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4 episodes with intrauterine
4 episodes with intrauterine
4 episodes with intrauterine
3 episodes with intrauterine
2 episodes with intrauterine
2 episodes with intrauterine
2 episodes with intrauterine
2 episodes with intrauterine
2 episodes with intrauterine
Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is a procedure commonly done in fertility clinics around the world. We place the sperm inside the uterus, close to the fallopian tubes. If you're going to do IUI treatment, you want it to work. Tune in as I break down the steps to give you the best chance of success at IUI. I'll take you through what I typically do with my patients to give you insight into what you can expect! Read the full show notes on Dr. Aimee's website Do you have questions about IVF?Click here to join Dr. Aimee for The IVF Class. The next live class call is on Monday, May 19, 2025 at 4pm PST, where Dr. Aimee will explain IVF and there will be time to ask her your questions live on Zoom. Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh is one of America's most well known fertility doctors. Her success rate at baby-making is what gives future parents hope when all hope is lost. She pioneered the TUSHY Method and BALLS Method to decrease your time to pregnancy. Learn more about the TUSHY Method and find a wealth of fertility resources at www.draimee.org. Other ways to connect: Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more fertility tips Join Egg Whisperer School Subscribe to the newsletter to get updates
REMS requirement removed for schizophrenia treatment; new copper intrauterine device approved; Wegovy, Ozempic no longer in short supply; stem cell therapy for chronic lumbar disc disease fast tracked; ecopipam shows promise for Tourette syndrome.
In this episode, we review the high-yield topic Intrauterine Fetal Demise from the Obstetrics section at Medbullets.com Follow Medbullets on social media: Facebook: www.facebook.com/medbullets Instagram: www.instagram.com/medbulletsofficial Twitter: www.twitter.com/medbullets Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/medbullets
Drs. Zachary Wallace and Michael Putman continue their induction therapy discussion in patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis, reviewing the use of glucocorticoids, avacopan, and plasma exchange.
After having an HSG (hysterosalpingogram) due to infertility, Wyn was diagnosed with having a left-sided unicornuate uterus. A unicornuate uterus is a rare condition in which the uterus is smaller than normal and only has one fallopian tube. Common complications from a unicornuate uterus include infertility, IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction), and preterm labor. Wyn had two unsuccessful IVF treatments followed by two miraculous natural pregnancies! Her first pregnancy ended in an unexpected Cesarean due to a fever and tachycardia in her baby. Her placenta was difficult to remove during the surgery and she was told she had placenta accreta. The OB who performed her surgery also said she had “very interesting reproductive anatomy”.Wyn deeply longed for the opportunity to try for a VBAC and experience physiological birth. Her original midwife supported her decision to VBAC and Wyn made sure to prepare physically and emotionally. At 41 weeks and 1 day, she went into spontaneous labor, declined cervical checks and other interventions she wasn't comfortable with, consented to the things she felt good about, and pushed her baby out soon after arriving at the hospital. Wyn also shares her experience with taking Needed products during her pregnancy and postpartum period this time around. Her strongest advice for other women preparing for VBAC is to find a supportive team and really listen to what your intuition is telling you to do. Needed WebsiteHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode Details Meagan: Hello, everybody. Welcome to the show. We have our friend, Wyn, from Alaska with us today. She's going to be sharing her VBAC story and Wyn has a pretty unique– and maybe Wyn, you can tell me more. Maybe it's not as unique as it feels but a pretty unique situation where you had a diagnosis of a unicornuate uterus. Tell us a little bit more about that. I feel like we hear some uterine abnormalities. I'm quoting it where it's bicornuate and all of these different things and people say, “Oh, you can't have a vaginal delivery with this type of uterus or this shape of uterus,” but tell us more about what it means for you and what it meant for you back then. Wyn: Yeah, so they found it through an HSG test where they shoot dye up through your uterus and through your fallopian tubes. Basically, just one-half of my uterus formed. I guess when the uterus is forming, it's two tubes that connect and open up so just the one half formed so I have a left-sided with a left fallopian tube. I have both ovaries so you can still conceive but there are less chances because you have just one side. Then once you get pregnant, there are higher chances of miscarriages because the blood flow is less. Intrauterine growth restriction and preterm labor are common and then a lot of time, the breech position is common as well. Meagan: With this one, you did experience IVF as well, right? Wyn: Yep. Meagan: Yeah, we'll have to hear more about that too because there are a lot of people who are getting pregnant via IVF which is amazing but there are some things that come with IVF as well. So we want to talk a little bit more about that before we get too deep into things. I do want to do a Review of the Week, then we'll let Wyn start sharing away. This review is from I think it's Amir, I think. It says, “This podcast was my constant source of reassurance and inspiring stories throughout my last two pregnancies. I achieved my VBAC in 2021 and was so empowered with so much knowledge and mental strength going into this birth because of The VBAC Link. I had my second section in 2022 which was not what I wished for but I do plan on having more children and know that VBA2C (vaginal birth after two Cesareans) 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.” Well, Amir, thank you so much for your review. I also wanted to mention that for Amir, not only does VBAC after two Cesareans apply, but there are even risks that are lower because she has had a vaginal birth. So if you have had a vaginal birth and then you want to go on to VBAC, your chances are even higher for a VBAC and lower for things like uterine rupture. I wanted to throw that tip out there. But if you have not left us a review yet, please do so. We love them so much. You can leave it on Google or wherever you listen to your podcasts or you can even email them. Okay, Wyn. Let's get going into this story. Wyn: Okay, thank you. Thank you for having me. I feel like it's come full circle. I listened to The VBAC Link Podcast a lot throughout my pregnancy and even before that and I still do today. So I hope that maybe a little detail from my story resonates with somebody and helps them as well. Meagan: 100%. Wyn: Yeah. A little back story, before I got pregnant, we did try for a while and my cycles were regular. I was healthy. I didn't see anything wrong but we went in and got the test done with bloodwork and they suggested the HSG test. I saw my original OB then I had a second opinion with another one. Both said it was still possible but that IVF was probably going to be more likely. And of course, this is all happening in February and March of 2020. Meagan: Right as the world is in chaos. Wyn: Yeah, so I started researching IVF options. We live in Alaska so there isn't a reproductive endocrinologist here and I found a clinic. Our closest option was Seattle or Portland. I found a clinic in Portland that was willing to work with us. In August 2020, I went down for my first transfer or egg retrieval and transfer. That was a chemical pregnancy or early miscarriage. But also, that was the closest I had ever been to being pregnant. It was a little bit hopeful at the same time. We regrouped and went down in October and had another transfer that didn't take at all. We decided to take the rest of the year off and revisit it after the beginning of the year. That brings me to my first pregnancy which was a little miracle and I got pregnant the cycle after my failed transfer naturally without IVF. Meagan: Yay!Wyn: That was very exciting. I was a little bit in shock like, How can this happen? Because it had been a couple of years of trying. I went back to the second OB who I had a second opinion from. We didn't really vibe very well. I went in early at 6 weeks because I was nervous and she was like, “Why are you here so early?” So I didn't end up rebooking with her but I rebooked with a midwife who some of my friends had seen during their pregnancies and explained my situation and she got me in that week. We did an ultrasound and saw a little heartbeat. It was going well. She had me come in the next week too to just make sure things were progressing and everything was good. Meagan: Yay. So it was IVF treatment, IVF treatment, and spontaneous?Wyn: Yep. Meagan: Yay, that's awesome. Wyn: It was pretty exciting and just gave me some renewed faith in my body too that maybe it could do it. Meagan: Yeah. Wyn: So pregnancy went smoothly. I felt great. I loved being pregnant and I was measuring small consistently from about 30 weeks on about 2-4 weeks behind. I wasn't really worried about it because I figured I had a small uterus but they suggested a growth scan. I went ahead and did that and baby was all fine. She was small and we didn't know it was a she. We didn't find out but then my husband and I did some birth prep. We watched The Business of Being Born and that solidified my desire for a non-medicated birth. I was okay being in the hospital because there were unknowns with the uterus and I just wanted to experience it all. I wanted to experience everything without medication. I have a low tolerance to medication so I didn't want anything to derail the birth. I made it to 40 weeks. I made it to my due date because it's common that you go into preterm labor with a unicornuate uterus but I made it to my due date so that was exciting. I was feeling anxious to meet my baby but I was feeling good. I was just listening to whatever the midwife told me or suggested because I was a little bit nervous so she offered a membrane sweep and I thought, Okay, I'll go ahead and do that. It's not medicated. But still, it was an intervention that I learned later. Then we did a non-stress test at 40.5 weeks and she started suggesting induction. I went into my 41-week appointment and I still didn't want to do any medication but she offered the Foley bulb which he offered to put in there at the office and I would just come back the next day if it didn't come out or if it started things then it started labor. Meagan: Then great, yeah. Wyn: Yeah. She went to put it in and my water broke. Meagan: Oh, change of plans. Wyn: Yep. Yeah. It was just a trickle. It wasn't huge. She sent us home and told us to rest and to come back in the next morning. Come in if labor progressed or come in the next morning to start more induction since my water was broken. I went home and relaxed. I woke up about 2:00 in the morning to my water fully breaking everywhere and contractions started pretty instantly. I had adrenaline and I didn't ease into it. They were 5-6 minutes apart, full-on contractions. Within a couple of hours, they were closer like 3-4 minutes so we went ahead and went to the hospital. There was a lot of rushing around and a lot of nurses coming in and out. I was in my own little world. I was stuck on the bed because they wanted to have the fetal monitor on. I was holding on for the non-medicated. I declined the IV because I thought that would be that much easier. Meagan: Easier access, mhmm. Wyn: But I had spiked a temperature from my water breaking. I couldn't keep any Tylenol down so we went ahead and did the IV which took over an hour to get in because I have bad veins and lots of people tried and they eventually got an ultrasound to find a vein. Meagan: I was going to say for anyone who may have harder veins or situations like that, you can ask for the head anesthesiologist if there are multiple and for an actual ultrasound and it can really help them and get that in a lot faster. Wyn: I wish they had started that sooner. I