Sessions With Symba

Welcome to Sessions With Symba, the melanated podcast where I bring you conversations with previously pregnant and birthing people, along with birthworkers to share their stories and multi-faceted perspectives towards carrying and giving life to the babies we love. I am your host, Symba Luna, a Licensed Massage Therapist, Reiki Practitioner, Birth Doula, and Ordained Minister, holding a collective space of peace. A Black queer individual, specifically holding a safe space for individuals and allies of the Black LGBTQIA community to experience. I want to use this platform to take you along with me on my process as a prenatal massage therapist entering the Doula and Birthworker industry through my business Journey Spa. It is my intention to create dialogues that might not often be mainstream by sharing experiences within our community that can serve as resources to pregnant, birthing people, and their families. Our goal at Journey Spa is to contribute to and learn how we can support the future of the birthing community combating against the disparity of the Black maternal and infant mortality rate.

Season Finale Part 2 08/18/2022

Season Finale Part 1 08/18/2022

Episode 16: Ayé J 06/30/2022

Episode 16: Ayé J IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ ALONG WITH THE SHOW, YOU CAN ACCESS THIS EPISODES TRANSCRIPTION BY CLICKING THIS LINK: . . . Combahee River Collective was a Black feminist lesbian socialist organization active in Boston from 1974 to 1980. The Collective argued that both the white feminist movement and the Civil Rights Movement were not addressing their particular needs as women and, more specifically, as Black lesbians founded by Barbara Smith. . . Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw is an American Civil Rights advocate and a leading scholar of critical race theory. She is a professor at the UCLA School of Law and Columbia Law School, where she specializes in race and gender issues. . . Reproductive justice is a critical, theoretical framework that was invented as a response to United States reproductive politics. The three core values of reproductive justice are the right to have a child, the right to not have a child, and the right to parent a child or children in safe and healthy environments. It is “the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities,” according to SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, the first organization founded to build a reproductive justice movement. . . High risk pregnancy is one where a birthing person or the fetus has an increased risk of adverse outcomes compared to uncomplicated pregnancies. . . Preeclampsia is a pregnancy complication where high blood pressure and high levels of protein in urine indicate kidney damage. There can also be weight gain and swelling in the legs due to water retention. It can be managed with oral or IV medications and requires weighing the risks of early delivery versus the risk of continued symptoms. . . Medicaid in the U.S. is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and personal care. . . WIC is the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children is a federal assistance program of the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for healthcare and nutrition of low-income pregnant people, chestfeeding, and children under the age of five. . . The Bradley Method of natural childbirth is a method of natural childbirth developed in 1947 by Robert A. Bradley, M.D and popularized by his book, “Husband-Coached Childbirth” first published in 1965. The Bradley Method emphasizes that birth is a natural process. Mothers are encouraged to trust their body, and focus on diet and exercise throughout pregnancy; and it teaches couples to manage labor through deep breathing and the support of a partner or labor coach. . . NICU is a neonatal intensive care unit, also known as an intensive care nursery, is an intensive care unit specializing in the care of ill or premature newborn infants. Neonatal refers to the first 28 days of life. . . Richmond Doula Project is a collective of full spectrum doulas in Richmond, Virginia offering support and education to people through all pregnancy outcomes, centering POC, LGBTQIA, and other underserved communities. . . Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project is Virginia’s grassroots abortion fund and seeks to further reproductive justice by providing practical and financial support for abortion services in Virgina and surrounding communities. RRFP strives to be a resource to the community by engaging in grassroots advocacy for the full spectrum of reproductive rights. . . Ancient Song Doula Services is an international doula certifying organization founded in the fall of 2008 in Brooklyn, New York with the goal to offer quality doula services to women of color and low income families who otherwise would not be able to afford doula care and training a workforce of full spectrum doula to address health inequities within the communities they want to serve. . . Maven Clinic is a privately held New York, NY company that offers a telemedicine-based virtual clinic for women’s and family health. . . Gofundme is an American for profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. . . Chestfeeding is feeding your baby milk from your chest. It’s often used as away for transgender and nonbinary parents to describe how they feed and nurture their babies. . . Lactation Happens is the first genderless chestfeeding class in Virginia created and taught by Aye J. . . The Afiya Center was established in response to the increasing disparities between HIV incidences worldwide and the extraordinary prevalence of HIV among Black womxn and girls in Texas. TAC is transforming the lives, health, and overall wellbeing of Black womxn and girls by providing refuge, education, and resources to ignite the communal voices of Black womxn resulting in our full achievement of reproductive freedom. . . Sister Song is a national activist organization dedicated to reproductive justice for women of color. . . Black Mamas Matter Alliance is a Black women-led cross-sectoral alliance that centers Black mama and birthing people to advocate, drive research, build power, and shift culture for Black maternal health, rights, and justice. . . Find more of Aye J, find them at @the_do_you_doula on Instagram . . . . Journeyspa_ on Instagram . . Original Podcast Beat Produced Mixed & Engineered By: Info Black Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoblack_ Twitter: https://twitter.com/infoblack_ . . DONATIONS: . Patreon.com/symbaluna Paypal: [email protected] Cashapp: $symbaluna Venmo: @symbaluna /episode/index/show/sessionswithsymba/id/23587172

