Personal Update: 7 Months Pregnant

By
Hannah Kissel
November 11, 2026
•
10
min
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About the episode

Hannah is seven months pregnant, and she's about to take a break. In this cozy, unscripted update, she shares why she decided not to record 14 more episodes and columns before the end of the year, and what it took to let go of her habit of pushing through. She gets honest about her feast-famine pattern of going hard until she burns out, and about reframing "half capacity" as full capacity directed somewhere else. She also covers the moment she realized she was encouraging a pregnant client to take leave early while denying herself the same grace, and why ambition is no longer one of her core values. Along the way, she talks about how resolving her PTSD changed her work ethic, why she's pausing business development, and why she reached out to a perinatal psychologist after stepping away from therapy. If you're a high performer who's good at pushing through and wondering what happens when you stop, this one's for you. Hannah also shares the timeline for her hiatus: the last episode drops in late December, with a possible return next July.

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Timestamps:

0:45 - Seven months pregnant — the update

1:15 - Breaking my feast-famine cycle

1:45 - "Full capacity just not in my business"

2:15 - The 14-episode plan my body vetoed

3:15 - Why am I not giving myself that grace?

3:45 - Ambition is no longer a core value

4:30 - How resolving PTSD changed her work ethic

6:30 - Pregnant in the workplace

7:00 - Being deliberate with a newborn

7:30 - The support system that makes this possible

8:00 - "This is hard. I hope it's worth it."

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I'm Hannah

Executive Coach, columnist, podcaster, and speaker.

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