Shattered Conception: Navigating Infertility, Pregnancy Loss, and Healing Paths

I am thrilled to share Jessica Headey Gandolfi's energetic healing work called Harmonyum. Harmonyum heals anxiety, trauma and depression while creating calm, clarity, focus and joy. Harmonyum targets the entire neurological system, balancing both sides of the nervous system. By taking us into a deep and intense state of relaxation, activating the "rest and digest" zone, our bodies innate self-healing mechanism is stimulated, and dramatic, powerful healing can begin at a root level. Thereby, initiating the process of regeneration activating emotional, mental, and physical healing within the body. Jessica Headey Gandolfi is an emotional health and wellness expert with over 30 years global experience. After dedicating years of her life to her own healing journey, Jessica has now built a successful business focusing on helping people regain their own emotional health and wellbeing. Jessica founded Harmonyum LA in 2018, a private healing practice working exclusively with the Harmonyum Healing System. A divine and spiritual healing technique, Harmonyum focuses on activating the self healing capacity of the body, Jessica offers in person and distance sessions. Jessica is the host of ‘Stop Searching Start Healing - The Podcast’ available on Apple, Spotify and YouTube. Jessica believes in giving back. As a published author, her first children’s picture book, ‘Monkey - Wishes Do Come True’, donates 100% of the proceeds to supporting the Casa Hogar Sion orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico. Topics discussed: Spiritual hygiene Law of resonance Emotional diet Nervous system regulation Importance of breath Self healing What is Harmonyum Acts of service Phone: 310-849-7231 Email: [email protected] Website: harmonyumla.com IG: @harmonyumla

I'm excited to share this episode with Rhowena Adolfo Patel. She  is the CEO and Founder of Healing Mama Co. which was born out of her experience as a first-time mom. She has backpacked through 58 countries, and 7 of those were with her 8-month old baby! Entrepreneurship is literally in her blood. Born to immigrant parents that started business after business, not always successfully, but definitely planting the seeds since her childhood. She was an award-winning Financial Planner, she's spoken in Canada and internationally about the art of money and planning, she's literally worn different crowns, as a pageant winner, to running a bed and breakfast, and now she and Healing Mama Co. are on a movement to raise the standard of care for birthing people and partners during childbirth and postpartum. She is dedicated to helping and supporting women and their partners through pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period. I am now also affiliated with her Healing Mama Co. as a resource for new mothers and their partners, either with help with educating women and men on postpartum or through pregnancy loss. Website: www.healingmamaco.com Phone: 416-475-2584  

Kelly O'Connor Kay, Executive Director, oversees the programmatic, fundraising and marketing operations of Maternal Mental Health NOW. Her goal is to ensure that all of Los Angeles County’s new families have the resources they need to address maternal mental health disorders so that women and their families can grow and thrive. In Los Angeles County, 25% of birthing people reported a depressed mood during pregnancy and/or the postpartum period. Moreover, rates are highest amongst Black women and Medical patients. And, across the state of California a staggering 72% of people with perinatal depression or anxiety have never received counseling or treatment. Kelly previously served as Maternal Mental Health NOW’s Development Director for 7 years. Before joining Maternal Mental Health NOW’s team (which coincidentally corresponded with her own transition to motherhood), Kelly worked for a number of nonprofit organizations in the human services and environmental fields in the US and the UK as a freelance fundraising consultant and staff member. Kelly is a graduate of Northwestern University, having received a BS in Communication Studies & Sociology. She also holds a MS in Elementary Education form Brooklyn College, part of the City University of New York. Kelly discusses the important work of the Maternal Mental Health Now Task Force (previously known as the Los Angeles County Perinatal Mental Health Task Force started in 2007). The Maternal Mental Health NOW Task Force plays a key role in helping to reduce the stigma and shame around maternal mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety and sometimes psychosis, during pregnancy and after pregnancy. Additionally, the MMHN Task Force advocates and supports many different organizations and hospitals for women in Los Angeles County. www.maternalmentalhealthnow.org  

On Episode 40 I am welcoming back Elizabeth Krasnoff (she is on my Episode 2 of Shattered Conception) I thought it would be helpful to many listeners to hear Elizabeth and I discuss how incorporating sound, sound frequencies and music can soothe our bodies, our minds, our spirits/souls, and our emotions during these unprecedented times of COVID interrupting our daily lives and daily routines. This is such an important topic for myriad reasons - however especially for those with a trauma history, or people who have overactive nervous systems, and for those of us who are highly sensitive individuals - humans in general do not like uncertainty - the human mind needs order and a sense of safety in our daily life. Elizabeth connects how FEAR releases hormones and neurotransmitters that significantly impact brain waves! Elizabeth’s main passions of music, healing and consciousness complemented and co-mingled in 2016 with the start of her private practice Sound Medicine. She has trained and immersed herself in the Biosound Healing™ methodology, a configuration of a vibrating sound bed, meditation, music, video and Heartmath®, and combines this with the other skill sets in her practice to help clients deal with stress using sound and biofeedback.   In 2018, Elizabeth was published in the World Futures Journal and twice in the Society for Consciousness Studies newsletter. She presents on sound and consciousness at venues such as the Yale Divinity School with Deepak Chopra, The Graduate Institute, CIIS, CIHS, the Academy of Intuition, the Globe Sound Healing Conference and lastly JFK University, where she now teaches the annual Sound Healing class in the Expressive Arts Program. Website: www.sound-medicine.com

