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In this deeply moving and empowering episode, we're joined by Dr. Jessica Zucker, the trailblazing psychologist and author behind the “I Had a Miscarriage” movement. Jessica shares the deeply personal story that reshaped her career and advocacy: experiencing a miscarriage at 16 weeks, alone at home, and the aftermath that followed. What began as a clinical interest became an urgent call to action as she confronted the silence, stigma, and shame surrounding pregnancy loss.

Together, we dive into the evolution of cultural conversations around miscarriage, the emotional aftermath of loss, and the healing that comes from speaking the truth. Jessica also opens up about her journey through breast cancer, how grief stays in our bones, and why it’s time to normalize every phase of womanhood—from menstruation to menopause. If you’ve ever felt alone in your experience, this episode is a reminder that you're not.

Check out her new book
Jessica Zucker, Ph.D.
Order NORMALIZE IT

Dr. Jessica Zucker’s book: I Had a Miscarriage: A Memoir, a Movement

Follow Jessica on Instagram: @ihadamiscarriage

miscarriage awareness, pregnancy loss support, women's reproductive health, maternal mental health, Dr. Jessica Zucker, #IHadAMiscarriage movement, grief after miscarriage, trauma and healing, perinatal anxiety, perimenopause and motherhood, breaking cultural taboos, pregnancy after loss, miscarriage therapy, reproductive trauma, parenting after loss, women's health advocacy, Normalize It book, community in motherhood, healing through storytelling, female mental health

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Website: https://www.doyouwantthetruthpod.com

Connect with Sam:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/samanthastrom

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@samanthastorms

Connect with Zara:

Zara Hanawalt https://www.linkedin.com/in/zara-hanawalt/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@zarahanawalt

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/zarahanawalt/

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After 40 episodes, your co-host Sam Strom is sharing her birth story.

Sam flips the roles and sharing the deeply personal story of how she became a mom—despite being sure she never would. Growing up with financial instability and watching the emotional toll motherhood took on her own mom, Sam was convinced kids weren’t for her. But life had other plans. In this conversation with Zara, she opens up about what changed, the reality of a traumatic pregnancy with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), and a birth experience that ended with two (nearly three) blood tranfusions and her surgeon saying “she’d never experienced anything like it in her 35 years.”

We talk about everything—from my complicated feelings around motherhood and how a therapist’s words unexpectedly nudged her into parenthood (spoiler alert, her words were less than honest), to the brutal reality of hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) and a traumatic birth during the pandemic. She talks about the guilt, the pressure to “bounce back,” and how lit took months to truly bond with her son.

If you’ve ever questioned motherhood, felt unseen in your journey, or realized your experience didn’t match the picture-perfect version the world sells us—this episode is for you.

⭐️ If something here spoke to you, follow, rate, review, or share it with someone who might need to hear an honest story about motherhood. It will help both them and us get our podcast to folks who it can help.

We’re just getting started.
🔗 Resources & Mentions:
Tone It Up fitness during pregnancy
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth (not an endorsement—listen for why)
Taking Cara Babies sleep program

Pregnancy with hyperemesis gravidarum, traumatic birth, and postpartum recovery

birth story podcast, traumatic birth story, hyperemesis gravidarum, postpartum recovery, first-time mom story, pregnancy complications, birth trauma, motherhood podcast, honest motherhood stories, C-section experience, postpartum anxiety

I didn’t want kids, unplanned motherhood journey, giving birth during the pandemic, bonding with baby, postpartum guilt, postpartum identity crisis, maternal mental health, pregnancy after 35, pandemic birth story, severe morning sickness, emergency C-section, blood transfusion birth story

Support the show

Website: https://www.doyouwantthetruthpod.com

Connect with Sam:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/samanthastrom

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@samanthastorms

Connect with Zara:

Zara Hanawalt https://www.linkedin.com/in/zara-hanawalt/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@zarahanawalt

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/zarahanawalt/

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In this special re-release, we are officially introducing a past guest as our new co-host. Learn more about Zara's story in this episode, and tune in next week for part two of her story.

Why does parenting in America feel so much harder than it should? Today, we’re joined by Zara Hanawalt, a freelance journalist who has spent nearly a decade covering parenting, motherhood, women’s health, and culture for outlets like Vogue, Parents, Glamour, and The Everymom. But even after years of writing about reproductive health, she was completely unprepared for her own journey into motherhood.

Zara gets real about her struggles with infertility, the challenges of carrying twins, and the prenatal and postpartum realities that no one warns you about (like PUPPP, Post Preeclampsia and so much more). She also shares her perspective on why the system—not mothers—is setting parents up to fail, how American parenting culture has evolved in the past decade, and what we can do to push back against unrealistic expectations.