was just being poked. Meagan: Lots of pokes, mhmm. Wyn: Yeah, and trying to labor through at the same time. They got that in. It didn't really calm down. The baby's heart rate was elevated to 170-180. It wasn't really slowing down at all. Our midwife seemed a bit concerned and started suggesting a C-section. Yeah, just laying there, I was ready to give up. I didn't want to, but she checked me and I was only 5 centimeters so I wasn't even close to getting there.They prepped me for surgery. I went in and baby girl was born in the morning at 8:50. Of course, they took her straight away to the warmer then I didn't get to hold her until the recovery room. I was still shaking from medication. Basically, the birth was completely the opposite of what we had hoped for. Meagan: What you had planned, yeah. Wyn: Then later, the OB who did the surgery came in and told me that I have very interesting reproductive anatomy. He confirmed it was a left-sided unicornuate uterus. There was a small horn on the right side and my uterus, I guess, was really stretched out and almost see-through. Meagan: A uterine window. Wyn: Then the placenta was really attached and they had to work to get that out. They labeled that as placenta accreta. I was advised not to labor again if we ever had another baby and just to plan a C-section. I felt like I went through all of the stages of grief after and in postpartum for my birth. First, I was in denial because I just blocked it out. I was happy to have my baby. Then you add the sleep deprivation and postpartum hormones and I was a bit angry at myself for not advocating but also just all of the suggestions. Baby wouldn't have changed anything. It was just a lot of what if's. Meagan: Which is hard. It's hard to what if this and what if that. Sometimes those what-ifs come up and we don't get answers. Wyn: Yeah, but it just fueled my fire to try for a VBAC. Meagan: Mhmm. Wyn: So that was my first birth and C-section then our second pregnancy which again, we felt like our little girl was a miracle so we just didn't know if we would be able to conceive again naturally or if we would have to go through IVF. We waited a little bit and another little miracle came in September 2023.Meagan: Yay. Wyn: Yeah, that was pretty exciting. Of course, I had been researching VBAC from 6 months postpartum with my daughter. I felt like my best option for a physiological birth or as close to it would be at home. I didn't want to fight the whole time in the hospital so I contacted two home birth midwives and they were both very nice and informative. They felt like I could VBAC but neither were comfortable supporting me at home with my previous birth– Meagan: And your uterus, yeah. Wyn: They both suggested I go back to my original midwife. I was a little upset at first that they wouldn't support it but I also understood. I made an appointment with my original midwife. I went in with my guard up and ready to fight for the VBAC. She surprised me and was actually supportive of it. She said that we would just watch and see how things would go. She said there wasn't any reason why we couldn't try. I was a bit surprised but wondered if she remembered all of the details or had looked at my records. I just went with it at first but eventually, we talked about everything that happened during the birth. She got second opinions from people in her office and it was okay. Meagan: Awesome. Wyn: Yeah. I also reached out and hired a doula, Dawn, who was a wealth of information and super supportive. We met regularly. She gave me exercise assignments and movements for labor and positioning. She was just there to help me debrief after each appointment with my midwife. If anything was brought up, she gave me information or links so I could feel confident going forward. That was really cool. I saw a chiropractor and did massage. I drank Nora tea from about 34 weeks on. I just tried to cover all my bases to get the best outcome. This pregnancy, I actually grew quicker and was measuring ahead, not behind. A growth scan was suggested again, but I respectfully declined because I felt like everything was okay. I was just trying to lean into my intuition and I didn't want to get a big baby diagnosis that could possibly–Meagan: Big baby, small uterus. Yeah. I don't blame you. Wyn: Yeah. Eventually, I ended up evening out at 37 weeks and was measuring right on. I just was a little bit quicker I guess. So I made it to my due date again at 40 weeks and I was offered a membrane sweep. I was offered a cervical check. I declined everything. I was doing good. I knew I went over with my daughter so I was prepared to go over again. 40.5 weeks, induction was brought up. I said I wouldn't talk about it until 42 weeks. Meagan: Good for you. Wyn: We scheduled a non-stress test again at 41 but I didn't make it to that because I was starting to have cramping in the evenings. I wouldn't consider them contractions but they were noticeable. Things were happening. I was trying to walk every day and just stay mentally at ease to keep my body feeling safe. So at 41 weeks exactly, I was having cramping in the evening. That was a bit stronger. I was putting my daughter down. My husband and I watched a show. I didn't say anything to him or anything because I didn't want to jinx it. We went to bed at 11:00. I fell asleep and slept really hard for an hour and a half. I woke up to contractions starting again full-on. I thought my water broke but I don't think it was. I think it was just bloody show originally. Meagan: Yeah.Wyn: I got up. I sat in the bathroom for a little bit and I was just super excited that it was starting on its own. I held out. I tried to time contractions a little bit at first. I knew it was happening so I just moved around the house quietly. I went and laid with my daughter for a half hour while she was sleeping because that was going to be our last time as the three of us. Yeah. I kept moving around for another half hour or so. By then, I needed the extra support. I woke my husband up. We texted our doula, Dawn, and she told me to hop in the shower for a little bit and she would get ready and head over soon.She made it about 3:30 AM and I think I was in pretty full-blown labor. I was mostly sitting on the toilet laboring in there but I came out to the living room when she came and I was on all fours. I made a music playlist. I had the TENS unit. I had all of these coping skills prepared and I didn't use anything. Meagan: You were in the zone. You were in the zone. Hey, but at least you were prepared with it. Wyn: Yeah, so about 4:45-5:00 in the morning, she suggested if we felt ready that maybe we would head into the hospital. My body was kind of bearing down a little bit wanting to push. We called my mom to come over and stay with our daughter. We called our midwife. She actually lives in our neighborhood. We called to give her a heads-up to get ready to meet us at the hospital. We got there at about 5:45. They did intake and called a nurse to bring us up to the room, and that nurse was our only real hurdle in the birth. She was not really supportive of natural birth or physiological birth. She made a couple of comments. She was trying to force me to get checked to admit me. I was obviously in labor because I was kind of pushing. I declined all of that. Eventually, she ended up not coming back in. She switched out with another nurse or maybe they told her to switch out, I'm not sure but that was nice that she removed herself from the situation. Meagan: I was going to say, good for her for realizing that her views didn't align with your views and that she probably wasn't needed at that birth. I don't love when people are that way with clients of mine or whatever, but for her to step away, that says something so that's really good. I'm glad she did for both of you.Wyn: Yeah, before she left, she was trying to get an IV too. She couldn't get an IV. I don't know. Meagan: She was frustrated and you're like, “Yeah, you could go.” Wyn: So yeah. Again, I was noticing all this going on but I was in my own little world. We got there. Our midwife, Christina, showed up. She asked if she could check me. I didn't want to have cervical checks but because I was getting pushy, she didn't want me to not be fully dilated and start pushing. I let her check and she said, “You're complete and baby is right there. Lean into it. If you want to push, start pushing.” I couldn't believe it. I prepared for labor. I had a moment that I had to wrap my mind around it because I couldn't believe we were already there to start pushing.I had requested my records so I was able to see all my time stamps. At about 6:30 was when she checked me. I pushed for about a half hour and the baby was born at 7:09 in the morning. It was exactly 41 weeks and 1 day, the same as my daughter. Meagan: Wow, and a much faster and much better experience. Your body just went into labor and was allowed to go into labor. You helped keep it safe to do what it wanted to do. Wyn: Yeah. Yeah. I was really excited to just be able. My body just did it all on its own which was pretty awesome. It was a pretty awesome feeling. Meagan: Very, very awesome. Do you have any tips for people who may feel strongly about not getting cervical exams or not getting IVs or doing those things but may have a pressuring nurse or someone who is like, “You have to do this. You have to do this. Our policy is this.” Do you have any advice on standing up for yourself and standing your ground?Wyn: Yeah, be respectful but also just be really strong. I had my husband and my doula backing me up. We prepared for things like that. I had a birth plan that had my wishes on it so just yeah, standing strong and keep in with what you want. But also be ready to switch gears. Like I said, I didn't want a cervical check but when my midwife got there and suggested it, I felt like, okay. I can go ahead with that. Meagan: You felt like it was okay at that point. That's such a great thing to bring up. You can have your wishes and desires. You can be standing your ground and then your intuition may switch or your opinion may switch or the situation may switch. You can adapt with how it's going or change your mind at any point both ways. You can be like, “I do want this and I actually decided I don't want this anymore. I changed my mind.” We ask in our form, “What's your best tip for someone preparing for a VBAC?” You said, “Find a great support team. Research all of the facts to make informed decisions and really lean into your motherly intuition.” I feel like through your story, that's what you did. You learned the facts. You said even before you became pregnant, right? Your baby was 6 months old and you were starting to listen to the podcast and learn more about VBAC and what the evidence says and the facts then you got your support team. You just built it up. You knew exactly what you needed to do so you felt confident in saying, “No. I don't want that IV” or “No, I don't want that cervical exam for you to admit me. I'm going to have this baby with or without that cervical exam.” I think the more you are informed, the more likely you feel confident in standing your ground. Wyn: For sure. Meagan: Yeah, for sure. Well, oh my goodness. Huge congrats. Let's just do a little shoutout to your midwife and your doula. Let's see, it's Christina? Where is she at again?Wyn: Interior Women's Health in Fairbanks, Alaska. Meagan: Awesome. So great of her to support you with a more unique situation too. She was like, “Let me do some research. Let me get some opinions. Okay, yes. We're good.” I'm so glad you felt that support. Then your doula, Dawn, yes. Where is she again? Oh, Unspeakable Joy. Wyn: Yes. Yeah. Meagan: That is so awesome. I'm so glad that you had them. We love doulas here as I'm sure you have heard along the podcast. We absolutely love our doulas. We have a VBAC directory as well so you can find a doula at thevbaclink.com/findadoula. Then last but not least, in the form, you said that you took Needed. Wyn: Yes, I did. Meagan: Yes. Can you share your experience with taking Needed through pregnancy? Did you start before pregnancy? Wyn: Yeah. Right as I got pregnant with my second one, I took the prenatal. I took the probiotics and I still take them today postpartum. Then also, the electrolytes or the mineral packets and the nighttime powder that my husband and I take. We put it in our tea every night. Meagan: It's