Podcasts about eimear

Labhraíonn Eimear Ní Chonaola ón Róimh faoina socraithe sochraide an Phápa Proinsias. Beidh a chorp ina luí faoi ghradam i mBaisleac Pheadair go dtí a seacht a chlog tráthnóna anocht.

Bhain mac Eimear, Tiernan Ó Biataigh, atá dhá bhliain déag d'aois, an ceathrú háit sa rince Gaelach ina aois ghrúpa ag comórtas damhsa Oireachtas na Cruinne san Ionad Comhdhála i mBaile Átha Cliath le gairid.

Today, I'm sharing my conversation with confidence coach Eimear Zone. She has two books available The Little Book of Good Enough and Choose Yourself.  We talk about taming your inner tyrant, the invisible waiting room, being conditioned out of feeling enough, as well as the flipside - confidence and self-acceptance.  If you're ready to remember how powerful you are and learn to feel at home within yourself this is for you.  You don't want to miss:·      Intuition is home·      Awareness is key·      The voice doesn't belong to you; it is echoes of others·      Action is not the magic formula for confidence Connect with EimearWebsite: https://eimearzone.com/ Instagram: @eimearzonecoach Links and resources:·      Download your free 20-min Guided Meditation·      Buy my book! Make Ease Your Vibe (affiliate link)·      Follow me on IG: @deliciousease·      For more about me and what I do, check out my website Make sure you click SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss out on any of my content coming up soon.And, if you enjoyed this episode, please leave me a 5 STAR rating and review. Thank you!Send us a text

D'éirigh le Gairmscoil Chú Uladh, lena dtogra ‘Fráma' duais na moltóirí a fháil inné agus d'éirigh le Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair an chéad áit a bhaint lena dtogra ‘Eco Paws' ag babhta ceannais náisiúnta de Chlár na gComhlachtaí Údarás na Gaeltachta agus Junior Achievenement Ireland inné.

Atá i láthair in Óstán Chois Fharraige sna Forbacha áit a bhfuil na babhtaí ceannais náisiúnta de Chlár na gComhlachtaí Údarás na Gaeltachta agus Junior Achievement Ireland ar siúl agus dhá scoil páirteach inniu.

This week, I sit down with Alan and Eimear Durnan to talk about their beautiful daughter, Keeley Duggan, who they heartbreakingly lost in July 2023. Keeley was diagnosed with DIPG, a rare and aggressive brain tumour. Alan and Eimear speak openly about the long road to her diagnosis, her incredible strength throughout her illness, and the deep grief they now live with. In her memory, they've set up the Keeley D Foundation, a charity that offers practical support to children on palliative care and their families. Their story is one of love, heartbreak, and the unbreakable bond of family. Instagram @Keeleydfoundation@griefirelandFor more information on Grief Retreats visit griefireland.com

Tá sprioc de €100,000 sroichte ar GoFundMe ag Forbairt na Dromoda ina gcuid iarrachtaí Tigh Tábhairne na hUíne sa Chillín Liath a cheannacht.

It was an opening day defeat for Ireland in this Guinness Women's Six Nations as France left Belfast with a 12 point win. Ireland were left to rue missed opportunities to add to their tally with all three conversion attempts missed, in particular the missed attempt after the third try which would have made it all square with 12 minutes to play. Fiona Hayes, Jenny Murphy and Eimear Considine give their post-match reaction from studio here while we also hear from Edel McMahon and Scott Bemand at Ravenhill. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clare FM's Derrick Lynch Speaking With Eimear Considine On Spanish Point LGFA Semi Final

SOCCER: Mervue United manager Eimear Whelan with Galway Bay FM's Darren Kelly ahead of their Connacht under-17 Cup Final against Athenry

What does it truly mean to choose yourself? In this inspiring episode, we welcome back Eimear Zone, author, coach, and mindfulness expert, to discuss her journey of self-discovery and empowerment. From navigating career shifts to embracing uncertainty, Eimear shares how following curiosity, taking risks, and stepping outside comfort zones can lead to incredible personal transformation.We dive into the importance of trusting your intuition, overcoming self-doubt, and recognizing the power of small steps in creating meaningful change. Eimear's insights on mindfulness, confidence, and authenticity offer a refreshing perspective on what it means to live fully and unapologetically. Tune in to learn how choosing yourself can open doors to new possibilities, deeper self-awareness, and a life that truly aligns with who you are.

We've downed tools - because it's time to reflect on everything that we've learned and felt throughout our big body image series. Join Em and Al to discuss what we've learned through this series - from the history of diet culture to the way the diet landscape is shifting and morphing in front of our eyes. We chat about where we're at with our own body image journeys, how we're going to move forward from this series, and how we might be able to - as a society - fix our relationships with our bodies. Thank you to our brilliant listeners who sent us their voice notes for this episode - we couldn't feature all of them in this episode but we loved listening to them all. A special thanks to: Sophie, Jessica, Marsy, Hannah, Riss, Aimee, Eimear and Catherine from the IVF BFF PodcastIf you want to dig further into diet culture, self-acceptance and making peace with your body - Alex's book You Are Not A Before Picture is available now. You can buy your copy here!If you would like to get in touch - you can email us on shouldideletethatpod@gmail.comFollow us on Instagram:@shouldideletethat@em_clarkson@alexlight_ldnShould I Delete That is produced by Faye LawrenceMusic: Dex RoyStudio Manager: Dex RoyTrailers: Sophie RichardsonVideo Editor: Celia GomezSocial Media Manager: Emma-Kirsty Fraser Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Confidence is the key that unlocks your fullest potential, and today's discussion emphasizes taking charge of your life, rather than waiting for opportunities to arise. Join us as we explore the incredible journey of Eimear Zone, a coach, mindfulness meditation teacher, and writer who has turned upheaval into empowerment. We delve into Eimear's transformative journey from a moment of self-doubt to uplifting others through coaching and mindfulness, encouraging individuals to step out of the waiting room and claim their success.Welcome to the Agency for Change podcast.

Tuairim Bhainisteoir Forbairt na Dromod Teo ar thuairiscí sna meáin an tseachtain seo caite a chuir an milleán ar phatrún lonnaíochta faoin tuath, faoin fhaid a bhí pobail áirithe ag feitheamh le deisiú ar an mbonneagair tar éis na stoirme.

Author, Actor and Director Eimear McBride on the delayed gratification of her first novel, the  ‘classic combination' of sex and death and why we should celebrate  female writers tackling difficult topics and themes.  Eimear trained as an actor before writing her first novel, A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, which took nine years to find a publisher but subsequently won the 2014 Women's Prize for Fiction, as well as the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year, the Goldsmiths Prize, and the Desmond Elliott Prize. Eimear's second novel, The Lesser Bohemians, won the 2016 James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award. Strange Hotel, her third novel, was published in 2020 and her latest release The City Changes Its Face is out in February 2025. In 2022, Eimear wrote and directed A Very Short Film About Longing (DMC/BBC Film) which was screened at the 2023 London Film Festival, and she also writes and reviews for the Guardian, New Statesman and the TLS.  Eimear's  book choices are: ** The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien ** Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice ** Save Me the Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald ** The Unequalled Self by Claire Tomalin ** Dependency by Tove Ditlevsen Vick Hope, multi-award winning TV and BBC Radio 1 presenter, author and journalist, is the host of season eight of the Women's Prize for Fiction Podcast. Every week, Vick will be joined by another inspirational woman to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women's Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, and continues to champion the very best books written by women. Don't want to miss the rest of season eight? Listen and subscribe now! You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org - every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.  This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

'This Is Leinster' is a five-part documentary series charting the 2024 Interprovinicial success for Tania Rosser and her squad, featuring exclusive conversations with head coach Rosser, and leading players Hannah O'Connor, Ruth Campbell and Eimear Corri.Cameron Hill caught up with the stars of the documentary at the premiere at the Bank of Ireland branch, College Green.Rugby on Off The Ball, with Bank of Ireland | #NeverStopCompeting

Journalist Aisling Moloney brings us along on her move to Australia and tries to find out why thousands of young people from across Ireland are making the move Down Under.The 28-year-old from Dungarvan in Co Waterford emigrated to Sydney in 2024, after several years of living and working in Dublin as a journalist with RTÉ and as Political Correspondent with the Irish Daily Mail.At the beginning of her journey, she meets a busker at Byron Bay, born to Irish parents who left for Australia's sunny shores in the 1960s. Fintan, the musician grew up on a hippie commune. Aisling then speaks to young people on the Rainbow Walkway on Coogee Beach in Sydney about the draw of Australia and their experience of life in Sydney.After hearing about how living so far away from home can be hard for many, she speaks to Central Coast GAA Club and visits 'The Doss House' and 'Frank Macs' where Irish gather in search of that feeling of home.She then makes the trip to Perth to visit her sister Eimear, who has lived there for 13 years and is married with three children.In the second part of this documentary, Aisling hears about some of the more difficult aspects of Australia, which include the experience of regional work and the difficulty of finding work in general.She also hears some stories of reinvention, how some people make the move to earn big bucks, and how people deal with bereavement while living so far away from home.We also get a taste of that lifestyle that people love in Australia, and come along to two of Aisling's favourite activities since arriving in Sydney, swimming and beach yoga."Home or Away - Living the Irish Australian Dream with Aisling Moloney" is presented and produced by Aisling Moloney. Editor and Executive Producer is Aoife Kearns.