Episode 15: Shalimar 04/28/2022

Episode 15: Shalimar IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ ALONG WITH THE SHOW, YOU CAN ACCESS THIS EPISODES TRANSCRIPTION BY CLICKING THIS LINK: . . . Hurricane Katrina was a large and destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. August 23, 2005-August 31, 2005 . . H.A.N.D.S. Health Access Nurturing Development Services program is a voluntary home visitation program for any new or expectant parents. HANDS supports families as they build healthy, safe environments for the optimal growth and development of children. . . Job Corps is the largest nationwide residential career training program in the country and has been operating for more than 50 years. The program helps eligible young people ages 16 through 24 complete their high school education, trains them for meaningful careers, and assists them with obtaining employment. Job Corps has trained and educated over two million individuals since 1964. . . Colostrum is the first form of breastmilk that is released by the mammary glands after giving birth. It's nutrient-dense and high in antibodies and antioxidants to build a newborn baby's immune system. It changes to breast milk within two to four days after your baby is born. . . A nipple shield is almost like a second nipple. It goes over your breast and nipple and has tiny holes at the end where milk can transfer from your nipple to your baby's mouth. It helps infants with trouble latching onto the breast by acting like a longer, firmer nipple. . . Find more of Shalimar at shalfierce on Instagram, stay tuned for . . MFA - Master of Fine Arts degree . . . . Journeyspa_ on Instagram . . Original Podcast Beat Produced Mixed & Engineered By: Info Black Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoblack_ Twitter: https://twitter.com/infoblack_ . . DONATIONS: . Patreon.com/symbaluna Paypal: [email protected] Cashapp: $symbaluna Venmo: @symbaluna /episode/index/show/sessionswithsymba/id/22946939

Episode 14: Nadine Ashby 03/24/2022

Episode 14: Nadine Ashby IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ ALONG WITH THE SHOW, YOU CAN ACCESS THIS EPISODES TRANSCRIPTION BY CLICKING THIS LINK: . . . . Postpartum doulas are professionals trained to give physical and emotional support after the birth of your baby and may include support such as lactation education, newborn care, preparing meals, light housekeeping, and helping the birthing person with post birth comfort healing and measures. . . Lactation educators provide basic chest and breast feeding education to birthing people and their families. . . The Birth Revolution, IG birthrevolution . . Common Sense Childbirth Institute COPE Program: Community Outreach Perinatal Education - The COPE program uses a culturally-sensitive and trauma-informed curriculum that includes comprehensive training for community-based Doula, Childbirth Education and Breastfeeding Education for peer-supporters, community health workers, para- professionals and home visitors. Participants that complete the program become Certified Perinatal Educators (CPE). . . Fatphobia, also known as anti-fat, is the implicit and explicit bias of overweight individuals that is rooted in a sense of blame and presumed moral failing. Being overweight and/or fat is highly stigmatized in Western culture. Anti-fatness is intrinsically linked to anti-blackness, racism, classism, misogyny, and many other systems of oppression. . . Transphobia, also known as anti-trans, is the fear, hatred, disbelief, or mistrust of people who are , thought to be transgender, or whose gender expression doesn’t conform to traditional . Transphobia can prevent transgender and gender nonconforming people from living full lives free from harm. . . Postpartum Healing Lodge founded by Raeanne Madison IG postpartumhealinglodge . . Sumi’s Touch Training . . Grandma’s Hands Pregnancy & Postpartum Herbs & Nutrition in the Southern Tradition online course . . En Caul birth is when the baby comes out still inside an intact amniotic sac (caul). This might make it look like your newborn is completely gift-wrapped in a soft, jello-like bubble. An en caul birth is also called a “veiled birth.” This rare thing of beauty happens in less than births. . . Find more of Nadine and Birth Revolution on Instagram at birthrevolution and doula4all; . . . . Original Podcast Beat Produced Mixed & Engineered By: Info Black Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoblack_ Twitter: https://twitter.com/infoblack_ . . DONATIONS: . Patreon.com/symbaluna Paypal: [email protected] Cashapp: $symbaluna Venmo: @symbaluna . Instagram: journeyspa_ /episode/index/show/sessionswithsymba/id/22531034

