Podcasts about gentle birth

Episode 66 shared by Tegan in Queensland. This episode unfortunately, is a roller coaster & I'm so grateful to Tegan for sharing her story. It's difficult to summarise Tegan's story into a quick intro, but how's this - after being accepted and excluded from the local publicly funded program MULTIPLE times in her pregnancy with her second baby, Tegan made the decision to birth at home, unassisted. We talk about so much in this episode too, like GBS diagnoses, antibiotics, gut health, breastfeeding, Cervical ectropion and more. Resources: Short cervix info Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering by Dr Sarah Buckley Cervical EctropionFirst 1000 Days of Life: Consequences of Antibiotics on Gut MicrobiotaThere is SO much info out there on this topic - this is just one article Born at Home: The Documentary Pacific Mother (See the Trailer) Thrush in PregnancyGBS (Group B) Testing About Group B Strep (GBS) Support the showConnect with me, Elsie, the host :) www.birthingathome.com.au @birthingathome_apodcast@homebirth.doula_birthingathome birthingathome.apodcast@gmail.com

APP OF THE DAY - GENTLE BIRTH by 101.9POR

We're back!This season, we go deeper. More raw stories. More uncomfortable truths. More questions we need to ask.A space without judgment, where new knowledge emerges, and curiosity takes over.You might not always agree. But you'll want to listen. And maybe, you'll see things differently.Subscribe. Hit the bell. Stay with us. This is Uncensored with Andini Effendi#uncensoredwithandinieffendi #andinieffendi #talkshow #podcast #podcastindonesia #cauldrontalks #uncensored #law #family #psychology #health #gentlebirth #contentcreator #theory #fashiondesigner #batik #doula #travel #naturopathy #religion #financial #zodiac #guruindonesia#deeptalks୨♡୧ New episode drops every Thursday! ୨♡୧☆ Jangan lupa follow & Subscribe kami ☆https://www.instagram.com/cauldroncontent/https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3JpwVKQYqY6XA9E0ufQ6gWBL6H__NYw☆ Dengarkan juga podcast kami ☆ https://open.spotify.com/show/6pHdBM4Jr0JMwBvbVCMiQI?si=cc66a009ea964c3ahttps://podcasts.apple.com/id/podcast/uncensored-with-andini-effendi/id1627192280☆ Host Andini Effendi ☆https://www.instagram.com/andinieffendi/☆ Narasumber ☆https://www.instagram.com/manojpunjabimd/https://www.instagram.com/kangabik/https://www.instagram.com/guzeme/https://www.instagram.com/_ianhugen_/https://www.instagram.com/early.theory/https://www.instagram.com/nrofiah/https://www.instagram.com/aritulang_official/https://www.instagram.com/bennix.official/https://www.instagram.com/laviniasuryadi/https://www.instagram.com/gurugembul/https://www.instagram.com/srl789/https://www.instagram.com/dr.yuliana.cht/https://www.instagram.com/rizaputranto/https://www.instagram.com/pandji.pragiwaksono/☆Wardrobe☆https://www.instagram.com/puranaindonesia/https://www.instagram.com/wilsenwillimofficial/https://www.instagram.com/oemahetnik/☆Make Up☆https://www.instagram.com/aninditamakeupart/

In this episode of the MamasteFit Podcast, Roxanne, a labor and delivery nurse and student midwife, discuss the importance of mental preparation for childbirth and parenthood. They are joined by Tracy, founder of GentleBirth, an app designed to help with mindset and mental preparation for birth. The conversation covers how mindset shapes birth experiences, strategies to build mental resilience, and how to incorporate mindfulness and meditation into daily routines. They also touch on the significance of mindfulness in reducing pregnancy and postpartum stress for both mothers and their babies.00:00 Introduction to Mental Preparation for Birth01:17 Meet Tracy, Founder of GentleBirth02:20 Understanding Mindset in Pregnancy04:20 The Importance of Mental Flexibility08:21 Practical Tips for Incorporating Meditation11:40 The Role of Mindfulness in Labor23:26 Mindfulness Beyond Birth48:29 Final Thoughts and Resources——————————Get Your Copy of Training for Two on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3VOTdwH

BONUS BIRTH MEDITATION 2The GentleBirth Positive Birth app combines mindfulness, hypnosis, breathing techniques, affirmations, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help expectant moms feel calm, confident and prepared for birth. Unlike traditional childbirth classes, GentleBirth is brain training for birth - teaching moms (and partners) how to manage stress, reduce fear, and build resilience through daily guided practices. Content is included for partners also (male or female).With personalized meditations for pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, the app is inclusive of all birth experiences - whether unmedicated, epidural, cesarean or VBAC.  By training the mind and body parents are building the skills of emotion regulation and resilience during one of the most challenging times of adult life.Tracy's GentleBirth book is available inside the app or parents can purchase a hard copy at Amazon.comAmazon.caDownload the App at gentlebirth.comSupport the show

BONUS BIRTH MEDITATION 3The GentleBirth Positive Birth app combines mindfulness, hypnosis, breathing techniques, affirmations, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help expectant moms feel calm, confident and prepared for birth. Unlike traditional childbirth classes, GentleBirth is brain training for birth - teaching moms (and partners) how to manage stress, reduce fear, and build resilience through daily guided practices. Content is included for partners also (male or female).With personalized meditations for pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, the app is inclusive of all birth experiences - whether unmedicated, epidural, cesarean or VBAC.  By training the mind and body parents are building the skills of emotion regulation and resilience during one of the most challenging times of adult life.Tracy's GentleBirth book is available inside the app or parents can purchase a hard copy at Amazon.comAmazon.caDownload the App at gentlebirth.comSupport the show

BONUS BIRTH MEDITATION 4The GentleBirth Positive Birth app combines mindfulness, hypnosis, breathing techniques, affirmations, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help expectant moms feel calm, confident and prepared for birth. Unlike traditional childbirth classes, GentleBirth is brain training for birth - teaching moms (and partners) how to manage stress, reduce fear, and build resilience through daily guided practices. Content is included for partners also (male or female).With personalized meditations for pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, the app is inclusive of all birth experiences - whether unmedicated, epidural, cesarean or VBAC.  By training the mind and body parents are building the skills of emotion regulation and resilience during one of the most challenging times of adult life.Tracy's GentleBirth book is available inside the app or parents can purchase a hard copy at Amazon.comAmazon.caDownload the App at gentlebirth.comSupport the show

BONUS BIRTH MEDITATION 1The GentleBirth Positive Birth app combines mindfulness, hypnosis, breathing techniques, affirmations, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help expectant moms feel calm, confident and prepared for birth. Unlike traditional childbirth classes, GentleBirth is brain training for birth - teaching moms (and partners) how to manage stress, reduce fear, and build resilience through daily guided practices. Content is included for partners also (male or female).With personalized meditations for pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, the app is inclusive of all birth experiences - whether unmedicated, epidural, cesarean or VBAC.  By training the mind and body parents are building the skills of emotion regulation and resilience during one of the most challenging times of adult life.Tracy's GentleBirth book is available inside the app or parents can purchase a hard copy at Amazon.comAmazon.caDownload the App at gentlebirth.comSupport the show

In this episode I discuss with trained midwife and founder of the GentleBirth app,  Tracy Donegan:The goal behind starting GentleBirth and the gap it filledReasons why meditation and mindfulness are helpful in preparing for birthHow the app may be used throughout pregnancy, birth and throughout motherhoodNOTE: 3 bonus episodes (meditations) will be released with this episode The GentleBirth Positive Birth app combines mindfulness, hypnosis, breathing techniques, affirmations, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help expectant moms feel calm, confident and prepared for birth. Unlike traditional childbirth classes, GentleBirth is brain training for birth - teaching moms (and partners) how to manage stress, reduce fear, and build resilience through daily guided practices. Content is included for partners also (male or female).With personalized meditations for pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, the app is inclusive of all birth experiences - whether unmedicated, epidural, cesarean or VBAC.  By training the mind and body parents are building the skills of emotion regulation and resilience during one of the most challenging times of adult life.Tracy's GentleBirth book is available inside the app or parents can purchase a hard copy at Amazon.comAmazon.caDownload the App at gentlebirth.comADDITIONAL EPISODES ON THIS TOPIC105 - Understanding pain and using mindfulness for birth preparation with Dr. Sinéad DufourTHANK YOU TO THE EPISODE SPONSORSSRC Health: discount code and website: https://srchealth.com/?ref=Sto_l3PawmnH4. Discount Code: THEPELVICFLOORPROJECTURESTA:  https://uresta.com/. Discount Code: PELVICFLOORPROJECTThanks for joining me! Here is where you can find out how to work with me:  www.pelvicfloorprojectspace.com/Support the show

This is Part II of Ariel and Nitin's Home Birth story. Here, we go through Ariel's experience of Labor from the onset to the birth. She describes her state of mind , the sequence of events in detail in this episode.Expect :The change of scene with the intensity of labor increasing.The intense and prolonged transition due to cervical lipThe wait and tension before the baby arrivesThe birth The birth of placenta and postpartum Tune in now!Support the showSign up for Childbirth Preparation Programs! visit www.birthagni.com/birthclassesSupport the show:Donations (India) - https://birthagni.com/birthagnipodcast#podcast-listDonations (world) - buymeacoffee.com/birthagni If you like what you hear, leave us a rating on Spotify app and answer the question at each episode! a review on Apple podcasts. Share on Whatsapp/Insta/FB Share on Instagram and tag us @divyakapoorvox Support the production by making a donation at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/birthagni. This ensures the continuity and quality and a good coffee on sleepless recording nights! Subscribe to the FREE newsletter at https:/...

Welcome to Episode 27 - The Seven Wonders of Menopause with Shavita Kotak (Sound healer, spiritual facilitator, wellness practitioner & yoga teacher and now author) In this episode we talk all things perimenopause and menopause and Shavita talks about her debut book in which she has sagely gathered deep wisdom from visonaries  from across the globe, namely:  Dr. Gladys McGarey – "The Well-Lived Life", "Living Medicine" and "The World Needs Old Ladies" Ibu Robin Lim – The Mother (author of "Placenta: The Forgotten Chakra", The Ecology of Gentle Birth" advocates for holistic, natural birthing practices. "After the Baby's Birth: A Woman's Way to Wellness"—a postpartum guide for mothers) Alexandra Pope – The Initiator (Her books are co-authored with Sjanie Hugo Wurlitzer, "Wild Power: Discover the Magic of the Menstrual Cycle and Awaken the Feminine Path to Power", "Wise Power: Discover the Liberating Power of Menopause to Awaken Authority, Purpose, and Belonging"  Jane Hardwicke Collings – The Boss Witch. Author of multiple books, including "Ten Moons: The Inner Journey of Pregnancy" and "Blood Rites – The Spiritual Practice of Menstruation, and founder of the School of Shamanic Womancraft .  Dr. Christiane Northrup – The Ageless Goddess. "Author of The Wisdom of Menopause","Goddesses Never Age"  and "Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom"  Dr. Vandana Shiva – The Warrior. Author of "Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Development" and "Earth Democracy" Shavita Kotak's links: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmLIua38SE1DkGycMJacTpA https://wellnesswithshavita.com/about/ More about your host: Alicia is a mumma of four. She has been a lawyer since 2001 and has transformed from being an exhausted perfectionist workaholic to now living a life of delicious chaos, juggling mum life alongside her own legal business and her spiritual wellness business.  In March 2012, while hanging out the washing, Alicia started to spontaneously channel one of her Spirit Guides, an Ascended Master called Goenga who spoke to her using her own voice (like Whoopi Goldberg in the movie, Ghost). This was the start of her channeling journey. Alicia loves to help people to thrive, enjoy life more and reconnect with their soul and remember who they really are - eternal pure love and magnificent light beings.  Alicia has written a book called, PURE ENERGY - The Busy Women's Energy Guide to Thrive. She has a passion to help humans understand themselves as energetic beings. Alicia lives with her family in Victoria, Australia. LINKS:  SPIRITUAL WELLNESS BUSINESS www.aliciatemmerman.com www.globalsoulcentre.com/ LEGAL/HR BUSINESS www.dumaisws.com.au/ HEALTH AND WELLNESS VEGAN PRODUCTS BUSINESS http://aliciatemmerman.arbonne.com  FACEBOOK COMMUNITY  https://www.facebook.com/groups/frequencyraisingenergyearthschool LINK TO ALICIA'S BOOK https://www.aliciatemmerman.com/shop-now YOU TUBE - Global Soul Centre https://www.youtube.com/@theglobalsoulcentre323 LINKTREE https://linktr.ee/alicia_dumais_temmerman?fbclid=IwAR1Zet17KVAYLCep3FtYa2PeE9xYbuqGZECN0DIZajJQcvmtSXH0KKKz_iA FREE 7 day mini course - INCREASE YOUR ENERGY FREQUENCY https://aliciatemmerman.podia.com/85b5cfb0-5da7-402c-9351-89892bf7fa69 Much love AliciaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Uncensored with Andini Effendi kembali hadir dengan perbincangan lebih dalam mengenai mind, body and soul. Program ini hadir di berbagai medium favorit anda. #deeptalks #uncensoredwithandinieffendi #andinieffendi #talkshow #podcast #podcastindonesia #cauldrontalks #uncensored— Uncensored bersama Andini Effendi ingin memulai percakapan mengenai isu yang kerap dianggap tabu. The Elephant in the Room adalah topik yang diketahui semua orang, namun tidak banyak yang berani membicarakannya. Dengan berdiskusi secara terbuka, kami harap masyarakat bisa lebih terbuka pikiran dan hatinya.୨♡୧ New episode drops every Thursday! ୨♡୧☆ Jangan lupa follow & Subscribe kami ☆ https://www.instagram.com/cauldroncontent/ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3JpwVKQYqY6XA9E0ufQ6gWBL6H__NYw ☆ Dengarkan juga podcast kami ☆ https://open.spotify.com/show/6pHdBM4Jr0JMwBvbVCMiQI?si=cc66a009ea964c3a https://podcasts.apple.com/id/podcast/uncensored-with-andini-effendi/id1627192280☆ Host Andini Effendi ☆ https://www.instagram.com/andinieffendi/☆ Narasumber ☆https://www.instagram.com/selarasdjiwaraga https://www.instagram.com/msutanto_msutanto/ https://www.instagram.com/margarittta/ https://www.instagram.com/coachgloria_forgerd/ https://www.instagram.com/wilsenwillimofficial/ https://www.instagram.com/irmasyahrifat/ https://www.instagram.com/_febrian/https://www.instagram.com/wasistosetyo https://www.instagram.com/samanta.elsener/ https://www.instagram.com/itshanspra/ https://www.instagram.com/lanny_kuswandi/ https://www.instagram.com/mrshananto/☆Wardrobe☆ https://www.instagram.com/citatenunindonesia/ https://www.instagram.com/danjyohiyoji/ https://www.instagram.com/artkeabloom/ https://www.instagram.com/artkeastripes/ https://www.instagram.com/lacebyartkea/ https://www.instagram.com/artkeacolours/ https://www.instagram.com/artkea.classic/

Dr.Sarah Buckley is a New-Zealand-trained GP/family physician with qualifications in GP-obstetrics and family planning. She is the mother of four home-born children, and currently combines motherhood with her work as a writer on pregnancy, birth, and parenting. Sarah's work critiques current practices in pregnancy, birth, and parenting from the widest possible perspectives, She encourages us to be fully informed in our decision-making; to listen to our hearts and our intuition; and to claim our rightful role as the real experts in our bodies and our children. Her bestselling book⁠ Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor's Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices,⁠ Sarah has presented workshops and conferences in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the UK, the US and Canada, lecturing to midwives, nurses, physicians, obstetricians, doulas, and childbirth educators as well as mothers and fathers. So sit back and enjoy the wise words, we could have listened to Sarah for hours… To find out more about Dr.Sarah Buckley and all her research and about her books please see the following  ⁠https://sarahbuckley.com⁠ To read the latest research by Sarah: ⁠https://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/health/maternity/hormonal-physiology-of-childbearing.html⁠ Sarah has suggested for up to date research and topics following her blog ⁠https://sarahbuckley.com/category/blog/⁠ To book into one of my Online or Face-to-Face Hypnobirthing Courses OR to book a Birth Debrief session visit ⁠www.belly2birth.com.au

Dr Sarah Buckley, academic and author of the best selling book ‘Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering, joins Mel on the podcast to discuss how the brain works during labour and it's interaction with the body. We speak about how to optimise brain function in labour in order to optimise birth physiology. Sarah is an invited speaker to the Convergence of Rebellious Midwives Conference happening in Sydney, Australia in August 2024. Click here to see more about this event and buy tickets For more about Sarah: Website: www.sarahbuckley.com FB: @DrSarahBuckley IG: @SarahJBuckley Twitter: @Sarahjbuckley To get on the mailing list for the podcast and to access the resource folders for each episode, visit www.melaniethemidwife.com Premium podcast members Hub Being a premium podcast member gives you access to the transcript and additional resources for each episode AND the 'ask Mel a question' button so you can submit questions for the monthly 'Ask me anything' episode. Only available in the premium podcast members hub Find out all the details here You can find out more about Mel @melaniethemidwife Disclaimer: The information and resources provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute or replace medical or midwifery advice. Instead, all information provided is intended for education, with it's application intended for discussion between yourself and your care provider and/or workplace if you are a health professional. The Great Birth Rebellion podcast reserves the right to suppl ement, edit, change, delete any information at any time. Whilst we have tried to maintain accuracy and completeness of information, we do not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or currency of the information. The podcast accepts no liability for any loss, damage or unfavourable outcomes howsoever arising out of the use or reliance on the content. This podcast is not a replacement for midwifery or medical clinical c

Every woman sheds a part of herself as she goes through the rite of passages - Menarche, Birth and Menopause, the life altering experiences that hold huge significance.  We all arrive in pregnancy with something we have learnt from our life experiences which helps us visualise our birth in a certain way. Some of us desire it to be a breeze, some of us desire it to be painless, some of us desire it to be with friends and family, some of us want to avoid a surgery at all costs even if we do not know how birth can look like, some of consider it our identity linked to birthing naturally as women.Sanjana's journey has been the same very much like many of us. She is self aware, reflective and growth oriented: Innwards in her journey of pregnancy and birth. Her transitioning definitions about herself contributed to the decision of prioritising her ideas about birth over the little juggles of life. Listen to the journey of transformation for a woman through pregnancy and birth as we rediscuss them as the rightful dimensions of growth a women is gifted with which she has all the right to experience guided by herself than any authority or outward force.About Guest: Sanjana is a Political Scientist by profession focused on urban-rural linkages, urban studies and inequalities in India. She is the cofounder of the Beejvan Biodiversity and Collaborative Research Foundation. A winner of the Erasmus scholarship, the  German Chancellors' Fellowship and  Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge. Her project, Beejvan won the Lush Spring Prize 2023, UK.Sanjana is also a home birthing mother of two daughters and very passionate about immunology, and enjoys learning about various indigenous healing modalities. Her quest for truth, led by her intuition, beyond what science and religion have attempted to understand and preach, is what led her to birth her daughter's and raise them on her own terms. The journey of healing is non-linear and ongoing and she trusts it is a beautiful one, even on the worst days.Support the showSign up for Traverse the Labor Land and Own your birth programs! visit www.birthagni.com/contactusSupport the show: If you like what you hear, leave us a rating on Spotify app and answer the question at each episode! a review on Apple podcasts. Share on Whatsapp/Insta/FB Share on Instagram and tag us @divyakapoorvox Support the production by making a donation at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/birthagni. This ensures the continuity and quality and a good coffee on sleepless recording nights! Subscribe to the FREE newsletter at https://www.birthagni.com/#subscribe and receive DISCOUNTS, SALE updates and GIFTCARDS on our premium 'Own your Birth' program You can book a 20 min FREE Discovery call at https://www.birthagni.com/...