amazing. It really is so amazing, huh? It's kind of weird because I don't have to finish it. I'm just sitting there sipping on it and I can just feel everything relax. I have a busy brain. I call it busy brain and my busy brain is a lot more calm when I take my sleep aid. Wyn: Yeah. I slept amazingly through pregnancy. Normally with my first, I had a lot of insomnia. It was very nice. Meagan: Yeah. Then the probiotics, I want to talk about probiotics in general. We never know how birth is going to go. We could have a Cesarean. We may have a fever and have to be given antibiotics or Tylenol or whatever it may be. If we can have a system that is preloaded essentially with probiotics, it really is going to help us and our gut flora in the end so no matter how that birth outcome it, that probiotic is so good for us because we never know what we are going to get or what we are going to receive in that labor. I'm excited. Wyn: Yeah, what is that stuff that they test you for? Meagan: Group B strep?Wyn: Yeah, yeah. Sorry. I didn't want that because I didn't want to have an IV. Meagan: So, so important. I love it. They usually test for that around 36 weeks so really making sure that you are on the pre and probiotic. What I really love is that it is pre and pro so it really is helping to strengthen our gut flora so much. With GBS, with group B strep, they like to give antibiotics in labor. It's sometimes a lot. They like to give rounds every 4 hours so you really could be impacting your gut flora. I love that you took that. You didn't even have group B strep. Well, thank you so, so much for sharing your story. Is there any other advice or anything else you would like to share with our listeners today?Wyn: Yeah, just again, find your support team and lean into your own intuition. You know what is right for your body and your babies. Meagan: It's so true. I mean, from day one of this podcast, we've talked about that intuition. It is powerful. It is powerful and it can really lead us in the right path. We just have to sometimes stop and listen. Sometimes that's removing yourself from a situation. Go into the bathroom and say, “I have to go to the bathroom.” Go to the bathroom, close your eyes, take a breath, and hear what your intuition is saying. It is so powerful. I couldn't agree more. Thank you so much.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
Patrick answers numerous questions about hats and veils in Church, masturbation and also could you still go to heaven if you leave the Church Patrick continues to answer an email about Intrauterine insemination (IUI) and if it's permissible? (0:35) Article Recommendation: Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 110: Is Artificial Insemination Wrong Even Among Married Couples?: https://www.ncbcenter.org/making-sense-of-bioethics-cms/column-110-is-artificial-insemination-wrong-even-among-married-couples Ellen: Someone said we don't need to sacrifice since Christ already did. How do I respond to that? (7:21) Ruth: Are there any rules about woman not wearing hats in church? (15:55) Bob- Did Jesus Make Mistakes? (22:19) Emmitt- The name of 'Jesus' is a westernization of 'Jeshua'. (28:09) Cheryl- Why masturbation is considered wrong? I am a widow and have no interest in dating. (30:09) Michael- If I continue to stay non Catholic or away from the Catholic Church, but still believe in God, and sin no more, would I wind up in hell? (38:54) Sandra- Is it okay women use hats at Church? One time I was stopped by a priest. (44:38) Mary Lou - I am very excited that you addressed human sexuality with this person that was a widow. I want to share some holy ways that have helped me in chastity as a single person my entire life. Contemplative prayer, dancing and music! (49:06) Document Recommendation: Inter Insigniores: Declaration On The Question Of Admission Of Women To The Ministerial Priesthood https://www.papalencyclicals.net/paul06/p6interi.htm
Intrauterine devices, or IUDs, have become increasingly accessible and popular over the last few years. The high level of efficacy and added benefits, like improving users' periods, make it appealing to doctors to recommend for patients of all ages. But there's a big catch – getting it put in can be excruciating for some patients.Last week, the Center for Disease Control in the United States issued a guidance recommending healthcare providers counsel patients on their pain management options before the procedure. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada put out a similar recommendation in 2022.Dr. Renée Hall is the medical co-director of the Willow Reproductive Health Centre in Vancouver and a clinical associate professor at the University of British Columbia. She's on the show to talk about why we need to change how IUD insertions are treated , and how womens' pain is treated in healthcare.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com
WHYLD - Podcast for Bold Authentic People (And Those Who Wish They Were)
Send us a Text Message.Lift heavy sh**! “It was tough playing sports, having a period and from a young age of 15, I was having a lot of problems, like endometriosis. For those of you that don't know, you get all sorts of symptoms - heavy, bleeding, painful cramps.” Episode summary:Tech, travel, triathlon – why a full-time job is no excuse not to go IRONMAN!“Women aren't small men” - how can you work with rather than against your cycle?Trust your body – what if it does not agree with your doctors?Endometriosis, perimenopause, hysterectomy? Don't worry, we'll enlighten you what all that means! In more words:Some would say that juggling a full-time job - one which entails a crazy amount of business travel - and serious athletic ambitions is admirable enough. Swim-bike-running Ironmans while battered by nausea and severe cramps is yet another level of willingness to suffer.Triathlete April Yoho (formerly Edwards) has been suffering from endometriosis since a young age. But all hell broke loose when she stopped taking “the pill” to regain her natural cycle and train according to it. What followed was a long medical journey full of dead-ends and doctors who were big on “I-know-better-than-you” and less generous with empathy.Listen to this power woman chat about her work in tech, relocating to the UK for a better quality of life, body type myths when it comes to who can be a triathlete, and battling endometriosis all the while "lifting heavy sh**" (a reference to Stacy Sims' book "ROAR").You can contact April here.Mentioned in this episode:April's blog post we discussed in the episodeDave Scott (triathlete) Ironman Triathlon – a series of long-distance triathlon races, the most famous one being held in Kona, Hawaii Stacy Sims, author of the mentioned book “Roar” & many more A few medical terms that we discussed:Endometriosis - medical condition Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) - a form of hormone therapy used to treat symptoms associated with female menopause Hysterectomy - surgical removal of the uterus and cervix Intrauterine device (IUD) - a birth control device that is inserted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy Perimenopause - transition phase leading up to menopause Tubal Ligation (commonly known as having one's "tubes tied") - surgical procedure for female sterilization Vasectomy - surgical proDo you enjoy WHYLD? Then get in touch! Quick one-stop-shop: www.linktr.ee/whyld.podcast Follow us on Instagram: @whyld.thepodcast Find us on Facebook: @whyld.one Or visit our website: www.whyld.one
In this episode we have Nadia, an incredible mama of two, sharing her caesarean and VBAC journeys. Her stories are rich with reflection, exploring her first birth journey involving a baby with Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) and sudden induction leading to a caesarean, and her following, empowering VBAC with the support of her husband, doula and a private OB. Nadia beautifully shares her thought processes and reasoning throughout these journeys with such wisdom, including her struggles with breastfeeding and perinatal anxiety and how she worked through these experiences. We are sure you will love hearing her incredible birth stories. We are so excited to share it with you and would love to hear your thoughts! Please join us on our journey to bringing you all kinds of VBAC stories from across the country from here on in by subscribing and following us on social media, @australianvbacstories on Instagram and Australian VBAC Stories on Facebook. If you enjoyed this episode, we'd love to rate or review, and tell your friends! If you are feeling that you might benefit from mental health support after listening to our podcast, please reach out to one of the organisations below: PANDA https://panda.org.au/ Gidget Foundation https://www.gidgetfoundation.org.au/ COPE Australia https://www.cope.org.au/ If you've experienced mistreatment or disrespectful care in your pregnancy, birth or postpartum and are seeking advocacy support, please contact one of the following organisations: Maternity Choices Australia https://www.maternitychoices.org/ Maternity Consumer Network https://www.maternityconsumernetwork.org.au/ Thank you for tuning in to our podcast.
During her first pregnancy, Selah's doctor predicted that her baby would be over 10 pounds. She insisted that it was not safe to deliver vaginally. Selah went right into her first Cesarean. She didn't even have the chance to try. Her baby went to the NICU shortly after birth due to lung and blood sugar complications.When her fluid levels were low with her second pregnancy, Selah consented to another scheduled Cesarean remembering how her first one went pretty smoothly. Unfortunately, a turn of events resulted in an emergent situation, another NICU stay, and once again, Selah was not able to bond with her baby like she thought she would. Selah's journey to her VBA2C included discovering The VBAC Link, building her supportive community, prenatal chiropractic care, and relentlessly educating herself to make sure she was set up for success. Though her labor was MUCH longer than expected, the spiritual, emotional, and physical transformation she experienced was completely worth it. Selah had a beautiful, empowering VBA2C with no complications. The best part– she got to hold that sweet baby immediately and for as looong as she wanted. Needed WebsiteHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode Details 01:04 Review of the Week 04:08 Selah's first pregnancy07:25 First C-section 09:36 NICU11:10 Second pregnancy13:02 Low fluids16:29 Scheduled Cesarean turned emergent21:39 Surprise third pregnancy27:33 Changing providers36:33 Going into labor39:20 Going to the hospital44:54 Pitocin48:35 The final hours56:47 A crack in the catheter1:00:00 The best feelingMeagan: Hello, hello everybody. You are listening to The VBAC Link and this is Meagan, your host. We have our friend, Selah, today. Hi, Selah. Selah: Hi. Hello. Meagan: Thank you so much for being here with us. I feel like there are so many parts of your story that truly are things that people are going to relate to. We're going to be talking about bigger babies. We're going to talk a little bit about that. We're going to talk about changing a provider really late in pregnancy. I actually love this topic because I did it myself and it's one that is scary sometimes to do. Selah: Yeah. Meagan: It's intimidating. We'll talk a little bit about low fluid. She's got a NICU stay. There are lots of little things. Selah: A little bit of everything. Meagan: You are going to have relations to her story. She is a VBAC after two C-section mama story so if you are a VBAC after two C-sections, listen up. It's going to be amazing.01:04 Review of the Week Meagan: We have a review of the week so we are going to get into that then we are going to turn the time over to you, my love. Selah: Yay. Meagan: This review is– if I can find them. I just lost my reviews. It is from hannahargentina and it was on Apple Podcasts back in 2023 in February so just over a year ago. It says, “I have had a natural birth center birth, then moved out to the country and had a very traumatic C-section. I am now 37 weeks pregnant and back stateside working with an amazing birth team. I am really hoping for a VBAC in a few weeks and I love listening to all of the stories. Hearing different perspectives, and outcomes, and gaining wisdom, I feel so much more confident in my VBAC after