Episode Summary:  In this episode of the Building Better Cultures podcast, Scott McInnes interviews Eimear Marrinan, VP of People Experience at HubSpot, about how HubSpot has built and maintained a thriving corporate culture.   The conversation explores the challenges and opportunities of hybrid work, the role of feedback and transparency, and the importance of intentionality in fostering meaningful employee engagement. Eimear shares practical advice and insights into aligning company values with the needs of employees and customers alike.  Key Takeaways:  HubSpot's culture code acts as a guiding principle for hiring, management, and decision-making.  Constructive, candid feedback fosters personal and organisational growth.  Remote and hybrid work require intentional strategies for communication, engagement, and productivity.  Managers need upskilling and support to lead effectively in dynamic work environments.  Culture is an evolving product shaped by data, feedback, and leadership alignment.  Aligning leadership around core principles enhances company mission and employee connection.  Challenges faced by Big Tech reveal the need to balance employee well-being with business priorities.    Chapters:  00:00 Introduction to Building Better Cultures Podcast  07:01 HubSpot's Culture Code and Its Importance  12:05 Feedback and Transparency in Organisational Culture  20:04 Intentionality in Communication and Management  25:44 The Importance of Intentionality in Management  36:01 Balancing Family Culture with Business Needs   

Tá clárúchán don Mheitheal Mheantóireachta 2025 foscailte faoi láthair agus níl ag daoine ach go dtí an Aoine seo le hiarratas a dhéanamh. Is clár cuimsitheach cumasaithe é an Mheitheal Meantóireachta atá á reáchtáil ag Fís an Phobail le trí bliana anuas.

You are very welcome to another episode of the Dave Moore Podcast. There is some serious Hollywood Royalty in this episode, Dave chats with Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx and Jamie shares his love for one certain Irish product! Also Cathal needed to sit down with Dave and talk about his eating habits. And it was also a week where tomatoes on a Dublin bridge was in the news and in the heart of our Eimear.

In this week's Sport for Business Podcast we are chatting with Eimear O'Sullivan, the Corporate Affairs Director of Lidl Ireland.The reason for kicking off the year here is the launch of Lidl's partnership for the year ahead with the Ladies Gaelic Football Association.This is a sponsorship which has worked so well in so many ways and we explore the reasons why that might have been and continues to be the case.We dive into the detail of fresh research into the importance of seeing the stars of the sport and getting to know them, and why sport is so important as part of the retailers marketing mix.We finish as ever with a round of quick fire questions the answers to which include two Presidents, a very popular band from the 70's and the trauma of a B Final Penalty shoot out. Find out more about what we do day in day out at Sportforbusiness.comWe publish a daily news bulletin and host regular live events on a wide range of sporting subjects Subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts from and look forward to upcoming chats with the CEO's of the FAI and the British and Irish Lions as well as athlete Ciara Mageean.Our first major gathering of the new year will take place in Dublin on the morning of Thursday, January 16th when we will be looking at the Sporting Year Ahead in partnership with Teneo and in the company of many of those who will be bring in to life over the next 12 months.

Eimear Nolan is Associate Professor of International Business and Director of the Flexible Executive MBA at Trinity Business School. Her research interests are in expatriate adjustment, cultural agility, recruitment & retention strategies, AI (Artificial Intelligence) in education, and the healthcare sector. She also offers private cultural consultancy to organisations who wish to bridge cultural gaps & enhance global collaborations. Hear the insights from creating the Flexible Executive MBA program, how we can reduce culture shock for leaders and employees transitioning to a new country or city, why the best way to learn is by mistake, and what we should be cautious about with generative AI. Connect with Shirley at ShirleyKavanagh.com and on LinkedIn, and Eimear on LinkedIn

Today saw the launch of the Electric Ireland Third Level competitions, with UCC duo Eimear Heffernan and Aoife Healy both catch up with Off The Ball's Alanna Cunnane. Check out the hashtag #FirstClassRivals for more.

Tá cuma ar an scéal go bhféadfaí go mbeadh an teocht chomh híseal le 8 gcéim faoin reophointe in áiteacha sa tír anocht agus oíche amárach.

Zeinab had a very awkward string of moments back to back!A deep discussion about dressing gowns is had with Crossy revealing something!Jim-Jim tells us a Traitors theory!Eimear was todays player of FM104's Ins2grand Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I can't wait for you to hear what unfolded during our beautiful conversation! It felt like the best interview I have ever done about Sarah, Her energy is flowing SO strongly, and there's a channeled message from her too! This interview formed part of Resurrection of the Irish Wisdom School Global Online Gathering. A 5-day gathering retrieving Irish and Indigenous Ways, created and hosted by Eimear Stassin. Find out more about Eimear and her work here: https://www.eimearstassin.com/ Find more details about Rachel's work and her Patreon community at https://www.rachelgoodwin.dk

In this episode, we unearth the reasons we say Gizmo, Thingamajig or Whatchamacalit with Ursula Kania, Senior Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics at the University of Liverpool! If you think those words are good, wait till you hear the Russian and Dutch versions! Oh, and in part 1, Dave introduces us to a Finnish phrase that we didn't know we needed but we do because how else could you describe “bouncy cushion satisfaction”?!?We also reached the incredible milestone of 1,000,000 listens to our little podcast and that makes us so happy and feel so grateful to all of you for listening. Massive thanks to everyone who has made it happen, Eimear, Nicky, Cathal, Willie, Hannah, Jen and so many others along the way. Here's to another million!To listen to Dave on the radio check out https://www.todayfm.com/shows/dave-moore-1499732 To see Neil on tour check out www.neildelamere.com/gigsOrder Dave's book here https://www.easons.com/daves-bad-jokes-pb-dave-moore-9781804582060 Presented and Produced by Neil Delamere and Dave MooreEdited by Eimear Shannon and Nicky RyanMusic by Dave MooreArtwork by Ray McDonnell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chat with the singer about her latest album ‘Songs of Winter Dreaming', her current touring schedule and Christmas traditions in her own home (for copyright reasons the full tracks performed during this interview cannot be made available in the podcast)

PJ talks to Cork teacher Eimear Kiely who is working in Seoul about the dramatic declaration of martial law in the country Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On 13 November, South East Technological University (SETU) proudly welcomed early career researchers to the third PROMOTE Project training session, an initiative involving four partner universities to provide guidance on career progression for female researchers at the early stages of their careers. The event aimed to showcase the wealth of skills and experience researchers bring to diverse sectors, both within and outside academia, and to inspire attendees to explore a range of career opportunities. Dr Allison Kenneally, Vice President for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at SETU, opened the session by underscoring the importance of retaining women in research and emphasised the transformative role of the PROMOTE project. She encouraged participants to engage with the PROMOTE online platform and reflected on the critical role of mentorship, including peer-to-peer mentoring, throughout a research career. A career panel offered valuable insights into the professional journeys of its members, illustrating how academic research experience can shape varied career paths. Panellists, including Dr Geraldine Canny, Dr Aisling O'Neill, Dr Denise McGrath, Dr Luciana Herda, and Dr Blanca Suarez-Bilbao, discussed key topics such as identifying personal values and goals, balancing work with family life, and practical strategies for working parents. The importance of mentoring, networking, and leveraging available supports was also highlighted. Reflecting on the event, Dr. Geraldine Canny, Head of Research at SETU, stated, "The PROMOTE training session exemplifies our commitment to fostering an inclusive research environment. By equipping early career female researchers with the necessary tools and networks, we are paving the way for a more equitable and innovative research community." Dr Michael Scriney from the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics at Dublin City University provided an overview of the PROMOTE online platform. The platform offers early career researchers access to career progression resources, networking opportunities, and support, all designed to empower researchers in advancing their careers. The event also featured a career skills workshop on transferable skills, led by SETU's HR Business Partner for Research, Eimear Fitzpatrick. The session focused on translating research skills for new sectors and crafting compelling applications. Eimear shared practical advice, emphasising the importance of presenting research experience in a format that resonates with employers, ensuring researchers feel confident and prepared for new opportunities. The day concluded with in-person networking, interactive discussions, and resource-sharing to foster a supportive culture as researchers transition to the next phase of their professional lives. The PROMOTE project is funded by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and supported by the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics. Partner institutions include Maynooth University (MU), South East Technological University (SETU), Munster Technological University (MTU), University of Limerick (UL), Dublin City University (DCU), University College Cork (UCC), and the University of Galway. Together, these partners are championing the call to #promotewomen and #buildthenetwork online. The project is coordinated by Christine O'Sullivan, PROMOTE Project Manager, Maynooth University.

