Emily Merrell  00:00

Hey, my name is Emily Merrell. I’m a taco loving people connector. And I’m obsessed with playing the name game and all things networking. I’m the founder of secondary society, a female focused networking community, as well as a business coach for female business owners passionate about bringing their business to the next level with the help of events, community and connections. I crave deep conversations, and I’m continuously curious to see what makes people tick. And I’m invested in uncovering their stories with some life lessons along the way. This podcast is aimed to inspire and educate as you tackle your busy day to join the conversation and tune in for the second degree podcast. I’m your host Emily Merrell. And today I’m excited to have my local Denver friend Megan just Skimmia she is a health and conscious living coach in the founder of healthy and happy with ease on today’s show. Megan, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. Today. Not butcher the name.

 

Meghan Jaskinia  01:04

Oh, not You did great. Okay. Most people do even my own mother.

 

Emily Merrell  01:08

How does she pronounce it? Oh, there’s

 

Meghan Jaskinia  01:11

different things. My favorite is jask Ania.

 

Emily Merrell  01:13

Just skinny. I just always think of skinny. I’m like I’m just skinnier now. I’m just skinny. There you go. Yeah. Well, so what was your maiden name before just skinny?  It was Kempt. Kempt Kempt. Yeah. Kim. It sounds like oh, that that painter Great. Can’t I don’t know. clamped nothing have clipped. What is Kempt? What’s German? Okay, yeah. Yeah, so you treated German for Polish? Yes, I did. Moving across Eastern Europe. So Megan, you mentioned you did say you got skinnier. And I want to say that she is beautiful. Not skinny. You’re beautiful. How you are? You also are the mom to three of the most incredible children I’ve met. Personally, I have a love affair going on with her nine month old in a non creepy way. I just love him so much. Yeah, he just has this smile the way he looks at me. Love it. It was love at first sight. It was it really was. He knew? Yeah.

 

Meghan Jaskinia  02:30

You’re one of his people. Yeah, he’s

 

Emily Merrell  02:32

like, Hey, we you strange, it’s actually I have to tell the story. And then we’re gonna get into your background. But I met Megan, through a woman’s networking organization that she’s a part of in Denver. And she came to one of my networking events. And she brought along her three month child at the time. And she is like, yeah, you can hold them, no worries, by the time you have a third child, you’re less worried about the germs and all the things. So I was, I am still a new mom, I think I’ll always be a new mom. But I so appreciated, like the ease in which you approached being a mom and also being in a social situation. And I so tried to internalize that moving forward with me and the way I interacted with my kid, which brings me to you and living life healthy and happy with ease. What does that mean to you?

 

Meghan Jaskinia  03:30

For me, helpful and happy with ease just came after quite a long journey to where I’m at now, and started with having a spinal cord lesion, losing motor function in my left hand, I’m not getting any answers from a doctor of what was actually going on. So I Healed my body through nutrition. And I was able to reverse the symptoms from that. And so I started to grasp the healthy piece of my journey. Um, but then I had a really hard fall with my happiness. I’m just starting to I think I started healing and it just kind of flood gates opened of things that were happening in my life. And I noticed that like, I got healthy, but then I noticed so many things about my happiness that just weren’t there. Then I had to really find my way to grasp my happiness and I’ve realized some past things that I needed to heal about myself. Um, and then I was doing all this. I you know, had my health scare and I instantly got pregnant with my son so I jumped in this healing journey jump straight into being a mom. So then I had to learn to heal while being a mom. So I had to do it in an easier way. I had to take the small baby steps to do it. So then just over time, I finally came up with the idea of the conscious living approach, which is giving people small, realistic steps to start living a healthier and happier Life, which we’ll go into about balancing the two. But that’s what brought me there. So you know, we joke about the skinny, but more. So just I had the healthiest point of my life right now, I struggled with weight, I struggled with disordered eating. And actually, when I stopped being so strict about what I was eating and being on a diet, and I actually started eating in a way that I enjoyed, and that allowed me to feel good. I all of a sudden met all of my goals that I ever had. And it went way beyond just reaching a number on a scale. So it’s more so a joke in the last name of skinny, but it will go into the conscious eating approach and everything, but I’m just finding a way that works for me, and I’m just, I am the healthiest and happiest I’ve been, and is trying to bring that into other people’s lives. Because we’re all living, you know, blindly to life we’re living, things just seem hard. We live with anxiety, and depression and sadness. And so just helping people get a better grasp on that. And the fact that you started this journey because of this, you like, Greece process or like

 

Emily Merrell  06:12

no, but But you had a spinal cord lesion. And so, here you are, you’re a 20 something year old, this was when you’re in your 20s that this happened, right? You’re, you’re a 2525 You’re like a normal 25 year old living your life working a corporate job. You know, go into bars doing doing your thing. And how did you figure out that you had a spinal cord lesion? Because that’s not something I don’t think my gynecologist like checks for those.

