Perfectly, Wonderfully Made: Recent Episodes
Alise Marsh
Perfectly, Wonderfully Made is a podcast by moms, for moms. Hosted by Alise Marsh, a certified childbirth educator and doula, episodes include interviews, inspiration and a whole lot of love. We laugh. We cry. We admit fault. We are mama bear. We tell stories of pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood that fill the soul.
Hi friends, welcome back to the podcast! Today, we are going to talk about what the real role of childbirth education is.
We’re going to answer this question…
Can you prevent birth trauma? Does birth preparation, mindset work, or other childbirth education prevent birth trauma?
We will talk about how childbirth education to a tool to build your confidence, decrease your risk of birth trauma, and empowers you to take a hold of your own experience. I’ll give you practical tools to decrease your risk of birth trauma and experience your best birth!
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
JOIN Your Best Birth Course and get a FREE 30 minute coaching call!
GRAB YOUR FREE GUIDE How to Choose the Right Provider For Your Birth
GRAB YOUR FREE Guide! Preparing for Postpartum
GRAB YOUR FREE Guide! 4 Keys to a Positive Birth
Get the Thriving Through Postpartum Playbook
Work with me one on one!
Birth Trauma Resources
Connect with Alise
DM me on IG
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here are your ACTION STEPS:
HIT SUBSCRIBE wherever you listen to podcasts!
Leave a REVIEW on iTunes. Everyone who leaves a review this week will get a FREE COPY of the Thriving Through Postpartum Playbook! Take a screenshot of your review and tag me on instagram for your free copy of the playbook!
Send me a DM on IG
Share the love! Please TELL YOUR FRIENDS about the show!
Screenshot and share your favorite episodes on social media and let me know you’re listening!
I’ve got Laura DiLeonardi on the show and friends you’re going to be so encouraged by this girl. She’s given up her people, her position, and her place multiple times and has had to learn to trust Jesus as she finds a new people in each new place the Lord brings her. We talk all about the importance of community as a mom and how we were never meant to walk this journey alone. We defeat the enemy when we do life with other moms. The enemy wants you isolated, overwhelmed, exhausted, and discouraged.
Friend, today, you’re going to learn how to find the community of women you’ve always longed for. This girl is a powerhouse of passion and you’re going to be so encouraged today. Laura is the founder of Agape Moms, a national network of missional communities for mothers. She shares her tips on how to practically leave loneliness behind and find a community of other Godly women to walk alongside you.
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
JOIN Your Best Birth Course and get a FREE 30 minute coaching call!
GRAB YOUR FREE GUIDE How to Choose the Right Provider For Your Birth
GRAB YOUR FREE Guide! Preparing for Postpartum
GRAB YOUR FREE Guide! 4 Keys to a Positive Birth
Get the Thriving Through Postpartum Playbook
Work with me one on one!
Connect with Alise
DM me on IG
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here are your ACTION STEPS:
HIT SUBSCRIBE wherever you listen to podcasts!
Leave a REVIEW on iTunes. Everyone who leaves a review this week will get a FREE COPY of the Thriving Through Postpartum Playbook! Take a screenshot of your review and tag me on instagram for your free copy of the playbook!
Send me a DM on IG
Share the love! Please TELL YOUR FRIENDS about the show!
Screenshot and share your favorite episodes on social media and let me know you’re listening!
Hi Friend!
Today, on the show I’m going to go deeper into this topic of WHERE we choose to have our babies, the state of maternity care in the US, and deep dive into the pros and cons of out of hospital birth vs. hospital birth.
And you may be thinking to yourself right now… why the heck is this important?
Because, my friend, first of all if you’re pregnant or a mom in a season of growing her family you’ve been called to be a critical thinker.
Choosing WHERE you’re going to have a baby is THE BIGGEST. Hear me – BIGGEST and most important decision you’re going to make in pregnancy. Did you hear that?
THE MOST IMPORTANT. Because WHERE you choose to have your baby is going to determine the TYPE of care provider you’re going to have.
Buckle up my friends. I’m going to break it down for you and tell you all about your options.
xo,
Alise
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
JOIN Your Best Birth Course and get a FREE 30 minute coaching call!
GRAB YOUR FREE GUIDE How to Choose the Right Provider For Your Birth
GRAB YOUR FREE Guide! Preparing for Postpartum
GRAB YOUR FREE Guide! 4 Keys to a Positive Birth
Get the Thriving Through Postpartum Playbook
My Website
Real Food for Pregnancy BOOK
Listen to Related Episodes:
52: The Exact Steps to Overcome Fear in Childbirth
50: 4 Ways to Prepare for Postpartum
Connect with Alise
DM me on IG
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here are your ACTION STEPS:
HIT SUBSCRIBE wherever you listen to podcasts!
Leave a REVIEW on iTunes. Everyone who leaves a review this week will get a FREE COPY of the Thriving Through Postpartum Playbook!
Send me a DM on IG
Share the love! Please TELL YOUR FRIENDS about the show!
Screenshot and share your favorite episodes on social media and let me know you’re listening!
Hi Friend!
Today, I have a sweet conversation to share with you where I interview wife and mama Hayley Clements on the show! Hayley is currently pregnant with her 3rd baby and preparing for an out of hospital birth. She shares her story of navigating an unexpected diagnosis of a complete cleft lip and palate with her first baby, and an unexpected shoulder dystocia with her 2nd birth. She shares about how she’s learning to overcome her fears of labor, and everything she’s doing to prepare for the birth of this third baby!
We talk about how to prepare for postpartum, and it’s not what you might think. We have a great conversation about how to prepare your marriage for the addition of another baby. It’s so good!
I pray you’re encouraged and equipped as you listen!
Alise
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
JOIN Your Best Birth Course
GRAB YOUR FREE Guide! Preparing for Postpartum
GRAB YOUR FREE Guide! 4 Keys to a Positive Birth
GRAB YOUR FREE GUIDE How to Choose the Right Provider For Your Birth
Get the Thriving Through Postpartum Playbook
My Website
Listen to Related Episodes:
52: The Exact Steps to Overcome Fear in Childbirth
50: 4 Ways to Prepare for Postpartum
Connect with Alise
DM me on IG
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here are your ACTION STEPS:
HIT SUBSCRIBE wherever you listen to podcasts!
Leave a REVIEW on iTunes. Everyone who leaves a review this week will get a FREE COPY of the Thriving Through Postpartum Playbook!
Send me a DM on IG
Share the love! Please TELL YOUR FRIENDS about the show!
Screenshot and share your favorite episodes on social media and let me know you’re listening!
Today, on the show we are going to talk about how to overcome your fears surrounding childbirth. Our culture today has sold us short. So many women fear childbirth. From the media, to their sister in law who had a traumatic birth…it’s no wonder women are freaked out today. But, today… we are going to get some freedom in this area and I’m going to show you how! God created your birth experience to transform you into the mother you were designed to be.
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
JOIN Your Best Birth Course
GRAB THE FREE Guide! Preparing for Postpartum
GRAB THE FREE Guide! 4 Keys to a Positive Birth
Get the Thriving Through Postpartum Playbook
My Website
Connect with Alise
DM me on IG
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here are your ACTION STEPS:
HIT SUBSCRIBE wherever you listen to podcasts!
Leave a REVIEW on iTunes. Everyone who leaves a review this week will get a FREE COPY of the Thriving Through Postpartum Playbook!
Send me a DM on IG
Share the love! Please TELL YOUR FRIENDS about the show!
Screenshot and share your favorite episodes on social media and let me know you’re listening!
Today the Lord has put something on my heart I’m so eager to share with you. If you’re new here, you may not know this yet, but this show is often an extension of my time with Jesus and all that he’s speaking to my heart in this season. So, I invite you to come alongside me and listen to what the Lord might have for you today. Be expectant my friend, for what the Lord wants to speak to you today.
Waiting is so hard. And waiting well is even harder. Motherhood has positioned us to learn how to wait well. To have patience. Some of us wait to find the perfect spouse. We long for companionship and relationships. Others of us wait for years to get pregnant and experience a baby growing inside of us. All of us who have given birth before know the 9 months of waiting we journey through as we expectantly anticipate the arrival of our babies. But, before the best gift of new life arrives we walk through labor and test our endurance and fortitude in a way like never before. It makes the waiting worth it. Would we find as much satisfaction in our new baby if we didn’t have to go through labor? If we didn’t have to endure such a challenge before us. Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Hebrews 12:2
Friend, I’m going to give you 3 tangible ways you can wait well in this season:
Praise before the breakthrough: when you’re worried = worship. It’s warfare and it’s how you’re going to tell your brain who’s boss. Your spirit has got to get out in front. Let your spirit worship and your brain will catch up later.
Keep his promises in front of you: journal, write them down. Put them where you will see them often. Keep them out in front of you.
Tell someone about what you are waiting for: Ask this person to encourage you, to remind you of what the Lord has spoken over you. To pray over you when your spirit is weak. It will keep you accountable. You’ve been given the body of christ for a reason. Find that friend who’s going to encourage you to wait well and not lose heart.
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
FREE Guide! Preparing for Postpartum
Mama Meals $20 OFF
Thriving Through Postpartum Playbook
My Website
Connect with Alise
DM me on IG
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here are your ACTION STEPS:
HIT SUBSCRIBE wherever you listen to podcasts!
Leave a REVIEW on iTunes. Everyone who leaves a review this week will get a FREE COPY of the Thriving Through Postpartum Playbook!
Send me a DM on IG
Share the love! Please TELL YOUR FRIENDS about the show!
Screenshot and share your favorite episodes on social media and let me know you’re listening!
Hi friend! I’ve got a new resource out for you if you’re a pregnant or postpartum mama listening to this episode today. My new free guide Preparing for Postpartum is going to walk you through life immediately postpartum.
I’m super excited to tell y’all my new Thriving Through Postpartum Playbook comes out this week! I poured my heart and soul into this new digital product and I know it’s going to change the lives. Because, if you know me… you know my heart truly desires to change the world. If you’ve been around the show the last couple of years you know that I had a really challenging postpartum season with my third baby who is now almost 2 as I record this. I had a beautiful homebirth, but needed to be transferred to the hospital postpartum after I had a piece of retained placenta. After surgery and blood transitions, I was in much better shape. But, the road to healing was long and slow for me. Birth trauma, having recently moved away from family, and a husband who traveled for work all made my transition to a mama of three really tough. Throw in oral ties, mastitis, thrush, and postnatal depletion and I was a struggle bus. But, friends…. I did heal. I came back. Slowly, but surely my brain and my body came back together again. And I’m leaning into the new mom I was always designed to be. And I learned so much. And it created in me a passion to create a resource for you! I wanted to create a resource that I wished I would have had. To include everything I needed to hear in those hard, challenging, sleepy postpartum days. And I did it. And it’s HERE! And with all of my heart I pray it blesses you! Grab the Preparing for Postpartum Guide now on my website and stay tuned for the launch of the Thriving Through Postpartum Playbook this week! You’re going to love it! And sweet listener, if you’re not having a baby in this season, but you know someone who is…would you do me a favor right now and text them a link to this episode. Because it just might change their entire postpartum experience.
Today, we are talking about the 4 things you can do to prepare for a positive postpartum transition:
Hire a postpartum doula
Set appropriate expectations of yourself
Prepare meals and food in advance if at all possible
Decrease your risk of experiencing postpartum depression
Alright friends, if you’ve found today’s episode encouraging or helpful would you stop right now and share this episode with a friend? Would you take 30 seconds for me and leave a review on apple podcasts? This is the only way for the show to grow! And it lets me know how I can serve you better and brings a huge smile to my heart. Just scroll on down until you see that purple Write A Review Button and leave your review there :) For every person who leaves a review on the show this week I’m giving away a FREE ACCESS to my new postpartum resource the Thriving Through Postpartum Playbook!