Eimear Quinn will be performing in Ennis next month. The Eurovision 1996 winner will perform at what is sure to be a very special performance at St. Columba's Church on the 13th of December. Eimear has just released her latest album, Songs of Winter Dreaming, which is a unique blend of traditional Irish carols, seasonal treasures and contemporary melodies. To discuss this further, Alan Morrissey was joined in-studio by Eimear Quinn. Photo (c): Clare FM

Fiona Hayes and Ruairi O'Hagan from the Red 78 sit down with former Ireland and Munster star Eimear Considine to talk about her recent retirement announcement, her beginnings in the sport, and the highs and lows of her rugby career.The first twenty minutes of this week's podcast is unlocked, but to listen to the full podcast, get on over to the Off The Ball app, or become a member at offtheball.com/join.

Joining Bobby in the Executive Chair this week is Eimear Byrne, Country Lead of SD Worx Ireland.

Lauren Tinkler is joined by former Irish international Hannah Tyrrell to discuss the latest Energia AIL rugby action. In this episode, they break down Round 5, including Railway Union's stunning 106-point victory. They also reflect on Eimear Considine's retirement after a remarkable 10-year career and celebrate Sene Aoupu making history as the first female CEO in her new role. #ThinkOfThePossibilities #EnergiaAIL Timestamps 00:00 - 00:38 Intro 00:39 - 04:51 Eimear Considine 04:52 - 06:59 First female NZ Rugby Union President 07:00 - 09:20 Blackrock VS Cooke 09:21 - 10:57 Old Belvedere VS Wicklow RFC 10:58 - 12:12 Hardest Rugby Position Challenge 12:13 - 14:09 Hannah on what the Hardest Rugby Position is. 14:10 - 17:04 Suttonians VS Galwegians 17:05 - 19:50 Tullow vs Railway Union 19:51 - 21:41 UL Bohemians VS Ballincollig 21:42 - 22:17 League Standings 22:18 - 35:10 Beibhinn Parsons Interview 35:11 - 38:24 Dealing with Injuries 38:25 - 38:54 Upcoming Fixtures 38:55 - 39:10 Outro Keep Up To Date With The Latest Women's Sport News https://hersport.ie Check out the Her Sport channels Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/hersport.ie TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@hersport Twitter - https://twitter.com/HerSportDotIE Who Are We? Her Sport is a media platform dedicated to highlighting the latest news in Irish and international women's sports. Her Sport aims to empower women in sport, inspire more female participation, increase opportunity and level the playing field for future generations by creating real and tangible change in the realm of sports in Ireland and beyond. Contact us: hello@hersport.ie

What a gorgeous new album from Eimear Quinn  - Songs of Winter Dreaming. Looking forward to hearing more of it in the coming weeks.

Eimear is Chosen Chief of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids. She is a Storyteller and a Psychologist. She has a deep love of the ancient Irish tales and has a passion for storytelling. In this conversation we talk about the healing power of nature, Eimear's earth-based exploration, her growing community, thin places and thin times. Eimear loves to weave in song and the harp into her stories. She particularly enjoys showing people the sacred sites of Ireland and telling the ancient tales right where they happened. Eimear has private practice as a Counselling Psychologist and her interests in Druidry and psychology have led her to act as a Celebrant, helping people to design and enact meaningful rites of passage. She is licensed to perform legal weddings in the Republic of Ireland and can also offer non legal ceremonies. Eimear is also a Priestess dedicated to Danú in the Fellowship of Isis. She is an Arch Druidess in the Druid Clan of Dana and a member of the Noble Order of Tara. Enjoy! Bain taitneamh as :) Thanks a million, Eimear - Go raibh míle maith agat, a Eimear! www.kilkennydruidry.com www.druidry.org/ eimear_burke_druid on instagram

Tá comhpháirtíocht úr socruithe idir Údarás na Gaeltachta agus Tithe Solais na hÉireann an GLI agus iad ag iarraidh turasóireacht mhuirí a chur chun cinn sa tír seo.

Ag plé na cluichí craoibhe a bhí ar siúl sa chontae thar an deireadh seachtaine, cluichí na bhfear agus na mban.

Labhraíonn Eimear Breathnach le Seán faoina saol sa spórt, leadóg bhoird, a ról mar Uachtarán ar Paralympics Ireland, agus go leor eile.

Ireland and Munster fullback Eimear Considine joined Eoin Sheahan as she recovered from her ACL injury to make it back into the Ireland squad for their upcoming WXV1 campaign. Rugby on Off The Ball with Bank of Ireland #NeverStopCompeting

Eimear Breathnach, Uachtarán Paralimpeach na hÉireann ag labhairt faoi chluichí na bliana seo.

Tá scolairí i dTuaisceart Éireann chomh maith le Sasana agus an mBreatain Bheag ag fáil a gcuid torthaí A léibheal agus T Leibhéal ar maidin inniu.

My guest this week is mother of two, Eimear Hallahan. If you don't know Eimear's story from social media already, it's worth noting that this episode deals with a critically ill baby and might be a tough listen for some. Eimear's youngest son, James, was just two weeks old when she brought him to hospital knowing something wasn't right with him. She trusted her instinct, and once he arrived to Cork University Hospital, the doctors and nurses there sprang into action. He had sepsis, and his body was so full of infection that no antibiotic was seemingly working to treat it. Eimear knew straight away it was critical, and was told her son's chances of survival, at one point, were as low as just 5%. Her strength, positivity, and resilience, along with the support of her partner Jack, meant that through it all, she believed that James would survive. It's an incredible and powerful story of just pure hope, and it brought me to tears, which doesn't often happen! Like I said, this episode is a tough listen at times – I'll be back to you next week with more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tá sé curtha in iúl ag Príomh Aire na Breataine Keir Starmer do Aontas Chumainn Sacair na hEorpa nó EUFA go mbeidh éileamh de 310 milliúin punt Sterling a dhéanamh aige in airgead tarrthála le Páirc Mhic Easmainn a fhorbairt in am do Chluichí Chomórtas Sacair na hEorpa i 2028.

We're a talented bunch on 'The Dave Moore Podcast'. Cathal's painting his other half, Dave is exceptional at bubble writing and Eimear's doodle of Dave is a work of art. If Eimear was three years old and had never seen Dave before.We hear from the stars of Netflix's latest hit show, hand the bad joke baton over to the children of Ireland and ask the question 'what job do you think you'd be really good at'.

When it comes to the 'Dave Moore Podcast', we won't leave a stone unturned, a stain unmentioned. And that's just what happened when Eimear spotted a mark on Dave's legs that had to be discussed. Plus, Gearoid Farrelly on bath bombs and snakes, a very interesting Music Master and the hunt for a Wispa Gold.

If you're sick of Wordle and it's slew of offshoots, we have a new one for you. In As Seen On Your Screen, we heard about 'Strands' which is wrecking our Eimear's head.

Bhí plean ag Coiste Theach Sholais Fhánada ar fiú €8.5m le hIonad do Thurasóirí a thógáil in aice leis an Teach Solais agus tá díomá mhór orthu nár ceadaíodh maoiniú faoin Chiste um Athghiniúint agus Forbairt Tuaithe.