In today's episode we speak with Dr. Sarah Buckley on the science of natural and undisturbed birth. Dr. Sarah Buckley is the author of the best selling book Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering, the author the report Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing (January 2015), and all around natural childbirth expert.  We are honored and grateful to have Dr. Sarah Buckley join us on the Doing It At Home Podcast for many reasons. To start, her book "Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor's Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices" was a huge influence on us during our pregnancy. Sarah (our Sarah...Sarah Bivens that is) started reading Dr. Buckley's book while we were still planning for a birth with an OBGYN in a hospital. We learned about Dr. Buckley from her appearances in a DVD series called "Happy Healthy Child" (another resource we highly recommend and link to in the show notes.) Dr. Buckley's extensive research and evidence based information on pregnancy and birth, along with her own accounts of her 4 home births left quite the impression on us. It got the wheels turning and prompted us to think about the elements we wanted in our birth. Overtime we found that the best way to experience all of that would be at home. So we're very grateful to Dr. Buckley and the work that she does, because it's like she's been a part of our journey. Dr. Buckley integrates what would seem like differing philosophies at first glance: in the mindset of a medical background, training, practice and care, and natural, holistic, unassisted, physiological birth. Dr. Buckley talks about physiological birth as the type of birth that's in alignment with how the body is designed to work. And low tech models of care support this process. Home birth is an ideal situation to allow for this. We also talk about the core requirements for birth and what a woman needs to feel private, safe and unobserved. And if you didn't know or fully understand the hormonal cocktail that a woman experienced in natural birth, you will by the end of this episode. Want to know what ecstatic birth is? Listen to this episode. One of the key takeaways here is the potential to reclaim power in the experience of birth. That with a healing birth, we can heal the earth! Links From The Episode: SarahBuckley.com Sarah Buckley on Facebook HappyHealthyChild.com Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor's Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices by Sarah Buckley Hormonal Physiology Of Childbearing (report) Pain In Labor (ebook) Ecstatic Birth (ebook) Offers From Our Awesome Partners: Needed: https://bit.ly/2DuMBxP - use code DIAH to get 20% off your order Splash Blanket: https://bit.ly/3JPe1g0 - use code DIAH for 10% off your order Esembly: https://bit.ly/3eanCSz - use code DIH20 to get 20% off your order More From Doing It At Home: Send us your birth story: https://bit.ly/3jOjCKl Doing It At Home book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vJcPmU DIAH Website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doingitathome/ DIAH YouTube: https://bit.ly/3pzuzQC DIAH Merch: www.diahpodcast.com/merch Give Back to DIAH: https://bit.ly/3qgm4r9 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Rebroadcast) You hear about physiological birth but do you really KNOW what it is that makes birth physiological? Have you ever wondered, "How does the baby know when to be born?" "How can I have a pain-free and peaceful birth?" "How do I bond with my baby?" Well friends... it all comes down to the hormonal cascade. Dr. Sarah has done a lot of research and really has dived into what physiological birth is an how to facilitate it. After having 4 home births herself and years of research she comes on the show to share her expertise and knowledge about hormones in labor and birth. About Dr. Sarah Buckley: Sarah Buckley is trained as a GP/family physician with qualifications in GP-obstetrics and family planning. She is the mother of four home-born children and lives in Brisbane, Australia, where she is a PhD candidate as well as writing and lecturing on pregnancy, birth, and parenting.  Dr Buckley's work critiques current practices in pregnancy, birth, and parenting from the widest possible perspectives, including scientific, anthropological, cross-cultural, psychological, and personal. She encourages us to be fully informed in our decision-making; to listen to our hearts and our intuition; and to claim our rightful role as the real experts in our bodies and our children. She is also a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland,, where her research is focused on oxytocin in labour and birth and the impacts of interventions. See her professional, peer-reviewed publications as part of her PhD here Her bestselling book Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor's Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices, published by Celestial Arts/PenguinRandomHouse (US, 2009), builds on her acclaimed first edition, published in Australia as Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: The Wisdom and Science of Gentle Choices in Pregnancy, Birth, and Parenting (One Moon Press, Brisbane, 2005, available as ebook here ). Dr Buckley has an ongoing interest in the hormones of labour and birth, and this has culminated in her groundbreaking report Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing (2015 Childbirth Connection, a program of the National Partnership for Women and Families). This report, available for free online,  has been described as “…one of the most revolutionary and influential publications on maternity and newborn care ever issued.”   Grab your free homebirth checklist: bit.ly/homebirthessentials      Join Our FB Community: Facebook.com/groups/peacefulhomebirth

In the final installment of ⁠Robin Douthit's⁠ "Childbirth Luminaries" series, host Robin Douthit has the privilege of sitting down with the incredible Ibu Robin Lim, a Filipino American midwife, mother, grandmother, and a true champion of gentle birth. Ibu Robin is not only the author of impactful books such as "The Ecology of Gentle Birth," "Wellness for Mothers," and "Eating For Two," but she was also recognized as the CNN Hero of the Year in 2011. Founder of Bumi Sehat, Ibu Robin is at the forefront of a movement advocating for Human Rights in Childbirth. Tune in as we explore Ibu Robin's passionate journey, dedicated to ensuring that every pregnant and non-pregnant individual receives the love and care they deserve. Discover the incredible work she has accomplished through the healthcare clinics she has established, relying on the support of generous funding and donations. Ibu Robin Lim's belief that each person is an essential part of creating peace on earth resonates deeply. Join us as we delve into her tireless efforts to create loving and peaceful surroundings for every newborn. Learn how Ibu Robin is making a lasting impact, one birth at a time, and why she is a true beacon of hope and inspiration in the realm of maternal and child healthcare. Don't miss this enlightening episode that celebrates the extraordinary contributions of Ibu Robin Lim, a remarkable individual dedicated to making the world a more compassionate and caring place for all.

How can we build a cohesive team that fosters collaborative care in childbirth? Explore this conversation between Debra Pascali Bonaro and Robin Lim, and learn about the transformative impact of doulas, midwives, and respectful birthing environments. In this episode, they also discuss the importance of respectful and gentle prenatal care, the recognition of doulas as essential caregivers, and the collaboration between midwives and doulas, highlighting the significance of preserving the baby's blood supply through delayed cord clamping and emphasizing the need for cohesive teams and access to safe and culturally sensitive care. They also mention Robin Lim's books and the opportunity to support Bumi Sehat through donations. Overall, it serves as a call to action for creating positive childbirth experiences and celebrating the miracle of every birth. Robin Lim is the founder of Bumi Sehat, an NGO which maintains clinics in Indonesia and the Philippines. Ibu Robin's Passion is respectful, skilled, culturally informed, gentle prenatal/postnatal care, childbirth services, and healthcare as a human right. She is the author of many books, including After the Baby's Birth, Wellness for Mothers, Ecology of Gentle Birth, Awakening Birth, and Eating for Two. Robin was CNN Hero of the Year in 2011.   In this episode: Today's guest Robin Lim, the founder of Bumi Sehat Clinics, is dedicated to providing respectful and gentle prenatal care, postnatal care, and childbirth services, advocating for healthcare as a human right The conversation emphasizes the vital role of doulas in facilitating access to appropriate care providers and birthing environments where mothers feel safe and supported Doula care, encompassing prenatal and postnatal support, childbirth services, and emotional assistance, is highlighted as a crucial aspect of maternal and infant well-being Doulas demonstrated resilience and dedication by making sacrifices to be present during births amidst the challenges posed by COVID-19, ultimately leading to their recognition as essential caregivers The personal experience of Robin, who initially questioned the role of doulas while being a midwife, is shared, highlighting the realization of the importance of doulas in providing emotional support and contributing to safe births The significance of preserving the baby's blood supply by delaying cord clamping is discussed, emphasizing the positive effects it has on hormonal release, bonding, and the overall well-being of mother and baby The importance of building collaborative care is crucial in ensuring safe and respectful childbirth experiences, necessitating a well-functioning team that includes midwives, doulas, doctors, and other healthcare professionals Information is provided on how to contact Robin Lim, access her books, and support the work of Bumi Sehat through donations   Key Takeaways: Doula care, encompassing prenatal and postnatal support, childbirth services, and emotional assistance, is a crucial aspect of maternal and infant well-being Doulas serve as valuable guides for mothers, helping them navigate choices related to care providers and birthing environments, ultimately ensuring access to safe and supportive experiences Midwives and doulas complement each other in providing comprehensive care during childbirth, with midwives focusing on medical expertise and doulas offering emotional support and advocacy Cultural safety and access to quality care are essential for all individuals, regardless of their background or circumstances Every birth is a miracle, and the efforts of doulas, midwives, and individuals involved in childbirth deserve recognition and celebration for the positive impact they make on the world   Tweetable Quotes: "It's our responsibility to have our skills in order to have our hearts and minds set on what our potential is for creating access for every mother to safely bring her baby." - Robin Lim "Doulas are essential caregivers. You are the entry point where mothers can find access." - Robin Lim   Connect with Robin! Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube, or visit her Websites: https://bumisehat.org/ and https://www.eatpraydoula.com/   Connect with Debra!  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orgasmicbirth/    Twitter: https://twitter.com/OrgasmicBirth   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/OrgasmicBirth1     TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@orgasmicbirth     Visit https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/ for more information on how to Positively Prepare for birth and parenting  Check out Orgasmic Birth: The Best-Kept Secret, the film creating buzz around the world: https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/the-film/     Orgasmic Birth Podcast: Pleasure in pregnancy, birth, and parenting. I believe pleasure is our birthright - from our sexuality, birth, parenting, and beyond, we can find pleasure when we create space for joy and intimacy in our lives. Join me to have deep conversations about breaking the taboos of Sexuality + Motherhood/Parenthood.    Listen to leading experts in sexuality, healing, and childbirth as well as stories from new parents, doulas, doctors, midwives, and nurses. We will discuss how to positively prepare for childbirth and parenting by expanding love and intimacy in your life. 

Sameha was waiting for her labor to begin as she was already past 10 days of her estimated due date. Little did she know her labor would be a quick one and she would have labored majorly at home only rush to the birth center when she felt the first pushing sensation. Her water had already broken and there was meconium .Now you may want to know if her hospital was close or far off. What happened when she reached the birth center? Was everyone worried about the meconium and reeled her into an emergency?Tune in to listen to the entire story now!Sameha Arora is a mother of a 15 month old baby boy.  She is a technical product manager at Amazon India , Hyderabad.A very passionate mother and a close friend.Prepare for Birth, explore Prenatal and Postnatal Preparation Classes, visit www.birthagni.comSupport the show: If you like what you hear, leave us a rating on Spotify app and answer the question at each episode! a review on Apple podcasts. Share on Whatsapp/Insta/FB Share on Insta and tag us @divyakapoorvox Support the production by making a donation at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/birthagni. This ensures the continuity and quality and a good coffee on sleepless recording nights! Subscribe to the FREE newsletter at https://www.birthagni.com/#subscribe and receive DISCOUNTS, SALE updates and GIFTCARDS on our premium 'Own your Birth' program You can book a 20 min FREE Discovery call at https://www.birthagni.com/bookfreesession ...

In today's episode, Meg shares her heartwarming journey through her twin pregnancy and twin birth.  From the moment she discovered two heart beats, to her relentless campaign for a home birth, with the support of the midwives. Twin births are often performed within the hospital setting. It is not uncommon for twin births to be performed under an elective caesarian section or induction, so Meg and her partner had a real fight on her hands to have the natural home birth they dreamed of.Meg shares her deep and passionate birth preparation journey  to be as empowered and safe as she possible could. She also shares the relentless and often challenging experience of convincing her maternity service to let her birth her babies at home, naturally. There are a few links in todays episode, which you can find detailed below:Megs Birth Plan at www.FitFannyAdams.com/MEGSBIRTHPLANMegs Reading List at www.FitFannyAdams.com/MEGSREADINGLISTGet to know how to use your BRAIN acronym in Episode 30 of The Pelvic Floor Connection HEREAnd if you would like to contact Meg to talk about her or your twin birth experience or plans, please contact me at sarahjane@FitFannyAdams.com