listening to this podcast.” Well, it's been just over a year so hannahargentina, if you are still with us, reach out at info@thevbaclink.com and tell us how it went. Selah: Aww, that's awesome. Meagan: I know right, and here we are for you and your baby's birthday is in a couple of days. Selah: I can't even believe it and I got tears in my eyes listening to that review because that was me. That was me listening to every single podcast, your story, all of the stories, and it helped so tremendously. I can't even tell you. To be on today is such an honor because I was so helped by you and your podcast and the community. I could not have done it without you so thank you. Thank you for having me. Meagan: Yes. Thank you and I also want to toot the horn of the community. They are so special. If you guys have not checked it out yet or if you are not on Facebook, I would say create a secret Facebook just to be in that community because the Facebook community is amazing or join us on Instagram. These other Women of Strength truly do provide so much power. Selah: So much power and help and resources. I mean, I was on there every day just looking and posting every single worry and concern. Yeah. It's a lot. It's a lot to learn and to do. You need that community. You need that support. Meagan: Absolutely. Well, let's dive into that first story of yours that began this journey to you being here right now. 04:08 Selah's first pregnancySelah: Yes, so the back story is I had my first son in 2018 and he was an IVF baby. We struggled with infertility for four years about, I think. Finally, we did IVF and we were successful on our first try which was great. However, toward the end of my pregnancy, my doctor looked at me and said, “How big are you willing to push out as far as baby goes?” Meagan: Oh. Selah: Yeah. I looked at her and by the way, I considered myself very well-educated. I was not in hindsight. I had read a few birth books but I did not know what I know now thanks to you and the community. I did, by the way, do The VBAC Link Course so I did all of it. Meagan: Oh you did? Selah: Yes. Yes. So I was not educated to the point that I am now, but I thought I was. I looked at her and very confidently said, “12 pounds.” I didn't even flinch. Meagan: I love that. Selah: Her eyes turned really wide and was like, “No, no, no, no, no. You cannot push out a 12-pound baby.” Meagan: Then don't ask me what I'm willing to do here. Selah: Exactly. I was a personal trainer. I was a group fitness instructor. I consider myself very strong so I thought, “I could do that. No problem.” She said, “No. I will not let you do that. This baby is measuring bigger than 10 pounds.” At that point, I think I was just at my 40-week mark so she was like, “He's only going to get bigger. You're not going to be able to deliver this baby vaginally. In fact, I won't even really let you try.” Meagan: Wow. Selah: I know. Meagan: That took a really fast turn from, “Hey, how big are you willing to? Hey, let's offer an induction” to “Hey, I'm not even willing to let you try.” Selah: Exactly. And looking back, I'm pretty shocked at that that I wasn't even offered an induction or anything. In fact, my water– so we scheduled the C-section for three days from then and my water ended up breaking naturally the day before the C-section. I know. I was like, “Oh. I'm going to do this. I can do this. I don't care how big the baby is.” Meagan: Yeah. Selah: Even then, they would not let me try because there was meconium in the water. Meagan: Which isn't a reason for a Cesarean, right? Selah: It is not. Right. Right. That's what I know now, but back then–Meagan: You didn't know. Selah: I didn't know and ironically, I had a doula who said, “Oh, you need to go straight to the hospital.” I know. Meagan: Interesting. Selah: Very interesting. That is also a lesson in really interviewing your doulas, understanding birth more really, and also knowing what the doula's experiences with both C-sections, of course VBACs, and with everything. This doula, looking back, did not have a lot of experience, I don't think, especially with big babies, but in general. I think also she was older and not that there is anything– listen. I am older. But I think she was from a medical mindset where that would be very scary to her, meconium in the water, where now, the doula that I had for my VBAC was much more like, “No. This just means the baby is ready to come out and it means a lot of things.” 07:25 First C-sectionSelah: I rushed to the hospital. They said, “Yes. There is meconium in the water. Yes, you have a very big baby. We're going straight to the C-section. You don't even get to try.” I never even felt a contraction. I was pretty devastated. I had all of these plans for a drug-free birth. I had read The Bradley Method. I had done HypnoBabies. My mom– I'm one of eight kids– had pushed every single one of us out naturally without drugs. I knew I could do it. Do you know what I mean? I just was like, “Wow. This is not happening for me and I'm shocked.” I was very shocked. Meagan: Yeah. Yeah. Selah: So we went into the C-section but I also felt like I had no choice at that point. This was definitely–Meagan: You were stuck. Selah: Yeah. “You're going in. That's it.” Everything was just black and white to the medical team and even to my doula frankly. So we went in and my doctor was lovely. I have to say she was very empathetic and she knew I really wanted a natural birth. She was as lovely and empathetic as you can be. She let me play music and set up the room in a way that felt very loving. She let the nurse and everyone take pictures and videos which they are not always supposed to do. So it was as good as it could be. I got to hold him right away. We had the first 12 hours together. But then because he was so big– 10 pounds, 15 ounces, his blood sugar started dropping, and his lungs, because of the C-section, weren't fully developed. You know how they get the practice. Meagan: Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes there is fluid left in the baby's lungs too so they can have a harder time. Selah: Exactly. There was fluid left in the lungs. It's like that sponge where not all of the sponge is there. Meagan: That's a really good analogy. Yes. Selah: That's what they told me which is what happened. When they go through the canal, their lungs get that practice going back and forth. 09:36 NICU Selah: So he went to the NICU after about 12 hours with me and that was a terrible experience for lack of a better word. My heart just goes out to every NICU mama who has had that experience. It's really, really hard. I was only there for five days. I can't imagine where you have been there for months. There are so many reasons why it is hard but for me, it was hard because I was recovering from a C-section. We were breastfeeding but now he's hooked up on wires so that was super hard. I all of a sudden found myself having to bottle feed and pump and now I'm engorged because I'm pumping so much. It just was this crazy cycle. Eventually, like I said, he got out after five days and that was fine. I felt like my healing from that C-section was good because I didn't have any other children to watch. Meagan: Yep. It makes a difference. Selah: It makes a huge difference and I had peace about the C-section. I really did. When he was pulled out of me, my first thought was, “Oh my gosh. He is humongous. He is a giant. He is so chunky. Maybe this was the right thing. Maybe I couldn't have.” His head was huge. Everything was huge. You know, you do worry about pelvic floor damage and shoulder dystocia, all of that stuff. So I did have peace. I thought maybe this was the right decision and it was good to have that closure and that peace. 11:10 Second pregnancySelah: But then flash forward to my second pregnancy which, by the way, was natural. It was not through IVF. I should have known I could get pregnant naturally but I thought it was a fluke after trying so hard. My second pregnancy was in the thick of the pandemic. In fact, at our first prenatal appointment, she was like, “Don't worry. By the time you give birth in August 2020, this will all be over.” Little did we know. Meagan: Nope. That was really thick right there. It's not over. It's trudging. Selah: Yes. Exactly. Going to all of the appointments alone, I was lucky to have my partner in the birthing room and in the OR. Same OB, by the way. Same OB. I didn't know what I didn't know. I just assumed I would have a VBAC. I told her that at the first appointment. “This time, I'm having a VBAC just so you know.” I didn't prepare anything though. I didn't– again, I didn't know what I didn't know. I didn't know about this podcast or the community. I didn't go to a prenatal chiropractor. I didn't even have a doula this time because I thought, “Well, she didn't help me.” Meagan: Honestly, I bet your opinion of that was like, “Meh.” Selah: Yeah.Meagan: And rightfully so. You didn't have the best support there. Selah: Exactly. I did not. I just felt like, “Well, this time, I'm just doing it. I know what to do.” I did the HypnoBabies course for the first time. I didn't even do it again. I thought I was going to do it. Also, it was the thick of the pandemic. I had a two-year-old at home. It was just chaotic. Meagan: It was a lot. Selah: It was a lot. So I do give myself a little slack in that. Meagan: 100%. Please do. Selah: Right? 13:02 Low fluidsSelah: I go along on this pregnancy and he's not measuring extra big this time around but around week 38, I go to my appointment in the morning and it's August, very hot in California. I'm probably dehydrated and a lot of things. I remember going on a big walk the night before. Something my doula now has told me is that in the morning, you're obviously very dehydrated so if you go to your appointment, they may say your fluids are low. I went to the 38-week appointment and she said, “Your fluids are very low. You need to go see a specialist at MFM, maternal-fetal medicine.” Medicine, thank you. Meagan: Mhmm. Maternal-fetal medicine. Selah: Maternal-fetal medicine to go and check your fluid levels. Side note, I went to the same MFM on my first pregnancy to double-check his weight when they said it was a big baby. So I will say that was smart of me to get a second opinion and the MFM on my first pregnancy got the weight right within an ounce so I respected him and thought, “Yeah. I'll go back.” Sure enough, my fluids were low. He agreed with her that I should get the baby out that night and said, “You know, you have a history of big babies. This baby is measuring big already.” He was not as spot on with this baby, but he said around 9 pounds and my second turned out to be 8lb 11 oz. But it's not abnormally big, especially 8lb 11 oz is not that big. Meagan: No, and no talk of induction like, “Oh, your fluids are low. Let's induce.” Selah: No, and that's what I don't understand either. But she did say, I guess I do understand because she did say, “No, I will not induce because of your C-section before. I don't believe in induction.” Meagan: Mmm. So not evidence-based. Selah: Exactly which again, I have learned since then. Meagan: You didn't know. Selah: Yeah. I didn't know. I just said, “Okay.” She just said, “There is way too much risk of uterine rupture.” No numbers, just way too much. “This isn't a good idea.” Meagan: Yeah. Selah: And also she said with the fluids being low, it was too emergent of a situation. We need to get baby out. Meagan: Yeah. It can cause baby stress. It can. Selah: It can, but there was no stress. We did the stress monitor and there was nothing. Meagan: NST? Selah: Yes. There was nothing to be afraid of except for the fluids being low. She did give me an option to go get IV fluids in the hospital, but she did it with a caveat of, “It's probably not going to work.” Again, I felt helpless and stuck. I thought, “Well, I guess this is just my lot. I'm supposed to just have C-sections. I don't get to try again.” Because I didn't know what I didn't know. I didn't know to ask for a low dose of Pitocin. I didn't know to ask for anything or just to give it another try or even to try the IV or drink a bunch of water and come back. I didn't know anything. Meagan: Right. Selah: And I did not have a doula to help me or anything like that. I just went along with it. 16:29 Scheduled Cesarean turned emergentSelah: And in the C-section, this is where everything started to