Podcasts about hypnobirth

In this special episode, Kristin, host of Ask the Doulas podcast and founder of Gold Coast Doulas,  gives tips on building your supportive birth team. Krisin and Meagan talk specifics on HOW to switch providers if you're feeling the push to do so.Once we have our dream team, we're good and don't have to do any more work, right? Nope! We keep educating and preparing ourselves. That's the way to truly get the most out of that dream team. Kristin's book ‘Supported: Your Guide to Birth and Baby' is a one-stop shop where you can get all of the education you need for pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Her advice is so valuable for VBAC moms and birth workers, too!Supported: Your Guide to Birth and BabyAsk the Doulas PodcastNeeded WebsiteHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode Details Meagan: Hello. Hello. We have a special episode for you today. We have my friend, Kristin, who is actually the owner of Ask the Doulas Podcast on with us today. She is going to be talking about establishing our birth team and the importance of it. We're going to talk a little bit more about what to expect when we might not find a provider that's supportive and how to navigate it. She's going to talk more about her book and so many things. You guys, I'm really excited. Kristin is a woman who has always had a passion for supporting other women both personally and professionally. In college, Kristin served on the executive committee of her sorority and organized events on campus related to breast cancer and other women's issues. After the birth of her daughter in 2011, a new passion awoke within her. Kristin began reading and studying birth from all perspectives, philosophies, and medical approaches. She joined organizations like The Healthy Kent Breastfeeding Collation and used her event coordinating skills to build and promote the organization and create community awareness. You guys, she has done so many incredible things. Kristin's research has led her to learn more about doulas, and in 2012, she hired doulas herself for the support of her second birth. The level of compassionate care and comfort that she received from her doulas ignited a spark within her and led her down the path of becoming a doula herself. And man, can I connect to this because this is exactly what happened to me. When you guys have a doula who inspires you and touches you and motivates you the way it sounds like Kristin did and I did, even though my doula wasn't a hired doula, she was just a nurse that was a doula for the time being, it does something to you. She earned the certification and became teaching sacred pregnancy classes in 2013. But as you'll see, Kristin is a firm believer in achieving the highest level of education available when providing a service. Shortly after, she earned the following credentials-- you guys, are you ready for this? She's amazing. Oh my gosh. Certified Sacred Doula in 2014. She is a Certified Elite Labor through ProDoula. She is the Elite Postpartum and Infant Care Doula through ProDoula. She's trained in Spinning Babies, Newborn Specialist, Mother Ship, Certified Health Service Provider, certified in VBAC. She is certified in transformational birth and a birth coach for the Birth Coach Method. She is a certified pregnancy and infant loss advocate and certified gift registry expert through Be Her Village, who we will talk about. We both love them so much.She is also an author of a book which we will be sharing more about. It's called Supported: Your Guide to Birth and Baby. So without further ado, we are actually going to be skipping a review today and an educational topic because this is such a great episode to be educated and learn more about what Kristin is offering in her community. Okay, my love. Hello. Kristin: Hello.Meagan: We're officially getting going talking about this amazing topic. Tell me what you think about this. I think sometimes people want to assemble this dream team, but they let finances or even partners or other opinions get in the way.Kristin: Yes. Partner comfort level, especially with VBACs is key, or with clients of mine who want their dream is to have a home birth and their partner isn't supportive, so then they say, "Oh, it'll be with the next baby if everything goes well in the hospital." But then if they're a complication, they might risk out of the option of home. I think as consumers, we don't fully appreciate the ability to choose all of our birth and baby team. We can change providers. I switched providers with my first pregnancy early on because I didn't feel like that particular OB was on board with my plans to have an unmedicated hospital birth. I ended up switching to Certified Nurse Midwives and completely changed practices, completely changed hospitals in fact. It's a lot. Meagan: Yeah.Kristin: But it was worth it. And I had the time where it was easier to switch, but I've had clients switch very late in pregnancy. It was harder to find the right office to accept them, but with VBACs, it is crucial to have not just a VBAC-tolerant provider, but someone who is fully on board with your unique desires because we are all individuals.Meagan: Yes. I love that you said your unique desires. Everybody is different. I think it's really important to tell these providers what your desires are. We have a list of questions that we give people in our course and, of course, on the podcast. You can go down that list and check and be like, "Okay, this provider seems pretty supportive," but you guys have to tailor your questions and your provider. You have to tailor it to what your individual unique circumstances and desires are because everyone's is different. I would love to know. You said, I was realizing that this wasn't the right place. What kind of things were you hearing or being told or feeling when you were realizing that maybe your first provider wasn't going to be as supportive and in line with your unique decisions?Kristin: Just when I was talking about my wishes, I could tell that that particular provider liked structure and patience to get that epidural, and so once I started talking about movement, delivering in different positions and some of the things I had researched-- I hadn't yet taken a childbirth class because it was early in pregnancy, but I had done a fair bit of research before knowing what a doula was. I didn't hire doulas until my second. But I could just tell in that gut feeling which I rely on. Again, we're all unique. And yes, I do research, but I make decisions on am I comfortable spending my entire pregnancy with someone who can tolerate me and will say, "Okay"? But I could tell it didn't light her up. So once I found a practice where my nurse-midwife spent time with me, I had longer appointments, I could ask questions, and she was 100% on board with me, and then I was able to meet the other midwives and the OBs who oversaw them throughout the remainder of my pregnancy. I felt very cared for. And again, we are consumers. Whether your insurance pays for everything or you're paying for part of it, you don't get a do-over of your birth, and so it is so important, especially with that first birth to get the care team that aligns with you. That could be everything from a Webster-certified chiropractor, a physical therapist, a mental health therapist to deal with any anxieties that may come up with having a VBAC and getting a lot of fear-filled advice from friends and family members. I find that again, my clients are all unique individuals, and my students in Becoming a Mother Course, and now the readers in my book, have different goals, so I want them to choose the best plan for them. I love that you have worksheets and templates, but knowing that every situation is different whether it's a home birth, a trial of labor, or a hospital birth, that setting is different and the type of provider whether it's a nurse-midwife or an OB practice, how likely is the OB that is very VBAC-supportive going to be attending your birth? Are there 12 providers or are there only 4? And so there's just so many things to factor in when deciding what is important to you.Meagan: Yeah. That point that you just brought up, are there 12 providers? Are there only 4? Does your provider guarantee that they'll be there? These are things that I think a lot of people may not be aware of that because they found their provider. They're feeling good about their provider. They're jiving. They're having the feels, but then they may not be the ones to be there, so there are 11 other options. It feels overwhelming to be like, "Wait, wait. Do I interview all 11?" Yeah, guys. Yeah. You set up visits. It's okay. Go and see if you can meet with those. Make sure that that full team is aligned. It is a lot. That's a lot to take on, but it's okay to rotate and say, "Hey, I saw Dr. Jack last time. I'd like to see Dr. Joe this time," or whatever it may be. Really, really dive in, find out more about your provider's team if they have a team, and make sure that they align with your unique decisions and desires.Kristin: Absolutely. And that goes for doulas as well.Meagan: Oh, yeah.Kristin: So for VBAC clients, I, over the last couple of years, I do all of the matchmaking, I like to call it, between client and the birth doulas and postpartum doulas on my team, in fact. I like to find out what they're looking for. If they are attempting a VBAC, then many times, they're telling me they want a VBAC-certified doula. I have doulas that have gone through your program and are certified through you and other different VBAC trainings. They're not just wanting VBAC experience like in my early days of having Gold Coast Doulas. Now, they're wanting that certification because they know that information is being updated as things change. And there's more evidence for VBACs. They also want more than just, "Oh, I've attended four VBACs." They want the education behind it. So I think that is crucial. I'm not going to match, unless there's no one else available on my team, a client with someone who is not certified as a VBAC doula.Meagan: Yeah, I do the same thing with my group here where they're like, "This is really important to me. I want this specific type of doula." Some of my doulas have taken The VBAC Link course. And so I'm like, "Yep, this would be who I would suggest." But I also want to point out that even if you assemble your dream team doula, and they've got all the education and information on VBAC, and they're up to date, I want to just point out that it doesn't mean that you shouldn't inform yourself that you shouldn't get the information because sometimes I feel like it's easy to want to just hire your provider or your doula or your person and let them who know VBAC kind of help and guide you. But it is really important. You're doing yourself a disservice if you personally do not learn more about VBAC and your options as well and rely only on your provider or your doula.Kristin: 100%. The doula, I mean, unless you're paying her for it, will not be attending every one of your prenatal visits during pregnancy. The education that you have to make informed questions and decisions surrounding your birth plan or birth preference sheet, so those conversations are critical. The more information you have as a patient, the better. And as we all know, unless you're having a home birth, your visits are short even with a nurse-midwife. And so it's important to have those questions and to have time to really express concerns. Or if you're finding that that practice or that provider is not in line with your plans, then you can look at other options. And the hospital-- are VBACs even allowed at the hospital that you plan to deliver at? Are they going to induce? What are the Cesarean rates? And looking at all of the different options, and if you need to consider NICUs, that's always a factor in hospital selection as well.Meagan: Yeah, I'm going to kind of go back to where we were in the beginning where you realized based after your feelings and other things that this provider was not the right provider for you, you then changed to CNMs and had a much better experience. Can you discuss your process of that change? How did you change? Did you find the CNMs, have them request your information from the OB? Did you do a formal breakup with your OB? What suggestions would you give to someone who is wanting to do that? I know that sometimes, you were talking about it, in the end, it's a little harder to find, so that's why we stress so importantly to find your provider from the beginning. But we know that sometimes things change. So can you kind of talk about that process in then assembling that dream and getting the steps to get to that dream team?Kristin: Yes. So for me, I had asked friends about which providers they had worked with. So the original OB, a friend of mine, it was her doctor, and she had a great experience. I just wasn't feeling it. She had a student. We have teaching hospitals in my area, so there was a student in the room. I wasn't feeling like she was 100% on board. I could tell that she was very medically driven. I wanted essentially a home birth in a hospital. So I talked to more friends and did research online, and a friend of mine had used this particular practice. I ended up going with the midwife that delivered her three children, and it worked out beautifully because it was early in pregnancy. That practice had openings. It took me a while because I was changing hospitals and practices completely. My insurance, luckily, covered all of the options. But that's another thing to look into. Does your insurance cover the hospital where the provider you want to switch to delivers that if it is a hospital birth? Of course, you can VBAC at home in certain states. So just looking at all of the factors that would come into play. So for me, it was dealing with the paperwork of switching out of that practice, getting admitted, and going to that initial get-to-know-you visit with a nurse and doing my labs before I got to meet with the midwife that I had wanted to work with. And so it took a bit. I mean, no one likes to deal with the paperwork and the phone calls it takes, but your health is so important and especially again, for VBACs.Meagan: Yeah. So you essentially did all the paperwork and the transfer yourself.Kristin: Yes.Meagan: Okay.Kristin: I made all the phone calls, dealt with insurance and made sure that the initial visit was paid for along with the nurse visit, and then that insurance was comfortable with me.Meagan: Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, I did, when I switched, because I switched it 24 weeks, my midwife just faxed a request to my OB office. It took them a while to send it. We had to ask five times which I think probably would have been faster if I, like you, made the phone calls and did all the things, but I was like in this weird, vulnerable spot of like, I don't want to go back there.Kristin: Right. You don't want to deal with it.Meagan: Yeah, I don't want to deal with it.Kristin: Even just talking to the front desk.Meagan: Yeah, yeah. So we waited for it and they eventually got it. But I think that that's important to note. You guys can make the calls too. You can call and say, "Hey, I'd like to request my records to be printed out or to be sent to this place." Kristin: Yes, and that's what I did. Because otherwise it's six weeks oftentimes or you have to keep calling. They get lost. so I just handled it. But it can be challenging. And as doulas and certainly VBAC doulas, we know the providers who would be not only tolerant but supportive of VBAC. So we get those questions frequently from potential clients and clients of, am I at the right place? And of course, we support whoever our clients choose to have care from. But there's also, if asked, I will tell them about the practice and my own experience as a doula or the agency's experience. And again, in those large practices, there might be four who are so VBAC-supportive. They love it, but then there might be some physicians who are not as comfortable. They feel that a surgical birth might be the better route to go, ad so there's that. So what I like to do as a VBAC doula is to have my clients talk to their provider. Again, go over a birth plan or birth preference sheet and have them sign off on it. That way, if they don't attend the birth, then the other physicians know that this was approved. It's not just a birth plan that is thrown out there, but it has been discussed. It doesn't work all the time, but it has been helpful for my clients no matter if they're a VBAC client or this is their first baby, and again, they have certain goals that they want to achieve like potentially avoiding an induction unless medically necessary.Meagan: Oh my gosh. So I'm just going to re-touch on that, you guys, because that was really, really, really good advice and something I've actually never done or even thought about or suggested to my own doula practice clients. Get your birth preference sheet or birth plans everyone calls a difference. I call it a birth preference sheet, which is a list of all your preferences that you desire. Go over that with your provider, and have them physically sign it. Physically sign it and date it showing that your provider went over it. And like she said, every provider may not be willing to do that, but I will say, if a provider is willing to do that, that says something to me.Kristin: It does. Yes.Meagan: Yeah. Super powerful. Oh, my gosh. Okay, nugget. Grab it, put it in your pocket, everybody. Sign your birth preference sheet so you can have it and keep that in your bag, so if you do have that random on-call doctor who may not even know you or not be so supportive, be like, "This has already been discussed. We were aware of this. My doctor has signed off." Also, you could maybe ask if your provider could make a copy of that and put it in your chart.Kristin: Right. Because yes, it's not just the one that they have on file, but it's also for the ones that you have, that copy that you're bringing and showing the nurse so the nurse and everyone is on the same page. Meagan: Love that. Kristin: And again, with teaching hospitals, you might have residents in and out. There can be some difficult conversations with VBAC and residents who have never seen a VBAC. We're not fully trained yet to support VBAC, and so they might be making suggestions while the provider is not in that check-in. So every state, again, every area is different. I just happen to be in an area with multiple teaching hospitals.Meagan: Same here. We have seen it where I think, I don't want to say this badly. The VBAC world is a world that can have a lot of negativities in it, negative things and big words like uterine rupture. We've got residents who may be coming in and may be training under a provider who has seen a uterine rupture or has maybe molded an opinion on VBAC and is projecting their opinion to that student. Whether or not they're consciously doing it or not, they're saying their opinion, and those opinions might morph that resident's opinion into negative for VBAC. You never know. And so they might be doing things or be more hesitant in areas that they don't need to be, but they are.Kristin: Yeah, it's such a good point. And as you mentioned, I mean, we don't know the traumas that our nurses and medical team, even home birth midwives, have experienced, and they carry that with them. And how can they not? Even as doulas, we witness, but we don't have the liability and the medical training to make it, but we are witnesses of trauma and have our own healing to do to be able to better move on and support the next client. So certainly keeping that in mind that they may have seen something that alters the way they practice.Meagan: Yeah.Kristin: It's not just fear of lawsuits.Meagan: It's really not. It's not. There's a provider here in Utah who is literally so scared of vaginal birth herself. She scheduled all of her Cesareans, even the very first one from the get. She never had trial of labor or TOL. She just doesn't. So can you imagine what her Cesarean rate may be? And she kind of reminds me of the provider you're talking about. She really likes it just so controlled. Come in, start Pitocin, and get the epidural. She likes those things, which we know can sometimes lead to those Cesareans. And so really also discussing with your provider, how do you feel about birth? Have you had babies? And then we have another OB who's like, "I work in the hospital, and I love the hospital, and I trust the hospital system, but I actually gave birth at home with all three of my babies," and so really getting to know your provider, I think, is so good. Okay, let's keep going on this topic of assembling your dream team of experts when planning for birth and baby. What other things would you suggest to our Women of Strength?Kristin: Yes. So as we know, birth is as physical as it is mental, and just the opposite, as mental as it is physical. So preparing with a childbirth class, a comprehensive class, even if you took one before, use the lens of your goal of attempting a VBAC, a trial of labor. And so for us, we happen to teach HypnoBirth at Gold Coast Doulas and that mind/body connection that HypnoBirthing or a gentle birth offers where it's more of using the visualization the way an athlete would in preparing for a marathon or a triathlon, you are using things to reduce fear. You're understanding all of your options. It's very partner involved. I think taking a comprehensive childbirth class, whichever meets your individual goals, is great. That childbirth instructor is a great person to add to your birth and baby team. And then moving your body. So taking a fitness class that is appropriate for pregnancy. So prenatal yoga, there are Barre classes for pregnancy. There are prenatal belly dancing classes, whatever it is. Meagan: Aqua aerobics.Kristin: Yeah, water aerobics are amazing. And so thinking about baby's position and helping labor to go on its own or be quicker. There's acupuncture, acupressure, the Webster-certified chiro for positioning or body balancing experts, so many different options. But I am a big fan of educating yourself and preparing because as you mentioned earlier, Meagan, a doula is not your end all, be all. Just because we have the information and the training, we can't think for you. We don't want to think for you. The more informed you are, the more likely you're going to feel like birth didn't happen to you this time around and you were a direct participant, even if you end up having a surgical birth again.Meagan: Yeah, yeah. Yes. Oh my gosh. So talking about courses, you guys, we have our VBAC course. This VBAC course goes into VBAC, the stats about VBAC, the history of VBAC, the history of Cesarean, the stats of Cesarean, the questions, finding the provider, a little bit more of the mental prep, and physical prep. But when it comes to a childirth education course like with the course that she has, they're on different levels. I actually suggest them both.Kristin: Yes, me too. Absolutely.Meagan: But it's so important to know the information that is in your course. I know you go even past preparing for birth and then birth and then postpartum. You go into all of it. We're going to talk more about it. But you guys, we as doulas, love getting information and we love sharing information. But like she said, we don't want to be the only one that knows the information in a team. When our clients come in, at least here in my group, when our clients come in and they are fully educated and we're like, yes. And then we can come in with our education and our experience and knowledge, you guys, it is a powerhouse team. It is a powerhouse team. We have clients who, when they take child birth education classes like yours, they are able to advocate more for themselves. They feel stronger to stand up and say, "Hey, thank you so much, but no thanks" or "Maybe later," when our clients who haven't had that childbirth education or just any information other than maybe what we're providing, which is great, but not enough in the full length of pregnancy, it's a little harder. We have to try to encourage those clients a little bit more because it's harder for them because they don't know everything. We're there to help guide them and help advocate for them and educate them, but it is very different.Kristin: It is. It's so different. And I feel like, again, partners, especially male partners, want to fix things. They don't want their love to feel any pain, and so they may have the fear of a VBAC. So taking a VBAC class course, having a VBAC doula, giving information is just as helpful, if not more for the partner and their comfort level and to have them fully get on board because they may be resisting and just going along for the ride, but if you can get them to be an active participant in education, then they're going to be able to help you. And sometimes in labor, we get to a point in transition where we can't fully speak for ourselves. But if our partner understands, is educated and on board, and if there's time to talk through the risks and benefits and alternatives with your doula, then yes. But sometimes decisions have to be made quickly, and so for that partner to be informed and educated is crucial.Meagan: So crucial. It's so powerful. My husband-- he was not so on board. He was like, "Whatever. I don't care. You can go to the courses. You can do these things."Kristin: And that's very typical.Meagan: It's very typical. And I did. I did do those things. When I said, "Hey, I'm going to birth out-of-hospital," and he was like, "No," I was like, "Well, sorry. I've done the education. I know this is really where my heart is pulling." We touched on this in the beginning how partners really can influence decision making. And in no way, shape or form am I trying to say partners are terrible or don't listen to your partner or anything like that. That's not the goal of what we're saying is have an educated partner. Know that you can assemble a birth team, like a provider, a chiropractor, a massage therapist, a doula, a PT, or whatever it may be, but don't forget about your partner. Your partner is a huge part of your team, and if they're not educated and they're not able to help guide you through, or if they're not being supportive, find ways to help them be supportive by taking a course with them and helping them realize, oh, VBAC actually isn't that scary. Oh, that chance isn't really 50+%. Oh, okay. Hospital birth, out-of-hospital birth. Yeah. They're both reasonable, and really understanding that.Kristin: Absolutely. And sometimes I find that my students and clients may have not had success with breastfeeding the first time and potentially didn't take a class. So if their goal is to breastfeed or pump exclusively, then taking a breastfeeding class and having that IBCLC as a resource for their dream team in case it's needed because many times, you have the lactation consultant who's teaching the class, at least in my practice, and then they're also available for say, a home visit or a hospital visit, depending on where the class is taking place. And so I think that that's something. Even if it isn't your first baby and maybe you breastfed for a little bit or had supply issues or challenges after a surgical birth, that it is important to consider any education during pregnancy because it's much harder to get that education after you have your baby.Meagan: It really is. I love that you're touching on that, really getting into all the things and having your partner go with you. I remember I was like, I had a C-section, and I was swollen and tired, and I couldn't move very well. I was sore and all the things that sometimes come with C-sections. I'm trying to nurse, and I'm engorged.  I don't feel my letdown, and I'm just so engorged. I don't know. All I know is I have really big, swollen boobs. It's all I could tell. I couldn't latch. My husband was like, "That's it. We're going to the store. We're getting formula." Formula is fine. Not anything against formula.Kristin: He's trying to fix the problem and make you feel better.Meagan: Yep, yep, yep. Trying to fix that problem. But I was like, "No, I really want to breastfeed." At that point, I wasn't able to communicate. Like, I didn't get the birth I wanted. I already felt like a failure because I was actually told that your body failed. That's what I was told. So I was already dealing with this mindset that I failed. I had a C-section. I didn't want a C-section. And now the only thing I could try to do because I couldn't take that C-section back is breastfeed my baby. I wanted to breastfeed my baby. And again, we didn't take those childbirth education classes. He for sure didn't download any apps. I at least had an app trying to help me at that point, but he didn't understand. He didn't understand.And I'm like, no.I'm crying, and I'm like, "Please, just help me. I don't know what I need to help me." And he's like, "No, we're going to the store. Our baby's mad. You're crying." He was trying to fix that problem. But if we had already done that information education before and found that IBCLC before and him understanding how important that was to me, he could have been like, "I'm going to call her IBCLC. I'll get her over here right away."Kristin: Exactly. The last thing you want to do is go into the hospital to see a lactation consultant there if you can even get in.Meagan: Exactly. Yeah. So it just could have been so much smoother. Sometimes I feel like we were against each other at that point because he didn't have any education. With our first, I really didn't have much education. But with our third, it was like he really didn't have a lot of education. and I was over-the-top educated, so I was saying these things, and he was thinking I was demeaning him or saying he was stupid because it was just this weird thing. So if we can just come together with our partners and get all the education and get it all before really, find out a postpartum plan. Find out a breastfeeding plan. Right? Find out what you want. You guys, it just makes the pregnancy journey and the postpartum journey, so much better. It truly makes you feel like you're on that team because you are.Kristin: Yes. Absolutely. And certainly, I mean, you mentioned apps. Not everyone has the means or even lives in an area where they can take a comprehensive five, six, ten-week childbirth class. There are, obviously, online classes. There are some Zoom virtual ones where students are all over the place. But there are watching birth videos and YouTube and in my book, Supported: Your Guide to Birth and Baby, we talk about apps, so count the kicks. Especially for VBACs, doing the self-monitoring if there's fear of fetal movement and any sort of distress during the end of the pregnancy, then really understanding your own body and doing monitoring. It's not just when you're in your provider's office being monitored. You can make a difference yourself. So having some different apps and some education on your own, listening to podcasts like yours to get this information and reading books. So there's more than if you can't afford a childbirth class like HypnoBirthing, there are still ways that you can get educated and your partner can get educated. So yeah, take a look at all of your options and your budget.Meagan: Yeah, and we talk about this all the time because I love them, but Be Her Village is a really great resource where you can go fill out a registry and, hopefully, get some help for these things. Childbirth education classes, doulas, IBCLCS. But I want to dive a little bit more into your book, actually, while we're talking about different resources. We talked about the childbirth education, but can we talk about more about Supported: Your Guide to Birth and Baby and how this came into fruition and what all is included in this amazing book.Kristin: Okay, Meagan. So essentially the book came out of our online course. Becoming a Mother launched in the early pandemic when everything was shut down and our classes all had to go virtual. I was fortunate to be in a state where doulas who were certified were able to work thanks to our governor. So we were working, but there was still a lot of isolation even with our clients' prenatal visits. They wanted a connection, so we launched this course. We had talked about and did three live launches, got VBAC from our students, pulled people in from all the moms' groups before creating the first draft of the course. And then the course just led to the book. So the content in Becoming a Mother is what is in the book in a different format. So in Becoming a Mother, we have expert videos, so VBAC specialists and Webster-certified chiropractors talking about what that is. Pelvic floor physical therapists, car seat safety technicians, cord blood banking donation centers.Meagan: Awesome.Kristin: We have the experts speaking for themselves-- a pediatrician. And so in the book, anything that is medical and out of the scope of a doula, we had expert contributors, so I have a pediatrician friend of mine who contributed a newborn procedure section of the chapter and a prenatal yoga studio instructor, she's also a certified body balancer. She contributed to some of the fitness options in the book, and a mental health therapist who is PMA focused and certified contributed to the mental health chapter. We have an IBCLC that contributed to the feeding chapter, and so a lot of involvement, and then sharing client stories throughout the book and then our own wisdom. We have doula tips and wisdom at the end of every chapter. Meagan: Wow.Kristin: And so as clients were asking me for books over the years, I couldn't find anything that was positive. I felt like there were a lot of, this is your cry-it-out method for sleep because we have a whole chapter on sleep and it's very attachment-focused. It's like, one way for feeding, and we wanted our clients, with their unique choices for themselves, to have a book that supports people who want to plan surgical birth like that OB and that's their comfort level and a book for the same person who wants a home birth. You don't have to buy five different books. It's not always Ina May which is a great book but not for everyone. All of her different-- she's got Spiritual Midwifery and so many different books. It is great for grandparents to read and partners but is targeted to the mother or the mother-to-be and is great in preconception in that early planning. But also, we wanted to make it similar to the course and just as valuable for seasoned bombs as it is for new moms. And again, it's affirming. We tried not to have any fear-filled information in a simple, easy-to-read guide that you can pull out for reference and a lot of different, again, apps and podcasts and books to read and resources and evidence-based information about Black maternal health and where we're at in the country now and how the pandemic impacted birth especially, but also that postpartum time.Meagan: Wow. That book sounds amazing. So amazing. And you guys, you can get it in every form, even Audible. I'm a big listener. I like to listen to books. Kristin and Alyssa actually recorded it. She was telling me they had 10+-hour days recording this this book. You can get it, and we will make sure to have the links for that in the show notes. I found it at goldcoastdoulas.com/supportedyourguidetobirthandbaby.Kristin: It's there. You can find it off that website or it has its own page. It's supportedbook.com. Meagan: Supportedbook.com, okay. We'll make sure that's all in the show notes, so you guys can grab that. Okay, so you know a lot. Obviously, you wrote a whole book and a whole course and all this stuff. Is there anything else that you would like to share in regards to just our final assembling of that powerhouse birth team?Kristin: So don't forget, I know we're talking a lot about pregnancy and birth prep, but don't forget your recovery phase. And you had talked about your own personal struggles with breastfeeding engorgement, recovery after a surgical birth. If you have, well, you do have other children at home with VBACs, and so looking at childcare, postpartum doula support, or what kind of family support you're going to have after, it's more than just meal plans and prepping the nursery. We strongly believe that as part of your dream team, the postnatal team is crucial as well. So whether it's a lactation consultant, a pelvic floor physical therapist, if you want to get back to running marathons again or are leaking. I mean, we can all use pelvic floor physical therapy. It's not just the athletes who they support. Some people, again, with building a home or other life occurrences like a wedding or preparing for college, you look at your budget. You look at your main goals. For a wedding, it might be food. For postpartum, it might be sleep. So hiring a sleep consultant when baby's old enough or an overnight postpartum doula or a newborn care specialist. What are your priorities? And take the budget. What might be paid for by insurance or, a health savings flex spending plan that you need to run down? What might be gifted? Like you mentioned, Be Her Village. There are different ways you can budget. And in the book, we talk about all of that and looking at employer plans, how to navigate that, what questions to ask your HR department about other members, like a chiropractor, could that be covered? A therapist? Oftentimes, we don't know our own benefits and certainly, I don't know my husband's benefits fully, so to be able to investigate that early in pregnancy and figure out what might be fully or partially paid for.Meagan: Wow. That is incredible itself. I feel like that's a whole other conversation of, how to navigate how to do that. So definitely go get the book, you guys, because it sounds like there are just so many things in there that are honestly crucial to know. really, really important things to know. You are incredible. Kristin: So are you.Meagan: I just enjoy chatting with you so much. Anything else? Yeah, anything else you'd like to add?Kristin: And obviously, take taking trainings and courses. If I know you have doulas who listen. It's not just parents.Meagan: Yes.Kristin: As doulas go through The VBAC Link. Get certified as a VBAC doula. Keep up with information that is ever-changing. We all want to be the best doula for each of our clients, but I am a firm believer in continuing our own education and that more and more of our clients are choosing to attempt VBACs, and so the more information you can get as a professional, the better you're able to support. It's just not the number of VBACs you've attended anymore. It's clients wanting that knowledge so you can be busier and also a more effective doula by getting that training and then going through the certification process that you offer.Meagan: Yeah, have a directory actually with birth doulas where people can go and find it because when Julie and I created this company way back in the day, we knew that we were just two people here in Utah. We couldn't change the VBAC world. We could give as much information as we could. We could share the podcast. We could do those types of things. But when it comes to birth workers, we wanted to reach birth workers everywhere. It's so great that we have and we're still having more people come on because they're helping people so much. I mean, we know you have doulas that do it all the time. These doulas do help and there are actual stats on doulas that do it. But I agree. If you're a birth worker, stay up to date. Be in the know. Know what's going on because you will likely need to help guide your client through it. Kristin: Then you can charge more. So take that investment in a training like The VBAC Link, and then you're able to charge more because you're more experienced. You have more certifications. So don't look at like, oh, I don't have any money for continuing education. Look at how that's going to change your career.Meagan: Yeah, and I think sometimes too you can charge a little bit more, take less clients, and be more personal with those clients and dive into it. Especially because we do know that VBAC does take some extra stuff that goes on with VBAC. There's some extra work to be worked through. There are some extra things and so yeah, I love that.Kristin: Well, thank you so much for having me on Meagan, I loved our chat.Meagan: Thank you. You as well. As always, I loved our other chat as well. We have to keep going. I think I'm going to order your book today and get going on that. Even though I'm not a mom preparing, I think this would be such a great book to suggest to all of my clients. So thank you for sharing. Thank you.Kristin: Yeah. My secondary audience is certainly anyone who works with families in the birth and baby space, but it is targeted again, just similar to my podcast. It's like I have the listener of the pregnant individual and family, but also birth workers. The book is similar. Thank you for ordering.I appreciate it. Meagan: Yes. And can you also tell everybody where to find you not just in your book, but Instagram, podcast, and all of the social medias?Kristin: So my podcast is Ask the Doulas. You can find us on all the podcast players and you were a guest recently, so very fun. And certainly, we're at Gold Coast Doulas on everything from Pinterest to YouTube to Facebook to Instagram. I don't have separate social sites for my book because I honestly don't have time for that.Meagan: That's okay. Yeah, it's a package. It comes with everything, so you don't need to have another book page. Well, awesome. Well, thank you again so much.Kristin: Thank you. Have a great day.Meagan: You too.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