Okay friends, if you’re a postpartum mama this is your reminder to go download my FREE Guide Preparing for Postpartum! Head to alisemarsh.com and click on freebies and you’ll find it there waiting for you!
Have a wonderful day friend, and I will see you back here again soon!
xo,
Alise
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
FREE Guide! Preparing for Postpartum
FREE Guide! 4 Keys to a Positive Birth
Mama Meals $20 OFF
Postpartum Support International
Listen to Related Episodes:
38 - Postpartum Life: Being Made Into Something New
Connect with Alise
DM on IG
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here are your ACTION STEPS:
HIT SUBSCRIBE wherever you listen to podcasts!
Leave a REVIEW on iTunes. Everyone who leaves a review this week will get a FREE COPY of the Thriving Through Postpartum Playbook!
Send me a DM on IG
Share the love! Please TELL YOUR FRIENDS about the show!
Screenshot and share your favorite episodes on social media and let me know you’re listening!
Welcome back friends! I’m so glad you’re here! Thank you for listening. I pray what you hear today encourages and equips you! Today, we are going to talk about ALLERGIES. I’m going to share mine (and really my son’s story with life threatening allergies. So, if you’re an allergy mama, or a mom who has a child with a life threatening health condition this episode is for you!
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
FREE Guide! 4 Keys to a Positive Birth
The GAPS Diet
Food Allergy Website
Mama Meals $20 OFF
Connect with Alise
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE wherever you listen to podcasts!
You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show!
You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE and send me a DM. I would love to hear from you!
You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com
Share the love! Please TELL YOUR FRIENDS about the show!
Screenshot and share your favorite episodes on social media and let me know you’re listening!
It’s by design that the trees lose their leaves and stand bare each winter. It’s by design that certain creatures hibernate. And to think - this process of falling away. Of shedding everything happens EVERY YEAR. Not just once. Just makes me wonder about how the Lord desires for us to be renewed, transformed, and changed each passing season.
Every year it looks like the world around us is dead for a few months. It looks dead…and yet we know the earth is only sleeping.
And it just makes me wonder how many of us have been called to a season of “wintering” if you will. Have we been called to shed parts of ourselves, of our schedules, of our lives… and peel back the layers of who we think we are.
Come listen with me as we talk about what the Lord might be up to in your heart this winter. Click play to be encouraged, and explore all that the Lord has for you this season!
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
FREE Guide! 4 Keys to a Positive Birth
Your Best Birth Course
Code: PODCASTHealth Benefits of Kangen Water
Get 50% OFF your first year of FLODESK
Teeth Tamer from Earthly
CHOOSENATURAL to enjoy a 10% discount on your 1ST Earthly order.
Returning customers: use code COMEBACK to receive 10% off your order.
Connect with Alise
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE wherever you listen to podcasts!
You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show!
You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE and send me a DM. I would love to hear from you!
You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com
Share the love! Please TELL YOUR FRIENDS about the show!
Screenshot and share your favorite episodes on social media and let me know you’re listening!
Happy New Year friends! I hope you’ve had a wonderful week celebrating a new year! Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening! It truly means so much to me, that you would spend a little time with me today.
I’ll tell you I’m going into this new year more HOPEFUL than I’ve ever been in my entire life. Last year was ANOTHER really challenging year. After MANY, many really challenging years. Our family has walked through so much. As I’m sure you have as well. And for the first time in almost 14 years I can tell you we are in a new place. That the Lord has kept His promises. That He is in fact doing a new thing.
As a family, we started claiming Isaiah 43:18-19 in 2021. In August of that year we had just moved into a new home. My dream home. The home I thought we would be in for at least the next 5 years. And by October of 2021, it all seemed to come crashing down. Where was the new thing the Lord was doing? I thought, surely, this is some mistake. My life was crumbling in that season.
And here we are. January of 2024 and I can confidently say the Lord has done it. Is our life perfect? No, far from it. It never will be. But, am I confident in the Lord’s promises to me? Yes. And I want you to be too, my friend.
It took over a decade for my life to change. To get the breakthrough I had been pleading with the Lord for. It took years of holding onto scripture each year. It took journals and journals filled with tears and pouring out my heart to the Lord.
And I can say confidently that the Lord saw all of it. He saw every tear. Every desire of my heart. Every longing and broken place I asked him to heal.
And He’s doing it for me.
He will do it for you.
He’s not done with me yet, and I’m believing that I’m going to get just a little more healed and whole and set ablaze with passion for what the Lord is doing in me and for me each year ahead. But, I’m committed to the journey. I hope you will be too.
Do this for me. I want you to take a walk with Jesus this week, or get some time alone with the Lord and ask him to show you a verse that is yours to hold onto and speak of your life this year.
Invite him into your year.
I promise the greatest gift of your life will be learning to follow Jesus with your whole heart.
And if you’re a mama listening to the sound of my voice today, I want to encourage you to do something with your kids that will change their lives forever.
Are you teaching your children how to hear the voice of the Lord?
And my friend, this is where Jesus will show up and blow your mind. Jesus will go into our past experiences and he can heal them. He is the ultimate time traveler. He’s out outside of time.
Sweet listener, our children do not need to wait until they are adults to go to therapy and heal from trauma or scary things. God can heal and restore them TODAY. At 5 years old. At 8 years old. At 15. And You can lead them there. It’s so simple. And more powerful than you could ever imagine.
Can I encourage you lisenter to take the time. Capture these moments, to have slow feet with your kids, even when you’re tired and you’re ready to check out and be off duty for a moment. These everyday, ordinary moments will mark their childhood forever. These are holy moments.
When I first set out to home educate my children 5.5 years ago I decided that the thing that was most important to me at the end of this journey was seeing my children choose to have a relationship with Jesus. I didn’t really care what they learned academically. Sure, reading, writing, and are our cornerstones. But, most importantly, I wanted them to leave my home knowing how to have a healthy, growing relationship with Jesus into adulthood. And I will always put that first. Because they are my greatest ministry and treasure the Lord has ever given me.
Okay, let me just take a moment to talk with you about pregnancy and birth. if you’re a pregnant mama listening today, I know you want a smooth, uncomplicated birth experience. The question really is, how does that happen? I’d love to be there with you as you navigate this journey in pregnancy and birth. You can set yourself up for success and rest knowing Jesus is in charge of the rest of your birth experience .I’d love to come along side you on your pregnancy journey! If you’re interested in learning more about my online birth course, head to www.yourbestbirthcourse.com and check it out. Use the promo code: PODCAST at checkout for the special price I offer ONLY to my listeners! If you’re ready to get started on your journey toward a rewarding birth I’ve created a free guide just for you called the 4 Keys to a Positive, Rewarding Birth Experience. Head to alisemarsh.com and click on FREEBIES and you’ll find it there waiting for you!
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
FREE Guide! 4 Keys to a Positive Birth
Your Best Birth Course
Code: PODCASTHealth Benefits of Kangen Water
Get 50% OFF your first year of FLODESK
Teeth Tamer from Earthly
CHOOSENATURAL to enjoy a 10% discount on your 1ST Earthly order.
Returning customers: use code COMEBACK to receive 10% off your order.
Connect with Alise
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE wherever you listen to podcasts!
You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show!
You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE and send me a DM. I would love to hear from you!
You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com
Share the love! Please TELL YOUR FRIENDS about the show!
Screenshot and share your favorite episodes on social media and let me know you’re listening!
Today, on the show I have a sweet special guest. In 2017, I had my 4 year old daughter on the show to talk about Christmas. This year, I thought it would be fun to bring her back on. I hope you enjoy hearing from her!
It’s Christmas season! It’s so easy to rush around and get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season! But, my friend, Jesus was NEVER rushed. As I sat last weekend rocking Wilder for his nap, this reality hit me hard. Jesus was NEVER rushed. Not once in the Bible do we see him RUSHING. NO Where. Not for anything.
And it made me think of Jairus’ daughter from Mark chapter 5. A moment we would think Jesus would RUSH to save her.
But He doesn’t.
Instead he has slow feet. He pauses for the women who bled. He takes time for her. He sees HER too. He sees everyone who has a need. In their moment of need. And he doesn't rush. When everyone wants him to rush. Jairus wants him to rush. Jairus’ wife wants him to rush.
Why doesn’t he rush?
Well, maybe because He’s the God of the universe who holds all things in his hands. Maybe because he knows the outcome. He also knows with certainty that Jairus’ daughter will be healed, so he can stop for the bleeding woman on the way too. It doesn’t take away from Jairus’ daughter to heal the woman with a need standing before him.
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
FREE Guide! 4 Keys to a Positive Birth
Your Best Birth Course
Code: PODCASTHealth Benefits of Kangen Water
Get 50% OFF your first year of FLODESK
Teeth Tamer from Earthly
CHOOSENATURAL to enjoy a 10% discount on your 1ST Earthly order.
Returning customers: use code COMEBACK to receive 10% off your order.
Connect with Alise
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE wherever you listen to podcasts!
You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show!
You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE and send me a DM. I would love to hear from you!
You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com
Share the love! Please TELL YOUR FRIENDS about the show!
Screenshot and share your favorite episodes on social media and let me know you’re listening!
Hi friends! So glad to be back with you today for another devotional podcast episode. I’m honored to be in your ear buds as I talk with you today about what’s been on my heart lately.
We all have this deep desire to BELONG. To be known. And we can’t escape it. It’s how we were created. We were created to be intimately known by the One who made us. By our creator God. But, when that need to BELONG….To feel apart….To feel known for who we were made to be isn’t met, we can get ourselves into deep waters. That’s when insecurity rises like the tide. That’s when we make decisions we wouldn’t normally. When we seek acceptance and approval from the world around us. When we want to be liked. To fit. To be “normal.”
We’ve all felt loss, grief, fear, and despair. And we’ve all cried out, “How long, Lord?” from the dept of our pain. When we’re feeling gutted by sorrow, that feels like it will never end, what do we do.
We lament.
We express our grief, sorrow, or regret.
Lament is a stepping stone.
It’s a step on the path toward healing and wholeness.
I don’t think we can fully heal without LAMENT. Just don’t let your feelings stop. They’ve got to keep on moving. You’ve got to at some point move from your sorrow to worship. God is looking after you. And he’s looking after me. Jesus sees your ocean of tears. And He is asking you to trust Him with your tears. What begins as a problem, must eventually end as a praise. Ask for the Lord’s help. Call out to him. He will answer you. Share all of your messy emotions with Him. He’s big enough. He can keep track of all your sorrows.
Main topics from the show:
The power of lament
Moving from sorrow to worship
Surrendering control
Taking big risks
Trusting God is working in the unseen places
Leah Genesis 29-35
Desire to belong
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
FREE Guide! 4 Keys to a Positive Birth
Your Best Birth Course
Code: PODCASTHealth Benefits of Kangen Water
Get 50% OFF your first year of FLODESK
Teeth Tamer from Earthly
CHOOSENATURAL to enjoy a 10% discount on your 1ST Earthly order.
Returning customers: use code COMEBACK to receive 10% off your order.
Connect with Alise
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE wherever you listen to podcasts!
You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show!
You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE and send me a DM. I would love to hear from you!
You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com
Share the love! Please TELL YOUR FRIENDS about the show!
Screenshot and share your favorite episodes on social media and let me know you’re listening!
How do we cope when we feel like our dreams have been taken from us? Dare to dream again with my friend, Hollie Jo Hepler. She’s a mother, a lover of Jesus, ministry leader in the local church, and radically committed to helping women activate their God-given gifts so they can change the world. She’s a speaker, podcaster, and a High Performance Leadership Coach. I’ve known Hollie Jo since I was in high school and I just adore this girl.