Sydney joins Meagan on the podcast today to share her VBAC story and talk about her experiences going past 42 weeks for both of her pregnancies. Meagan shares a story about one of her doula clients who went past 43 weeks! Sydney and Meagan discuss how due dates are calculated and the flaws behind the method that is so widely used.Meagan shares evidence-based information about the risks involved with being pregnant longer than 42 weeks as well as risks surrounding the choice to induce earlier. Having multiple sources of information along with your personal experiences and feelings will help you feel more empowered to make the right decisions surrounding when to birth your baby!Additional LinksBirthful Podcast Episode on Due DatesEBB: Evidence on Due Dates BlogHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsThe VBAC Link Facebook CommunityFull Transcript under Episode DetailsMeagan: Hello! It is The VBAC Link. My name is Meagan and we have another VBAC story for you today. In addition to the VBAC story, we're going to be talking about postdates. This is a really hot topic especially in the VBAC world because we have a lot of people, I don't want to say forced necessarily, but pressed to induce their labor. I think after the ARRIVE trial came out, it's become even more pressing to have a baby by 39 weeks. I feel like the way we view the new due dates is that 40 weeks is 41. 39 is 40. 38 is 39. I feel like in a lot of areas in the world, that is how our mental state has shifted and we don't really hear 41 weeks or 42 weeks as much anymore. Today, we have Sydney, and guess what you guys? She had 42 weeks and 5 days, right? Is that right Sydney with your first? Sydney: Mhmm, that's right. Yes. Meagan: And then 42 weeks and 3 days with the second. So you are one of those mamas that carry further along than a lot of people. We're going to actually make sure to have it here in the show notes but the Birthful Podcast, I don't know if you guys listen to Birthful Podcast but I love it. I'm not even expecting anymore. I'm done having kids but I still love listening to it because the guests that she has on there are just filled with information. I want to say the guest she had, her name was Gayle I want to say. Don't quote me on that. But she has an episode all about due dates and talking about how the body carries. Review of the WeekWe are going to get some more into that at the end but of course, we have a review of the week and then we will have Sydney share her VBAC story with you. This review is by Rachelmademusic. It says, “Such a gem of a show. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Julie and Meagan, for creating this supportive and powerful space for mamas like me to learn and prepare for our VBACs. I'm currently 33 weeks pregnant and preparing for my own VBAC. I can't begin to express just how thankful I am to have found this podcast. I am truly grateful for this resource and for all of the mamas who come onto this show and share their stories. There is such an incredible strength and collective wisdom to be found here and I highly recommend this podcast to anyone preparing for VBAC or not.”Oh, thank you so much Rachelmademusic. I would agree. This podcast is such a great platform for first, second-time, third-time moms, fourth-time moms, and not even just VBAC moms because there is so much information that is shared on this podcast that talks about how to avoid a Cesarean. When we have a Cesarean in the US, it's almost 32%. That's pretty stinking high especially when it used to be 5% way back in the day. Although our VBAC rates are also going up, Cesarean rates have just skyrocketed. So if we can learn how to avoid an unnecessary Cesarean or undesired which a lot of us have had undesired and unplanned or maybe unnecessary Cesareans, we can start lowering that. I think it could be super impactful to a lot of the world because as part of these stories, we hear these first-time Cesareans or second-time Cesareans and they don't always resonate with positivity. That is hard because we want our birth experiences to be positive. So yeah. I think that it's super important that anybody listens to all of these birth stories. Sydney's StoriesMeagan: Okay, welcome to the show, Sydney. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to be here with us and share these stories. Sydney: Thank you. Meagan: Are you in Virginia? Is that correct? Sydney: Yep, I'm in Virginia. Meagan: Awesome. We're going to start trying to say where people are because a lot of the times, we'll get messages that will say, “Oh my gosh, I'm in the same area. Is there any way I could get their providers?” So it's fun to be like, “I'm in Virginia. I will listen to this too because I want a VBAC and I want to learn who is supportive or who is maybe not supportive.” Yes, okay. Well, I would love to just hear your story and share this with all of you women of strength listening. Sydney: Yeah, great. Okay, thanks. Yes, I'm Sydney. I'll just jump into my first birth story. I was pregnant actually during the pandemic. My due date was August 8, 2020. Meagan: Okay, in the thick of it, really. Sydney: Yes, right in the midst of it. We were planning to birth with our birth center here locally. I actually was living in Tennessee when I got pregnant then moved about halfway through and started prenatal care with a birth center here so I was planning for a natural birth and just sort of assumed everything would be fine. Women had been giving birth forever. I come from a lot of strong women having a lot of babies so I just did not even think. I assumed it would be fine. Meagan: Yeah, you didn't think anything of it. Yeah. Sydney: Yeah, this is just what people do. I'll be fine. Everything was pretty normal with the pregnancy. I got to 40 weeks and had no signs of labor. I was not really worried about it at that point. Then I started getting to the end of 41 weeks and I was like, “Hmm. Huh. What do I do now?” The midwives were really helpful and gave me of course all of the things to try. I tried all of the things. I was going to the chiropractor multiple times. I tried acupuncture. I was drinking tea. I was pumping and doing all of the things that they told me I should do to try and get labor going. I just was not having much luck. So finally we decided, “Okay.” I was going to be 42 weeks on a Saturday so we thought, “I'll try the big guns, castor oil, on Saturday.” Something happened with the midwife. She wasn't ready for me to do it on Saturday so we had to wait until Monday which was 42+2. I took it first thing Monday morning at 6:00 or 7:00 AM. I could not keep it down. I threw it up so I had to do it again which was horrible. I hated it. I was like, “I'm never doing this again.”Meagan: Did you drink it straight? Did they have you mix it in a concoction? Sydney: They had me do a milkshake with vanilla ice cream, peanut butter, and castor oil. Meagan: Yeah, that's actually similar to what I drank. Sydney: Really? Okay. Meagan: Yeah, with my second. It's gross. Sydney: It was still so disgusting. Meagan: Yeah, yeah. Sydney: I did it a second time. The castor oil did its job. It got some contractions going but I was walking a lot to just keep them doing anything. That sort of continued through Tuesday. I was having just mild contractions on and off. Then by Wednesday morning which was when I was 42+4, they were strong and consistent. The midwives were like, “Okay, we think you're ready to come in. Let's get things going.”I remember they had to meet us at the birth center. It was 7:30 in the morning. I got there and apparently, another mom had beat me there. She was also in labor. So as soon as I walked in, I'm a first-time pregnant mom, she is pushing her baby out and screaming. It was the most terrifying thing I had ever heard. Literally, I think my cervix just closed up and was like, “Nope. Not doing that.” I literally didn't have contractions for a couple of hours after that. It all stopped. Meagan: Yeah. Sydney: That was unfortunate, Meagan: That can happen. That can really happen though. It doesn't even matter. Maybe nothing significant like a woman screaming in labor, it doesn't have to seem significant. It can be just shifting from the car to the hospital or your home to the car or downstairs to upstairs. Something off can calm things down. Sydney: It did, yeah. Meagan: Sometimes it's just your body responding and needing a break. Sydney: Yeah, yeah and that's really what happened. The midwives worked with me all day. We were doing Miles Circuit. I remember that it was August so it was scorching outside. They had me climbing hills and stairs and curb walking. They made my husband stay inside and take a nap because he was exhausted. I was doing all of the things, pumping every half an hour and they were giving me tinctures every 30 minutes. Still, by 5:00, I think I was maybe 3 centimeters but contractions were not picking up. They weren't strong enough and we were both exhausted so the midwives were like, “All right. I think the best plan is for you to go home, drink a glass of wine and take some Tylenol PM. Let's get these mild contractions to stop so you can relax and then you probably need to go be induced in the morning.” Because at this point, we were 42 and 4. I was starting to get uncomfortable. I was just exhausted. They were like, “It probably would be beneficial for you at this point to be induced and have an epidural so you can just rest and relax and let your body do what it needs to do.” That was our plan. We went home and did that. It worked for a couple of hours but the contractions actually really picked up overnight so by 4:30, I was like, “We need to go. I can't do this anymore.” I think we did the wine and Tylenol PM again later in the night and it just was not working. So at this point, I was like, “Okay. We're ready to go.” We ended up going to the hospital. By the time I got there, they were like, “You do not need to be induced. You're already in active labor.” I was like, “Okay, great. Let's do this.” We labored for a while and decided later that morning to try for an epidural so that I could just get some rest because we were so tired. As soon as I got into position for the epidural, the baby's heart rate decelerated so there was panic. There were a ton of people in the room. They were doing oxygen. They wanted to check the baby's position to see if the baby had maybe dropped or something but the baby stabilized almost immediately. They said I was at an 8. I was like, “Oh wow. Okay. Forget the epidural. Let's just do it.” I continued to labor for a couple of hours and they checked me again. This was probably at 11:00 and they said I was at a 4. Meagan: What?!Sydney: I was like, “Huh? What?” I don't know if the first person got it wrong. I have no idea what happened but I was in a different position when they checked me. It was a whole thing. Meagan: It's happened. I've been to births where that's happened where they were like, “Oh, you are 9 centimeters,” and getting the cart out, then getting the provider to come in then the provider comes in and is like, “She's 5 centimeters,” then we're like, “What?” The one provider explained to me and the team said that sometimes if we have a really, really stretchy, favorable cervix, especially during a contraction or certain positions, it can feel thinner than it is or feel like it is dilated more than it is and then they change that or a different person checks and they're like, “Yeah, no.” But man, that's a frustrating scenario. Sydney: I was devastated. So at that point, I was like, “All right, bring me the epidural.” I'm only at 4 centimeters.Meagan: Yeah. Change of plans, let's do that again. Sydney: I cannot go much longer. So they were bringing the epidural. Meanwhile, they decided to break my water because she could feel the water and there was meconium in it so that gave them a red flag. When they went to bring the epidural and I got into position, the same thing happened. Baby's heart rate went this time way, way down into the 20s. Meagan: Like something is being compressed. Sydney: Yeah, so at that point it wasn't even a question. They rushed me out for a C-section immediately. By the time we got to the OR, baby had stabilized but they were like, “You're both exhausted. We need to get this baby out. You've been doing this way too long,” and I was postdated and there was meconium so I think there was a lot of concern. Then they went to give me a spinal tap so I could be awake and it didn't take. They did it twice and it didn't take. Meagan: Did the baby's heart rate react then?Sydney: Not that I know of. Meagan: It's not working. It's not working, yeah. Sydney: So they put me under and I birthed my baby asleep which was a whole thing but she was on my chest not too much after she was born and I was able to nurse immediately. They tried to be really accommodating to me and they were very mother/baby friendly. Meagan: Yeah. Did they bring you back pretty quickly? Sydney: Yeah. Meagan: Like you were awake right after? Sydney: Yes, pretty much. I think they were still working on me while I was awake. Meagan: Okay, yeah. Sydney: And then my husband was able to be there. He got to see her first while they were examining her. It all was fine. We were both healthy and we were okay but it was a little bit of a traumatic experience and not what we were planning for at all from a natural birth to a total C-section. Moving on to being pregnant again, I was like, “All right. What do I want to do now because it feels like the natural birth didn't go well but this time around–” I don't know. I felt like I was more prepared and knew a lot more. There were a lot of choices I made with the first birth that I knew I wouldn't make with the second. I had said, “I'm not going past 42 weeks.” Obviously, I didn't but that was my mindset. I was like, “I'm going to do what I can to have the baby ahead of time.” So anyways, my second baby was due July 10, 2022, so just under two years later. I did decide to go with the birth center again, the same birth center. We had a good prenatal experience there and I love the midwives there. And again, I felt like I was more knowledgeable this time around. I knew that I was getting a doula. I did not have that the first time. I knew that I wanted to set myself up for success as much as I could. So again, I was doing everything I knew to do to shorten the pregnancy. I went to the chiropractor early and I went consistently every week. I drank lots of the Nora tea. I started pumping at 36 weeks every day. I was taking Gentle Birth and walked consistently. Meagan: So great. Sydney: I was doing everything. The pregnancy was fairly normal. This baby was breech at 34 weeks and I was so discouraged because I was like, “I'm a VBAC. A lot of people aren't going to want to do that.” Even my midwives were a little bit hesitant to do that because I had never had a vaginal birth. They usually are good with breech births, but with my situation, they were like, “We're not sure we want to take that risk.” So I knew my chances of VBAC with a breech baby were very low. So I was doing inversions. I did acupuncture. I put frozen peas on my belly. I did everything that people told me to do. He did flip by 36 weeks which I was very thankful for. So anyways, I'm doing all of these things to make sure that this pregnancy is shorter. At 40 weeks, I upped the walking. I started swimming but no signs of labor at all. At 41 weeks, the same thing. Not dilated at all, getting discouraged. And of course, during this time, we're doing a lot of non-stress tests and trying to make sure that baby is still doing well. Around 42 weeks again, I said, “I'm not going past 42 weeks,” but of course when it gets to that point, I'm like, “Just a couple of more days. I want to do everything I can to have the birth that I want.” So at 42 weeks, I was 1 centimeter and we were all so thankful. The midwife did a sweep and I did castor oil again. I tried to hit it with everything in one day. I think I ended up doing the castor oil three times because it wasn't doing anything. Meagan: Oh my goodness. Sydney: So eventually, it worked and I got some contractions at midnight to 3:00 AM and then it just sort of fizzled out. I just kept having really mild contractions. At 42 weeks and 3 days, I decided that there was not much more I can do at this point. I need to go be induced because we really were trying everything. They were not getting strong enough or consistent enough to make any progress. Meagan: Again, post date. Sydney: Right, right. My body is going this long, so do I trust that? I know that the risk goes up significantly after 42 weeks from what I've heard and read so it's weighing that balance of, “I know baby's okay but how long am I willing to wait this out and take risks?” So I decided to go be induced. They put me in triage at 7:00 AM on a Saturday and of course, the nurse was basically like, “You're this huge fish that doctors never see because you're a transfer. You're a VBAC. You're post dates.” Just all of these different things that made me an interesting patient. Meagan: All of the checkmarks against you here. Sydney: Yes. They were able to get us into a room later that morning. It had a tub. The nurse we had was really sweet. She knew that we were from a birth center. She was like, “I have this room with a tub. Someone's in it but if you can wait a couple of hours, you can get into that room.” So we got into the room with the tub. They started me with a Foley balloon and that did not take very long at all and then they started Pitocin at a very, very low level, like a 2 I think. Meagan: That's a really great, nice way to induce. A Foley with a low dose of 2 or 4 milliliters of Pit for a little bit. Sydney: Yeah, yeah. I was able to be in the tub for a little while. I stayed in there for a couple of hours and then I think around some time that afternoon at 3:00 I did ask for an epidural because again, I had been up for days at this point and needed to just rest. Meagan: So tired, yeah. Sydney: The anesthesiologist was in surgery so it was a few hours. I think they didn't come until 7:30 that evening. This time, everything went fine. I was able to get the epidural and get some rest. It was just like, “Wow. I did not anticipate feeling this good right now.” It was such a relief and I was able to get some rest. My doula came around then and was very helpful and sweet. Then around 11:30 that night, I started throwing up. They thought maybe it was the epidural. They said that can sometimes make people nauseous. They were checking all that and my doula was like, “She might be in transition. Why don't we check?” And I was fully dilated which was so exciting. I was getting ready to push and I was happy to finally be doing something and feeling productive. I was pushing for a while. After about an hour or so, the doctor that was with me switched out with another doctor. I think she had another surgery to be in or something. The doctor that came in was the doctor that did my first C-section. He almost immediately– he hadn't been in the room very long but he said that if I couldn't push the baby out that they would have to use forceps or do a C-section. Meagan: Had he been pushing with you at all at this point or did he just bluntly say these things before even assessing? Sydney: Yeah. He had been in there maybe for five minutes. I was so discouraged and my doula just looked at me and winked like, “Don't worry about that.” Meagan: Don't worry. Yeah. Ignore what he just said. Sydney: Yeah. I think it took me– we started pushing around 12:30 and then he was born I think at 2:30 or so. So 2-2 ½ hours of pushing. Meagan: That's not long at all. Sydney: It wasn't too bad. That was really sweet. I finally got to have a vaginal birth. My husband was there. He got to announce the gender and cut the cord. I got him on my chest immediately and it was really sweet. I did have a 3A tear which was–Meagan: 3rd degree, yeah. Sydney: Yeah. It was a tough recovery with that but otherwise, it was a really, really good experience. Again, not in the birth center, not the natural birth that I had envisioned but it went so much better than I could have anticipated. Meagan: Good. Sydney: I'm really thankful for that. Meagan: I want to talk about that a little bit before we get into due dates. Like you said, it wasn't the natural birth you anticipated, but in the end, you had an epidural that truly was such an amazing tool in your labor. At first, you couldn't get it, but then you were able to rest, and like you said, “I didn't anticipate feeling this good.” The world puts such shame on people for both sides actually of, “Hey, if you don't go unmedicated then you're crazy and you're going to have a C-section,” or “Hey, if you go unmedicated, you're crazy and then if you get an epidural then you're crazy and you're going to have a C-section.” It's just not that way. We need to take out these absolute statements of, “If you do this, you won't have this,” because it's not true. I can't tell you enough. We get so many emails of, “I really want to VBAC so badly but I just don't feel I can go unmedicated. It's not my personality. It's not what I desire.” They're like, “It just sucks that I can't have a VBAC because I don't want to go unmedicated.” I'm like, “Wait, wait, wait, wait. If you want a VBAC, you don't have to go unmedicated.” It's the same thing with induction. Are there some things around induction that may increase some risks or some chances? Yes. That doesn't mean it's going to happen though, right? This provider that started you out with this induction is a really great way to induce. Yeah. You had progressed a little bit before with your first so that's also a really great factor, but yeah. You don't have to go unmedicated to have a vaginal birth in general. I mean, look at all of the people that truly don't go unmedicated. It doesn't make you less of a person if you don't have an epidural. Something I love about your stories, both of them, is that you had the discussion with the midwives but you had this thing of, “Okay. We're going to go to the hospital now. I'm making this choice for me, for my baby, and this is what I feel good about.” I think that's important to note too. Sometimes plans change and plans can change. Sydney: Yes, yes. I held it a lot more loosely the second time around than I did the first. Meagan: Yeah. Well, I think it's just because in the world we get a lot of pressure and shame for decisions that we make. My kids are in a lot of sports and I get shamed for my kids being in sports and that has nothing to do with anybody else's life. Yeah. Listeners, you guys birth the way you desire. If that's a repeat Cesarean, that's a repeat Cesarean. If that's an induction, that's an induction. If it's unmedicated, medicated, or whatever it may be, birth the way you want. But on the way to birthing the way you want, make informed choices by getting the education and the knowledge behind every choice that you are making. Okay, so due dates. Here you have two babies that have gone over 42 weeks. Neither of them had many issues or anything. Maybe we had some mec which is common, especially in postdate babies. So I want to talk about what postdate means or what all of the terms mean. An early-term baby is between 37 and 38+6. That's an early-term baby. A full-term baby is 39 to 40+6. A late-term baby is 41-41+6 and then a post-term baby is 42 weeks or later. Technically, you had two postdate babies. I had an early, a full, and a late baby. I had three different ones. One of the resources that we love so much is Rebecca Dekker at Evidence Based Birth. If you guys have not checked out that website, it's so amazing. They turn studies into English for the people who can't understand a lot of these studies because it's really hard. They turn them into English. One of the things that she talks about on this specific blog which we'll have in the show notes is titled “Evidence on Due Dates.” One of the things she talks about, and shame me if I'm pronouncing this wrong, but it's called the Negel's Rule. It's something I had never really heard about until probably a year ago but back in the 40s, a professor in the Netherlands created this rule on how to calculate estimated due dates. She says, “Based on the records of 100 pregnant women, they have figured an estimated due date by adding 7 dates to their last period,” then that is 9 months. It's crazy though because if you think about this world and our periods as women, we are not the same. Nobody. I can guarantee you that I am not the same as my neighbor or my friend or even my sister. We have different cycles and this was based on a 28-day cycle ovulating on the 14th day. That just doesn't happen all of the time. I don't love the method because it can be different. On the Birthful Podcast, we talk about how people sometimes carry longer. That doesn't mean that they're super, super, super overdue. It just means that they have carried longer. In her blog, she talks about a person that had a 44-day cycle so she may have been viewed as 42 weeks or 41 weeks + 2 days, but really, she was 40 weeks. So we were adding a week and two days onto this due date and we're telling people that we're got a higher chance of stillbirth and things like that but really because of her long cycle, she is 40 weeks. It's just so hard. It's so hard. I mean, there is research and this blog is amazing but even then, it's hard. But we do want to talk about the risks of going past your due date. What risks, Sydney, did people tell you about going past your due dates? For you and baby, was there anything said that was very specific like, “If you go one more day, this is going to happen or more than likely to happen?” Sydney: The biggest thing that stands out in my mind is the meconium and the risk of baby aspirating and then also just the general risk of stillbirth going up after 42 weeks were the two obvious things that I remember. Meagan: Yeah. That is correct. The risk of moderate or thick meconium increases every week starting at 38 weeks. It's interesting. We don't know exactly why a baby has a bowel movement in utero all the time. Sometimes it's due dates. Maybe sometimes it's stress or a really fast transition or whatever. They just do. We don't know exactly why all of the time, but it does seem to peak between that 38-42 weeks. It's 3% at 37 weeks, 5% at 38 weeks, 8% at 39 weeks, 13% at 40, 17% at 41 and 18% at 42 weeks. An 18% chance that a baby may have a bowel movement within that 42 weeks. 18% might sound really, really high but to some people, they're like, “Okay, well if it happens.” Then like you were saying, we worry about the risk of aspiration. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't. If it does, sometimes we have other issues. Another risk for infants is the increased chances of NICU admission. They were the lowest at 39 weeks at 3.9% and rose up to 7.2% at 42 weeks. Again, some people may look at that and say, “That's enough for me to have a baby at 39 weeks.” Some people might be like, “7.2%. I'll take the chances.” It's a totally personal preference. One of the other risks, and when I say risks, I'm really putting quotations around this because it's one of those eye-rollers for me. It's a big baby. A lot of providers will say, “Oh, your baby is going to get way big. You might not be able to have that vaginal birth.” Especially with VBACs, it's like, “Last time, your baby was larger.” Let's say last time your baby was 8 pounds, but this time it could be really big if you keep going. It shows that for greater than 9 pounds, 15 ounces rose during 38 weeks which is 0.5%, and then doubled at 42 weeks which is 6%. But I mean, we recorded a story last week with Morgan whose baby was 10 pounds, 12 ounces. Big babies still come out and they're just fine. It's hard to hear the risk of the big baby because why are we shaming these babies? It's fine if they're big. It's fine if they're chunky. We love when they're chunky. And then some of the risks of having a lower APGAR score or stillbirth. The stillbirth I think is probably one of the most intense risks that we look at. It's the scariest risk for obvious reasons. It says, “Absolute risk is an actual risk of something happening to you. For example, if the absolute risk of having a stillbirth at 41 risks was 1.7 out of 1000, then that means that 1.7 mothers of 1000 or 17 out of 10,000 will experience a stillbirth.” So you hear that and it's very scary. Then it says, “Relative risk is the risk of something happening to you in comparison to somebody else. If someone said that the risk of a stillbirth at 42 weeks compared to 41 weeks was 94% higher, then that sounds like a lot but some people may consider that that actual or absolute risk is still quite low at 1.7 versus 3.2.” We've had a post like this. It actually stirred up a lot of angst because we talked about some absolute risk and some relative risk and actual risk, but really it can be very scary to hear a 94% higher chance than a 3.2% chance. Ultimately, yes. There are risks of stillbirth the longer we go. There are risks of placental issues or infections in moms because there is a whole other category of risks for moms that we a lot of the time don't talk about too much. But yeah. It's just a matter of what is best for you. At the beginning of the podcast, you said, “I haven't met a lot of people who have carried as long as me.” I was telling you that in eight and a half years of being a doula, I have had one client specifically– I've had some 42-weekers at one or two days, but one client specifically who went 43 weeks and 1 day. It started at 40 weeks. Her provider was like, “You have to induce. You have to induce. You have to induce. She was like, “No, I don't want to.” Then at 41 weeks, the same thing happened. “You have to induce.” At 42 weeks, she was like, “I'm over it. I don't want to be here anymore.” She called me and she was like, “I'm changing providers. Does that change anything?” Her home was farther away from me than her hospital location so she was like, “I'm changing providers. Does that change anything to do with you supporting me? Because I need to know if I need to find a provider closer to you or if you'll come to me.” I'm like, “Yeah. I'll go wherever you go.” So she called I think it was the next day. At this point, she was 42 weeks + 1 day. She was like, “I found a provider. She's out here by me. She's going to support me.” I'm like, “Okay, great.” She goes to 42 weeks and the doctor is like, “We're going to do two non-stress tests this week. We're just going to check.” They did and they were like, “Everything's great. No problem. Baby might be on the larger side, but other than that, everything's looking great.” At the next one, she was like, “Yep. Everything's looking good.” She's now at 42 weeks and 5 days. I'm like, “Wow.” This is the first and this is in the very beginning of my doula career. I'm like, “Does this really happen? What is happening?” I was feeling nervous because I still didn't know much then. Anyway, at 43 weeks or the day before 43 weeks, she went to her provider and they were like, “You're really not showing a ton of progress. You're barely effaced. You're maybe a centimeter.” Sydney: Oh my gosh. So triggering for me. Meagan: Yes. Well and for her, she was like, “I'm never going to have a baby.” She said that. She was anxious. She was like, “I think I'm going to be pregnant forever.” I'm like, “No, you're not going to be pregnant forever.” But you can understand where she's coming from. Sydney: Yeah. I just don't believe that people go into labor on their own. I just don't get that concept. Meagan: Yeah because of your situation which I totally understand. Yeah. They were like, “How about you come in tomorrow? Let's do this. Let's induce this labor. Let's have this baby.” So she called me and I was like, “Yeah, do it if you want to.” We went over everything so she was like, “Yeah, okay. I'm going to do it.” She actually started contracting through the night and we were like, “Oh, she's going into labor.” I do think she was actually going into labor because we went in. She had only progressed another half a centimeter but she was contracting. I wouldn't say that they were anything too crazy strong or anything but they were there. But then they did induce the labor with those contractions and at 43 weeks + 1 day, she had a really chunky little boy. Everything was really great. Nothing was wrong. He did have meconium. He pooped. They believe that he pooped on the way out so he wasn't super gray or anything but yeah. It's just very interesting. It's very, very interesting. Due dates are interesting and it might be a hangup for you for a long time. Sydney: Mhmm. I always was so curious about this and they said, “We think you're probably just one of those women that if we let you go, you would naturally go to 43 or 44 weeks. Some women just carry longer. Some women carry shorter. Everyone is different.” Meagan: Yep. Yep. I keep thinking Gayle. Gayle is what is coming to my mind for the podcast with Birthful. She talks about that. Some people just go to 43 and 44 weeks. It's crazy but again, back to what was in that study on Rebecca Dekker's blog is that it's not that she was 42 or 43 weeks. That's where the hangup in my mind comes from. This is where she is based on her last period based on this calculation that Google does or the little wheel. My doctor back in the day had a little wheel to tell me when I was due. That doesn't mean that that's when my baby is due and it doesn't mean that I had that 28-day cycle and I ovulated at day 14. Really, that's my hang-up in my head. What more can we do with these due dates? How can we calculate these due dates better because, in my opinion, induction is also really, really high? We've got a high Cesarean rate, a high induction rate, and a lot of people going in. Induction is just fine if that's what you are wanting but a lot of people are getting that pressure to induce and they are getting these scary things being said. Let's figure out what these due dates and these guesstimation dates really mean. Honestly, there is not enough evidence without induction and stuff like that, I don't think, to really, really, really, really know what the average length of pregnancy is. Sydney: Yeah, that's probably a good point because people just don't go that long. They get induced. Meagan: Yeah, they just don't. In your mind, you're like, “I wholeheartedly do not believe that anyone can go into spontaneous labor. I don't get it,” because you've had two experiences and it makes sense. You're welcome to feel that way but at the same time, it's like what is missing here? Like your midwife said, “You're probably one of those that we would let you go and you would go.” But does that really mean you're 44 weeks? Does that mean you're 41 or are you actually 42 at that point?”Sydney: Yeah. We do plan to have more at some point, but I'm going to track my cycle consistently and track the actual conception date if I can and make sure I know exactly when and probably even do an early ultrasound which I haven't done before just because it's always the question people want to ask. “Well, are you sure about your due date? Are you sure about your cycle?” I can't be 100% sure about my cycle but I can be 100% sure about when my last period was. I know what that is. Yeah. I field that question a lot. Meagan: You know, it's an interesting thing that just popped into my head. Remember when I told you earlier that I've had an early term, a full term, and a late term? With my third baby, we were crazy. We were trying for a boy specifically and my friend was like, “Read this book.” I was like, “I'm going to follow this to a T.” We had two girls and my husband was like, “This is the last. You have one more try to get your VBAC.” He was really, really stern on this one more baby. I was like, “Okay, fine.” I was waiting for him. Before he was ready, I started temping. I mean, going more extreme. It consumed me a little bit but I really got familiar with my body because I really wanted to try for this boy. Anyway, so I had temped and done everything. We conceived. I knew almost the hour. It was ridiculous. It was absolutely ridiculous. I knew exactly when I got pregnant and I was 41 weeks, 5 days but with my first, they said that my due date originally was October 26th and then she was measuring small so then they bumped it up to November 6th, 10 days later. She ended up coming November 4th but then I wondered, “Was I early? Was I late? What was I?” because I wasn't tracking. With my second, she came at 38 weeks, 5 days so it makes me wonder there too because I wasn't really paying attention but I felt very pregnant. But then she was small so they were like, “No, it was totally fine.” I'm like, “She was measuring small from the very beginning.” It always makes me wonder. Maybe I was closer to the 40-week mark or maybe I was almost 41 weeks. I don't know. It's fascinating. Sydney: It is, yeah. Meagan: And it's hard. It's hard because we don't know and we are only trying to do what's best. We are only trying to do what we are given the information on. As always, we have to follow our gut and decide what's best for us. We'll make sure to include those studies. If you guys are listening and you find this interesting too, go down to the show notes. Find it. Read them. Listen to the podcast. It's a really, really great episode. Anyway Sydney, thank you so much. Sydney: Thank you for having me on. Meagan: Thank you for bringing this conversation to the table because it's not one that we talk a lot about. But I'm sure you've got some frustration. Like you said, “It's kind of triggering to hear that.” Sydney: Yeah. It's not fair that I have to do all of this work before I actually go into labor. We'll see what I do for the next one. I've said, “I'm not going to do anything. I'm just going to get induced at 42 weeks.” But I'm sure when the next one comes along, I'll be like, “No, I really want to try and do it naturally.”Meagan: Let's do the castor oil again. There are some ways to naturally induce like breast stimulation or sex and starting sex earlier on or evening primrose oil and things like that. Things that we can start doing at 38 weeks leading up. But even then, it's not a guarantee and sometimes it can be frustrating when you're like, “I'm doing all of the things. I'm taking castor oil and I've puked it back up three times and I'm still not having a baby.” Sydney: Yes. Well at this point, it will probably be a matter of, “I'm just going to trust my body. My body knows. My baby knows when they're ready to come out.” I just need to follow my intuition and weigh that risk like you talked about. Meagan: Yeah. Sydney: Yeah, but we'll see. I don't have to worry about it yet. I'm not rushing it. Meagan: You don't. You don't. You don't have to worry about it but keep grabbing the information so then you'll be prepared. Sydney: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you very much. Meagan: Awesome. Thank you. 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.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-vbac-link/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Mari Muradas, mãe, doula, educadora Feldenkrais, instrutora GentleBirth, co-idealizadora do Doulas de Adoção, autora e dona de uma generosidade incrível em suas conexões. Mari pode ser resumida em uma palavra: acolhimento. Nesse papo rico sobre maternidade, adoção, sociedade, puerpério e muito mais, o sentimento que fica é de um abraço quentinho.