Katie joins us today to tell us about her two birth experiences in Germany. Although she strongly advocated for herself during her first birth, Katie was extremely mistreated. Her labor and horrible C-section experience left her with intense PTSD straining her relationship with both her baby and her husband. Katie knew that if she wanted to have another baby, she had to plan for an out-of-hospital birth. She continued to advocate for herself by not only learning the evidence but by showing it to providers and defending it. Though she wasn't able to find a supportive backup hospital, Katie labored beautifully at home with her husband, doula, and midwife until she knew it was time to transfer. When she transferred, Katie was able to go to the hospital she wanted to go to and was finally treated with respect. Her wishes were honored and she felt heard. Though this labor was also over 40 hours and had its own unexpected twists, Katie experienced so much healing from her VBAC. She was able to achieve the glorious feeling she hoped she would have from a home birth even in the hospital.  TOLAC in Germany ArticleEvidence-Based Birth Blog: Friedman CurveInformed Pregnancy - code: vbaclink424Needed WebsiteHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode Details 04:41 Review of the Week07:27 Katie's stories11:14 Start of labor16:55 Going to the hospital20:22 Interventions29:44 Katie's C-section32:06 Preparing for VBAC34:34 Second pregnancy42:01 Labor begins47:11 Getting support from her birth team50:12 Transferring to the hospital53:32 Feeling intense scar pain56:23 Asking for the vacuum58:42 Katie's advice for listeners1:01:47 The Friedman Curve1:06:16 Trusting your intuition1:08:56 Doula supportMeagan: Hello, Women of Strength! We have a story for you today where a mama gave birth in Germany. So I love, love, love when we have out-of-the-country birth stories because we often get messages from people outside of the country wondering if VBAC is still possible and the answer is YES. 100% it is possible and we have our friend Katie today. Hello, Katie!Katie: Hi.Meagan: She is going to just be sharing her story showing that it is possible to VBAC. Now, one of the things that I actually really love about Katie's story is that it shows that things can change, and even when things change it doesn't have to be bad. I sit in that because I personally wanted to birth out of the hospital and when I was in labor, in my mind, if I had to transfer, I was for a little while telling myself that that was a bad thing. And that it wouldn't happen, or people would be looking down, or whatever. I was spiraling. I was just going through a moment in labor. But something that stood out to me with Katie's, is she talks about how after a really long labor at home, planned home birth, her intuition, which we talk about a lot, knew that she needed to make another choice in her labor and that was to go to the hospital. Right, Katie?Katie: Exactly. Yep.Meagan: And so I love that we can talk about how plans can change and that doesn't mean it has to be the be-all end-all. Is that how you say it?Katie: Yeah.Meagan: It doesn't mean it has to be over or it doesn't mean your chances of VBAC are done. If you are planning a home birth and you make the choice, or even if it was medically necessary, like sometimes it is, right? That doesn't mean that it has to be bad. And so I love that part about her story and that she listened to her intuition. And then also another highlight, is that intervention happened, right? And that sometimes in this community we fear the intervention. I understand why we don't all usually want the intervention, we just want it to be left alone. But sometimes intervention comes into play and sometimes those interventions help us get the birth that we wanted. And so I'm just going to end there because I want Katie to be able to share her story but those were a couple of things that, for me, as I was reading her submission, stood out to me and I thought were really important topics to touch on because plans can change and even when plans change, it's okay. 04:41 Review of the WeekMeagan: But I do have a Review of the Week so I want to review that and then I'll turn the time over to you Katie. Okay, so this is from our Google reviews, which we absolutely love. Even our Google reviews help people find the podcast, our blogs, our course, our resources, all the things. If you wouldn't mind heading over to Google. Google “The VBAC Link,” and leave us a review, we would absolutely love that. So this is from, I think it's Eimear. Sorry if I am butchering this name. They gave a 5-star review, so thank you so much. But it says that, “This podcast was my constant source of reassurance and inspiring stories throughout my last two pregnancies. I achieved my VBAC in 2021 and was empowered with so much knowledge and mental strength going into this birth because of The VBAC Link. I had my second C-section in 2002 which was not what I wished for but I do plan on having more children and know that VBA2C (vaginal birth after two C-sections) is a possibility for me because of this podcast. I continue to listen to your inspiring stories each time I hop in the car and I'm so grateful for all that you share. I hope to share my own redeeming story with you in time, too.”Thank you so much for that review. I love that you said that VBAC after 2 C-sections is possible. We see that a lot in our Q and A's. “If I've had 2 C-sections is it possible?” The answer is yes, absolutely, 100 percent. So if you want to learn more check out the podcast or head on over to thevbaclink.com and search VBA2C and you'll get to find more about that. 07:27 Katie's storiesMeagan: Okay, Katie! Welcome again. Thank you for being here. Katie: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to share my story.Meagan: Oh my gosh, me too.  And I know you've got your little one by you. So how old is your little baby?Katie: My daughter, Scarlett, is just shy of 5 months.Meagan: 5 months. Okay, so you're still pretty in the thick of it. Katie: Yes, still sleepless nights.Meagan: Yes, and you're coming from Germany. I don't even know what the time zone is there, but hopefully, you're not up way too early or way too late.Katie: It's like just late afternoon here.Meagan: Okay good, I'm so glad. Well I would love to turn the time over to you to share your stories.Katie: Okay, great. Well, I'll just get started with my C-section story. My son, Charlie, is 2. He was born in 2021. I'm originally from the U.S. but as you mentioned, I live in Germany and I had been in Germany for about 5 years when I had him. And then as just some background, I'm actually an intensive care nurse and I worked in the United States as an intensive care nurse and then for a bit here and have since transitioned into the corporate world. I'm not like a labor and delivery nurse, but I have a lot of knowledge about birth from nursing school. I think there is a little bit of a misconception in the U.S. that everything is better in Europe, that they're more natural or that the healthcare is better, blah blah blah. I just want to say that has not necessarily been my experience especially working as a nurse. I can really see that the shortage of trained healthcare workers is significantly worse here. And there's kind of like, we have our issues in the U.S. too about making sure we're providing evidenced-based care. We try but it's hard to keep up and stuff. I would say it's even harder here and then doctors here are super paternalistic. So when I was pregnant with my son, I had that impression as I was going into it. And also, the way it works here is, you just go to a gynecologist for your pregnancy care and then you just go to the hospital to have your baby. You don't get to pick your doctor. There's just staff, so you just get who you get. I didn't really like that when I was planning my birth for my first pregnancy, but I was kind of like, well what else am I gonna do? That's the way it is. But I felt at the time really confident about my knowledge and that I'm pretty tough and well-informed, and I'll manage to get through it. This is just like the way it's going to be. Didn't have any thoughts about trying to do a home birth or another out-of-hospital environment, it was just like you go to the hospital and baby and go home. So my pregnancy was pretty good. I had the normal kind of aches and pains. There was some concern with my son's placenta. It wasn't functioning great but we didn't have issues from it, just extra growth scans and there were really no problems. He was due December 27th, so around Christmastime. I think if I had known I would have never gotten pregnant to have a baby around Christmastime because my impression was with the hospital, that they were really short-staffed when I ended up having him. 11:14 Start of laborKatie: So I ended up going into labor– he was born on the 22nd, so I went into labor on the 20th of December. I woke up around midnight with really bad back pain and I felt like I was going to have diarrhea. That's probably TMI.Meagan: I totally get that. Katie: Yeah I kept going to the toilet thinking I had food poisoning, and nothing would happen. I would go and sit down, and as soon as I would sit down I'd feel like I'd have to go to the toilet again and I would run back there. This kept going on and then eventually after a little while I had some bloody show and my mucus plug came out. And I was like, “Oh! This was the contractions.” I was not expecting it at all. It was just this stabbing pain in my back and I didn't feel like my uterus was really doing anything so I was kind of surprised. I was like, “I guess I'm in labor,” and it hurt so bad. People always talk about how it starts out kind of light and builds up, and it was really full force. Like I said, I kept going to the couch and trying to sit down and trying to get comfortable and I'd have to keep running to the bathroom. It just kept coming. I was like, “Oh my gosh, is this baby going to be born really fast? This seems pretty intense.” I was like, “No, no I probably have a long time to go so calm down.” I took a shower and got my birth ball out and started trying to work through it. At some point, my husband woke up and I was like, “I think I'm in labor. Go back to bed and I'll get you if I need you.” I labored throughout the night. But around 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning, I started noticing contractions. They weren't quite as painful and it was spacing out a little bit and I was like, “Oh, maybe I should try to sleep.” So I laid down on the couch and I was able to kind of sleep in between these contractions. My husband woke me up a few hours later because I had my 39-week doctor's appointment. And I was like oh well we can just go to the doctor and have them check me there and just see how we're going. We walked to the doctor because I was afraid my water would break in the subway so we just decided to walk. But that didn't happen and by the time we got to the doctor, they had spread pretty far apart. I had waited in the waiting room for a while and I only had a couple while I was waiting.My doctor checked me and she said I wasn't dilated and then they did put me on the CTG there for just a little bit to just see what was happening and I didn't have a single contraction while I was hooked up on the CTG. But the second they took it off and I stood up again, it started again. But it was more how people describe early labor. It came every few minutes. It was totally manageable. I just had to take a few deep breaths. We ended up walking home and the rest of the day, that went on. I labored in the afternoon and I thought at some point I should try to take a nap, but every time I tried to lay down it would be really uncomfortable so I got up. Then my husband and I decided, “Well, this