My guest on Episode 39 of Shattered Conception is Dr. Harvey Kliman who has, in addition to an M.D., holds a Ph.D. in cellular biochemistry from the University of Chicago. He is currently a Research Scientist in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Yale University School of Medicine and the Director of the Reproductive and Placental Research Unit with a special interest in infertility, pregnancy complications, pregnancy loss(es) and stillbirth. He has over thirty years of anatomic pathology training with particular emphasis in electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry, endometrial and placental pathology. He has over ten patents, including the patent for the Endometrial Function Test® (EFT®)—“The soil test for the endometrium®” and “Method and system for determining placental volume.” His contributions in the field of placental research include the development of the “Kliman” method of trophoblast purification, research into the mechanisms of trophoblast differentiation and invasion, the role and genesis of syncytial knots, and more recently, the clinical utility of abnormalities in placental growth patterns, especially trophoblast invaginations and inclusions, to diagnose genetic abnormalities in pregnancy, including autism. We spoke at length before recording this podcast and thought we could begin this episode talking about the inability to become pregnant. What would you want a woman to know about her inability to get pregnant or sustain a pregnancy…where should she start to gather the needed information to see what is going on with her uterus? (This is where we discuss the different types of uterine lining tests, including the Endometrial Function Test®, "EFT®") There are approximately 2 million pregnancy losses a year in the USA. We are talking about the women who are pregnant but lose the pregnancy AND there are women who lose their pregnancy between 20-40 weeks gestation. (This is where we talk about the Estimated Placental Volume Test®, "EPV"® ) Dr. Harvey J. Kliman can be reached at 203-785-3854 or http://klimanlabs.yale.edu    

My guest on Episode 38 is Dr. Daniel B. Singley.  Dr. Singley is a San Diego-based board certified psychologist and Director of The Center for Men’s Excellence. His research and practice focus on men’s mental health with a particular emphasis on reproductive psychology and the transition to fatherhood. Dr. Singley and I discuss a range of topics such as: men and postpartum; men and their relationship to their spouse or partner after the birth of a baby; sex after baby, and more... Dr. Singley’s won the American Psychological Association’s 2017 Practitioner of the Year Award from the Division on Men & Masculinities. He is Past President of the APA’s Section on Positive Psychology and currently serves on the Board of the APA’s Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinities as well as Postpartum Support International. He conducts trainings and presentations around the country to assist individuals and organizations to enhance their level of father inclusiveness. Dr. Singley founded the grant-funded Basic Training for New Dads, Inc (nonprofit) and Padre Cadre a social networking application just for dads in order to give new fathers the tools they need to be highly engaged with their infants as well as their partners. Follow Dr. Singley @MenExel and www.facebook.com/MenExel/

My guest on Episode 37 of Shattered Conception is Amanda Daniels. Amanda is a heart disease survivor, mother of three daughters and a spiritual counselor. At 18-years-old she suffered her first Heartquake™ - a term she uses to describe that moment in time when your life is forever changed - when she joined the ranks of the millions worldwide living with heart disease, and heart failure at 25.  She spent years in and out of doctors’ offices, hoping that her heart would improve.  While continuing on her regiment of medications, Amanda set on a soul journey to reconnect with her authentic self.  Through years of traditional psychotherapy, spiritual counseling and shamanic training as a modern day medicine woman, Amanda pierced through the layers of emotional pain to heal her heart.  Amanda created Flight, a lifestyle brand, to empower a broader audience of people who don’t have the ability to see her for one-on-one sessions. Flight speaks directly to people who are either suffering from their own Heartquake™, living with heart disease, grieving the loss of a loved one, longing for more purpose in their lives, learning to manage their own spiritual gifts as sensitives or looking for better overall health. She's broken down Flight into a simple formula. Force x Light = Flight. That's the Flight Formula. "Heartquake™ will Force you to ignite the Light that's always existed within you so that you can take Flight to a healthy, more purposeful and fulfilled life."  Amanda works with clients in her Santa Monica studio, she co-founded the first peer led support group in Los Angeles for women living with heart disease, and she sells intention crystal pouches to help her clients with some additional energetic support. www.FlightoftheHeart.com Follow Amanda on IG: @FlightoftheHeart Email Amanda at: [email protected]