Main Topics from the Episode:
What do you do when you feel like your dreams have died?
It’s okay to start over
MRKH syndrome + infertility
IVF
Gestational Surrogacy
How to turn your pain into powerful for a testimony of hope
Overcoming a victim mindset
Divorce
Trauma + Therapy
What do you do when God doesn’t answer your prayers?
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
Your Best Birth Course
Get 50% OFF your first year of FLODESK
Free Guide! 4 Keys to a Positive Birth
Hollie Jo’s Surrogacy Journey on GMA
Life on Purpose Podcast with Hollie Jo
Hollie Jo’s Instagram
Hollie Jo’s Website
Connect with Alise
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE wherever you listen to podcasts!
You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show!
You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE and send me a DM. I would love to hear from you!
You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com
Share the love! You can TELL YOUR FRIENDS about the show!
Screenshot and share your favorite episodes on social media and let me know you’re listening!
Today on the podcast I’m sharing a devotional with you as I unpack how brokenness teaches us humility. Through our brokenness we learn that we are entitled to nothing. Everything is a gift. EveryDAY is a gift. We get to choose how we spend it. The people we have in our lives are blessings from the Lord. Some days we just have to choose to see them that way. The Lord gives and He takes away. It’s the reality of our world. We will all experience brokenness in our lives. We will know grief and pain and excruciating loss at some point.
Jesus will be near to us all, if we cling to him. In our brokenness we must go to him with our anger, our sadness, our pain. He can handle it all. And it’s in that place that the Lord is so good to turn our brokenness into something new. If we give it all to him, he will be faithful to transform it. Maybe not in a day or a year or 10 years. But one day, that deep loss and pain will be made into something completely new. If we trust Him to do it in His time.
If you have a prayer request, I’d love to prayer for you! Email me at alise@alisemarsh.com
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
Your Best Birth Course
Connect with Alise
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE wherever you listen to podcasts!
You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show!
You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE
You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com
You can tell your friends about the show!
This is the first time I’ve had a guest on the show in a hot minute and I couldn’t think of a better way than to kick off this season. Jenny, really does embody what it means to walk out being an image bearer of Christ. Jenny and I met 2 years ago. You’re going to love Jenny. She’s been married almost 14 years. She’s a homeschooling mama to 5 kids and a former nurse. Today, she’s going to share a little bit with you about her journey through embryo adoption! Enjoy friends!
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
Your Best Birth Course
Kangen Water
National Embryo Adoption Center
Connect with Alise
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :)
You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show!
You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me.
You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com
You can tell your friends about the show!
Hello, friend! I just need to tell you straight out of the gate, THANK YOU. Thank you for being here. If you’ve stuck with me over the years, thank you. Thank you for listening when I can only seem to get out 1 episode a year lol. Thank you for staying, when there is plenty to pull you away.
The older I get the more bitter sweet this time of year is. I’m learning that joy & sorrow can co exist. On this earth we often don’t find joy without experiencing sorrow. The joy comes OUT OF the sorrow. JOY & SORROW can co exist. They always have. Joy & Sorrow run around like BFFs all over history. We have a perfect Savior who hung on the cross, died for us, and experienced pain and sorrow, BECAUSE of the JOY He would experience being with us. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Jesus chose a life with us over any pain He would experience. The very place where we have experienced our deepest sorrows, will be the very place the Lord has promised to bring us the most satisfying joy. We can only know the fullness of joy, when we have experienced deep loss.
We find joy when we are able to take all of the pain and sorrow we’ve experienced and see how the Lord is using it for his good. For his glory. Sometimes, this process takes decades. It can take a lifetime to see how the Lord can turn sorrow into joy. Sometimes, we won’t experience the fullness of the Lord’s restoration on this side of Heaven. But, he has promised he will bottle up our tears, count them all, and turn them into goodness. There’s hope in the pit of despair, that our great God can take our suffering and use it for his glory. Every time we heal a little piece of our broken self, we take back our inheritance in Christ. We kick the devil in the teeth, and we GAIN oh how we GAIN spiritual treasure.
If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
• You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :)
• You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show!
• You can go find me on Instagram www.instagram.com/PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me.
• You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com
You can tell your friends about the show!
Thank you! xo, Alise
So ready for the BIG NEWS! I’M PREGNANT. Yep… CRAZY! We will just start with the big exciting news right out the gate. I found out I was pregnant about 10 days after leaving WA in our 5th wheel. God is funny :)
Friend, can I encourage you to gather your people. Your community. The people who are going to show up for you, bring you food when you need it, take your kids, walk your dog, and see you through the storms of life. The people you’re going to sit next to at the table for hours after dinner and laugh with. Don’t waste your time on fringe relationships right now. You don’t have time for that. God has too much He wants to do in you.
Do you ever sit back and think:
God choose ME…
MEEEE to live at such a time as this. He knew what would happen in our culture and He said, “I choose you.
“I choose you to raise a generation that will stand for Jesus and bring back a revival that will usher in the glory of God. I knew everything that would fall and I decided that I wanted YOU in the fight. In the battle for freedom and truth. I choose you for such a time as this.”
Does that ever just humble you and bring you to your knees?
WOW.
I don’t know that I’m worthy, but Jesus send me. Use me. I want my life to be a life of service to your Kingdom. I’m praying for you! Be encouraged, you’re not alone!
You are loved my friend.
Until next time!
xo,
Alise
Welcome back to the Perfectly, Wonderfully Made Podcast! I’m so excited to share with you in this season! Join me for some updates & encouragement today!
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
Your Best Birth Course
Kangen Water
Connect with Alise
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :)
You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show!
You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me.
You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com
You can tell your friends about the show!
Postpartum Uterine Bleeding “Lochia”: Resembles a heavy period after birth. Can last anywhere from 10 days – 6 weeks. Starts off red and eventually turns to brownish spotting.
Uterus: Takes 6 weeks to shrink to its normal pear-size shape. While you’re in the hospital, nurses will massage the uterus to aid this process, and they may recommend you continue for a few days after discharge. Your uterine contractions may be uncomfortable for a few days, especially while nursing your baby. These “afterpains” can be strong, menstrual like cramps. Use a heating pad, warm baths, and practice breathing techniques. You can purchase a tincture like AfterEase to help with any discomfort you feel.
Breastmilk: Mature milk will come in around days 3-5 postpartum. Kellymom.com has some wonderful resources for you!
Sex: Resume after 6 weeks, OR once bleeding flow has stopped completely and any stitches are absorbed. Usually this is around 3-4 weeks postpartum. Make a birth control plan. Have open communication with your partner. Use lube! It is normal to be dry and tender down there. If you are not breastfeeding you can expect to ovulate 2-6 weeks after delivery. Breastfeeding women can ovulate at any time.
Exercise: Kegel exercises may help prevent leaking urine, help promote healing, reduce swelling, and restore muscle tone in your perineum. You can begin your kegel exercises around the 3rd day postpartum. I love this postpartum exercise program! Expecting and Empowered
Hemorrhoids: Tucks pads & sitz baths. Keep your stool loose with a stool softener and a high fiber diet and plenty of fluids.
Pain: Ice packs first 12-24 hours, warm sitz baths or tub baths, topical anesthetics (sprays) and Tucks pads
In this episode, I chat with Chelsey Matley. I was Chelsey’s doula about 18 months ago and have had such a great time getting to know this girl!
Chelsey is a follower of Jesus, wife to her husband Kevin, mama to her baby girl Evelyn Golden. She’s a freelance makeup artist born and raised in Seattle, WA. She loves the PNW, film, music, watching the birds on my bird feeder, reading books with Evelyn, watching reruns of The Office and finding new recipes to cook. She’s pretty cool and you are going to love our honest conversation today.
We chat about their trial of infertility, overcoming challenges in their marriage, being a working mom, and her breastfeeding journey. Go follow this girl on instagram while you’re listening at @chelseymatley
I want to encourage you to join me over on my Patreon page and consider partnering with me to support this show! I wouldn’t be here without you all. Check out my Patreon to learn more about all the awesome resources I’ll have over there for my members!
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
Leggings
Stain Remover
Sound Machine
Chelsey’s Website
Devotional
Your Best Birth Course
Patreon
Connect with Chelsey
Facebook // Instagram
Connect with Alise
Facebook // Instagram
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :)
You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show!
You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me.
You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com
You can tell your friends about the show!
Today, we’re chatting about how to break up with your provider? Maybe you’re not sure if you need to switch providers…Maybe you don’t even realize there is another option for you…Maybe you’ve just been content to deal with your current provider relationship as it is, and do something different next time. I’m going to break it all down for you on the show today:
Signs you need to break up with your provider:
Your preferences don’t align
You aren’t getting your questions answered
You don’t feel heard
You don’t feel supported
You’re afraid to upset your care provider (OB or midwife)
You’re worried about what your care provider might think
If you’re ever thought to yourself, I don’t want my care provider to think I don’t trust them
If you get nervous when your care provider walks in the room. Or you notice your heart starts to race, your hands get sweaty, or your start experiencing any physical symptoms of anxiety in the presence of your care provider.
Your provider makes fun of you or makes light of what you have to say or is making jokes about questions you might have
You feel pressured into doing something that you’re not comfortable with? ie induction, pain meds, cesarean birth, etc.
Your provider does not value things that are important to your family.
Just because a provider delivered all of your friends babies or you’ve been seeing this provider for years, does not mean that their style of care will align with the type of care that would best meet your needs.
Changing care providers in your third trimester can be challenging friend, but it ABSOLUTELY can be done! You’re never too late to get the type of care you deserve. So please don’t let the fact that you’re in your third trimester hold you back. Your birth experience is TOO important!
Alright friends if you want to change providers, I’m going to lay it all out for you step by step…
I’ve got the best news for you… YOU DON’T HAVE TO SAY A WORD to your old provider if you don’t want to!
So for those of you who don’t like confrontation here’s what you do:
Call up your new provider and schedule an appointment with them. Establish care with your new provider and have your new provider request that your records be sent over. Done : ) No conversation needed.
For those of you who can handle a small amount of confrontation you can…
Write a letter or email saying, thank you for your time, but I’m changing providers. No explanation is needed.
For those of you who are Enneagram 8s or you just don’t mind confrontation… I would send an email to your current provider telling them you are leaving, and explain what went wrong with your care and how they can do better in the future. Schedule an appointment with your new provider and the office will request that your records be sent over for you!
Are you in the camp of, '“I don’t like my current provider and I don’t know who to switch to…” reach out to the doulas and childbirth educators in your area, ask your friends who they liked and WHY they liked them.
Choosing a provider that aligns with your preferences is SO IMPORTANT. And for some of you its choosing a provider GROUP that aligns with your goals for your birth, since you won’t know who will be on call when you’re in labor…
You deserve and should expect that you receive individualized education, counseling, and prenatal care, throughout your pregnancy and birth experience!
Connect with Alise
Facebook // Instagram
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :)
You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show!
You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me.
You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com
You can tell your friends about the show!
Today on the show I chat with Jessie Ereddia! Jessie and I connected through good ole instagram you guys! So it was pretty fun to chat with this mama on the phone in real time! Jessie is a wife to her husband Grant, a mama to 2 little girlies, a writer, fellow podcaster, and an encourager of new moms! Jessie is super passionate about equipping mamas in the season of little people running around at your feet! She gets it you guys. She’s in it too and understands how so many women struggle to spend quality time with the Lord! She knows what it’s like to need a little soul care after tending to a sweet baby all day. I’m so excited for you to hear from Jessie today!
I want to encourage you to join me over on my Patreon page and consider partnering with me to support this show! I wouldn’t be here without you all. Check out my Patreon to learn more about all the awesome resources I’ll have over there for my members!