baby is probably coming. Let's go do some grocery shopping, get some snacks, and be prepared.” Katie: So we went grocery shopping and my parents were visiting. They were staying in a hotel, but they came over. We all had dinner together. I was convinced that it wasn't labor, and I was like, “This is probably just fake labor,” so I didn't want to tell them. My mom later told me, “We totally knew you were in labor. You did not fool us for a minute.” We made dinner, we all ate, and they left.It was only 7:00 or 8:00 PM and I was like, “Let's sit down and watch some TV and try to relax.” As soon as I sat down, the intensity really picked up and the frequency. I wasn't timing them, but I really saw that they were coming quite often and it wasn't comfortable to sit down anymore. I thought, “I've been doing this all day, almost 24 hours now. I think I deserve to use some of my coping mechanisms that I'd planned for.” So I had planned to listen to these hypnobirthing tracks and had bought a ton of really nice bath supplies to make nice hot baths. So I got in the bath and was just using this app to do the HypnoBirthing tracks and I found it really helped me and I was doing really well. And then after a while, my husband came in. I think he felt like he should be doing something too. I was like, “You can press start and stop on this app because it's really annoying to dry my hands off,” so he was like, “Okay.” He was there for 10  minutes and something popped up on the app that was like, “You should go to the hospital now,” and he started panicking. I was like, “I'm fine.” In my mind, compared to the contractions I had the first part of the previous night, my contractions were going to have to be at least like that or worse because I hadn't dialed at all, so I was like really mentally prepared this is going to be so bad. Right now I still feel fine. They were just coming close together, but I had no feeling the baby was coming. I felt fine.But he was just like, “Oh my gosh, this app is telling us we should go to the hospital,” and ugh. After a while of him freaking out, I thought, “Okay, let's just go to the hospital and do a check. They'll reassure him that I'm tops 2 centimeters dilated and he can relax and I can continue to labor in peace at home.” 16:55 Going to the hospitalSo we get packed up and drive to the hospital. They put me on the CTG and checked me. I'm 2 centimeters. Then after half an hour, they come in and say, “Well, we don't have any beds so we're going to have to send you to a different hospital.” I said, “Whoa, hold the phone.” In my mind, I'm thinking that I have at least 12 more hours of labor to go. I'm a first-time mom. And I was like, “I want to go home and labor. I don't want to labor in the hospital. I want to go home. Can't I come back at like 6:00 AM and check me again?” It was about midnight at this time. And they were like, “Oh no, you're not going to make it to 6:00 AM. Your baby is coming and will be here by morning.” And I was like, “Seriously?”Meagan: “It's midnight, I've got some time.”Katie: And I was like, “I really don't believe that.” But they were so insistent that I had to go to the hospital and they were even like, “We called an ambulance to take you to the other hospital.” Meagan: Oh my gosh.Katie: I was like, “I don't need an ambulance. I'm not dying, I'm just having some contractions. This is crazy, guys.” They were like, “Are you sure?” I was like, “No, I don't want to be separated from my husband and go in an ambulance. Absolutely not.” They were like, “Well, we're going to send you to this other hospital.” I said, “No. This particular hospital has a really bad reputation.” I said, “No, I don't want to go there. I want to go to–” my second choice was blah, blah, blah. They were like, “Oh, they're full.” I was like, “Okay well, my third choice is blah, blah, blah.” “Oh well, they're full too.” And basically, every other hospital in our city was full. I was just like, “Okay, great.” My husband's freaking out. I really don't want to go to this hospital but they're telling him I need to stay. I was like, “Okay, we'll go over there and I'll just get registered and I'll tell them that I want to go home and labor.” So we drive over and the whole time I'm like, “I don't really want to go to this hospital, but okay.” And then I told my husband that I had no idea where the labor and delivery ward was at this hospital. I had never been there. So I said, “Okay, let's park at the emergency room because usually this late at night, hospitals' other entrances aren't open.” We parked in the emergency room and nobody at the emergency room could tell us where labor and delivery was. And I was like, “What the heck?” I was the one looking at the map on the wall figuring out where it was, having these contractions. We walked there and we finally arrived. I had such a bad feeling there. It was kind of icky and old and gross, this hospital. They also hooked me up to a CTG and checked me. They told me that my cervix was completely closed and so I said, “Okay, great! I'm going to go home.” They started trying to put an IV in. And I was like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why do I need an IV? I want to go home.” They also said, “No, your baby is coming imminently.” I was like, “That doesn't really make any sense.” In that kind of labor land you're so easily kind of–Meagan: Persuaded and convinced.Katie: Persuaded. And I also observed that I didn't have the support of my husband anymore. He was losing it basically. I thought, “Okay, I guess.” They had a bathtub and I thought, “Well, maybe I can take a bath here for a couple of hours and go home after that.” So we got in the bathtub and I really didn't like it. I'm not really a big water person so it really wasn't for me. So after awhile I got out. 20:22 InterventionsKatie: And oh, I forgot to mention. Before that happened, before they brought my husband back, the midwife was like, “Your cervix is like steel and we want you to take some medication to soften it.” She was like, “Don't worry. It's homeopathic.” I was like, “I don't want to take anything homeopathic. That's fake medicine. I don't want to take that.” She was super insistent. I was like, “Okay, let me see what this is. I'll look it up online and tell you if I want to take it or not.” She handed the pill to me and it was Tylenol with codeine. Meagan: What?Katie: And I was like, “Excuse me?” I was like, “This is not homeopathic medication. This is a narcotic.” She was like, “No, no. This is homeopathic.” I said, “No no. This is a narcotic.”Meagan: Like, “I'm not dumb.”Katie: That really shut me down. Also with this labor land, I was like, “Maybe codeine means something else in German?” I got super confused, do you know what I mean? In hindsight, I've given patients Tylenol with codeine hundreds of times. I know what Tylenol with codeine is. But in that moment, I got confused about it. I was in this labor land kind of thing. Meagan: Yeah. Katie: But it totally set off my fight-or-flight reflex because it freaked me out. “Is she lying to me? Or does she just not know? I don't get this.” I really told my husband that I wanted to leave and he was like, “Where are we going to go? Everywhere else is full.” And I was like, “Well, I'll just stay in the bath. I don't know.”At some point, I got out of the bath and I had been up basically the entire night before, just trying sleeping in between contractions. I wanted to lay down and rest. She came in and was like, “Oh no, you need to get up and move around.” She made us go for a walk around the hospital. This was probably 4:00 or 5:00 AM. I just felt so uncomfortable, I didn't want to be walking around the hospital. I wanted to be in my own little cave. So we went back and then she told me, “Well, you haven't had your baby yet so we're going to have to discharge you to the antenatal ward.” I was like, “Okay, at midnight when I got here, you said my baby was coming imminently and I had to stay and now you want to discharge me. If you're going to discharge me, I'm going to go home. I'm not going to go labor on an antenatal ward.” She was like, “Oh, let me talk about it with my staff at our staffing meeting,” blah blah blah. I don't know whatever came of that but I was so weirded out by it. Meagan: Yeah.Katie: And then like at 6:00 or so in the morning, she came in and they were again like, “Your cervix is as hard as steel. You need something to relax it.” Again she said, “I have something homeopathic for you.” It was Demerol.I again was like, “This is not homeopathy. These are narcotics.” I got really mad and I even said to her face. I looked her in the eye and I said, “It's appropriate to give patients narcotics or birthing women narcotics if they want them but you can't lie about it.” That's so unethical. That's not okay. I was so shocked by it. I had thought about it and I didn't really want to take narcotics. I'm intolerant of them. I've had some dental procedures and they make me really confused and I didn't want them during labor. But I thought at this point, it had been like 30 hours, and I thought, “Well, maybe it's time to try something.”My mom had always said when she had us that she would get a shot of Demerol and dilate to 10 centimeters in an hour from that. “Well, maybe I need that too. Maybe I'm like my mom.” I did consent to it but I felt like pushed into it. I kind of more consented to it because I wanted them to leave me alone. I told her again, “I'm really sensitive to narcotics. They make me confused. Please give me like the lowest dose.” I got my records later and I know now that it was the max dose and she had mixed other things into it so I totally became delirious. I could not cope with the contraction pain anymore because I didn't have this ability to be like, “Oh, I'm a flower, my cervix. Every contraction brings me one step–.” Being able to work my way through it was gone and it was sheer pain. They don't help me. It was just downhill from there. I didn't have the strength anymore to leave. At some point, they tried to make me take another walk. I was so dizzy that I kept falling over. Oh my gosh, if my patient was this dizzy, I wouldn't let them get out of bed but they were forcing me to go for a walk. They told us to leave the hospital and walk around outside. I remember standing at a red light and totally swaying back and forth clutching onto my husband so I wouldn't pass out. I was like, “I should not be outside. This is ridiculous.”So we went back and I'm not exactly sure what happened all afternoon. I forgot to mention we had a new midwife now. At some point in the afternoon they come in and say, “Well, you haven't had your baby yet. You're only a couple of centimeters dilated. We're going to start you on Pitocin.”Katie: And I said, “No, no. I don't want Pitocin.” They said, “Too bad. We're giving it to you anyway.” And I again was not in any kind of state to fight or protect myself. They started it and I didn't have any pain management at all. This was like 4:00 or 5:00 in the afternoon so it had been like 10 hours since I had that Demerol. My contractions were always that really bad back pain. It was so bad with the Pitocin. I ended up getting an epidural which was such a bad moment for me because I actually had more anxiety about getting an epidural. I have a fear of being paralyzed and I thought, “I absolutely don't want an epidural.” I ended up getting one and it didn't really work. They just kept turning the Pitocin up. And I kept telling them, “This isn't working. Can you get anesthesia here? There are things you can do to fix it.” They wouldn't do anything.They kept telling me, “If it doesn't work, it just doesn't work.” I was like, “That's not true. I know a lot about epidurals and there are a lot of things you can do.”At some point, I had realized that I hadn't peed in 12 hours and