 

Meghan Jaskinia  06:42

Well, your gynecologist likely wouldn’t have to check for them. But no, I just was feeling tingling in my hands and feet. And so I just figured, like, oh, you know, I was dating my husband now was a chiropractor at the time boyfriend at the time. Um, and so when I had tingling in my hands and feet, I’m like, Okay, well, whatever, I just slept on it funny, like, I just will go get adjusted, everything will be fine. Um, but then it just wasn’t going away. And so we started kind of questioning it, I started getting adjusted a lot. But then all of a sudden, I was losing motor function in my left hand, which obviously, it wasn’t from the adjustments, I just wasn’t helping it. Um, and then I was getting all of these symptoms that just were not fun. Like, I would feel a ring around my stomach, which is typically a symptom for Ms. So we finally decided to go get an MRI. And I was sitting in the doctor’s office with my dad waiting for them to come and give the results of the MRI and the doctor walks in and just kind of stops and stares at me and I’m like, hello. And he goes, Wow, I would have figured you are in a wheelchair. I’m like, Oh, that’s cool. So we’re gonna go into like what you found, this is going to be fun. And they told me it was either ms or a glioma, which is cancer. And that is probably going to have to move out to Kansas and go to somewhere like the Mayo Clinic to seek treatment. And it was going to be a long road ahead. And I was like, Okay, so here we go. I’m yeah, in my mid 20s was urine to dating Zach. And I’m just all of a sudden, not sure what my future look like. And so it was it was pretty scary of going through all these tests that we went and got a second opinion. And so luckily, I was able to stay in Kansas City, but we were doing blood work and a spinal tap. So I had a gigantic needle shoved up my spinal cord. And but every time they got test results, like well, everything came back that you’re healthy, like, Well, I still can’t make a seat with my left hand. So obviously, like something’s going on. So they eventually just gave me kind of a blanket diagnosis. And the doctor said, because you’re likely going to probably eventually, you have to say that, but eventually we’ll have Ms. Like, oh, okay, um, but luckily at that point, like the one blessing in disguise of being a serial Dieter, I was constantly on a diet, I was starting to learn more about nutrition and not just being on a diet, I was actually learning about, like, eating healthier and all of that. So I got the idea of like, well, maybe, you know, let me look into this. Like, what if I do clean up my diet, like I just found out that I had a sensitivity to gluten and dairy. And so I just started doing my own research because I’m a Virgo and Enneagram three, you know, all of the very type A, any of those tests that you do all of those kinds of things that says like, I’m gonna do my own research, like, I’m gonna see what I can do. If it was a mess, like what are people’s ms then and I found a woman who had reversed her symptoms and manage her symptoms to ms By going vegan. So I was like, Okay, I’ll do that. So I went vegan, gluten and dairy free, started to condense the sugar and started cutting back on the alcohol so that Can I both just ate super clean for two months. And after that, I started reversing the symptoms. And I had one follow up MRI and they told me that my, the lesion had shrunk in size. So I was like, that’s all I needed to know, I’m done with doctor’s appointments like, I’m just gonna keep doing this, I quit my job. I was an education coordinator with early learning and ready to grow in that career field. But it was just really stressful. I felt like I couldn’t focus on my health. So I quit that and started working at a juice shop and just eating healthy and living a healthy lifestyle just became my life at that point.

 

Emily Merrell  10:39

And so during this time, what were your emotions? Like when you were being told that you ate most likely have MS that your doctor comes out and says that you should have been in a wheelchair? Like, were you were you emotional? Or how were you able to find this common this resiliency in this time?

