Healing Myself to Heal Others with Lauren Tucker: Ep24

Join me as I talk with Lauren Tucker about her journey to healing in postpartum.

Lauren spent much of her postpartum feeling very tired and unable to do daily tasks and dealing with symptoms that took quite some time to recognize as anxiety.

She had reached out to her ob-gyn and gone to the urgent care to help with her symptoms but left with little to no answers and being told it was normal in postpartum.

She knew she couldn’t continue functioning at this bare minimum and began the search to find someone that supported women in postpartum and found me.

Her life has taken a complete 180 and she is going to share her progress with us in this episode.

Through working one on one with Lauren, healing herself, and caring for her newborn son, she has also become certified as a postpartum nutrition coach through my course after finding the passion to help other women heal in postpartum as she has.

Come listen to her inspiring story & see how working with me has changed her life.

You can find and follow Lauren here: https://www.instagram.com/peaceinpostpartum/

In this episode, we share with you:

• Introduction of Lauren Tucker
• Lauren’s story and what led her to seek help
• Over independence and lacking a support system
• Symptoms of dizziness & being brushed off as normal postpartum
• Discovering the symptoms were anxiety & depression
• Finding ease, peace, and calm with Maranda
• Being held and guided through a non-judgemental space
• Importance of sacred space being held for healing
• The benefits that have been reaped since working with Maranda
• Enjoying life again
• Energy to do the things that had once become impossible
• Being a present Mother and Wife
• A newly lit passion for supporting women in postpartum
• Becoming certified through Maranda’s program as a Postpartum Nutrition Professional

We all get it. Postpartum and the years after having a baby is no walk in the park. But you know what? It isn’t just about depression or anxiety either. 

Hey, my friend. I’m Maranda Bower, homesteading mama with four wild kids, whose life, passion, and education is all about supporting mothers and providers and understanding the science, the art, and the sacredness of healing after birth. 

What we know as common sense in the postpartum years has many women feeling just plain awful. It’s time to bring back the truth, get you the tools you need to heal, and thrive in motherhood and beyond. Hello, welcome everyone. 

This is Maranda Bower and I’m here with you today with Lauren Tucker. I’ve had the utmost privilege to work with Lauren over the last several months. Not only is she now a certified postpartum nutrition coach, but she actually became that way through our one-on-one time together and her own personal journey of healing and growing when her son was just a newborn. 

So, Lauren, welcome to the show, and I’m so excited for you to share your journey.

Lauren: Hey, thank you. I’m glad to be here. Yeah, so kind of share with everyone a little bit about who you are, what’s your background? So we kind of get a little feel for what you are and what you’re about and how you came to me. Yeah, so thank you. I’ve been a coach of some sort for the past five years. But I’ve been working in IT and product development for the majority of my career. Very high stress, very type A, very hyper-independent kind of person. So, certainly, coming into postpartum that hit me like a ton of bricks. I had my son in August of 2020, so everything with COVID kind of hit right as my first trimester was ending, and it was totally a crazy time to be a new parent. And just, you know, already there’s so many things I was worried about, let alone that played into it. I did okay pregnant. I certainly had some symptoms of stress. It was real once we got into postpartum, and we didn’t have a support system. I was eating like I was having my smoothies and my juices, thinking that was the epitome of health. And with that, it felt good at the time. But I started realizing that I had no guidance, no support, and the hyper-independence thing had to change. So, I started looking for more support around January of 2021. He was about four months at the time, and I was just trying to go back to work, and I was dizzy all the time and couldn’t sleep, and so much anxiety. So it was totally, I knew I had to make a change. I knew that there had to be some support out there for postpartum women. And so I found you. 

Maranda: I’m so excited for that. It was quite a journey for you. And I wasn’t the first person that you had actually gone to; you had done lots of testing. I mean, you were seeing providers. When you came to me, you had seen so many different people. Can you share a little bit about what that was like for you, going through that process, and really, who did you see, and what did you get done, and what kind of answers did you get from that?