Straight off Emma dives right in with some amazing advice around how to work with your body to make your birth experience as positive as possible and with that the importance of oxytocin and understanding its impact as her number one advice and why. Jayda also asks Emma to really explain what a doula actually is and Emma busts myths about what a doula is not and why having a doula is all about enhancing your experience of birth. Emma also talks about the fear mongering around birth, but also how to face valid fear of pain with curiosity and an embodied relationship with self to help yourself feel embodied to navigate pain and the experience of labour. Jayda asks Emma about the connection between the patriarchy and women being disempowered in their birth experience as a default and and Emma gave great advice on how to advocate for yourself more especially with care providers, they also discuss the different experiences people of colour have during labour as well anyone LGBTQ+, and why Emma emphasises how important it is to actively choose the team you work with and always prioritise your safety, support and voice. With that, Emma talks about Hypnobirthing, why she teaches it, why it is so significant for people's labour experience and how it is at heart a mindset and about connecting deeply with yourself. A great and informative conversation for anyone who is pregnant or supporting a person going into labour, now or in the future!Follow Emma ArmstrongFollow Jayda GFollow Here's Hoping PodcastMore on our guest The Naked Doula The Nake Doula Etsy ShopEmma Armstrong, a creative visionary, entrepreneur and the founder of the Naked Doula brand is a retired birth doula & hypnobirthing coach who has built a worldwide visual education platform which will inspire women and men alike for years to come. Emma is using her influence and gifts to guide women all over the world in connecting back to their self-trust, confidence and abilities not just in birth but in all aspects of their lives. Emma is also a writer, author and illustrator, with her debut book The Fearless Birth Book hitting the shelves earlier this year and the fearless birth journal due to drop in April 2026. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Links: Today's episode is sponsored by Motif Medical. See how you can get Motif's Luna or Aura breast pumps covered through insurance at motifmedical.com/birthhour.  Know Your Options Online Childbirth Course (100OFF for $100 off) Beyond the First Latch Course (comes free with KYO course) Support The Birth Hour via Patreon! Erika's first birth story is episode 287.