tried to go to the bathroom and nothing came out. I asked them in they could put a catheter in so I could pee. This midwife just kept ignoring me. I was like, “I really need a catheter.” I had felt really hot. I was like, “Can you take my temperature? I'm worried I have a fever.”Meagan: Oh my gosh. Katie: I also kept asking her if she would help me because I was laying in the bed, halfway falling out of it and I needed some help to reposition myself. I kept pushing the call light and she would come in and yell at me for pressing the call light. And after a few hours of this I finally had a little bit of fight back in me. I remember screaming at my husband, “You need to get me another midwife right now!”They must have heard us fighting outside because somebody else came in. I was like, “I need a catheter. I need someone to take my temperature and I need some help moving around.” So she catheterized me and there was like 500 milileters of urine in my bladder. She took my temperature and luckily that was normal. She helped me get up out of bed so I was sitting on a ball. At that point, I realized that the pump for the epidural was sitting right there. I remember turning to look at it and the pump wasn't even on. I was like, “I've been complaining. I have no idea what happened if it had been off the whole time or something, but it was supposed to be a patient-controlled epidural and it wasn't even on. I was like, “What is this?”At this point, it was midnight. I had been going on 48 hours now and only at like 4 centimeters dilated. They just kept telling me, The only way you're ever going to have this baby is if we keep turning the Pitocin up.” I kept asking them, “Are there positions we can do?”I also forgot to mention in the beginning that the people in Germany told me, “You don't need a doula in Germany because the midwives do all of that kind of stuff.” I never got a single suggestion on how to maybe reposition the baby or if there was anything. I kept asking, “Is he posterior? Is something weird going on?” “No, no. Everything's fine.” With these Pitocin contractions, I felt this pull in my pelvic floor. It felt like my body was fighting against it. I can't believe this is working. I can feel my muscle close with that. 29:44 Katie's C-section Katie: They told me that wasn't a thing, blah blah blah. My cervix had started swelling. And they were kind of like, “The only way you're going to have this baby is having a C-section,” and you know, that's just what happened. I ended up consenting to it because I was so afraid that they were going to do something to harm me. There had been like so much–Meagan: Weirdness.Katie: Weird stuff. I'm not going to die because childbirth is dangerous but because these people don't know what they're doing and they're somehow going to hurt us. And the C-section was just awful. I could remember on the way down, they knocked a bunch of the equipment over that was attached to me. When they started operating, I had a strip on my right side where I could feel everything. I was like, “I can feel what you're doing there. I was screaming.” The birth of my baby was the worst moment that I could imagine. It not joyful or happy at all. What has happened? What has happened to me? How did this happen to me? I just like couldn't believe it. Meagan: Yeah.Katie: What else could I have done differently? I don't know. How did everything get out of control? It was just crazy. I ended up having really bad PTSD afterward that I would have nightmares about the surgery. Postpartum was so rough because I had no connection to my baby and I honestly resented him almost in some ways where it was like, “If I hadn't had you, I wouldn't have gone through this.” It was just really hard to work through.I was also so mad at my husband. I really thought, “How could you? Where were you? You were supposed to be my support. You were supposed to help me.” I don't think he really got it. I kept telling him how much he was going to have to help me. “I really needed you to be strong in that moment and you just weren't.” It was a really low point in our relationship, too. 32:06 Preparing for VBACKatie: But he promised me that if we ever had any other kids, he would try to make it up to me. “Let's try to work through this.” And I got some treatment for my PTSD and I ended up taking Zoloft. I obviously listened to the stories on VBAC Link and other podcasts and I realized this is not unique. This is happening to a lot of people. I really knew that I wanted to have a VBAC. I never really thought there was something wrong with me. I thought it was the way I had been mishandled and that they didn't follow guidelines and that it was really inappropriate care I received. If it had been better, maybe I would have been able to do it. Anyway, I had a lot of anxiety about doctors and I didn't think, “If I have another baby, I want to go to the hospital. What am I gonna do? If I ever have another baby, should I go back to the United States to do it? Can I review clinical literature from my job?” And just from listening to podcasts and your story, Meagan, and the others, I realized an out-of-hospital birth is probably the best option for me if I ever have another baby to have a VBAC. I found a paper from 2019 about birth in Germany, about VBACs in Germany. And the success rate was like 40% in the hospitals to 60% in the birth center and 80% if you planned a home birth. They said that the outcomes for mom and baby were similar. So I said, “That's it. We have real literature that we're going to have a home birth if I ever have another kid.” Before I even got pregnant, I researched home-birth midwives in the city. I started speaking to a doula before I even got pregnant. And I had signed with her and she said that even if she wasn't available when I got pregnant again, she would help me find someone who was. I actually ended up getting pregnant really fast. We got pregnant on the first try and that was about– my son was 14 months when we got pregnant again. They're 22 months apart. 34:34 Second pregnancyKatie: I was like, “I'm going to do this. This is super important to me. I really need to do this.” I listened to VBAC Link stories and other VBAC stories every day. There's some other podcasts that I listened to. I read all the books like Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and Childbirth as a Rite of Passenger by Rachel Reed and I was just only thinking and talking about birth. That was the only thing I paid attention to in that time.I read all the guidelines from every major organization and I read a lot of the literature that they used to come up with the recommendations. I had pretty strong opinions then that I would be okay with. But mostly I just wanted to be left alone. I didn't want any interventions because in my mind, with my sons birth, the intervention is what had ruined it. Katie: I worked out a lot with my first pregnancy, too. But with my VBAC baby, I did the Mamastefit fitness program.Meagan: Love Gina.Katie: And at the end, there's a lot of focus on relaxing your pelvic floor. I started seeing an osteopath. We really worked on trying to relax my pelvic floor. I mostly focused on stretching. I kept doing the HypnoBirth stuff. The pregnancy went on. I registered at a hospital just as a backup just in case we needed to transfer. I went to the registration appointment at this hospital. They were supposed to be the best VBAC hospital and they claimed to be the best VBAC hospital in the city, but the doctor there was so anti-VBAC and just talking about, “Oh, you are causing all of this risk if this happens.” I was really kind of shocked by it and at one point, she was like, “Oh, we need to do this ultrasound,” and I was like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you want to do this ultrasound for?” She was like, “Well, we need to make sure your baby isn't too big and that your scar is thick enough.” I said, “Well, I know that those growth scans, you might as well flip a coin so I'm not interested and also, there is not any research supporting the use of ultrasound measurements of the scar with predicting the risk of rupture so no, I decline.” She said, “Well, no you have to do it.” I said, “No, I don't and I'm not doing it unless you can tell me what evidence you use to come up with these recommendations and what are the cutoffs? How thin is too thin is too thin for the scar? You have to be able to tell me that and you have to tell me what evidence you've used to come up with that definition and I will not consent to the ultrasound until you tell me that.” She just couldn't do it. She kept just going on about like, “Well, you have to. You have to.” I said, “I don't have to do anything. I don't consent. If you don't know the answer, find someone that does.” My doula was with me and she ended up going. This doctor ended up going and getting their boss. She came in and my doula had told them something about how we were just planning this as backup for a home birth. They were like, “You absolutely cannot have a home birth.” I was like, “I absolutely will. That is my choice and you can't tell me what to do. I'm doing that.” They were just like, “No, no. You can't do that. You can come here and have the birth.” I said to them, “I know I'm going to need a long time to labor. I was in labor for 48 hours with my son. I need a lot of time. There was nothing medically wrong with my with my son. It was just this pure, bureaucratic nonsense. I was pressured into it because I took too long. I know that and I need support to get through a long labor and it's safer for me to be at home and it's safest if there is a midwife at home with me that can check on the baby and make the recommendation when it's time to transfer. That's the best course of action.” They were like, “No, no. You can only plan to birth here.” I was like, “Well, if that happens, then I'm going to be home alone without anybody there to check on the baby. How is that safe?” They just kept saying, “You can't do that. You can't have that here.” Katie: We ended up not having a backup hospital. That was kind of a tough conversation but I was really proud of myself that I had stood my ground so much. Just a lot of women talk about how you always want to be polite and non-confrontational. I was like, “I'm not going to be that way. I'm going to demand answers. I'm not going to do things just to be nice.” I was very proud of myself that although I was basically banned from that hospital, I was proud of myself for sticking up for myself. I really felt and the literature also supported that homebirth was a safe option for me, but we went into it not having a backup hospital. 