Lauren: Yeah. So, I didn’t really see anyone until probably the dizziness started happening quite a bit when I was around three months postpartum. Because it was still heavily COVID time, and of course, we’re still in it, but we went to an urgent care because we were told, “you can’t go to the hospital”, “you can’t do”, you know, and really I didn’t know where to turn. Like, call my OBGYN? I would talk to the nurse’s line. They would just say, “hey, that’s just normal”, “you know, just lay down”, “eat more calories”, “you’re probably not eating enough”. Meanwhile, I started eating up more and I just instantly gained a ton of weight, and I didn’t feel any better. So I knew that wasn’t the right call. And from there, I got some testing done with the urgent care. They really didn’t find anything except I think for a vitamin D3 deficiency. So they gave me some D3. And it wasn’t until, I don’t know what it was, I think I was washing the dishes one day and I just noticed I was very shallowly breathing. And I was just feeling this anxiety. And I was just, I started taking deep breaths and I’m like, the dizziness is anxiety. I didn’t even know that I was functioning with this high level of anxiety this whole time. And so it was just my body was just completely being maxed out to its capacity. I’ve definitely had anxiety. I’ve been prone to anxiety, just being that kind of overachiever, but this was a whole different level. 

And I think it was the first time in my life I felt so low with depression that I didn’t even know it was depression either. I just felt pretty hopeless. I was like, I can’t make it through the day. I felt like I couldn’t function. I needed my partner, Matt, just to constantly help me with everything. And I just for the first time really felt like I was this, you know, I needed to have all of this help. And that was really tough for someone that was hyper-independent. Also, I had talk therapy which was definitely helpful to just have the support. But I felt like I kind of felt like I was ruminating on what things were going on. So it didn’t really feel like it was taking me to the next level or that it, you know, I had a true understanding of what was going on with me from a postpartum perspective. So definitely, and then I think a functional, yes, I had a functional medicine doctor as well. Which was definitely took things to the next level of just getting tested for some things and some recommendations. But truly, I think, did not really understand the full picture of what my body needed until working with you, especially the nutrition plan was a huge help.

Maranda: Quick note for you, my friend. My postpartum nutrition Certification program is opening, and if you feel called to support women at this deep fundamental level and truly address the root of postpartum depression, anxiety, and postpartum autoimmune disease, then join this group of thought leaders and community builders in this upcoming cohort. You can learn more at www.marandaBower.com So let’s dive into that. What was it like working with me? What were some of the things that we had done together that made such a significant difference for you in terms of healing? And, you know, I share this often, especially when I do these interviews. So many people ask me, like, “Well, what the heck do you do in five months? That’s so different than what everybody else does. How are you getting these results?” And I don’t like to hold anything back. So whatever you’re willing to share in terms of what it was that was so amazing for you to help you get to the other side, which we’ll share your other side shortly, but like what was that like in those five months together?

Lauren: Yeah, I felt this sense and, you know, like I just mentioned, I’ve worked with other people and tried different things. But working with you, in particular, you have a way of just setting an environment that just felt like ease and calm. And like I truly had space to be held and seen and heard and that you totally got what I was feeling from your bones. It was just… I did not feel that kind of nurturing anywhere else. And so it was, you know, nothing I said or did was judged or wrong. It was just truly holding space. I would say that was a huge part of it. I know we also worked through a lot of the emotions that I had been holding onto, probably in my body, for years. A lot of our work got me realizing a lot of childhood wounds and traumas that came up through our work together. That definitely impacted, you know, being so prone to anxiety and all of that. So that was something I didn’t expect, that it would go figuring out things that were impacting me back from when I was in middle school or something. And yeah, so that was, I think that truly set you apart, just having that kind of sacred space, I think, for a new mom where, you know, that’s not really that common, especially in the US. I would say, you know, it’s very much like everyone else is posting like we’re back on the bike and we’re working out hard and we can do all the things. And I loved the approach of just the gentleness and taking things slowly and really nurturing and honoring yourself, which is just, I think that needs to come back to our society of taking care of women and just honoring them. So that was a beautiful experience. Thank you for that so much. And really, this is something that a lot of women, I don’t, you know, obviously don’t have, but also going back to the unexpected, right? Not really seeing how significant that holding space truly is. And then even diving, like when we are able to hold space and when somebody hasn’t had that space held, you know, generally, for most of us ever, all of the things of childhood traumas and childhood adversion, like all of these pieces come flooding in. And so it’s very typical that we get to work on all of the components together, oftentimes in a very unexpected way. And so I appreciate that. So with that said, I mean, not only did you have the sacred space that was being held, but you also had a lot of practical tools. You mentioned the postpartum nutrition plan, which you fell in love and got trained in.