Today, we break down the pain-free-birth movement and explore its theological roots. Can women truly experience a pain-free birth? Where did this concept originate, and why is it so controversial? In this episode, we dissect the claims made in the book "Supernatural Childbirth" by Jackie Mize. Mize encourages women to believe that with enough faith, they can overcome fear and pain, commanding their bodies to obey their faith declarations. Get your tickets for Share the Arrows: https://www.sharethearrows.com/ Pre-order Allie's new book: https://a.co/d/4COtBxy --- Timecodes: (01:25) Intro to pain-free birth (04:00) Allie's birth story & pain-free birth summary (07:04) Word of Faith movement (25:20) Birth free from pain (43:17) Is it physiologically possible? (47:30) Hypnobirth (50:46) Responses to claims of pain-free birth --- Today's Sponsors: Cozy Earth - go to COZYEARTH.COM/RELATABLE to enjoy up to 40% off using the code RELATABLE. Jase Medical - Enter now for a chance to win a Jase Case for life at https://www.jase.com/allie , and use promo code “ALLIE” at checkout for a discount—giveaway ends August 31st! Carly Jean Los Angeles - Get two pairs of jeans for the price of one using code ALLIESFREEJEANS at https://www.carlyjeanlosangeles.com NetSuite — gain visibility and control of your financials, planning, budgeting, and inventory so you can manage risk, get reliable forecasts, and improve margins. Go to NetSuite.com/ALLIE to get your one-of-a-kind flexible financing program. --- Relevant Episodes: Ep 490 | Most Misused: Philippians 4:13 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-490-most-misused-philippians-4-13/id1359249098?i=1000535568502 Ep 528 | What Progressive Christianity & Prosperity Gospel Get Wrong About Jesus | Guest: Costi Hinn https://podcasts.apple.com/at/podcast/ep-528-what-progressive-christianity-prosperity-gospel/id1359249098?i=1000542874144 Ep 257 | Leaving the Prosperity Gospel Behind and the Deconversion of Christians | Guest: Costi Hinn https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-257-leaving-the-prosperity-gospel-behind/id1359249098?i=1000476404583 Ep 267 | New Age vs. Christianity, Part 2: 'The God of Self' | Guest: Steven Bancarz https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-267-new-age-vs-christianity-part-2-the-god-of/id1359249098?i=1000479398375 Ep 903 | My Birth Story with a VBA2C https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-903-my-birth-story-with-a-vba2c/id1359249098?i=1000634048843 Ep 1046 | Ex-Psychic on Demonic Possession & Taylor Swift | Guest: Jenn Nizza https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-1046-ex-psychic-reveals-truth-about-taylor-swift/id1359249098?i=1000664520231 --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise – use promo code 'ALLIE10' for a discount: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode I invite one of my clients Kaitlin to come and share her journey to birth and how they navigated the experience using the Hypnobirthing techniques she learned when doing a face-to-face childbirth education course with me on the Gold Coast. If you would like to join one of my upcoming Hypnobirthing courses on the Gold Coast in Australia then CLICK HERE To access the full 'Journey to Birth' self-paced Hypnobirthing online course and get instant access now for only $197 + gst CLICK HERE To work with me privately one-on-one for Hypnobirthing or for my deeper coaching work CLICK HERE

