? Does my baby have colic and reflux and like an allergy? Because that's what every mom is freaking out about and thinking.

Speaker: We have a sleep consultant to be like, um what can I do while I ever sleep again? um a pelvic floor doctor. therapist who's also a doula and lactation consultant to really talk about getting back into working out, like getting back into fitness, getting back into our body without what? Bouncing back because ew, who wants to bounce back? No one.

Speaker: No one, honey. We want to slowly, eloquently, not eloquently, elegantly. That's the word I'm looking for. Slowly, elegantly, gracefully, honey, come into our new body with love, with support, with curiosity, and also with the understanding that maybe we have some negative feelings. Oop, that's okay.

Speaker: Whether negative or positive, we still made a human being. Who else do we have? We have an expert talking about matrescence. You never heard that word. um Buckle up. It's going to be a new one. It's going to be a fun one. It's the transformation into becoming a mother.

Speaker: um It's like what puberty is when you're a teen. Matrescence when you're becoming a mom. If that helps you understand a little bit more, but she's going to talk about it better than I can. Who else do we have?

Speaker: Talking about IVF journeys um from my IVF mothers that are out there. We have so many amazing topics. I know I'm forgetting a bunch, but we have so many topics.

Speaker: amazing experts, mothers, and friends that are going to be here to chit chat and to also give us some actionable steps because I really think that's what the moms want. We want some actionable steps. We want to whip out our notes app and be able to be like, okay, this is actually something I can do. And this is actually what my next step should be if I'm struggling with this. So I'm trying to give you the actionable steps, honey.

Speaker: So that's all I got for today. I'm so happy that you're here. I'm sending you so much love, whether in your first week or first month of motherhood, whether you are a mother of many, whether you are on your first, second, or third baby, whether you are already one year plus into motherhood, wherever you are on your journey, I know that since I became a mother, i became such a different person, and I'm excited to share her with you guys. Before I was a mother, i barely noticed mothers, and now they're all I see.

Speaker: I see you. My name is Taylor Rae Roman. I'm so happy you're here. And friend, i will see you in the next one. Love you. Thanks so much for listening. if you loved this episode, if something resonated with you, if you learned something that you think is interesting or amazing, make sure you share this with another mom that you know.

Speaker: All of the links for today's episode will be in the show notes, my social channels, any info about our guests, any links, products, or resources that we mentioned will all be there for you. i hope to see you in the next one released every Tuesday. Before I was a mother, I barely noticed mothers and now they're all I see.

Speaker: i see you.