Femammal

This season, we are listening to women share their stories of how they formed their families, especially when health factors or medical issues impacted their decisions. Women's health matters for its own sake. At the same time, for many women, health issues not only impact their own quality of life but also their paths to forming families, and many women have wanted to share those stories here, too. For our purposes, “forming families” means the creation of any home-life that generates safety, belonging, connection, and joy, and it doesn't exclusively mean becoming a parent and raising children. I hope you will listen to each story this season with a sense of curiosity and compassion. And if you're going through something in your life right now where you're not in a place to listen to stories like these, I hope that you find compassion and support for what you're going through, and you can return to this podcast when you're ready.

Contact Femammal:

• Email femammalpodcast@gmail.com
• Follow the podcast on Facebook at Femammal Podcast

If you have feedback or want to be a future guest, please get in touch!
Logo design: copyright Darragh Hannan

In this episode, I wrap up Season 3 by reflecting on how we can reduce shame by building empathy, and how telling our stories and listening to the stories of others is a tool to do just that. I share more about my own story, and look ahead to January when Femammal will return for Season 4.

Contact Femammal:

• Email femammalpodcast@gmail.com
• Follow the podcast on Facebook at Femammal Podcast

If you have feedback or want to be a future guest, please get in touch!
Logo design: copyright Darragh Hannan

Today's guest is Jessie. Jessie's pronouns are she and they; Jessie is a public librarian from KY who identifies as neurodivergent and as having a disability. In this interview, we dive into the ways in which Jessie's experience of neurodivergence and disability are also impacted by gender and hormones, creating a Venn diagram of overlapping challenges and symptoms. Jessie reflects on childhood memories and professional adult experiences to understand the ways in which our society is not set up to embrace the diversity of experiences like hers. Finally, they share how they are advocating to meet their needs and the path they are taking to get the medical interventions and professional accommodations they need to flourish.

Jessie would like to share these resources:

Contact Femammal:

• Email femammalpodcast@gmail.com
• Follow the podcast on Facebook at Femammal Podcast

If you have feedback or want to be a future guest, please get in touch!
Logo design: copyright Darragh Hannan

Rae Thompson is a certified functional medicine health coach based in Louisville, Kentucky. Her battles with hypothyroidism and osteoporosis led her to search out the underlying causes of her health issues, rather than just medicating her symptoms. She believes that our bodies were meant to heal themselves given the right environment to do so, and I use my unique experience and skills to assist clients in setting realistic goals, providing educational and emotional support, while promoting self-management, accountability and compliance. In this episode, she shares about her thyroid issues, and how they eventually led her to functional medicine, which has improved her quality of life and has even become a second career at Indwelling Health. I really appreciate her reflections on the ways in which functional medicine practitioners can come alongside mainstream western medicine to enhance the level of healthcare that patients receive.

She shares these resources:

Rae's practice is Indwelling Health: https://www.indwellinghealth.com/

Dr. Mark Hyman: https://drhyman.com/

Bobby Approved App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bobby-approved-food-scanner/id1571725006

Function Health Platform: https://www.functionhealth.com/

Abundant Health Family Care: https://www.abundanthealthfc.com/?fbclid=IwAR0qed53qCAqPCN8rbzKM2FAmGbkIA8HtddbWNXwrO889IntMwKM7MkHWYQ

Radiant Integrative Health: https://www.healthbyradiant.com/

Contact Femammal:

• Email femammalpodcast@gmail.com
• Follow the podcast on Facebook at Femammal Podcast

If you have feedback or want to be a future guest, please get in touch!
Logo design: copyright Darragh Hannan

Today's guest is Mia McCarthy. Having navigated a long journey to parenthood, Mia is a proud mother of one who works in the area of sustainability. Having spent many years working focused on social justice issues, both professionally and personally, Mia is currently running in local elections in Ireland hoping to bring her knowledge and experience to ensure equitable access to the infrastructure needed to ensure a connected liveable community for residents. In this conversation, Mia shares about her journey to parenthood, which included several rounds of IVF and ultimately included surrogacy.

For another perspective on surrogacy, she shares this information about a new short documentary from Netflix, entitled "Two Mothers," by filmakers Anna Rodgers and Zlata Filipovic (not available in all countries):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CRxJAgIYtY

https://www.joe.ie/movies-tv/two-mothers-netflix-documentary-irish-films-790944

Contact Femammal:

• Email femammalpodcast@gmail.com
• Follow the podcast on Facebook at Femammal Podcast

If you have feedback or want to be a future guest, please get in touch!
Logo design: copyright Darragh Hannan