Today's episode is full of love. Meagan's doula partner, Christin Carlson, joins as co-host today to hear their client, Janelle, share her beautiful VBAC story.Janelle's first baby was determined to stay frank breech even after two ECV attempts. Her water broke on its own before her scheduled date. In prep for her surgery, Janelle unexpectedly experienced vaginal cleansing. Though the surgery went well, it was not the introduction to motherhood Janelle was hoping for. She was also hit hard with postpartum depression. Janelle shares how she found The VBAC Link and became obsessed with all things VBAC prep. Surrounded by the most loving and empowering team, they helped her stay steady when labor was most intense. Even though it was harder than she imagined it would be, Janelle was able to dig deep and achieve the unmedicated VBAC she desired. Vaginal Cleansing ArticlePostpartum Depression ArticleHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode Details 02:40 Janelle's PPD experience07:25 Janelle's stories12:06 Arriving at the hospital14:05 Janelle's C-section17:00 VBAC preparation19:24 Appendicitis and second pregnancy24:22 Going into labor27:35 Laboring at the hospital30:30 Transition34:21 Achieving her VBAC38:47 The power of a supportive partner43:53 What is vaginal cleansing?50:26 Symptoms of postpartum depressionMeagan: Hello, everybody. You guys, today I have a very special episode to my heart because this is one of our own doula clients here in Utah and another even more special thing is that this is my partner, Kristen who ended up attending her birth, is co-hosting. Hello, Christin and Janelle. Janelle: Hello. Christin: Hi. Meagan: How are you guys today? Janelle: So good, so good. Meagan: Before we started recording, we started talking about time and how fast things are going. You guys, I mean I think you probably know if you are pregnant or have a newborn in your arms how fast time goes, but really, holy cow. We were with Janelle, we just talked about, 8 months ago from the time we are recording which is wild to think about. Janelle: So weird. So weird. It's crazy. Christin: It seems like it was a couple of weeks ago. Janelle: Yeah, it's not fair. Meagan: I know. How have things been? How have you been going with postpartum?Janelle: Things have been really good and I think that's one of the things that pushed me to want a VBAC so badly is I was hoping for a better postpartum experience. I had pretty severe postpartum depression with my first baby and I felt like having the VBAC would be some sort of heavenly gateway into not having postpartum depression. In the beginning, that was true, but I ended up still having some of it. Things are good now, though. Meagan: Good. I actually love that you touched on that because I think that sometimes especially after a traumatic Cesarean or a traumatic experience that did lead to postpartum depression or anxiety or anything like that, that can be a big motivator for a different experience. I love that you talked about, “Well, it was a better experience, but I still had this a little bit. I've had to work through that.” I'm glad that you're good now, but even sometimes when we have a different experience, we have similar things. So it's important to recognize that. I love that you just pointed that out. Janelle: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Meagan: Before we get going into the episode, do you have any tips on tackling that the second time around too? How were your feelings about things when you were starting to feel it and see it creep in? 02:40 Janelle's PPD experienceJanelle: Well, with both experiences, it did creep in just like you said, but with my daughter, it felt really dark really fast. She was my first baby and then with my first son, the VBAC, it was kind of a little bit sneaky. I guess just having someone on your support team. For me, it was my husband and I just said, “Look, if you see any of these signs, please say something to me.” It wasn't like we had a code word or anything. He was just really open in his dialogue with me and said, “Hey, I think something is up with you. You are not your normal self.” As soon as he said that, I was like, “Yeah. You're right.” It was really hard to admit because you want to be this strong mom and you want to be there for everyone and be everything that everyone need, but sometimes that's just not how life works. It's literally a chemical imbalance in your body and in your brain. It has nothing to do with your circumstances. Just having someone on your team and on your side to say, “Hey, I love you. Let's get help,” was absolutely integral to helping me get on the other side. Christin: I think it may have helped because you had been through it before so you were aware of the warning signs. That's something I think that we don't realize because I struggled with postpartum depression too but it didn't happen until my third baby so I didn't have any inclination that that was even something that I was going to deal with. I think it's important. We do all of this work to prepare for our VBACs and to prepare for the arrival of a new baby, but sometimes I don't think we educate ourselves on what those warning signs of postpartum depression are because they can be very sneaky. It's not always deep, dark thoughts. Sometimes it's postpartum rage or postpartum anxiety where just you are either extremely emotional or extremely angry all of the time. To have your husband looking out for you or someone on your support team who is keeping an eye out for those things and noticing a shift in the way that you're behaving, I think, is super important. I think that's great that you guys have had this conversation ahead of time. Meagan: Yeah, and we will talk a little bit more about some of those signs and symptoms. Like Christin was saying about how they can differ between rage, anxiety, depression, and the baby blues a little bit more at the end for sure because yeah, I think Christin just nailed it. We focus so heavily, and I think even more sometimes– I don't want to say this as a fact, but sometimes I feel like more as a VBAC mom, we are so hyper-focused on the end result of a vaginal birth that sometimes I feel like we do forget a lot. That's like everybody. I think they are so focused on getting baby here, but VBAC sometimes has to fight harder, search harder, read more, and emotionally work through things a little bit more so yeah, we can forget. Then that creeps in or like Janelle said, it was like boom and darkness came over. We want to know how to handle that so we will talk a little bit more about that in the end. 07:25 Janelle's storiesMeagan: Okay, you guys. I wasn't there, but in our practice, we have something that is like a live timeline that we have so whoever is at the birth can take notes of the timeline and we like to share that with our parents. We were all just sitting there watching it, checking in, and I just remember feeling this utter excitement inside of me for them as I was looking at the notes and following along with Christin's updates. I'm excited to now be here with you both and hear it in a different way. I'm going to turn the time over to you. Janelle: Yes. I'm so excited. I was actually telling Meagan before we started that I was actually fangirling out. I don't know exactly how I got started listening to The VBAC Link, but after I had my daughter, somehow I got onto it and I binged so hard on this podcast. It's just really surreal to be recording with you. So thank you for allowing me to be here. Christin: You've come full circle. Meagan: Full circle. Janelle: I have. Meagan: I love that that happens with The VBAC Link. I love that it's so often that it's like, “I listened every day. You were in my ear and now here I am being in someone else's ear. Janelle: Yeah, yep. So just to all the mamas out there who are preparing, you've got this. You can do this. With all VBACs, of course, there is a Cesarean that starts the story, right? We tried to get pregnant with my daughter for 14 months. We finally got pregnant and the pregnancy was super easy. I was going for a HypnoBirth unmedicated birth. I didn't have a doula. I didn't really have– I don't know. You just don't know what you don't know and as a first-time mom, you think you know, but you don't. You just don't. Meagan: Or we have apps that tell us so we really think we know because the app said so. Janelle: Yes, but then you just don't know until you're in it. I gained 60ish pounds which was a lot, but I never had hypertension or a lot of issues with that. I never ended up with gestational diabetes which I was really grateful for and worried about, but in hindsight, it really wouldn't have been a big deal. At my 36-week appointment, we found out my daughter was breech. Homegirl was freaking stuck. Let me just tell you, she has been stubborn ever since. We tried everything. We decided to do an ECV. We did it at 37 weeks and we just did that. I think a low dose of Fentanyl was the only medication. I was just trying to use my Hypnobirthing to breathe through it. The doctors told me that I was doing really well, but she was just stuck, and that one failed. We tried going to the chiropractor. We tried Spinning Babies. We tried basically everything that I could think of. We did not do acupuncture. That's the only thing that we didn't do and I never hired a doula. I could have done those things, but I didn't. We tried a second ECV at my 38-week appointment. We did that one with a spinal block in the OR because they were like, “Well, sometimes on the second attempt, it can throw you into labor.” So I was like, Okay, well if that happens and we have any problems, they can just do a Cesarean right there. She was very, very stuck in my pelvis and the maternal-fetal medicine doctor actually tried to push her up vaginally and that was unsuccessful and very uncomfortable. Even though I was numb, it was still like, This is weird. I don't know. I don't like this. She just was stuck. She was frank breech, so I was like, Okay. We're just going to go through with the Cesarean. I had 2 more weeks so two days later, I went out to dinner with a friend and then that night when I was sleeping, I got up to pee like you do a million times when you're pregnant at the end and some water was leaking out as I was walking back from the bathroom and I was like, What the crap? I just peed. How is this happening?My water had broken and there was meconium. I knew that it was going to be a little bit of an issue with meconium just because my doctor told me something like they were just worried about meconium with a breech baby. I don't know. I don't know if that's true or evidence-based or not. 12:06 Arriving at the hospitalJanelle: We drove to the hospital and we got there at 5:00. They had to do a COVID test and they cleaned me out. I don't know if you've ever heard of that. Meagan: Like rectally? Janelle: No, like vaginally. They took some sort of– Meagan: They cleaned you out vaginally?Janelle: Yeah, I don't know if it was because of the meconium, but they took some iodine-something and it felt like a membrane sweep. I never have had one of those, but if I could imagine what that was like, that's what it felt like. Meagan: Christin, have you ever seen that? Christin: It's funny that you say that because I had never seen it before until Janelle told me that she had it and I was like, That just sounds so odd, but I actually just saw it at a birth the other day. Meagan: What is it for? I actually don't know what this is. Christin: I had never seen it previously and I thought it was just an anomaly with your birth, Janelle, but I saw it the other day again. Janelle: Do they have a name for it? Meagan: I'm Googling it right now. Christin: They didn't name it. They just used iodine swabs and just cleaned her out. Janelle: Was that also for meconium? Christin: Yeah. Janelle: Okay, interesting. Christin: Now that I think back on it, there was mec but I don't think we knew there was mec until baby was born so I don't know. Janelle: Oh, interesting. Okay. So yeah, that was the most unpleasant experience ever on top of mid-contraction, I was having the COVID swab up my nose so that was really great because this was early 2021. So yeah. Anyway, we waited for the ORand the nurse came in. I asked her, “Can you check me? I know I'm going back there for surgery, but I'm just curious. I'm having contractions. Can you just see if I'm dilating?” She's like, “Yeah, you're at a 4.” So I was like, "Oh, that's kind of nice. My body's actually doing the work here.” I was really excited about that. 14:05 Janelle's C-sectionJanelle: Jumping to the surgery, I was so terrified. I don't know what it was. You're just going through so many emotions. You have to put so much trust in the nurses and the doctors and the anesthesiologists. You have to put so much trust that these people paid attention in med school that they know what they are doing, that they care about you, they care about your baby, and chances are they totally do and they did pay attention and they got good grades, but I just felt nervous as a first-time mom. They jostled me around and the anesthesiologist was really nice and he was just talking to me and telling me everything that was happening. When she was born, I knew it because I felt them yank her out. They had a clear drape, but I couldn't see over it so I was really sad that I couldn't see her. Because of the meconium, they had to take her and they cleaned her up and stuff. I was 16 minutes or something before I got to see her. In hindsight, it's not that long, but it felt like forever. Then I got to see her sweet little face and oh gosh, it was just the most precious thing ever. My husband snuck a video of it. You're not supposed to in the OR, but he snuck a video of it and it's such a treasure for me to look back at the moment that I got to meet her because I didn't get to be the first one to hold her. Yeah. Christin: I love that he did that though so you have the record of that memory. Janelle: Yeah. I never even asked him to. He just knew that I would want that. He's the best. One thing I didn't know about postpartum regardless of if you have a C-section or a vaginal birth, your nurses will push on your abdomen and it hurts like a mother trucker. Let me just tell you. Meagan: Crede-ing. Janelle: It's what? Meagan: It's called Crede-ing. They Crede and they are checking where the uterus is, if it's clamping down, and making sure it's not getting boggy and filling up. Janelle: Yep, and if you're bleeding too much or not enough. It sucked. Then I had really bad postpartum depression. This one was not sneaky. This one was almost immediately. I felt like I bonded really well with my daughter, but there was just some darkness that was in my heart and I couldn't figure out what it was. It took a while. I was actually maybe 6 or 8 weeks at my postpartum appointment and my doctor did the screening. She's like, “Yeah, your score was really not good. Let's get you some medication.” I was like, “Okay.” I was very reluctant, but I saw almost an immediate difference. I had it for a while, but it did help. 17:00 VBAC preparationJanelle: Anyway, so that was my daughter's birth and ever since then, like I said, I was obsessed with The VBAC Link. I knew right away that I wanted a vaginal birth. Actually, come to think of it, right before we went back to surgery, I was talking to the doctors and I was like, “I really want to have another baby after this. Is there any way you guys could make sure that my scar looks really good and I could have more babies vaginally? That's really important to me.” They were like, “Yeah. We will make sure you are taken care of.” I was very grateful for that. What I wanted out of this birth, I don't know if what I told Christin is still what I have on my birth plan that I wrote down, but what I really wanted was a healthy mom, a healthy mindset, and a healthy baby obviously. Those are the minimum, right? Then I wanted baby out of my vagina. I wanted skin-to-skin. I wanted to be the first one to hold baby and I wanted to be fully present and fully included in all of the decisions. I don't know if it was just, yeah. I don't know exactly why that was so important to me at the moment, but it just felt like I didn't want any of this robbed from me. I didn't want any of the experience to be done to me. Do you know what I'm saying? I wanted as few interventions as possible. Those were what I really wanted out of this birth. Is that what you have, Christin?Christin: Yeah, pretty darn close to that. I also have skin-to-skin was super important. Janelle: Yes. Christin: And I think it's worth noting that you wanted to catch and deliver your own baby. You said I wanted to be the first one to hold her– sorry, hold the baby boy– but you also told me that was super important to you. You actually wanted to deliver your child. Janelle: Yes, okay. With my son, my daughter was maybe 20 months old. It was the Sunday before Thanksgiving and I felt some pain in my side. We had been trying for 6 months and something was just wrong. I didn't have a big appetite and it was Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house and I just didn't feel good. Something intuitively was just wrong and I knew it. My husband was like, “Well, why don't you just try taking an antacid?” I was like, “No. I know something is wrong.” 19:24 Appendicitis and second pregnancyJanelle: We went to the ER and I had appendicitis and I was pregnant. So that was really fun to find out all at the same time. Because I was 3 weeks, 4 days pregnant, I had not even missed my period. I hadn't taken a test, they said that nothing in the surgery would change because baby was still so small. I was like, Okay. Well, that's good. I was really nervous for the surgery and that there were going to be complications afterward, but everything was fine. As soon as I started to heal from surgery, I got so nauseous. I was so sick the whole pregnancy until maybe 25 weeks. That's when it finally started to wean off. Like I said, I lived in VBAC mode. I binged the podcast on the daily. I went on walks. I would listen to it while I was cleaning, driving, naptime, all of the things. I also was very into the Evidence-Based Birth Podcast because I was very curious about water birth and home birth and all of the statistics. My husband actually pulled me aside while I was in crazy VBAC mode as we call it. He was like, “Janelle, I'm just worried if you end up having a C-section, where are you going to be at mentally? Are you going to be okay with this if that ends up being your path?” I was like, “You know what? I really do need to prepare for that too,” because things really can go in any direction with birth. As soon as he said that to me and I started to prepare that way, I just became like, Okay. Whatever happens happens. This is okay. I did have the same VBAC-crazed mindset but I was also okay with things happening. I don't know if that makes sense. Meagan: Yeah, it totally makes sense. I think a lot of the time as we are preparing for that, it is important to note that things can go and still prepare for the other but prepare, prepare, prepare, and then do all of those things while you are preparing so if it doesn't happen, then you don't have to look back and be like, But what if this and what if that? Then you are confident in the way you prepared, but then you know, Well, it could go this way. It's not what I'm going to plan for, but it could go that way and I'm going to be more content because I'm doing everything within my control. Janelle: Yes. At 20 weeks, my insurance changed and I had to find a new provider. That was a whirlwind. I actually found my midwife through The VBAC Link list of providers. Her name is Kira Waters and she is the best. I love her so much. The first thing that I said to her when I interviewed her was, “How do you feel about VBACs?” She said, “I love VBACs!” I was like, “Oh my gosh, okay. Say no more.” Yeah, after we met Kira, then we were on the search for a doula. I came across you guys. I met with Christin and the stars were just aligning like, this is going to work out. This is going to be perfect. I don't know how to explain it. It wasn't like an instant connection, but it was this deep trust that I instantly had in her if that makes sense. Meagan: Mhmm, yeah. Janelle: It was almost like I'd known her for a long time, but not like a high-school friend. She's my long-lost aunt, I guess. She's full of wisdom. Christin: I'll take it. Meagan: Well, and there is something about a doula. Don't you think? Fun fact, Christin and I actually had the same doula, but there was something about our doula– her name is Robin. She is amazing. I didn't even know her that well. I mean, I knew her through the birth community and stuff but I didn't know every detail about her, but there was this weird sense of confidence where I was like, It's going to be fine. Then her partner, Angie, was also somebody who I was like, I know she has to be in my corner. I just knew that those two people had to be on my team and yeah. It wasn't like I instantly knew them and felt the connection of being childbirth friends, but I was so deeply connected right away and still am to this day to them. Janelle: Mhmm, yep. It's interesting. I'm kind of a private person and I didn't want my mother-in-law or my mom in the birth room, but as soon as I met Christin, I'm like, “Yep. Come to the birth.”24:22 Going into laborJanelle: Let's see, I think it was my 34th or 36th appointment and I met with the OB because if you are with the midwife, they want you to meet with the OB. He did the VBAC calculator. I think it said 47%. It was 47 or 50% chance. It was a pretty moderate chance of success. He was really nice, but I just was like, Eh, I don't really want him to deliver my baby. Let's see. I had gained a similar amount of weight, but again, no hypertension. Everything was pretty much the same to this point other than baby was head down at this time. I was 37 weeks and I went out to dinner with a friend. Fun fact, it was the same restaurant and the same order. That night, I went into labor. Christin: You're onto something. Janelle: It was Zupas. Meagan: I was going to say, what was it? Zupas? Janelle: It was Zupas. Christin: Now we have to get your order too. Meagan: What was your order? Janelle: I want to say it was the pulled pork sandwich. Maybe one of the soups, like the cheesy soup, the Wisconsin…Meagan: The Wisconsin Cauliflower? Janelle: That one, and then the pulled pork sandwich. That's what I ordered both times. So if you want to go into labor…I don't know if that's even tried and true, but it was so interesting. Christin: I'm pretty sure it's not evidence-based. Janelle: No, but for me. Christin: For you it is. Meagan: You've got some good stats. Janelle: Yeah. So I went into labor that night and my husband, I didn't say this before but when I went into labor with my daughter he was like, “No!” because it was so early and he's a gamer so he was up that night playing games on the computer and he was just really tired. The same reaction was had from him this time too. He was like, “No!” Christin: It was early in the morning. Janelle: He was like, “Dang it!” I wanted to labor at home as long as I could so let's see. I think we texted you pretty close to that time. Was it at 4:00 or 5:00? Christin: I got a text at 3:06 AM that you thought your water broke. Janelle: Yeah. So I labored at home in the tub for a while. My husband made me the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich that I ever had in my entire life. I ate a peach. I just hung out in the tub. When I would listen to the podcast before bed, I would listen in the tub and hang out and relax. It was a safe space for me that I was very used to. I hung out there for a long time. It really wasn't that long, but when you're in labor, it feels like a long time. I had my mom come over so she was with our daughter. Once my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart, we were like, Okay. Our hospital is 30-45 minutes away. We should probably head in just to be safe. 27:35 Laboring at the hospitalJanelle: I got admitted around 6:00. Is that what you have, Christin? Christin: Yeah. It was around 6:00, a little bit before 6:00. Janelle: I agreed to be checked at that time. I didn't want a lot of checks because I didn't want to introduce bacteria by having my water being broken, but I was curious about where I was at. They said I was at a 4. I told the nurse beforehand, I was like, “I don't want to know,” but she let it slip. She was like, “Oh, you didn't want to know, huh?” I was like, “No, but that's okay.” Meagan: Isn't that where you were with the first one?Janelle: Yeah, kinda. I was like, Okay, well at least I got this far before. She said I was 50% effaced and -2 station. At this point, my husband and I were kind of clueless because we only had one meeting with Christin. We hadn't gone over counterpressures. We hadn't gone over how he was going to be actively supporting me in birth so we were just like, Okay, now what?Christin: I think we had your second prenatal scheduled for the day after you went into labor. Your baby just decided to beat us to the punch. Janelle: He was so excited. He just wanted to be a part of it. We were really clueless and I started feeling the contractions really intensely. I was not as prepared as I thought I was for contractions. I was second-guessing all of my life decisions because I again even wanted to be unmedicated. I even signed a consent form for the epidural at this point. I was like, Okay, just call it. I'm done.Christin: Christin joined us I think an hour after I got there around 7:00. The second that she stepped in the room, the energy just shifted. I don't know how to explain it. She just brought so much excitement like, I've got this. I got you. It's all right. It's going to be okay.I know she wasn't intending to be my savior, but she kind of was in that moment for energy's sake. I don't think I could have done it if she hadn't walked in with the confidence and the joy that she had, just the excitement for birth, the passion to be there, and it just made such a huge difference in our experience and I just love you so much, Christin. Thank you. Christin: You're going to make me cry. Meagan: She's all emotional. Janelle: We're all just crying here. It's fine. Christin: It's really the best job in the world. It's the best job. Janelle: It's really a sacred space. Like I said, I didn't have my mom or my mother-in-law there. I just wanted it to be very intimate and Christin was so good at honoring how intimate it was. 30:30 TransitionJanelle: Let's see. Let me jump back to the story. Around 10:00, I got a new nurse. This nurse was awesome. Her name was Alisha and she was at St. Mark's. If you ever get Alisha at St. Mark's, she is a godsend. She was great. There were multiple times where Christin, Alisha, my midwife Kira, and my husband were all taking turns doing counterpressures on me. They all synced up and were so harmonious. Okay, so at 10:00, I was still 4 centimeters, 100% effaced. I labored in the tub at this point for a while. It really wasn't that long, but in the moment, it felt like a long time. I loved and hated the tub because I didn't have anything to brace myself on. Michael, my husband, couldn't give me any counterpressure in the tub, but the relief afterward in the water was so amazing. I really loved that and then Christin was like, “I'm going to leave you two alone and have a little moment.” I think you had even brought these little tea light, like the electric tea lights. You had set those up in the bathroom and the lights were dimmed. It was such a special, sacred moment with Michael and I. He just was like, “I really get why you hired her. I love her. She is amazing.” I was like, “Yep. This is why.” He was like, “Yeah, we don't ever want to do birth without her.' Christin: Have more babies. I'll be there. Janelle: Yes. Undecided. But we do, absolutely. Christin: Fair enough. Fair enough. Janelle: That was at 10:00. I was at a 4. Then I got in the bath. At 11:15, I was out of the bath by then. I had a cervical check and I was at a 7. I jumped a lot in that time. I was doing a lot of work. I was 100% effaced and I was at 0 station. I was moving all over in positions. We did the throne position. There was one where I was on hands and knees on the birthbed, but I didn't have the birth ball. At 11:40ish, I was feeling really pushy and I got so emotional. Christin will remember this. I sobbed. It was ugly crying for a good half hour. This is now what we know is transition, but it was rough. I was having Charlie horses and oh, it was just rough. I just was crying a lot. I don't know exactly what was happening, but I just was preparing, I guess, and releasing emotion for the baby to come out. Around 12:30, I was pushing here and there, and around 12:45ish, I started really pushing. Again, at this point, I was in the lithotomy position which is sitting upright how you picture in movies and stuff how people have babies. I was screaming this baby out. I was the loudest person on that floor of the hospital for sure. Meagan: I think there's something to it. I think sometimes roaring your baby out is what people need. Christin: Absolutely. Janelle: I was absolutely a screamer. Christin: It's funny because I don't remember you being loud. Janelle: Oh my gosh, really? Christin: Yeah, I don't remember it. Janelle: Oh, praise be. That's great because I remember at one point– Christin: There's a good chance you weren't as loud as you thought you were. That happens a lot of the time. You think you are very loud and you probably aren't. But I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. A lot of women roar their babies out and it's very powerful and very primal and natural to do so. Janelle: Mhmm, yeah. 34:21 Achieving her VBACJanelle: I remember at one point, there was a nurse that came in. I could tell she was one of the baby nurses because she had the baby cart and stuff. I was in mid-push and I remember saying, “Get the f- out!” I'm pretty sure that everyone in the room thought I was talking about the baby, but I was talking about the nurse. I was like, “Get out!” Meagan: Like, “I don't want you here.” Janelle: I was like, “I don't want anyone in here seeing this. It's ugly.” Meagan: Oh my gosh, that's funny. Janelle: Anyway, so I finally pushed the baby out at 1:30 so I was pushing for an hour. The moment that I got to push him out, I was very emotional and my midwife handed him to me and helped me finish. She delivered the first part of him and I had a little bit of a cervical lip so she was like, “You've got to really push him out,” or maybe it was the shoulder. Was it the shoulder that was stuck? I feel like I'm butchering this last part right now. Christin: No, you didn't have an official shoulder dystocia. He just needed a little extra strength to get the rest of his body out. Janelle: Okay, yeah. That's where we were at. She was like, “You really need to push here.” I just remember like you said, roaring him out. She helped me pull him to my chest and having that warm, gooey, slimy baby was just everything that I could have hoped for. I would not change that for the world. That oxytocin hit that you get from smelling that baby that comes out of you is just unreal. I was so happy that I got to be the first one to hold him and see him. I just am really, really grateful that I had the support that I did because I don't feel like I could have done it without my husband, without Kira our midwife, without that nurse Alisha. Okay, like I said, I am butchering this best part because I forgot to say so many things that I wrote down. Okay, let me back up a little bit. So right around the time that I was crowning, I just felt like my skin was crawling and oxygen was not enough for me. I couldn't get comfortable. I couldn't get on top of my breathing. I was asking for an epidural. I had already signed the consent form, but my nurse Alisha was like, “Oh, the anesthesiologist is busy and by the time he comes, it's going to be too late so sorry.” Sneaky little nurse because she knew what I wanted. I actually asked for a local anesthetic. I was asking for lidocaine or something. I was like, “What do you use to stitch people up? Use that on me because I am struggling here.” My contractions were, Kira told me they were three little ones and then one really, really big one then I would have a 5-minute break. That's how my contractions were up until the end. Like I said, I couldn't get on top of my breath. I remember looking at Christin and my husband. I just couldn't figure it out. There was this moment inside of me that even though I had them there, I had to dig so deep in my own body and in my own soul. I even said a prayer to God and I was like, I have got to have some help here. I cannot push this baby out alone. Can you please send some angels or something to be with me because I can't do it?I got a little bit of a longer break in between contractions and I finally had Christin and Michael help me to get on top of my breathing and that's when I was able to push the baby out. Meagan: It's crazy how breath really is so impactful but then we are always told to hold it, so you've got to find the breath and find the strength and regrasp. Sometimes, that means taking a step back and rebreathing and finding that regrounding. Christin: Yeah. Janelle: It's so hard in the moment. Like I said, you think you know but you don't know until you're there. 38:47 The power of a supportive partnerJanelle: But I do have to say that the second I pulled him out and he was warm and gooey and on my chest, they were trying to arouse him a little bit because he was a little bit slower to take his first couple of breaths, I was just screaming, “I did it! I did it! I did it!” a million times. My husband just said, “I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you.” I actually wanted to say what he told his family. He said, “Today I saw what Janelle was made of and she freaking did it. I'm so proud of her.” The way that he said that about me unprovoked was really sweet. Yeah. So there it is. There's my story. It's choppy. Meagan: No, listen. I love that. I love that. And would you have anything to add, Christin, to that?Christin: I would just say that Janelle went into this whole thing very prepared. She had educated herself and she was very prepared for whatever came at her. She did her work ahead of time. She found a fantastic provider and she knew what she was doing. She knew everything that she needed to know about a VBAC, but at the same time, she was very welcoming to let birth just unfold how it was going to unfold. There was a time. We talked about this a little bit earlier. You got to the hospital. You had been laboring really well at home and contractions had been coming very quickly. You were progressing really well and then you got to the hospital and everything just stopped. That's completely normal. We see that happen all the time in birth where just that chance in scenery and the commotion tends to slow things down a little bit, but that didn't get to you. You just needed to get back into your groove. You got settled back into the hospital and you and Michael had some time together. I don't think we should ever discount those special moments that you have with just your husband. When I step out to give you time in the bathroom, that's not me necessarily trying to take a break myself, it's to give you guys time to help that oxytocin get flowing, to get labor progressing again, and to protect that intimate space. You guys were a phenomenal team. It was incredible to watch the two of you together. Michael was so incredibly supportive. That moment where he leaned down and just said to you, “I'm so proud of you, Janelle,” it was so touching just to watch his love and his pride for you. It was incredible. Janelle: He really is the best. I'm so emotional just thinking about him because I just love him. Obviously, none of my family would be possible without him, but I couldn't do mom life without him and I couldn't do the birth without him. He really was everything. So get yourself somebody who loves you and who loves the ugly parts of you too. Christin: You know, I say this too. I don't think– I mean, moms obviously are going through so much during labor, but I don't think dads are ever given as much credit as they deserve because they are watching someone they love go through the hardest thing they've ever done. While there are things to help mitigate some of that, there is nothing they can do to fix it or take it away and it is emotionally taxing on them. Meagan: I agree. I was just about to say the same thing. As mothers, thinking about your child doing one of the hardest things in their entire life and how they feel. Now, you are not his child, but you are someone he loves probably more than anyone on this earth, and especially at that time, he was feeling those things too and he watched you. He watched you prepare and he even was questioning, “I see how much you want this. How will this affect you if it doesn't go this way?” He was literally taking into consideration that far before the birth even happened thinking about you that deeply. It just is amazing. I think that's one of my personal favorite things about being a doula. Of course, seeing babies being born is just incredible. It's absolutely incredible, but seeing what Christin just described, these two people who love each other more than anything that just brought this human into this life, and seeing them bond and grow and take pride in on another during the support of their baby is just really one of the coolest parts about being a doula. Janelle: When my kids are a little bit older, I think that's what I want to do, but we'll see. Meagan: Yes. Listen, I think that's how a lot of us start. We get inspired by our own births then we find the time in our life when the journey feels right and we take off. I encourage you to. I encourage you to become a doula. Yeah, it's such an amazing journey. 43:53 What is vaginal cleansing?Meagan: I definitely want to touch on the postpartum stuff that we wanted to talk about, but I also found a little article thing on the vaginal cleansing. I just wanted to share. Janelle: Oh, okay. Meagan: It's actually from cochrane.org. This was published in April 2020 4 years ago. We'll make sure to have the link here in the show notes, but I was just curious more about what it was and in one of the articles, it said “vaginal toileting”. I'm like, What? That's weird.Janelle: Odd. Meagan: Yes, toileting is a really strange vocabulary, but maybe in my head, I'm thinking that maybe they are getting rid of– I'm not going there. It's called vaginal cleansing with antiseptic solution before Cesarean delivery to reduce infections after surgery. Janelle: Oh. Meagan: Kind of interesting. I'm not going to go through the whole thing because I really want to get to postpartum, but it says, “What evidence did we find? We searched for new evidence in July of 2019 and in this update, we have included 21 randomized controlled studies involving a total of 7,038 women” –which to men kind of sounds small– “undergoing a Cesarean section.” It goes down and it says, “Cleansing the vagina with antiseptic solution immediately before a Cesarean delivery probably reduces the incidence of post-Cesarean infection of the uterus. 20 trials of 6,918 women showed moderate-certainty evidence” –so they are moderately confident– “that the reduction was seen for both iodine-based solution and chlorhexidine-based solutions.” It says, “The risk of postoperative fever and post-operative wound infection was probably reduced by vaginal cleansing both moderately again.” It goes on even more talking about wound complications and infection of the uterus may be lower in women receiving pre-operative vaginal cleansing with solution. So that is interesting because one of the things for me and maybe I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that meconium was sterile. It's poop, but the reason why they get so worried in the lungs is because it's really thick and tarry poop. If you think about our lungs and tarry poop, right? That's what my understanding was. It was more of that versus it was toxic to them but maybe I don't know. Maybe I need to research my meconium evidence. Do you know, Christin?Christin: I don't. Does that study say that they do it specifically related to meconium or just in prep for a C-section? Meagan: Just in prep for the C-section. When you guys were talking about the relation to meconium, it just made me think because I thought that meconium was okay. It doesn't really talk about it here at all. It did say that they did not observe any difference between groups of women with ruptured membranes and women with in-tact membranes which to me says– because in-tact membranes mean no meconium, right? Janelle: Right, no. Meagan: Yeah. They wouldn't know or it wouldn't be present, so it's interesting. It's interesting. Janelle: Yeah, interesting. Christin: It must have just been a coincidence with your C-section and meconium being present. Like I said, the one that I just saw– it might have been a week ago. Meagan: It ended in a Cesarean? Christin: Yeah, it was for a C-section, but I don't think they knew that meconium was present at the time that they did the cleansing or the vaginal toileting I guess that we are calling it. Janelle: Vaginal toileting. That sounds so gross. Meagan: Vaginal toileting, I know. This article says vaginal cleansing specifically, but yeah. Janelle: I prefer that. Meagan: There was another article that talked about the effects of vaginal douching and another article that talked about the effects of vaginal toileting before a Cesarean. Janelle: I'm not a fan regardless. Meagan: Yeah. It's so interesting. I honestly have never seen that. I mean, it was 4 years ago so maybe some places are catching up. I mean, I don't know. Anyway, moderate. It may. It may not. It's not complete. But anyway, there was that. I just had to throw that in because that was a big question. Janelle: Yes and touching on that, I think maybe it's okay to decline that and I would have declined that had I known that was what was going to happen to me because it very much happened to me.Christin: Yeah. Absolutely. Meagan: Yeah and it wasn't discussed. You still didn't even know the reason right now. You were still processing. Those are the types of things that as those things are happening, you can stop and say, “Hey, whoa. What is the evidence on this?” You can ask about that. Or, “Hey, can you tell me the pros and cons here because I don't know if I want this?” Then again, it's ultimately up to you to choose if you want that. Now, if you're not expecting a Cesarean and all of a sudden they are doing this, that might be a red flag to start asking questions because they may be mentally on the other side of the wall preparing you for a Cesarean that you are not aware of. Christin: Yeah, I think this is a good example of just in general how much they don't let you know how much is actually voluntary. A lot of times, the way they phrase things is, “Okay, I'm doing this to prepare for this or I'm going to do this” without letting you know, “Hey, if you don't want this, we don't have to do this.” Janelle: Right. Christin: So I think that happens with a lot of things, especially as a first-time mom, you don't know. You don't know what is– Janelle: Protocol. Christin: What you have to consent to and what is protocol and even if it is protocol, you can still decline it. You don't know a lot of that stuff. Meagan: Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so we'll be quick and we'll include this link in there. 50:26 Symptoms of postpartum depressionMeagan: This is from the Mayo Clinic. It talks about the different symptoms of postpartum depression. We talk about baby blues. I'm just going to talk about this really fast. I encourage everyone to go click on it. But baby blues symptoms may include things like mood swings, anxiety, sadness, irritability, feeling overwhelmed, reduced concentration, appetite problems, and even crying. No, postpartum depression symptoms they have listed as depressed mood or severe mood swings, crying too much, difficulty bonding with your baby, withdrawing from family and friends, overall tiredness, hopelessness, feeling worthless, restlessness, super anxiety, and stuff like that. Postpartum psychosis, getting confused and lost. A lot of the time, people with postpartum psychosis will be mid-thought and then they just stop and they literally have no idea what's going on. They're very confused. Having obsessive thoughts about your baby. Hallucinating kind of sometimes goes into that feeling very confused. Not sleeping or having too much energy. Almost feeling like you're so exhausted but you are really, really, really high. Does that make sense on energy? Making attempts to harm yourself or your baby and then there is more. So when to see a doctor— if it goes past 2 weeks after your baby is born, you are noticing it getting worse. Your partner is noticing it getting worse. It is making it harder on you to physically take care of your baby or yourself and things like that. All good things to know and be aware of. Yes, like Janelle said, it is very hard to admit sometimes because we are in it, but get that supportive team. This is also a really great conversation to have prior to having a baby even if you have never had a baby before or never had any of these symptoms before to talk about it and create a plan for if these symptoms are coming in, what to do, what you want to do while you are in a different space. All right, I just ran really quickly through that because I know our time is up, but definitely check that out. Women of strength, know that it is okay to ask for help. It is okay. Janelle: Yes. I agree 100%. Christin: Absolutely. Meagan: Thank you guys so much for joining me today. It was such a pleasure. I loved seeing the emotion, the waterworks, the smiles, the uncontrolled laughter. It just was so much fun and I absolutely adore you both. Janelle: Aw, I love you. Thank you so much for having me. I love you, Christin. I love you, Meagan. Christin: Love you too. Meagan: Love you. Christin: Thank you so much, Megan. ClosingWould you like to be a guest on the podcast? Tell us about your experience at thevbaclink.com/share. For more information on all things VBAC including online and in-person VBAC classes, The VBAC Link blog, and Meagan's bio, head over to thevbaclink.com. Congratulations on starting your journey of learning and discovery with The VBAC Link.Our Sponsors:* Check out Dr. Mom Butt Balm: drmombuttbalm.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-vbac-link/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

