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11. Birth stories with a side of tornadoes and frozen peas. (Ep.11)
36:56Kori and Laura take their vulnerability a step further - from sharing about pregnancy to birth stories and what we did with our placentas. Two different, yet chaotic birth stories (one almost didn’t make it and one got sent home due to failed induction) and our subsequent plans that involved scheduled c-sections and a vasectomy for our partner, respectively. Laura shares a trait in common with Shakira, how things went sideways with her first child’s delivery and Kori discusses how her dad - a doctor - saved the day and the importance of getting your vehicle ready for the journey to the hospital. Kori also mentions a historic tornado that coincided with the birth of her second child, encourages folks to consider a doula to support you through your birthing journey (particularly for women of color as we reflect on the disproportionate rates of maternal mortality for Black women in America and reflect on the news story related to the 4x100 relay team), and shares a poignant exchange she had with a doctor. We end with an encouragement for everyone - regardless of how you relate to pregnancy and birth - childbearing does not define your value!Follow us on social media, as we want to hear from YOU!@pushingpastpolite on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.Please rate and review us anywhere you get your podcasts and share with friends!
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10. Pregnancy experiences. Get to the hospital, don’t stop for coffee, and sell tiny cars. (Ep.10)
31:16Content warning: Pregnancy and loss. Take care while listening, or skip if this is too sensitive for you.Kori and Laura talk pregnancy - the joys of growing a new life, the lows of pregnancy loss, the shock of unexpected pregnancies and lessons learned - like go to the damn hospital as soon as your water breaks! No stops for coffee! Other topics include doulas, when to get the minivan, post-delivery undies, food cravings and aversions. And in our next episode, brace yourself for birth stories! Follow us on social media, as we want to hear from YOU!@pushingpastpolite on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.Please rate and review us anywhere you get your podcasts and share with friends!9. The power of incremental changes, staying curious, and Billy Joel! (Ep.9)
55:50Kori and Laura are back for Season 2! They check in with each other (and beloved producer, Keith) on their progress toward ways they wanted to show up for themselves in this back half of the year. Conversations include birthday celebrations, ways to feel healthy and young, kids playing with slime and potty progress, and being a part of positive political change.Follow us on social media, as we want to hear from YOU!@pushingpastpolite on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. Please rate and review us anywhere you get your podcasts and share with friends!Psst...We miss y’all. Crop tops and Flonase.
08:02Kori and Laura are dropping into your feed to say hello, they miss being in your ears, and they’re working on Season 2! In this brief bonus episode, Kori talks about her latest fashion choice, both mamas share some funny kid stories (think puberty, Flonase, scooters, and lawnmowers and brothers as speed bumps) and read some generous reviews from listeners. Stay subscribed so you’re among the first to hear the first episode of Season 2!In the meantime, share your favorite episode from Season 1 with a friend and follow us on the socials!@pushingpastpolite on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.@pushpastpolite on TwitterAnd if you'd rate and review us on Apple podcasts, it'll help folks find us. Thanks a bunch!8. Invisible labor, intersectionality, and bundt cake! (Ep.8)
38:39Content warning: Today's episode contains discussion of racial and sexual violence. Please take care when listening.In Episode 8, the season 1 finale, Laura shares her plans to go on her first mama’s weekend away ever - and Kori’s so proud. But in order to leave - or heck - even on a typical day, there is so much invisible labor involved with womanhood and motherhood (buying clothes, interacting with school, planning vacations and birthday parties). Additionally, Kori and Laura explore kin work (maintaining healthy social ties) and Kori talks about her annual crawfish boil and strategic friendship contributions that make it happen. They reminisce about the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding and quote at least 3 lines verbatim. Kori also shares the additional layer of invisible labor related to being a Black woman in America and her choice to live in a predominantly Black community to reduce that burden as much as possible. She discusses a powerful experience during the formula shortage, how tension among women can feel racialized, and how she has to protect her energy in predominantly White spaces, which can lead to feeling unwelcome or further stereotyping. Kori and Laura highlight examples of racism in America in 2023, as evidenced in the NCAA Women’s Championship and the different framing of the same exact behaviors exhibited by Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark, the expulsion of the two Justins from the Tennessee legislature, disproportionality in discipline data in schools, how the media characterizes criminals. Yet here folks are banning books and drag shows while we have more than one school shooting each day so far this year. The episode ends with the realization that going out into the world as you are takes courage - particularly for minoritized and marginalized people groups. We call listeners to action to speak up and call out behaviors that lead to these differential invisible burdens when all anyone really wants is to be fully human and embrace their own humanity.Follow us on social media @pushingpastpolite on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube and @pushpastpolite on Twitter. Please rate, review, subscribe - and share with friends!7. Motherhood. What the heck? Call Ghostbusters. (Ep.7)
52:27Episode 7 starts with a reminder from Kori’s toddler that parenting is not for the faint of heart. Kori and Laura discuss their individual decisions to parent biological children against the backdrop of their partners’ hesitancies and the strong cultural and familial messages they received about motherhood and its centrality to a woman’s purpose. Topics include landmines around choosing children’s names, our off-the-charts baby magnetism, Kori’s taste of bonus parenting while dating, the MRS degree they pursued in college, Chelsea Handler’s child-free life videos and Rachel Cargle’s rich auntie supreme movement, the reaction to hyphenating last names, and Laura’s newlywed period in a long distance marriage. The ladies discuss the beautifully rich and fulfilling lives of so many people we know without children, traveling with kids, increasingly diverse ways to become a parent, the importance of having the choice through bodily autonomy and the dangers of the slippery slope into dystopian shit post Roe, the literal cost of motherhood in these here United States, the lack of support for mothers, the CRAZY unethical world of sperm donation, the CRAZY world of what strangers - or friends - ask and say to women about their fertility and family plans, refusing to define worth based on the productivity of uteruses and ovaries, embracing our power for systemic change and so. much. more. And for levity, we wish we could call Ghostbusters when our babies won’t stop crying, share baby name mistakes that ALMOST happened, and offer ourselves as nieces to rich aunties supreme everywhere. ;)Follow us on social media, as we want to hear from YOU!@pushingpastpolite on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.@pushpastpolite on Twitter.Please rate and review us on Apple podcasts. And share with friends who have chosen and not chosen parenthood. And any rich auntie who needs two new nieces.6. The unhelpfulness of toxic positivity. And the Zack Morris phone. (Ep.6)
33:46Kori and Laura discuss toxic positivity and why mamas don’t want to hear “you got this” when they’re covered in literal baby messes. Kori shares how she resisted the temptation to ooze toxic positivity when Laura was going through a really hard time, and Laura affirms the importance of validation that this shit was hard! Kori brings up what gentle parenting looks like in her more honest moments: failing and getting up from the fails with grace, and Laura shares the power of apologizing to your children. Other topics include how two truths can exist at the same time - that you are capable and powerful - and that life is hard; oversharing about anxiety medication, the desire for the Men In Black memory-erasing device or the Zack Morris phone, how the Bachelor got COVID and had Zoom dates, the gift of DoorDash for long distance friends, delivery personnel who ring the doorbell despite signs (!!!), how naps make everything better, Kate McKinnon as Dr. WeKnowDis on SNL, the special feature of boy’s underwear, and the Babysitter’s Club on Netflix.Follow us on social media, as we want to hear from YOU!@pushingpastpolite on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.@pushpastpolite on Twitter.Please rate and review us on Apple podcasts. And share with friends if this episode makes you think of them!