Podcast 101 – Moms with Moxie: Journey to Homeopathy

IN THIS PODCAST, WE COVER:

3:40     Journey to Homeopathy

9:47     Pregnancy 

18:38   Things Handled with Homeopathy 

24:30   Tips and Wisdom to Share

LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:

Baby Grande: sold as part of the Combo Pack (my top 7 products). Information can also be found in my free blog post series, “Birthing.”

      https://joettecalabrese.com/blog/turning-a-breech-baby/

      https://joettecalabrese.com/blog/premier-remedy-for-child-birth/

      https://joettecalabrese.com/blog/birthing-part-three-baby-is-born-but-youre-not-done-yet-neither-is-homeopathy/

 

Allergic!? Escape Allergies, Sensitivities, and Intolerances, with Homeopathy

Podcast 98 – How to Take Your Own Case: Prioritize!

First Aid in a Pinch (free first aid chart)

My blog, podcasts, Facebook Live events and courses

Gateway to Homeopathy: A Guided Study Group Curriculum

 

Kate:  This is the Practical Homeopathy® Podcast Episode Number 101.

 

Joette:  Joette Calabrese here, folks. I’m happy that you’ve joined me for my podcast today. You’re in for a treat. From my virtual classroom, I’m privileged to see how homeopathy is transforming lives all over the globe. Their successes inspire me. They’re glorious and powerful, and I can’t keep their triumphs a secret. I want you to hear the excitement my students experience, too. So, you can be inspired by their unique stories.

 

With the help from Kate, my reporter, I bring you a podcast series I call, “Moms with Moxie.” Sometimes we even interview “Dads with Audacity” or “Teens with Tenacity.” See how regular mothers and others — average folks who love healing those around them — have gone from freaking to fabulous by simply applying what they’ve learned using what I call Practical Homeopathy®.

 

 

Kate:  Hi, this is Kate, and I want to welcome you back to the Practical Homeopathy® podcast. Today, I have a wonderful friend here whose name is Chris. Chris is a Midwest gal just like myself. Welcome, Chris.

 

Chris:  Hello, Kate.

 

Kate:  It’s great to have you here. I’m so excited to hear from you today.

 

Chris:  It’s good to be here. It really is a pleasure.

 

Kate:  Tell us about yourself, Chris.

 

Chris:  Well, like you said, I’m a Midwest gal — born and raised right here in Central Illinois — and married to Mike for seven years. Have three kids, 2, 4, 6. They keep me very busy.

 

In my free time, I like to bike, hike, be outdoors, garden. My winter sport is quilting and sewing. I’ve got to do that on those cold months around here. But most of that is to keep me sane while I have my main job of staying at home, raising the kids and being a mom — which is the hardest, craziest job I’ve ever had — but I can’t see myself doing anything else.

 

Kate:  As you’re saying this, back in those days when I had young kids, and I feel you.

 

Chris:  It’s crazy.

 

Kate:  Yes.

 

Chris:  You can’t wrap that up into a sentence, really.

 

Kate:  No.

 

Chris:  It’s wonderful and still insane.

 

Kate:  Yes, the best, most challenging …

 

Chris:  … job I’ve ever had. 

 

Kate:  Most fun …

 

Chris:  Yes.

 

Kate:  Exactly. Chris, in your spare time, I know you are an outdoorsy kind of gal, and you like to bike ride and do a lot of things outdoors with your family. And we’re going to get into this in just a minute, but I find it kind of ironic because you have a lot of issues being outside and doing those things because of some allergies, right?

 

Chris:  Yes. I have some seasonal allergies as well as some pet allergies — which I don’t know if we’ll talk about this, but I don’t have any! But I usually steer clear away from animals.

 

Yes, being outside and being around anything in the garden, I’m usually careful about those sensitivities and asthma. I love being active and doing things, but exercise-induced asthma has been a plague in my life for quite a few years. Homeopathy has really helped out with that.

 

Kate:  We’re going to get into that in just a minute. But talk to us for just a few minutes about your journey to homeopathy. What did that look like?

 

Journey to Homeopathy

 

Chris:  Well, it started when I became a mom. My daughter was six months old. I think I just remember her having some pain or bruises. A friend mentioned Arnica.

 

I had no idea what it was, went to the local natural food store, found it — like the one place in town that had it. I didn’t even know how the heck to even open the bottle. Turn it over and twist the cap, right?

 

So, I’m pretty sure I didn’t even give it to her a lot. I mean, maybe it was more like one or two times I gave it to her. But other than that, it just sat on the shelf for about a year.

 

Then my daughter got her first ear infection. That’s when I knew there had to be something else. It just led me down that path of finding a different alternative to caring for my family as opposed to giving her antibiotics. That really was the gateway to my homeopathy journey.

 

Kate:  Now, talk to us for a minute about that struggle that you had when your daughter got an ear infection because you had said something when we were talking earlier, you really struggled during that time. I want to hear more about that.

 

Chris:  Sure. I remember that time when she got the ear infection, and the doctor wrote her her prescription. And I knew I had to give her the antibiotics (because I didn’t want her to be in pain) because I had no other way of treating her. That led to a discussion with another dear friend about alternatives, and homeopathy was that one.

That ear infection was clear because I have had enough experience with friends who had kids with reoccurring ear infections, one after the other. That just was something that they always had.

 

I just knew that there was something more than just giving antibiotic, after antibiotic, after antibiotic. And so, I was happy to learn something that I could control and treat my kid with — and she’s never been on an antibiotic since.