Episode 12: Olivia Bivens 02/10/2022

Episode 12: Olivia Bivens IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ ALONG WITH THE SHOW, YOU CAN ACCESS THIS EPISODE’S TRANSCRIPTION BY CLICKING THIS LINK: . . . Doula Trainings International . . A full spectrum doula is a non-medically trained community care worker that offers support to people during the full spectrum of pregnancy - from preconception, to birth, to abortion, to miscarraige, to adoption, to postpartum. . . Carolina Abortion Fund supports individuals who have decide to have an abortion by providing financial, logistical, and emotional support. . . HG - hyperemesis gravidarum is the medical term for severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Dehydration, dizziness, lightheadedness, and weight loss of 10 pounds or more, are all symptoms, as well as vomiting more than 2-4 times a day. Talk to your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms throughout your pregnancy. . . Black Moms of the Triad Group on Facebook started by Brianna Taylor-Powell . . A vendor in a hospital is defined as a person or representative of a company (including independent contractors or subcontractors for a company) that has either a contractual agreement with the hospital or is seeking to provide support, services, and/or maintenance for a company’s product(s) or services at the hospital. . . Cone Health System is a private, not for profit, healthcare delivery system based in Greensboro, North Carolina. It includes Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, Wesley Long Hospital, Women’s Hospital, and Cone Health Behaioral Health Hospital all located in Greensboro. . . Planned Parenthood a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. . . Evidence Based Birth is an online pregnancy and childbirth resource founded in 2012 by Rebecca Dekker. It includes classes, blogs, and a podcast. . . IBCLC is the International Board Certified Lactation Consultants function and contribute as members of the maternal-child health team. They provide care in a variety of settings, while making appropriate referrals to other health professionals and community support resources. Working together with mothers, families, policymakers and society, IBCLC certificants provide expert breastfeeding and lactation care, promote changes that support breastfeeding and help reduce the risks of not breastfeeding. . . Find more of Olivian Bivens on Instagram at Liv.Breathe.Birth. In Olivia’s Linktree on IG you can explore her website and Facebook. She is Olivia Bivens on Facebook. . . . . Original Podcast Beat Produced Mixed & Engineered By: Info Black Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoblack_ Twitter: https://twitter.com/infoblack_ . . DONATIONS: . Patreon.com/symbaluna Paypal: [email protected] Cashapp: $symbaluna Venmo: @symbaluna . Instagram: journeyspa_ /episode/index/show/sessionswithsymba/id/22022432

Episode 11: Khye Tyson 12/23/2021

Episode 11: Khye Tyson IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ ALONG WITH THE SHOW, YOU CAN ACCESS THIS EPISODES TRANSCRIPTION BY CLICKING THIS LINK: . . . . Our prayer at Sessions With Symba is that we are honoring the ancestral birthworkers that have come before us, and the paths they've laid out for each and everyone of us individually and collectively. . . Sista Midwife Productions in New Orleans, Louisiana . . Schlossberg Transition Theory is an adult development theory focused on the transitions that adults experience throughout life and the means by which they cope and adjust. . . Keep Birth Sacred by Khye Tyson . . A sitz bath is a warm, soothing soak for your perineal or bottom area (area between your legs including your anus, vagina, or scrotums). The herbs in a sitz bath are safe and helpful for tissue healing and pain reduction in the postpartum period. . . “From Mothers to Mothers: A Collection of Traditional Asian Postpartum Recipes” by the Asian American Pacific Islander Health Research Group at UC Berkeley . . Feminist Women’s Health Center, Atlanta, GA . . Reporductive justice is “the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities,” according to SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, the first organization founded to build a reproductive justice movement. . . Romper’s Doula Diaries on Facebook . . Ask your grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins of your generation and before, “do you know your birth story?” “Do you know anyone that came before me, their birth story?” Record, write down, and keep for the future generations. . . Gentle parenting is a parenting approach that encourages a partnership between you and you to make choices based on an internal willingness instead of external pressures. . . Lewis County General Hospital in upstate New York closed their maternity ward temporarily after 6 staff members quit due to Covid-19 vaccine mandates. . . The Weathering Hypothesis was proposed to account for early healthy deterioration as a result of cumulative exposure to experiences of social, economic, and political adversity. It is well documented that minority groups and marginalized communities suffer from poorer health outcomes. This may be due to a multitude of stressors including prejudice, social alienation, institutional bias, political oppression, economic exclusion, and racial discrimination. The weathering hypothesis proposes that the cumulative burden of these stressors as individuals age is “weathering” and the increased weathering experienced by minority groups compared to others can account for differences in health outcomes. . . your heart works anywhere from 5% to 80% harder during pregnancy, labor, delivery and postpartum. . . Birth Justice Bill of Rights by the Southern Birth Justice Network, the National Black Midwives Alliance, & the National Association to Advance Black Birth; ; ; ; . . SacredBirthDoula on Instagram, DM them for Rights Over My Birth Package . . 4Kira4 Moms on Instagram; . . A maternal fetal medicine specialist or a perinatologist is a doctor who helps take care of birthing people having complicated or high risk pregnancies. These doctors are obstetricians who completed 3 extra years of training in high risk pregnancies. . . You can find more of Khye on Instagram @kulunturjc; Facebook facebook.com/kulunturjc; website and digital resources at ; Intro to Reproductive Justice course; Queer and Trans Trying to Conceive quartlery discussion group . . Original Podcast Beat Produced Mixed & Engineered By: Info Black Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoblack_ Twitter: https://twitter.com/infoblack_ . . DONATIONS: . Patreon.com/symbaluna Paypal: [email protected] Cashapp: $symbaluna Venmo: @symbaluna . Instagram: journeyspa_ /episode/index/show/sessionswithsymba/id/21584420