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

***Trigger Warning: Please be aware the content of this episode may be distressing and explores the physical and emotional factors contributing to birth trauma. Please take the necessary precautions and seek support as appropriate. "On 9 January 2024, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on birth trauma in the UK Parliament will set up an inquiry to investigate the reasons for traumatic birth and to develop policy recommendations to reduce the rate of birth trauma. Research shows that about 4-5% of women develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after giving birth – equivalent to approximately 25,000-30,000 women every year in the UK. Studies have also found that a much larger number of women – as many as one in three – find some aspects of their birth experience traumatic. Birth Trauma affects 30,000 women across the country every year. 53% of women who experienced birth trauma are less likely to have children in the future and 84% of women who experienced tears during birth, did not receive enough information about birth injuries ahead of time.  " Source: https://www.theo-clarke.org.uk/birth-trauma Todays episode shares insight into the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) inquiry into birth trauma and sarahjanes own experiences of supporting women who have experienced traumatic births. Her experience and the literature, suggests that births do not have to be physically traumatic to contribute to a traumatic birth. Emotional factors have a huge role to play and can often cause huge implications to the mother, patner and life beyond. Sarahjane encourages UK victims of birth trauma (or expert witnesses) to submit their accounts by 20th February 2024 to inquiry@birthtraumaassociation.org.uk using the guidelines at.  using the guidelines at https://www.theo-clarke.org.uk/birth-traumaPlease also see Episode 30 to help you utilise the BRAIN acronym in your birth. Please find below details for support or reach out to me directly for signposting sarahjane@fitfannyadams.com Birth Trauma Association peer support: support@birthtraumaassociation.org.ukMASIC: info@masic.org.uk or 0808 1640 8333 MASIC supports people who have experienced injuries as a result of birth. For help and support please visit their website: Where to seek help - MASIC 

Have you ever wondered if embracing Hypnobirth techniques could transform your role as a Birth Doula and the experiences of your clients?If you're ready to discover how the principles of Hypnobirth could redefine the success of your Birth Doula services, then get out a pen and paper; this episode is for you!Today, I'm joined by Claire Smith from Birthing Parents Club, who is sharing her insight and experience from being a Doula, hypnobirthing teacher, and all-round cheerleader of birth!In this episode, we dive into the following:The surprising truth about 'Hypnobirth' and its potential to revolutionize your Doula practice...Why the Hypnobirth approach might hold the key to transforming your Doula clients' birthing experiences...The one thing you need to know about 'Hypnobirth' and its impact on Doula-assisted births..."… and a whole lot more!If you're tired of uncertainty about whether Hypnobirth can truly enhance the birthing experience for your Doula clients, then you wanna listen up!Follow Claire Smith on Instagram: @birthingparentsclubVisit Claire Smith's website:  www.birthingparentsclub.comResources mentioned:>> Check out Claire's Podcast here >> To learn more about Claire's Hypnobirth for Doulas course, send her a DM on Instagram!Are you feeling the call to Birthwork? I've got you covered! DM me “Impact” on Instagram and I'll share the details on how to get started.Ready to turn your in-person doula business into a crazy successful online business, too? I've got you. Click here and join me inside the Birthworker Membership.Don't forget to check out the blog post at www.birthworker.com/blog or follow along over on Instagram at @birthworkerpodcast for more. If these topics light you up, please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening from. After you review the show - snap a pic and upload it here - and I'll send you a little surprise as a thank you.Your feedback helps this podcast grow and I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you!

On this week's episode, host Sandra Hayes Buckley is joined by Nicola Glynn. Nicola is a Mental Health Nurse, Hypnobirth instructor and founder of Mindful Birthday.During our chat we discussed how Nicola has combined her background in Mental Health nursing with her passion for hypnobirthing to provide support throughout pregnancy and why neuroplasticity is far from airy fairy.To find out more about Nicola and her work, visit www.mindfulbirthing.ie or follow along on Instagram @mindfulbirthing_Follow @mindyourmindpod on Instagram for extra content and some behind the scenes from the making of the podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Willkommen bei 'Motherhood Unfiltered'! Der Podcast für den alltäglichen Wahnsinn mit Kindern, Deeptalk zwischen working moms & Hebammenwissen.

 In dieser aufschlussreichen Episode "Zwischen Geburtshaus und Kaiserschnitt - Unsere Geburtsberichte Teil 1" nehmen euch Franzi und Maike mit auf eine Reise in die faszinierende Welt der Geburt. In dieser speziellen Folge teilt Franzi erstmals live ihre eigene Geburtserfahrung mit, die nach der Hypnobirthing-Methode in einem Geburtshaus stattgefunden hat. Ihr Bericht ist eine inspirierende Geschichte für all jene, die sich für Hypnobirth und die Möglichkeiten in Geburtshäusern interessieren. Maike, eine erfahrene Hebamme, bringt außerdem ihr Fachwissen mit ein, um einige der gängigen Geburtsmythen und Ängste zu entlarven, die oft mit der Geburt verbunden sind. Sie betont die Bedeutung von informierten Entscheidungen und der Unterstützung, die Frauen in ihrem einzigartigen Geburtsprozess benötigen. Erfahrt, wie Hypnobirthing Franzi geholfen hat, Schmerzen anders wahrzunehmen und sich auf die positiven Aspekte der Geburt zu konzentrieren. Lasst euch von ihrer Geschichte inspirieren, die zeigt, dass Geburt eine positive und kraftvolle Erfahrung sein kann. Wir hoffen, dass diese Episode eure Sichtweise auf die Geburt erweitert und euch ermutigt, über Geburtsmythen und Ängste hinaus zu schauen. Abonniert unseren Podcast, um keine zukünftigen Episoden zu verpassen, und teilt eure Gedanken und Fragen mit uns. ++ Folge uns gerne, damit du keine Folge mehr verpasst!++ ++ Auf Instagram @motherhoodunfiltered_postcast (https://www.instagram.com/motherhood_unfiltered_podcast) gibt es wöchentliche Q&A's & spannende Inhalte für alle Eltern und die, die es werden wollen ++ ⁠https://linktr.ee/motherhood_unfiltered⁠ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/motherhoodunfiltered1/message

Episode 9 is basically a double episode! With midwife and Hypnobirth educator Jess from New Beith in QLD who shares the homebirth stories of the births of her two sons, Teddy and Renly. Talking to Jess was great - having midwives share their homebirth stories is super special, and as Jess says, it takes some 'unlearning'. I also really liked the phrase "position over progress" Links to people/business/resources for this episode:Jess's hypnobirthing and birth education business https://www.mothermoonhypnobirthing.com/AND fantastic birth kits + hire https://www.mothermoonhypnobirthing.com/shopPosterior babies https://midwifethinking.com/2016/06/08/in-celebration-of-the-op-baby/Placenta's https://open.spotify.com/episode/5rUyaVnWu7p1MLDZRHp9sd?si=JqNsiP_dSrGQZMdxmCVjnAMORE birth stories on Jess's website https://www.mothermoonhypnobirthing.com/blogSupport the show

Today we're exploring the idea of 'having a hypnobirth'; what the stereotypical idea of a hypnobirth is and how useful I think that is! Spoiler - I don't think a hypnobirth is a thing.If you have found listening to The Hypno-WHAT Podcast helpful, I would really appreciate it if you could take a couple of minutes to rate & review the show. It tells the podcast gods & goddesses that you are enjoying the show and helps it reach more people, spreading the good word of birth far & wide!If you are enjoying the soothing sound of Scotland in your ears as your relax during pregnancy, you can now buy more of my hypnobirthing mp3s on my online shop. They are a bargain £4 each and cover topics such as anxiety, confidence building, fear release & preparing to breastfeed. Check it out here!The Hypno-WHAT Podcast now has it's own instagram page! Give it a follow here to keep track of new episodes as they come out! And if you want to have a nosy at what Claire is up to you can find me here.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/hypno-what-modern-hypnobirthing-with-claire/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Links: This episode is sponsored by Baby Tula baby carriers. You can use the code BIRTHHOUR at BabyTula.com and BabyTula.Co.UK. Know Your Options Online Childbirth Course Beyond the First Latch Course (comes free with KYO course) Support The Birth Hour via Patreon!

Join this year's Hot Girl Healing Challenge! : https://www.jgofitlife.com/hot-girl-healing     Learn more about how to work with J.Go: * 1-1 Health Coaching Application   * BCB Universe  * Schedule a Confident Breakthrough Intensive  * Busy BCB    Connect with J.Go * E-Mail: Jordan@jgofitlife.com * Follow J.Go on Instagram @JGoFitLife https://www.instagram.com/jgofitlife * Follow J.Go on TikTok @XOJGO https://www.tiktok.com/@xojgo  * Subscribe to J.Go's email list: https://www.jgofitlife.com/contact    * If you're interested on being a guest on this podcast, please fill out this form   

This episode is part of our postpartum series in partnership with Ergobaby. Check out their baby carriers and other innovative baby products at ergobaby.com.  The Birth Hour Links: 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!