fall– oh, and I also thought, “Well, my previous C-section wasn't so bad.” I had peace about it. I healed very quickly. I was okay. It's going to be fine. Maybe this is just the way it's supposed to be. Sadly, I had so many friends who had two C-sections and people in my life. So I thought, “It's not so bad. These people did it.” Meagan: Right. Selah: Right. I go into it. I'm lying there. All of a sudden, it turns into an emergent situation. The doctor starts yelling/screaming for extra tools. “I need a knife. I need this.” Everybody is frantic. She starts yelling for more team members. “I need the NICU. I need this staff and this person.” Everybody starts running in. There are more people in the room. I hear my husband's voice shaking like he's going to cry saying, “Is everything okay?” Nobody answered for what felt like an eternity. Meagan: I have chills all up and down my body for you right now. So scary.Selah: So crazy. So scary. When I heard his voice, I thought, “One of us is not making it out alive. I don't know what's happening.” It was so scary. Obviously, I still get emotional thinking about it because I didn't know what was happening. Finally, I heard him cry and everything was okay, but they whisked him away immediately. My husband said I did put him on my chest for I think it was a minute, but I barely remember that. That's how traumatic it was. Yes. I do have a picture of me reaching my arms out to him so I know he did land on my chest, but my eyes are filled with tears reaching my arms to him. They whisk him away to the NICU immediately. Same problem with his lungs. He wasn't breathing. They were worse than my first actually. Later, I found out– my doctor came to visit me and she said, “What happened was when she made the incision, his head had moved,” so she didn't want to cut through the placenta from what I understand obviously. So she had to make a bigger incision. She needed special tools. Meagan: Special scar. Is it a special scar or just longer? Selah: It's just longer, yeah. Meagan: Okay, so it's not up. Selah: Exactly. Thank God because I think that would have made it scarier. Meagan: A little bit more difficult sometimes to VBAC the next time too to get support. Selah: Exactly. To get support, exactly. Yeah. That was good at least that she just made it a little longer. But that was why it became so emergent. Same thing. He was in the NICU the whole five days. I remember saying to my husband in the NICU. I looked at him and I said, “We are done. We are not getting pregnant again. I cannot go through this again.” I didn't think I'd ever be able to birth naturally first of all, so I cannot have another C-section. This was way too much. Meagan: Yeah. Selah: And then the healing was awful because I had a two-year-old at home. Everything about this was just not good. I did not want to ever do this again. 21:39 Surprise third pregnancySelah: So flash forward to 2022, two years later, I'm still breastfeeding my two-year-old just at night. I had my period back. I should have known, but I was tracking my ovulation cycle. I was not ovulating. I'm 41 years old and I think, “There's no way. I'm not ovulating. I'm 41. I'm breastfeeding,” but bam. I got pregnant. Surprise, surprise after 20 years of infertility, I'm like, “Why am I fertile Myrtle now?” Meagan: Oh my gosh. Selah: I know. It was crazy. I have a video on my Instagram of my husband's expression finding out. It was utter disbelief. So yes. We find ourselves pregnant again and I thought, “Oh no. What am I going to do? I can't in the operating room again. I can't do it. I will not do it. There has to be another way.” But I crazily called the same provider because I didn't know who else I was going to go to. Meagan: Right. That's who you know. Selah: It's who you know. The receptionist said, “Oh, she's not delivering anymore.” Meagan: Oh. Selah: I know. I got chills all over my body. I knew this was a sign from God. I just knew it that there had to be another way and that I was going to do something different this time. I was not going to be down that same road of a C-section in the OR and I didn't have to go through that again. I reached out to one of my friends I knew who had a VBAC. It was actually a home birth VBAC. It was a HBAC. She said, “You have to start listening to The VBAC Link immediately.” Meagan: Oh, tell her thank you. Selah: Yes. These are all of the resources. She knew this MFM in Long Beach. I'm in Los Angeles so it was about an hour away who also delivers and he is very VBAC supportive. In fact, he does all sorts of births. High risk births he is known for. He was an hour away so that wasn't my top choice, but she sent me a bunch of different ideas for a doula and different doctors. I set about on my journey. I interviewed five different OBs. The first two said, “Absolutely not. We will not do a VBAC after two C-sections and anybody who does is basically a bad doctor. It's too risky.” Meagan: Oh my. That doesn't make you feel good. Selah: I know. But by then, I had been listening to the podcast so I knew. I'm like, “Mmm, no. These are the reasons. This is the rate of risk for uterine rupture. This is the rate of risk for a third C-section. I am doing this and I'm just going to find someone who is going to let me.” So I then interviewed two more I now know as VBAC tolerant, not as VBAC supportive. They had a list of stipulations that I needed to meet in order to do it. Then the fifth one was a doctor that I had known previously. I was not crazy about him. He just had a weird bedside manner for lack of a better word. I just felt like I didn't mesh with him. He was very VBAC supportive, another high-risk pregnancy doctor in Los Angeles who is VERY well-known as someone who delivers triplets naturally, delivers twins naturally. He does breech births. I had been in my friend's breech birth– well, she wasn't breech when she delivered. He flipped baby before she delivered and I was in the room. This was pre-COVID when he was her doctor so I knew him really well. I just did not mesh with him personality-wise. So I chose the other doctor, one of the VBAC tolerant doctors. He was so kind and so lovely, but he did have a list of what I needed to meet. I was showing this list to the community members on Facebook. Everybody was like, “No. He is not a supportive doctor.” He said, “You're older. That affects things,” which there is no evidence of that at all. He said, “You have to go into labor by 40 weeks,” which again, there is no evidence of that. All of these stipulations. The worst part was that he made me go see an MFM that he worked with of his choosing by the way. I coudln't go to that other one that I really respected. I had to go to his MFM and that MFM had to monitor me and look at the uterine wall to see if the wall was okay throughout pregnancy. I know. Meagan: Mmm-mmm. Selah: I had to go to countless appointments. Every week I was in the doctor. I know. That MFM, around 20 weeks said, “Listen. Your uterine wall has a window of I think it was 1 centimeters and 3 millimeters thin. I do not think you are going to be able to do this because there is a window in your uterine wall.” This was at 20 weeks, so I thought, “It's only going to get worse for me from here.” Meagan: That would make sense for you. That would make sense to think that. Selah: I started thinking of other options because I had a sneaky suspicion that this MFM is not going to clear me which my OB said, “If he doesn't clear you, I will not do it.” Meagan: “I won't support it.” Selah: “I won't support it.” Right. 27:33 Changing providersSelah: I started getting a little worried now. Pause to say that I had been going to prenatal chiropractor appointments with an amazing Dr. Berlin in Los Angeles. Everybody knows him. Meagan: We love him so much. Yes. We've had him on the podcast and I actually just was on his podcast which was amazing. It was just so crazy that it was happening. We love Dr. Berlin. Selah: He's the best. He is so great. I mean, he was a doula himself and he obviously is such an amazing chiropractor. He was making sure the baby was in the right position, that my body was open, and all that. I was going every week. I mean, he just was so knowledgeable. He said, “Listen. You might want to give that first doctor you didn't mesh with another consideration. I've been in so many births with him. He is so good at high-risk birth. If you really want this VBAC, you might want to go back to him.” I started rethinking. He was in the back of my mind. Meanwhile, I also had this incredible doula this time around named Johanna, Johanna Story. She said the same thing. She said, “Listen.” She had been in 2500 births in Los Angeles. Meagan: Whoa! Selah: Yes. She is also a licensed midwife so she has delivered babies. By the way, I had considered a home birth for a hot second with Johanna, but my husband was not. He was so supportive of the VBAC that I didn't want to push him. He was the best teammate and not let me, but he was on board with everything I wanted to do. So I just thought, “You know, he's not crazy about the home birth with our two others running around. I get it.” I said, “Let's do the hospital birth with Johanna.” The reason I also liked Johanna is she was going to do– oh my gosh, I am blanking on the word– where they monitor you until you are about to– Meagan: Like Monitrice? Selah: Yes Monitrice. So Johanna, because she is a licensed midwife, she could do monitrice. I felt like that was the best of both worlds. Let's have her monitor me until the last minute then we will go in. As I learned on the podcast, that is the plan. Wait until the last minute so they can't do anything to you. Meagan: Labor as long as you can at home. Selah: Yes. That was the plan. That was why I had Johanna. She also encouraged me to go back to Dr. Brock. Meagan: I was wondering if it was Dr. Brock. Selah: It was Dr. Brock. He is very quirky, his personality. Meagan: We have had him on the podcast as well. Selah: He is wonderful and he just has a quirky sense of humor so that is what it is. I didn't know that at first. I kind of thought, “Who is this guy? What is he saying?” But both Dr. Berlin and Johanna encouraged me to go back to him with that frame of mind. He's just a little quirky. “Just go back and talk to him again.” But I wanted to wait until I went to my last MFM appointment with the MFM that my first OB had. Meagan: The one who said you had a window, that one? Selah: The one I had a window, yes. He said, “This window has only gotten bigger, obviously at 32 weeks. I do not recommend a VBA2C. I cannot recommend it to your OB. Sorry.” I cried in that office thinking maybe there was a miracle and things were going to change. I actually ended up going to see that first MFM who was an hour away for a second opinion. He explained to me, “Yes. There is what you can see a window on an ultrasound.” He said, “First of all, I do not find ultrasounds very accurate. I do not know how big it is and how thick it is. Secondly, even if there is a window, there is absolutely no evidence of a correlation between that and a rupture. There's no evidence.” Meagan: Yeah. They can't really do the measuring thing and tell you that you are going to rupture or not. Selah: That's what he said. He said, “I really think you're okay to try. You will know in the birth and your doctor should know if something is going wrong and your doula too.” He said, “I really think you should try and you need to try.” Oh, the other cool thing he did– I really love him. Dr. Shivera in Long Beach if anyone is local. He is really wonderful and does a ton of high-risk birth. I just didn't want to go that far so that was my thing with that. But he said, “I looked at what happened in the operating room with your second C-section, and exactly what you said before, it is not a special scar.” He looked at all of the details. It really made me feel that there was nothing wrong with that birth. Meagan: Or abnormality, yeah. Selah: No abnormality, yeah. He was like, “I really think you are okay to try.” That was really reassuring too. I cried with happiness. I cried everywhere. Meagan: Yeah. Lots of emotions. Selah: Lots of emotion. Then at 32 weeks, I went back to my first OB and he had gotten the results from that MFM and sure enough said, “I cannot support a VBA2C.” There, it was very interesting. I did cry there too but I felt this weird sense of shame like I should not have gotten