Episode 150: Thriving After Childbirth: Overcoming Postpartum Challenges with Dr. La Toya Luces-Sampson

[00:00:00] Welcome back to the Back on Track, Achieving Healthy Weight Loss, where I help you get

[00:00:05] on track and stay on track with your weight loss journey. I'm your host, Dr. Alicia Shelly.

[00:00:11] So let's get started. Hello, welcome to the Back on Track,

[00:00:31] Achieving Healthy Weight Loss podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Alicia Shelly. Now I've had several

[00:00:37] clients, several family members, several friends tell me how Prypdid C had derailed their health.

[00:00:43] They were doing great before they got pregnant and then after pregnancy, the stress of being a new

[00:00:48] mom, that all the distress and different obligations really put a toll on them. And it was hard for

[00:00:54] them to kind of get back to their pre-pregnancy health. And so today I have expert Dr. Latoya

[00:01:02] Lucis Sampson. You can see her as Dr. Toya on social media. She is a wife, a mother,

[00:01:09] a board certified obstetrician and gynecologist and coach. She shows physician moms who are

[00:01:15] postpartum and beyond how to go from feeling anxiety and resentment to feeling confidence

[00:01:21] and joy after having a baby. So welcome to the podcast Dr. Toya. So good to have you.

[00:01:27] So much. I'm so glad to be here. Well, before we get started,

[00:01:31] we want to learn a little bit more about you. So tell us a little bit more about

[00:01:35] your staff and how did you get into this space?

[00:01:38] Yeah. So I am Latoya Lucis Sampson. I am originally from Trinidad and Tobago.

[00:01:44] I went to Howard University, the best university in the entire country, just in case you're

[00:01:50] wondering. And I trained in Philadelphia and have been living and practicing in California.

[00:01:56] And I've had a tumultuous journey to say the least. But the short version is I was

[00:02:03] practicing as an OB, got burnt out and then went to do locums. And if my path out of burnout was

[00:02:12] through entrepreneurship, through the entrepreneurship, I then discovered speaking, you know,

[00:02:19] fell back in love with educating patients, which led me to educate people online. And while

[00:02:25] I was doing all of that, I had a second baby. And it was my second postpartum experience

[00:02:31] that was very rough on me, but I thought that it would be fine because it was the second

[00:02:35] baby. Right? And I was in full control. I was an entrepreneur, but it was not that way at all.

[00:02:41] And I really just didn't take time to take care of myself and heal and rest. I didn't have

[00:02:49] as much support as I would have liked. So it was a very difficult time. So as I worked through

[00:02:54] that and came through it, I really wanted to help other physician moms just really avoid what

[00:03:00] I went through and just educate people, build that community that we are so lacking in this

[00:03:07] day and age and just help people feel less alone and more seen. Awesome. That is wonderful.

[00:03:14] I'm so glad that you're here today to kind of help our audience through this. There's a baby

[00:03:18] of moms who had maybe multiple pregnancies, you know, it was, it just was difficult. So

[00:03:24] what are some like challenges that moms face after having their baby? Oh, there's so much.

[00:03:30] There's so many. So the breastfeeding can be a big one. And I know that the data says that

[00:03:40] breastfeeding is protective against postpartum depression, but I find for many high achieving

[00:03:45] women, especially physician moms, it can be a sort of, it can be like the opposite because

[00:03:50] we put so much pressure on ourselves. And if there are any issues, supply issues, you know,

[00:03:57] any kind of pain, anything where you cannot do it or you can't do it the way that you thought

[00:04:02] you could. It can cause a lot of issues. I have a really special interest in mental health

[00:04:07] in this time. It's one of the biggest things that I feel like people don't consider that

[00:04:12] could really affect your mental health. It's what affected mine and I had to stop early,

[00:04:18] but it also plays into your body and your weight and how you want to look because

[00:04:24] breastfeeding makes you ravenous, right? It makes you really, really hungry. And when you add on

[00:04:30] fatigue and anxiety and all those things, you feel like you deserve food. And of course,

[00:04:36] it's not healthy food, at least it's possible for me. It was all of the things that give you

[00:04:41] good milk is like oatmeal cookies and chocolate and all those things. So it can be

[00:04:47] really tough to balance this desire to do the best thing for your baby, to feed the baby

[00:04:53] from your body and then also look a certain way and then add on the guilt of wanting to

[00:04:58] look a certain way, you know, even trying to sacrifice your milk supply and maybe whatever

[00:05:03] that may mean for you and your family. So it can be a very complicated time.

[00:05:09] Thank you. Yeah. So definitely I could see that where if you're not able to breastfeed,

[00:05:14] initially that can be very stressful for you. And then on top of that,

[00:05:18] you know, trying to get back to your healthy body weight is even harder.

[00:05:22] It's actually you're so hungry. Any other challenges that moms face, especially maybe

[00:05:28] not only just the breastfeeding, the mental health aspect, anything else that moms are facing

[00:05:34] even after or any challenges that you faced after having?

