Ladies, grab your heating pad and a snack, because this one's for every woman who's ever bled through her jeans in a Target parking lot and thought "surely this isn't normal." Catie and Danielle sit down with Vanda Aubrey — functional medicine nurse, board-certified nurse coach, mom of four, and self-proclaimed queen of "your labs are 'normal' but you feel like a raccoon that lost a fight" — to finally get real answers about postpartum periods, hormones, and why your doctor's go-to fix is always just... more birth control.

They cover why "normal" lab ranges are basically the participation trophy of medicine, the four minerals every depleted mom needs (RIP your magnesium), the wild concept of estrogen dominance, and the bombshell that period-on-birth-control isn't actually a period (Danielle needed a minute to recover from this one). Plus: hair tests, cervical mucus check-ins nobody asked for but everyone needed, and why keto might be quietly wrecking your hormones. Bring tissues, bring snacks, and maybe bring your own mineral drink.

Find Vanda on Instagram @wellness.with.vanda and at wellnesswithvanda.com for her free minerals & fertility guide.

Chapters
00:00 – Welcome + meet Vanda (and her beautiful chaos of four kids)
02:00 – How Vanda went from nurse to functional medicine convert
04:40 – What is functional medicine, actually? (the bucket analogy)
05:45 – Why "normal" labs can still mean you feel awful
09:15 – Postpartum symptoms nobody warns you about
14:40 – The 4 minerals every mom needs to know
15:25 – Estrogen dominance, explained without the jargon
17:35 – How to actually get your hormones tested
20:05 – Cycle tracking apps that don't suck
26:00 – HTMA testing (yes, they clip your hair)
29:20 – Fertility work vs. just wanting normal periods
34:20 – The birth control "period" myth that broke Danielle's brain
37:15 – Trends Vanda wishes would die (looking at you, keto)
38:15 – Where to find Vanda