Meet Amanda Palmeiro, a singer and mother in the DC area.  After years of infertility, she now has a beautiful 11 month old daughter, Lucy, who took a while to get here, but was well worth the wait! Today, we'll hear the story of her and her partner's fertility journey.  A brief content warning, we will be discussing fertility struggles, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, and IVF.  If you sense that these topics may be triggering for you, please do what you need to do to exercise self-compassion, even if it means you skip this one and we see you next time.  This episode is sponsored by Our Village Circle's Signature Webinar, Preparing for a Smooth Postpartum. Our next webinar is on April 25 @ 7:30pm. RSVP now! This episode is also sponsored by Gentle Birth's Mindful Breastfeeding Course. Get 20% off using promo code VILLAGECIRCLE at checkout. RESOURCES: Interview with Jennifer Aniston about her fertility struggles LEARN MORE ABOUT AMANDA: Instagram @amandapalmeiro Amanda's Website LIKE WHAT YOU HEAR? Find us on Instagram @ourvillagecircleOur website is www.ourvillagecircle.com

Meet Caroline O'Neill, who became a massage therapist in 2007 and through her Prenatal Massage training,  fell in love with prenatal care.  Having experienced many pregnancies myself, I understand the benefits massage can bring.   After her own fertility heartbreak,  Fertility Massage became near and dear to her heart, and she strives  to help women achieve the dream of becoming a mother.  She will meet you where you are and support you through your process.  In addition to fertility massage, she also offers prenatal and postnatal massage to support the childbearing body, and is a certified Hypnobirthing Instructor. Caroline is the founder of The Body, Birth and Baby Center in Leesburg Virginia, a brick and mortar collective of providers, here to support you through preconception, pregnancy, postpartum and into parenthood. In today's interview, we discuss the benefits of massage and body work in the preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum phases (it's SO MUCH MORE THAN YOU THINK), the education we receive about our bodies growing up, the mind-body connection in birth, and of course, she shares with us all about her Body Birth and Baby Center, and all it has to offer. This episode is sponsored by Our Village Circle's Signature Webinar, Preparing for a Smooth Postpartum. Our next webinar is on April 25 @ 7:30pm. RSVP now! This episode is also sponsored by Gentle Birth's Mindful Breastfeeding Course. Get 20% off using promo code VILLAGECIRCLE at checkout. LEARN MORE ABOUT CAROLINE: www.bodybirthandbaby.com Instagram: @bodybirthandbabyloudoun LIKE WHAT YOU HEAR? Find us on Instagram @ourvillagecircleOur website is www.ourvillagecircle.com

Infant sleep is one of the most polarizing topics in the baby community, and in true MOTR fashion, we do not hold back.We break down all the sleep myths including how you can't “train” your baby to sleep and bed-sharing leads to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (it is actually protective against it!). Yes we're biased, however don't just take it from us; we cite our sources who are the actual experts in this field including James McKenna Ph.D. of “Safe Infant Sleep” and Dr. Sarah Buckley of “Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering.”We explore the perceived “risks” the predatory infant sleep industry wants you to believe and share the myriad benefits (for mom and baby) of bed-sharing, and if that's not your cup of tea, co-sleeping. For sleep deprived moms, we discuss our favorite creative ways to catch up on sleep that do not involve sleep training your baby, watching the clock or letting your baby "cry it out". Oh, and we answer a couple of interesting questions our listeners submitted- we've got your backs! We recognize infant sleep is not a one-size-fits-all approach for every family, however it's also not as black and white as putting your baby in a crib “drowsy but awake”. You can view our resources here.If you have a question or would like to work with us 1:1, please book with us here.For discounts across our favorite products and services, check out our affiliate links/codes.If you're feeling philanthropic, please consider making a financial donation— even $5 goes a long way in helping us reach a wider audience to help other moms and soon-to-be moms think more critically and have the courage to mother against the mainstream. We're currently just a couple of moms bootstrapping our podcast; your support means everything. Thank you! We appreciate you subscribing and tuning in! Feel free to leave us a rating and written review if you enjoyed today's episode. See you next time.

Sponsor: Download the free to use Oath Care app from oathcare.com or in the App Store or Google Play. Know Your Options Online Childbirth Course Use code 100OFF for $100 off enrollment Beyond the First Latch Course (comes free with KYO course) Support The Birth Hour via Patreon!

