{"id":14995,"date":"2025-08-27T02:09:46","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T19:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=14995"},"modified":"2025-08-27T02:09:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T19:09:46","slug":"leah-van-dale-is-creating-a-safe-space-for-grappling-with-motherhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=14995","title":{"rendered":"Leah Van Dale is Creating a Safe Space For Grappling With Motherhood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Leah Van Dale may have won multiple championships in the WWE ring as \u201cCarmella,\u201d but life as a new mom and building a platform to support <a href=\"https:\/\/www.muscleandfitness.com\/workouts\/workout-tips\/its-time-to-clear-any-misconceptions-of-mens-and-womens-training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">female-focused issues<\/a>, has been her favorite challenge to date. Now expecting a second child, Van Dale sat down with M&amp;F Hers to discuss her boldly titled community; \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.snatch.co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Snatch<\/a>,\u201d and why she wishes her new guide \u201cThe First 30\u2014a straightforward, expert-backed survival guide for the first 30 days postpartum,\u201d had been around when she first found herself grappling with motherhood.<\/p>\n<p>When Leah Van Dale last opened up to <em>M&amp;F Hers,<\/em> in early 2023, \u201cCarmella\u201d had made her return to WWE after an immensely difficult time that saw her and husband Matt Polinski (the pro wrestling commentator known as \u201cCorey Graves\u201d) suffer the heartbreak of miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy.But her return to the squared circle would be short lived, as she became happily pregnant once again, meaning that Van Dale would hang up her wrestling boots and get to grips with motherhood instead.<\/p>\n<p>The couple now have an almost 2-year-old son, Dimitri, and are expecting their second boy in a mere matter of weeks. And while swapping the ring mat for the teething ring has been a joy overall, Van Dale recognizes that there are still women out there who aren\u2019t getting the support that they need, or the right questions answered, when they embark on life\u2019s most difficult but ultimately rewarding challenge. To that end, the star has put together the women\u2019s focused platform, \u201cSnatch\u201d\u2014a community that she boldly titled as a way of challenging the idea that some conversations are off limits. \u201cThat\u2019s basically the whole point,\u201d explains Van Dale. \u201cIt\u2019s bold, it\u2019s in your face, it gets people talking, and that\u2019s what I wanted to do, get people feeling a little comfortable, or feeling comfortable with the uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Leah Van Dale Wants Women to \u2018Snatch\u2019 Those Important Conversations<\/h2>\n<p>Van Dale tells <em>M&amp;F Hers<\/em> that the purpose behind Snatch is to open-up new ways for women to communicate, in a comfortable environment and with expert support, on a range of intimate topics from sex and fertility to pregnancy and motherhood. \u201cBecause, I felt like it was something I needed when I was going through my miscarriages, and then when I had my son, it was a very traumatic birthing experience, and I had a very difficult time postpartum, and I just felt like, why aren\u2019t we talking about these things? There\u2019s so much unknown with our own bodies as women,\u201d explains Van Dale. \u201cWe have a lot of experts in there, we have postpartum specialists, we have women who are mental health experts, we have lactation consultants, and IVF specialists educating women on fertility. I\u2019m just really proud and excited to see where it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The demand for straightforward advice on sensitive topics is undoubtedly there. \u201cI\u2019m in there every single day replying to people, but there\u2019s also women replying to each other and messaging each other, and expert help, which is really great,\u201d she reveals. \u201cThere are five different chats. We have a sex space, fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and motherhood.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever it is that you\u2019re going through, you can go into that corresponding area and chat with other women about those topics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Snatch has built up a global community of 500 women in around a year, and the star tells M&amp;F that she hopes that her platform will prevent women from scrambling around online like she did when looking for answers about her own experiences. \u201cFalling down Reddit rabbit holes, honestly,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI really had no idea where to go. I was on all these forums, down dark holes and just spiraling out of control. It really was not a fun time, and that\u2019s why I just turned to social media and told my story and was open about it, because I felt like, if I\u2019m going through this, I know there are other women that are going through this. When I came out with it, it wasn\u2019t my intention at the time to start this sort of movement, but it\u2019s just kind of what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Leah Van Dale Hopes to Make the First 30 Days of Motherhood More Manageable<\/h2>\n<p>Conceiving a child is serious business, but Van Dale soon found out first-hand, with the birth of Dimitri, that this is just the beginning of her biggest, and yet her most rewarding challenge to date. The very notion of being allowed to care for your own little human is another area that, in many ways, is still shrouded in mystery she feels. \u201cIt\u2019s like, you have so many appointments when you\u2019re pregnant, and you can take all the classes and read all the books, but then all of a sudden, you have this newborn, and they\u2019re like, \u2018See you later!\u2019\u201d jokes Van Dale. \u201cIt\u2019s like, \u2018Go home and just, you know, be careful.\u2019 But what am I supposed to do? You have no idea what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, attaining academic qualifications means passing exams, and driving a car requires earning your license, but caring for your kids offers no such buffer. \u201cIt\u2019s so overwhelming,\u201d reflects Van Dale. \u201cAnd, so I basically have created a guide for mothers for those first 30 days at home, with expert advice. We have a sleep consultant, teaching you about safety for sleeping with your baby, a lactation consultant, whether you\u2019re breastfeeding or bottle feeding, there\u2019s so many different pieces of advice in there. We have a mental health expert and a postpartum doula, all giving this amazing information without it feeling overwhelming, because it\u2019s so hard to know what you\u2019re going to need with your baby until your baby\u2019s home with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leah Van Dale was a WWE Women\u2019s Champion, and a WWE Tag Team Champion and so, in the time-tested tradition of pro wrestlers, she can never rule out a return to the ring. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s just a matter of time before everyone goes back,\u201d jokes the woman also known as The Princess of Staten Island. \u201cSometimes you think somebody\u2019s completely down, you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, they\u2019ll never be back in WWE\u2019, and they always show up. So, I\u2019m well aware of that, and I am open to it. Right now, I\u2019m just very focused on being a mom and growing my platform, and obviously I\u2019m pregnant, so there\u2019s no way I can even think about wrestling anytime soon. But I\u2019m definitely not closing the door on it. I think it would be fun at some point to go back and have my sons see what I do.\u201d For now, however, this glowing mother will be rumbling on with her gloriously growing family.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.snatch.co\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">To sign-up for Snatch, click here:<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/theleahvandale\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">To follow Leah Van Dale on Instagram, click here.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The First 30 will be released on August 28. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.snatch.co\/thefirst30\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">For further information, click here.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.muscleandfitness.com\/muscle-fitness-hers\/hers-athletes-celebrities\/leah-van-dale-is-creating-a-safe-space-for-grappling-with-motherhood\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leah Van Dale may have won multiple championships in the WWE ring as \u201cCarmella,\u201d but life as a new mom and building a platform to support female-focused issues, has been her favorite challenge to date. Now expecting a second child, Van Dale sat down with M&amp;F Hers to discuss her boldly titled community; \u201cSnatch,\u201d and &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fitness"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}