Stethoscopes and Strollers
Welcome to Stethoscopes & Strollers! I'm Dr. Toya, mom of two, OBGYN, and coach for physician moms. Here, we go beyond the hospital halls, into the messy, magical early years of parenting—think diapers, sleepless nights, and figuring out how to deal with all those unexpected twists and turns.
Every episode, I dive into topics like mental health, the ins and outs of postpartum sex, sorting out childcare, and how having little ones changes your marriage. We’ll talk about getting back to work after baby, the real deal with mom guilt thanks to those tough doctor schedules, what pumping at work is really like, and how to keep all the balls in the air without dropping any. We’re here to get real about the hard choices, like deciding to stop breastfeeding, and so much more. This is a space for focusing on taking care of you, because managing scrubs and swaddles takes a village.
You'll figure out how to ask for and actually accept help, because let’s be honest, getting support is crucial for thriving as both a mom and a doctor.
Just a quick heads-up: while we're all about sharing and supporting, remember this isn’t medical advice. We’re here to connect, share experiences, and grow—together, without the medical jargon.
So, grab your coffee or tea, and get ready to dive into those parts of being a physician mom that don't get talked about enough. You're not riding this roller coaster alone, and you definitely deserve all the support you can get.
Tune in to Stethoscopes & Strollers for some real, honest insights and practical tips to make momming a bit easier. It’s time to get the conversation started!
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Stethoscopes and Strollers
112. Happy Doctor’s Day (And a Reminder You Might Need)
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Hey Doc —
Doctor’s Day can feel… underwhelming.
A small gesture. A generic message. Maybe a reminder that you’re appreciated, without anything actually changing.
And for a lot of physicians, that disconnect doesn’t go unnoticed.
In this episode, I’m sharing a different kind of Doctor’s Day message. Not about what you received, but about how you see yourself inside the system you work in.
We get into:
- Why external appreciation often falls short (and what actually matters more)
- How physicians underestimate their own leverage
- What it looks like to advocate for yourself at a higher level
- The shift from waiting to be valued → to operating like you already are
This is a short episode, but it’s an important one.
Because how you think about your value shows up in your decisions, your negotiations, and what you tolerate.
🎧 Press play on Stethoscopes and Strollers.
And take this as your reminder to move differently this week.
What did you think of the episode, doc? Let me know!
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Hey Doc, I want to wish you a happy, happy Doctor's Day, and I hope that your Monday was wonderful and you felt appreciated and. Your employer did not just give you some useless trinkets or a pizza party, like I really have no idea what people are getting nowadays for Doctor's Day, and I don't even know if hospitals are celebrating Doctor's Day or if it was like at Kaiser where they made it a healthcare week or something.
They lumped together the mid-levels and physicians. And I just remember being like, you serious? Like what the hell is this? And this other hospital that I worked at, maybe it's a California thing, there was no doctor's lounge. It was I can't remember what it was called, like an advanced practice lounge.
I'm like, why are we trying to be so inclusive? Anyway, I digress. So I hope that you had a wonderful Dr. Day. And the truth of the matter is, I celebrate you every single day, every week because you are amazing.
You are the one holding it down. You are the one with the best outcomes. You are the one who patients want to see because of your empathy, because of your care, because of your thoroughness.
This entire medical system could not run without you, and don't you ever, ever forget it. You have all of the leverage. You have all of the power. You are the most important person in our current medical system besides the patient, of course.
And I just want to share the best Doctor's day gift that I got on Monday.
One of my clients messaged me to say like the true badass that she always was, we had a meeting with her hospital, CEO, about getting paid maternity leave, even though it's not in her contract, and she was getting wishy-washy answers from other people. She was like, no.
I am going to talk to this guy and I should be paid for my maternity leave. And it was such a badass move. It was such a growth move because it's not something that she would have done before and I was so, so proud of her. And even in our last session, she was like, well, I just thought that, hey, I don't have any leverage.
I was like, of course you have leverage. You always have leverage, doc. You are it. You are it. That's why I started off reminding you about how important you are to the entire system. We are expensive. You are expensive to replace, you are expensive to train. You are valuable, your skills are valuable. And don't you ever, ever forget it.
Use your power, step into it. Ask for what you want so that you feel appreciated, so that you feel seen. We can't wait for them to just appreciate us. We cannot wait for the system to just say, what would we do without them? Nobody's thinking like that.
Right. So we need to make them think like that. And the only way to do that is by using your power, asking for what you want and not stopping until you get it or until you leave, because you're like, well, if you're not gonna gimme what I want, then I'm just gonna leave. Right? So they started off as a.
Doctors day message and turned into a call to action to ask for what you want. But you know, hey, you know what you were getting stethoscopes and strollers. This is what I do. I got carried away with myself. And it's always in, in the front of my mind. So again, I want to wish you a happy Doctor's day and to also let you know that you are
always on my mind, even in the craziness of growing this HVAC business, I have spoken more about women physicians in the last couple days than I I have, to strangers in a very long time. People are just so interested, so intrigued by that season of my life and my work with coaching women physicians, and it brings me so much joy
to talk about you and how I serve you. always know that you are in my mind, in my heart and all of these experiences, I always am like, oh, I need to, I need to record a podcast about that. Oh, this will be good. This is the same thing for women physicians and, Ooh, this is good for physician moms.
My time may be directed in different directions, but my heart still points to you. So I wish you a Happy Doctor's Day, and I hope you have a wonderful week, and I will see you on the next episode of Stethoscopes and Strollers.