Learn more about Zara here > https://www.doyouwantthetruthpod.com/our-guests/zara

Episode Highlights:
[02:00] Zara’s infertility journey & how she conceived twins via IUI
[09:30] The complications of a high-risk twin pregnancy
[18:45] Why postpartum hit harder than she ever expected
[25:10] Feeling completely unprepared for the overstimulation of motherhood
[33:40] The broken “village” and why moms today have less support
[40:15] Why parenting in America feels uniquely hard & how we can change the conversation
[52:00] The unexpected joy of realizing she’s her kids’ safe space

Links & Resources:
📖 Read Zara’s work in Vogue, Parents, Glamour, The Everymom, and more
📢 Follow Zara on Instagram & TikTok for more conversations on modern motherhood
👶 Learn more about fertility & postpartum resources at www.postpartum.net

Support the show

Website: https://www.doyouwantthetruthpod.com

Connect with Sam:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/samanthastrom

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@samanthastorms

Connect with Zara:

Zara Hanawalt https://www.linkedin.com/in/zara-hanawalt/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@zarahanawalt

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/zarahanawalt/

Send us a text

In part two of this powerful conversation, Paige Connell returns to share the deeply personal story of what happened after the breaking point—the day of the diaper pail and the dishwasher. What followed wasn’t the end of her marriage, but a hard-won beginning.

We talk about the real work of rebuilding a partnership after years of resentment, mental overload, and feeling like the default parent. Paige opens up about navigating the Fair Play method with her husband, the realities of balancing neurodivergence in a marriage, and the emotional toll of being the one to initiate all the hard conversations.

We also get into the guilt that lingers even in equitable partnerships, how motherhood has shaped her identity, and what it means to unlearn productivity as self-worth. If you’ve ever felt unseen in your relationship, or stuck in the narrative that “it’s just easier if I do it myself,” this conversation is for you.

Paige also shares a personal update about the podcast and what’s next.

🕒 Timeline Summary:
[0:24] – The diaper pail & dishwasher moment: how one cut finger became a breaking point.
[2:00] – Paige lays it all on the table: what she needed from her marriage to stay.
[4:07] – Why the “dishwasher fight” is never really about the dishwasher.
[5:29] – How they implemented the Fair Play method (and made it their own).
[8:00] – Rebuilding trust after burnout, broken promises, and emotional distance.
[13:05] – Neurodivergence, organizational labor, and unlearning the “I’m just better at it” trap.
[19:31] – Working for yourself, fighting guilt, and reclaiming your own time.
[23:01] – Corporate parenting vs. being your own boss: the invisible weight of PTO, holidays, and school breaks.
[30:22] – The myth of the modern “village” and the impossible standards of intensive parenting.
[38:34] – What Paige would tell her best friends before they become parents.
[39:37] – The joy of watching your kids become people—outside of you.
[41:45] – Paige’s heartfelt farewell from the podcast.

🔗 Links & Resources:
Learn more about the Fair Play method by Eve Rodsky: Fair Play Life

Book mentioned: This Is How Your Marriage Ends by Matthew Fray

Follow Paige: @sheisapaigeturner

Support the show

Website: https://www.doyouwantthetruthpod.com

Connect with Sam:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/samanthastrom

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@samanthastorms

Connect with Zara:

Zara Hanawalt https://www.linkedin.com/in/zara-hanawalt/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@zarahanawalt

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/zarahanawalt/

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Well, the time has come. You’ve heard her voice, you’ve heard her hot takes, and now you’re getting the whole story. In this episode, I turn the mic toward Paige Connell aka @sheisapaigeturner.

We get real real. Paige walks us through the beautiful, messy, emotional tornado that has been her path to motherhood—starting with a teenage AIM love triangle, through pregnancy losses, fostering two toddlers, navigating IVF and surviving a traumatic birth

If you’ve ever wondered how someone goes from "let's not not try" to four kids in five years. (Yes, four kids. In five years. Wild.)—all while staying married, organized, employed and mostly sane—you’re in for a treat. Plus, we talk domestic labor, postpartum absurdities, and more.

🕒 Timeline Summary:

[1:22] - That time Paige's teenage AIM crush ditched her best friend… and became her husband.
[6:11] - The “am I hungover or pregnant?” moment that turned into an ectopic pregnancy.
[11:46] - Fostering toddlers while grieving a pregnancy loss—because why do things the easy way?
[25:54] - IVF with toddlers during lockdown… nothing to see here, totally normal.
[33:35] - That time her placenta overstayed its welcome… by several surgeries.
[41:50] - Choosing a C-section (plus surprise hysterectomy!) with 40 people in the room.
[50:26] - The unexpected joy of watching your kids turn into tiny weird humans.

🔗 Links & Resources:

• Follow Paige on Instagram: @sheisapaigeturner
• Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston) - Website
• Interested in fostering in Massachusetts? Learn more: DCF MA Foster Care

💬 Final Thoughts:
If you’ve ever wanted to hear a woman survive an ectopic pregnancy, foster two kids, endure a pandemic pregnancy, lose a placenta and her uterus—all while staying sarcastic and showing up as the other half of this show—this episode is your moment.

If you laughed, cried, or screamed into a pillow (relatable), don’t forget to rate, review, follow, and share the podcast. We love ya for it.