42:01 Labor beginsKatie: I'll move on to the actual labor and birth with my VBAC baby. So that also started around midnight. I woke up feeling kind of funny. I went to the bathroom and a little bit of amniotic fluid came out. I was like, “Oh, great.” I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do in that situation so I got on my birth ball and bounced. I listened to an episode from Evidence-Based Birth about the premature rupture of membranes. I listened to that and was like, “No, no. I feel best about waiting for labor to start on its own.” I kept having some mild cramping throughout the night and then around 5:00 AM, I went to the bathroom again and I had some bloody show. Around 9:00, I texted my doula and my midwife just to let them know. My midwife, Julia was like, “Let me come over. I have a lot going on today. Let me just come over and see how you are doing.”I was like, “You can, but I'm not really having any contractions. I'm just having some cramps.” She came over and we chatted. She offered to do a vaginal exam to see where I was at. I said, “No, I'm not really in labor yet. I don't want to risk it.” She left and then a few hours later, I started having “contractions”. I was so excited because they were actually contractions, this wave feeling in my uterus because with my son, it had always been this stabbing pain in the back. I'd never felt my uterus doing anything. I was like, “Oh my gosh. Everything I did worked. I'm having real contractions.” I was so excited. We just kept working through them. We made a plan to have my son go over to my sister-in-law. I was convinced that oh, maybe labor won't really start. I don't know what I was thinking, but my husband and I made a plan to just have a nice dinner together and send our son off so if I went into labor, he would have somewhere to stay and if not, we would have one more nice evening together before the baby came. But I was in denial. The contractions kept ramping up throughout the day. Finally, at dinnertime, we were eating our dinner and my husband was like, “Do you want me to call Johanna?” Johanna is our doula and I was like, “No, it's way too soon. It's only been a few hours.” He was like, “Are you sure?” Then I realized. I took that as a sign that he needed the support. I was like, “Great. Let's have her come over.” I totally thought she would come over and be like, “Yeah, she's fine. Let's go to bed and we'll take care of this later.” She came over and supported me through some contractions and was like, “Hmm, how would you feel about having your midwife come over?” I was like, “it's way too soon. It's only been 7 hours. The contractions are too far apart and too short.” She was like, “No, I've been timing them and they are over a minute long and three minutes apart.” I was like, “I guess you can call her if you want to.”They called her and she listened to me having some contractions on the phone and was like, “Yep, that sounds like active labor. I'm coming over.” She came over and we all labored together. Katie: At some point, I started having back labor again. During the day, it had been this really nice wave feeling, but then the back labor started to come in. Around 11:30ish, my midwife checked me and she told me that my cervix was really posterior and that the baby was actually just pressing on the lower segment of my uterus. I didn't want to know how much I was dilated, but I knew that it was probably not much based on what she was saying from that.Later, after the birth, I found out I hadn't dilated at all. She actually manually moved the cervix down and held it under the baby's head and had me do a couple of contractions like that. It was awful. She really recommended that I try to lay down as much as possible during contractions because her theory was that something was pulling my cervix back so if I was moving around too much, it would keep pulling it back. It was so painful to lay down. She ended up leaving to go get some sleep. I kept laboring like that throughout the night. I got super nauseated. I was throwing up. It was just the only way I could get through contractions was to sit on my birthing ball. I had hung a sling up and I would hold onto the sling because I just could not have anything touching my pelvis. It felt like along my SI joints, they were going to just split in two.We labored throughout the night like that and they really did a really good job supporting me. They made sure– I had told my husband that his one job was to make sure I was eating or drinking and that after every contraction he should offer me something to drink and he did that to the point of annoyance during labor but he kept doing it and they did a really good job. 47:11 Getting support from her birth teamKatie: Around 7:30, throughout the night, the back pain was getting worse and worse. Around 7:30, we decided to call the midwife and have her come back. This is probably the first moment that I realized, “I think I'm going to need some help here.” I had read so many books talking about how childbirth is a physiological process and everyone can do it. You can do hard things. I really believed that, but it was really that I was starting to realize that, “Yeah, the majority of women are going to get through it fine, but I'm in that minority that really maybe does need some help.” I didn't say anything at that point. My midwife came over and again, I didn't know it at the time, but she checked me and I hadn't progressed at all throughout the night. My cervix had slipped back again into a posterior position. She did that thing where she held it in place again and really had me try to be laying down as much as possible to again with her theory about how my cervix was being pulled back. It was just so painful but it worked.I started progressing which was really exciting, but at the same time, I started having this weird contraction. It felt like my body was doing a kegel uncontrollably and involuntarily doing kegels during contractions. I could feel my pelvic floor closing up on itself. I was like, “I thought that was just because the Pitocin was on too high for my first birth, but this is my own natural oxytocin and I'm having this feeling again.”I kept laboring throughout the day. They somehow found a TENS machine for my back pain, but anyway, around 11:00 or noon, I said to them, “I think I'm going to need some help. I'm not sure anymore.” I had been so adamant during my entire pregnancy that I absolutely do not want to transfer to the hospital. Only if there is a medical reason and they were like, “No, you are doing so good. Let's stay home.” They really kept working with me, but by 4:00 or 5:00, I was like, “I think I really just need to accept that I need help.” We did a lot of massage and position changes. We did all of the Spinning Babies stuff. I could not get my pelvic floor to relax. It had been at this point 30 hours and I was like, “I did everything right this time. I feel safe. I set up a beautiful birthing space. I'm not scared. I want to have this baby and it's just not working. I just need to accept that. I don't know. I need some help.” 50:12 Transferring to the hospitalKatie: We went to the hospital and I thought I was going to be treated like crap because I was a home birth transfer and I didn't register ahead of time. We were just so lucky. We got the greatest people and I remember– I'm going to cry. They placed the epidural and I was finally doing some intake paperwork with the midwife that was going to be taking over and I was like, “I know you think I'm crazy, but this is so important to me. I have to do this.” She said, “Of course, you're going to do it.” It just felt like, I don't even know. It was just like, “Yeah, I am going to do it.” We talked to my anesthesiologist and I was telling him about what had happened at the last hospital. We talked about how I was really scared about another C-section because I had felt it during my first one and I didn't want another C-section. We talked about it. I was like, “You know if I need to have another C-section, I want to be put under. I don't need to experience that again. As much as I want to be awake for meeting my baby, I don't need that to feel it.” We had an agreement that if it ended up going toward a C-section, he would put me under. I felt like it was such a night and day difference. The staff at this hospital was again, way more modern. The staff was so respectful and always asked my permission to do things. We always talked about the plan and what we were going to do and explained the benefits and risks and all of those things.I had to get a Pitocin drip. I understood that with getting the epidural but they were like, “We won't turn it up too high. We will go slow. We'll probably have to break your water at some point, but we're going to wait until as close to the birth as possible.” They really laid out a plan. They checked me 2 hours after I had gotten the epidural and I had progressed to a 7. I just burst into tears. I had just gotten the epidural. At that point, I wasn't sure if it was the right choice or if I had just basically signed up for a C-section by going to the hospital. I didn't know at that point, but since I was at a 7, I was like, “Oh my gosh. I am going to make it.” It took another 10 hours, but I made it to 10. Throughout the night, I had the same issues with the epidural not working, but this anesthesiologist worked his butt off. He came in and he tried so many things like repositioning it and trying different medications, trying different types of concentrations. He tried so many things to help me and I could really tell that he felt bad that he couldn't totally take the pain away. Just that alone was enough. I was like, “It's okay. As long as my pelvic floor is relaxing, I can get through it.” 53:32 Feeling intense scar painKatie: At some point, around 4:00 AM, they gave me a really big bolus because they wanted me to get some sleep but I couldn't feel anything. I was completely numb. They said, “Okay, why don't you labor down a little bit? Your baby looks fine on the monitor. Everything is okay.” Around 6:00-6:30, I woke up and that bolus had completely worn of. This back pain that I was having was in that moment a thousand times worse because her head was down in the birth canal. I could feel. I remember checking and I could feel. I could only go about a fingertip in and could feel her head. It was so intense. My pelvis felt like it was on fire. I thought I was going to burst into flame. They had me start pushing and she was right there, but she was just not descending anymore. At some point, I remember they had me try to get onto my hands and knees. I was like a wild animal so I can't really remember everything, but they had me get on hands and knees. I realized, “Oh, I don't want to be on hands and knees because I can't brace my scar when I'm pushing,” then I realized, “Oh, my scar is kind of hurting.” Then I was like, “Why is nobody else worried about my scar hurting?” I was like, “Oh, I haven't said anything to anybody that my scar was hurting.” It was getting more and more painful. I was finally like, “Oh my gosh, my scar, my scar. It hurts so bad.” The midwife got a doctor to come in and they did an ultrasound and the doctor said, “Your scar looks fine.” It just kept hurting and it was hurting more and more. They were cleaning up the ultrasound machine and the pain wasn't going away in between contractions. Even though they were saying everything was fine, I just felt like things weren't fine. I almost had an out-of-body experience where I envisioned a future where my uterus ruptured and I got rushed out to the OR and it was really nasty. I was like, “No. I can't let that happen,” so I started yelling at them. I was like, “A vacuum, I need a vacuum.” They were like, “Are you sure?” I was like, “Yeah, yeah. I really need a vacuum. I need a vacuum right now.” I remember the doctor asking the midwife, “Well, how long has she been pushing?” In my mind, it had been 10 minutes and they were like, “Oh, it's been over 2 hours.” I was like, “Yes. Yes. Now. I need my baby to be born now, like right now.” 56:23 Asking for the vacuumKatie: They got a vacuum and pulled her out. I can't describe it. Although there was so much intervention and stuff, I felt like it was this home birth experience that everyone talks about because I got this crazy flood of oxytocin and I just bawled my eyes out for an hour and I felt like you know when you are a kid and it's Christmas morning and you've been waiting for weeks to get your Christmas present and you finally get to open it and you're so excited? It was like that feeling times a million. It was just an incredible feeling. She was there. I didn't know at that point if she was a girl or a boy so I got to look and I was like, “Oh my gosh. It's a girl.” It was just a really incredible moment. Meagan: Yes. So amazing that you were supported and that they listened to you. Katie: Yeah. I mean, my husband and I have talked about how this is the hospital that I should have had my son