Let's Be Real - Mama Journeys - Episode 164 W/Alison Beder Fathom

Alison Beder Solway is an Canadian mom of 4, a fitness professional with an online fitness platform called www.absfitness.ca. Her new book is called The Miles we Run and can be found HERE. She had a long infertility story and wrote a book about it to help explain the obstacles and hurdles that she overcame with that journey. With fertility, anything can be "normal" because every body is different and every journey is also different.  Starting at the age of 27, she birthed baby number one after no fertility issues at all but the pregnancy was very challenging and being the first in her friend group to be pregnant, she had no frame of reference. She experienced congestive heart failure throughout her pregnancy but finally at eight months, she finally listened to her body (and against her OBGYN) and took herself into the hospital. Being your own best advocate can truly sometimes be life or death. We all need to remember that doctors can sometimes gaslight their patients because they don't always want to be proven wrong but we are the experts of our own bodies and that needs to be respected. The relationship between you and your doctor needs to be a partnership and shouldn't be a dictatorship. She talks about the isolation she felt in her fertility journey because our bodies are "meant to do this."  Her biggest challenge of being a mom was her first birth was like an episode of ER or Grays Anatomy. It was like not knowing if the final episode was going to work out or if everyone wouldn't live. She spent a lot of time in the ICU after birth and was in shock when she got home that she was now in charge of another human life. She and her husband decided to take the surrogacy route in Canada but ended up finding success in the United States. Pennsylvania was the state that was the most surrogacy-friendly state and they had great success with 2 pregnancies and 3 kiddos!  She wishes she would have had a grasp on the worry factor that happens when you become a mother!.  Find her at www.absfitness.ca and see what her program is all about!