 

Meghan Jaskinia  11:01

Um, you know, I do give a lot to Zach at that point. Um, he was in chiropractic school and so busy, but every time he came home, he was just like, dialed in. And like, he just was the one really like, being in chiropractic school. And he was in this training culture, he was just learning so much about having the power in your health. And so he was just my cheerleader at that point of like, you can heal yourself, you have to change your mindset. So a lot of things he was telling me, I was like, you were so crazy, like, what? Like, no, this is happening to me. But he was just like, really on it of making sure I wasn’t just doomed. Like, I wasn’t having this mindset of like, this is just my life. Now he’s like, this is not you have to change your mindset. And so it was very overwhelming. But slowly, I did start recognizing like, okay, if I’m telling myself different things, like I can have control of my health, I can, you know, heal this thing. I can overcome it. And so it was really challenging. I had a teacher in high school would always make me I’m saying like, I’ve always been a very, like emotional person. Like, he tells me he’s like camp would cry, even when a Walmart opens, or she cries every time a Walmart opens. And I’m like, okay, yes, I cry all the time. Like, yes, I don’t really hide my emotions very well, I do not have a poker face. So I was very emotional. But I just kind of I really kept to myself. And I think that’s when I realized I was actually like, more introverted than I thought I was. So I just kind of kept to myself and didn’t really talk to many people about it at the time, and was just trying to figure it out. Like it was just such a weird experience where I was the one who was like, very into like, having all the friends going out being social, doing all of the things. I was really into running. And I couldn’t do any of those. I wasn’t running at the time. And so I just kind of sat at home and started this journey that I’ve been on for now. Almost six years, and just kind of had to take it. It was bizarre, it’s been a roller coaster. But that’s where I realized, like, I was so zoned in on just getting healthy that I think I was almost just had tunnel vision of like, I didn’t recognize my emotions at the time. And it definitely has come up later of like, oh my god, I went through that, like, oh my god, I shut this person out. Like, I did all these things, because I just wanted to heal. Like I did not want my life to be like that, you know, long term, like I didn’t want my life to be a sickness.

 

Emily Merrell  13:26

I think it’s, it’s incredible, the way that our brains can power through something. And compartmentalize portions of it, when looking from the outside in your like, that’s a really major thing that was diagnosed and I love that you went from a let’s uncover and figure this out. And you had a really supportive partner who was able to find positive light versus like, the doom and gloom and planning wheelchair that you’re gonna acquire. So, one, it wasn’t one of the diagnosis is also that you weren’t going to be able to have kids.

 

Meghan Jaskinia  13:58

Yeah, one of the doctor’s appointments, they were checking and, you know, we have to rule out that it’s not cervical cancer, any of this, like, there was just a lot of talk at these appointments. Like some of these appointments, just, I couldn’t tell you what they said. Like, sometimes my dad will remember more of what they said, um, but it was just like, I was so like, in such a fog that whole summer and but I remember it stood out and it stood out for my mom as well, when they said, you know, you just are likely going to struggle getting pregnant someday. And I was like, okay, so yes, that, uh, did happen. And then when I started healing, um, I, one of the things was going off birth control, so I’m like, Well, I’m going to struggle to get pregnant anyways, like, obviously, something’s going on in my body. Like, maybe my body’s not responding to birth control very well. Um, and I laugh with my husband now because he said, Do you think you should get off birth control? And I’m like, well, we need to be careful. But, you know, the after the summer after they told me the lesion was shrinking about two weeks later, the second blue light And appeared and there was coming Brecon, so I was like, Okay, well, apparently my body is healing because apparently I can’t have babies. Um, yes, there’s just so many things thrown at me that I may never run again, I may not have children, I may have to move out of Kansas to go on this healing journey. So it’s just there’s so many things thrown at me that I was like, I don’t know what direction to go in. So I really had to dial into myself. Like I think that’s where I started coming back to myself and like unconsciously was healing my like, major people pleasing personality, and how to go back to the whole self trust concept. And again, you had

 

Emily Merrell  15:41

all these obstacles, like one obstacle was handled, I feel like you’re like a conveyor belt. So I’m envisioning like Lucy on the conveyor belt, just eating the chocolates, especially can’t, and then you finish and then more chocolates come down. And so that second chocolate was was Brecon, like you had you weren’t planning to have kids at this moment in time, you didn’t even know you. Were able to have kids. Like, how did you change from? I’m on this, this journey of healing to like, holy shit. I’m

 