pregnant. I should not be in this position because they made me feel like you are risking too much. You are risking your baby's life. You are risking your life. Why do you want this so much? On the other side, I thought, “I can't go into the operating room. I can't do it emotionally or psychologically. I just can't. Put me out then because I won't be able to be there.” That was where this weird shame came in like, “Why did I even get pregnant?” I even said it out loud to my husband then I even felt shame about that. We had this miracle baby. I couldn't believe it. But there were all of these weird emotions and things that were associated with that second C-section in particular. I went back to Dr. Berlin. I remember crying in his office too and he was just saying, “Go to Dr. Brock. Go to Dr. Brock,” and Johanna too. Finally, I made an appointment. I think it was at 34 weeks when I saw Dr. Brock. He said, “You've never tried to labor. You've never felt a contraction. You can do this. I think you can do this and the baby is in the perfect position. He is not measuring big.” I also loved this. He did the fundal measurement. Meagan: Fundal measurement is the whole from the pubic bone-up thing. Selah: It almost felt like a midwife technique to measure the weight and everything, not the ultrasound. I remember being so scared every time I went into the ultrasound, how big is he going to be? Yeah, but he didn't even want to talk about weight. He said to me, “Well, how big do you think this baby is?” I said, “Uh, 8 pounds. He feels normal to me. I don't know.” He said, “So then he will be.” He just was very calm and the other huge thing he did which I forgot to mention. The first OB with this MFM changed my due date because they said the baby was measuring early so they changed it to March 17th but according to my cycle, he was due March 31st. Meagan: That's a difference. Selah: It's a huge difference. 31st. The last day of the month. Meagan: The last day, uh-huh. Selah: The last day. That is a huge difference. So when I went to Dr. Brock, he said, “No. This baby is due according to your cycle, March 30th or March 31st. You don't have anything to worry about. You are measuring completely on time. Go on.” Now, in hindsight, he was born at 40 weeks and 3 days. So yeah, I guess it was March 30th. He was born at 40 weeks and 3 days. If it had been according to the first due date, there is no way the OB would have let me keep going. I mean, that was 10 days after. Thank God Dr. Brock changed my due date and was completely relaxed about everything. I never felt stressed. I never felt any anxiety that I felt going to the appointments from the first OB. Meagan: That's good. Selah: He was quirky, but now I saw him in a completely different light. I saw him as somebody who would support me and let me do my thing. 36:33 Going into laborSelah: Sure enough, going into the labor, I felt like the night of March 26th, there was bloody show at around 10:00 PM. I texted my doula and she said, “It could be any minute or it could be days still so just hang tight. Relax. Go to bed. Get some sleep.” I went to bed and I woke up with the wetness. It wasn't a huge gush like the first one. It was just a little bit of wet. Meagan: Trickle? Selah: Trickle, yes. I wasn't sure. My doula said it could be just a little bit of leakage or it could have been my water breaking. Let's just wait and see. Sure enough, a couple of hours later, I started feeling contractions and I was so excited. I was just happy. It was so crazy because obviously, most people would be like, “Ow, this hurts,” and I was just like, “Yes.” Meagan: Cheering them on, yes. Well, you had never experienced them before. Selah: Exactly. Exactly. I texted my mom. She was so excited. I just was thinking the whole time, “I can't believe this is finally happening.” Again, we didn't know that my water had broken for sure so we just wanted to sort of wait before we told the doctor because he didn't say, “Oh, there is a 24-hour clock once your water breaks.” He didn't say that at all, but we were concerned if we told the hospital– whatever. We just wanted to wait and see how labor progressed. The contractions did start progressing. It was about– I don't know– five or six hours at home and they started getting really fast and strong every four to five minutes. Yeah. I was like, “Oh, this is happening. This is happening fast. I may even have this baby at home,” which is laughable now looking back.I went in the shower. She encouraged me to go into the shower and try to rest. I couldn't because I was so excited then my kids woke up around 6:00 AM. My doula got there around 5:00 AM and the contractions again were coming super strong and hard. She was helping me. She was massaging me, but because they were coming so frequently, they started speeding up to every 2-3 minutes, I thought, “We've got to get to the hospital.” I really actually did think, “Maybe this baby is actually going to fly out.” This is crazy. I might have an accidental home birth which is the goal, right? That's what everybody wants. Meagan: To a lot of people, it's a dream, yes. Selah: It was. It was actually my dream. “Maybe it will just fly out. It will be fine.” We go. My doula, to give her credit, was like, “I still think you should stay home. You're just probably really excited.” I was scared too, I think, deep down. I said, “Oh no. I don't know. We should go to the doctor.” 39:20 Going to the hospitalSelah: We went to the hospital. We had called the doctor. He said, “When did your water break?” I said, “I don't know. It might have been this morning.” I kind of pushed it a little because I really wasn't sure. We got to the hospital and at that point, I had labored about 10 hours, but in the triage, a resident checked me and said I was only at a 1 and it had been 10 hours. This is the lesson to everybody. Please try to labor at home longer. I should have stayed at home longer. Meagan: Well and also numbers. We look at 2-3 minutes apart and we're like, “They're 2-3 minutes apart. They're 2-3 numbers apart.” But let's look at the length and let's look at that strength. How is coping? Are they so intense that you can't even focus on what is going on in the space and it takes you a minute to get back into that moment or is it like, “Whoa, this is really, really hard,” and you're talking through it, but then they're gone.Selah: That's right. Yes. I should have listened to my doula because I feel like it's exactly what you just described. I could have labored at home longer as we will see because I ended up laboring. Selah: I'll tell you the middle of what happened in between but it ended up being 48 hours total of being in labor. It was way too early to go to the hospital. The reason why that was a problem too is because they hooked me up to the monitor because it was a VBAC and because of all of the reasons they do. We insisted on a wireless monitor but they couldn't get a good connection so I ended up having to walk around with this wire which was not easy and I could only go so far. I feel like if I had labored at home and been able to move and do stretches or whatever more freely, it would have been way better to do that. That was kind of a bummer. Meagan: Yeah. Selah: But that still wasn't enough to deter me. I stayed very calm. I listened to worship music for the entire 48 hours and also HypnoBabies. I would say my mantras over and over. I was literally singing and praising God for each contraction. It was crazy. I would feel a contraction come on and I would thank God for it because I knew this was just getting me closer. To be in that state of gratitude and have that openness and open heart and be just thankful for it after all of this time and all of these years and wishes and dreams and desires of my heart to experience this– it was incredible– I mean, incredible to have that feeling. I honestly felt no pain. I know that sounds crazy because it was so long. Meagan: It doesn't. Selah: It was the most intense spiritual, incredible connection to God I've ever felt. I don't know. It was amazing. Meagan: Amazing, yeah. Selah: The doctor and the nurses were all encouraging me to get a catheter for an epidural to put in and I kept pushing it off. I didn't want it. I said, “I'm not going to need it. I don't want it.” This isn't to say there is any shame at all in having an epidural.Meagan: You just didn't want it. Selah: I didn't want it. I researched with you and knowing that it could cause more of a chance for a C-section, I just didn't want it. I said, “I'm not going to do it.” I put it off, put it off, put it off.I should say this was very interesting. The contractions were happening all day that Sunday 2-4 minutes apart. They felt very intense like they were building up, but again, it wasn't super painful and my doula kept having me switch positions. She and my husband were incredible with non-stop massages and encouraging words and putting me in positions to really help me. That is another reason I didn't feel the pain that maybe another person might. They really, really helped. But it was after certainly bedtime. I think it was after 24 hours and my doctor was like, “Okay.” Oh, I should say the contractions slowed down from being 2-4 minutes apart to happening 5-7, even 10 minutes apart. They really slowed down. At that point, after 24 hours, I was at a– I think, I want to say…actually let me look here really quick. Okay, so day turned into night around 8:00 PM that first day. I had dilated to a 4 and I was fully effaced at 0 station. I really thought I was going to keep dilating and I would meet my baby by the end of that night, that first night but soon, it got into I think about 24 hours of labor and that's when the contractions started to slow down to 5-7 minutes. The doctor wanted to start me on Pitocin. Yeah, it was the 24-hour mark at 2:00 AM to progress more. I did not want Pitocin because of everything I had learned. I just thought, “There's no way. This is going to lead to another C-section. I don't want it.” He promised me. He said, “Let me start you very low. We're just going to try to get these contractions going a little bit faster.” 44:54 PitocinSelah: So we started the very lowest dose. They stayed 5-10 minutes apart, but I did get to a 6 that way. I did not feel any pain on the Pitocin which I was very scared of. I know. So he kept upping it and soon, I was at the max level of Pitocin. I did not feel a difference. My contractions stayed 5-10 minutes apart. The good thing about that was between those long contraction breaks, I would literally fall asleep and everybody in the room was laughing because they were like, “She's snoring.” There was a running joke in my friend circle and family that I can sleep through anything and I'm a very deep sleeper so this is no surprise to them. My husband was laughing. I mean, I was sound asleep and then I would feel a contraction, wake up, and start singing out loud. It was hilarious. There were various positions that were better for me. Being on the toilet was definitely helpful. Being in almost like a child's pose position, but the best of all was side-lying with the ball in between. That really seemed to help open me up and it was also great because then after the contraction was over, I would fall asleep from that side-lying. That's how that kept working with the sleep breaks. Selah: But that being said, the Pitocin did not seem like it was doing anything. That's why he kept upping it. We are now at about 36 hours of labor. I was at a 6. So I was getting a little worried that he wasn't going to let me keep going, but he did. He kept letting me go and then the one thing he did insist on though, at about 4:30 on day two was that I get that catheter for the epidural in my back.That was the only thing that ended up causing pain. I don't know if it's where they placed it. I don't know what, but all of a sudden, I started vomiting from that area. It was really bad. That catheter hurt so bad and there was nothing they could do. There was no epidural in there. I didn't want the epidural. I didn't need it for the contractions. It was just that area. They put some numbing cream on it. That kind of helped, but that is what really hurt. I don't know if it was where the baby was. As he started dropping more, the pain lessened in that area, but that catheter really hurt. Everybody on the community page said not to get it which is why I pushed hard