Meagan and Julie talk about the ARRIVE trial and compare those findings with new research released from a retrospective study conducted at the University of Michigan. Many first-time moms and VBAC moms are being told by their providers that an elective induction at 39 weeks will reduce their chances of a C-section. Is this really true? Meagan and Julie will empower you with information about elective inductions to help you make decisions about your birth that are right for YOU.Additional LinksUniversity of Michigan StudyThe VBAC Link Blog: The ARRIVE TrialARRIVE TrialHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode DetailsMeagan: Hello, hello you guys. Guess what? Julie is on today. I have kind of, well not kind of, really missed Julie. I reached out to her a month or so ago and was like, “Hey, would you like to come on with me and we can do episodes?” And she said, “Yes!”Julie: Yes. Meagan: I should have brought chocolate cake. Instead of her proposing to me with chocolate cake, I proposed to her with my smile. I don't know what I'm trying to say. I don't know. I don't know. But she said yes and I'm so glad that she said yes this time. So welcome, Julie. Welcome, welcome. Julie: Welcome. It's good to be here. Meagan: Yeah. It's good to have you here. It's good to see your face. Julie and I are going to be talking about the ARRIVE trial today. That is something that if you're not familiar with, it was done in 2018, and I think it was published in 2019. Does that sound right, Julie?Julie: Yeah, I think the final analysis was published in 2020. Meagan: Yeah. Julie: The study was completed in 2018. Meagan: Yeah. Yeah. It is where they did a trial to see if elective induction at 39 weeks reduced a lot of things. Not just Cesarean, but because we are in the Cesarean world, it was definitely, I would say, one of the most important topics. Does it reduce Cesarean? But also, does it reduce the chances of preeclampsia, hypertension, and other things? But the big question was does it reduce the chances of Cesarean? So we are going to talk about that today. We have a blog on it today, but there is actually an update. That was done in May of 2023 so we are going to talk about that. Review of the WeekBut of course, we have a Review of the Week and Julie is going to do the honors. Julie: Yes. I'm so happy to be back and joining the podcast anytime. All right. This review is from bethanystaggart or something like that. The title is, “Podcast Was Part of My VBAC After Two C-Section Journey”. She says, “I am so thankful for this podcast. I listened to so many episodes in preparation for my VBAC after two Cesareans. Listening to other women share their stories gave me the courage to keep working and fighting for my upcoming birth. I just gave birth to my third boy and the birth was everything I could have asked for. I am so thankful for this podcast and blog and refer every expecting mom I know to it in hopes that it gives them the courage and confidence it gave me to get the birth they want and deserve.” That just makes me so happy to hear those things and to know that the podcast is making a difference in everybody's lives. I feel like there is such a feeling of solidarity when we sit and listen to other people's birth stories. There is so much we can learn and there is so much that we can be inspired by and there is so much that we can use as we navigate our own birth journeys. So thank you, Bethany, for leaving that incredible review. ARRIVE TrialMeagan: All right, Julie. ARRIVE Trial. I feel like when this came out, you and I– I'm going to say for sure I– was just a little grumpy. I was like, “This can't be. This cannot be.” Being in the birth world, especially since COVID, but this is pre-COVID, we definitely see induction and it can happen just fine, super smooth, with no problems, but then there are a lot of times too where it doesn't. We see the cascade that leads to that Cesarean. I remember when Julie and I started the birth course and the How to VBAC Prep Course, we were teaching in person. We had a mom who came and when we talked about this, she was like, “I was in that. I was in that trial.” We were like, “Oh, how did it go?” She was like, “Well, I'm here prepping for a VBAC.” She had a Cesarean. She talked to us a little bit about it, but Julie, what do you remember about your first feelings when this trial came out?Julie: Well, I had a really hard time because you and I have been to many, many, many, many, many births in a hospital, out of a hospital, inductions, unmedicated, medicated, scheduled C-sections, emergency C-sections, crash C-sections. We've been to all of it. I think that's really the unique perspective that we have as doulas and birth photographers because we get to see the biggest range of births, I feel like, of all of the people that work in the birth world. My first reaction when the ARRIVE trial came out was that it did not reconcile with my real-life experiences and living in all of these types of births. There was this disconnect between what this study said and what I had witnessed. Before I even got into the study and saw all of the flaws and the different little nuances that people be considering that they don't because I just knew that something didn't feel right. This cannot be right. This cannot be right. Meagan: Mhmm, yeah. That is kind of how I felt too. It didn't click. I was like, “So, what? What did they do?” This was my first question as I was reading. I was like, “What did they do to ‘lower the Cesarean rate'? What did they do differently?” I think that one of the most frustrating parts is that we don't really know exactly all of the protocols and all of the exact nitty-gritty details of this study. They haven't released it from my knowledge anyway. Julie: Yeah, and I looked too just a little bit before we started recording. Yeah, sure. It's really interesting because in the study results, the elective induction group had a Cesarean rate of 19%, and the expectant management group, which we'll go into all of the reasons why that is a little bit crazy, had a Cesarean rate of 22%. But here's the thing. The national Cesarean rate is 30% so I feel like already, they were doing things in the study that impacted the chances of having a C-section anyways. But we don't know what those protocols are. We don't know how they were induced. The results said, “When this induction protocol is followed, then the Cesarean rate is reduced,” but the problem is that we have providers all over the country inducing willy-nilly not knowing what the protocol is, and probably being more aggressive in their inductions. We know the providers that led this study. We know who they are. We have worked with them in their space. We know how they practice and we know that the induction protocol was probably– and again, this is me speaking with no real knowledge, just my assumptions. Take that for what it's worth. They probably had a pretty gentle, slow induction process. They were probably pretty patient along the way just from what we know of those providers and the hospital that it originated from. That was also a thought. 22% is not a low Cesarean rate, but it's 8-9% lower than the national average. So that's something I think to consider as well into that. Meagan: Yeah. It is interesting to me because it was 50,000 patients that were screened for this study. Of those 50,000, 22,000 were eligible but only just over 6,000 actually accepted to be in this trial. Those numbers to me are pretty dramatic. 50,000 to 22,000 to 6,000 is a really big thing. I wish I knew more. We know what people have said who were in the ARRIVE trial. They had to do certain things, but I wish I knew more about why all of those people were declining and then why from 50 to 22,000 were eliminated. Why were people eliminated? But maybe it's just because, “Yeah, we don't want to,” because what we had seen is that induction raises Cesarean deliveries. Like Julie said, yes. We are going to share some studies and some numbers and things, but this is all just us brainstorming this out loud really because it is really interesting to me. Like Julie was saying, how long were these people able to be induced? Because induction– I mean, even if you go listen to all of these stories, Julie. Induction is not something that is able to be carried out for days and days and days usually. Julie: But sometimes it is. Meagan: Sometimes it is. Julie: Sometimes and that's what we were talking about or I was talking about earlier. At this hospital where the study originated and where the providers practice that were the authors of this study, I have been to many, many, many two and three-day long inductions there that ended in vaginal deliveries. Meagan: So have I. Julie: And not all hospitals are that patient. In fact, I don't know of any that are that patient in our area. Meagan: Yeah. No. I mean, the hardest thing is that if your client doesn't want to be induced, you want them to not be induced because that's not what they want, but if they are going to be induced, you almost want them to be induced at this specific hospital because we know that they will let these inductions happen. I think the longest induction or the longest birth– well, it is the longest birth I've ever been to, but at that hospital specifically was 52 hours. Julie: Yes. Meagan: I remember crawling up on the ground, putting a towel on the ground and falling asleep trying to take a nap because I as a doula had been there that long. They had called me in the very beginning. That is just not normal. Right? It's not that normal. What kind of piqued our interest in wanting to talk about this again– I mean, we're talking about something that happened in 2018. Now it's 2023. It's that the University of Michigan just released an article talking about this. It's called “Labor Induction Doesn't Always Reduce Cesarean Birth Risk or Improve Outcomes for Term Pregnancies”. So we want to talk about that and update you guys because we believe that updates, as we get more information, is important. So yeah. It was a 14,000– Julie, you were kind of analyzing– births. Julie: Yeah, so what I really liked about the Michigan study that was released is that it was a sort of analysis. This study was looking back at births and how they ended. Births that did not enter into a study. Births that were not set up in order to track. Births that just happened without any care in the world in this regard. They looked back at the data that they had already had. I love that because that's what I love about Cochran reviews. I'm a big Cochran review junkie because Cochran reviews look at a whole bunch of data and a whole bunch of studies and put them together instead of creating a study and moving through it. The ARRIVE trial study was created in order to show if induction reduced the risk of Cesarean or other maternal or fetal mortality rates. How does induction impact that? That's what this study was designed to do, but this study, the Michigan State study, looked back at data that had already existed without any type of bias going into it. Yes, there were 14,000. They looked at 14,135 deliveries in the year 2020. They analyzed all of those to look at the outcomes. Who ended in a Cesarean? Who ended up with hypertension? Who had postpartum hemorrhages? Who had– what was the other one– oh yeah, high blood pressure? Did I say that already? Operative vaginal deliveries– vacuum and forceps? That's how they pulled it. There are different ways of looking at data as accurate so I don't want to say that it's more accurate, but I love that they looked back and that reflection on it. They showed that the group that was induced in the 39th week had a 30% rate of Cesarean which is what I was just saying. What was I just saying? The national average is 31.2%. That fits more in line with the national average of people that went in and got inductions versus 24% of the people who had the expectant management. 24% is not a great Cesarean rate either but it's just a 6% decrease in those amounts of Cesareans. Also, for people that are wanting to know, the rest of it was people who were induced had higher instances of postpartum hemorrhage, so 10% versus 8% for the expectant management group. When we say expectant management group, those are the people who were not induced. They were just going through taking pregnancy as it came and then delivering whenever that looked like. When it was medically indicated to have an induction after the 39th week, those are probably included in those numbers as well. Operative vaginal delivery, vacuum, and forceps were 11% in the induction group versus 9% in the expectant management group. Although people who were induced were less likely to have hypertensive disorder which is high blood pressure. Those numbers are 9% in the expectant management group versus only 6% in the elective induction group. There were no significant differences, no other differences, in neonatal outcomes. No differences. Nothing dramatic, nope. Meagan: Nothing dramatic. The researchers mimicked the exact same framework used in the national trial. A CNM said, “We designed an analytic framework mirroring the previous trial's protocol using retrospective data but our results didn't reinforce a link between elective induced labor in late pregnancy and a reduction in Cesarean births.” Julie: Yep. Meagan: It did not. It's so interesting because even now, today, we are still– as a doula still working in the field– seeing these inductions not even just being offered but flat out just being scheduled. Like, “Hey, we are going to schedule your birth at 39 weeks.” They do. They say, “Because that is going to lower your chance of Cesarean rates.” Julie: That's what they tell you. Meagan: Yes. They do tell you that. When you are expecting for the first time, the second time, or anytime, most of the time, someone is not necessarily wanting to go in for an elective Cesarean, right? I don't want to say that it doesn't happen because it does and that's okay. But it's really not what's happening. People don't just start raising their hands and sign up for Cesareans, especially first-time moms. Julie: Do you mean inductions? Meagan: No, Cesareans. Julie: Oh, okay. Gotcha. Meagan: No. They're not like, “I want a Cesarean. I want a Cesarean.” So when you have a provider say, “Hey, at 39 weeks, we'll go ahead and schedule an induction because that is going to lower your chance of having a Cesarean.” Julie: Then they're like, “Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Go for that.” Meagan: They're like, “I don't want a Cesarean.” Right. So that's where we go but then we're looking at this and we're like, “Mmm, but does it really lower our chances of Cesarean?” Julie: Mhmm. Meagan: That is where it's frustrating and that is where I feel like–Julie: People are being misled. Meagan: Yes. I was just going to say that we have misguided people into doing certain things that actually don't have the most solid data out there. I don't want to discredit the ARRIVE trial. I'm not saying that it's completely false or wrong. I'm just saying, “Let's look at it deeper and why don't we release more about this trial?” It's been how many years now and that hasn't been released but we are still inducing at 39 weeks. Julie: Yep. Well, it's so funny because– okay. I'm going to change my thoughts actually. Strike that. I feel like I want to go back and talk a little bit more about what you talked about in the beginning about how the number of people that were eligible in the trial versus those who elected to be in the trial. 72% of women who were approached to be in the study declined to be in the study. Meagan: Declined it. Julie: So this is what happens. Your doctor comes up to you and says, “Hey, we're doing this study.” Some people are just not going to want to be in studies and that's totally fine. It doesn't matter, right? But your doctor comes up to you and is like, “Hey, we're doing a study. We're going to randomly assign you to a group. You can be induced at 39 weeks or you can be in the expectant management group, but if you hit 40 weeks and 5 days, we're going to induce you anyways,” because that is another thing that they did. They counted those in the expectant management group. If they got to 40 weeks and 5 days and hadn't had their baby, they were indued. Now giving intel, ACOG recommends 42 weeks and 6 days before induction is absolutely necessary. They say it should probably be considered in the 41st week so between 41 and 42 so why are we not waiting until 41 weeks? Why are we not giving them two more days? Why are we not giving them nine more days to get to 42 weeks? But that was the cutoff for whatever reason. Meagan: 75% of the group overall had their babies by that day. Julie: Yeah. That's a big percentage of people that are still being induced at 40 weeks and 5 days. So your doctor comes to you with these two options and you say, “You know what? Sure, that sounds great” or “No, I don't really want to.” 72% said, “No, I don't really want to,” for whatever reason. I know for me– well, first of all, you had to be a first-time mom so there are no VBACs included in this at all. It was all first-time moms. So it doesn't apply to anybody else. This study's risk findings do not apply to anybody else. Same with this Michigan study. The Michigan study only looked at first-time birthers. So as a first-time mom, I know that as I was planning for my first birth, I wanted a Hypnobirth. I was planning on going unmedicated. That was what I wanted. That was my birth plan and my birth desire. It obviously didn't end that way, but I wouldn't have elected into or opted into that study because it went contrary to the things that I knew I wanted for my birth. I feel like the ARRIVE trial automatically excludes it. People will automatically not do it if they are a more naturally minded person who wants a more hands-off birth experience. I feel like you are going to get really honed into a medical demographic that is okay with the medical system, that trusts their doctors, that wants to just go in, get hooked up to an epidural, and have a baby. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I feel like the mindset going into birth can influence how you respond during birth and how your body responds during birth. That's the other thing that I really like about this Michigan study. I feel like you have a wider demographic in the mindset department of how these people birth. I feel like there are going to be more types of birth plans involved there. There is going to be a bigger variety of people and of experiences that are sought after in the birth space in the data set for Michigan. Meagan: Yeah. You just kind of talked about this. So how does VBAC and the ARRIVE trial even apply or does it? Julie: It doesn't. Meagan: It doesn't. That's the answer, but you guys, we are still seeing so many, so many of our VBAC mamas being told that they have a higher chance of Cesarean or they have to have a baby at 39 weeks in order to have a vaginal birth because they have a higher chance. The ARRIVE trial is actually brought up to these people because they are viewed as first-time moms because they haven't had a vaginal birth. But that's not the case, right Julie? So many people who have had a Cesarean actually labored and dilated to some degree, if not all the way, right? Julie: Yep. Meagan: So why are we applying it at all to anyone– I mean, if I had my way? Julie: They shouldn't. I feel like there is probably something a little bit unethical about doing that. Saying, “Hey, look. There's a study that came out saying that inducing you at 39 weeks reduces your chances of having a C-section.” I feel like when that alone is being said and offered, it's a little bit unethical. Meagan: Yeah. I just don't love it. I don't love it at all. So let's talk about some other ways. I guess let's wrap it up. Does inducing at 39 weeks as a first-time mom or according to the ARRIVE trial, does it really reduce your chances of Cesarean? What would you say, Julie? Based on what we've got, what would you say? Does it really? Julie: I would say, if somebody asked me that, this is exactly what I would say. I would say maybe, but there are a lot better things that you can do to reduce your chance of having a Cesarean besides being induced at 39 weeks. Meagan: Yeah. That would be my thing. Possibly. Possibly. However, it depends on how it's done. It depends on the hours that you're going to be given. It depends on the patience of the provider. Julie: On your doctor, on your provider, on their Cesarean rate. Meagan: Yep. It depends on a lot. So could it actually lower your chances of Cesarean? In my opinion, maybe. Maybe. But does it yes or no? I would say there's not an answer there. No. There's not a yes or no here. Could it? Maybe. But okay, what are other ways to reduce your chances of Cesarean? Right? I think induction really is a hard one because sometimes there are things that are coming up. In this ARRIVE trial study where it's like, “Okay, it seems to lower chances of hypertension and hypertension can be an issue for vaginal birth so if we can reduce our hypertension levels, maybe an induction at that point can reduce a Cesarean.” Julie: Maybe. Maybe, yes. But maybe– here's the thing though to consider because I think this is so individualized. It should be individualized but it's not being individualized. Here's the thing. If you have a history of pregnancy-induced hypertension, then maybe elective induction at 39 weeks is something that you heavily consider. I guess if you're a first-time mom, then it doesn't matter. You don't have a history of anything because it's your first pregnancy. But if you have a history of hypertensive disorders in your family, if your blood pressure is starting to creep up a little bit, if you're having signs of preeclampsia or something like that, if there's a reason where you might be at a higher risk for pregnancy-induced hypertension, then maybe that's something that you consider. Meagan: Right. Julie: If there are other ways to manage hypertension, first of all, there are lots of dietary things that you can do. There is medication that you can take, pharmaceuticals, and things like that if it starts to creep up. That's why I'm saying that it's such an individualized thing but I hate how we apply– we as in our healthcare system– the same standards to every single person. That's my biggest peeve about it I think. Meagan: Yeah, yeah. Exactly. It's the same thing when we look at VBAC. It's like, “Oh, well this, this, and this. The calculator or whatever.” You cannot do that. You have to look at the individual. You have to. You have to. You have to. Because guess what? Julie and I are not the same person. We do not have the same body. Our cervix isn't the same. Our uterus isn't the same. Any of that, nothing is the same. We might have similar characteristics in our bodies or the way our cervix does things, but we are not the same. You cannot say. I don't love and I don't feel comfortable that they are grouping so much in this wide range because it's not necessarily the case. So let's talk about it. What are other ways to reduce your chances of having a Cesarean? I know that Julie and I got a little passionate on an episode in the past about home birth but there is something to be said about home birth and what it can do to a Cesarean rate. We know that it's not for everybody, but it is there. It is there and you are going to have fewer chances of having induction or interventions which can lead to reasons for a Cesarean. So choosing a home birth and a provider. A provider is one of the biggest things you can do to have a vaginal birth and to lower your chances of Cesarean. Mine and Julie's– if you're just new to us, Julie and I actually had the same provider who performed our Cesarean with her first and my first and second. I mean, I don't know Julie. Did you know about him that he had such a high Cesarean rate? I didn't. Julie: No, not until years later. Meagan: Me neither. Yeah, I didn't either, and then obviously, years later when the numbers were actually there for a little bit but also seeing other people go to him and them all having Cesareans. I was like, “Hmm. That's weird.” I still to this day know people who are having babies with him and are still having Cesareans. Julie: Yeah. Meagan: He's not all Cesareans, but he's very high in the Cesarean rate. So choosing your provider who is comfortable with birth, who trusts birth, who trusts you as an individual to make decisions for your baby and body, right? What are some other suggestions, Julie, that you would give? I mean, there are so many. Julie: We know that having a doula decreases your chances of having a Cesarean by 25-39%. I think it's actually 39% but in our blog, it says 25%. It's interesting how they break it down. There's a study about doula support. They break it down by having continuous support and then continuous support from a doula. I feel like the numbers probably got switched out. I think 25% by having anyone with you continuously like your mom or somebody and then a doula is even higher at 39%. Having intermittent monitoring versus continuous fetal monitoring reduces your chance of having a Cesarean by 39%. I could go off on a whole soapbox on continuous fetal monitoring, but I will not so I don't want to turn this into an hour-and-a-half-long episode. But obviously, your provider, like Meagan said, is so, so, so important. Look into alternative methods of pain relief like laboring in the water, different types of counter pressures, different types of birthing positions, and laboring at home as long as possible. I think you already talked about that a little bit too. All of those things– having a supportive environment and being able to move freely is going to help with all of those things. I would also argue that waiting for labor to start on its own and waiting for spontaneous labor is also going to decrease your chances of having a Cesarean just by the things that I have seen in my own practice as a doula and now birth photographer as well. It's not going to get rid of your chances all the way doing any of these things or even doing all of these things are not going to guarantee that you're not going to have a C-section but they're going to drastically reduce your chances of needing lots of interventions including a Cesarean. Meagan: Right. And really too, in all of this, education is so, so important because as you're going through this, you're vulnerable you guys. It's hard. Especially when we are actually in labor, it is not easy. If you have a provider coming in and saying this, this, and that, it's not easy to say, “Oh yeah, well the evidence says this.” It's not, but at the same time, if you have the education in your mind and a provider comes in and says something, you're less likely to get spooked or scared because you're going to know the evidence. Whether or not you're in a spot where you can actually talk about the evidence, you mentally are prepared because you've educated yourself to know that what they are saying is maybe true, maybe not, but you know the alternatives to those things or you know the evidence against those things so you can say, “Okay, I really appreciate the conversation. I'm going to need some time.” Maybe you feel comfortable with that because you know the evidence. I think all of these things along the way are so impactful for you to truly have a better birth experience. Even if it does go the Cesarean route, again, with being educated, feeling supported, and all of these things, you'll likely have a better Cesarean experience because you'll have the options. You'll know and you'll feel better about making the choice and the decision. Julie: And you'll feel like you have made a choice. Okay, so except we're in extreme circumstances where there's a really life-threatening emergency, you will feel like you did everything you could. You will feel like you were in control of what was happening. You will feel like you called the shots. I just had a client a few weeks ago. She was going for a VBAC after two C-sections. She felt like she wanted to be induced in her 39th week. She followed her intuition. She leaned into it. She trusted her doctor. Her doctor was super, super supportive and he was really just trusting her. He had his recommendations, but he also felt good with the choices that she made even though they weren't necessarily always in line with her recommendations. He supported her and it was a really beautiful relationship to see that happening. But she chose to be induced at 39 weeks. Her provider was comfortable with her going beyond that, but she felt like it was time for baby to come. I won't talk about all of the reasons why. So she ended up getting induced and they went for almost 24 hours. She told me the night before– the induction was, she wasn't dilating. They started Pitocin. She wasn't dilating. She told me, “If I'm not dilated to a 3 which is the farthest I've ever gone in my other two pregnancies and my other two inductions, then I'm calling it in the morning.”I was like, “Okay. I support you in your choice.” I was doing doulatog for her, so doula and birth photography. “Just let me know when you want me to come. I will be there.” She ended up not dilating at all overnight so she called it and she had a C-section. Her provider was there along with her the whole way supporting her and he was like, “Okay, well we can do this. We can keep going if you want. We can call it if you want. Whatever you want.” She was literally calling her shots the whole time. I was also her doula for her last C-section and it ended similarly. She was induced a couple of weeks earlier for preeclampsia and she labored for a long time and just didn't dilate. Both of these two Cesareans were relatively calm for her even though it wasn't the end goal that she wanted. She feels confident that she made the right choices all along the way. She had all of the information and all of the knowledge.Here is the thing. On another note, I had another client. No, it wasn't a client of mine. I've had many similar clients. I was just talking to another birth photographer friend a few weeks back. She had a client who was a first-time mom who was 39 weeks. This client didn't have a doula but she was her birth photographer. She called her up one day and she said, “Hey, just so you know, I'm going to be induced at 39 weeks. This is the day that I'm being induced. I'll let you know along the way when I'm ready for you to come.” The photographer said, “Oh, why are you being induced?” She said, “Well, my doctor just told me that it's going to be better for me to avoid having a C-section. It's going to be safer for my baby.” I don't know why they said that. Keep in mind, this is also secondhand information. Then my photographer friend was like, “I just don't know why she's being induced because she says she doesn't want to be induced but she also trusts her provider.” Okay, we trust people too. You have to let people make their own path. Anyways, the long story short is that my friend's client ended up having a C-section. My friend was allowed in the operating room which is really good when that happens, but it's really funny because who knows if it would have been able to be avoided or not? We just will never have the answer for that by waiting but I feel like I tell these two stories. They both ended in Cesareans after 39-week inductions because one didn't want an induction but she was just doing what her provider said and the other worked with her provider and her provider trusted her and she made the choice. Who do you think is going to be the one that has questions about how the birth went or one day wakes up and says, “Wow, I feel like I just got railroaded by the system”?What I wish more parents could understand is that we have a responsibility for our education around birth. Meagan: Yes!Julie: I feel like it's a big disservice that we aren't teaching parents more about these options and choices and what's available to them, but you have a responsibility to step up, to learn more, to figure it out, to trust your intuition, and to ask questions of the people supporting you and if they will not answer them or if they make you feel uncomfortable, then you have the right and the responsibility to seek care elsewhere. Meagan: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. We know it's not easy. We know it's not easy, but you have the right. You always have the option. There are so many times when we get hired as a doula and we hear, “This is what happened. I just didn't know I had an option. I just didn't know. I just didn't know.” It's hard because you can't blame yourself for not knowing but at the same time, it is our responsibility for getting an education. It's the hard thing because I didn't know what I didn't know, but at the same time, I could have learned more. It's a really hard topic but get the education. Get a good, supportive provider. If you can, hire a doula. Eat really healthy. Do all of the things you can to lower your chances of having a Cesarean and know that if you are induced at 39 weeks as a first-time mom or a first-time vaginal birther, that doesn't mean that your Cesarean percentage is absolutely factually going to be lower. It just doesn't mean that. We hope that through listening to this, you've gotten some information. You've learned more about the ARRIVE study. As updates come through in all aspects of birth, we want to be here. We want to update you and share these. Julie, thanks for being with me today.Julie: Absolutely. 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