Meghan Jaskinia  16:10

about to be a mom. Yeah, yeah, I think the number one thing is just growing up is so funny to hear my daughter now who’s three. She just tells me like, I just want to be a mom now. Like, it’s not fair that you get to be a mommy. She told me that the other day, it wasn’t fair that I was a mommy and she wasn’t. But she we have had the discussion that she’s the chickens, mommy, so she has six chicken babies. So she gets to be a mommy. But that’s who I was as three. Like I always want it to be a mom. So when I was told I couldn’t. And then all of a sudden surprise, I am going to be a mom. Like, like, Okay, well, not how I envisioned it. But great. Like, this has been the thing I want it to be my whole life. Like, this is what I’ve wanted more than anything. So it was easy to accept that. But then to get everyone else to like, oh, wait a second, you were really sick. And now you’re pregnant. And like you weren’t planning this, like what’s happening, like, you just changed your career. So I had a lot of moving parts. But it’s funny to look at Zach and I is beginning of our relationship. And now where we were both going through these really drastic, like transformations. And we were throwing Parenthood in him and chiropractic school. And I’ve changed my career a million times. And so we just really going through such this crazy transition. But now coming out to the other side. It’s like, okay, that was wild. But we can handle things a lot easier now. And now we have this resilience that we can teach our kids at a much younger age. So it was so crazy. And I feel like I was really numb to a lot of it and just kind of doing it and handling it and figuring it out. But there have been moments once because I got I had my son. And then a year later, I was pregnant with my daughter. So they’re 20 months apart. So I’m like, okay, not only could I maybe not have kids, now I have them 20 months apart, like, clearly, we’re okay. Like, we can obviously have babies, I’m gonna read

 

Emily Merrell  18:08

a letter to your doctors and just be like, I just want my money back on everything that you told me.

 

Meghan Jaskinia  18:16

You know what, it’s okay. Because I would rather have that journey. And then anything else. So it’s like, okay, we handled it, but it was after. So I was saying earlier that I had to recognize my happiness after that, because I had my son, I had my daughter, you know, we got through a year with my daughter of, you know, I nursed both of them. So I had a really crazy for years. And so then once that slowed down, and at the time, we thought we were done having babies, like all of a sudden I stopped being pregnant and nursing mode. And then I could go back to myself, all of a sudden, my guard was down. And I was like, didn’t have that anymore. And just things came crumbling down. Like I really struggled with my happiness at that point, because I think everything just all of a sudden hit me at once like I actually was diagnosed with late onset postpartum depression. And so like all of a sudden, going through all this, and then I’m dealing with my mental health and things were not good for a long time. But again, like all this stuff, it’s like I knew I was gonna go through this and that I could change it to good. And now it’s like, there’s way more moms and I realized, at any aspect dealing with mental health, that they don’t put their needs first. And women in general, like men, yes, they have that too. But that’s a chiropractor. He’s doing coaching, he can handle the men but for me, it’s like the women I can relate to. So that’s who I really focus on working with. But I just knew there’s so many women struggling in silence or struggling and confusion, they have no idea what they’re dealing with. So I’m trying to create this approach to life that is simple, that is baby steps and that they can put their needs in front of everything else so they can show up in life the way that they want to.

 

20:00

So how

 

Emily Merrell  20:02

I mean postpartum depression, I feel like is a big topic that to this to the same vein as maybe it’s because we’re I’m a mom now and no one I didn’t really pay attention to it before, but people are more public and they’re more candid about their experience. At what point? How did you navigate? How did you navigate it? How did you bring back the happiness of the healthy and happiness part of your life?

 

Meghan Jaskinia  20:27

Yeah, I luckily, you know, I was in therapy at the time, and that was helping a lot. And so I just had to start figuring out what works for me. Um, you know, there’s so many things out there of like, do like, you know, there’s so many lists of things that you can do. So it’s like, I’ve read the books, I’ve done the journaling, um, you know, I’ve gone on walks, I’ve done like, I’ve tried different things of like, what’s going to help me feel happier. And I did get on a supplement called New adapt, which is, you know, a more for, you know, best way to explain it’s like, similar to an antidepressant, but it’s more of a natural remedy. Um, it’s a functional medicine approach. So my friend, Jess Loveless, she’s a chiropractor and trained in functional medicine. So she helped me get on that and just really working on the hormones, because the things that we’re eating and consuming is just our hormones, especially after pregnancy. And if you’re nursing, like they’re just out of whack, so really focusing on my hormones, getting those in balance, but just starting to realize, like, Okay, what days do I start to feel out of whack that I have a hard time, you know, regulating my emotions. And so it’s taking me a lot of trial and error. And I’ve done the journaling on days where I’m feeling really sad. I’ve, you know, I’ve hit rock bottom, where I’ve just been sat in, I can’t, I can’t control it. And it’s how to take reflection after like, what could I’ve done different or what wasn’t I doing? So if I’m not moving my body, and I’m recognizing that I have a hard time regulating my emotions, I started cold plunging, really was against it, I fought it. But there’s a lot of health benefits to up regulating my nervous system and helping everything just calmed down a lot more, and starting to eat foods. Like if I wasn’t feeling good, and I eat a lot of processed stuff, I noticed myself getting really irritable. So there’s just there’s so many little steps, that it’s just kind of starting with one thing and seeing how it works and recognizing how I’m feeling. And trial and error to figure out like, this is my system that works for me, like I love using what other people have done as just a guide, but then putting my own twist to it like, yeah, I love journaling. Am I going to do it every morning? No, it never worked? Am I going to journal at night? No, like not always, you know. So it’s just like, there’s so many things that take just trying just to create what works for you.

