14. Al Aboua: Baba Takeover

النوم هو مصدر قلق لمعظم الآباء. سوف نناقش النوم ونتعمق في أهميته، من الصحة العامة، الى جداول النوم وسنتعمق في ذكر الأشياء الجيدة والمفيده مع استشارية النوم جيهان خوري Sleep is a major concern for most Parents. We discuss sleep with Jihan Khoury, a certified sleep consultant, and dive into the importance of it. From overall health to sleep schedules, we dig into good stuff.

What do you mean HIIT workouts can make me gain weight?  Yes! Listen in and learn with us... One of the most important aspects of our overall wellbeing, that is surprisingly not discussed enough, is our hormone health. We all know that hormones drastically change during and after our pregnancy, but what most of us don't actually know is how it impacts our bodies. In this episode we invite health coach and gut & hormone specialist, Sandra Sharpe, to educate us on how our nutrition and hormones impact our pre and postnatal health.

In honor of Father's Day, This episode is dedicated to our partners and their experience in their fatherhood journey. Our husbands take over the studio and host you on their episode 'Al Aboua'. While we may feel so in tune with our body and connected with baby, fathers have a completely different experience. This episode sheds light on real thoughts and feeling that fathers experience. You are allowed to have your own emotions and experiences, Babas! 

Did you know that one or more of your pelvic organs can slip down and bulge into your vagina? Become more aware of the changes and possible issues that could arise in your body during pregnancy and after delivery! And a visit to a woman's health physio can help.  In this week's episode, we discuss all the miraculous changes a woman's body goes through during and after pregnancy and cover some valuable tips and advice about mama's physical health.

Let’s talk about sex baby!  After carrying baby for 9 months, there’s been a lot of changes to the physical and emotional self. And this manifests in the vagina!  Generally, your OBGYN will tell you to wait around 6 weeks after delivering before ‘jumping back into the sack’ with your partners.  However, sometimes women may encounter physical changes to the vagina such as scar tissue, hormonal changes (vaginal dryness), or an overactive pelvic floor (vaginal tightness) which causes friction during intercourse. Some women may face psychological and emotional changes that affect how they feel as a sexual woman in their sexual bodies.  If you’re struggling to have intercourse postpartum, please go visit a woman’s health physician! It’s never too late to get your sexy back!

Sadly, more women and couples go through the grief of pregnancy loss than known. And although such a loss is just as difficult as any other in terms of grieving, somehow society is not quite clued up on how to provide needed sensitive support.  These silent mamas, no matter how far into the pregnancy the loss occurs, could suffer the same symptoms of depression and anxiety. And if their mental well-being is not looked after, could go on to affect them, their partners, other children and relationships well into the future.  In this episode with Dr. Ottilia Brown, we go through the symptoms, social stigmas, risks and support associated with pregnancy loss.

Postpartum depression is real! It is a type of depression that arises after a mother gives birth and affects 1 in 5 women. It can be attributed to many factors such as hormonal changes, psychological adjustment to motherhood, traumas and more. It is a serious mental health condition and should be not only treated as soon as possible but also should be discussed more openly. Some people know it exists but don’t really know the depth to which it affects women. In this episode we speak with Rasha Salib, a clinical psychologist, where she explains how to recognize signs and symptoms of PPD, the triggers and also explains how this can be treated.

Who is this person looking back at me in the mirror? One of the first places we see the most obvious change when embarking on this journey of motherhood, is our physical body. We are constantly met with internal and external pressures to 'bounce back' or get back to our 'normal' selves. Psychologist Dr. Saliha Afridi, founder of Lighthouse Arabia, takes us through common struggles mothers experience. We discuss internal struggles with body image, mental well-being, and how to reconnect with ourselves as new mothers. "The body is the secret keeper... we [mothers] actually have a super power we have not tapped into"- Dr. Saliha Afridi

What may be one of the most natural things a woman can do for her child, can sometimes feel like one of the least natural things to do.  With the expertise of Dr. Soulaf Mansour, Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), we take you through all you need to know about breastfeeding. We walk you through the basics of feeding, baby's sucking skills, how what you eat impacts your milk, nipple shields, pumping and more! 

Birth is something so miraculous and unbelievably fascinating. It's amazing that while we all have the same end goal and result, we each have such different stories about how we got there. We plan, plan and plan again... but sometimes things don't always go according to plan. On this episode we asked mamas to share their birth stories with us. You will be hearing how different each woman's journey is, learn about things you may have not known and just be in awe of what woman experience.