If you're curious about what it's like to experience a free birth with the baby born en caul (still in the bag of waters!) then this episode is for you. Join me as I chat with Hope Evans, an experienced free birth mama, holistic practitioner, and contributor to my latest book Women of the Wild - a book of first hand empowering home birth and free birth stories and birth prep wisdom from women all over the world. We take a deeper dive into her personal story and her experience as she shares all about the free birth of her second child as well as the interesting differences between her freebirth and the birth of her firstborn, which was in the hospital system setting. Connect deeper with Hope on instagram @_adashofhopePurchase 'Women of the Wild'Connect with the host, Jenni DaisSupport the show

What is it like planning a home birth as an expat in a new country? Well, Katie McCormick has some stories to share about that!  Katie and her husband Ryan decided to leave their life in Portland, Oregon - quit their jobs and travel across Europe. They decided to settle in Ireland, eloped and got pregnant shortly after.  Katie knew immediately that she wanted to have a home birth. But being an expat in a new country, she had no idea where to begin as far as planning and resources. In this Classic Doing It At Home episode, we speak with Katie in the last few weeks of her pregnancy and get to hear how she's feeling as the time in her pregnancy winds down and they prepare for baby's arrival. She also shares the experience of what it's like to have all of their family back in the States as they plan for home birth in their new home and country. Tune in and get ready for another inspiring pre-home birth story! Links From The Episode: Dublin Doulas: http://www.dublinfamilydoulas.com/ Hypnobirth course: https://us.hypnobirthing.com/ Ina May's Guide to Childbirth: https://amzn.to/41gwx8F 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

The birth of my daughter shifted my entire timeline in this life. In honour of her first birthday, on the 21st, I wanted to share her incredible journey to Earth with all of you. She was born at home, on my own, with no one else present, and it was absolutely perfect...and planned to be this way! Her birth story is one of MANY from empowered women around the world included in my new book Women of the Wild. Our beautiful tribe of wise women have shared pieces of their hearts and souls through this project and I am honoured to have connected with each of them. You can find Women of the Wild for purchase HERESupport the show

Get ready for a positive birth experience by using this Calm Birth Hypnobirthing Meditation by Liz Stanford. This meditation will help you feel relaxed, excited, and connected to your baby. You can listen to this recording at any time during your pregnancy and as often as you like, but it may be especially helpful when you want an extra boost of happy hormones. Release any tension and anxiety and let yourself be calmed as you follow this soothing guided relaxation.  If you enjoy this meditation, you can listen to the newly-revised audiobook The Calm Birth Method by Suzy Ashworth and Liz Stanford FREE for 14 days in the Empower You Unlimited Audio App. Visit hayhouse.com/empower to download the app and start listening.

Joining Meisha today is Pip Davies or Midwife Pip as she's most commonly known.Pip is an experienced, practicing Midwifery Sister, masters graduate, founder of Midwife Pip Podcast, Hypnobirth and Antenatal Educator, co- author of published research and importantly a mum.She is on a mission to ensure all expectant and new mums feel like superwoman during pregnancy and when they give birth. Pip believes passionately that with the right support, honest and evidence-based information all births should be positive regardless of any twists and turns that may crop up. For this reason, Pip began her Instagram page @midwife_pip followed by her online courses where she is on hand to support and guide women through all aspects of pregnancy, birth, and the early postpartum every step of the way. Learn about Pip's personal journey to motherhood as well as some incredible facts, myth debunking and tips for all mums-to-be about how best to prepare for your pregnancy, birth and postnatal experience.Contact Pip:www.midwifepip.comInstagram/FB: @midwife_pip Got a question, comment or suggestion? Please get in touch with Meisha directly -Contact: info@meishapt | Socials: @meishapt and @crossfitvspregnancy | Facebook: @meishapijotCoaching: www.meishapt.comMusic by Music_Unlimited from PixabayDISCLAIMERAlthough I'm a personal trainer and coach, I'm not a doctor. I'll do my best to reference my findings but please don't rely on the information as a substitute for medical advice. Always speak to your GP before changing or starting any form of exercise for the first time during pregnancy. MP Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I talk with my sister, Charnie Barak, about her birth experiences. She shares how a bad experience with her first birth led her to explore the world of birthing and got her to hypnoborthing , what she learned about the verbiage of birth, sort of becoming a doula and her increasingly better birth stories. @cbar46 Click here to get the Secrets Your Tailor Won't Tell You Click here to see my collection of dresses. Click here to see my maternity friendly pieces. Click here to listen to The Franciska Show To hear more episodes, subscribe and head over to Impactfashionnyc.com/blog/podcast. Be Impactful is presented by Impact Fashion, your destination for all things size inclusive modest fashion

Antenatal education is something that most women experience to varying degrees during pregnancy. It's also something that varies greatly in terms of depth, quality and opinion. In this episode, I'm delighted to be joined by ex-midwife Zoe Findlay, who is so passionate about antenatal education, that she left her career in the NHS to start up her own business, educating expectant mums and their partners.We explore what has happened to this education over and following covid, and more importantly, the impact on birth preparation and ultimately the birthing experience. Zoe can be contacted via: www.a-midwifes-touch.comInsta: a.midwifes.touchFB: A Midwife's TouchAnd if you are pregnant and looking to strengthen whilst preparing mentally and physically for your big day, you can access my Strong Beyond the Bump programme, (which is 100% online and on-demand) here! I really hope you enjoy this episode... please, please, do take a moment to drop me a rating and review, which helps me more than you know, in getting this podcast out to those that need to hear it! Thank you and happy listening!p.s. I'd love to know what you want to hear and chat about... please let me know via sarahjane@fitfannyadams.com

What if I told you there is a technique to support your doula clients not only during their birth and postpartum period…but for the rest of their lives?In this episode, Clare Burgess and I will be talking about using hypnotherapy in the birth space and beyond.Moms already have everything they need to have a successful birth, but hypnobirthing techniques provide additional valuable tools to help manage stress, anxiety, and fear, both in and out of the birth room. Clare is a Cognitive Hypnotherapist and anxiety specialist with years of experience helping clients manage stress and become free from anxiety. She also offers personalized hypnobirthing and specialist pregnancy hypnotherapy using the Confident Childbirth method.Press play so you can learn how to support your doula clients for years beyond the birth room.Follow Clare Burgess on Instagram @clareburgess_coachingVisit Clare Burgess's website: www.clareburgess.co.uk/ Resources mentioned:>> Hypnobirthing International, The Mongan Method>> Mindful Hypnobirthing by Sophie FletcherReady to turn your passion for birth into a crazy successful doula career? I've got you. Click here and join me inside Birthworker Academy.Check out this episode's full show notes or read the transcript at www.birthworker.com/9 or follow along over on Instagram @theautonomymommy or @birthworkerpodcastIf this episode lights you up, I'd love it if you'd rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening from. After you review the show - snap a pic and upload it here - and I'll send you a little surprise as a thank you.Your feedback helps this podcast grow and I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you!

Births don't always go how we plan! This is our dear friend and colleague's birth story where she planned a birth center birth but her baby had other plans! Angel shares with us how she prepared for a positive labor and birth and how much her midwife and doula made her birth and postpartum so special. Connect with Angel: @baskfamilywellnessConnect with us:  https://www.facebook.com/InTheFamilyWayPodcastITFW @inthefamilywaypodcastAlex @htxwombserviceEleanor @eleanorpradodoula

In today's episode of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Charlotte about the pregnancy and birth of daughter Hattie. Charlotte has been on the podcast previously and is episode 101.  In today's episode we discuss: - spontaneous pregnancy after tracking cycles - anxiety due to previous miscarriage - pregnancy testing - midwifery care- covid positive late stage in pregnancy- potential home birth - birth centre birth - fast labour and birth - Your Birth Project Hypnobirthing course - Postpartum recovery - 2 under 2 - Postpartum mental health- Top items for new mumsThis episode is bought to you by Your Birth Project, the online hypnobirthing course to help you create your best birth, and the online store for everything you need in pregnancy, birth & postpartum. Charlottes discount code for the store is: CHARLOTTE10 

ORIGINALLY RELEASED 08/12/2021 ON PATREON It's a bonus episode! For you! And only you! Sunil's got ANOTHER idea for a new podcast and you're going to hate it.

Our special guest today is Shayla from Hey Shayla, a content creator who has gained a loyal following on Instagram and YouTube for her relatable, honest, and hilarious motherhood content. If you aren't following her already, you definitely should be, because as Shayla says, child development is her jam and she actually likes nerding out and reading about it (she'll give you the cliff notes so you don't have to)! Full disclosure, Shayla is one of our amazing ambassadors for Expecting and Empowered and we've had the honor of getting to know her over the past couple of years. We enjoy her so much, and we're sure you will too after hearing the valuable advice, tips, and stories and lessons that she shares in this episode! As always, we want to empower you with the tools and information to help you figure out what it is that you want during childbirth, and to help provide you with more clarity in advocating for yourself during this experience, which is why we think that you'll get so much from this conversation! If you've enjoyed this episode and what Shayla shares here, we would be so honored if you shared it and tagged us, @expectingandempowered and @heyshayla on Instagram so that we can see it! We'd also be so grateful if you would rate and review our podcast in your favorite podcast app, because that's the best way for a new podcast to get more people to listen. MEET Shayla: https://www.instagram.com/heyshayla/ Links & Resources:Shayla's Website, Instagram & FacebookHer YouTube Channel & Podcast HypnoBirthing Positive Natural Birth Story! FAST! (Video)Expecting & Empowered's Hypnobabies Store Ina May's Guide to Childbirth: Updated With New Material by Ina May Gaskin  The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother  by Heng Ou  Expecting and Empowered Prepping for Labor + Deliver Course - https://www.expectingandempowered.com/fitness-guides/labor-and-delivery-course Expecting and Empowered on App: Apple Store - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/expecting-and-empowered/id1594936110Expecting and Empowered App: Google Play Store - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.expectingandempowered.expectingandempowered Expecting and Empowered Website: www.expectingandempowered.comExpecting and Empowered Instagram: http://instagram.com/expectingandempowered

Follow and give a 5 start review if you enjoy the podcast!Learn more about what NBC has to offer here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Birth is very unpredictable, it's exciting, challenging and doesn't always go the way we planned. My guest Sheridan Ripley is a childbirth educator, birth doula and life coach. She shares her personal stories along with tips and tools for enjoying pregnancy, birth and relationships. 01:02 Sheridan's traumatic first birth 02:35 Doula vs. Midwife 04:36 Hypno-Birthing08:44 Hypno-Scripts 11:50 Guided experience giving a voice to the feeling. 17:32 Relationship Trauma re-wires the brain. 22:54 Bringing in a different perspective to heal relationships.26:23 Forgiveness Bath bombs27:28 Resources and tools31:13 Essential tools for relationshipsWebsites: https://enjoybirth.com/Life Coaching: https://sheridanripley.com/

Michelle has a conversation with Stephanie Smith, E-RYT, PRYT regarding the benefits of yoga for pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and beyond in this special replay episode. Stephanie explains how yoga not only prepares the physical body for the stress and rigors of birth but the emotional body as well. She explains the connection between our breath and the reduction of the flight/flight stress response. Stephanie shares how her yoga practice helped her to set healthy boundaries with others during her pregnancy and keep a sense of ease and calm when her plans for her daughter's birth did not go as she had envisioned. Together, they discuss how yoga can prepare, protect, and enhance the healing of our pelvic floor during the childbearing year. She also shares the benefits of a Yoga Nidra practice, which is especially vital after the baby's birth as it invokes the relaxation response and turns on the parasympathetic nervous system—the rest and restore part of our nervous system.“That is what the beauty of that yoga practice is, that deeper connection within, where you can just feel the experience, there's no thinking at all that is required.”  — Stephanie SmithIf you enjoyed this interview,  and want to hear more from Stephanie please go to episode 86  and learn more about breath and meditation, please go to my series on Calm Birth episodes 76- 80. Stephanie's and my episode is number 86. Also, I am also so excited to share that the pelvic health specialist that I refer to in this episode as we discuss the connection between our voice and our pelvic floor is Susan Clinton. I was honored to have Susan as a guest on the podcast. Our episode is number 69 and it is a part of my series on pelvic floor health. If you haven't listened to this series, 68- 75 I highly encourage you to check out episodes.  This information is invaluable. So much of what we are told is a normal part of pregnancy and postpartum is not normal.  It is simply common and there is help for leaking urine, low back pain, painful sex, a weakened core, and a too tight or too weak pelvic floor.  Stephanie offers private virtual yoga classes, so please find her information here in the show notes to work with her no matter where you are listening to this podcast from in the world.  About Stephanie Smith, E-RYT, PRYT:Stephanie is an Orlando based Yoga Instructor specializing in Pre and Postnatal Yoga. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Sports and Exercise Science from the University of Central Florida and is an E-RYT, PRYT Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance. Her love of Yoga and travel has taken her to Thailand numerous times where she has had the privilege of studying Yoga extensively at Centered Yoga. As a mother herself, Stephanie has an understanding of how the Yoga practice evolves both during pregnancy and postpartum. She strives to create an environment of support for fellow Mothers to know that they are not alone on the beautiful, yet sometimes rocky, journey that is Motherhood.  Connect with Stephanie Smith:  Instagram: @thetravelingyoginiFacebook: Stephanie Smith https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003339931011 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 

Midwife Elena Rosa shares with Michelle the history and benefits of Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy in this special replay episode. Together they discuss how each person's reproductive journey is their own, how the state of fight or flight affects the body, the connection between the heart and the uterus, deep healing, and following the lead of your heart.   "And just thinking about the grief and what we're told how we're supposed to be as women, what we're supposed to accept, what we're supposed to receive, what we're not allowed to stand up for, what we're not allowed to make boundaries for. You know, what we allow to happen to us because we feel like we're powerless. … But just processing what boundaries we're encouraged to have, but we're not encouraged to have. Like we're not allowed to speak up for ourselves. Like what we allow into our space, what is forced into our space. What is what we're allowed to grieve over. You know, there's so many things that we hold onto in our bodies."—Elena RosaAbout Elena Rosa:Elena is a practicing licensed midwife, an Advanced Arvigo Practitioner, and a retired licensed massage therapist based in Central Florida. As a woman of Puerto Rican descent who has lived throughout the Northeast and Southern regions of the US, Elena sees herself as a US citizen by birth, but a global citizen by responsibility.Elena feels there is no more profound challenge than the mastery of self. The pursuit of the limitless is one of personal growth and spirituality…cultivating self-care, self-awareness, and self-love. Elena had an interest in indigenous medicine since childhood. Elena has sought out personal mentors from North and South American traditions and Tibetan Buddhism. Having participated in countless prayer and meditation ceremonies and her own deep work has provided humility, depth, space for healing herself and others, and an ongoing practice of peacemaking.Most of all, she is the proud mother of a sweet girl who has taught her more about what her body and her heart are capable of than anyone she has ever met. Pregnancy, labor, and motherhood have brought no shortage of lessons in accepting all expected and unexpected challenges. What these experiences taught her is that she is an informed woman who knows her body, and she has all the information she needs to make the right decision for her and her child. This affirming gift is Elena's wish for every family she serves. Connect with Elena Rosa:Website:  https://mykindredmidwife.com/Tree Of Life Birth Center: https://www.tolbirth.com/Facebook:   Elena RosaResources:https://arvigotherapy.com/

Hey WILD Tribe! This week's episode we invited Kirryn Simpson from Bear Your Birth to talk to us about hypnobirthing. Ash joins us this week as we share our birthing story and how we used the tools learnt from Kirryn's hypnobirthing classes. Kirryn is a certified Hypnobirthing practitioner. Having experienced the anxiety of giving birth herself, she wanted to find something to educate herself further and find the tools to calm her mind. As she realised how useful the tools were and how it helped her on her own personal journey, she became passionate about teaching the Positive Birth Program to pregnant Mamas and their birth partners. Here's what you'll get from today's episode: -What is hypnobirthing and how can it help our birthing experience -The importance of finding the right team to support you during your birthing experience -How to ask for what you want during your birthing experience -Hear Ash and Calvin's personal birthing storing and how they incorporated hypnobirthing -And MORE! Find out more from Kirryn Instagram: @bear.your.birth Facebook group: From Bump To Cub https://www.facebook.com/groups/frombumptocub Website: https://bearyourbirth.com.au/ Find out more about Hypnobirthing Australia ™ Online program (suitable for anyone around the world): https://hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au/product/hypnobubs-hypnobirthing-online-course/?affiliates=244 Find a practitioner for face to face classes around Australia: https://hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au/directory/?affiliates=244Instagram: @hypnobirthingaustralia Find and follow WILD and CalvinFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/wildglobalhttp://www.facebook.com/calvinoylesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildglobal/ https://www.instagram.com/calvincoyles/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/calvincoyles See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jaime and Aaron Harris join Dr. Fox to discuss the births of their three children, who were born about 18 months apart each. They explain the process of a hypnobirth, which is a sort of mindfulness practice to remain calm, relaxed, and positive, as well as their experience having two of their children during COVID.