 

Emily Merrell  22:54

And I think one of the things, when I think about you, I think about sourdough and pretty much the same. Just like people think about me and tacos in the same sentence. And so when you you know, you had talked about when you healed your your spinal lesion, you weren’t vegan, you went gluten free, he went dairy free. And I know you now because I’ve had both dairy and gluten with you that those are not the case anymore. So at what point did you also understand your body so much that you were able to reintroduce things? And how did you introduce them back to your body?

 

Meghan Jaskinia  23:31

Yeah, that’s a great question. Because, um, when I first became a health coach, I was like, I am going to help everyone be gluten and dairy free. I want them to be maybe vegan if they’re into it. But I just wanted to teach people I was so focused on the healthy piece of it, like my first program was actually take control of your health. And I wanted people to be an advocate for their health. But then when I would get talking to people, I would realize like, wait a second, like they have so many other things going on in their life that like eating these this way is not what they’re ready for. Like they’re not wanting to do this right now. But because they have so much other chaos in their lives. Then it’s like I stepped back from health coaching for probably about six months to a year. I’m like, I would do some things here and there. But I was really creating this program, because I was trying to figure myself out. So when I got pregnant with my son, I was so scared to eat gluten or dairy. So I’m like if I get sick again with being pregnant or with having a newborn, so I was really fearful around food. But that wasn’t fun. Like when you look at people trying to be super healthy and they’re eating all this food or they’re on a diet or the following this new program like most of the time, they are not happy like they don’t. No one on the whole 30 truly is having a good time. Like that’s what I tell people like that’s what I want them to like recognize like people are just not happy. So like I love food and my son is going to be exposed to things like my kids are going to be exposed to Different foods, like it’s hard to eat that way all of the time. So I was like, there has to be a better way. So I just started experimenting with like, getting more towards an 8020 rule where 80% of the time I’m eating foods that are healthy for me and 20% of the times, it’s, that’s my wiggle room, like sometimes I’m traveling or at a social event, or is just not an option, like, okay, my body can recover from that 20% of the time. And then healthy for me just is looking at foods that allow me to feel my best. So I just started learning about foods like, Yes, I avoid a lot of processed gluten, but I just started educating myself on that. And what I was finding is just a lot of gluten free and dairy free foods have a lot of unneeded ingredients. So I started more so looking at ingredient list and educating myself on that, and then trial and error. So how did my body feel eating gluten free bread compared to sourdough, or even just regular bread to sour dough, um, different noodle types, different cheese types, like, just starting to recognize these things, because when I was eating the processed dairy, and then I went dairy free, I did feel better. But then when I got good quality dairy that didn’t have those ingredients, I felt even better. So we have like, the good, better and best is now what I’m doing because I don’t like having labeled like this food is bad. This food is unhealthy. Like yes, I have my opinion of food that I don’t really think people should eat. But that’s not mine to say like, everyone has their own preferences, their own budget, I just want them to start getting really mindful of how they’re feeling after they eat and going from there. Like when you’re honest about like, Okay, well, I honestly feel like crap. Like, where can I change things to start feeling better.