about not getting it. Now, I feel like they were right because again, I understand why people do get it just in case. My doctor said, “Have your seatbelt on. If you go to a C-section, we need that so you do not have to be put under.” You know what I mean?But I should have said in retrospect, “You know what? If go to a C-section, I want to be put under.” Meagan: Well, and the thing is that it still has to be dosed and that still takes time so–Selah: Right. Meagan: I don't know. Maybe, I guess it's a little faster but it still has to be dosed. Selah: It still has to be dosed. In retrospect, I don't understand why he insisted on that so much, but I really appreciated him so much at that moment and all he had done to support me that I thought, “This is the one thing he is insisting on. I'm going to go with it.” I said yes, but again, I wish I hadn't. It really, really, really hurt. 48:35 The final hoursSelah: The contractions were still 5-7 minutes apart, but all of a sudden, around 5:30 PM– this is on day two, and remember, everything had started around 2:00 AM the night before. So now, we're almost to 48 hours. At 5:30 PM on day two during one of my little cat naps, I all of a sudden woke up with this involuntary urge to push. I just kept pushing with each contraction. All sorts of stuff was coming out of my body. It was insane like, “What is happening?” Everyone in the room was like, “Oh my gosh. This baby is coming. This is awesome.” Imagine my surprise when the resident doctor came in and checked me and said I was only at an 8 and station +1. Meagan: What? Selah: I burst into tears. I think that was the moment I got really discouraged. Everyone said on the podcast and in the community that means baby is about to be born. You are getting close. Meagan: When you start doubting like that, yeah. Selah: Exactly. Exactly, but I just thought, “There is no way. How could I only be an 8? I don't know how much longer I can do this. It's almost 48 hours.” I heard myself saying this out loud. My doula reminded me. She was like, “These are just estimates. The residents want to estimate on the lower side because they don't want to fool the doctor and have him come in and be like, ‘Why did you say she was complete?' It would not be good.” Meagan: That happens. Just to let you know, that really actually does happen. I've seen it with my own eyes as a doula. Selah: Right? They err on the side that benefits them essentially. Meagan: They fluff it in the backward way. Selah: Yeah. Yes. Meagan: They fluff it like, “Oh, you're 9 centimeters,” when you're really 8. It's like you are 8 centimeters and they are saying you are 6 centimeters. They do this weird thing and it's like magical progression. Selah: Exactly. My doula kept reminding me of that even when we first got there and they said I was a 1. She said, “No. I think you are a 3 or a 4.” So yeah. Exactly. But I was so discouraged. I do feel like another side note God gave me the nurses at the right point that I needed. They were progressively more supportive. The first nurse I started off with was super intense. She, by the way, was insisting on a– is it called a UEP? A uterine– Meagan: IUPC. Intrauterine pressure catheter. Selah: Yes. That's right. IPCP. Meagan: IUPC. Yep. Selah: IUPC. There you go. She kept insisting on that. My doctor wanted that too, but he gave up basically because I said, “Nope. I'm not getting that. No.” I believe there is a small, small chance of rupture from that, right?Meagan: Well, it causes infection. It goes up into the body so anytime we do any of that, it can increase the chances of things like Cesarean. Selah: Right, so I thought, “I've come this far. I'm not doing that. You're monitoring me with the monitor. I'm not doing this other catheter.” By the way, I was in labor posting that on the community page and people were like, “Do not do that. This is why.” So again, this community is so helpful. So all that to say, the first nurse was very intense. The second one was fine, but the third one that I had during that moment– her name was Shamika. I will never forget. She said, “You are not giving up now. I have seen you. I have seen you singing. I have heard you singing. I have seen you thanking God during these contractions. I've seen you laboring with joy. You are doing this. Do not give up.” I am telling you, I felt like God put her in my labor at that moment because I needed that. My husband and my doula, Johanna, were saying, “You're not giving up now. You've come this far. You've got this.” And Johanna reminded me again, “This is just an estimate.” So sure enough, I was there. I really thought, I don't know, “Is it going to happen in another four hours like, 5:30?” Around 8:30 at night, they checked me again and I was complete. The doctor gets called in and he says, “All right. Time to push.” Johanna had warned me about this. She said, “Dr. Brock really likes women to push out on their back.” I know there's a lot of stuff about that.Meagan: Controversy. Selah: Yeah, controversy. “So I just want to warn you that he's going to have you on your back. You're going to be in the stirrups but if it doesn't work, we can go from there. But let's start in that position.” I'm so glad she prepped me because I have heard a lot in the VBAC communities that you shouldn't push on your back and all of that stuff. But for me, I actually did like on my back because he had me hold these bars. I don't know if that's normal. Meagan: Yeah. I've seen them. Yeah.Selah: I'm a workout junkie, so for me, it felt very strong to pull on these bars with my upper body muscles and then push with my legs. It felt doable in other words, but I didn't realize how much this is true which is the two steps forward, one step back. Meagan: 100%. Selah: That is so frustrating. I didn't know. I know I had heard it but I didn't realize how true it was. That was very frustrating to see his head come out and then go back in. But again, that's his little lungs getting more developed and everything. I did have a mirror which really helped to see and it felt like again, it was like you were going to the bathroom. Meagan: Yeah. Yeah. Selah: I feel like more people need to know that that it really is what it feels like. You just have to push it out. Meagan: The biggest poop you'll ever take. That's what I say. Selah: Yes. It's so true. It really is. I was just pushing and pushing. We are nearing the 48-hour mark. I was pushing for three hours. Meagan: Wow. Selah: Yes. It was close to three hours. Basically, the contractions stayed 5-7 minutes apart. I stayed resting in between. I was on the max dose of Pitocin. Dr. Brock was getting a little frustrated so he said, “Listen. You have less than an inch to go to get this baby out. He is going to come out. Don't worry. He's going to come out, but I really would like to use the vacuum to get him out all of the way.” I thought that was great because a lot of, I've heard, VBAC doctors will not use the vacuum because it's a little bit risky with cranial damage so I was actually grateful and obviously tired so I was like, “Yes. Do whatever it takes. Get this baby out.” “But,” he said, “I want to fill your catheter with an epidural.” At that point, now, I should say I had this prayer list and every single thing had been met from the nurses to not using drugs. I did not want the epidural. By the way, not only did I not want the risk of a C-section with the epidural. The other reason was that I had been so drugged with my other two C-sections that like I said, I barely remember holding the baby on my chest. I was so woozy and out of it. I didn't want that again. But he said, “I want to put some push epidural in so that you won't feel the vacuum and that he'll come out.” I was so tired. My fight was so done that I felt like I had to give in and let him do this the way he wanted to and if that meant having a push epidural, then I'd do it. I'll do the push epidural. 56:47 A crack in the catheterSelah: In comes the anesthesiologist. She looks at the catheter that's in my back and says, “There is a crack in the cap of the catheter.” Meagan: No!Selah: “We can't do it. We can't put an epidural here. There is a tiny crack. Bacteria could get in, whatever. We can't do it.” Dr. Brock was like, “Are you serious? This is insane.” I said, “Good because I didn't want it anyway.” My doula–Meagan: You're like, “Let's just get this baby out.” Selah: Exactly. I said, “It's fine. Listen. I've come this far. I'm sure it's not going to hurt that much.” He said, “Are you sure? Because also thought it would be good to do any sewing up after from any tears.” I said, “Yes. Just do it. I don't need it. It's fine.” By the way, there's no choice. You can't put it in. She said no. The anesthesiologist was like, “Nope. I'm out.” So I pushed and he said, “All right. You're going to feel a little pressure. I'm going to push on your stomach. You're going to push at the same time. I'm going to vacuum and he'll come out.” I said, “Okay, let's do this.” Sure enough, it felt almost like the C-section when they pushed on your uterus. Yeah, a little bit. But it wasn't painful. It was just pressure. It was just a very weird feeling actually of the vacuum. The sewing up of the tear– I had a second-degree tear which isn't that bad considering he was 9 pounds. Meagan: Very standard. Selah: Very standard. He was 9 pounds, 5 ounces– big baby. He also had a big head so that was pretty good actually that I only tore that much. It didn't even hurt when he sewed me up at all. It felt a little weird, but it didn't hurt and it was amazing. I couldn't believe it, the feeling that he came out of my body that way! He went right on my chest and he was crying so loud. He was so healthy. The best part of all, I mean, I was just so overwhelmed and so happy. I didn't even really cry. I was just happy. I was just joyful. The best part of all, though, he didn't have to go to the NICU at all. Meagan: Yes. Selah: He literally laid down by my side the whole night. We were never separated. I breastfed all night and by the way, you know they come in and they want to make sure he's in his bassinet. I'm like, “Nope.” I kept him right by me. That might be a little controversial, but I couldn't let go. I really couldn't let go because this was so mind-blowing that he could be there and that all of my fears, all of my worries, all of my hard work, all of that was over. All of the appointments, all of the wondering, I felt like, “I did it. God did it. We did it.” Meagan: You did it. Selah: It was incredible. Then bringing him home and knowing that there was no worry about his breathing, about his blood sugar, and that so far, my other two have asthma which is so sad. I don't know if it's related to the C-sections because my husband also had asthma so it could not be. Meagan: It can be thought. Selah: It can be, yeah. This one doesn't have asthma so far. No allergies. The other two have allergies. It's crazy the things that I've seen, but most of all, my healing was night and day. I know that's not always normal for a VBAC or a vaginal birth. Meagan: Yeah. Yeah. Selah: But I personally was up and about on day two. I mean, night and day, no problems. Of course, I was a little sore. It felt like I had just run a marathon, but nothing. And of course, now, I pee a little when I sneeze. Meagan: So pelvic floor therapy will help. Selah: Pelvic floor which I need to do. And that also happens, by the way, with C-sections. I also had that with my C-sections but I feel like all of it was 1000% worth it. Everybody said it would be and they were right. Everybody who I had read the stories or heard the stories about. It was so worth it. 1:00:00 The best feelingSelah: The feeling of having him come out that way but also being able to hold him and be with him and not have surgery. I mean, it was just night and day and such an incredible feeling of empowerment and for me, my faith, witnessing God do what I thought was impossible and what I felt like was natural. It was just an incredible experience knowing that everything was okay. The uterine wall window didn't happen. Meagan: Oh yes. Yes. Selah: None of those fears happened. Everything was okay and he was perfect. So perfect and beautiful and such a surprise baby to happen that way. Meagan: I am so happy for you. Selah: I feel like it was so redemptive. Meagan: Yes and it should have been. I'm so proud of you for going through the motions, doing the research, recognizing what's right, and what's not right, making the change, embracing the change, and then also still pushing forward through that whole birth. That's amazing. Such a long birth. Such a beautiful birth. Selah: Such a long birth. Meagan: I'm so glad you had the support. It was and I'm just so happy for you and that you are sharing this story today. Selah: Thank you. Well, and I will say like you said, the support is so– my doula stayed the entire 48 hours. Meagan: Wow. Selah: She did not eat. She did not sleep. She did not leave. She was amazing. Then, my husband– I feel like if your partner is not 100% on board, that you really need that. He was 1000% on board and he did not sleep, eat, or do anything either. Meagan: Yeah. Selah: I really am thankful for that and thankful for this community and The VBAC Link podcast and everything. It was really what was the driving force. I can't believe I did it. I really can't and I love helping other women now too. It's just such a blessing. Meagan: Full circle. Yes. It's the full circle. Oh, well thank you again so much. Selah: Thank you for having me. It was such an honor. It really was. 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