[00:05:37] Yeah. Yeah. So there's the physical aspect. Your body went through this very big event

[00:05:44] that you may have actual physical healing to do if you had any tears, if you had a C-section.

[00:05:51] But even if everything went perfectly, like my delivery was uncomplicated,

[00:05:56] but I still had a lot of pain postpartum just from the changes that my body went through

[00:06:03] and the healing process that just needed time. There was nothing actually wrong.

[00:06:08] Just that all that stretching and the weight from my very big daughter

[00:06:12] caused like a lot of residual pain. And then if you have leaking because you were pregnant

[00:06:20] and that's a normal thing that happens and eventually it gets better. You know,

[00:06:24] if you have dryness down there, I don't know how much you want me to say on your podcast,

[00:06:29] but you know, there are lots of physical changes that can happen as well. And especially

[00:06:34] if you are trying to become more active, it can really inhibit that. And it's not just like

[00:06:39] six weeks comes and everything is fine. That joint pain and just muscle weakness and all of

[00:06:45] those things can last quite a long time. So it can be difficult in that respect as well.

[00:06:52] And then if you don't have support, right? If you have people around you,

[00:06:56] but they are not helpful, it can be very isolating. And that's why, you know,

[00:07:01] I say I help moms go from resentful and anxiety to confidence and joy because it

[00:07:07] is a very common feeling when you feel like you don't have the support that you need in such

[00:07:13] a tumultuous time. So they, you know, I could go on and on about all of the challenges,

[00:07:19] but if anybody's listening, it's not all bad. It's great. How bad?

[00:07:25] Well, let's see your thing about what strategy that we can use to overcome because we tried

[00:07:30] to have the biggest challenge is the body changing, you know, a lot different after

[00:07:36] your pregnancy than it was before. Yeah, that's mental health aspect, the breastfeeding that

[00:07:42] can be difficult. And you know, the one thing we did talk about was that mom guilt,

[00:07:46] you know, and guilt that oh, I need to be with my baby 24 seven, me going for a walk.

[00:07:51] It's just not, not okay. You know, to overcome those particular.

[00:07:57] Yeah, well, I'm a really big advocate for alone time. It is a very postpartum, especially

[00:08:03] immediately postpartum is a very high touch time that most people are literally feeding

[00:08:10] the child from their bodies like the baby is on you all the time and that can really have an

[00:08:15] effect on you physically and mentally because if you are carrying the baby all the time,

[00:08:22] if you are not getting enough sleep, then you're going to be negatively affected.

[00:08:27] And if you don't have a minute just to not be wanted, not be needed, not be questioned,

[00:08:33] it can really affect your mental health as well. So I really advocate for moms at every stage.

[00:08:40] Once you're done recovering and you can walk around and do those things,

[00:08:44] just to have some alone time, even if it's you resting, somebody else has the baby,

[00:08:50] sign on the door saying, don't disturb just to get a little bit of time for yourself.

[00:08:56] Like you said, going for walks is a really nice way to get you active that doesn't involve you,

[00:09:02] you know, like going to the gym or anything like that. And it can be just getting that

[00:09:07] time to just hear yourself think and just to be, which is very often something that is hard

[00:09:13] to come by when you are postpartum and you can tell people don't be guilty. Like you just

[00:09:19] can't. You're going to be guilty, but you don't have a reason to like putting one of my biggest

[00:09:27] platforms or soap boxes is that moms need to put themselves first. They have to make sure

[00:09:32] that they're healed, make sure that they are healthy because you are your own person, you

[00:09:39] matter, you are worthy of the care and love and support that it takes for you to be all

[00:09:44] those things. And it is also beneficial for your family as well. If you are healthy,

[00:09:49] you cannot be feeding your child if you're not physically healthy or mentally healthy. Right?

[00:09:55] So you really have to put yourself first. And once you believe that, once you know it,

[00:10:00] you really have a lot less guilt. I wouldn't say none because I still have, it still comes,

[00:10:05] but you know, it comes with the territory, but it will be a lot less.

[00:10:09] I like that. So make sure that you put yourself first, finding that mom time,

[00:10:13] that adult time where you're able to kind of come back to yourself per se. Any strategies?

[00:10:19] And you said if your body has stretched in the face of that leaking, it's just allowing

[00:10:24] it time to heal. So it should be the time most of the time. Should you get it during this

[00:10:30] time or should you move, you know, I guess, did you start exercising after?

[00:10:34] Yeah. So it really depends on the person, right? The recommendations are not just for everybody.

[00:10:40] If you had a delivery vaginally or C-section, those things change. So of course you follow

[00:10:45] up with your doctor and follow their recommendations, but you can start being active as soon as you

[00:10:52] can. It is beneficial to you to, I mean, you say active, it literally can mean getting up

[00:10:57] and walking around the room, getting up and walking outside. Right? So when we think about

[00:11:03] activity and exercise postpartum, it looks a little bit different and that's okay. It doesn't

[00:11:08] have to be something super strenuous. And then you work yourself back up to wherever you were

[00:11:14] before. Or even if you want to, you know, take it up a notch and introduce some new exercises

[00:11:20] and things like that. Usually it's not going to be before six weeks if you've had a vaginal

[00:11:25] birth or eight if you had a C-section. Like I said, is really individualized. And the thing

[00:11:31] I tell most people is you have to remember no matter how you give birth, your core is very

[00:11:38] weakened when you have a pregnancy, when you have a baby in there. That's just what happens.

