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I have an announcement, and before anyone worries: nothing dramatic is happening. I'm okay, my family is okay, and my business isn't going anywhere. I've just reached a point where I need to make some intentional decisions about where my time and energy go.
You've heard me say it on this show a hundred times: we do not have unlimited capacity, and we can't keep adding things and expect to magically find more hours in the day. Apparently I have to take my own advice occasionally. It's rude, but true.
So Doula Talk is going to take a rest. I don't know exactly when I'll be back, and I'm not putting that pressure on myself right now. I love this podcast. I love the conversations with incredible guests, and I love turning what I see families wrestle with every day into episodes that hopefully make someone feel a little less confused or alone. This isn't goodbye. It's a pause.
You Have 60+ Episodes Waiting for You
Babies change, and what you needed at three weeks is not what you need at seven months. There's probably already an episode waiting for the season you're in. You don't have to listen in order (my topics bounce around anyway). Find your season and start there.
Pregnant or preparing for birth? Don't skip the podcast thinking it's only for after the baby arrives. Start with Pelvic Floor Truths Every Pregnant Person Should Know with Dr. Mandi Murtaugh, then Learning to Love Your Pregnant Body with photographer Caroline White.
Newborn or postpartum? Start with Navigating the Fourth Trimester, the episode I'd hand to almost every new parent. Then try Finding the Rhythm for newborn sleep and feeding, and When Patterns Shift for the moment the baby you thought you had figured out suddenly changes everything.
Feeding keeping you up at night? Feeding can be incredibly emotional, and it's easy for it to become the measuring stick for whether you're doing motherhood "right." Please resist that. Start with When Feeding Feels Hard: Why It's Not Just About the Bottle, then listen to my conversation with an IBCLC in Tacoma.
Baby sleep? If you're not sure whether you have a sleep problem, start with Is This Just Normal or Is It Time to Get Sleep Support? If you're obsessing over wake windows, listen to Regulation Over Routines and follow it with Building Confidence in Baby Sleep. Those two show where my sleep philosophy has landed after years with families: I'm much less interested in handing you a perfect schedule and much more interested in helping you understand your baby.
Brain feeling like it has forty-seven tabs open? Start with The Overloaded Brain, then The Rainbow Method.
Postpartum anxiety? Listen to When Worry Won't Stop: Postpartum Anxiety and OCD Explained. If what you're experiencing feels bigger than a podcast can support, please bring your provider or mental health professional into the conversation. You deserve actual support.
Relationship or family life harder than expected? Try 10 Tips for Partners to Keep Calm, Keep the Peace, and Keep Your Sanity, then The Missing Village, one of the messages I feel most strongly about. We were never supposed to do this alone.
I've organized every episode by topic in one guide on the blog, so you don't have to scroll through years of titles at 2 a.m.
What I'm Building While the Mic Is Off
Putting that guide together made me realize I have years of episodes, blog posts, guides, and handouts scattered across my website. That's wonderful, but it's a lot. While I'm on this break, I'm working on a better way to organize everything around what you actually need help with, not what format I happened to create it in. If you need help with sleep, you'll just start with sleep.
I'm intentionally not giving myself a deadline. Apparently I'm learning something from all these years of telling parents not to put unnecessary pressure on themselves. When it's ready, you'll be the first to know, and the best way to hear is the email newsletter.
The Blog Isn't Going Anywhere
The podcast is pausing, but the website isn't. Every episode has a matching blog post, so if you'd rather read than listen, or you want to find that one thing I said without scrubbing through 40 minutes of audio, it's all here at douladeb.com/blog. It's also a great place to send a friend who's pregnant or newly postpartum.
I'm Still Here for Families
I'm taking a break from producing the podcast, not from supporting families. I'm still doing consultations for sleep, feeding, postpartum, and all of the "I don't even know what to do next" questions. If you've listened to three episodes and are thinking, "Okay, Deb, I get it in theory, but what do I do with my baby right now?" that's exactly what a consult is for. You don't need a crisis, and you don't need to know what kind of support you need before you reach out. That's my job.
If you have one issue to work on, a focus strategy session is a great place to start: we sort through the problem, build an action plan, and you carry it out on your own. For more complex situations, book a discovery call or message me at douladeb.com/contact, and we'll figure out what fits.
Thank you for spending some of your very limited time with me, for sharing episodes with friends, for sending questions, and to every guest who trusted me with thoughtful, vulnerable, and sometimes hard conversations.
While I'm gone, use the archive, read the blog, ask for help when you need it, and please don't spend three hours deciding between a two-hour-fifteen and a two-hour-thirty wake window. Your baby does not own a stopwatch.
You don't have to figure all of this out alone.
Warmly,
Doula Deb