 

Kate:  That’s great!

 

I wanted you to share that because I feel like as I talk to moms, this is such a common theme that something happens with the kids. It’s what happened with me! That’s how I got into homeopathy as well. My daughter was struggling with eczema.

 

She was like you said, in pain, itching; we had to do something. I didn’t have an alternative at the time.

 

I feel like this is such a common theme for those of us who have children. That was a tipping point. That’s what led us to learn about homeopathy and other methods of healing our bodies.

 

Chris:  Right. It’s true. I started seeing reoccurring instances in my life with my health. But I took those as part of my life, and that’s just how it’s going to be.

 

When my child got sick, I knew there had to be something else.

 

Kate:  Let’s step back just a minute because there’s a really great story, and I want everyone to hear it about your dad. I love hearing about your dad!

 

I feel like you’ve gotten some of your desire to heal your family from your dad. So, tell us how you grew up with your dad and his medical interest.

 

Chris:  Well, I want to say that he was not a doctor and did not have medical training. However, he was in the military, and his grandfather was a surgeon around like the Great Depression time. So, I had heard stories.

 

However, my dad was not any doctor, yet he always treated us. He was the one giving us the first aid. He was the one saying, “Sit at the counter. Let me get to your finger under good light. I want to see how bad that cut is. I want to clean it. I want to put a bandage on it. We’re going to just monitor that and see how it is tomorrow, and is there an infection?”

 

He always had an eye and a consciousness of any kind of ailments — whether it was a cut on your hand, a blister, an ingrown toenail. He was always the nurse/doctor in the house.

 

So, I have fond memories of a time when I was struggling with an ingrown toenail. He would just, like I said, prop me up on the counter, and he wanted to take a look at it.

 

He would get a suturing kit out, and I’m not kidding because he had a little kit. It was the same needles and thread that he would sew up the Thanksgiving turkey with. He would put those out!

 

You know, he always wanted to sew one of us up, but I’m pretty sure that didn’t happen. But he was always ready!

 

But he had his sharp knives and things like that, so he cut out an ingrown toenail, pretty much a surgery, on the kitchen counter.

 

One of his sayings was “never hesitate, self-medicate.”

 

I’m pretty sure he was talking about pouring some whiskey as well to yourself when you’re sick and taking care of yourself that way. But also taking care of yourself in the sense of don’t just run to the doctor right away.

 

So, I just remember finally him cutting an ingrown toenail out of my toe and making sure that it was clean, and packed it in right, and paid attention to wound care. It was pretty remarkable, and I have very fond memories of him. He’s quite a character.

 

Kate:  Do you feel like you’ve grown up like him? I mean, do you feel like you have that desire as well?

 

Chris:  I think it’s definitely an influence in my life. Both my mom and dad were remarkable parents and are very influential in how I raise my family. I think I definitely try to keep an eye on everybody.

 

I know that one of my kids has a blister on his foot right now. They’ve got some splinters in their feet. I don’t know if my dad knew that to some degree, but I’m sure as a parent, we all try and keep an eye on our kids physically and mentally. I think there has been a great deal of influence in my life from him.

 

Pregnancy

 

Kate:  Let’s talk about your pregnancy. I know that was sort of a tipping point as well in your journey with homeopathy. Tell us what you did with that.

 

Chris:  I think you’re talking about the second pregnancy.

 

Kate:  Yes.

 

Chris:  Because I was discovering homeopathy at the time of my daughter (she’s my oldest), her first ear infection that we’ve talked about. And then I found out I was pregnant. So, it was, “I’ve got to learn as much as I can to have a much easier labor the second time around.”

 

I had a pretty hard time with the first one.

 

Kate:  Yes, you said it was many, many hours.

 

Chris:  I like to just say 50+ hours. It was a couple days.

 

I went in not knowing, obviously, what was going on but wanted — naively — to do it all naturally and did the best that I could. I got through it eventually after two days of being in labor.

 

I did have an epidural, but then I slept. I was nine centimeters, and I was exhausted. Then I woke up and pushed for three hours and then I had my baby. So, the epidural pretty much wore off.

 

You mommas out there, you’ve got to do it anyway you do it, right? I mean, there’s no judgment, no shame in the way you do it.

 

But I knew when I got the news that I was pregnant again, I knew I had to find a way to curb the exhaustion and the cramps during labor. So, I did that. I ordered Baby Grande, the CD Joette has, and I listened to that thing over and over again. I took notes. I did a summary page, and I gave that to my doula. I’m pretty sure I did everything to a tee. That labor was about 16 hours.

 

It was, out of my three births, the best one. I did the cell salt protocol my last trimester only. It wasn’t the whole pregnancy, but I did that just the third. And it was a remarkable labor. My doula was there helping me along the way. I gave her the information that I learned during Baby Grande.

 

I said, “Here’s the information I need. Here’s my kit.” And she was giving me what I needed. It was pretty awesome.

 

The nurse even said — right after he was born, and they did the checks and stuff in the room and weighed him — she said, “Oh, he has very long fingernails. You must have taken your prenatals.”

 

I said, “Yes. Yes, I did.”

 

Kate:  That’s awesome. I would love to hear some of the remedies that you used during your labor. Tell us.

 

Chris:  Yes. I remember — well, my doula took notes — switching between Gelsemium and Mag phos and Arnica. I think I only had 200 then.

 

But I also know a friend of mine said, “You need Arnica 1M as well.” I think that was in my arsenal.

 

So, I’m pretty sure I just sw