at. I don't know if I would have had a different outcome. I might have still ended up with a C-section there, but I don't think I would have had the same amount of trauma because the staff was so respectful and they were very capable and competent. It made just such a huge difference. Meagan: Absolutely. It sucks that a lot of the time, it comes to that– where we are and who is in that space. Katie: Exactly, yeah. Meagan: You know, we can't always control that which is a little nervewracking sometimes. We've just got to trust, but I love that you– I mean, honestly even with the first birth, like you said, you got to a point where you weren't in your brain-brain because you were in labor land, but you were really amazing at advocating for yourself overall. I just want to say congrats on that because that's really, really hard to do. Katie: Thank you. 58:42 Katie's advice for listenersMeagan: I don't know if you have any advice for listeners to be able to have your voice be heard or find that space inside of your soul that can come out and say what you need when you need it, and how you need it, but that's a really hard thing to do in labor. Katie: Yeah, I would say that I think it really made a difference that the doula was there. I think it created another layer of protection where she could run interference too and take on some of that burden. I think it was a little bit of her. I was like, “A vacuum, a vacuum, I need a vacuum.” She was the one like, “Yes, yes. She is asking for a vacuum. She wants that baby to come out now.” I didn't have to carry on the fight anymore because there was a moment in that when they said, “Everything on the CTG looks good.” I could have said, “Well, if they are saying that everything looks fine, maybe I could keep trying,” but I felt so strongly in myself that the baby needed to come out. Since I didn't have to keep fighting for myself, I verbalized what I needed and she carried the torch basically I would say, it really made a big difference that she was able to keep saying, “Yeah, yeah. She wants the vacuum now. Let's get it.” I guess preparing for a VBAC, you have to read all of the stuff and know because people will come and tell you things. You really need to be able to come back and say, “Actually, the guidelines don't support that.” I think it helps too if you have real citations. Do you know what I mean? You can actually say, “There is a paper that is supportive of this or not supportive.” You have to be able to have that knowledge almost and feel really confident that you know it to have those discussions with people as well. Meagan: Yeah, having the evidence is– not only knowing the evidence but having the evidence. That was something​​ that was really important to Julie and I when we were writing the course was not only giving the evidence but sharing the citations for those. Yeah. I mean, going back to the scar thickness and this and that. You were like, “Listen, no and no. I'm not going to do either of these things,” and they really couldn't come in with the evidence. That was so clear that the evidence wasn't there. They just wanted to bully you into making the decision that they wanted you to make. Katie: Right. Meagan: So having that knowledge and of course, having the evidence in general, but having those actual sites within links on your phone or in a manual or whatever. Katie: Exactly yeah. Meagan: So then you can be like, “It says this right here. Do you see anything different? Do you have anything new and updated?” Katie: Right. 1:01:47 The Friedman CurveMeagan: So talking about new and updated within your story, one of the things you mentioned that you wanted to talk about was the outdated and poor quality research that was done by the Friedman curve that is still being used. Do you want to talk about that at all? Katie: Yeah. That was something I came to the conclusion when I read a lot of papers and in my first birth and in my documentation, the diagnosis was “prolonged labor and failure to progress”. I was like, “What does that even mean?” I couldn't really find a definition in the literature of what prolonged labor was and what I realized was that it's way more that there are economic reasons to speed up labor, not clinical reasons. That's why it was so important to me. I was like, “If I need to have my baby by C-section, I will proudly walk into that OR if there is a medical reason or a clinical reason, but not a bad management reason or not because it's just taking too long.” I just couldn't find anything really convincing and one of the big criticisms of the research that Friedman did was that it was only a very narrow population at one hospital in the 50s. In the 50s, everyone was getting twilight sleep and all of the babies were being pulled out with forceps. It really can't be applied to us as modern birthing women. Yeah, there's an idea of on average, women take so long, this 12-24 hours. That's about true, but there are corner cases like mine or if I remember correctly from your story. You were also in labor for a long time. Meagan: Mine too, yep. Katie: Just because you're in labor for a long time doesn't mean that it's bad. The question is how is Mom doing? Is she healthy? Is baby healthy? If the answer is yes and also if Mom is up to keep going, because I think there are a lot of stories on The VBAC Link Podcast too of women who decided, “I'm only going to labor for so long and if I'm not dilating, then I'm going to call it.” I also think that's great that some women make that judgment call of, “I really want a VBAC, but I just don't want to do it for days and days.” I had the opposite decision for myself where I was like, “I'm going to do this until my baby comes out unless there is a clear medical reason that we need a C-section.” Meagan: Right. Katie: Yeah, I think it's just important to know that there's actually not great research for what is normal and just because you are outside of normal doesn't mean it's bad or dangerous. Meagan: Yeah. I agree. We're going to provide the little bit of a risk factor in Germany specifically with the different locations and then Evidence-Based Birth who we love and adore, they actually have a blog on the Friedman's Curve. They talked about how in 2014– you guys, it's 2024 so 10 years ago– ACOG came together with the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, so MFM, and they published new guidelines on labor progress. They said their new “normal” of labor is longer than the Friedman definition. There is more room for flexibility such as when an epidural is being used. In addition, new timelines were developed to define when labor progresses abnormally slowly. They are recognizing that sometimes labor does progress abnormally in their minds. That's abnormal to them. New terms were defined with purpose and they talk about how it's changed from 4 centimeters to 6 centimeters and things like that. I mean, this is a really wonderful blog. I'm going to drop it in here but I love how you talked about that. Just because it doesn't go as someone thinks it should go or the lack of really true evidence all around shows it should go doesn't mean it's bad. It doesn't mean something is wrong and it doesn't always mean you have to do something different. It just means you may need more time. 1:06:16 Trusting your intuitionMeagan: Now, you may want to do something different. You may feel you need to do something different like transfer to the hospital. These are things where we have to tune into that intuition and think, “Okay, what is my body telling me? What am I supposed to be doing?” But long labor, you guys, kind of sucks sometimes to have to keep going and keep going but at the same time, it's so amazing that your body can do that and is doing that. We have to trust that. We have to trust that process and trust our intuition. Katie: Yeah, and I have to say my first labor was 48 hours and I had the C-section. It's a trauma and this one was 45 hours and it was super intense the entire time basically for at least 38 hours of it I would say, but I can barely remember it or even connect to it anymore because I was just so happy to have the VBAC. I always had this attitude that it's just a day for me or a few days that it's going to be tough, but it's going to be so great afterward and that's really the attitude that I had. For me, that's been true. Postpartum is always hard, but I have so much more resilience this time and I really had that attitude that “I can do it. I can do hard things,” and I can. Meagan: You can. Yes. I love that you pointed that out. Yeah, it's a few days but it's a few days that led to this cute little baby that's joining us today on the podcast. Well, we will make sure to have the links for those two blogs that we mentioned and the study. I just want to say congratulations. Amazing job. Katie: Thank you. Meagan: Really good job of advocating for yourself. To the point of having a doula, even when those doulas aren't speaking out loud for you, they have this space that they hold that makes you feel like you can and then they support you and rally behind you. I love that you mentioned that because I mean, even with myself with my own birth as a doula at that point, having doulas, I truly felt like that, like I was able to have the extra voice that I wanted to speak. It came out so I'm so happy that you had your doula and I'm so happy for you and congratulations again. 1:08:56 Doula supportKatie: I just wanted to mention too with my doula if she ever hears this, she was with us for 38 hours and just– Meagan: Oof, so long. Katie: We had a contract. There was an exchange of money, but at the same time, I would have understood if she had said, “I've been away from my own children for so long. I need to go check on them.” She really stayed with us and helped us that entire time. It has just been the biggest gift that somebody would set aside their own needs to make this difference in our family. I don't know– I wasn't very good at expressing that to her. I feel like in the moment, I didn't have the words for it, but I hope if there are any other doulas listening, the work that you are doing makes such a huge difference. Meagan: I love that. Thank you for sharing. Katie: I also wanted to say thanks to everyone who has ever shared a story about actually having a uterine rupture because listening to those stories, they all always mentioned that they felt that something wasn't right and having heard those stories really gave me the confidence to say, “Things aren't right. I need to get my baby out.” I know it's scary, but if anyone is planning a VBAC, I think it's important to also hear those stories as well because it really empowered me to get the help that I thought I needed and to stand up and advocate for that. Meagan: Yeah, I love that you touched on that because those stories, even with repeat C-section stories, are really hard to listen to or allow in your space when that's not what you are wanting, but a lot of those times, if you can find the space to join in on those episodes, they really do bring a lot of education as well. I think if it does end in a C-section or something like this, it can also bring some validation and healing weirdly enough by knowing these episodes. Katie: Yeah, I agree. Meagan: Yeah.ClosingWould you like to be a guest on the podcast? Tell us about your experience at thevbaclink.com/share. For more information on all things VBAC including online and in-person VBAC classes, The VBAC Link blog, and Meagan's bio, head over to thevbaclink.com. Congratulations on starting your journey of learning and discovery with The VBAC Link.Our Sponsors:* Check out Dr. Mom Butt Balm: drmombuttbalm.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-vbac-link/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

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