 

Emily Merrell  26:49

I think that’s such a great reminder for people to experiment. And that by experimenting, you’ll be able to really understand and understand what works, what doesn’t work. And and sourdough has been the bread that like tastes the best and feels the best when you use it and you have so many varieties of it to you do. I think the best gift is also a loaf of sourdough. And that’s been such a cool thing. That’s like your signature gift now, right? I feel like Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like,

 

Meghan Jaskinia  27:22

I would rather give people good tasting food around any holiday their birthday. Um, I’m horrible at gift giving, like, I don’t think a fun creative gifts. But I can give you some cookies give you

 

Emily Merrell  27:35

anything really. I will. I will tell you a base. Yeah. Knowing you. And also knowing what you’ve gone through. I think the theme that continues standing up for me is really being in tune with your intuition and learning to turn it on and listen to it. And it sounded like even from that first diagnosis, you didn’t just accept it as the status quo get on a shutdown of medication, you challenged it, you continue diving deeper and exploring further. Similarly, you got pregnant, like, same thing. You’re like, I want to eat food. I think my body can but it can’t you practice to listen to you intuited. And you made the right choices for you. One thing if you’re comfortable talking about that, I think is wildly impressive about you. And definitely an inspiration for me in the future is the way that you delivered your babies to. Yeah, and I don’t. And I don’t think this is talked about enough. So it’s something that I’m curious about. I know that in your your first Tell, tell us about how you if you feel comfortable, do you feel comfortable? Okay, I put you on the spot.

 

Meghan Jaskinia  28:48

Really. It’s you and I we really have boundaries or even knows about a story from your birthing experience. Oh, yes. Yeah,

 

Emily Merrell  28:57

I already shared that with him this month. Yeah. So tell me tell me about like how you delivered your babies.

 

Meghan Jaskinia  29:03

So with my first two, we did a birthing center. So I was able to deliver both of them naturally. I did that because it felt right for me. I think women have so many different birthing stories in getting your baby here, in any form is not easy. Even moms who are adopting or have a surrogate like even then any mother, I just feel for them. I send love to them because no matter what you went through, it’s so hard. So like, I don’t try to stand on a pedestal of like, oh, I had a natural birth, like look at me, like it’s not a trophy. It’s more of like, that’s what I felt comfortable with. I had been in and out of hospitals for two months straight. And I had had needles poked in me I’d had a needle shoved up my spine like I had just had my body like, beaten on for so many months that I’m like, that brings trauma for me if I was in a hospital and I was getting all these needles put in me, it would have put me into his trauma state like I would not have felt comfortable. The beeping, if you’ve had an MRI, and you know what that sound is like, I can’t hear things that sound like an MRI anymore. I had 10 MRIs. And I just cannot do educate. You’re on my face at one point where my brain MRI and like, don’t need it. So I just wasn’t comfortable in that situation. So we had a long talk, I’m like, Fine, I’m doing it naturally. We lived in an apartment at the time. So I’m like, There’s no way I can do a home birth on a second floor apartment with like, really thin walls. I’m like, no, let’s not do it at home. Because I have the mess in an apartment. And with my daughter, we were in a rental house and like, let’s just we’re not doing it. Um, so yeah, it was a birthing center. And it was really nice. I felt like I was in control. They’re both very different experiences. Um, but it was great. We got to go home with our babies for hours after. And we allowed grandparents in the waiting room when we had our son. And when they came back to see him, I was standing up and walking around and bringing him to the grandparents. And we’re like, should you be sitting down like, I feel fine. So for me, it just made me feel safer to be in that experience where I was in control, I could get up and walk like, when I had the Spinal Tap, I was not supposed to move for 24 hours. And my husband and dad really not okay with me wanting to get up and try to give them food and try to get like, can you just sit so I don’t sit well. So I wanted to be able to get up after having my baby and do things. So it was nice that I could go home and be at our house the next day. And then when does came along? We were in Colorado, we had hardwood floors and both of our other places we have all carpet, but when we had hardwood floors, I’m like, wait a second, I can do homebirth here because like that’s an easier cleanup. I had no idea like it’s so funny to like, go into a home birth, like you think it’s gonna be like this is TMI, but like you think it’s gonna be this like really messy experience. But I’m like, not at all. Like, it didn’t matter if we had carpets or hardwood floors. Anyways, I’m finding where you had the tub. Is that why? So? Well, yeah. And there’s a tarp? And it’s really just like, yeah, no, that wasn’t as messy as I thought it was going to be. But I was able to I tried to waterbirth with both my son and daughter, first son. And it just was not for me. But then the one we had with this one, I was able to actually successfully do a waterbirth was says, I actually delivered him myself. So the obviously the midwife was there, but she actually was there for oh gosh, like, maybe like not even that long, like less than 30 minutes before I had him. So I was just laboring at home. And Zach was like frantically trying to air up the pool and get it was gonna ask you, the toddlers were running around and it went quick. So I was like texting my midwife like I think it’s happening. And then we’re like, No, for real, like it’s happening like you need to get here. And my son would hold the heating pad on my back. And then it got to a point where like, I don’t want him to see me like this. Like we tried sending them to the neighbors. They wanted nothing to do with that. And so we just put on a bunch of noisemakers in the hallway and put them in our room with ice cream. And like I had had ice cream and pizza ready at our house just in case my parents didn’t make it in time before the baby came. So we put them in with movies, we put them in with ice cream and pizza. And so they tried coming out right before it does was born as like get them back in the room. But then once they like could hear a baby crying like I remember hearing your little pitter patter was running out and seeing him. Um, it was weird. It’s a weird experience of like, knowing that, like I had the power to deliver my own baby, but I don’t feel like I would have ever had that assumption if I didn’t start trusting myself and trusting my ability and trusting that I could be in control. Um, because you do you know, it’s like you follow a script and it’s like, well, this is how it’s supposed to be but it doesn’t feel good to you. You don’t have to follow it like you can you have to start trusting yourself have this is what feels right to me. This is what makes me feel comfortable. Whereas like my sister and I will say like she did a hospital birth she had an epidural but that’s what made her feel comfortable. So we respect each other’s birthing stories like we’re still equally proud of each other. Like we just had a different approach to things.