Lauren: Yes. And I’m on it for the third time, just out of my own choosing right now. I’ve been, you know, I had some sleep disturbances for such a long time earlier this year. And it’s a process, just trying to take care of my adrenals, all those things. And I just decided, “Hey, I just really want to give my body this break and this nourishment.” And so yeah, I am in love with it. And just being on it, like when you get your menstrual stuff, I go back and after you’re done breastfeeding, which I had, you know, I’ve just been completing as well. So it’s, it just feels like this sacred, another sacred way to honor yourself because it’s just, I love that you pull from so many postpartum traditions that I feel like have been forgotten in Western society. So yeah.

Maranda: Yeah, absolutely. And on top of helping you get more sleep, that was a big component. So the practical tools for that, and we did a lot of energy work to help clear a lot of the traumas and all of those things. So there was a really whole roundabout approach to all of the things that we had done together. And now, where are you?

Lauren: I can’t even recognize myself from, from what, six months ago or so when I was first knocking on your virtual door. And I, I mean, I’ve thought about what would life be like if I didn’t get this right level of support. And I mean, I could not even imagine being able to work right now. If we did not work together, my digestion has been tremendously healed. I actually wake up with energy. I think I still surprise Matt, my partner, here and there when I can do all the stuff around the house now. He’s like, “Whoa, where did all this energy come from?” And so it’s like, I can actually enjoy my life and life as a mom. I mean, I used to worry about every single little thing, which definitely took some time just getting adjusted as a new parent. But I feel like I’m so much more present now. And I just feel like this wasn’t just something I did for myself.

It’s ultimately, you know, so I can be this present loving mother for Liam. And so it just feels like it’s this gift for all of us that I can be back to who I was. Well, a new version of who I was as, since you’re a mother, you’re never who you were before. But yeah, it’s just, it’s been amazing to enjoy life again. My partner and I, we just took a little mini trip, just the two of us and just like it was, I lasted all day walking around without even thinking about it. That used to be a struggle to even just do anything, even cook. And now I’m cooking all the soups for the plan and just a normal time. And that didn’t feel like anything that was in my grasp six months ago. It truly is a completely different Lauren.

Maranda: I mean, there were times where we didn’t even have a lot of conversations. It was a lot of tears. Yeah. And now here we are having these conversations and it is, it is a completely different person that I’m speaking with five months ago. And I think that even bigger is that this was such a massive transformation for you. Yeah. That you have recently decided that you are going to support others through this transformation as well.

Lauren: Yes, I am. Yes. So as you mentioned, I got certified in your postpartum nutrition certification program. And I finished up. I just got my licensure for the nutrition plan and I’m raring to go. I just felt this deep calling, just realizing how underserved postpartum women are. And it was just, I thought after my experience, it was just like jaw dropping. You’d think that some of these things would just be carried out as regular postpartum advice given to women after they give birth. But it’s like you have to go and dig and find and hope you’re lucky enough to get the right kind of advice. And I, I want to help change the way that is and so I am so excited to start being able to help other postpartum women and hold that same kind of sacred space for them that you did for me.

Maranda: Beautiful, thank you so, so much Lauren. I love having you here. I love everything that you are doing and by the time this show comes out, hopefully you’ll have a website or something that we can lead people to share your goodness and all of the things that you are creating in this world. So thank you so much and can’t wait to share more.

Lauren: Thank you so much.

Maranda: Thanks for tuning in and taking the time to learn about how to support your body and deep healing. We don’t do this work just for us or for you. Your healing impacts your children, your relationships, and your community. We do this work because the health and vibrancy of our world begins with its mothers. I hope you have taken some valuable information today and applied it to your own life. 

If you aren’t sure where to begin, reach out about working together one-on-one or at minimum, learning about my postpartum nutrition plan which is where I start every single one of my clients. And you can do that by going to MarandaBower.com. Hope you enjoyed this episode, let us know by leaving a review and we will see you next time.