Ariel shares her pregnancy, birthing, and maternity story amidst tenuous times (and hope) in the U.S.

The second episode of the Equitable Wellness podcast is the pregnancy and maternity story of Ariel Herrera-Molina, who in Episode 1 shared her vast experiences as a spa owner and licensed esthetician in the aesthetics world as a person of color. In this emotional and raw installment, we shift the conversation to Ariel’s birthing experience the week after the presidential election. Here Ariel shares her story bravely and unabashedly, revealing what American mothers don’t talk about. I also share what maternity leave looks like in Spain: 16 weeks minimum paid maternity leave after birth and 16 weeks minimum paid paternity leave after birth, federally mandated.

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It was July when I knew I wanted to break the story…

I was walking home from my local waxing appointment and leaving a five-minute audio message for my good friend back home, Ariel.

For those of you who met Ariel in the first episode of the Equitable Wellness podcast, then you’ll recall a passionate spa owner, licensed esthetician, reiki practitioner and mother in upstate New York.

Yet I was walking in the Plaza Fariñas in “La Línea” in Southern Spain, the city that borders Gibraltar. This city, La Línea de la Concepción, has been home to me since September 2022.

It turned out I had two esthetician friends who were pregnant at the same time.

Spanish law and the case of Patricia

I had just found out about Spanish maternity law from Belén, spa owner of Melocotón. One of her employees, Patricia, had already left the spa to take at least a month off work before the birth of her daughter (due August 31).

Belén told me Patricia wouldn’t be back until at least February, to return to work.

In Spain, the federal law for maternity leave is a minimum of 16 weeks paid leave after birth, matched with 16 weeks paid paternity leave after birth as well. The first six weeks leave after birth are mandatory for both parties. The rest can be tacked on anywhere within the first year.

Additionally, there are 4-8 weeks paid leave for mothers before the birth, depending on the business. This law applies to standard employment as well as self-employment.

Spain is actually considering changing the law to extend the leave from 16 weeks to 20 weeks.

Meanwhile, Ariel back home…

Ariel had been rallying hard in recording messages to her Instagram following.

She was asking people in July to start booking spa appointments solid in November and December. Another practicing esthetician at the spa, Taylor, would take those appointments and keep the spa operating.



Ariel had intended to take those two months off fully—unpaid. She desired to have the baby and return fresh and ready to return to work in January.

“Hey girlfriend,” I recorded, as I started my message to Ariel in July. “I basically want to cry…”

I told Ariel I wanted to cry “because I love so many people in the U.S., and this is so unfair.”

I shared that women in Spain by federal law get at least 16 weeks paid pregnancy leave, whether they are government employees or cashiers or self-employed, etc. I shared that in additional months, women have the option to return to work, and if returning, they’d have the option to take an hour paid break to leave early or to breastfeed in the middle of the day.

I shared that with the standard four weeks of paid vacation, women could strategically extend their maternity leave to 6 or 7 months. And I shared about the equal 16-week paid paternity leave as well.



I couldn’t help but ask myself the following.

How would Ariel’s life be different if she had five months off, guaranteed, to have a baby? And all that be compensated?

Baby shower and countdown to Nova’s birth

Ariel’s family, friends, and community graciously supported Ariel with extra provisions. They threw a baby shower for her. Family from North Carolina drove all the way to upstate New York to help make that happen.



Ariel’s mother scheduled the venue while good friends helped with decor, catering, games, gifts, a gorgeous cake and cupcakes, and photography. Ariel’s husband Juan started renovating and painting a nursery room.

Arrival of Nova

Ariel’s daughter Nova Elizabeth arrived one week following the presidential election.

Ariel had taken off work 10 days before she was induced.

Here is Ariel’s story.

I thank Ariel for sharing her story so bravely, passionately, unabashedly, and profoundly.

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Select Highlights

Finding Passion… Amidst Uncertainty

It's a really weird place to be in right now because it's hard to see a future when so many things are being taken away from the original future that you had planned for yourself. What I'm doing right now is making sure that I remember to tap into the things that make me happy. Yes, it is hard going back to work, but I'm passionate about my job. I'm passionate about helping other people. And again, because a lot of us are feeling so uneasy right now, it is very healing to me to be healing other people and to be in that space. So I'm doing the best that I can. Honestly, I've been working as much as I can. I've been picking up a lot of shifts. I feel like it's my duty to take care of other people who are also struggling mentally during this time. It is fulfilling to me.