In today's episode Sarah is sharing the story of her son Henry's birth. Sarah was under the care of a midwife through the CMP at the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth. She had a fairly straight forward pregnancy and birth where she used the Hypnobirthing techniques, but some extra challenges during postpartum. Sarah also speaks to some of the limitations with the CMP model and whether she would opt for that option again for future births.    Hypnobirthing Australia Kate Vivian from Bright Mums - Hypnobirthing Practitioner Community Midwifery Program - King Edward Memorial Hospital Perth

We got a chance to interview Hypnobirth coach Natalie Helman of Love Birth UK. We had so much fun talking about how babies come into this world. Natalie happens to be very pregnant at the moment making the conversation that much more fun. We talked life and of course we talked birth (Tiffany was thrilled, Nicole hung in there!) We hope you enjoy this delightful conversation as much as we did! You can find Natalie's coaching at HTTP://www.lovebirthuk.com Please take a moment to rate and review us! We would love to hear from you! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/heartsoulroots/message

Welcome to the Divine Feminine Revolution Podcast! Ready to embrace motherhood with your individual style? You get to make an impact in this world! Susan Nemoyten-Cortes is a Conscious Conception coach for anyone considering the path of pregnancy, adoption, or surrogacy. She says, "I have over 25 years of experience in the field of pregnancy, childbirth and parenting, and have been teaching prenatal classes for most of that time. I'm also a Birth and Postpartum doula and practiced for 15 years, and have two grown kids in their 20's. I am on a revolutionary mission to prepare womxn, same sex couples, any Sexual orientation, gender identity, in a Polyamorous relationship to integrate themselves into the journey preconception or before they embark on any process leading to parenthood. In this way, I believe there will be less fear, more self awareness, self love, presence and possibilities open and available to them. There will be more joy, and a more positive experience overall, leading to more Conscious and connected parenting." Check out Susan Nemoyten-Cortes at www.susancortez.com  Ready to join the Divine Feminine Revolution Podcast Squad & Win Prizes for sharing and leaving a five star review. Join for free here -> https://www.fearlessfeminineacademy.com/launch-squad Come join me in my FREE private Facebook group, Divine Feminine Revolution: https://www.facebook.com/groups/divinefemininerevolution/ Send me a DM on Instagram! https://instagram.com/drmeganmonday

In this episode, Michelle completes her series exploring the different childbirth methods that she teaches: Calm Birth - meditation based childbirth; Hypnobirth - hypnosis assisted childbirth, and The Birth Ease Method - guided relaxation focused childbirth. Over the years parents have shared how much their children have enjoyed listening to the audio recordings as they fall asleep. With this in mind, Michelle shares a special nighttime sleep story for children that she wrote and recorded for a little girl named Ava. As a gentle reminder, please avoid listening to this nighttime sleep story while engaging in an activity that requires your or your child's  full attention. Please stop the podcast and return to it when your child is safely tucked into bed and ready for sleep. Unless your child, or you as the passenger, are listening to this guided relaxation with headphones on, for everyone's safety never play it while riding in or driving a vehicle. This bedtime sleep story is copyright of Michelle Smith and Birth Ease. The background music 'Nature Angels' is used with permission of Eitan Epstein Music and Melody Loops and its licensees. If you would like a copy of this sleep story, please reach out to Michelle via her website.  Thank you for listening!Connect with Michelle Smith:Website:  BirthEaseServices.comClasses with Michelle: birtheaseservices.com/birth-ease-childbirth-education,  birtheasehypnobirth.comFacebook:   Birth Ease,   The Birth Ease Podcast,  Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:    @birtheasemichellesmith,  @birtheaselossssupportYouTube:    Birth Ease 

In this episode of Michelle's series on Hypnobirth, Michelle invites Stephanie Smith back to the podcast. Stephanie has over 20 years of experience as an E-RYT, PRYT Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance, and as a student of meditation. Together they have a casual conversation regarding the benefits, similarities, and differences of hypnobirthing/hypnosis and the Calm Birth Meditation practices. What to hear more from Stephanie? She shares her expertise on perinatal yoga in episode 4 of the podcast.“I like to look at the meditation practice as one that is kinda helping to heal at the cellular level, whereas the hypnosis or the hypnobirthing practice is working to heal at that subconscious and that unconscious level. And, there's benefits to both. And you know, it's really, too, about finding what's gonna connect for you in that moment.”—Stephanie SmithAbout Stephanie Smith, E-RYT, PRYT:Stephanie is an Orlando based Yoga Instructor specializing in Pre and Postnatal Yoga. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Sports and Exercise Science from the University of Central Florida and is an E-RYT, PRYT Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance. Her love of Yoga and travel has taken her to Thailand numerous times where she has had the privilege of studying Yoga extensively at Centered Yoga. As a mother herself, Stephanie has an understanding of how the Yoga practice evolves both during pregnancy and postpartum. She strives to create an environment of support for fellow Mothers to know that they are not alone on the beautiful, yet sometimes rocky, journey that is Motherhood. Connect with Stephanie Smith:  Instagram: @thetravelingyoginiFacebook:  Stephanie Smith Recommended Resource: The Dance of Parenting by Natasha SolovieffEpisodes 14 & 38 of the podcastConnect with Michelle Smith:Classes with Michelle: birtheaseservices.com/birth-ease-childbirth-education, birtheasehypnobirth.comFacebook:   Birth Ease,   The Birth Ease Podcast,  Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:    @birtheasemichellesmith,  @birtheaselossssupportYouTube:    Birth EaseLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithWebsite:  BirthEaseServices.com  

HypoBirthing or Hypnobabies? In this next episode Michelle's series on Hypnobirth, she shares what led her to become a birth hypnosis specialist and a bit of history regarding hypnobirth. Michelle has previously certified in and taught both the HypnoBirthing and Hypnobabies childbirth programs. She thoughtfully shares her observations regarding the two methods to help expecting families to decide which method might be best for them. "I believe that the relaxation techniques that I teach provide a birthing woman a focus and control not realized by the average birthing person.  Women report a feeling of empowerment, that they have learned skills they can use the rest of their lives." —Michelle SmithConnect with Michelle Smith:Classes with Michelle: birtheaseservices.com/birth-ease-childbirth-educationFacebook:   Birth Ease,   The Birth Ease PodcastInstagram:    @birtheasemichellesmithYouTube:    Birth EaseLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithWebsite:  BirthEaseServices.com Resources:Orlando Sentinel Article: Hypnosis Helps Ease Labor PainsHypnoBirthing InstituteHypnobabies NetworkThe LeClaire MethodThe Calm Birth School

In this next episode Michelle's series on Hypnobirth, she shares  some of the realities of birth and being a hypnodoula.  She  expresses her gratitude for hypnosis and hypnobirth, for what she teaches, as well as her gratitude for the families she has worked with over these 20 years. She ends the episode with the fun birth story of her April Fool's Day hypnobaby prankster. "[Hypnosis], it's an incredible tool for healing, and for returning to our center and connecting with our own inner wisdom."— Michelle Smith Connect with Michelle Smith:Classes with Michelle: birtheaseservices.com/birth-ease-childbirth-educationFacebook:   Birth Ease,   The Birth Ease Podcast,  Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:    @birtheasemichellesmith,  @birtheaselossssupportYouTube:    Birth EaseLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithWebsite:  BirthEaseServices.com

In this second episode in Michelle's series on birth hypnosis, midwife Laura Nathan shares her passion for homebirth and the difference that hypnobirth makes within pregnancy, labor and birth, postpartum, and beyond in this replay of episode 44. "Because it doesn't have to be that way. That's what we see in the movies and the sitcom sketches. It doesn't have to be that way of the screaming, painful birth that is just awful and gotta get through it and suffer through to get to the end, to the good thing at the end, which is the baby. The process can also be really uplifting. It can be a really beautiful process that… the mom can feel really empowered by it."— Laura Nathan About Laura Nathan, LM CPM:Laura is a Florida Licensed Midwife serving families in Orlando and surrounding communities since 2014 that is currently on sabbatical. She is the owner of Modern Orlando Midwifery, a home birth practice for her midwifery clients. After working in a busy birth center, Laura now loves the ability to get to know her clients well through long home visits. The focus is on building a strong relationship where both the parents and midwife can trust and understand one another. Her love of client education ranges from detailed explanations of pregnancy and the normal changes women experience to diastasis prevention and repair to newborn care and breastfeeding success. Additionally, Laura has studied the use of hypnosis for pregnancy and birth. She utilized Birth Ease Hypnobirth for her own babies' births and is certified as a Hypno-Doula with HypnoBabies. Laura believes that with comprehensive education, parents can make the best choices for the mother-baby dyad.  Connect with Michelle:Classes with Michelle: birtheaseservices.com/birth-ease-childbirth-educationFacebook:   Birth Ease,   The Birth Ease Podcast,  Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:    @birtheasemichellesmith,  @birtheaselossssupportYouTube:    Birth EaseLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithWebsite:  BirthEaseServices.com

Do hypnotherapists use hypnosis in their personal lives? For James Hazlerig, the answer is yes. In fact, he was born into hypnosis (literally) and knew from a young child that it was real and powerful. During his college days, he wrestled with depression which was a period he described as, “a series of obstacles and fears and self-doubts,” he said. Hypnosis was one of the tools that he says helped him keep going in life. At a certain point, the idea of a “life script” shifted his perspective to consider how much of life is a story and what role our thoughts play in our well-being. Eventually, an unfulfilling job and a desire to help people pointed James back to what's been around him his whole life: the power of storytelling. James also shared a personal story of his use of hypnosis to help manage what his doctor referred to as “the mildest case of shingles I've ever seen!” Now what's his story? As a professional storyteller and hypnotherapist, James uses hypnotic principles to make things happen in his life by being hypnotic. And in regards to his business? “My clients come into my office telling themselves a story about themselves and they leave with a better story if I've done my job right.” Aren't you curious to hear his story?! Some Suggested Stories to Try On: The best kind of hypnosis clients are anxious clients. Identity is the story we tell ourselves about ourselves. Once we stop asking, “is this real?”, the subconscious mind accepts “it” as real. James Hazlerig holds a 250-hour certification from the International Hypnosis Federation, Advanced Certification from the International Certifying Board of Clinical Hypnotherapy, and a 750-hour certification from the Hypnosis Practitioner Training Institute, as well as a Masters Degree in English. In addition to hypnosis, he has enjoyed success as a college instructor, freelance writer, champion storyteller, published author, and professional musician. To work with James, visit: www.hypnosisaustin.comCheck out www.hypnoticstorytellingcourse.com for more storytelling resources. James Hazlerig's Books: Speak Ericksonian: Mastering the Hypnotic Methods of Milton EricksonThe Little Book of Laughnosis: Using the Hypnotic Power of Unconditional Laughter to Change Lives _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Connect with Stories from the Subconscious on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/storiesfromthesubconsciouspodcast  Connect with Stories from the Subconscious on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stories.from.the.subconscious/  _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Want to work with Mae?: http://www.maedeevy.com

In this first episode of Michelle's series on hypnobirth, she shares her guest appearance on the Birth Story Podcast with Heidi Snyderburn. Michelle explains the ins-and-outs of Hypnobirthing, Hypnobabies, and guided relaxation. Michelle addresses the misconceptions surrounding these practices, as well as provides guidance on preparing for the birth plan of your dreams, no matter what it looks like. Heidi shares her insights on birth hypnosis as a Certified HypnoBabies™ Doula. Heidi and Michelle end the episode with Michelle giving a brief  hypnobirthing relaxation session.About Heidi Snyderburn:Heidi is the host of the Birth Story podcast, Certified Birth Doula (DONA), a Certified HypnoBabies™ Doula, the entrepreneurial guru behind Birth Story Media™, a former pharmaceutical and medical device consultant, and a mom with a passion for writing and storytelling. She felt “called” to her practice as a doula early on in life—in fact at age 12, Heidi supported a mom through her birth. Since then, Heidi has attended hundreds of births throughout her 15-year doula career and is currently on-call. She is actively practicing today with up close and personal doula services in Charlotte, NC and virtual doula services around the world with her company MyDoulaHeidi. Heidi differentiates her services by offering holistic, evidenced-based care for her clients and their partners. She absolutely believes in partnering with the medical team and empowering moms to navigate the journey of pregnancy and childbirth with as much information as possible.Connect with Heidi:Looking for a Virtual Doula to create a custom birthing experience and guide you through your journey to parenthood in the United States? Contact Heidi at www.mydoulaheidi.comFor additional free birth education resources and to purchase Heidi's book, Birth Story: Pregnancy Guidebook + Journal, visit www.birthstory.comInstagram: @birthstorypodcast  Connect with Michelle:Classes with Michelle: birtheaseservices.com/birth-ease-childbirth-educationFacebook:   Birth Ease,   The Birth Ease PodcastInstagram:    @birtheasemichellesmithYouTube:    Birth EaseLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithWebsite:  BirthEaseServices.com

Listen in as midwife Elena Rosa shares with Michelle the history and benefits of Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy. Together they discuss how each person's reproductive journey is their own, how the state of fight or flight affects the body, the connection between the heart and the uterus, deep healing, and following the lead of your heart. "And just thinking about the grief and what we're told how we're supposed to be as women, what we're supposed to accept, what we're supposed to receive, what we're not allowed to stand up for, what we're not allowed to make boundaries for. You know, what we allow to happen to us because we feel like we're powerless. … But just processing what boundaries we're encouraged to have, but we're not encouraged to have. Like we're not allowed to speak up for ourselves. Like what we allow into our space, what is forced into our space. What is what we are allowed to grieve over. You know, there's so many things that we hold onto in our bodies."—Elena Rosa About Elena Rosa, LM:Elena is a practicing licensed midwife, an Advanced Arvigo Practitioner, and a retired licensed massage therapist based in Central Florida. As a woman of Puerto Rican descent who has lived throughout the Northeast and Southern regions of the US, Elena sees herself as a US citizen by birth, but a global citizen by responsibility.Elena feels there is no more profound challenge than the mastery of self. The pursuit of the limitless is one of personal growth and spirituality…cultivating self-care, self-awareness, and self-love. Elena had an interest in indigenous medicine since childhood. Elena has sought out personal mentors from North and South American traditions and Tibetan Buddhism. Having participated in countless prayer and meditation ceremonies and her own deep work has provided humility, depth, space for healing herself and others, and an ongoing practice of peacemaking.Most of all, she is the proud mother of a sweet girl who has taught her more about what her body and her heart are capable of than anyone she has ever met. Pregnancy, labor, and motherhood have brought no shortage of lessons in accepting all expected and unexpected challenges. What these experiences taught her is that she is an informed woman who knows her body, and she has all the information she needs to make the right decision for her and her child. This affirming gift is Elena's wish for every family she serves. Connect with Elena Rosa:Website:  https://mykindredmidwife.com/Facebook:   Elena RosaResources:https://arvigotherapy.com/ Connect with Michelle Smith:Website:  BirthEaseServices.comFacebook:   Birth Ease,   The Birth Ease Podcast,  Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:    @birtheasemichellesmith,  @birtheaselossssupportYouTube:    Birth EaseLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithPinterest:  Birth EaseShow:  Birth Ease

Listen in as Michelle and midwife Laura Nathan have a conversation about Laura's passion for homebirth and the difference that hypnobirth makes within pregnancy, labor & birth, postpartum, and beyond. "Because it doesn't have to be that way. That's what we see in the movies and the sitcom sketches. It doesn't have to be that way of the screaming, painful birth that is just awful and you gotta get through it and suffer through to get to the end, to the good thing at the end, which is the baby. The process can also be really uplifting. It can be a really beautiful process that… the mom can feel really empowered by it."— Laura Nathan About Laura Nathan, LM CPM: Laura is a Florida Licensed Midwife serving families in Orlando and surrounding communities since 2014. She is the owner of Modern Orlando Midwifery, a home birth practice for her midwifery clients. After working in a busy birth center, Laura now loves the ability to get to know her clients well through long home visits. The focus is on building a strong relationship where both the parents and midwife can trust and understand one another. Her love of client education ranges from detailed explanations of pregnancy and the normal changes women experience to diastasis prevention and repair to newborn care and breastfeeding success. Additionally, Laura has studied the use of hypnosis for pregnancy and birth. She utilized Birth Ease Hypnobirth for her own babies' births and is certified as a Hypno-Doula with HypnoBabies. Laura believes that with comprehensive education, parents can make the best choices for the mother-baby dyad. Connect with Laura Nathan: Website:  https://modernorlandomidwifery.com/ Facebook:  Modern Orlando Midwifery   Connect with Michelle Smith: Website: BirthEaseServices.com Facebook:  Birth Ease,   The Birth Ease Podcast Instagram: @ birtheasemichellesmith YouTube:  Birth Ease LinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle Smith Pinterest: Birth Ease Show: Birth Ease

In today's show Sarah shares her experience of birthing two babies in 14 months, both of which were intervention free water births and completely empowering experiences for her and her partner.She talks about how she prepared herself and her partner for birth both physically and emotionally. Her thoughts on hypnobirthing, and navigating life falling pregnant so soon after giving birth.She talks about her experience with breastfeeding her first Archer, and her hopes for her journey with baby Harvey who is only 6 weeks old at the time of recording this episode.Sarah is a friend of mine and an incredible woman in the throws of juggling the trenches of mama life, I know you're going to love this episode.Head to the show notes for the links to the references in todays show, and to connect with Sarah.To circulate an exchange with me, you can buy me a coffee here.

If you've ever said to yourself 'oh I'd never do that!' Or 'that's definitely not for me', this episode will offer you some eye opening insight, as a reveal the list of choices I made as a mother that my pregnant self would have turned her nose up to.In this episode I share my perspective of Flynn's birth, and why that's the only thing that matters, why we sleep trained twice, and then used the cry-it-out method (shock horror!!) As well as many more things that had the capacity to shake me off course in my first 12 months of motherhood, but didn't.How did they not shake me, you might ask? I'll share that too!! This is the big takeaway of this episode, the key to being unshakable in your choices as a mama might actually be quite different to what you think.Just a trigger warning also, in this episode I share my most challenging moments in birth and early motherhood, for some listeners this might be confronting. Make an intuitive choice on whether listening to this episode feels like it will spark growth within you, or whether it encourage you in the opposite direction. You know what's right for you mama.To circulate an exchange with me, you can buy me a coffee here.