Hi, everyone, and welcome to this episode, which has been a long time coming.

I have been asked by many of you to share about my fertility and pregnancy journey, and I

did a post about it on Instagram, just looking back in May, saying I was going to release

a podcast, and now here it is September, and I'm finally getting around to it.

I've shared before that motherhood has surprised me in so many ways.

One of the main ways it has surprised me is how not ready I've been to go back to work

in the capacity that I was working before, and also just how tired I am.

I mean, sleep deprivation. I see why they use it as a form of torture.

So to all my fellow parents out there, especially the mama's who are up

nursing in the middle of the night, or anyone dealing with sleep deprivation, I've dealt with it

before when I've been going through something or dealing with anxiety. My heart goes out to you,

and I'm with you at those two, three, four a.m. times when all you want to do is sleep.

And I know this is a season, and my priority really is Athena, and being a really present mom to her.

And I love my work, and I love my purpose, and I love my mission, and I love all of you.

And I'll release another episode probably with Steph on the birth story, and also just on parenting

and what we've learned so far, and what's really surprised us, because nothing really can prepare

you for parenthood. You know, we had lots of friends who are parents, my I have nephews.

I've seen so many people go through it. I've coached parents for years, but until you have a child

of your own, nothing really prepares you for the change. So I'll talk about that in another

episode for those of you who may be interested, and especially those of you who are parents,

and sometimes have guilt over some of the grief you may be experiencing, because it is such a

big, big, big transition. But that's for another episode. Today, I'm going to speak about getting

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