Feelings of a Failing System, Misuse of ‘King’

It feels like the world is crashing down around us. It feels like we have no control. It feels like even though we live in a place that is supposed to have checks and balances and we're supposed to have multiple departments of government that help us all feel included, it feels as if that's not a thing. It feels as if we are in a dictatorship. And for me, it's really uncomfortable and awkward because, I'm trying to talk to my immigrant husband, right? I'm trying to talk to him about the situation that we're personally in and trying to explain to him that this is not just our personal uncomfortable situation that we're in. This is like an uncomfortable situation I have with my own country right now. I'm not happy with my country. To think about someone finding it okay to call themselves a king when you're talking about a country that was developed—not developed, stolen—where people were raped and murdered and, you know, bioterrorism was spread throughout the country for the purpose of not having a king. On top of that, my ancestors being brought here having to build this country for the purpose of the people coming here, not wanting a king… To be thinking it's funny to be throwing around words like king. Like, it's not funny at all. It's disgusting. And if we think about the history of this country... Yeah. Americans are very, you know, it's, it's uncomfortable. We've literally killed and murdered and raped millions of people to have this country, to have democracy, and to be in a situation in my lifetime where I feel like it could be torn away. It's very uncomfortable. It's very hard to explain, you know?

The Importance of Community Support for New Mothers

I do wish that the government, especially with how much taxes we pay, I'm pretty sure I pay over 50% as a sole proprietor of my income goes to the government. I would hope that they would have more programs for us, but we have to take care of each other. And so I would try to tap into your community. There are mothers out there who are more than willing to help because they've been in this situation and many of them were alone during that situation and they want to make sure that you're not also alone.

Political Impact on Birth and Maternal Experience

Being a mother, when I had Nova on November 12th, the week after the election. I knew during that time I was either going to be incredibly sad or so fucking happy to be able to show my little girl that someone that looks like her for the first time in my lifetime could be in this role, right? I knew it was going to be one or the other. It was either going to be amazing, or it was going to be tragic. In my situation, it was tragic. And I tell you how it affected everything. It affected my birth plan because it affected my mind. I literally was gearing up for birth. I was practicing. I was, you know, my mind control. And I felt like this is something I do all the time. Like, oh, my God, the things that they teach mothers—breath work, controlling your mind—I do this all the time. But because this was such a just slap in the face type of situation, everything that I had planned for my birth did not happen. I chose to be induced because I wanted to get her out of my body. You know what I'm saying? Like, I needed her to just come because I was so worried about my mental health and harming her being inside me that it was like, I need to get her out.

Clash Between Authenticity and Silence

I'm literally living in a situation where I cannot be my authentic self. Because if I am my authentic self right now, the truth is I'm not going to work and I'm not taking care of anybody. I'm out in the streets marching and fighting and doing what I can to make sure that our Constitution isn't being trampled over right now. But because I have a daughter now, because I have a baby now, I have to be really, really smart with the decisions that I make and even the things that I say, which I'm being very loose about now because I can't. I think about history because I love history. And all I can think about is the people who actually spoke up and did something. Those were the names that you remember. Those are the people that you study and talk about. And in their time, was it comfortable for them? No. Was it popular? No. But they were the people who made changes, serious changes. But no, I feel like I'm not living in my authenticity.

How am I going to tell people to care for themselves when I feel like me as aperson is being targeted and just broken down to the core? And I think that's what they want to do. And when you connect all of this together, America, as lovely as we want to believe we are as a country, we are literally living in a capitalistic society. We need to work. They want us to work. That is why mothers go back, you know, after not even healing their bodies. Literally not physically healing. I mean, cuts still open in their lower half of their body. And they're still going and standing on their feet and going to work because we need people to work so that the system continues and we make money for the top 1%. That's how we are as a society.

I have always been the kind of person who's always thought differently. I was always the black sheep and a lot of the radical opinions and ideas that I've had throughout my life. It's almost like 10 years later, then they become popular. And then people wake up and realize, oh, oh my God, I get what she was saying now. You know what I mean? It is very hard.



It is really uncomfortable to be in a situation where part of me is like, oh, my God, I've got married. I have a baby. My family is beautiful. I have this opportunity to expand my business and do all of these wonderful things. But the other half of me is waiting for it to all crumble and crash and burn. And that is a whole emotional burden that I couldn't possibly explain to anybody. It's very confusing and uncomfortable right now.

The Things That We Don’t Talk About

I had pregnancy carpal tunnel which is very normal. So doing facials was very, very hard. My hands were in excruciating pain. My ankles still hurt. My ankles hurt. If I sit down for too long, my ankles and my feet hurt. It's just like part of the territory. But these are the things that we don't talk about a lot. I have so much more respect for mothers than I ever did, even though I was always empathetic to mothers. Probably more than the next person. But there are so many things that we as American women and mothers do not talk about just to make sure that everything goes, everyone is happy and everyone's alive and life is still going, you know, so many things.