 

Emily Merrell  34:12

I think that is so powerful to hear yours and to hear your sisters one of the things that helped me before I gave birth was talking about positive birth stories because everyone wants to tell you Yeah, everyone like oh my god, I got told stories that were like horrific like and then the C section session was supposed to take 30 minutes it took four hours and so and so’s leg got broken and you’re like What the actual fuck like why? In this is like the top rated hospital you’re like this should not have happened. So hearing really empowering stories where like you birth you Simba. Your own trial basically, basically, is is really empowering and also, it’s also a reminder that there is twice like this You find your sister was more comfortable being in a hospital with an array. And you had more comfortable and confident, more comfort and confidence. Not traumatized by not shoving a

 

Meghan Jaskinia  35:13

needle up your arm. Yeah. Right. And like that’s a whole concept I’m trying to teach people is coming back to themselves. So honestly, the first step of conscious living approach is, what do you need what’s going to allow you to feel your absolute best, so not look your best, we’re not concerned about the scale, like we’re not concerned about how you appear to other people like it is fully coming back to yourself with your what you’re eating your mindset, your habits. So it really is bringing people back to themselves, waking them up to the life they’re living. And if they focus on those three things, it’s going to be so much easier to show up in every other aspect of their life.

 

Emily Merrell  35:49

A min to that. Megan, you are such a wealth of information, and I am I just applaud you for how you handle your your kids, your your relationship, the way that you show up, you’re so authentically yourself where I love the candid candidness of you and never stop being you clearly. But I would love to give people the opportunity to be pointed in the right direction. Where can they find you? Yeah, so

 

Meghan Jaskinia  36:22

the best place right now is going to be on Instagram at healthy and happy with ease. And then my website is healthy and happy with ease.com. And that’s the best place right now.

 

Emily Merrell  36:33

Amazing. Now this is on to the fun part. To ask you six best questions. Okay, about you. And your preparation, you

 

Meghan Jaskinia  36:43

know how I feel.

 

Emily Merrell  36:45

I know I gave you guys I just want to caveat if you’ve been listening to this podcast, none of these people are prepped in advance. I just throw them into the wild. So like kudos to her. Individuals, our guests, they they wait, I really test the authentic response. Real time response. I’ve had rehearsed ones before and I just it feels staged. I want to know what comes from from the heart. So

 

Meghan Jaskinia  37:13

a great job leading it so I was nervous. I’m like I got no equipment. But here we go.

 

Emily Merrell  37:19

Yeah. No, no, sorry, guys. It’s you don’t want to know. So my first question for you is tell us an unknown fun fact about Megan. Oh, god. Um, oh my gosh, this is so hard. This these are these are questions that stumped people.

 

Meghan Jaskinia  37:39

Um, sometimes people don’t know that. I have ran a marathon.

 

Emily Merrell  37:43

That one? Yeah. A great runner two. I would also add that you have chickens. That’s a fun one. That’s it.

 

Meghan Jaskinia  37:49

Okay. That’s a good one. I have chickens. I

 

Emily Merrell  37:51

have six. Yeah, they’re weird looking guys, I have to say so.