[00:11:43] That's why you have the leaking and all of those things. So just focusing on strengthening

[00:11:48] that core first, which doesn't mean crunches. It can be as simple as starting with like

[00:11:53] belly breathing, you know, just really doing some deep core work and realizing that your core

[00:11:59] is the entire thing. It goes from the ribs down to your pelvic floor, wraps around your belly

[00:12:05] to your back. Like that entire thing has to strengthen up before you can start doing

[00:12:09] anything really strenuous because you can risk hurting yourself. You can risk having a

[00:12:15] diastasis worsen if you have one. So it is really something that you want to do carefully

[00:12:21] and just taking your time and going slowly to get yourself back to where you want to be.

[00:12:27] I like this. So starting where you are, but just kind of moving, you know, to taking baby steps,

[00:12:32] they kind of get you where you want to be. That's a really good thing people can use.

[00:12:38] Now is there anything that people can do to help prepare themselves for delivery,

[00:12:43] like prior to deliveries or something they should be doing during pregnancy or even,

[00:12:46] you know, prenatal care? Yeah. So yeah, I love planning focus. Because very few people

[00:12:53] do. Everybody plans for the baby, but it is really important to plan for your postpartum.

[00:12:59] And just being active during the pregnancy can actually help you feel better. I had a lot of

[00:13:05] pain during my pregnancy because she was so big. Like I had to stop working, but I actually felt

[00:13:12] worse if I laid down in bed for too long. Like when I got up, it was like even more

[00:13:18] painful. So it was like this very interesting balance of some kind of movement and still being

[00:13:25] able to rest and take the time that you need. But I've found that being active in some way

[00:13:32] is better than being in bed all the time. Because in general, bed rest, first of all,

[00:13:37] it doesn't really help you medically, but it can actually harm you. So some kind of activity

[00:13:43] can just help you not be deconditioned and make it a much more seamless transition to when you're

[00:13:51] postpartum. And just really preparing and thinking about how am I going to be postpartum? What do

[00:13:57] I need? Let me talk to my family and my support system and tell them, you know, these

[00:14:02] are the things that I need. These are the concerns that I have. Just making sure that the

[00:14:07] support is there for you so that you're not in it. And like, oh my God, I don't know. I

[00:14:12] don't know what's going on. I don't know what I need. I don't know what to do. So planning

[00:14:16] is really important. Well, I love thank you so much for your time and strategies that you've

[00:14:22] given us today. Any last minute advice to have the moms, you know, trying to get back after

[00:14:28] having, you know, get their body back, get their health back after having their children.

[00:14:32] Edina, postpartum appeared. Yes. Give yourself grace. Give yourself time. I'm not one of

[00:14:38] those people who are like, oh, you just had a baby. You should love your body how it is.

[00:14:42] I don't believe that at all. You can work to whatever kind of body you want to.

[00:14:47] You can want to get back. You know, having a snapback is fine. Whatever you want to do.

[00:14:51] But while you're doing that, giving yourself all the grace in the world because you just had

[00:14:56] a baby, this major event that happened in your life and it may take time and it may be

[00:15:03] frustrating. It may be just really upsetting to not be able to feel how you want to feel

[00:15:10] and look how you want to look, but with determination and with help, you can get there

[00:15:15] and don't let anybody make you feel bad for wanting to have a snapback. Nothing's wrong with

[00:15:19] that. Yes. Nothing's wrong with that. Things wrong with that. Well, before we go, would you

[00:15:24] mind just sharing how people can work with you? Where can they find you? Yes. Yeah. So

[00:15:30] I can be found on my website. It's drtoyacoaching.com. So it's drtoyacoaching.com.

[00:15:38] And you can find everything there about my coaching. Like I said, I do one-on-one

[00:15:43] really individualized coaching for physician moms and really professional working moms in general

[00:15:49] who are in this early phase and just need a little bit of guidance, a little bit of

[00:15:53] community, a little bit of help, just figuring things out during this stage. I also can be

[00:15:59] found on social media at drtoyacoaching.com everywhere, Instagram, Facebook. Well,

[00:16:05] Facebook is just my name. I'm TikTok on YouTube and I have a podcast also called

[00:16:10] Stethoscopes and Strollers where you can get all of my support, all of my messaging about

[00:16:18] what you deserve, which is everything. You deserve it all. And if you listen to

[00:16:22] Stethoscopes and Strollers, it will help you feel a little more seen and a lot less

[00:16:28] alone. Yay. Well, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. And thank you all for joining

[00:16:33] us on the Back on Track Achieving Healthy Weight Loss Podcast. If you all like this episode,

[00:16:38] please share with others, like it and subscribe. And don't forget to leave a five-star review

[00:16:43] and we will see you all next time.