Virginia Sole-Smith frequently wrote diet articles for women’s magazines but much of what she wrote never rang true for her. Then, when her first child was born with a rare congenital heart condition and wouldn’t eat on her own, she began to connect the dots of how outside influences can alter our bodies’ natural instincts to nourish and satiate ourselves.

Few people have the tenacity and the resolve to recognize a gap in women’s health care services and then break down the barriers to fill the gap and find a place for themselves amid the new design. But, that is exactly what today’s guest, Director of Midwifery Care, Nikia Grayson, CNM, DNP, MPH did at CHOICES — Memphis Center for Reproductive Health in Memphis, Tennessee.

When her water broke during her 16th week of pregnancy Kate was placed on home bed rest. Then at 27-weeks, she experienced such an intense bleeding that she was placed in a high-risk perinatal unit where she was told by hospital staff that she was the most complicated, naturally-conceived pregnancy they had ever experienced.

Dr. Jessica Zucker is a well-known psychologist who specializes in women’s reproductive and maternal mental health. She practiced clinically for years before her own 16-week miscarriage offered her a new perspective on the many aspects of loss and how it touches every part of a woman’s life.