My guest on episode 36 of Shattered Conception is Elizabeth Carman, Ph.D. Elizabeth is the leading author and researcher—along with her husband Dr. Neil Carman—of 3 books on the extent of consciousness before birth and the incarnation process from spirit to human realms. Elizabeth’s educational background includes a Bachelor Degree in psychology, a Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies, and an honorary doctorate for her pre-birth research. She recently completed her certification as a prenatal and perinatal psychology educator. In the 1970s, Elizabeth did social service work in adoption and foster care. She later spent years teaching inner development courses and meditation. In 1989, Elizabeth began exploring life before birth and interviewed mothers reporting communications with their unborn children via dreams, visions, an inner voice, feeling the child’s presence, telepathy, and a host of other announcing signs. Mothers also reported memories of their journey from the spiritual world to conception, life in the womb, and birth itself. Elizabeth and Neil’s prebirth research did not stop there. Their first two books were Cosmic Cradle (2013), and the book Souls Waiting in the Wings for Birth. (1999) In Cosmic Cradle, Spiritual Dimensions of Life before Birth (2013) they explored philosophical, religious, ethnological, and anthropological sources from nearly every culture showing the soul’s immortality. We are conscious spiritual beings coming into human life with purpose and design. In the Carmans’ recently released book, Babies Are Cosmic, Signs of Their Secret Intelligence published in 2019, they document extraordinary findings of babies’ awareness of their birth, life in the womb, and before. With a firm foundation in prenatal and perinatal psychology and medicine about the consciousness of unborn and newborn infants, Elizabeth and Neil touch on such topics as — Children’s memories of choosing parents. Children who recall a mother’s miscarriage, abortion (or as I refer to abortion as a pregnancy release), and/or birth loss and return in a subsequent pregnancy. Advanced abilities of unborn babies such as telepathic communications, clairvoyant sensing of events inside and outside the womb, and sensing the difference between being loved and unloved. These stories will draw you into a new world of wonder about consciousness before birth and suggest the need for a new standard of medical care that includes the power of love. Elizabeth Carman can be reached through email: [email protected] Website: www.babiesarecosmic.com www.cosmiccradle.com Journey to Birth on YouTube

My guest is Dr. Julie Von. Dr. Von is a Manhattan-based holistic doctor specializing in fertility who merges her medical education with intuitive-based practices. The method she developed, called Spiritual Fertility, expresses her unique capacity and experience within both reproductive medicine and medical intuition. The energetic and intuitive work she shares is grounded in real clinical and medical experience. Julie’s work has been called evocative, eloquent, mystical, and practical. Manhattan Magazine called Julie the “baby whisperer". Her most sincere desire is to help individuals to connect to the spirits of their children while guiding them to Earth in the most gentle and loving of ways. Her recent book, Spiritual Fertility: Integrative Practices for the Journey to Motherhood was published by Hay House, and released earlier this year. She has an unmatched success rate in fertility cases and her method has assisted countless couples in conceiving and carrying healthy children into the world. Dr. Christine Northrup, (who wrote the first seminal women’s health book called Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom in the early 90’s and The Wisdom of Menopause) endorsed Dr. Julie’s book, saying “Spiritual Fertility contains everything and more - that anyone dealing with fertility issues on any level needs to know. Before proceeding with any fertility treatment - or even worrying about it - you must read this book. It’s a treasure!”  Her book, Spiritual Fertility, offers readers the same expertise she offers her patients, showing them how to access their deepest intuitive wisdom and use it as a powerful tool for fertility. Julie shares tools to help heal family wounds, balance hormones, identify and unblock past trauma and grief stored in the body and create receptive energy in order to connect to the spiritual and unseen aspects of creating life - and even connect with the energetic spirits of your future children. Contact Dr. Julie Von: www.drjulievon.com    

My guest is Lindsey Henke. Lindsey is the founder and Executive Director of Pregnancy After Loss Support. This is also a website and important resource for women and their families who go on to conceive another pregnancy after losing a pregnancy, their baby is stillborn and/or their infant dies after birth.  She is a clinical social worker specializing as a reproductive mental health therapist with a focus on the grief and trauma that happens after a perinatal loss and the pregnancy that follows. She is also a writer, wife, and mother to two beautiful daughters and one sweet boy. Tragically, her oldest daughter, Nora, was stillborn after a healthy full-term pregnancy in December 2012. Lindsey’s second daughter, Zoe, was born healthy and alive in March of 2014 and her son Liev was born in 2016.  Her writing about life after having a stillborn daughter has been featured in Listen to Your Mother, Scary Mommy, Healthline, and The New York Times. Lindsey has had the honor of speaking all over the world on conceiving a pregnancy after a experiencing the unimaginable trauma of previous perinatal loss, including at the 2020 Moms’ Maternal Mental Health Forum, The Pregnancy and Infant Death Alliance Conference, The Postpartum Support International Conference, The Stillbirth Summit, and at The International Women’s Maternal Mental Health Conference in Paris.  She is currently working on her first book. Contact:  https://pregnancyafterlosssupport.org