Episode 10: Relevant Ramblings 11/04/2021

Episode 9: Dorothy 09/23/2021

Episode 9: Dorothy IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ ALONG WITH THE SHOW, YOU CAN ACCESS THIS EPISODE'S TRANSCRIPTION BY CLICKING THIS LINK: . . . . Intro audio from Isaac Frere from TikTok & @thesameroom on Instagram . . Today’s guest is a dear friend from my time in college in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m very happy to introduce to you all Dorothy, also lovingly known as Dotty. Dotty is a wife, mother, and interior designer located in Atlanta, Georgia. For more on her interior design company, you can find her on Instagram @_tilemeaboutit. She also enjoys local music and art festivals with her family, and you can find her personal Instagram @dondotty_ . . HG - hyperemesis gravidarum is the medical term for severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Dehydration, dizziness, lightheadedness, and weight loss of 10 pounds or more, are all symptoms, as well as vomiting more than 2-4 times a day. Talk to your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms throughout your pregnancy. . . FMLA stands for The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 which is a United States labor law requiring covered employers to provide employees with job protected and unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. The FMLA allows eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12 month period to care for a new child, care for a seriously ill family member, or recover from a serious illness. Inquire with your employer’s HR department to learn if you qualify or how to qualify. . . Not all hospitals allow you to squat or be in comfortable birthing positions. When choosing your hospital, be sure to ask questions surrounding their policies on what birthing positions they will encourage or deny. . . VBAC birth stands for Vaginal Birth After Cesarean. If your medical provider has told you that you will be unable to ever have a vaginal birth after having a C-section, do not be afraid to ask for a second opinion and consult another medical provider. VBACs are not right for everyone, and if your previous C-section wasn’t handled well or resulted in a high vertical uterine incision, prior uterine rupture, or you have had other types of uterine surgeries, you may not be a good candidate for a VBAC. Consult with your doctor, multiple doctors if needed, and take all medical factors into consideration. . . The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) or Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) is a global effort for improving the role of maternity services to enable mothers and birthing people to breastfeed babies for the best start to life. There are criteria of critical management procedures and key clinical practices that ensure a hospital’s certification as baby friendly. When choosing a hospital to birth at, be sure to ask if that hospitals meets the requirements and certification, especially if you would like education and assistance for breasteeding. . . . . Original Podcast Beat Produced Mixed & Engineered By: Info Black Instagram: Twitter: . . DONATIONS: . . Patreon.com/symbaluna Paypal: [email protected] Cashapp: $symbaluna Venmo: @symbaluna . Instagram: journeyspa_ /episode/index/show/sessionswithsymba/id/20555726

Episode 8: Symba’s Pride 08/12/2021

Episode 7: Dr. Michelle Gabriel-Caldwell 08/06/2021

Episode 6: Janel 07/22/2021

Episode 5: Krystal 07/15/2021

Episode 4: Princess Nokihomis 07/08/2021

Episode 3: Thought Corner 06/24/2021

Episode 2: Angela 06/17/2021

Episode 1: Symba Luna 06/10/2021

Sessions With Symba

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