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
Soul Care for the New Mom
Moms in Pursuit Online Course
Soul Care for the New Mom Podcast
Don’t Mom Alone
The Struggle Well Project
Risen Motherhood
Coffee & Crumbs
Connect with Jessie
Facebook // Instagram
Connect with Alise
Facebook // Instagram
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :)
You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show!
You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me.
You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com
You can tell your friends about the show!
On this episode 02 of Season 02, I sit down and have a lovely conversation with Katie Gruener. I’ve known Katie over the years through running into her at the gym. And I’m telling you this girl is LIGHT. She lights up the room and brings so much joy to others. Go follow her on instagram @Gruener_farms and scroll through her feed and put a face to her name!
She is just a joy to be around. I loved when Katie shared about being the “lead learner” for her girls in this episode. I think that’s so important. It’s easy to rely on school or church or programs… to teach our kids, but ultimately it’s US you guys. And that is an amazing gift. None of us our qualified, but God has equipped us for the job.
If you’re in a season of stripping away the old in your marriage you will be encouraged by Katie’s story. I know I was. Jeff & I are definitely in a season of rebuilding. It’s hard, but I wouldn’t trade it. There’s a lot of noise around us in our everyday lives as moms and parents. Go listen and be encouraged today to turn down the noise of our culture and turn up the voice of the one who says you’re already enough.
I want to encourage you to join me over on my Patreon page and consider partnering with me to support this show! I wouldn’t be here without you all. Check out my Patreon to learn more about all the awesome resources I’ll have over there for my members!
Praying for you friend!
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
Gruener Farms Website
FIVE MARYS FARMS
Connect with Katie
Facebook // Instagram
Connect with Alise
Facebook // Instagram
Key words: childbirth motherhood mama mother baby birth hour family families parenting ministry ladies women
Hi friends!
It’s been a long time! I’ve missed you all :) Don’t worry, I’m back from a much needed break and I’ve got some incredible shows I can’t wait to share with you! I thought I could take this time to give you a little Alise life update! Sound good? Okay, here we go friends!
Well for those of you who don’t know me or have just found the show let me introduce myself! I’m Alise Marsh and I’m your host here. I’m a wife to Jeff Marsh, a mama, and I’ve got 2 amazing little people in my life named Monroe and Indiana. I’m a full time doula and childbirth educator and basically a super fan of women. I released my first podcast episode in September of 2017. I’m almost a year and a half in and I’m still loving this whole podcasting gig. Thank you for listening!
This podcast was born out of a season in my life when I was terribly broken and hurting. Up until that point in my life, nothing had devastated me and crushed me like that experience before. And I’ve felt crushed you guys… plenty of times before. And you know what I decided to do… the one thing that feels good when you’re hurting. Telling people how much Jesus loves them and encouraging others. Jeff played a big role in the birth of this podcast as well. I’ve always been a big podcast fan. I talked and dreamed about starting my own show for years before I actually did. Jeff looked me straight in the eyes one night and said I want you to sit down and record your first episode and don’t come back in the house until you’re done. I looked at him, like, “are you serious?”
We have this lawn shed. I’m sure all of you have heard about the lawn shed if you’ve listened to previous episodes. But, Jeff turned a lawn shed in our backyard into a cabin with a rustic mountain feel equipped with carpet, heat, and wifi. So I sat out their one night for hours…Yes, the perfectionist in me was a struggle bus in that moment. And the Perfectly, Wonderfully Made show was born!
I originally thought I’d just share birth stories, and you know what I came to realize?! That this show is so much more than birth. It’s motherhood. It’s life. It’s REAL life. And I’ve been a birth professional long enough to know that birth deeply affects your entrance into motherhood. It sets you on a trajectory to thrive or to struggle. Birth changes your brain, it changes how you see the world, and it most certainly affects your relationships. It has been such a joy to bring you stories of the lives of women that I pray have encouraged you and given you so much hope. Because we need it. We need to know there’s a God who’s bigger than our circumstances that loves us more than we could imagine, a God that is for us, and has designed us for a specific purpose.
Enter my need for a serious break from podcasting. More like a break from LIFE! You guys… this winter I didn’t know if I’d ever release another podcast episode again. I’ve always said, Lord, as long as you’ve given me this platform I’m going to encourage and equip all who will listen. But, whenever my season is done I’m okay. I’ll follow you and I trust you with this. If it was for 32 episodes or 10 or 100. However long you want me here I’m here.
My husband, Jeff has struggled his entire adult life with mental health challenges. There were seasons were my husband’s depression and PTSD crippled him to the point he was unable to work and he struggled to function in his everyday life. There were seasons, I thought we were going to lose our home at any moment, and certainly seasons where I wasn’t sure our marriage would survive. A year ago we started running toward anything we thought might help Jeff recover and heal from the dark depression he was living with. Jeff was seeing therapists, counselors, pastors, naturopaths, doctors, trying different medications, and you better believe we were praying our faces off. And I’d love to tell you that all of that worked. A year later, Jeff was getting worse. Our marriage was falling apart. Jeff couldn’t engage with me at all. We were just co -existing. There would be weeks were he would hardly speak to me. I lived in fear that Jeff would hurt himself and that his depression would take him from me.
The beginning of November this winter I fell on the floor one day sobbing and knew that I couldn’t live like this anymore. I had felt for weeks like the Lord was asking me to have Jeff move out. And I couldn’t understand. I didn’t get that. How could I ask him to leave if I wanted our marriage to heal? If I wanted Jeff to heal? But Jeff wasn’t going to get healthy living in our house. I was terrified. Could I do it? I was so scared you guys. But, I knew in my gut he needed to go. He was hurting me.. Our kids.. And he wasn’t getting any better. I wasn’t helping either. I was just making things worse for Jeff! This wasn’t working. Jeff needed healing and I couldn’t provide that for him. Only Jesus could.
And you know what you guys… I didn’t have to ask Jeff to leave our home for him to find healing. God created a way for him to leave and get healthy! How good is our God! Through our community and therapists we found a rehab center for Jeff. In November Jeff went to a depression treatment center. He spent a month there. You guys.. Hardest days of my life. My kids were devastated. Jeff wasn’t working a lot and was home so much with them. So for my kiddos this was a huge life altering experience. They sobbed for him for weeks. There were tantrums and a whole lot of tears. I cried right along with them most days.
2 days before Jeff left for the center he went to a prayer night at a local church. He almost didn’t go. We only had a little family time left before he would be gone with limited contact for us for a month. But, he went and you guys. It was life changing. He sat in the back of the room, and heard from the Lord so clearly. The Lord told him to repent of his bitterness and doubt or he would never find healing. He left for the center 2 days later. And you guys… MIRACLES happened. I’d never even begin to fathom how my husband could find such deep, lasting healing in such a short time. After 3 days at the center Jeff had a new diagnosis, the correct medication, and the Lord slowly but surely started peeling off the layers of hurt that had piled up over years of trauma. He got to the heart of all of the pain. Jeff came back to me a new person. He wasn’t even the person he was when I first met him. He was a healed, more healthy version of his previous self. I want to encourage you right now to hit pause and go follow Jeff’s story of hope and healing on social media. You can find him @secretlifeofdad. He’s got a story to tell and it’s a good one my friends. We had some really high highs after Jeff came home from the Center. I’d love to tell you it’s been all cupcakes and rainbows and The Bachelor style date nights the last 3 months. We were hit unexpectedly with drama just weeks after Jeff came home, fraudulent charges on my business account, bronchitis from the pit of hell, stomach bugs, and so many challenges with insurance companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers trying to get Jeff the medication he needs. In the middle of all that we’ve had to call 911 for our little guy and we are currently working hard to build up his immune system, I’ve had friends and people close to me battle cancer and disease and friends loose babies. I’ve attended 9 births so far in 2019 while I’m recording this. The thing I know that heals my soul is serving others in the midst of your hardship. There’s something so powerful about showing up, expecting nothing from someone else, and serving your guts out. You take your eyes off your junk for a bit, and love others. It’s healing my friends. Try it. If nothing else it's a wonderful distraction.
Friends. It’s just life. We ALL have it. I know you have your fair share of it too. And yet, through all of this life stuff we’ve been facing I’ve never felt more unified in my marriage. We are 9 years into this marriage thing and I feel like we are starting over. We hit pause, and we’re starting again, and its so good. Its freaking hard you guys, but man if you can get through the fire-ery parts there’s such goodness on the other side.
When life feels big and scary and uncertain God seems so steady to me. I’ve had more twists and turns and disappointments in the last 3 months than I thought were possible. When something goes nutty 😆 in the Marsh household its ALMOST laughable these days.
And all I can think is Surely… God you’re up to something. SURELY. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know what you have in store God, but it’s got to be big. Because the Devil really seems to be pulling out all the stops here, almost like he knows what’s coming. I suppose he does know what’s coming…
And the crazy part about all of it is I’ve never been more sure of my God. I’ve never been more sure that He’s with me. It feels like loss and suffering surround me. I can’t escape them. Cancer and death and sickness and loss and disappointment seem to get closer and closer to me with each passing day. And yet, my feet feel so firmly planted. I may be pretty dang wobbly from the knees up, but my feet are rooted in the ground.
There is this perfect dance between joy & suffering. You don’t get one without the other most of the time. They can co exist together in such a powerful way. That is the space where Jesus lives. In that secret place where joy & suffering co-exist. It is the most intimate of places.
I never knew I would understand this space in this season of my life. While I would never wish heartache on anyone, I can only pray that you’re able to experience an intimacy with the Lord in that secret place, like I’ve come to cherish.
I’ve never yearned for Heaven before like I have in the last year of my life. I long for the day when there is no more pain and no more tears. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing my friend! We were created for eternity! So here I am….moving, taking those steps, and waking up and believing that joy comes in the morning. And my friend, it really does. It really really does.
And you know what I’m back. Here in this podcasting space that I have come to love so much! I’ve got a new little studio space to record in, and I’m SO PUMPED about it. I’ve got some amazing episodes ahead for you all and I can’t wait to share them with you! I may slow down friends, but you know there’s not a lot that can stop this girl. Thank you for being here with me! You are a gift to me!
Before I go I want to tell you all about my new Patreon page and invite you to join me there! I’ve got some awesome content in store for my Patreon members and would love to invite dive into this community! With your support I’ll be able to continue to create content and resources just for you! My Patreon members will get freebies, discount codes, and a behind the scenes content! You can check it out and learn more at patreon.com/alisemarsh
Connect with Alise
Facebook // Instagram
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :)
You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show!
You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me.
You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com
You can tell your friends about the show! If you’ve been encouraged today, I would love it if you would share the show with a friend you care about today!
Today on the show I chat with Christina Gilbreath. Christina is a wife and mama to two beautiful little girls. She is a pastor, a voice & piano teacher, and one amazing mama & friend. We chat about insecurity, motherhood, postpartum, and the lies we often believe as women. Christina preached an incredible message this year called, Faith in the Journey. Go watch this mama preach the house down. You will be so encouraged my friend!
Mama, what is the lie you are believing about yourself today? What is the truth? What does the Lord say about you? I want you to call it out. Make it clear and plain, and let the truth of God’s word pierce the darkness in your life today.
If you are sitting here listening to this episode and are experiencing any of the symptoms of postpartum depression I want you to stop right now and reach out to a friend. Ask for help. Do not sit one minute longer in the dark. There is hope for you. There is joy for you. I know we talk about postpartum a lot on this show, but mama you have to know there is hope! If you are local and live in Washington state, call the Perinatal Support Group today.
