Moms Alive!

We know. We know when something doesn’t feel right for our families. We know how to listen to our hearts to make decisions for our children. We are mothers. We have maternal intuition.

But do we always know how to make the right decisions for ourselves? More…

I should have known something was wrong when I started looking like a model during pregnancy.

“Your face looks so thin,” my good friend Heidi told me when I was about 5 months pregnant.

She was right. My usually rounded face had hollowed out to showcase what were for me rather dramatic cheekbones.

But I was eating well—copiously, in fact. One of my co-workers joked that I looked like a construction worker, lugging my big red-and-white cooler into the office every day. I was choosing all the right foods: spirulina-charged protein shakes, fresh fruits and veggies, nuts and lean meats. I was always hungry, but I wasn’t having those infamous cravings that you hear so much about when you’re pregnant. No ice cream and pickles for me. No junk food.

I told myself, “You’re eating so healthily—all of your nutrition is going to the baby.”

This was one of those reassurances that you tell yourself before your diagnosis. When things don’t quite add up or make sense anymore but you try to make sense of it all anyway. Because who would think that you’d actually have cancer? When you’re just 30 years old. And about to have a baby. More…

Elizabeth Bachner is many things to me. As an acupuncturist, doula and apprentice midwife (she has since passed her midwifery licensing exams), she was a vital member of my prenatal and birth team who helped me nurture not only my expanding body and the life within it but also my soul. Birth to her isn’t just about helping women deliver healthy babies; it’s also about birthing ourselves as mothers and self-aware beings. Linking body to spirit through acupuncture and energy work, she continued to assist me postpartum as I struggled through cancer diagnosis and treatment. She has a unique perspective as a healer and a midwife, which I found particularly enlightening as a new mother finding my way through cancer. We sat down recently to discuss the importance of recognizing and using one’s intuition throughout the cancer journey—and beyond. More…