Ashley joins us today from Australia sharing her three birth stories and how she learned to truly trust herself. Driven out of the hospital due to discrimination and not being able to find support from home birth midwives, Ashley decided to go for a free birth. With a special scar, two previous Cesarean surgeries, a big baby, a high BMI, and a history of gestational diabetes, Ashley accepted all of the risks and was able to reap the beautiful benefits of undisturbed home delivery. Ashley shares with us her journey to acceptance when things didn't go the way she planned, but also how to persevere through to fight for the story she wanted. She now hosts The VBAC Homebirth Stories podcast and is a Homebirth/Freebirth Mindset Coach inspiring other women to have the courage to take back control of their birth stories!Additional LinksAshley's InstagramThe VBAC Homebirth Stories podcastHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode DetailsFull TranscriptMeagan: Hello, hello. Welcome to The VBAC Link. This is Meagan Heaton and we have Ashley here with you. Can I just tell you? She is amazing and you're going to want to listen to this episode 5 million times and then when you're done listening to it 5 million times, you're going to want to check out her Instagram and watch her videos 5 million more times because she is amazing and such a wealth of knowledge. We reached out and said, “Hey, we want to share your story on the podcast. We think it's going to be an amazing episode.” I don't think. I know it's going to be an amazing episode. Review of the WeekBefore we do that, I'm going to get a review per usual and remind you that if you would like to leave a review, we are on Google and Apple Podcasts. You can email us. Shoot us a message on Instagram. We love to add your reviews to the queue and read them on the podcast. This specific review is from Ana Neves and it says, “I've been preparing for my VBAC ever since my C-section, and listening to the stories in this podcast has not only taught and informed me all about the different options, but also inspired me. I know that when the time comes, I will be prepared and feel the power of the great and courageous people who shared their stories here.” Oh, I love that. “The great and courageous people.” Oh, I love that. I love that so much. Thank you so much for sharing your review and like I said, if you have a review to share and you want us to know how you feel about the podcast and all of these great and courageous people, please leave us a review. Ashley's StoriesMeagan: Okay, Ashley. I am so excited that you are here. It's been interesting from now in recording, we've had Australian people on the podcast a lot. It warms my heart and makes me so happy and makes me feel like I probably need to go to Australia now because one, I am obsessed with all of the knowledge you guys have on birth and I actually really like the way that birth is in Australia in a lot of ways. But I am just so honored to have you here with us. Ashley: Thank you. I am so excited to be here. That was such a beautiful, warm welcome so thank you very much for having me. Meagan: Yes, oh my gosh. I'm serious. I just love listening to you too. I just love your guys' accents. My Utah accent is pretty lame, but yeah. So let's turn the time over to you. I am so excited because I feel like I've heard little things, but I'm excited to just hear it right now with you. Go ahead. Ashley: Okay. So let's start from the first babe then. Basically, I went into that one expecting that I was going to have a vaginal birth because my mum had vaginal births, and all of the women before me did too. My mum had me in 7 hours. I was the first baby. My sister is two, so mum said, “If you have medication, you're weak. You've just got to suck it up.” So I had this, “If she could do it, I can do it.” I had this, “I'll have the epidural if I need it” sort of vibe. A lot of my friends had babies before me. They had children when they were 17-18. By the time I had mine, I was 28. I was newly married and I had watched all of my friends. They told me all of their birth stories and things. They had all had vaginal births. I thought that Cesarean birth was really for celebrities basically because when I was in high school, it was Posh Spice who was having this C-section and things like that. It was a trendy thing to do. It wasn't something that normal people did. It was an expensive thing that rich people did. Meagan: Like in Brazil. That's how it's viewed in Brazil. You are high-class if you have Cesareans. Ashley: Yeah. I mean, I went to the GP before I got pregnant and checked on my levels to make sure. I have always had a high BMI, so the doctor said to me, “The only thing I recommend is that you lose some weight because you might struggle to conceive,” so I went in knowing that there may be a hardship there. Some of the women in my workplace at the time had multiple miscarriages. My mother-in-law had 7 before my husband, so I went in with that kind of, “We'll see what happens, but it could take a while.” So I conceived within the first month of trying so that was a shock, but also so exciting. Super exciting. It was a month before my wedding, so I got sick just after my wedding for my honeymoon and all of the fun games and after that, I was just like a sloth dying because I got HG. I got HG and it was just 20 weeks of basically a challenge. Meagan: Yeah, miserable. Ashley: It was hard. I was so excited to be a mom. I couldn't wait from the time I conceived to birth the baby and have the baby in my arms. That's all I wanted. I went to the hospital and there was a bit of a mix-up between when I went to the GP and had the GTT, the test for gestational diabetes. The doctor told me that I didn't have it. I went to a hospital because that's what they do. You go to a GP and they just send you to the local public hospital and that's the one that you are allowed to go to, but they didn't really discuss any of the other avenues like private, or midwives, or homebirths or anything like that. So I went excitedly to my first appointment. I waited for over an hour and I saw some random gyno-obstetrician and they said to me, “You've got gestational diabetes so you'll be seeing us.” I was like, “No I don't. I don't have gestational diabetes.” “Yes you do,” she said and I burst out crying. It was this big thing. Basically, the difference was if I had birthed or if I had gone to the hospital in Brisbane which is the next suburb over, I wouldn't have had gestational diabetes but in the hospital that I went to, they were up with the times with the lower numbers because that was cycling at the moment. It was 2014. I had gestational diabetes and that meant that I had so many more appointments. It meant that I was only with obstetricians. It meant that I had to go to nutrition or a dietician. It was just so many appointments. It was out of control. From a very early stage, I was told, “You're going to be induced and you're going to be on insulin.” As soon as I was diagnosed, I was told, “You're going to be on medication.” Meagan: No talking about it. Ashley: “Yeah, let's see how this unravels and we're not going to start you on the pill, we're just going to go straight to insulin for you,” so it was kind of like they had already decided my fate. I was really excited to have an induction. It meant that I got a date for my baby and I was going to have my baby early. When I spoke to the other ladies in the GD who were getting induced, the lady said to me, “It's all good. I was induced and I had my baby in 5 hours.” I was like, “Awesome. Awesome.” I don't know what number baby that was for her because when it comes to induction, I know now that it really matters whether it's your second or if you've had a vaginal birth before, then an induction probably isn't going to land you with a C-section. I ended up getting my date, coming into hospital, and having no discussion. I kept asking, “Can we have a birth discussion?” It was always, “Next week. Next week. Next week.” There was no discussion about what happens at birth or really what to expect or any niceties or anything. It always felt quite cold. It was like the people didn't even want to be there, the junior obstetricians, it was like they were doing their time so to speak. It just wasn't a pleasant experience. I was expecting my first baby and I just felt like another number. Meagan: Yeah. It wasn't warm and fuzzy at all. That's for sure. Ashley: No. I just felt like it didn't feel right. It just felt really not nice. Meagan: Yeah, impersonal. Ashley: Yeah, exactly. I basically went in for my induction and my husband came in with me. That was a couple of days of having gels and people putting their fingers up and continued monitoring and just very uncomfortable. I found after they had done all of that process that my cervix was right shut up. It wouldn't open up. They said, “Okay. We are going to try and put the balloon in there.” That was the most excruciating pain. Meagan: Especially when you're not dilated. Ashley: It was excruciating and I was in so much pain. The doctor and midwife made out that I was making a big fuss because I was responding that it was painful, so they gave me a lot of gas and I was pretty much tripping out. It was really trippy. Meagan: Like nitrous oxide?Ashley: Yeah. I just felt like if this is how painful it is to put this thing in, how painful is labor going to be? How am I going to handle that if I've just been through two days of this? I think that I had a cannula in my hand as well because I couldn't really go to the bathroom without assistance from my husband. It was really getting uncomfortable. I had something up inside me. Meagan: Or poking you or something all of the time. Ashley: Yeah, exactly. So another night in the hospital we slept and then they said, “If it doesn't open and it doesn't drop out by the morning, then we'll talk about it.” I wasn't allowed to eat. I had to fast. Meagan: That's going to serve your body well. Ashley: I know. It's really cool. It's like they give you so much amazing care in the hospital to set you up for this amazing birth, and I woke up and it was still in there and nothing had changed. I felt really defeated and I felt like my body was broken like there was something wrong with me. Nobody had ever discussed or told me that there is a high failure rate to this or that this procedure can fail or that you may not be a great candidate for this procedure. Meagan: Or more time. More time can make you a different candidate statistically and raise your BISHOP score. Ashley: Yeah, they obviously did the BISHOP score and they would have seen that I wasn't a good candidate for this. They would have known that when they did all of these things to me. Now I see that as my body is so amazing that you tried to do all of this stuff to my body and my body was like, “Hell no.” Meagan: Nope. I'm keeping this baby in. Ashley: Clam shut, yeah. The junior doctor came in and she said, “Look. We recommend that you come in tomorrow for more monitoring. Go home and come back on Monday and we'll start the process again.” I was like, “What do you mean you're going to start the process again? This was really torturous.” I said, “What's the difference between a day or two? My body's not going to respond any differently. Can I just come back in two weeks?” I'm 38 weeks at this point and I'm like, “I'm not even 40 weeks. Can I come back in 2 weeks when I'm in labor?” Meagan: And a first-time mom.Ashley: Yeah, because my mom had me and my sisters right on 40 weeks, so I'm just expecting the same. She said, “No. You can't.” I was like, “Oh, okay.” She said, “No, you can't do that.” I said, “Okay.” She said, “You know what? We're just about to have an obstetrician meeting, so I'll go in there and I'll ask the consultants what they think and I'll come back with a plan.” “Okay,” I said because she also did talk about my option of being a Cesarean on the Monday and I said to her, “Look. I'm going to be honest with you. There's no way in hell that you're going to get me to come in for elective surgery. It's just not going to happen. I never wanted to birth like that and I don't want to.” She came back and she said– they obviously spoke about what I had said and they made for me later a plan to push me in the way they thought that I was going to bend the most, so they said, “Look. We've bumped all of the surgeries for the day and we're going to book you in as priority because we feel like you should be having this baby now.” I was kind of like, “Okay.” So they were bumping all of these surgeries. There were people sitting out in the waiting room waiting to have their babies, but they were going to bump me to have my baby first. I had my sister in the room who was a surgery nurse who had been pushing me to have surgery the whole time because she was traumatized. I'd been fighting her the way through like, “No. I don't want to do that. I want to have a vaginal birth.” I was so exhausted and my husband only had 5 days off of work, so he had to return in a couple of days. I had my in-laws at my house babysitting my dog and I was promised a baby. I feel like at that point, I was just like, “Okay, well if that's what you think, then okay. I'll do it.” I signed this 3-page waiver form by the way, which I was really scared of. I was like–Meagan: What am I doing? What am I signing?Ashley: My sister is getting me prepared. She just finished a shift from working upstairs in nursing and she organized for herself to get in there, so it was going to be my husband and her. They never allowed a third person, but because she worked there and knew people, she was able to weasel in. She's getting me ready like a good nurse. She's so excited. She gets to be a part of it and I'm just recording a video of, “If I die, tell my baby I love my baby.” I am so petrified. I've got video and photos and I just look at the photo and it's like me trying to look excited, but actually, I'm like, “Holy crap. This is really scary and I don't want to do this.” Meagan: Why is everybody so excited and I'm terrified? And why is no one talking to me about this? Ashley: Because I'm giving up control. They're not getting the knife, but I am. It's really scary if you've never had surgery. It's not something that we do every day and it's not something that I had ever gone through before. So off I go into surgery and it's really good that my sister was there because she got to take a lot of photos and she got to be a part of it. Meagan: That would bring some comfort maybe. Ashley: Yeah, I felt like they would step up a bit as well because they knew that it was one of their own in there and I was one of their own. She took a lot of photos and things like that, but when they were doing the spinal, no one can be in the room. I just remember feeling so petrified and shaking and looking into this big man's eyes who was holding me and thinking, “You look like a nice man. Keep me safe.” This midwife came around and she was like, “You look like a deer in headlights” because it was like all of these lights shining down at me. I'm in this crazy room with surgery stuff. I'm really scared. I'm petrified, but I went through the whole process and the obstetrician and everyone, it was Christmastime. It was early Christmas. It was December 5th and they were all having their Christmas party that night, so they were all very happy talking about the Christmas party. “You're going to the Christmas party? I'm going to the Christmas party.” I thought, “Well, they're not fast. They're not stressed. They're very happy. They're starting their day. I'm the first one. They're excited about the Christmas party.” It didn't feel very personal. I definitely didn't feel included in the process. They were just talking among colleagues. Meagan: I can so relate. So relate. Ashley: It's horrible. Meagan: Yeah. They were talking about the snow outside and how depressing it was because the one just gotten back from Hawaii. He was like, “Oh, I came back to snow.” I was like, “I'm right here. Can we talk about my baby? Can we talk about me?” Ashley: Yeah, it's very impersonal. I mean, it's one thing at the dentist to be chatting it up. I don't mind it at the dentist if they're chatting or something, or the orthodontist or something, but yes. I thought, “At least they're calm.” The baby was born in no time and then announced, “It's a baby girl.” I just thought, “Oh, can I go to sleep now? I'm not really interested in this. I'm very time. I'm shaking. This is not a great experience.” I just turned around and said, “Can I go to sleep? I don't want to hold the baby.” It's uncomfortable anyways, but I can't really hold the baby. I'm shaking. I've never really had that many drugs in my system before and off to recovery we go basically. That's a new experience as well. Yeah, it wasn't a great postpartum experience in the hospital. It was quite a negative experience with the night midwives, so I was really excited to get out. I left a day early because I just did not want to have to put up with the night staff. My husband wasn't allowed to stay. Meagan: Oh, why? Ashley: So in our hospital in the public system, some of them have got 4 or 5 to a room, so I was in a 4 or 5 to a room. They don't allow husbands to stay. I couldn't get out of bed. Meagan: I didn't know that. That's like old school.Ashley: It is old school. A lot of them are getting upgraded now because obviously, it's better to have your own room and stuff, but that's where I was lumped. No one wants to birth there because no one wants to share a room, but if you're in the catchment, that's where you get stuck unless you go private. So he got booted out at 10:00 at night, and then I was left with this witch of a midwife who every time my baby cried, she was like, “Oh, look. You're just going to have to sleep with the baby on your belly because I can't be coming back here to get the baby all of the time.” I was like, “But it's not guidelines. I'm not allowed to sleep with my baby with my chest. I can't sleep and it's stressing me out.” In my head, I'm saying those things, but yeah. It was horrific. The next morning, my husband came and I was letting loose at him. I was like, “Why weren't you here? The baby and I haven't slept.” I was so stressed. I mean, think about it. Being awake for 3 days, having been in the hospital for a long time, and then having gone and had major surgery, you're left on your own with this baby with barely any support. No one telling you what to do, trying to breastfeed with your nipples getting ripped by the way. Meagan: Pretty much abandoning you. Pretty much. Ashley: Basically. So the second night, I stayed and sorted that out, then I went home the next day. I did have a bit of a thing with the midwife. She was on again, so I ran down to the bathing room and I hid from her because– okay. One thing you should know about me is that I am a highly sensitive person, so something that someone might say to someone may not affect them as much as it would affect me. Meagan: It triggers you. Ashley: It really upsets me and being in a vulnerable position, I need someone who's gentle, nurturing, and loving. So I ran away and I hid in the bathing room with my baby. I was trying to work out why she was crying. I had fed her. I swaddled her. I changed her. I was really trying to work it out. She could hear the baby screaming and obviously thought that I was not looking after my baby. I said, “Look, I'm just trying to figure out what's happening here.” She's like, “You just need to hold her.” I was like, “No, I just need to figure out what's happening because I've got to go home with this baby and work this out.” She's like, “Why don't I take the baby and I'll look after the baby so you can get some sleep?” I'm like, “No. That's not happening.” I was so against this woman. She was like, “Here's your medication. Take your medication. I've been looking for you,” and then she sent another colleague down to come and check on me and try to convince me to give the baby up. But what I discovered by sticking to my guns and doing what I felt was intuitively right for me was that my baby was pulling her arms out of the swaddle and that was waking her up. So I put her in a little zip-up and from then on, she slept through the night. My husband came the next morning right on the dot. I had a shower. Baby was sleeping. He's like, “Where's the baby?” I'm like, “She's sleeping,” feeling like a million dollars. “I've got this. I've got this and we're checking out today.”Meagan: Yep. Get me out of here. Ashley: I went home and we struggled with breastfeeding. I got some really bad advice from one of the nurses that came to my house so I felt like a double failure. By 6 months time, I was mixed feeding to just formula feeding and I felt like a real failure. I let her down. I hadn't birthed her the way– I didn't feel like I birthed with, “When I had my baby,” or “When my baby was born.” I didn't say “When I birthed,” because I didn't feel a part of the experience. It happened to me. It wasn't inclusive to me. I just felt completely excluded. So I knew when I was going to have my second, I was having a VBAC for sure because I knew there was a thing possible. I knew about VBACs and I said to my GP, “What's the timeframe between babies?” She said, “24 months between birth and birth.” That was the thing then or whatever. I said, “Fine. I'm having 24 months.” I literally started trying within 24 months, whatever it was, 15, or whatever. I fell pregnant the second time. I was having a VBAC and I think I joined the VBAC group in Australia. I started learning all of the stuff, becoming informed and advocating. I knew that this time I wasn't having an induction because that's what caused me a C-section. I knew that I wanted to try to avoid GDM because that's what I thought was the lead-up for the induction rush. I didn't realize that my weight was obviously pushing against me so much. I didn't understand the reasons why or some of the discrimination that happened in the hospital at that point. I did the early GTT test and I passed that. I was like, “Yes. Maybe this is going to be different.” I'm going to show them. I'm educated. I know what I want. I'm informed. I'm also a people pleaser so I'm trying to get them on board with me. I'm trying to get them to agree with my decision. I'm trying to get them to be a part of my team and cheer me on and get excited.I'm just kind of getting met with obstetricians who were like, “VBAC is great and it's the best way to birth your baby.” I'm like, “Yes. This is amazing.” Meagan: You're like, “Thank you. This is what I want to hear.” Ashley: “But not for you.” I'm like, “What? Not for me?” “Well, for you, we recommend a planned Cesarean.” “Okay.” They never really spoke in plain language or explained it to me. It was only through digging and digging and digging and asking and asking and asking that I was finally able to get some answers. I essentially ended up getting gestational diabetes at 20 weeks, so then I wasn't allowed to see midwives because I had asked to see midwives and they said, “If you get GD, we won't release you.”Meagan: It disqualified you. Ashley: It disqualified me from seeing midwives. I said, “Look, you're a surgeon. Can I just see you if I need surgery?” The thing with GD is that there is a GD counselor and somebody that you report to outside of them, so why do I need to see you because you're not a GD expert or specialist? I actually see somebody. Why is a midwife not capable of looking after me? It doesn't make any sense. They're just trying to pull in all of the patients to keep their bellies full and make sure they've got jobs. I was gutted. I was absolutely gutted. I only failed by .1 on one of the tests and I wish I had known back then that I could have redone it and I probably would have passed it. It was really disappointing and I was like, “Oh, goodness me.” So I was diet-controlled through that time. I say diet-controlled because that's the readings that I gave them. I wasn't really diet-controlled but I was being a bit of a rebel because I was getting the same numbers as I was with my first baby and I was on insulin with her and insulin didn't do much. I thought, “Well, what's the difference going to be if they're the same numbers? She came out healthy and had no sugar problems or anything.” I kind of started to think, “Is this GD thing a bit overrated? If I was in a different hospital or a different country—”Meagan: I was going to say if you went somewhere else like last time, would it have been different or would it actually have been GD as well? Ashley: If I had gone somewhere different and I knew this because I was part of the GD community and I had friends that were birthing in Brisbane who were even having to keep below higher numbers than me. They had much higher numbers than me, so I thought, “You're with a private obstetrician and you're getting different information than me,” so I started to clue on that. And then also, when I was doing my readings on my fingers, I would get a different reading on this one to this one, so I started questioning, “If this one's .5 difference to this one, how accurate is this measuring?”Meagan: Yeah, interesting. Very interesting. Ashley: So it was very scary for me to do that because nobody's doing that and every time you're going there, they're like, “Dead baby. There was a woman who had gestational diabetes and her baby died.” And I was like–Meagan: You hear these and you're like, “What?” Ashley: I was like, “How did she die? How did the baby die?” They said, “Oh, we can't disclose that information. You're telling a room full of women with gestational diabetes that a baby died and the mum had gestational diabetes. She could have been hit by a car for all we know and you're using it to fearmonger us, but you're not willing to tell us how the baby died. It could have been negligence on the hospital's part. It may not have been GD related at all.” Meagan: Yeah, she just had it. Ashley: She just had it, so I found that quite disgusting and all of those things started to really add up. The more that I saw in the VBAC community, the more that I saw this was happening around Australia, the more I was determined to advocate and fight which is really hard for a highly sensitive person, but I got a student-midwife. I got the head midwife to come to my appointments. I had a student-doula who was a dear friend of mine and I started to grow a team around me. I refused to see one of the doctors at one point and wanted to speak to the best, most amazing doctor in the hospital, so the midwives set me up with the nicest obstetrician who still didn't support me to have a vaginal birth, but he was nicer to deal with. I mean, I had some crazy conversations with some of the obstetricians during that time. One of them was a junior and she said to me because I didn't want to have continuous monitoring. I just wanted to have the doppler. She said, “You know what my boss says? He says that if you don't have continuous monitoring, then you're basically free birthing in the hospital.” I looked at her and I was like, “You're crazy.” At this point, free birth to me was crazy and she was telling me that because I'm in a hospital and if I'm not doing that, then I'm free birthing. And I thought, “But I'm getting checked with a doppler by a midwife. I'm with obstetricians.” That is absolutely insane, but it goes to show the kind of mentality and the thought process that goes through the fact that they don't know how to be with women. They don't know how to observe and watch a woman. Now, my mindset is the complete opposite way. I see things in a different light than how they would see. They rely on machines whereas they don't rely on that connection. I'm the type of person that relies on human-to-human connection and I've listened to people and I love stories. That's how we learn. We don't learn about humans by watching machines. I started to learn about the inaccuracies of their machines and some of the equipment that they were using. It made no sense to me to have continuous monitoring when I knew that one obstetrician would send me to surgery for the reading whereas another one with maybe more experience who may be older and more chilled would be like, “Yeah, that's nothing.” If the results are at that rate, then that's not beneficial to me because then I'm putting my fate on whether I get a choppy-choppy obstetrician or a chilled, relaxed one on the day. So that was kind of my thinking. I didn't do growth scans this time. I didn't see the point in me having a growth scan to tell me that I was having a big baby. My first was 3.7 at 39 weeks. I knew this one was going to be 4 kilos and I said, “Look, I'm happy to birth a 4.5-kilo baby out of my vagina,” which is almost 10 pounds for your listeners and they just wanted to do Cesareans on 4-kilo babies as well as inductions. It was always about induction and I found out the reason why they wanted to do induction. They wanted to manage me. They weren't a tertiary hospital, one of the bigger ones, and so I found out that the junior obstetricians wouldn't be comfortable doing or maybe confident or capable of doing an emergency Cesarean on someone of my size, so I said, “That's fine. Just send me to that hospital or that hospital. Let's just do this. If it's a staffing issue, I don't want to stretch it out.” They just laughed at me. It can't be a big deal then, can it? If they're not willing to send me to a different hospital. We had so many conversations and it was anxiety-inducing. I would cry on the way to the hospital. I would cry on the way home. I'd have to get my fight on and I even had a conversation with an obstetrician that said to me, “We'll fight about that later.” I said, “That's exactly right though isn't it? It's a fight, the fight.” Meagan: Yeah, we'll fight about that later. That right there. Ashley: He goes, “Oh, I didn't mean fight. I don't mean fight.” I go, “Yeah, but no. You do.” Meagan: But you just said that. Ashley: But you do. Meagan: You're like, “Yeah, I can tell that you're not agreeing with me and you're telling me that if I want something else, I'm going to have to fight with you.” Ashley: And so I'm hearing about this informed consent and I'm like, “Informed consent.” I'm fixated on what would get them to be on my side. I've learned about informed consent. They legally have to support me, right? But that is just the fast in my opinion, in my experience, they wouldn't know what informed consent or working with a woman, it just blows my mind. I didn't realize that at the time, but there were a lot of conversations that were happening about my weight. “You're not going to be able to. It's harder for bigger women like you.” I would leave conversations thinking, “I'm not going to be able to birth my baby out of my vagina because I'm big.” Meagan: They were shaming you. Ashley: Yeah, basically I was told by an obstetrician that, “She's not a fatist, but—.” I was like, “I've never heard someone say ‘I'm not a fatist.'” I don't even know what that means. I had some really interesting conversations because I was asking questions and I was asking questions because I was asking so many questions. Every time I went to an appointment, the obstetrician would say to me, “Ah, I see you're having a repeat Cesarean,” and that would spike adrenaline. Read my book. Read my book. You would know that I'm having a VBAC and then, “Oh, well do you know the risks of VBAC?” Yes, I do. “Oh, you really do know the risks, but we still recommend that you have a repeat Cesarean,” and I would have to go through that every single time. Meagan: So discouraging. Ashley: It was a nightmare. By 36-37 weeks, I had received a phone call and they said, I could feel the smugness and a smile through the phone, “Oh, we're not willing to take the risk. You're going to have to go to a different hospital.” I was just horrified. I was so scared. I've just been kicked out of hospital because nothing has changed with me.”Meagan: But because I won't do what they want me to do and I'm being stern in following my heart. Ashley: Yeah, because I won't submit. I've told you from day one what I'm going to do, but I suppose the rate of success with that tactic is probably 99%, I'm probably the 1% of women who actually says, “No. I actually will not fall for your trickery.”Meagan: Yeah, okay fine. I'll leave. Ashley: I was so determined, so then I went to a different hospital and it was a newer hospital. They had birthing pools. I was hopeful that I might get in a birthing pool. You get your own room in the postpartum. I was excited. They had informed consent signs. The receptionists weren't fighting each other. This first one that I went to was pretty rough down there. They were lovely and polite. I thought, “Oh, this feels nice. Maybe I'm going to have a different response,” and I did. I saw an amazing midwife on entry. She was like, “If they're not going to allow you to do this, you advocate and you can make a complaint. That's disgusting how you were treated.” I thought, “Oh, wow. This is the best thing.” I saw an obstetrician. They were supportive. They wanted to do some of the same things, but they respected me. I felt like I was seen as a human. They would ask me questions and they would go and ask a consultant and the consultant would agree with me. I was like, “Wow, I am ticking boxes here.” I made some compromises because I was vulnerable. I did a growth scan and they found out that baby was about 4 kilos. Meagan: Like you already guessed. Ashley: I knew that at 39 weeks. I said, “That's fine.” “Oh, we recommend induction.” I said, “Yeah, I know you do. I'm not doing it.” That's what caused me the C-section last time. I'm not doing it. We went through the study at 39 weeks. I said, “That doesn't apply to me. It doesn't apply to me. I'm not in that study. It doesn't mean anything to me.” I don't know how you can have a study saying that it's going to work better on someone at 39-41 because you're not doing the same people. You're not doing induction on someone at 39 weeks and then going, “Hey, let's try it again at 41 or whatever it is.” You're doing different people. I don't want to know about it. I don't care about it. They said, “Okay, well I'll talk to the consultant. We'll look at the scan,” and then she came back and said, “Yep, you're fine. There's no fat on the shoulders, so yep. That's fine.” But if I hadn't said that, I would have been booked in for an induction, right? I would have just said, “Let's go, yep.” I sat there on the weekend with my husband shaking like a leaf again having to advocate for myself. It isn't an easy thing to do. Every time I have to raise my voice, I'm putting adrenaline into my body. I'm not raising like screaming, but I'm having to raise my voice. My baby would have been under attack the whole pregnancy essentially. I eventually get to the due date. A week before my due date– it was a couple of days before my due date– my midwife turns to me at the last appointment. She was training in the hospital last time, so I was really grateful that she was willing to come with me and support me even though she wasn't going to get her book signed off for this birth. And on that appointment, she said to me, “Look, my daughter's booked a holiday for me, so I'm going away on your due date. Are you going to have this baby soon now?” I was like, “Oh my goodness. You've just fought with me the whole time and now you've turned into them trying to get me to have my baby before my due date because it suits you.” Yes. I was heartbroken and I was so angry. I decided then and there I was not going to invite her into my birth space even if it was sooner because she had betrayed me on every level. I went into that appointment and the obstetrician didn't recommend it, she said, “Do you want to do a cervical stretch?” A sweep and I said, “No, I don't.” I turned to the midwife and said, “What do you think?” She was like, “Yeah, why not?” Of course, she said that because it gets the baby out quicker. So again, you've got to be careful about who you're with because if you're relying on people who've got a different agenda, you've got to take their advice or their opinion with a grain of salt. But I was a little bit interested myself. I'd never had a stretch or a sweep like that before. I was a bit interested. I was worried that I was going to go over due dates and I was willing to wait for 40+10 and I was getting a bit stressed like, “Oh, what if it goes longer?” You start to freak out at that point. There's a bit of pressure and with what I'd been through, I had the stretch and sweep. She said, “You're 3 centimeters and you're stretchy.” I was like, “Wow. Wow. Last time, they couldn't even– I was closed up.” Meagan: Get a Foley in. Ashley: Yeah. So I was so excited. I started to get some niggles and lose some mucus and a bit of blood and things like that. Two days later, I went into labor. She said to me, “If it does nothing in the next couple of days, then the baby wasn't ready to come. If it happens, then the baby was always going to come,” sort of thing. Now, obviously, what's the point in doing them if the baby is going to come and it does nothing but disturb? I mean, my complete mindset changed and flipped. But yeah, I went into straight labor. I was so excited and so proud of myself. I'm in labor this time. I never knew if my body was broken after all of the fearmongering and talk. I was just so proud of myself. It was exciting. I had adrenaline pumping through me. I was shaking with fear and excitement. I was going to wait the whole day to go in. I was going to essentially go to hospital when my baby's head was coming out. As soon as I went into labor, I was like, “Yeah. I think I should go to the hospital.” I was adamant the whole time I wasn't going in until I was ready to push and as soon as I was in labor, I was like, “Yep. Okay, it's time.” Meagan: Let's go. It's exciting. You're like, “Okay, let's go have this baby.” Ashley: Yeah, and it was fast and hard. When I go into labor, it's not any prelabor, it's just that this is on. I dilate pretty quickly. When I got to the hospital, I was 5 centimeters. They were really surprised at how I was doing because I was quite calm and quiet. They were like, “Oh.” I got eventually into the birthing suite. My doula came and set up the room really pretty. I went into the shower and had a midwife assigned to us. She just sat down and read my birth plan and was happy with everything. She wouldn't let me in the birthing pool of course because I was over 100 kilos even though they've got a hoist for bigger people if they need to. They're just not comfortable with bigger people in the birthing pool. I just did my thing and I said, “I don't any doctors to come in. I don't want anyone annoying me or harassing me.” And I just labored for a few hours until I felt like there were some waters or something I could smell and feel. The midwife said, “Do you want me to check you?” I said, “Yeah. Yeah, we'll see if the waters have gone.” She said, “Yeah, the waters have gone and yeah, this is a little fore bag so would you like me to break that?” I said, “Well, if you think so, okay.” At this point, my education had gone to the point of getting past the induction. If I had gotten into spontaneous labor and I saw a midwife because everything was raving about midwives, I'm going to be fine. This baby's going to come out of my vagina okay. I didn't know anything about birth really. I just knew what not to do. I'm probably not going to have an epidural, but I'm open to it. You shouldn't break the waters, but I don't really understand why. But I wasn't having my waters broken. I was just having a little bit of my waters broken. And then came the tsunami and it was my entire waters. It was all over the bed and it was all warm. I was like, “What is happening?” She had either–Meagan: So your bag never really did break until then. Ashley: No, yeah. Yeah. Yes. And there's some other information. She's like, “Oh, we'll put the screw on the baby's head.Meagan: The FSC, fetal scalp electrode? Ashley: We call it the clip. Meagan: A clip. Ashley: Yeah, some call it the screw. I call it the screw. It's a little clip and it barely hurts. That was one of my compromises from not having continuous monitoring. I said, “If I have that, then I can be mobile.” That was the compromise and negotiation. Then, I found myself locked to a machine by the way because it wasn't mobile at this point. Then as soon as I got off the bed, there was a decel, so I was back on the bed. I was in excruciating pain at this point. I come out of my nest in the shower where I was able to breathe through everything and I was standing upright. Now there was a bit of fear happening because there was a decel that she didn't recover from quickly enough, so then the obstetricians and everyone had to come in. They were kind of like, “Oh, C-section,” talking about it already. I said, “No. I don't want to talk about it. The baby's fine. Just let me do my thing.” “Okay, okay,” and then they hounded me to get a catheter in my arm even though I didn't want one. I said, “No, I don't want one.” It's really painful and I don't want it. She said, “Oh, come on. We'll just get one in.” I said, “Okay, fine. Just do it then. Just leave me alone.” So she put it in and I'm walking around with this thing coming out of my vagina, this thing in my hand and I'm out of the zone and really finding it hard to get back into how I was feeling. Meagan: Your space. Ashley: Yeah, my space. I must have been in there for an hour or two, maybe a bit longer. By this point, they've told me that I'm 10 centimeters on one side, 8 centimeters on the other and there were a couple more decels and maybe one more and they were saying things to me that I don't understand. They were like, “You've got an anterior lip. It's swollen. You're 10 centimeters on this side and 8 centimeters on that side. Your baby's asynclitic. Your baby's up high.” They're looking at me and I'm like, “I don't know.” Meagan: You don't know what any of that means. Ashley: I'm 10 centimeters. The baby is going to come out right any minute. I'm just like, “Is the baby's going to come out soon?” I was starting to feel some pushy pains as well, so my body was pushing a little bit too and then I think I went back into the shower and I called in my husband because he was a weak link and I knew he would do what I said. I was like, “I want an epidural.” And the epidural was there within 10 minutes. I knew that would happen. They wanted me to have an epidural on arrival because of my said. I went to the anesthesiologist appointment and they looked at my back and said, “No, you've got a fine back.” What they're worried about with bigger people is that there can be fat over the spine. I said, “Okay, well I've got a fine back,” which I thought would be fine because I never had any problems with the C-section. They said, “But we still recommend an epidural on arrival.” I was like, “Okay. Well, at least I understand why.” The thing is that I'm trying to get information from them so I can make informed choices, so if it's in my best interest, then I will say yes and I will do it. But if it's in the best interest of you to make your life easier, then I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to put myself or my baby at risk to make your life easier. I understood that an emergency C-section was a higher risk than a planned C-section. I understood that induction was a higher risk. I knew all of the before things and the choices. What I got stuck with is I didn't understand physiological birth. I hadn't done any research on that. So they were talking to me gobbledygook, all of these things were happening. I just never thought that this could happen. I never ever thought this would happen to me. My mom had me in 7 hours. What is happening? What are these things that are happening? Now I'm on the bed. I'm stuck on the bed because I've chosen to have an epidural and now I've negotiated because we have had a couple of decels. I've negotiated for myself what I think is a pretty sweet deal which I realize is actually a really bad deal of vaginal examinations every hour. The normal standard practice is about every 4 hours and I'm like, “Okay. How about if we just check every hour and see if there is any progress?” They're like, “Yeah, that sounds great.” Every hour, they come into me and they're saying, “No change. Baby's up high. No change. We recommend C-section. These are the risks if you wait.” They were talking to me about the risks that would happen in a Cesarean, not about the risks that would happen in a vaginal birth if I wait. So it was very biased. I was like, “Okay, so what happens if I wait to have a vaginal birth?” They were like, “Well, we just recommend a Cesarean.” I feel like I'm in a room stuck with the enemy. I said to my doula, “I don't trust them. I feel like they know what they're talking about, but I don't know any different either.” My doula was a student doula and it's not like I came in there with a midwife who is on my team. I'm looking at the midwife and I'm like, “Are you going to help me?” I'm realizing that she's team obstetrician. I mean, I've never met her before. She was just working there. I'm thinking, “This is not what was sold to me in the VBAC group if I see a midwife. Midwives are amazing, blah blah blah blah.” What I actually missed was that independent midwives that are not working in hospital have more free reign are the midwives that everyone's raving about. I'm thinking it's just random midwives, any midwives are awesome. And not every midwife's awesome because you've got different personalities. You've got different experiences. You've got different passions and every person is different just like you can find an amazing obstetrician. You can find an amazing personal trainer, but they're not going to suit everybody or everyone's needs. And they have a bias against different people based on color, based on gender, based on size, based on the way that you look. If they can identify with you, they are going to be more attached to the story and fight and advocate a bit more. If they're not really into you, they're going to be like, “Oh well. I'm not going to lose my job over this,” sort of thing. I've learned all of these things since. Eventually, after about 6 hours, I had another decel. I think I had about 3 in total. It wasn't a huge amount. Meagan: Yeah, and how low were they? Do you remember? Ashley: I don't remember. The problem was that she wasn't coming back as quickly as they would have liked. Meagan: Prolonged. Ashley: Yeah, it was prolonged. I also didn't know at the time that the epidural also slowed down my contractions too. I only know this from getting the hospital notes which is quite common with epidurals as well. Eventually, I just said, “Okay, fine. I'm fine. I'll go.” After the last one, it felt like my baby was at risk. If someone is coming to you every hour saying, “This is the risk. We recommend that,” eventually, you just give up. I think I had been in labor for a total of 12 hours at that point. The first labor I had ever had and off I went. As I was going out, the midwife said to me, “It's okay. I had a home birth planned, but I ended up in a Cesarean. You'll be okay.” I was like, “See? You never would have been on my team because you hadn't even had a vaginal birth yourself.” I looked at her and I was like, “That was the worst thing you could have ever said to me at that point.” I was like, “Just because you had one and you're okay with it doesn't mean that I'm okay with it.” It was the worst thing. She obviously thought it was really supportive, but I felt so betrayed. So off I went and I had my surgery. Everything started to go downhill. My husband got rushed out of the surgery with my baby and you could just feel that it was intense. I said to my husband, “I love you. Look after the baby. I think I'm either going to lose my uterus or I'm going to die.” Meagan: Were you hemorrhaging? Ashley: Basically, the story that they tell me, I'm not sure if I believe it, but even if it is true, it is what it is at the end of the day. One of the risks that they were worried about is when a baby descends too much, there's a– you know this yourself– there's always a risk of a special scar happening because there's more risk of a tear or them having to cut more. So that's what they were informing me about the whole time. They knew about the risk and they were trying to stop– Meagan: But they kept saying that baby was high, right? Ashley: They told me that baby was high. They said that when the baby came out, she flung her arm up and ripped it down to my cervix. Meagan: Oh, okay. Ashley: Now, how does that happen when a baby is up high? If she's up high, how is she ripping down to my cervix? Now I think about that. How does that happen? Because my cervix was fully dilated. Meagan: Yeah, except on that one side. Did it ever finish? That swelling, that edema, did it go down? Ashley: Not that I know of. What they told me was nothing had changed positioning in that. Then when I looked at the notes when I got the notes, he laid out, “I saw that the positioning had changed.” She had come down a station, but they never communicated that to me. I have a feeling that she was probably down a bit further than they had put because, on the paperwork, they also said I was only 7 centimeters. There was no mention of an anterior lip, so they fudged the papers a little bit and weren't honest. I mean, if you're going to make a few little changes, then obviously, there's a reason for that. It obviously looks better on paper. Meagan: That's what happens all of the time. The patient will hear one thing, then on the op reports, it's a little different. So we always encourage you to get your op reports. It's sometimes hard to read but get your op reports. Ashley: It is hard to read. You know, they put it on the board too here in Australia what you are and at what time, so the information is there for me to look at the whole time while I'm in labor, so it's not that one person just said it, it's literally on the board for you to see. I was quite upset when I saw some of the notes. I went through the notes. I've been through them multiple times now and I was just trying to learn. I was Googling, “What does this mean and what does that mean?” because I don't know the medical jargon. I'm learning all of the things and I'm looking at Spinning Babies. I'm looking at everything and trying to learn after the fact, but essentially what had happened was apparently, she had flung around there, tore my uterus down to the cervix and then they needed to call in a specialized team to come in and resolve that problem that they had created. The surgery went on for a number of hours and it was a very challenging surgery. I wanted to crawl out of my body essentially because I had been laying there for so long. It was just a horrible experience. I was reunited with my baby. She was born at 6:30. I was reunited with them at about 12:00 at night, so I had been in labor from 4:00 in the morning and then I was breastfeeding her because my husband advocated for her to be breastfed. So that meant that she had her sugars checked. They were fine, so they were happy for her to wait for me. I was really, really glad that my husband advocated for me. I was so tired when I got out of surgery and I was back in this hot room. I was sweating profusely. There was no aircon. Some of the rooms, even though it was new, didn't have aircon. I ended up in a room with no aircon and it was so hot. I had to have a midwife stay with me and do observations every 15 minutes to check me. I didn't end up in the ICU, but I lost 3.1 liters of blood. I had blood transfusions in the surgery, all of the stuff in the surgery to keep me awake, and all of that. I really wanted to go under, but they wouldn't put me under because I had been eating. It wasn't a great experience and I came out very traumatized from that experience. I ended up having PTSD with flashbacks. I was crying for months. I felt broken. They told me to never have a vaginal birth again, and that I could have two more babies so that was amazing. I was like, “Well, you must have done a good job if you think I could have two more,” but they must be born Cesarean. I was like, “Okay, no problems.” I was so grateful to be alive after that experience. I was trying to make sense of what had happened. The next few years, that was my mission to try to make sense because I've gone from a space of you're not allowed to have a vaginal birth to what happened, trying to understand what happened, and then planning our future because we wanted four children total. So I almost never had any more children. For 6-12 months, I was done. I was never going to go through that again. I was a broken person. I was really struggling, but I trained as a postpartum doula and I started to want to help women in breastfeeding and the things that I knew that I could support because I ended up breastfeeding that baby for 12 months and I felt like a success at that regard. I learned a lot about breastfeeding. I wanted to share my voice and help women, but I wasn't well enough to help women in the birth space because I felt like a failure. I was trying to learn and I wanted to be in a space where I felt safe. This was trauma and challenges were happening and this was me being able to help people and make a positive out of a negative essentially. And then I found you guys. I found your podcast and I was like, “This is amazing,” because you were the first place that was promoting VBAC after two Cesareans. Back then, nobody was having VBAC after two Cesareans let alone multiple now that we see happening. I think a lot of it has to do with your podcast because when you hear women's stories and you hear the statistics and you can actually hear other women doing it, that was the start of me getting hope and realizing that there was another way. Meagan: Oh, that just gave me the chills. Ashley: Thank you so much for your podcast. Meagan: I have a sweater on right now, but literally it just went up my arm. Ashley: Awesome. It is really nice to know that if I didn't come across your podcast, I probably wouldn't have taken that next step, so it is life-changing to hear other women's stories and have that resource. The fact that you guys had the stats and everything, I was very much in the stats trying to move through special scars. I eventually had gone onto Special Scars, Special Hope. Meagan: Such a good group. Ashley: Yeah, so amazing and started to connect with other women who were having worse scars than me. They were birthing on classical scars. I was like, holy moly. I think it was ACOG or maybe RANZ of New Zealand and Australia. They said it was okay to labor on a scar like mine because I had a vertical scar down to my cervix. That's the low-risk special scar. I was like, “If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me.” Look at these people saying that. All of the obstetricians that I had spoken to because I had a meeting with an obstetrician. I had met with so many midwives who knew about the system. They said to me, “Look. They are going to be petrified of you coming to the system.” It was really good to get that feedback and from my own experience, they wouldn't allow me to have a VBAC let alone a VBAC after two Cesareans with a special scar and high BMI. I started to really try to uncover, so I met with an obstetrician from that hospital and she basically said to me, “Look, you're a square peg trying to fit in a round hole or a round peg in a square hole.” I looked at her. I didn't understand that. I had never that and I have never been referred to as that kind of person. I quite like doing what normal people do. I was looking at her. I'm like, “What are you talking about?” She just said to me, “Basically, I ended up with this surgery because the surgery who was working had decided that because of my weight, that that was all that I was capable of or that was the path that I was going through.” That was really the first time that I've felt like my weight has actually held me back or I've been discriminated against. When I look back at the fact of how I was treated and the conversations I was having, it was obvious that it was happening the whole way through, I just was so naive to it that it was happening in my face and I didn't even realize it because the thing is that I understand that being of high weight can put you at risk for all of these things. I'm looking at it from their point of view, but I'm not actually sometimes looking at it from Ashley's point of view. I understand their concern and I understood all of the medical stuff because I had listened to them. I had asked questions. I had read their policies for obese people. I understood that it was discrimination. I didn't understand it at the time. I didn't understand that they probably weren't seeing me as a human as maybe they would have if I was a skinny version of myself. We probably would have had a different conversation. They probably would have been cheering me on and holding my hand and saying, “You're an amazing VBAC candidate. We support you. We probably still want to do all of these things to you, but we're not going to kick you out of hospital.” That's the difference when I hear women's stories. Oh, she's allowed to get in the water bath and she's allowed to have a beautiful birth. She doesn't have to bend over backward and do a cartwheel and it's because she looks a certain way or she was really lucky because she got an obstetrician that was amazing. There are all of these things that have to line up. That's what has propelled me on my journey to find home birth as an option. Meagan: Home birth, home birth. So you talked about stats. You were on this mission of stats, so you went out and you found the stats about VBAC after multiple Cesareans, two Cesareans, special scars, found some stuff, said, “Okay, this seems acceptable,” and then you started a home birth. Based off of your own research, for you, you felt completely comfortable starting this journey. Ashley: No, I didn't. Meagan: Okay. Ashley: I didn't. I mean, I had to work through the fears with the stats and I was comfortable with home birth and the idea of home birth. I understood that home birth was as safe as birthing in a hospital and I understood that if I was birthing with a midwife I would have a medical person with me. Now, the next challenge that came for me was that I couldn't find a home birth midwife who would support me. I feel like I leveled up. I was leveling up the whole time. It was like, now you've got a VBA2C. Now you've got a special scar. Let's work through this. What do I feel comfortable with? What am I willing to take on? Okay, okay. That's doable. That's doable. I can work through that. What's the next thing? Oh yeah, the next thing is this. Okay, what am I going to do with that? A home birth. Okay, a home birth feels like a safe option. I can do this. I can do that. I can do that. Okay, that's going to be the best thing for me. I'm not going to go back to hospital. Meagan: I love that you said that. I can do this. I'm comfortable with this. You kind of have to go through that with anything. In life in general, but especially with this birth, you went through it and you were like, “Okay, yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Okay. Now, here I am.” Ashley: Yeah and I was seeing a psychologist at the time for all of the things to help me lose weight actually. My GP, I wanted to lose weight. I've been overweight my whole life. I wanted to lose weight. I went to a nutritionist and she was like, “You know everything. I think it's emotional.” I've got childhood stuff going on. I worked with him and I said, “The way that I feel about the hospital system, is this right?” He's normalizing my experience for me and saying, “You're perfectly normal.” I'm trying to say, “Am I having a trauma response here? I don't want to go into a home birth because I'm having a trauma response,” because the obstetrician said to me, one of them, she's like– she wasn't the best obstetrician for the debrief. She said to me, “You've got a risk of special scar, a 7% rupture rate.” I said, “That's a little bit different from what I found in Special Scars, Special Hope where they are looking at women.” I said, “Have you got any statistics?” She's like, “No.” I'm like, “So how can I trust that what you're saying is correct then?”Meagan: Well then, where'd you get 7%?Ashley: Exactly. She's like, “Look, if you find any doctor who's willing to support you, then they're not the doctor for you. I'm telling you what is the safest thing for you.” I was challenging her because at this point, I'm angry. I'm so done. I'm so done. I've just been through hell because of you people and I want to get information. I don't want to hear your judgments. She said to me, “If you find a doctor, then basically they're not right. They're doing the wrong thing.” I said, “So you're the best doctor in the whole world? You know everything right? You're the best and you know the best then? So if I find another doctor who says yes then they're wrong and you're right, that's what you're saying?” She was just looking at me. She was like, “I just feel like what you're going to do is you're going to keep looking until you're going to find someone and then you're going to put yourself at risk.”I'm like, “That is exactly what I'm going to do.” Meagan: You're like, “Well, I'm glad you feel that way.” Ashley: I should have sent her a postcard after my free birth and said, “I freebirthed. Thank you for driving me to this.” It is amazing the conversations you have when you really do have conversations. You can see where they're coming from and how very different their views are. Some of the fears and worries that they have are not about you and your baby. They are about themselves and their career, but the information I didn't know about her was that she was actually the head of obstetrics and she just lost her title and her job. She'd been bumped down. The reason why I went to her was because she supported breech birth in hospital and she was very vaginal friendly. She did support me. She was the consultant I saw on the paperwork that supported me to have a vaginal birth, but in the timeframe of me organizing to meet up with her, the information that I didn't know that I found out later was that she lost her job because she had supported somebody to have a breech and there was a poor outcome that the parents accepted, but somebody else had basically complained about. The only thing is that breech is so risky they say even though it's not. She's one of the radical obstetricians so she had been punished and so she was coming from a space of where she was. It's really important to know that information. You never know where they are in their career or how they are feeling, so she might have been really bitter at the time and negative and feeling like there was doom and gloom in the world. It was really shameful when I was speaking to my doula friends and they were like, “Oh really? She was so amazing.” I'm like, “Yeah, well maybe she is amazing but not for people like me. Maybe she supports this person because they've got a thin body and because of me, she's like, ‘No. I wouldn't touch you with a 10-foot pole,'” because it's too risky for her and for her job also. They are up against it as well in the system and that's something I have learned. My next mission was that I needed to find a midwife who was going to bat for me, not somebody who was going to be worried about losing their career because they come after the midwives too that are home birthing. So I had gone to the free birth podcast as well and I was listening to their stories. I was like, “They're a bit out there for me. I'm not brave enough to do that. That's a bit radical.” Eventually, my husband was the one that talked me into a free birth when we couldn't have a midwife to support me. It