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
Faith in the Journey - Message by Christina Gilbreath Perinatal Support Group - WA Your Best Birth Online Childbirth Course
Connect with Christina
Facebook // Instagram
Connect with Alise
Facebook // Instagram
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :)
You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show!
You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me.
You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com
You can tell your friends about the show! If you’ve been encouraged today, I would love it if you would share the show with a friend you care about today!
Today on the show I chat with Tiffany Burke. She is a mother of three, who has a 13 years old, an 8 years old and a 1 year old baby girl. She is also a foster mama and has had children in and out of her home in different seasons of her life. Tiffany was adopted herself, and lived on her own as a teenager. She has a huge heart for displaced children. She’s hoping to adopt a foster child in the future. So if you’re considering foster care you guy will get a lot out of this episode. She is a lover of motherhood and has been married to her husband, Sean for 10 years. She was a gestational carrier for her brother and carried twins. I know right, what else does this girl do? She’s a commercial and portrait photographer and we chat today about how she does it all. But I’ll let you in on a little secret....She DOESN'T do it all. None of us do really. We chat about mommy guilt and our postpartum bodies. There’s a lot packed into this episode and I know you’re going to love it!
LINKS FROM THE SHOW Alexandra Kuykendall's book Loving My Actual Life Tiffany's Website Tiffany's Birth Story Video Your Best Birth Online Childbirth Course
Connect with Tiffany Facebook // Instagram
Connect with Alise Facebook // Instagram
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :) You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show! You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me. You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com You can tell your friends about the show! If you’ve been encouraged today, I would love it if you would share the show with a friend you care about today!
Today on the show I chat with Jessica Barcelona. Jessica is a wife, a mama, a pastor at her local church, and a blogger! Jessica is a blast you guys. You’re going to get some laughs in during this episode. Jessica shares with us her story about her transition to parenthood. Jessica wasn’t the girl who was looking forward to having a baby, but the Lord changed her in beautiful ways. We chat about her postpartum recovery and about all the unknowns she walked through caring for a newborn. Jessica shares how lost she felt in those early days of parenting and I know so many of you can relate. We chat about finding community and how to kill comparison. Go have a listen my friend!
LINKS FROM THE SHOW Lilly Joy's GoFund Me Page Lilly's Prayers & Support Group on Facebook Jessica's Blog CBS News Article on Maternal Mortality in the US Your Best Birth Online Childbirth Course
Connect with Jessica Facebook // Instagram
Connect with Alise Facebook // Instagram
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :) You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show! You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me. You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com You can tell your friends about the show! If you’ve been encouraged today, I would love it if you would share the show with a friend you care about today!
Today on the show I chat with my friend Ashley Hopper! Ashley is a mama to 4 beautiful girls. She has a 6 year old daughter and 2 year old triplets. She’s been married to her rock, Steven for 15 years. So you guys know I can’t stay away from pregnant people when I see them. Well, I try. But sometimes… it just happens. Ashley was also friends with my friend Jenna Urdiales (who is episode 18) if you guys want to go back and listen. I saw Ashley at preschool pick up one day and naturally just start talking to her. She started telling me her story of being pregnant with triplets. Eventually she came to hire me as her doula and I had the privilege of watching her carry 3 beautiful babies in her belly and give birth to these little miracles. You guys are going to love her. We chat about getting married young and how she had to learn to settle into who she was. Ashley shares her story of infertility with us today. And my friend for those of you’ve walked through infertility I know this episode is going to be so encouraging for you. Ashley is something else you guys. She is so strong and it’s so clear the Lord has equipped her for this life she lives.
LINKS FROM THE SHOW Lilly Joy's GoFund Me Page Lilly's Prayers & Support Group on Facebook Ashley's YouTube Channel Ashley's Blog Your Best Birth Online Childbirth Course
Connect with Ashley Facebook // Instagram
Connect with Alise Facebook // Instagram
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :) You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show! You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me. You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com You can tell your friends about the show! If you’ve been encouraged today, I would love it if you would share the show with a friend you care about today!
Today on the show I chat with my friend, Selena Frederick. Selena is a mama, a wife, a blogger, an author, and a talented photographer. She loves traveling, horses, her family, reading, and YoungLife! Wow that kind of sounded like an online dating site bio haha. Well I think she sounds pretty awesome. Selena was born & raised in Puyallup, WA. She graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor’s degree in Arts, Media, and Culture and a minor in education. Selena & I went to the same high school, but we didn’t become really close until I started dating my husband Jeff. I have years and years of memories with Selena and her husband Ryan. I’m so thankful for this friend I get to live my life with. Community and relationships are a gift from God and I thank the Lord often for this friend. I can say my marriage would not be what it is and my life would look so differently without Selena in it. I’m so excited for you guys to hear from her today!
Isn’t it so true how the Enemy likes to come in and distort our gifts. Those incredible talents the Lord has placed in us, the enemy is so good at just getting us to downplay and discredit what the Lord has intentionally placed in us. He’s not dumb you guys. He knows that when God’s people operate in their gifting, lives are changed.
I loved our conversation about delighting in the Lord. And His desires for our lives. Stayed tuned you guys. There might just be another book written on this topic in the near future!
I want to encourage you check out Selena and her husband, Ryan’s ministry Fierce Marriage right now. You can find their blog and resources at Fiercemarriage.com Go buy their book you guys. It will change your marriage. You can find their book called Fierce Marriage at Fiercemarriagebook.com They’ve got incredible books and resources out their for you! They have super cool rings, devotionals, and prints to add to your home. We have their stuff everywhere you guys. And yes, they are my friends, so I’m going to share about them, but also it does make a difference. Your marriage is too important my friends. Did you know the most important thing you can do for your children is to have a healthy relationship with your spouse. It’s so so important!
Okay one last thing for those of you thinking about gifting something special to the man in your life for Father’s Day. You all need to order a Crux Watch for your man. These watches have Top-quality components, a timeless design, a 2-year warranty, and 50% of profits from every watch goes toward helping others. It’s a win win my friend.
LINKS FROM THE SHOW Crux Waxes for Father's Day Gifts Fierce Marriage Website Selena & Ryan's Book Fierce Marriage Rings, Devotionals, Prints Fierce Wives Facebook Group Fierce Marriage Podcast
Connect with Selena Facebook // Instagram
Connect with Alise Facebook // Instagram
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :) You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show! You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me. You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com You can tell your friends about the show! If you’ve been encouraged today, I would love it if you would share the show with a friend you care about today!
Today on the show I chat with Paige Hartford. Paige and I have been trying to get together to record a podcast for a while now, and I’m so excited it’s finally here to share with you all! Paige is a labor & delivery nurse and an amazing wife and mama. She has an adorable son and is expecting another baby this summer! I know you guys are going to really love her perspective as a labor & delivery nurse and as a new mama. She shares her postpartum journey and some of the challenges she faced at work with a new baby at home. I know you guys are going to be so encouraged by Paige and all she has to share with us.
Postpartum anxiety is so common my friends. I always tell my students in my childbirth classes when we talk about life after baby, you need these resources. If not for you, for your friends. 1 in 7 women will experience a postpartum mood disorder. So you guys. If it’s not you, someone in your tribe is going to need your support. Talk about how you are feeling. With your family, with your friends, with your care providers, with your counselor. It’s scary being vulnerable, but I promise promise you the risk is worth it. Don’t do life alone. And especially if you are experiencing any kind of postpartum mood or anxiety disorder.
I just loved when Paige talked about how she felt like she was like the Israelites at times. Prone to wander. I mean golly. Read any of the minor prophets in the old testament. Again and again they wander. They rebel. They walk away from the promises of God. And He calls to his people. The Lord will never forsake us. He just never will.
If you’re listening today and you’re pregnant I have created something just for you. My husband Jeff & I have created an online childbirth course just for you! I would be honored to be invited into your home to encourage and help you navigate your birth experience.
Head on over to yourbestbirthcourse.com and enter the promo code: PODCAST at check out for 50$ off of the cost of the course. I can’t wait for you guys to get through this information.
LINKS FROM THE SHOW The Dream of You by Jo Saxton Breaking Busy by Alli Worthington
Connect with Paige Facebook // Instagram
Connect with Alise Facebook // Instagram
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :) You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show! You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me. You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com You can tell your friends about the show! If you’ve been encouraged today, I would love it if you would share the show with a friend you care about today!
Today on the show I chat with Pam Vredevelt. I got connected with Pam through some family members and I’ve been so blessed by her work over the last few years. Pam is an author, licensed professional counselor and inspirational speaker. I love the way this woman can talk about real life issues with such authenticity, warmth, and humor.
Pam is married to her best friend, John, and has four children. Two of them here on earth and two are in heaven. During the last 25 years Pam has served thousands of individuals as a professional counselor in private practice. She has walked with people in the depths of pain, and has shown them the path toward healing. Her grace-filled wisdom, refreshing hope, and practical counsel have guided so many mamas towards healing.
I love the way she has allowed the Lord to work all of the hard trials of her life out for His good purposes. The way she shares how she has found healing after loss in her life is just incredible.
If you’re listening today and you’re pregnant I have created something just for you. My husband Jeff & I have created an online childbirth course just for you! I would be honored to be invited into your home to encourage and help you navigate your birth experience.
Head on over to yourbestbirthcourse.com and enter the promo code: PODCAST at check out for 50$ off of the cost of the course. I can’t wait for you guys to get through this information.
LINKS FROM THE SHOW Hollie & Jo Hepler's Miracle Baby
Alise's Mother's Day Gift Guide Athleta Flux Jogger 2.0 Apple Watch Gold Aluminum Case with Pink Sand Sport Loop Young Living Desert Mist Diffuser Emily Ley Planner Milk Frother Dear Muska Necklace
Connect with Pam Pam's FREE online video training! Pam's Book Empty Arms Empty Arms Online Course Training
Facebook // Instagram // Website
Connect with Alise Facebook // Instagram
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :) You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show! You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me. You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com You can tell your friends about the show! If you’ve been encouraged today, I would love it if you would share the show with a friend you care about today!
My guest on the show today is Bethany Curtis. She is a wife to her husband Jake, a mama to her daughter, Elsie Kate, and has her masters degree in special education and teaches at an international school in Thailand. Bethany has lived all over the world, and has a depth to her that comes from learning from so many different cultures and different kinds of people. I love the way she sees the world. She is honest, authentic, and so genuine. We talk about the hard parts of motherhood. Bethany what "mom guilt" looks like for her and how she works through it. She shares how her expectations of herself changed when she became a mom. She realized she couldn't do everything and make it look perfect. Surprise surprise. I loved when she shared about how learning to practice gratitude in her life has unlocked her ability to be content and find joy in the present moment. You are going to be encouraged today! Moms really are super heros.
Bethany holds the recorded for my longest friendship to date. Her nickname from childhood is boo, and if you hear me call her that, it’s just because I’ve been calling her that since 4th grade. This girl has been such a rock in my life. I pray that each and everyone of you has a friend like my friend Bethany. We’ve walked through so many seasons of life together. Puberty, boys, dating, college, finding our identity in Christ, getting married, babies, loss, all of it. She is that person I can come back to time and time again and know that I am unconditionally loved for who I am no matter what. We took turns making poor choices, and supported one another as we came back to our senses. I know you will love her like I do.
If you’re listening today and you’re pregnant I have created something just for you. My husband Jeff & I have created an online childbirth course just for you! I would be honored to be invited into your home to encourage and help you navigate your birth experience.
Head on over to yourbestbirthcourse.com and enter the promo code: PODCAST at check out for 50$ off of the cost of the course. I can’t wait for you guys to get through this information.
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :) You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show! You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me. You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com You can tell your friends about the show! If you’ve been encouraged today, I would love it if you would share the show with a friend you care about today!