 

Meghan Jaskinia  37:56

Like I’ve been staring at them ever since you said that. You’re like, do you ever just watch them? I’m like, I mean, I do. But now it’s a whole different way.

 

Emily Merrell  38:02

Like small aliens. Especially since you got them from chicks. Now they’re like teenagers. They’re cocky. They’re. They’re in their 20s not as cute as teenage Simba. Not at all. Oh, he was so cute. Is that weird? You could have like a crush on a pet on a fictional lion. I mean, I don’t

 

Meghan Jaskinia  38:18

think any millennial will ever turn that down.

 

Emily Merrell  38:22

They’re weirdly like a teenage boy. Okay, like he’s got something good. He’s got swagger therapists about that tomorrow, but anyways, okay, um, who would be a dream person that you’d want to be connected with? Dead or alive? Huh? Gabby Bernstein? You’re listening in which I’m sure you are. Call us.

 

Meghan Jaskinia  38:46

Emily and I are sitting in our

 

Emily Merrell  38:50

drinks. What show are you watching?

 

Meghan Jaskinia  38:55

Oh, we actually just started the office again.

 

Emily Merrell  38:58

That’s a fun one.

 

Meghan Jaskinia  39:00

Always a fun one to go back. We just like we need we’ve had a crazy month of parenthood and just life into the office. Like, I just need a good

 

Emily Merrell  39:08

laugh. Yeah, like it kind of feels like an ice pack. Like it’s just healing. Similarly to the office seem full circle here is I’ve been rewatching The Mindy Project. That’s a good one, two. Really good one. And I forgot about it. And then, like, I don’t remember not talked about enough. Yeah. And I forgot about the premise and whatnot. So everything feels fresh. Even though I’ve seen him before. That was the fun one to rewatch the version of Emily watching it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, like Sex in the City. Watch it when you’re young and you’re like these old horrors and now you watch it as an adult. You’re like it. I get it. I never needed those years. Been that. I digress. Um, what book do you recommend reading? Or are you currently me? Huh?

 

Meghan Jaskinia  39:55

Oh, that’s a good one. Um, again, and Meet my children are playing in the background now. Any Gabby Bernstein book like honestly, in my healing journey, I think allowing myself to trust myself and trust my guidance of whoever your higher being is. That has been my like saving grace. Like I felt like every time I was going through a hard time I turned to any of her books and all of them resonated with anything I was going through at the time. And even when I reread them, I’m like, Oh, like that hit me different. Like it was a new version of Megan reading this book.

 

Emily Merrell  40:28

Yeah, the universe. I love it. Yeah. What is your favorite emoji? Ooh. Um,

 

Meghan Jaskinia  40:37

I feel like I sent the laughing one with a little sweat bullet like, like, yeah, I just said that. Like, my awkwardness always comes through my little wedding.

 

Emily Merrell  40:48

That when it wraps up so much feeling in that one. And then like, Yes, I just said that. Yeah, I just said that. Or like, I’m not busy. My final question for you is Who gave you permission or inspired you to do the thing you wanted to do with your life?

 

Meghan Jaskinia  41:07

Hmm. I you know why I’m gonna give this one to Zack. really well, because sometimes even though he annoyed with it, he really did push me to it of trusting myself going for it really opened the space for me to really mean both of us did that for each other, like we just have been able to evolve together. So I don’t want to give that one to him. The husband gets a win today.

 

Emily Merrell  41:32

He’s gonna be like, Oh my god, I did something right. Thank you. Well, this is gonna be his test. If you

 

Meghan Jaskinia  41:37

listen to the full episode. Oh, that’s

 

Emily Merrell  41:43

the thing about you know, when I have to say I think you guys are making such a good team. It’s nice to see that these 20 Something year olds evolved into really, really on the same page. 30 something. Yeah. Yeah.

 

Meghan Jaskinia  41:59

You know what it really I will say like, we have not always been a good team, but putting in the work. It does come to that. That could be a whole nother episode on

 

Emily Merrell  42:08

the follow up episode. Well, Megan, thank you so much for being a part of today’s viewers. And listeners follow Megan. Love her content. Her kids are adorable. You’ll see chickens sometimes every once in a while and learn

 

Meghan Jaskinia  42:24

content,

 

Emily Merrell  42:26

excited what you might need more. I’m requesting it. Learn her tips and tricks, and we’ll see you the next time