What happens when the life you imagined isn’t quite the life you end up living?

In Episode 006, we’re talking about babies, no babies, motherhood, fertility, and all the different paths life can take—including the ones we chose, the ones circumstance chose for us, and the ones we learned to love along the way.

Mandi shares how she went from happily building a career and traveling to dating with intention, becoming a stepmom, and eventually—at 39—finding out she was unexpectedly pregnant. We talk about miscarriage, fertility struggles, pregnancy hormones, PMDD, anxiety, gestational diabetes, and the pregnancy experience she describes as far more traumatic than the birth itself.

Katie shares how her relationship with the idea of motherhood changed through her first marriage, divorce, grief, and eventually a very different kind of life than the one she once pictured. She also talks about the season she spent helping her sister care for foster babies, becoming Fun Aunt Katie™, and finding plenty of places for that nurturing part of herself to land.

And Jess gets into what it means to build a full, meaningful life when marriage and biological motherhood haven’t been the center of the story—at least not yet. We talk about partnership, timing, chosen family, nurturing the people (and dogs and bunnies and bees 🌸🐝) around us, and the difference between waiting for your life to begin and actually living the one you have.

Basically: three women, three different paths, zero belief that there’s only one right way to make a meaningful life. 💜

Content Note

This episode includes brief discussion of miscarriage, infertility, pregnancy-related anxiety and panic, mental health, and fears around childbirth.

Chapters

00:00 🌪️ Welcome to the Chaos
00:30 🌸 Cycle Season Check-In
04:11 👶 Babies, No Babies, & the Lives We Imagined
09:46 🛤️ Choice, Circumstance, & Changing Your Mind
11:59 🌱 Mandi: Dating, Stepmomhood, & Finding Bryan
17:46 🤰 Mandi’s Road to Biological Motherhood
24:44 💜 Katie: Grief, Letting Go, & a Different Path
28:57 🌊 Jess: Partnership, Timing, & Trusting Her Path
30:27 🫶 Motherhood Beyond Biology
40:53 ✨ Different Paths, Full Lives
43:39 👶 Mandi’s Birth Story
49:27 🤏 Teeny Gripe, Tiny Delight
53:33 💜 Stay Curious. Stay Compassionate. Stay Loca.

💜 Dear Loca

Questions? Episode ideas? Something helpful—or hard—from your own experience? We want to hear it.

💌 DearLoca@livinglutealloca.com

💜 Find Us

🌐 Website: livinglutealloca.com
🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts: pod.link/6797364789
📸 Instagram: @LivingLutealLoca
▶️ YouTube: Living Luteal Loca

A Quick Note From Us

We love you, but we’re not your doctors. In this episode, we’re sharing our own experiences, perspectives, and understanding of topics including fertility, pregnancy, mental health, medications, and supplements—not giving individualized medical advice.

Living Luteal Loca is for education and entertainment and isn’t a substitute for individualized medical or mental health care. Please work with your own healthcare team for advice specific to you. STANDARD-EPISODE-REQUIREMENTS

🎵 Music: “Posy” — licensed through Soundstripe via Riverside. STANDARD-EPISODE-REQUIREMENTS

Stay curious. Stay compassionate. Stay Loca. 💜

#LivingLutealLoca #Motherhood #Fertility #Pregnancy #Infertility #PMDD #WomensHealth