The Postpartum Years

Dr. Liz Jones, DPT is a pelvic floor physical therapist in Bismarck, North Dakota who accidentally became the region's go-to hemorrhoid specialist - and she is very okay with that. In this episode, she and Dr. Mary Ellen Kramp get into everything people don't know about hemorrhoids: how common they are, the wide range of symptoms they cause that nobody connects back to them, the treatment Liz specializes in, and what people can do to prevent and manage them. If you've been told it's just tailbone pain or just IBS, this one's for you.Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast belong solely to those saying them. This podcast is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing in this podcast establishes a patient care relationship with you, the listener. The host(s) and guests of this show are NOT your healthcare provider and if you need medical attention, seek an appropriate and qualified professional.

Dr. Shirin Towfigh is a hernia specialist and one of very few women in her field. She joins Dr. Mary Ellen Kramp to talk about what actually happens to the abdominal wall after pregnancy -- what gets missed, what gets misread on imaging, and what patients are told to just live with that they absolutely don't have to. From diastasis to hidden hernias to mesh, this is the conversation most postpartum women never get to have with a surgeon who actually specializes in this.Resources mentioned: HerniaTalk.com and Beverly Hills Hernia Center.Disclaimer:The thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast belong solely to those saying them. This podcast is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing in this podcast establishes a patient care relationship with you, the listener. The host(s) and guests of this show are NOT your healthcare provider and if you need medical attention, seek an appropriate and qualified professional.

Audra Zastrow is a pelvic floor PT who spent the better part of a decade navigating pregnancy loss, a major birth injury, prolapse, and four very different deliveries. All while working in the field she was simultaneously failing to benefit from herself. She joins Dr. Mary Ellen Kramp for a candid conversation about what it looks like to have the clinical knowledge and still not have the right information, the right team, or the right support when it matters most.Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast belong solely to those saying them. This podcast is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing in this podcast establishes a patient care relationship with you, the listener. The host(s) and guests of this show are NOT your healthcare provider and if you need medical attention, seek an appropriate and qualified professional.

Stacey Gayer is a holistic pelvic health physical therapist, and her own postpartum story is one she is only now putting fully into words. After an emergency C-section and a psychiatric crisis six months postpartum, Stacey spent years in recovery before eventually finding her footing and building a practice around the very work that helped heal her. She and Dr. Mary Ellen Kramp dig into birth trauma, somatic healing, the long tail of postpartum recovery, and what it means to still be working through a 25-year-old birth on the treatment table.Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast belong solely to those saying them. This podcast is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing in this podcast establishes a patient care relationship with you, the listener. The host(s) and guests of this show are NOT your healthcare provider and if you need medical attention, seek an appropriate and qualified professional.

Pamela Newman is a therapist who spent her first postpartum experience deep in anxiety, envisioning worst-case scenarios, refusing help, convinced she had to manage everything alone. All without recognizing what was happening until it lifted over a year later. In this episode, she and Dr. Mary Ellen Kramp walk through three very different pregnancies and postpartum periods, the breastfeeding journey nobody warned her about, and what she wishes she had known about asking for help. A conversation with someone who had all the clinical knowledge and still had to learn these lessons firsthand.Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast belong solely to those saying them. This podcast is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing in this podcast establishes a patient care relationship with you, the listener. The host(s) and guests of this show are NOT your healthcare provider and if you need medical attention, seek an appropriate and qualified professional.

After nearly 50 hours of failed induction and a C-section, Kate Harris came into the postpartum period with two dreams: holding her baby right away and breastfeeding. Neither went as planned. In this episode, Kate shares the honest, sometimes messy reality of those first weeks -- the feeding challenges, the delayed bonding, the grief of letting go of expectations -- and what support actually looked like for her family. A refreshingly candid conversation about giving yourself grace when nothing goes according to plan.Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast belong solely to those saying them. This podcast is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing in this podcast establishes a patient care relationship with you, the listener. The host(s) and guests of this show are NOT your healthcare provider and if you need medical attention, seek an appropriate and qualified professional.

In Part 2, Dr. Mary Ellen Kramp picks up the postpartum story with her daughter Elena. She walks through a recovery that was far harder than anyone around her acknowledged -- physically, cognitively, and emotionally -- and the complications that kept compounding in the weeks and years that followed. She and Elena also discuss the nervous system disruption they both experienced after the abrupt emergency C-section, and what all of it ultimately shaped in Dr. Kramp's approach to pelvic health practice.Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast belong solely to those saying them. This podcast is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing in this podcast establishes a patient care relationship with you, the listener. The host(s) and guests of this show are NOT your healthcare provider and if you need medical attention, seek an appropriate and qualified professional.

Dr. Mary Ellen Kramp's youngest daughter Elena -- an occupational therapist -- turns the tables and interviews her own mother about the birth that almost went catastrophically wrong. Part 1 covers the full birth story. Part 2 takes on the postpartum recovery.Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast belong solely to those saying them. This podcast is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing in this podcast establishes a patient care relationship with you, the listener. The host(s) and guests of this show are NOT your healthcare provider and if you need medical attention, seek an appropriate and qualified professional.