SUMMARY OF TOPICS WE COVER

• Met husband at age 14, dated at 16, and are going strong 18 years later
• Always planned on having four children, influenced by both coming from larger families
• Began fostering process at age 28, taking nearly a year to become licensed
• Experienced two ectopic pregnancies requiring surgery and removal of both fallopian tubes
• Fostered and later adopted a one-year-old and two-year-old in 2019
• Underwent IVF to conceive two biological daughters
• First birth resulted in severe complications with retained placenta, requiring multiple surgeries
• Second birth required a planned C-section with emergency hysterectomy due to placenta accreta
• Navigated pandemic parenting with daycare closures while working full-time
• Experienced inequitable division of household labor dur

Support the show

Website: https://www.doyouwantthetruthpod.com

Connect with Sam:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/samanthastrom

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@samanthastorms

Connect with Zara:

Zara Hanawalt https://www.linkedin.com/in/zara-hanawalt/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@zarahanawalt

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/zarahanawalt/

Send us a text

🔗 Follow the Guests:
Chanel Wolf
TikTok: @ChanelWolf
New wellness & healing products dropping soon in the TikTok Shop!

Jaime Fisher
TikTok: @HeyJamieFish
YouTube: JFisher Channel
Long-form content + exciting TikTok Shop updates on the way!

Support the show

Website: https://www.doyouwantthetruthpod.com

Connect with Sam:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/samanthastrom

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@samanthastorms

Connect with Zara:

Zara Hanawalt https://www.linkedin.com/in/zara-hanawalt/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@zarahanawalt

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/zarahanawalt/

Send us a text

“I moved in with another single mom… and people had so many questions. But the truth is: I needed community more than I needed space.”

What if healing from betrayal meant rewriting everything — including how we mother, how we live, and who we let in?

In this heartfelt and deeply honest episode, host Sam Strom and Jaime Fisher (@heyjaimefish) sit down with Chanel Wolf (@mamachanelwolf) — a single mom, yoga teacher, and plant medicine advocate — to talk about navigating single motherhood, co-living with another single mom, and healing after betrayal.

Chanel opens up about rebuilding her life after a painful breakup, choosing community over isolation, and how plant medicine became a key part of her healing and self-discovery.

🎧 This is a raw, healing, and hopeful conversation about what comes after heartbreak — and how support, sisterhood, and alternative paths can help us redefine what motherhood can look like today.

🎙️ Episode Guests:
Chanel Wolf (@mamachanelwolf) – Single mom, yoga teacher, entrepreneur, and plant medicine guide

Jaime Fisher (@heyjaimefish) – Co-host and return guest, known for sharing her personal experiences with marriage and motherhood

Hosted by Sam Strom

🔹 Topics We Cover:

What is a “mommune”? Real talk on shared living between single moms

Rebuilding your identity after relationship betrayal

Why co-living can be a lifeline for overwhelmed solo parents

How plant medicine can support emotional recovery and resilience

Honest reflections from Jaime on her own path through relational hardship

Support the show

Website: https://www.doyouwantthetruthpod.com

Connect with Sam:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/samanthastrom

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@samanthastorms

Connect with Zara:

Zara Hanawalt https://www.linkedin.com/in/zara-hanawalt/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@zarahanawalt

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/zarahanawalt/

Send us a text

Meghan Markle, postpartum preeclampsia, maternal health, cultural perceptions, parenting, surrogacy, fertility, celebrity news, public scrutiny, women's health

Summary

In this episode, Sam Strom and Zara Hanawalt discuss various topics surrounding motherhood, health, and societal perceptions. They delve into Meghan Markle's recent revelations about postpartum preeclampsia, the cultural stigma surrounding women's health issues, and the alarming maternal mortality rates in the US compared to other countries. The conversation also touches on the scrutiny faced by public figures like Markle, the challenges of parenting in public spaces, and the controversial nature of children's fashion. They explore the complexities of surrogacy and fertility challenges, emphasizing the need for understanding and compassion in these discussions.

Takeaways & Topics

• Meghan Markle's experience with postpartum preeclampsia highlights the need for awareness.
• Cultural perceptions often undermine women's health issues.
• Maternal mortality rates in the US are alarmingly high, especially for women of color.
• Public figures face intense scrutiny that can overshadow their personal struggles.
• Parenting in public can be challenging, and support is crucial.
• The fashion choices for children can spark controversy and debate.
• Surrogacy raises ethical questions that society must address.
• Fertility challenges are deeply personal and vary for each individual.
• Women often face judgment regardless of their parenting choices.
• Compassion and understanding are essential in discussions about motherhood.

🔗 Links & Resources Mentioned:

• Confessions of a Female Founder – Meghan Markle’s new podcast
• Reshma Saujani & MomsFirst
• Commonwealth Fund maternal mortality stats
• Abigail Tucker’s book Mom Genes
• Book recommendation: Careless People by Lucy Sante (Congressional drama, Meta secrets, and motherhood)
• Brooke Schofield’s cosmetic surgery updates on TikTok
• Do We Know Them? Podcast recommendation – deep dive into social media commentary

Support the show

Website: https://www.doyouwantthetruthpod.com

Connect with Sam:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/samanthastrom

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@samanthastorms

Connect with Zara:

Zara Hanawalt https://www.linkedin.com/in/zara-hanawalt/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@zarahanawalt

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/zarahanawalt/