LINKS FROM THE SHOW Scandinave Spa - Whistler Ann Voskamp's Book Shauna Niequist's Book Expectful Guided Meditation in Pregnancy Headspace App Calm App
Connect with Bethany Facebook // Instagram
Connect with Alise Facebook // Instagram
I chat with Bethany Small today on the show. Bethany has been married to her husband, Grant, for 7 years and is an incredible photographer who lives in Portland, Oregon! She's so talented my friends! Bethany shares her story about being diagnosed with Lyme Disease and their decision to become foster parents for the first time. You are just going to love her heart in this episode.
Whether we have biological kids, or whether our children have come to our families through adoption, or whether our have children come into your home through foster care we are all just stewarding those babies and loving them for as long as the Lord allows us to. It's just so easy to forget that. We are all just shepherding these children to the best of our abilities. Our kids are not ours to begin with. They are the Lord’s. First and always. I know you are going to be so encouraged by these words today!
Connect with Bethany Website // IG // Facebook
My Spotify Worship Playlist
If you’re listening today and you’re pregnant I have created something just for you. My husband Jeff & I have created an online childbirth course just for you! I would be honored to be invited into your home to encourage and help you navigate your birth experience.
Head on over to yourbestbirthcourse.com and enter the promo code: PODCAST at check out for 50$ off of the cost of the course. I can’t wait for you guys to get through this information.
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :) You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show! You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me. You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com You can tell your friends about the show! If you’ve been encouraged today, I would love it if you would share the show with a friend you care about today! Praying for you! See you next time :)
xo,
Alise
Gina Dizon is my guest today on the Perfectly, Wonderfully Made Podcast! Gina is a wife to her husband, Eddy, and has 4 beautiful kids. She's one incredible mama, designer, real estate agent, and educator. She shares her birth stories with us today, and what her life looks like in this season as her kids are getting older and more independent. I love our conversation about enjoying the little everyday moments with your kiddos and learning to make intentional time for your spouse. For those of you with little people at home, you're going to love the encouragement in this episode!
Melanie Dale's Podcast: Lighten Up
Connect with Gina // Facebook Instagram
If you’re listening today and you’re pregnant I have created something just for you. My husband Jeff & I have created an online childbirth course just for you! I would be honored to be invited into your home to encourage and help you navigate your birth experience.
Head on over to yourbestbirthcourse.com and enter the promo code: PODCAST at check out for 50$ off of the cost of the course. I can’t wait for you guys to get through this information.
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :) You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show! You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me. You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com You can tell your friends about the show! If you’ve been encouraged today, I would love it if you would share the show with a friend you care about today! Praying for you! See you next time :)
xo,
Alise
I’m so excited for you to meet my friend Catherine Floyd today on the show! Catherine is a mama to three boys and 3 babies in Heaven. She’s married to her husband, Tom. You guys are going to love Catherine’s personality, her story, and her sweet laughter. Catherine has journeyed through so much in her life and I know you guys are be so inspired by this woman. You might just find yourself laughing and crying in this episode. Catherine shares about her past abuse, being a single mama, getting married, loosing babies, and finding her rhythm in this season of her life.
Catherine shares something with me, so sweet, and so special that I never knew about before. I love the precious gifts the Lord gives us through relationships. I’m so amazed and how much Catherine has walked through and how she just proclaims the faithfulness of God. I’m just amazed as I talk with people on the show the richness and the depth of the Lord’s character that we get to learn about the Lord as we walk through seasons with the Lord.
If you’re listening today and you’re pregnant I have created something just for you. My husband Jeff & I have created an online childbirth course just for you! I would be honored to be invited into your home to encourage and help you navigate your birth experience.
Head on over to yourbestbirthcourse.com and enter the promo code: PODCAST at check out for 50$ off of the cost of the course. I can’t wait for you guys to get through this information.
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :) You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show! You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me. You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com You can tell your friends about the show! If you’ve been encouraged today, I would love it if you would share the show with a friend you care about today! Praying for you! See you next time :)
xo,
Alise
Hi friends! Spring has arrived in Washington this week. We wait all winter for spring in Washington. New life. New beginnings. And Yes, SUNSHINE. We come back to life… or maybe just me :) Today on the show I chat with my cute friend, Erika Bozhko. I met Erika when we were working on staff at a church together! Erika, just had her first baby 8 weeks ago! She's hilarious and so authentic. You're going to love our conversation. We chat about her unplanned Cesarean birth, life as a new mama, and the importance of community in motherhood. I know you're going to be so encouraged by her words today!
Song: Not in a Hurry by Will Reagan
If you’re listening today and you’re pregnant I have created something just for you. My husband Jeff & I have created an online childbirth course just for you! I would be honored to be invited into your home to encourage and help you navigate your birth experience.
Head on over to yourbestbirthcourse.com and enter the promo code: PODCAST at check out for 50$ off of the cost of the course. I can’t wait for you guys to get through this information.
Alright friend. If you’re a fan of the show and you’d like to show your support here’s what you can do:
You can SUBSCRIBE in your podcast app :) You can leave a REVIEW on iTunes. These reviews really help others find the show! You can go find me on Instagram @PERFECTLYWONDERFULLYMADE for updates and more goodies from me. You can always send me an email or message me on social media! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking about the show! alise@alisemarsh.com You can tell your friends about the show! If you’ve been encouraged today, I would love it if you would share the show with a friend you care about today! Praying for you! See you next time :)
xo,
Alise
Today on the show my guest is Katie Cowles. Katie found me through instagram about 2 years ago and she hired me to doula for the birth of her baby! I’ve been so blessed to get to know Katie and her family over the last couple years. We recorded this episode back in the fall and I’m so excited to share it with you now! Katie is a NICU nurse, a mama to her son Oliver who is 17 months, and wife to her husband Cameron. She shares her story of having an unmedicated birth in the hospital setting after being induced. Katie shares about what it looked like for her to trust that everything was going to be okay, and believe she could birth her baby. You’re going to love this sweet mama!
I loved when Katie shared about how giving birth to her son was one of the first times she realized she could be so strong. So much stronger than she ever knew. How true is that in those seasons of our lives when we are pressed and pushed we realize just how much is IN US. Motherhood is like a daily outpouring of ourselves. We give of ourselves. We nurture, we get up, we rise again, but the craziest part about it all, is that as we give the Lord pours back into us. We pour out ourselves and the Lord pours his identity into us. His strength into us. And slowly, ever so slowly we start to look more like him. It’s beautiful and brilliant and hard as hell all at the same time.
Connect with Katie on IG @katieaerial If you would like to support Sarah Koch and her family, you can find out more my clicking HERE!
MY ONLINE CHILDBIRTH COURSE IN NOW AVAILABLE!!
I believe in you and in birth and our innate ability to have babies. I’m here to tell you the truth. To provide you with current, evidenced based information about childbirth, so that you can make the decisions that are best for you and your family and no one else. I believe that when families are informed and educated about their choices surrounding birth, their confidence increases, which provides them the foundation needed for a safe & satisfying birth experience. Remember, mama, you are stronger than you think you are. Everything you’ll need to have this baby, you already possess. You just might have to discover that it’s there. I’m just here to point you in the right direction. Head on over to yourbestbirthcourse.com to enroll and begin your journey! Use the promo code: PODCAST at check out for $50 OFF of your course.
I would love to get to know you! Find me on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and Facebook @yourbirthclass. It would mean so much to me if you would share the show with your friends & family. Email me anytime with your comments about the show alise@alisemarsh.com
My guest on the show today is Nichole Gibbons. Nichole is a mama to two adorable little boys and married to her husband Jordan. I met Nichole originally in the photography world through my husband and then got to know her better through our church. She’s a portrait photographer and also on staff at Foursquare Church in Puyallup as the Content Director. She’s pretty talented you guys. You’re going to have to go find her on social media. I chat about Nichole’s two birth stories, mom guilt, being called into ministry, and what it looks like for her to spend time with Jesus.
Connect with Nichole on IG and her website http://www.nicholejordan.com/
My online childbirth course is LIVE!!! You can find my course at yourbestbirthcourse.com Head on over and learn more about how to have the best birth experience possible!
I would love to get to know you! Find me on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and Facebook @yourbirthclass. It would mean so much to me if you would share the show with your friends & family. Email me anytime with your comments about the show alise@alisemarsh.com
I’m so excited for you guys to meet my friend, Jenna Urdiales today. Jenna & I became friends when we were both on staff at Puyallup Foursquare Church. Jenna is just amazing. There is no one like this woman. She’s hilarious. One of those friends you can cry with, cuss with, and laugh with. She is married to her husband, Phil and they have 2 beautiful little girls they live with in Florida and 1 sweet boy in Heaven. Jenna has a masters degree from SouthEastern University and is the director of Excel Preschool Academy in Florida. I’ll tell you a little secret too, she’s writing a book. And after you listen to our conversation you’re going to want to read it. We chat about grief, braving that messy middle part of your life, and hope in a God will never fail us. It's a good one.
Jenna's Blog: https://eightsixthirteen.com/ Jenna's Favorite Bath Bombs
My online childbirth course is coming to you all soon! We will be ready to launch in just a couple weeks, and my followers will get first access to the course! Head on over to my website alisemarsh.com and check out the promo!
I would love to get to know you! Find me on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and Facebook @yourbirthclass. It would mean so much to me if you would share the show with your friends & family. Email me anytime with your comments about the show alise@alisemarsh.com
Today on the show I chat with my friend Erin Tangen. I met Erin this last fall when we went to Malibu, the Young Life Camp in Canada, for Women’s Weekend. Erin is one of those “fun moms.” You know the kind. The kind of mom that is up for adventure at any time, loves to be creative, and has a passion for learning. She has been married to her husband, Sean, for 22 years. They have 2 kids ages 9 & 11. Erin & her husband have been in full time ministry for 15 years with Young Life. We chat about homeschooling, big moves, having babies, and a life in ministry as a mama.
Erin's favorite book right now: Meg Meeker - Strong Mothers, Strong Songs
What I'm reading right now: Melanie Dale - It's Not Fair: Learning to Love the Life You Didn't Choose.
My online childbirth course is coming to you all soon! We will be ready to launch in just a couple months, and my followers will get first access to the course! Head on over to my website alisemarsh.com and check out the promo!
I would love to get to know you! Find me on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and Facebook @yourbirthclass. It would mean so much to me if you would share the show with your friends & family. Email me anytime with your comments about the show alise@alisemarsh.com
This week on the show I chat with my friend Shannon Addison. Shannon is a mama to three gorgeous little girls. She’s a full time mama, wife, and loves to create beautiful photos in the margins of her life. I met Shannon a few years ago in our MOPS group, and I knew pretty quickly I liked this girl. We record this episode when her newest baby girl was just 4 weeks old. It’s an authentic, real and fun conversation. We talk about postpartum life, finding a relationship with the Lord, miscarriage, and what it feels like to add babies to your family. We talk about real life survival mode, and those things that carry us through. I know all you mamas out there are going to be so encouraged by this authentic conversation. You might even catch a whiff of baby fever if you’re lucky.
My online childbirth course is coming to you all soon! We will be ready to launch in just a couple months, and my followers will get first access to the course! I can't wait for you all to see the course!
I would love to get to know you! Find me on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and Facebook @yourbirthclass. It would mean so much to me if you would share the show with your friends & family. Email me anytime with your comments about the show alise@alisemarsh.com
Resources & links:
Find a MOPS group near you! Shannon on Facebook & IG Shannon's Photography
Happy New Year everyone! I love this time of year. We reflect on the year before us, and dream about what is to come. Yes, you guessed it, I’m one of those “goals” type of people. That person that loves to set goals, achieve, drive, and passionately pursue ideas set deep in my heart. But this New Year feels so different. A year of heartache and challenge has changed me. In a very good. A very rich and real way.