Tracy Donegan is a hospital trained midwife, lactation educator and birth doula, who enjoys working closely with parents to help them have the safest, healthiest positive experience possible no matter what kind of birth they're planning. She has two boys and resides in Round Rock, TX, but she hails originally from Ireland, where she started the nation's first professional doula service. She is the Founder of GentleBirth, the pregnancy brain training App and program for birth, that will build your confidence and reduce your fear as the big day approaches.  I used this app and its accompanying contraction timer with my second pregnancy, and it was a godsend. She's also the creator of the FertileMind app, the world's first app to support you emotionally on your path to parenthood. She's also the author of Mindful Breastfeeding: A Mind-Body Approach to Less Pain, Less Overwhelm and More Milk, and the accompanying Mindful Breastfeeding Program, to simplify the breastfeeding process and bring it back to its purest form.  Enter VILLAGECIRCLE at checkout for 20% off the Mindful Breastfeeding Program. This episode is brought to you by Our Village Circle's signature webinar, Preparing for a Smooth Postpartum.  Join us on February 21 @ 7:30pm! ***** RESOURCES: Gentle Birth App Fertile Mind App Tracy's Book : Mindful Breastfeeding: A Mind-Body Approach to Less Pain, Less Overwhelm and More Milk CONNECT WITH TRACY: Instagram: @gentlebirthofficial Visit Tracy's Website LIKE WHAT YOU HEAR? Subscribe and review our podcast, and share with anyone you feel may benefit. We are on Instagram:  @ourvillagecircle Visit our website: www.ourvillagecircle.com