The Vital Role of Community and Doulas in Postpartum Care

So I do have a doula who comes in usually once or twice a week, who helps in any area that we need help. So sometimes she'll go grocery shopping. Sometimes she'll watch the baby. Especially the first month she would come in and watch the baby. So I could take a shower, so I could just take a shower. So that is one thing that I have been telling everybody. If you have the ability, try to get a doula. There are programs that can help you pay for a doula. And that's one of the things that has helped me tremendously for sure. The other thing is connecting with your community. And I think the problem is, until you've been in the situation, it's really hard to understand what your needs are going to be because you just don't know. So I remember when I was pregnant and I had so many women who were saying, if you need anything, let me know. If you need anything, let me know. Constantly, I was hearing that and I didn't really know what that meant. So I didn't know what to let them know I needed. But for example, I had one friend who was actually pregnant at the same time. She was due like the week before me and she's actually a client. And she was like, you know, I'm going to make a bunch of freezer meals and have them ready for me. And I'm going to have a lot left over. Would you like them? Sure. So I started out my first couple of weeks where there were freezer meals ready to go for me. So I would meal prep and I would tap into anything that anyone is willing to do to help you. When somebody says, if you need help, even if it's just to come to sit with the baby, take that help seriously.

Accessing Maternity Resources, Support, Doulas

I've always been a connector. I always bring people together. I'm big on referrals. So I'm going to make sure that the women that I know who are getting pregnant or have had babies have access to resources that I had to learn and study and find myself. So for example, if you are a small business owner in New York, in particular, I mean, you have to check your state laws, everything is different. But I would absolutely first check on your paid family leave, especially if you're just opening your business. That should be one of the first things that you do. Because if you fall out of the timeframe for when you can apply for that, you won't have benefits for years. So that's one of the things that I would do if you're particularly a business owner tapping into what the government does offer, even though it's not a whole lot, you know what I mean? A little bit goes a long way. The other thing I would recommend is there are certain programs that, you know, thankfully we do have some people who are passionate about making sure that they're here. So some of those in New York state would be WIC, for example, which at the very least they will help you to purchase formula, fruits and vegetables, milk, things like that. And then the other things that have helped me personally are doulas. I have been in a program for like lower income families that at least in this area, they haven't been super stringent because they're relatively new and relatively getting their name out there. But they did provide me with a doula who helped me before my pregnancy helped me to create a birthing plan and at least have a little bit of an idea as to what to expect. And if it weren't for her, there were a lot of areas that I would be very uneducated in, even with doing the research. They also provide me with a postpartum doula.

Frustration with Government's Unconstitutional Actions

There's nothing about it that's funny, especially when you're literally seeing things that are unconstitutional and that go against the law happening from the administration. And all that our members of Congress are telling us is, oh, it's going to go through the courts. It's going to go through the court. Why is it going through the courts? Why is my tax money paying for you to do unconstitutional things that are going through the courts? Why are you targeting immigrants who pay taxes, who pay our Social Security that they will never receive? You know, for me, it is… it's… it's a hard time right now. I am a woman of color. I am married to an immigrant and I just had a baby girl.

On Purpose…

And now I'm using my brain again and thinking a lot about what I want my future to look like, what I want Nova's future to look like, what I want my business to look like, how I want my business to impact the community and help other people. And I plan on using this time to support the communities that I feel are being stripped and targeted specifically.

Raising Nova with Confidence and Love

And I am definitely one of those mothers who's not, “she's young.” I don't care. She's learning keywords right now. She knows what it is like to be called beautiful and to be called strong, to be called intelligent, to be called powerful. Because I want her to grow up, look at herself in the mirror, and say those things. And that it’s second nature to her. I don't want her to grow up and have to figure this all out later on in life and to beat herself up and not feel good about herself or feel like she has a problem. I want her to have confidence, and I want her to know that she's loved. And I want her to feel it in the fiber of her being and to be able to spread that love. And again, I don't mean to be woo woo, but I've had this really powerful connection with my baby from the time she was in the womb with me. Even during Reiki sessions and things like that, where I would feel her become active specifically during Reiki sessions, I would call on her as one of my guides because I felt this huge connection. And I felt like she was helping me to spread this love and energy.

Keep in touch with Ariel and Nova

Follow along Ariel’s spa at @arielpopspimples for the entrepreneurial journey as her spa, staff, visions and baby Nova grow! ♡ You might catch a rebrand and location change comin’ up this year. 😜
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Shay’s updates

Thank you all for continuing to subscribe, connect, and for watching or listening to the podcast! I have two wonderful guests lined up for the🌕 full and 🌑 new moon in April, and I can’t wait to share their stories.

I also can’t wait to test out the Riverside platform and work a little on the visual recording quality for the next couple of episodes. I’m a big believer in iteration in content creation.

Outside of the podcast, I continue to connect with others in my core services of copywriting, web design, and consulting for holistic providers—what I am calling holistic marketing.

To learn more about what I consider holistic marketing and the clients I work with, stay tuned as I finish rewriting my website copy in April. (Fingers crossed… It’s a big project in the undertaking!)

Take care friends,