Okay let’s talk reading lists. I’ve been listening to more audio books these days, than I have physically reading them in my hands. I want to share with you a few books that I’ve recently finished and want you to read:
Jen Hatmaker – For the Love
Erin Loechner - Chasing Slow: Courage to Journey Off the Beaten Path
Lysa Terkerust – Best Yes
Shaun Niequist – Present Over Perfect
Henry Cloud & John Townsend – Boundaries
Dr. James Dobson’s – Bringing Up boys & Brining up girls
Selena Frederick’s – Wife in Pursuit
John & Lisa Bevere – The Story of Marriage
Harville Hendrix – Getting the Love you Want
Rising Strong – Brene Brown
On my 2018 reading list:
Max Lucado’s – Anxious for Nothing
Emily Ley’s – A Simplified Life
Nichole Nordeman’s – Slow Down
Jen Hatmaker – Of Mess & Moxie
I would love to get to know you! Find me on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and Facebook @yourbirthclass. It would mean so much to me if you would share the show with your friends & family. Email me anytime with your comments about the show alise@alisemarsh.com
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I’ve got a fun Christmas episode for you today! Monroe came out to record with me and makes a special guest appearance. Christmas and this holiday season through the eyes of a small child is just so magical. My husband, Jeff, and I sit and chat about some of our favorite Christmas memories, traditions, and the things we are most looking forward to teaching our children about this time of year. It's a fun one you guys!
We know this time of year can be challenging for so many families. We pray you all find peace knowing the God of the universe loves you so deeply, so perfectly, and so unconditionally today and everyday of your life. That the God of the universe sent his beloved son as a baby to earth. All in an elegant and strategic plan to rescue His chosen people, YOU & ME.
Have a very merry Christmas everyone! I’ll be back next week sharing another amazing mama’s story with you all!
xoxo
If you want to connect with Jeff you can find him on Facebook and Instagram @secretlifeofdad
This week on the show my guest is Moch Snyder! She is wife to Jon, mama to Hudson, Owen, & baby boy #3 on the way! Moch has a powerful testimony and I’m so excited to share her story with you all. She was introduced to a relationship with Jesus through Young Life in high school. We chat about her full life with 2 small boys and 1 coming this February. Moch shares her heart for adoption and dream of opening an orphanage someday. We chat openly about her fears about bringing children into the world, how her past traumas affected her as a wife and mama, and how the Lord has continually shown up for her in each season of her life. Moch shares her 2 cesarean birth stories and her plans for baby number three!
We have a powerful conversation about shame, abuse, and comparison. Moch felt unworthy, exposed, and ugly because of the events she walked through in her past. The Lord has redeemed so much pain in her life, and used it to transform her into someone who is a worthy, rightful princess in the Kingdom of God. The Lord has shown her how beautiful she already is. It is a redemption story, sure to build your faith!
I would love to get to know you! Find me on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and Facebook @yourbirthclass. It would mean so much to me if you would share the show with your friends & family. Email me anytime with your comments about the show alise@alisemarsh.com
If you are interested in sharing your birth story on the show, or know of a mama who has an incredible story to share please message me at alise@alisemarsh.com
Resources & Links:
Moch on IG: @mochiesnyder
Moch's Photography Company
Cinderella: The Love of a Daddy and His Princess
Today on the show I chat with my friend Dana Ruch. Dana was a few grades ahead of me in high school and graduated with my husband, Jeff. Dana is Mental Health Counselor at a hospital in Tacoma. She is a certified health coach through the institute of integrative nutrition and a certified yoga instructor. Dana shares her story of recovery with us after being hit by a drunk driver, where she suffered a traumatic brain injury and had to deal with the symptoms of anxiety, emotional disregulation and poor memory. Dana was so blessed to keep her life through that accident and is a living testimony of the saving power of God. She met her husband, Jon after her accident and was married 8 months later. Dana got pregnant with her first baby on their honeymoon! She shares her struggles with depression in pregnancy and her unplanned cesarean birth with her first son. Dana lost her second baby when she miscarried after her oldest was just over a year old. She got pregnant quickly after her miscarriage and experienced a whirlwind of emotions during her second pregnancy. We chat about what she felt like walking into the hospital knowing she was going to have a second cesarean birth.
She found yoga through her recovery after her accident. Yoga was a way for her to not only heal her physical injuries and regain strength, but helped to heal her emotionally as well. We chat about life as a busy working mama, walking through life with the Lord when it’s just hard and uncertain at times, and learning to trust the Lord in each season of her life
Dana shares openly about her desires of being a stay at home mama, and being grateful for the season she is in. The Lord has been so faithful to redeem those broken pieces of her life. He’s taken things that have been roadblocks and challenges and used them to bring glory to His name. Dana shares that these challenging seasons of her life have drawn her closer to the Lord and she’s so thankful for that. We serve such a creative, beautiful God who so intricately and delicately shapes our broken pieces into something spectacular. I know you're going to find encouragement in her words today!
As always, I would love it if you would share the show with your friends & family. Find me on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and Facebook @yourbirthclass. I would love to connect with you! Email me anytime with your comments about the show alise@alisemarsh.com
Resources & Links:
Bloom Daily Planner
Dana's Website Balanced Health With Dana
I grew up going on family vacations with my friend and guest this week Katie Blackburn. Katie was just a little bit older than I was, and I always looked up to her so much even as a little girl. I looked forward to each winter vacation we would take together and the time we got to spend adventuring as kids. I've loved watching Katie become a mama and raise her three gorgeous babies. I'm so excited to share my conversation with Katie with you all this week. You guys are going to be so blessed by Katie's genuine love for people and her heart to chase after the things of God.
Katie is married to the love of her life, Alex. She has three babies, Harper Kristin (December 2012), Cannon Lee (May 2014), and Jordi Daniel (November 2015). She had three babies in three years, and loves the life she has been given. Just over a year ago now, in October of 2016, her son Cannon was diagnosed with autism, and she so openly shares about how the Lord has shown up for her and has brought peace to her in every season of her life. Katie is a writing instructor at her local college, a contributor at Coffee + Crumbs, and has co-authored her first book The Magic of Motherhood. Katie also writes beautiful essays about her faith & family on her blog Just Enough Brave.
Katie tells us she went into her first birth experience feeling pretty over confident and what she would later find out was very unprepared. She thought to herself, “how hard could this really be?” I'm sure there are many of us out there who can relate to those feelings.
With the birth of her third baby, she had different hopes and really wanted to try for an un-medicated birth. I loved our conversation about surrender. How she learned to give her desires over to the Lord in labor with her third baby. She had the hard & beautiful un-medicated delivery she had always hoped for.
Katie shares with us about her son, Cannon’s, autism II diagnoses. She talks about the blessing of being on the same page with her spouse, regarding Cannon, and how time with Jesus allowed her to gain perspective and strength for each day. Katie tells us the most unexpected thing about having a child with special needs was the way it changed her faith. The Lord became so much bigger and so much more real for her. Her prayer for Cannon is that the works of God might be displayed in and through him. I loved listening to Katie talk about hope and how she manages her days with three little ones. You’re going to love our conversation about self care and self comfort on today’s show.
You can hear Katie talking about motherhood, faith, special needs, and a so many other encouraging topics on the Coffee + Crumbs podcast, the Open Door Sisterhood podcast, and at Tears of Gold.
As always, I would love it if you would share the show with your friends & family. Find me on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and Facebook @yourbirthclass. I would love to connect with you! Email me anytime with your comments about the show alise@alisemarsh.com
Resources & Links:
The Life We Never Expected by Andrew & Rachel Wilson
Cold Brew Trader Joes
Click List Grocery Pick Up at Fred Myer
Athleta Studio Wrap
The Magic of Motherhood by Ashley Gadd & Coffee + Crumbs
Coffee + Crumbs
Katie's Blog Just Enough Brave
Today on the show, I chat with my friend Julie Cannon. Julie is a wife, a mama, a writer, and a talented photographer. Julie shares with us her story of adopting their one year old daughter, Crew. Before, meeting their precious, smiley, adorable daughter they walked through years of infertility. Julie shares with us so honestly about how her marriage struggled in that season, and the importance of honoring the covenant of marriage she made. She shares about continuing on and staying in the fight for a healthy marriage. Julie talks about how she conquered fear and anxiety while in the middle of her adoption process. The Lord, changed her and allowed her to learn to trust Him in new ways.
Julie talks with us about how she struggled with the reality that she might mess her daughter up. She asked the question of the Lord, “how am I not going to mess her up?” Julie explains how the Lord changed her heart, and encouraged her not to live a life of fear, but one of freedom. One where she found freedom and refreshing knowing the Lord had grace for her each day. I loved our conversation about how motherhood sanctifies you in a way nothing else can. Being a mama forces you to examine your heart and become more like Christ. We chat about how we are fully equipped to do this work of motherhood because we are made in His likeness through the fullness of His grace.
For those of you who are interested in adoption or learning more about Julie’s story, you can connect with her through her blog Relentless Journey or on IG @JulieKCannon
As always, I would love it if you would share the show with your friends & family. Find me on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and Facebook @yourbirthclass. Email me anytime with your comments about the show alise@alisemarsh.com See you next week!
Resources & Links from the show:
Song: Elevation Church Do it Again
Sonos Speaker
Today on the show I sit down with one of my past doula clients, Colby Martin. I had the opportunity to attend the birth of her daughter last fall. I had so much fun catching up with her on the show today. I have never laughed more at a birth than I did with Colby. Her coping mechanism was laughter, and that we did. A lot. I know this episode is going to bring a smile to that lovely face of yours today.
Colby is a work from home mama who runs her own business with her husband in the South Sound. We chat about remodeling their home and celebrating our kids birthdays.
Colby shares honestly about how guilty she felt for not having that gut feeling that she just, “had to be a mom.” She was guarded for many years and was afraid that she wouldn’t love her daughter. She felt like she missed out on having a love connection with some individuals in her childhood and didn’t know if she would be able to love her child. She asked herself, if there were seasons in her life when she felt unlovable as a child by those who should have been able to love her, how could she love her own daughter? She wondered if she was even capable of love. Colby’s honesty is remarkable when she said she was afraid to be excited about her pregnancy because of the fear of what loosing a child might feel like. She was afraid feelings of loss might overtake her even before she was actually pregnant. It wasn’t until after having her daughter that she realized she had an overwhelming love for the daughter she now had.
Colby has a unique birth story and tells us what it was like to be electrocuted on accident during her pregnancy. Colby recalls a specific memory in her birth story when she was terrified to push out her child. She froze knowing this was the moment she might meet her child and know if she was going to have a love connection to the child growing inside of her. She knew she was the only one who could push out her baby, and so she did it. She did what she knew only she could do.
We had a great conversation about making the decisions that are best for ourselves and our babies regardless of what others are saying. I loved how she talked about her journey to finding a pediatrician for her daughter that aligned with her values and desires for care. Colby encourages us to be confident in who we are as parents and trust our instincts.
It’s an encouraging and uplifting conversation you guys. Go have a listen and enjoy!
My 6-Day Free Email Course - Can be found on my homepage in the green menu on the lower right of the screen.
As always, I would love it if you would share the show with your friends & family. Find me on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and Facebook @yourbirthclass. Email me anytime with your comments about the show alise@alisemarsh.com See you next week!
Resources & Links from the episode:
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth
Impractical Jokers
Ellen tube
Bumpy’s in Puyallup, WA
Colby & Dave's YouTube Channel
Podcasts
The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey
Coffee & Crumbs Podcast
The Story Brand Podcast
Fierce Marriage Podcast
Our guest on this week's episode is Katie Knudson, a high school friend of mine. Katie lives in a small town in Washington with her husband Perry. They’ve been married for 7 years and have loved small town living.