Were you given a set of guidelines by nurses or lactation professionals that felt like rules? Did you ever need to stray from those guidelines in order to do what was best for your individual situation? As a professional dancer, Janet was accustomed to getting a set of rules and then following them, so it was surprising when she realized her lactation situation dictated that she she change the plan!This week's episode discusses: Finding support during pregnancy Setting goals (and adjusting them) Creating a support system Discussing baby feeding with family members Breastfeeding toddlers Managing oversupply Mastitis Exercising while breastfeeding Lying on the floor in the grocery store to breastfeed a picky baby!To hear episode 43 Could My Baby's Fussiness be from Oversupply you can listen on Apple and on Spotify.To hear Episode 32 Stop Massaging During Mastitis and What to Do Instead you can listen on Apple and on Spotify.Head to Apple Podcasts or Spotify for more Milk Making Minutes episodes!To book a lactation consult with me, visit my website: www.quabbinbirthservices.com. In many cases I can bill your insurance, or create a superbill for you to submit for reimbursement. I offer virtual consults for clients outside of my service area!To buy books about pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and parenting, and to support the show while doing it, go to my bookshop!Follow me on IG @milkmakingminutespodcast to laugh about baby feeding (so you don't cry) and to see photos of guests. Follow me on TikTok to answer questions of the day and ponder systemic inequities together: @lonigrosh4

Meet Tracy Donegan, a hospital trained midwife, lactation educator and birth doula, who enjoys working closely with parents to help them have the safest, healthiest positive experience possible no matter what kind of birth they're planning. She has two boys and resides in Round Rock, TX, but she hails originally from Ireland, where she started the nation's first professional doula service. She is the Founder of GentleBirth, the pregnancy brain training App and program for birth, that will build your confidence and reduce your fear as the big day approaches. I used this app and its accompanying contraction timer with my second pregnancy, and it was a godsend. She's also the creator of the FertileMind app, the world's first app to support you emotionally on your path to parenthood. She's also the author of Mindful Breastfeeding: A Mind-Body Approach to Less Pain, Less Overwhelm and More Milk, and the accompanying Mindful Breastfeeding Program, to simplify the breastfeeding process and bring it back to its purest form. In today's discussion, part 1 of our 2 part series, we launch into Tracy's journey to birth work, mindfulness in pregnancy and birth as Trauma Prevention, and resilience training for all stages of life. Today's episode is sponsored by the Ava Bracelet. Shop Ava Fertility HERE. RESOURCES: Gentle Birth App Fertile Mind App Tracy's Book : Mindful Breastfeeding: A Mind-Body Approach to Less Pain, Less Overwhelm and More Milk CONNECT WITH TRACY: Instagram: @gentlebirthofficial Visit Tracy's Website LIKE WHAT YOU HEAR? Subscribe and review our podcast, and share with anyone you feel may benefit. We are on Instagram: @ourvillagecircle Visit our website: www.ourvillagecircle.com

What would you do to get the birth you want? Change plans at 33 weeks, talk to different providers, get your partner on board? These are all themes of today's story with Kseniya Gadh. Her first birth was a bad experience in the hospital. For her second birth, she switched to a home birth plan around 33 weeks, even with circumstances like gestational diabetes and previous preeclampsia. Kseniya is an example of pushing for the birth you want, despite odds being against you. Things we talk about in this episode: Gestational Diabetes Preeclampsia Switching care providers Craniosacral therapy Challenges with the birth pool Links From The Episode: Happy Belly Pregnancy program: https://happybellypregnancy.com/ Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering by Dr. Sarah Buckley: https://amzn.to/3sEPQIZ Business of Being Born: https://www.thebusinessof.life/   Offers From Our Awesome Partners: Needed: https://bit.ly/2DuMBxP - use code DIAH to get 20% off your order or DIAH100 for $100 off a Complete Plan   More From Doing It At Home: Doing It At Home book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vJcPmU DIAH Website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doingitathome/ DIAH YouTube: https://bit.ly/3pzuzQC DIAH Merch: https://diahpodcast.com/merch Give Back to DIAH: https://bit.ly/3qgm4r9

In this episode, I have a beautiful and thought-provoking sit down with Michelle Piccione, founder and face behind Mushaboom Traditional Midwifery and Sovereign Birth. Serving families and mothers entirely outside of the allopathic medical system, she practices outside of the medicalized midwife community as well. This show is jam-packed with truths surrounding the differences between the types of midwifery and caretakers, as well as valuable information regarding the the physiological birthing experience. We chat about her own journey and what led her to this line of work, the potential fears surrounding home births, and she gives an abundance of advice to those who may want to explore this topic, or simply just gain knowledge on birthing options outside of a hospital setting. There is no right way to do things surrounding pregnancy and the birth process, and I believe today's show is a wonderful and gracious reminder that as a whole, we are not always aware of ALL of our options regarding big health decisions. I personally learned so much during this very candid, very honest conversation, and I am certain you will find this episode an informational and intriguing one.Michelle Piccione on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mushaboomyyc/Website: www.mushaboomyyc.comPDF resource on Interview Questions for Your Midwife: www.mushaboomyyc.com/single-post/resource-getting-clear-on-your-birth-vision-interviewing-your-birth-support Book recommendation: Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering by Sarah J. Buckley, M.D.Song, Mushaboom by Feist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYF0qU5WSew&ab_channel=FeistVEVOShow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/well.with.vanessa/Vanessa Lopez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegiftofgoods/Vanessa's Linktree: https://linktr.ee/thegiftofgoodsEmail: intentionallywellpodcast@gmail.comSupport the showThis episode is for informational purposes only. Please consult a trusted health practitioner for individual concerns.

Hello Beautiful souls! Today I talked about my birth story. This story goes into all the details so be prepared for very descriptive words and topics. I hope you enjoy hearing my birth story with Syrus! National Suicide Prevention hotline: 988 Domestic Abuse Resources: to text, chat, or call link hotline: 800.799.SAFE (7233) Work with me: 333 Tarot Reading link Guidance Tarot Reading Link Intuitive Guiding/Coaching reading link Application for Life Coaching with me Link Instagram: @valerriejoann TikTok: @valerriejoann FREE 101 Affirmation PDF here Subscribe to my email lists here Mentioned in the episode: Gentle Birth app Spirit Babies by Walter Makichen Books I am currently reading or listening to: How to Discover your Dharma by Sahara Rose Grit by Angela Duckworth The book of lymph by Lisa Levitt Gainsley The Audacity to be a Queen by Gina Divee The body keeps the score by Bessel Van Der Kolk How to be an overnight success by Maria Hatzistefanis (listening) Dont Fucking Panic by Kelsey Darrah 13 things mentally strong people do by Amy Morin The Book you wish your parents would have read by Philippa Perry (listening) The Whole brain child by Daniel Siegel and Tina Bryson (listening) The 7 principals of making marriage work by John Gottman Thank you so much listening be sure to tune in every Fridays at 4:44pm! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/curly-talk/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/curly-talk/support

How significant is the role of oxytocin in our bodies during labor and after birth? Dr. Sarah Buckley joined us in Episode 4 to talk about the hormones of Love, Sex and Childbirth. Today, Dr. Buckley is back to get in-depth on the roles of hormones when interventions are needed and on how to fill the hormonal gap in labor and after birth. Today is essential information to help you make informed decisions about induction and understand the differences between natural and synthetic oxytocin.  Dr. Sarah Buckley is trained as a GP (family physician) with qualifications in GP obstetrics. She has been writing and lecturing to childbirth professionals and parents since 1997 and is the author of the internationally best-selling book Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering. Sarah has a special interest in the hormones of physiological labor and birth and the impacts of interventions. In 2015 she completed an extensive report on this topic, Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing, published with Childbirth Connection (US). She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Queensland, researching oxytocin in labor and birth and the impacts of maternity-care interventions. She has co-authored several papers on oxytocin in labor, birth, and breastfeeding. Sarah is also the mother of four children, all born at home and now in their teenage years and beyond. She lives on the semi-rural outskirts of Brisbane. In this episode: Hormones of labor and birth include oxytocin, which is responsible for contractions, pain relief, stress reduction, and reward and pleasure activation. Oxytocin is released in the brain during labor and breastfeeding, and it helps reduce stress, and switch on dopamine receptors. Interventions in childbirth can create hormonal gaps that impact sexual arousal, orgasm, and breastfeeding. Having a birth companion, such as a midwife or doula, can help birthing moms feel safer and more secure. Low doses of oxytocin infusions do not increase the mother's oxytocin levels much above what she would naturally produce in labor. When doses get high, synthetic oxytocin could counteract the calming and natural pain relief, causing stress for the mother. Hypoxia (low oxygen levels for the baby) is inevitable during labor and babies have evolved mechanisms to protect themselves. Synthetic oxytocin can cause strong contractions to be closer together and compromise the baby's ability to cope. The physiological onset of labor is a complex process that is influenced by many different factors, including hormones. If labor is induced, the mother's readiness is not as high and she may need to use more stimulating methods to induce labor. Epidurals can interfere with the hormones that are necessary for the onset of labor, leading to a slower or even stop in the process. Skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding are important ways to fill in the gap.   Key Takeaways: Oxytocin, the well-known hormone of labor and birth, is susceptible to hormonal gaps A private and safe space is needed to release oxytocin Being in an unfamiliar place can make labor slow down Labor is designed to overall be a positive experience Be wary of synthetic oxytocin as it may disrupt hormonal balance When the mother is not ready to induce labor, stimulating methods are needed The hormonal gap needs to be filled after birth to help the mother and baby reconnect   Tweetable Quotes:   “Labor is designed to overall be a positive experience.” - Dr. Sarah Buckley   “Both skin-to-skin contact and suckling is the magic ingredient for the hour after birth, it's going to help both mother and baby to release oxytocin and reconnect.” - Dr. Sarah Buckley   There are signals that pass between mother and baby that they are ready for labor, they are coordinated. Preparation for labor includes a dramatic increase in oxytocin receptors in the uterus. The mother's uterus becomes very sensitive to oxytocin in the lead up to labor so in her natural physiologic onset she doesn't need to produce much oxytocin to trigger contractions   but when being induced it's a different scenario you don't have that peak readiness    Connect with Dr. Sarah Buckley!   Website: https://sarahbuckley.com/  Connect with Debra!   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debra.pascalibonaro  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orgasmicbirth/  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debra-pascali-bonaro-1093471/  Visit https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/ for more information on how to have fulfilling and enjoyable births. Check out the film Orgasmic Birth: The Best-Kept Secret, the film creating buzz around the world! Orgasmic Birth Podcast: Pleasure in pregnancy, birth, and parenting. I believe pleasure is our birthright - from our sexuality, birth, parenting, and beyond, we can find pleasure when we create space for joy and intimacy in our lives. Join me to have deep conversations about breaking the taboos of Sexuality + Motherhood/Parenthood.    Listen to leading experts in sexuality, healing, and childbirth as well as stories from new parents, doulas, doctors, midwives, and nurses. We will discuss how to positively prepare for childbirth and parenting by expanding love and intimacy in your life. 

