how many children do you have?
two
how many pregnancies have you had?
2
how old were you when you gave birth?
32, 34
what are your childrens' ages?
7, 9
did any of those end in early release? (miscarriage, still birth or abortion?) if so, can you share a little about those experience?
No
what surprised you about the mushroom journey?
The mushrooms often surprise me in their clarity. The message is crystal clear, even after the beginnings of some journeys that feel very chaotic and difficult to decipher.
Protocol & Dosing
with psilocybin, what has been your dosing experience?
microdose (.1 - 1 gram), mid dose (1-3 grams), full dose (3+ grams)
how long did you dose for?
still dosing
if microdosing, what size would you have? (.1 - 1gram)
1g
in what form were you ingesting the mushroom?
teas, powdered
how often did you dose?
intuitively -- as needed
if you were on a protocol, what protocol did you follow?
NA
did you have any support with dosing?
when did you start ingesting mushrooms?
after i gave birth
After Birth & Breastfeeding
why did you choose to ingest mushrooms after you gave birth?
. Understand and reframe my trauma better so I could continue unwinding unconscious patterns that were showing up in my parenting.
did you ingest mushrooms while breastfeeding?
No
did you notice any benefits to a) yourself b) to your baby and what were the benefits when ingesting mushrooms while breastfeeding?
NA
did you notice any challenges to a) yourself b) to your baby and what were the benefits when ingesting mushrooms while breastfeeding?
NA
Parenting
what benefits did you notice in your parenting that you attribute to the mushroom?
I came into more clarity about how to cultivate family. I re-oriented towards that as a value, and in my integration I worked on this. I believe my kids have benefited from that. I also worked on self love and self compassion. In my integration this translated to more delight that I could access towards my kids.
what were the unwanted effects or challenges of ingesting mushrooms while parenting?
One of the challenges was bringing forward big emotional material and then having to process that while still fulfilling my responsibilities as a parent. There wasn’t always time to go off by myself and cry or attend to my emotions. Sometimes these upheavals would cause me to feel so depleted that I felt compromised in my parenting (less patience, more exasperated)
what benefits have you noticed about your children that you attribute to the mushroom?
I believe my children have benefited from my parenting and my parenting has benefited from Ingesting mushrooms. This showed up more clearly when they went through the transition of my divorce with their father. While there were some bumps in the road, they were able to move through that phase with very few disruptions and in a very gentle way.
Summary
what would you like to say to other mothers & pregnant/birthing people about your own experience?
I would say that if you’re considering this, you will need to look for information outside of the Western medical research canon, because that does not and may never exist. So we need other paradigms and sources of information to help us make decisions. I would also urge people to look at their consumption through a harm reduction lens. This means assessing the potential risks and benefits and deciding how to use in the safest way possible. That might mean a lower dose, or a less frequent dose for *some* people.
would you recommend this path to other people?
No; I recommend that people listen to their own wisdom about what feels right to them. I try not to give prescriptive advice