Katie is a stay at home mama to her two boys. She’s just started homeschooling her preschooler and is loving it. Katie went to college in Oregon and married her college sweetheart. She shares her experience with PUPPS (pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy) during her pregnancies. She went to 42 weeks with her first pregnancy and talks about patiently waiting for her baby to arrive. She had such trust that her baby would come at the right time. She shares her water birth story and the excitement of having her mom arrive just in time for the birth. Katie shares about the excellent care she received from her midwife during the postpartum period and how much she enjoyed transitioning to life as a new mama.
During her second pregnancy, Katie shares about how fluid retention and PUPPS was a struggle for her. She went to 41 weeks with her second pregnancy and ended up catching the flu bug. With her entire family sick, she went into labor. All of that throwing up worked wonders for her, and kicked her into active labor.
We have an authentic conversation about parenting little people. She shares that the reality that she’s just in the thick of it with her littles is hard to manage at times. We talk about balance. Is it attainable and what does that really even look like? I really enjoyed our conversation about healthy living not just in our roles as mamas, but also as women, friends, and wives.
I think my favorite part of the conversation is when we chat about what it looks like to be a sinner yourself while parenting sinful children. It’s such a challenging task as times. I loved how Katie shared what so much of us experience. We fail as parents, and our kids will fail as well. They are on a journey to heart toward heart change just like we are. Katie beautifully shares her heart with us and what it looks like for her to pursue what God has for her life. The very real truth about parenting little ones is we all are tired. Chasing after and exerting our energy towards things that the Lord has not called us to will drain us even more than we already are. We talk about what it looks like to give grace and receive it for ourselves. Katie talks about needing the Word of God in this season of motherhood more than she ever has before.
I loved how Katie shared about the example she wants to set for her boys. That she doesn’t desire to be some perfect mom. That she desires heart transformation. For herself and her kids. She values her boys seeing her fail, repent, and come back to what they know to be true. An example not of perfection, but of forgiveness is something she wants to instill.
Resources & Links from the episode:
The Risen Motherhood Podcast
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/risen-motherhood/id1072833310?mt=2
My 6-Day Free Email Course - Can be found on my homepage in the green menu on the lower right of the screen.
As always, I would love it if you would share the show with your friends & family. Find me on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and Facebook @yourbirthclass. Email me anytime with your comments about the show alise@alisemarsh.com See you next week!
Angela Baker is my guest today for episode #7 of the Perfectly Wonderfully Made Podcast. Angela has been commuting to work for 10 years, and has recently decided to leave her full time corporate job and stay home with her two boys. We chat today about the transition from one – two kids. Angela shares her story of developing hyperemesis gravidarum with her first pregnancy and the challenges of being sick for such a long time.
Angela shares her two birth stories with us today. Nothing turned out as she had planned with her first baby. We chat about the challenges she had during her first labor with the many distractions she wasn’t prepared for, her epidural that wasn’t effective, and the unfortunate experience of getting a spinal headache that led her to needing an unplanned cesarean birth. Angela recalls one of her health care providers telling her, her pelvis was too small and she’d never push a baby out. We talk about the emotions that made her feel and how she processed and worked through her first birth experience. Her postpartum journey was challenging after her first birth. She struggled with feeling detached and emotionally unavailable for her baby. She longed for community and felt isolated and alone.
Shortly after Angela got pregnant with her second child, her husband was laid off and without work. Angela talks us through the fears and anxiety she struggled with while pregnant with her second baby. Living on one income and trying to provide for her family while pregnant was really challenging for her. There were moments when she was unsure how she was going to feed her family. We talk about how she ultimately was able to surrender control of her finances to the Lord. Angela was able to have a healthy pregnancy and continue to work full time in order to support her family.
We chat about her preparations for her birth with her second baby and how excited she was to go into labor. I loved listening to Angela talk about how prepared and confident she felt going into her second birth. She wanted a different experience and she knew she could have one. She choose a hospital and provider that was VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) friendly and did the work to mentally prepare for her labor and birth. She was ready. I had the opportunity to attend Angela’s birth as her doula and I loved hearing her shout with joy after her delivery, “I can’t believe that just happened. I can’t believe I actually did it!” She had a perfect, redemptive VBAC. Angela shares how her recovery went so smoothly following her second birth. Her healing was quicker and she experienced much less pain.
Near the end of our conversation we talk about a season of her life when she felt like she couldn’t hear from the Lord. That God wasn’t speaking to her. She couldn’t feel him near. She remembers feeling like God wasn’t listening to her. In that season of financial hardship is she shares with us how she had to realize that her security wasn’t in her finances. It couldn’t be. That wasn’t working. She had to give up control and trust that the Lord was and always has been her provider. God was going to take care of her.
We talk about how she’s learning to dive into the character of God and really get to know who He is. She’s choosing to focus on contentment and satisfaction in this season of her life and experience the peace that can only come from her God.
As always, I would love it if you would share the show with your friends & family. Find me on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and Facebook @yourbirthclass. Email me anytime with your comments about the show alise@alisemarsh.com See you next week!
Resources from the show:
My 6-Day Free Email Course - Can be found on my homepage in the green menu on the lower right of the screen.
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth
Organic Red Raspberry Leaf Tea
Jeff's Instagram Project: #Oldfilmproject
Vie Bites – Kathryn Burke @Bakeandbefit
Podcasts
Fierce Marriage
Jen Hatmaker
The Bible Project
Lindsey Westerfield is a high school teacher, wife to her husband Drew, and mama to a sweet 1 year old daughter. Lindsey was diagnosed with PCOS at the young age of 22 and shares with us how that diagnoses shaped her in the early years of their marriage. She recalls her provider telling her that she would never have a baby without medical intervention and the heartache she faced after hearing those words. Lindsey was able to get pregnant without medical intervention and praises God for her miracle.
We talk about her fears during her pregnancy. Lindsey struggled with the feeling that somehow she had to “earn” a healthy pregnancy. She talks about how the grace she found from her Jesus allowed her to give up control and trust her pregnancy to the hands of the Lord. We chat about how becoming a mom forces you to trust the Lord in a new way. That becoming a parent brings us into a solemn reality that parenthood is not about us as mamas. We have been entrusted with a task so much bigger than who we are.
Lindsey shares her birth story with us. She talks about walking around at 6cm for 3 weeks before going into labor with her baby. She delivered quickly and smoothly at a birth center in a hospital. She takes us through her postpartum journey and healing process. She shares how important it was for her to have other moms supporting her throughout the postpartum period. Lindsey struggled with breastfeeding and had many challenges with a baby who was “failure to thrive.” She talks about beneficial and helpful her therapist was for her during those postpartum months.
We chat about where we find our identities as moms. We talk about remembering who you are and were designed to be underneath all the layers of your many roles in our everyday lives. Lindsey shares about God’s sustaining nature in her day to day life and how she’s learning to surrender to the Lord in the good & the hard seasons of her life.
3 things Lindsey cannot live without:
ANTHEM Coffee
Her community
Her daughter’s wabunub pacifier: http://www.wubbanub.com/
My 6-Day Free Email Course - Can be found on my homepage in the green menu on the lower right of the screen.
You can connect with me on Instagram at @perfectlywonderfullymade and on Facebook at @yourbirthclass.
Today on episode #5 of the Perfectly Wonderfully Made Podcast, I chat with my friend Dani Larimore. Dani is a mama to two beautiful little kiddos. She tells us her story of falling in love with the man of her dreams, their struggle with infertility, and the birth of her first baby in her local hospital. She talks about how life with her new baby are some of her favorite moments to look back on. Dani shares about getting pregnant with her second baby with the help of fertility medication.
We talk about how Dani’s life changed two years ago this month. Her husband very unexpectedly went home to be with Jesus while she was 16 weeks pregnant with their second child. Dani shares so honestly with us what walking through that tragedy was like for her. She walks us through her anxiety, grief, and loss. Her hope in the Lord through devastation is incredible. Dani shares her birth story with her second baby and how she faced giving birth without her husband by her side.
We chat about her dreams for her kids. How she continues to pursue joy, and vision for her future. The Lord is so clearly continuing the good work he has started in Dani’s life. We talk about how faithful the Lord is to redeem those broken pieces of our lives.
If you haven’t already, I would love it if you would share the show with your friends & family. Find me on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and Facebook @yourbirthclass. Email me anytime with your comments about the show alise@alisemarsh.com See you next week!
Show Links:
Dani’s Blog (a MUST read):
http://thelittlelarimores.blogspot.com/
Dani’s Gym (and mine!):
http://vieathletics.com/
Ellen Tube:
https://www.ellentube.com/
Amanda Gandy joins me on the Perfectly, Wonderfully Made Podcast for episode #4. Amanda is a childbirth educator & doula. She is a wife and mama to two boys ages 3 & 18 months. Amanda is one of those people who are just so easy to be friends with. We chat about her unplanned pregnancy, her decision to walk out of the abortion clinic and save her baby, and the shame that overshadowed her. When she was 3 months pregnant she married her husband, Jeremiah and they’ve been together now for 4 years. Amanda shares about changing health care providers at 36 weeks while pregnant with her first son. We get real and talk about the shame and depression she dealt with becoming a mama and a newlywed at the same time.
While pregnant with her second baby, Amanda was told her son had Down Syndrome. We chat about how she proclaimed the goodness of God over her son in that season, regardless of what his diagnoses would come to be. Her labor with her second baby was much different than her first and much more mentally challenging. She shares about her traumatic postpartum hemorrhage, emergency hospital transfer, and near death experience. Those moments listening to her share about the word the Lord spoke over her life when she thought it was going to be her last, were so powerful! We both agree there was no question, the grace and hand of God on her life is remarkable. The Lord is so surely in control of her life. Just as He is ours.
Amanda & I have a great conversation about raising biracial children in our society today. She shares her hopes and dreams for her boys in our culture. You will be so encouraged by her words!
As always, I would love it if you would share the show with your friends & family. Find me on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and Facebook @yourbirthclass Email me anytime with your comments about the show alise@alisemarsh.com See you next week!
Amanda Bills is a third grade teacher who shares with us her journey to becoming a mom. Amanda has a deep, genuine love for those around her and I know you will be blessed by the words she shares with you all.
She chats with us about her choice to deliver with a midwife out of the hospital setting, all while navigating negative comments about her choice from those around her. We talk about her challenging journey with postpartum depression, how she got help, found hope, and how she began to feel like the mama she was created to be.
I’d love to hear from you! Find me on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and on FB @yourbirthclass If you’re interested in sharing your story on the show message me at alise@alisemarsh.com
So excited to be sharing my FIRST interview on the Perfectly, Wonderfully Made podcast. One of my closest friends, Mindy Renard is very dear to me. She was one of the first doula clients I have ever had, and now she will be my first client to have 3 babies as a client. We were neighbors in Puyallup for a while, and when they recently moved to Bonney Lake, we missed them so much we too moved to Bonney Lake.
We talk about living in a house full of boys, love languages and the importance of date night, being a working mom, and she shares her birth stories. This is a really fun episode! Find us on IG @perfectlywonderfullymade and on FB @yourbirthclass
Hello, mama! Welcome to the Perfectly, Wonderfully Made podcast. We will talk about all things pregnancy, childbirth, education, motherhood and real life. We will laugh, cry, hug and be inspired.
In this first episode, I introduce myself, give a little insight on what to expect in this podcast, and I have the wonderful privilage of interviewing a sweet little 4 year old girl.
Looking forward to connecting with you in this first episode, and beginning a wonderful journey with you.
You can follow me on instagram at @perfectlywonderfullymade and on FB at @yourbirthclass