Tracy Donegan, RM is a medically trained midwife, published author and positive birth expert. Born in Ireland, Tracy has lived and worked on three continents and currently lives in Texas with her husband and two boys. She is the Founder and President of GentleBirth, an award winning smartphone app that combines brain science, birth science and technology to empower positive birth experiences through birth preparation. Tracy speaks around the world on topics such as Mindfulness for Maternal and Infant Wellbeing and is at the forefront of the global positive birth movement.   Nikki, Lexi, and Tracy discuss how to prepare your mind and body for birth, the truth about hypnobirthing, strategies to use before and during labour + birth, and how to ensure you're ready for a healthy and enjoyable birth experience.    What We're Chatting About: What made you so passionate about helping others have positive birth experiences? Tell us about hypnobirthing - what is it & what is it not?  How important is it to prepare your mind for birth? What do you think are the most effective pain management tools for labour and birthing? How can women reduce fear of childbirth? What other strategies do you suggest people use to prepare for labour and birth?  Tell us about GentleBirth and why you created it.  Show Notes:  For more of Tracy Donegan, please visit instagram.com/gentlebirthofficial on Instagram northaustindoula.com on the Web   For more of We Go There Podcast, please visit instagram.com/wegotherepodcast on Instagram wegotherepodcast.com on the Web *Warning- this podcast is completely unfiltered. If you are around young children, we suggest headphones.*

Dr. Sarah Buckley really need no introduction but for those of you who are yet to come across her work, she is a New Zealand-trained family physician with additional qualifications in obstetrics and family planning. She is the mother of four home-born children, and currently combines motherhood with her work as a writer on pregnancy, birth and parenting. Her book, Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering has played a huge role in my life and today we really just touch the surface of Sarah's work, exploring oxytocin and just how importance our hormone physiology is during labour. This is an incredible episode that takes a deep dive into birth as a neuro-psycho-social event and allows us to consider how this can continue to motherhood and beyond.  Head to https://www.stephlowe.com/podcasts/381 for show notes, episode transcripts and more.

Hormones play a huge part in our bodies and because of this, one of the things we can do is make sure in the early stages of labor, women are as comfortable as possible.   How do we ensure that our hormones help to facilitate successful labor and birth?   Dr. Sarah Buckley talks about the changes that occur in the brain during labor and birth, how hormones play a role, and how oxytocin levels are highest near the end of labor.Dr. Sarah Buckley is trained as a GP (family physician) with qualifications in GP obstetrics. She has been writing and lecturing to childbirth professionals and parents since 1997 and is the author of the internationally best-selling book Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering. Sarah has a special interest in the hormones of physiological labor and birth and the impacts of interventions. In 2015 she completed an extensive report on this topic, Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing, published with Childbirth Connection (US). She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Queensland, researching oxytocin in labor and birth and the impacts of maternity-care interventions. She has co-authored several papers on oxytocin in labor, birth, and breastfeeding. Sarah is also the mother of four children, all born at home and now in their teenage years and beyond. She lives on the semi-rural outskirts of Brisbane. In this episode: Sarah talks about her unexpectedly fast home birth, which she describes in further detail in her book Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering. The foundation of hormonal physiology is that first, it's designed for us to conduct successful birth. We're perfectly designed for a successful labor and birth. Sarah explains that oxytocin is responsible for inducing labor, increasing the sensitivity of the uterus to contract, and causing an "ecstatic" and "orgasmic" feeling. Labor is a process that involves many preparations, including the mother's body being maximally sensitive to oxytocin in her uterus, babies also having peak oxytocin levels, and the whole process of oxytocin being magical.  Hugs, touches, and sexual activity can help to get labor started and help women get into an adequate state of readiness. Oxytocin has a pain-relieving and calming effect on the body.   Key Takeaways: The presence of oxytocin during the labor process contributes to the magical feeling Doulas can help by ensuring good oxytocin flow Sexual activities can promote the release of your own oxytocin Tweetable Quotes: “The hormonal processes of labor and birth are actually designed to change our brains.” - Sarah Buckley   “The foundation of hormonal physiology is that it's designed to be successful. Birth has evolved to be successful.” - Sarah Buckley    Connect with Sarah:  Website: https://sarahbuckley.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-j-buckley-51ab1316/?originalSubdomain=au    Connect with Debra!   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debra.pascalibonaro Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orgasmicbirth/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debra-pascali-bonaro-1093471/ Visit https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/ for more information on how to have fulfilling and enjoyable births. Check out the film Orgasmic Birth: The Best-Kept Secret, the film creating buzz around the World!   Orgasmic Birth Podcast: Pleasure in pregnancy, birth, and parenting. I believe pleasure is our birthright - from our sexuality, birth, parenting, and beyond, we can find pleasure when we create space for joy and intimacy in our lives. Join me to have deep conversations about breaking the taboos of Sexuality + Motherhood/Parenthood.    Listen to leading experts in sexuality, healing, and childbirth as well as stories from new parents, doulas, doctors, midwives, and nurses. We will discuss how to positively prepare for childbirth and parenting by expanding love and intimacy in your life. 

For this episode I invited Ubud legend and inspiration, Robin Lim. Affectionately known as “Ibu Robin” she is a midwife and the founder of Yayasan Bumi Sehat, a non-profit here in Bali that offers free prenatal care, birthing services and medical treatment to anyone in need that focuses on at-risk mothers. We speak about the philosophy of gentle birth, her life story with Bumi Sehat and its mission and the never ending support mothers in developing countries need to birth and nurture babies in favour of a better world. In this episode we speak about How Robin came to Bali over 25 years ago and started her journey as a midwife when she was pregnant and realizing that the maternal mortality rate at the time was very high. How the “green revolution” and the elimination of heritage rice began to cause fatal hemorrhaging for women giving birth and how she's adopted the gentle birth philosophy from world-leading gynecology and women's health experts. The creation of Bumi Sehat and its mission to enable gentle birth to support women in Bali give birth safely and gently in alignment with our bodies' natural rhythms. The community support that came together to help win the CNN Hero of the Year award for Bumi Sehat. Supporting women to feel empowered and empower each other's beauty at every age, weight and stage of our lives. Destigmatizing our menstruation, sexuality and relationship with our bodies. What the labor process is like for many women including first-time mothers. How acupuncture can help support women's fertility and both people in a couple with fertility as only 15% of people diagnosed with infertility are actually infertile. The benefits of IVF and better living through science in partnership with traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture. What support systems Robin has in place to keep and maintain her balance as a mother, grandmother and founder of Bumi Sehat. How Bumi Sehat is working to reduce period poverty for Indonesian women and girls with some incredible products and donations of period panties. Robin has also established clinics and helped at-risk mothers in remote locations across Indonesia and Asia. Thanks to her life work “Ibu Robin” has won CNN Hero of the Year in 2011. "Every baby's first breath on Earth could be one of peace and love. Every mother should be healthy and strong. Every birth could be safe and loving. But our world is not there yet," - Ibu Robin

Michelle shares her guest spot on Susan Danscenzi's podcast, Kick Your Buts. In this foundational interview for expecting parents, Susan and Michelle touch on what trauma is, explain how stress during pregnancy and birth can have an impact on the child, define trauma within birth, the importance of finding tools to mitigate stress, and practices to help support a new family. "There is a sad statistic 35-50% of women experience birth trauma, 2.5%-9% will experience birth-related PTSD, and many pre and perinatal psychologists feel that the birth trauma for babies is epidemic right now. That sets the stage. How are you treated the very moment that you take your [first] breath?" —  Michelle SmithTo learn more about trauma in childbirth, please listen to episodes 116, 025, and 026. Susan L. Dascenzi is a Licensed Psychotherapist, Life and Business Coach, Author, Speaker, Podcast Host, and the Health and Fitness Category Director for Podcast Magazine. She has invested the last 29 years in guiding her clients in recognizing how their past negative conditioning creates their present and future and stops them from stepping into their infinite possibilities. As a highly regarded human behavior and emotions expert, also known as “The Possibilities Curator,” she co-authored an Amazon Ranked #1 International Best-Selling book alongside Neale Donald Walsch and Marci Shimoff, with her own book set to release  in 2022. Connect with Susan:Shows: Kick Your Buts podcast, The Spiritually Expressed HumanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/sdascenziTwitter: https://twitter.com/susandascenziInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/sdascenzi1/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susandascenzi/ Connect with Michelle Smith:Virtual Classes or Sessions with Michelle: birtheaseservices.com/birth-ease-childbirth-education, birtheasehypnobirth.com/hypnobirthing-classes-orlando-michelleFacebook:   Birth Ease,   The Birth Ease Podcast,  Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:    @birtheasemichellesmith,  @birtheaselossssupportYouTube:    Birth EaseLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithWebsite:  BirthEaseServices.com  birtheasehypnobirth.com

Martina is a Mum of 3 crazy, fun, loving and uber cheeky kids! She is a midwife, runs Calmbirth courses, and has just completed her IBCLC certification. She offers her full spectrum services through her business, Hey Baby! Birth & Breastfeeding Support. In this episode Martina shares the stories of her three beautiful homebirths and her breastfeeding journey through her baby raising years. She brings a unique perspective through her expertise in all things birth and breastfeeding!   Martina recommends: Birth with Confidence by Rhea Dempsey. Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering by Sarah Buckley. Give Birth like a Feminist by Milli Hill. The Midwives Cauldron podcast The Aware Parenting Podcast And this Episode of Rockstar Birth Magazine with Sarah Buckley: https://podtail.com/da/podcast/rockstar-birth-radio/ep02-dr-sarah-buckley-undisturbed-birth/   You can find Martina on instagram here.   Support Keep Birth Wild on Patreon here.

Welcome back to a new series of The Other Side Of Perfect. I'm delighted to kick things off with the wonderful Tracy Donegan. Tracy is a registered midwife, author and founder of the Gentle Birth app which so many of you recommended when I first announced my pregnancy. She's also an advocate for having a positive birth experience. On today's show we discuss Hypnobirthing, each of the trimesters and what to expect, home birth, natural birth in the hospital, emergency and planned c-sections, VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) and breast feeding. Gentle Birth https://www.gentlebirth.com/Sponsor https://www.cleancutmeals.ie/ Thank you to the sponsors of this episode and series, Ireland's leading meal prep provider, Clean Cut Meals, who are offering 15% off their meals if you use the code 'JOANNE15'.

Listen to Dr. Terri Elder, PT, DPT, CLT-LANA and co-host Dr. Amy Newberry, PT, DPT discuss pelvic organ prolapse (AKA "POP"). Dr. Terri covers the following topics surrounding pelvic organ prolapse: what is POP, who is at risk, treatment for POP, and the emotional impact of POP. Dr. Terri even shares about her personal experience as well! Be sure to check this interview out because Dr. Terri shares awesome knowledge bombs! You can connect with Dr. Terri through her Instagram @terri.elder.dpt https://www.instagram.com/terri.elder.dpt/ Dr. Terri recommended the following resources to check out if you are dealing with POP: POPUp: An Uplifting Resource - https://www.instagram.com/popuplift/ Gentle Birth: https://www.instagram.com/gentlebirthofficial/ Link to the Core 4 Momentum T shirt shop where all proceeds go towards expanding pelvic health access to those in need: https://core-4-mom-entum.myshopify.com Link to the Core 4 Momentum Facebook Group for women interested in learning more about their pelvic health: https://www.facebook.com/groups/core4momentum Link to the Pelvic Health Kickstarters Facebook Group for Pre-PT/SPT/Entry-level clinicians interested in becoming pelvic health clinicians: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1186501018369467

Join us next week as we wrap up our series on birth in a pandemic. We discuss some of the fears, challenges, and changes that came along with the Covid-19 pandemic. Mentions:Grassroots Henna and Design: https://www.grassrootshennaanddesign.com/Gentlebirth with Brenda Baar : https://www.eastownbirth.com/gentlebirthAll Source Pregnancy: https://www.allsourcepregnancy.com/homeEvidence based birth: https://evidencebasedbirth.com/covid19/

On today's show I have the privilege of interviewing Dr Sarah J. Buckley. Dr Buckley is trained as a GP with qualifications in GP obstetrics and has been writing and lecturing to childbirth professionals and parents since 1997. She is also the author of the international best-selling book "Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering" - which is available for purchase on the PBA website. Dr Buckley is well known for her groundbreaking report "Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing", the product of her ongoing interest and research on the hormones of labour and birth. Coming from a long line of GP's, she was influenced by her own experiences working in hospitals and by what she noticed with the birthing women there. Today we chat about her own four beautiful homebirths, diving deep into the hormonal blueprint of labour and birth, what types of things can interrupt that hormonal flow, and how we can fill in these hormonal gaps. Website: www.sarahbuckley.com Instagram: @sarahjbuckley Resources: Hormonal Physiology report: https://sarahbuckley.com/whats-so-great-about-hormonal-physiology/ BUY her book here: https://www.positivebirthaustralia.com/collections/all-products/products/pre-order-for-delivery-from-june-22nd-gentle-birth-gentle-mothering-by-dr-sarah-j-buckley

This is a five-minute relaxation and meditation for pregnancy and labor from Jasmine Sassack, a doula and HypnoBirthing childbirth educator. These exercises are perfect for anyone experiencing anxiety during their pregnancy, or who simply want to achieve a mindful and positive birth. For more information please visit https://www.thebirthzone.com/

Today, we talk with Tracy Donegan, founder of the GentleBirth app (https://gentlebirth.app). She is also a doula and doula trainer. She tells us how she became a doula, including how she started the first doula service in Ireland, her home country. While teaching a hypnosis for birth program, she felt drawn to the unexplored, neurological approach to understanding birth. She describes the GentleBirth program as encompassing the traditional approach to childbirth education, while combining it with neuroscience and meditation. She talks about how the course involves the partner, emphasizing the important part they can play in the birth space. In every aspect of the course, the aim is to develop mental resilience and mental regulation to ensure the best possible outcome with every birth, for both the mother and the partner. She also talks about how affirmations, meditation, and breathing techniques are used to improve sleep and other aspects of self care during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. She explains the importance of a birth education course not only for preparing a mother for the birthing experience, but also for parenting, which is “when the real work begins.” We talk more about hypnosis and meditation, and discuss how the course can be for medicated, unmedicated, and induced births. We also discuss the “Labor Companion” feature of the app. We talk about the new science of pain perception, and how we can help our body process the different sensations of birth. 1:15 Tracy's Story and the Beginnings of GentleBirth  5:17 How the GentleBirth app Works  29:44 How Hypnosis and Meditation are Involved in the Course  33:48 Other Features of GentleBirth; Pain Perception "If you come to a GentleBirth class, you learn all about the physiology of birth, you learn comfort measures, but you also spend a lot of time learning about your brain, and how to use it to the best of your advantage. It's like a muscle that we're training.” 5:40 Social https://www.instagram.com/gentlebirthofficial/ http://www.tiktok/@gentlebirth https://www.facebook.com/gentlebirth/   https://birthcircle.com For Any Questions, Email Me at media@birthcircle.com

Listen in as Michelle and Jen dig deep into the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic, the dynamics of blended families, her homebirth, bonding, and breastfeeding. They discuss the importance of finding good lactation support, oral motor issues in babies and children, thrush, the sexualization of breasts in our culture, and why it is vital for each family to find what works best for them regarding the feeding and care of their children. "There's so many factors and layers that are out of our control that at a certain point you have to learn to let go — not stress about it. And that's the biggest take away I've had. [...] And I realized that whatever will be, will be. You know, obviously there are certain precautionary measures I take. But I am not going to sit and worry myself to death, because that isn't going to help anyone."—Jen Torres Connect with Jen TorresWebsite:  jentorresgroup.comFacebook:  JenTorres GroupLinkedIn:  Jen TorresInstagram:  @jentorresgroup Resources:https://thenursingnurseibclc.com/https://www.beckmanoralmotor.com/ Connect with Michelle Smith:Website:  BirthEaseServices.comFacebook:   Birth Ease,   The Birth Ease PodcastInstagram:    @birtheasemichellesmithYouTube:    Birth EaseLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithPinterest:  Birth EaseShow:  Birth Ease 

Listen in as Byuanni and James recount their experience of giving birth at the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic. They explain the ways that the unknowns of COVID-19 brought additional stress to their first pregnancy and birth, as well as how they navigated an unexpected induction of labor, an epidural headache that was discounted as normal by hospital staff, and a strong bout of baby blues once their baby was born. Together, they share with Michelle the different factors that were positive game-changers in their experience."It was terrifying. Especially because at the time that I was approaching labor, we weren't even sure if they were going to allow our partners into the hospital. That to me was my biggest fear, just to imagine going through something so, in a way, traumatic. It's a big thing in your life.  And not to have someone who you can just hold their hand or just feel some type of comfort, and you will be surrounded by strangers, that was my absolute biggest fear of all was to be by myself." —Byuanni Connect with Michelle Smith:Website:  BirthEaseServices.comFacebook:   Birth Ease,   The Birth Ease PodcastInstagram:    @birtheasemichellesmithYouTube:    Birth EaseLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithPinterest:  Birth EaseShow:  Birth Ease

Listen in as Jenn Fong, IG @preggotoparent, shares with Michelle her experience of giving birth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Together they discuss how this pregnancy differed from her first due to Coronavirus, her birth story and what helped her to create a peaceful birthing experience despite the pandemic and an unforeseen event impacting her birth, and what has helped her manage her postpartum with a new baby and a two year old. Jenn shares tips for expecting families and how placenta encapsulation made a difference for her postpartum.“It's just a reminder, that we all need to give ourselves grace during this weird, unique period. I think, you know, a lot of people are grieving their missed vacations or their postponed weddings, or unfortunately, not being able to attend a funeral. It has just been so crazy. I read this amazing quote that said, 'We are all in the same storm. We may not be in the same boat, but we are all in the same storm.' " —Jenn FongConnect with Jenn Fong:Instagram:  @preggotoparent Connect with Michelle Smith:Website:  BirthEaseServices.comFacebook:   Birth Ease,   The Birth Ease PodcastInstagram:    @birtheasemichellesmithYouTube:    Birth EaseLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithPinterest:  Birth EaseShow:  Birth Ease