Read the full transcript here: https://www.draimee.org/how-to-best-prepare-for-iui Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is a procedure commonly done in fertility clinics around the world. We place the sperm inside the uterus, close to the fallopian tubes. If you're going to do IUI treatment, you want it to work. Tune in as I break down the steps to give you the best chance of success at IUI. I'll take you through what I typically do with my patients to give you insight into what you can expect! Read the full show notes on Dr. Aimee's website Do you have questions about IVF?Click here to join Dr. Aimee for The IVF Class. The next live class call is on Monday, April 22, 2024 at 4pm PST, where Dr. Aimee will explain IVF and there will be time to ask her your questions live on Zoom. Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh is one of America's most well known fertility doctors. Her success rate at baby-making is what gives future parents hope when all hope is lost. She pioneered the TUSHY Method and BALLS Method to decrease your time to pregnancy. Learn more about the TUSHY Method and find a wealth of fertility resources at www.draimee.org. Other ways to connect: Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more fertility tips Join Egg Whisperer School Subscribe to the newsletter to get updates
Jonathan Lowe is one of the foremost experts on ozone therapy for animals in the world and the author of the first book of its kind, The Essential Guide to Ozone Therapy for Animals. He is an entrepreneur, public speaker, and the founder of the International Veterinary Ozone Therapy Summit – the first event of its kind designed to bring together thought leaders from around the world. His dedication to evidence-based medicine that works in synergy with the body's biological mechanisms to bring healing is at the core of his quest to see ozone therapy become a central modality in every veterinary clinic. He is also the founder of O3Vets which received the Innovation Award from the Innovative Veterinary Care Journal. He resides with his wife, five children, and a golden retriever near Lansing, Michigan. Topics covered in this episode: How Jonathan got started in Ozone Therapy Ozone Therapy and how it's slowly finding its way into veterinary medicine Ozone research and clinical trials How Ozone works and what it's used for The clinical application of Ozone Therapy and deciding which modality to use for treatment The ease and portability of using Ozone Therapy in the house call setting Links and Resources: Visit the O3 Vets website to learn more about Ozone Therapy and upcoming trainings Register or learn more about The Virtual International Veterinary Ozone Therapy Summit Find O3 Vets on Facebook Find O3 Vets on LinkedIn Find O3 Vets on YouTube These studies give us a good glimpse into the range of information available on ozone therapy in veterinary medicine: Ozone therapy in veterinary medicine: A review Ozone and its derivatives in veterinary medicine: A careful appraisal An Overview of Ozone Therapy in Equine – An Emerging Healthcare Solution Effects of subcutaneous injection of ozone during wound healing in rats Treatment with ozone/oxygen-pneumoperitoneum results in complete remission of rabbit squamous cell carcinomas Ozone Therapy in the Prevention of Dental Plaque Formation in Dogs Topical Application of Ozonated Oils for the Treatment of MRSA Skin Infection in an Animal Model of Infected Ulcer Intramuscular oxygen-ozone therapy in the treatment of acute back pain with lumbar disc herniation: a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, clinical trial of active and simulated lumbar paravertebral injection Intrauterine therapy with ozone reduces subclinical endometritis and improves reproductive performance in postpartum dairy cows managed in pasture-based systems Ozone in Medicine. The Low-Dose Ozone Concept and Its Basic Biochemical Mechanisms of Action in Chronic Inflammatory Diseases Ozone therapy: an overview of pharmacodynamics, current research, and clinical utility The House Call Vet Academy links: Find out about The House Call Vet Academy online CE course Learn more about Dr. Eve Harrison Learn more about 1-to-1 coaching for current & prospective house call, mobile, & concierge vets Get House Call Vet swag! Find out about the next House Call & Mobile Vet Virtual Conference Music: In loving memory of Dr. Steve Weinberg. Intro and outro guitar music was written, performed, and recorded by house call veterinarian Dr. Steve Weinberg. Thank you to our sponsors! Chronos This podcast is also available in video on our House Call Vet Cafe YouTube channel
In this episode, we welcome back Dr. Stu Fischbein for his third appearance on Down to Birth Show. We start the conversation by catching up on some of the latest problems occurring on the birth scene including VBACs, aspirin in pregnancy, the monetization of birth, late pregnancy ultrasounds, big babies, and due dates, before we get into the meat of the episode on Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR). Dr. Stu shares a letter from one of his followers regarding her IUGR diagnosis resulting in an induction at 37 weeks for a 4-pound 14-ounce baby, which launches into a conversation around what IUGR is anyway and the actual risk of IUGR. Would that baby have been better off staying in utero for a few more weeks? How can you know postpartum if the baby was in fact IUGR? There are so many nuggets of great information dropped throughout this episode. You don't miss this one! And for more with Dr. Stu, catch episodes #111 & #128.Dr. Stu Fischbein & Birthing InstinctsDr. Stu on Instagram#128 | Vaginal Breech Birth with Dr. Stu of Birthing Instincts: Why It's Safer Than you Think#111 | The Obstetric Model of Care vs. the Midwifery Model of Care: Interview with Dr. Stuart Fischbein, MD**********Down to Birth is sponsored by:DrinkLMNT -- Purchase LMNT with this link today and receive a free sample kit.Silverette Nursing Cups -- Soothe and heal sore nipples with 925 silver nursing cups.Postpartum Soothe -- Herbs and padsicles to heal and comfort.Needed -- Optimal nutritional products to nourish yourself before, during, and after pregnancy Connect with us on Patreon for our exclusive content.Email Contact@DownToBirthShow.comInstagram @downtobirthshowCall us at 802-GET-DOWN Work with Cynthia: 203-952-7299 HypnoBirthingCT.com Work with Trisha: 734-649-6294 Please remember we don't provide medical advice. Speak to your licensed medical provider for all your healthcare matters.
IUI is a fertility treatment that gives sperm a better chance at fertilizing an egg. This treatment can improve pregnancy chances for some couples and individuals and did just that for us! Learn more about my personal journey conceiving all three of my babies through IUI. I am sharing all the details...the highs, the lows and all the in between!Thank you so much for listening to the Mom2Mom Podcast! This podcast is meant to empower women and bring the community together through storytelling and education. Here, you will find encouragement, support and community. We are your community. And we're so happy to have you!Join the email list to be notified when episodes go live HERE! Please also make sure to comment, share and subscribe! xoxo, Stephanie Let's Connect:Website (how2mom.com) Instagram (@how2mom)Facebook (@how2mom)TikTok (@how.2.mom)Twitter (@how_2_mom)Linkedin (@how2mom)Pinterest (@how2mom)YouTube (@how2mom)
The good news: IUIs can work! Intrauterine insemination (sometimes laughingly referred to as “the turkey baster method”), or IUI, can help overcome issues like low sperm count or low sperm motility by getting sperm closer to where it needs to be around the time of ovulation. This method of dealing with infertility is also less expensive and much less invasive for the person hoping to carry the pregnancy. It can also be a great method if you're planning on using donor sperm. The harder news to hear: it may not work the first time. That said, there are things you can do to increase your chances of a successful IUI, and in this episode of Baby or Bust, Dr. Shahine goes into your many options, both medical and behavioral. In this episode you'll hear: [00:00] Intro to the Episode [01:27] IUI review – what it is, how it works, how is it different from IVF [04:31] Tips BEFORE you do your first IUI Tip #1 Get testing before you start Tip #2 Review your family goals with your doctor Tip #3 Make a long-term plan – how many IUIs? [06:10] 5 Tips for Success with IUIs [06:10] Tip # 1 Medications used with IUIs [07:25] Tip #2 Monitoring with IUI cycle: OPK vs. Ultrasounds [08:33] Tip#3 Use of Trigger Shots for timing IUI [09:11] Tip#4 Optimize sperm counts for IUI to improve success [10:15] Tip #5 Optimize overall health to improve success with IUI [11:43] Chances of Success with IUI [12:33] Fertility Story for the week – An indication for IUI that you may not have heard of before [15:37] Summary and Outro Resources mentioned: Drlorashahine.com hello@drlorashahine.com Tips for Timing Trying: Dr. Shahine's video on Baby-Making Tips Tips for Ovulation: Dr. Shahine's video on How to Know When You are Ovulating Stay Up to Date in Fertility News and Events: Weekly Newsletter Follow @drlorashahine Instagram | YouTube | Tiktok | Her Books
In this enlightening episode of "Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday," we delve into the world of Intrauterine Insemination (IUI), a popular and often misunderstood fertility treatment. Join us as we unravel the mysteries of IUI, offering hope and clarity to those exploring their options on the path to parenthood.We start by demystifying what IUI is and how it differs from other fertility treatments. Hear from a leading fertility specialists about who can benefit from IUI, and learn about the process. This episode is not just about the medical facts; it's a journey through personal stories and expert insights, aiming to empower and educate our listeners. Whether you're considering IUI, know someone who is, or just curious about fertility options, this episode offers a compassionate and comprehensive look at IUI's role in modern fertility treatments.Tune in for an informative and supportive exploration into the world of IUI, and take a step closer to understanding your fertility journey.
For some patients, IUI is a good starting point in their fertility journey because it is less involved and less expensive than IVF. Join Dr. Carrie Bedient from The Fertility Center of Las Vegas, Dr. Abby Eblen from Nashville Fertility Center and Dr. Susan Hudson from Texas Fertility Center to better understand who is (and who isn't) a good candidate for IUI, what information is considered in making those determinations and a step-by-step explanation of what to expect in the IUI process. The doctors also discuss how your “big picture” family goals need to be considered with IUI and additionally, how new advances in sperm testing look beyond the mere numbers of sperm count. Come learn with us! Have questions about infertility? Visit FertilityDocsUncensored.com to ask our docs. Selected questions will be answered anonymously in future episodes.Today's episode is brought to you by Needed and Cicero Diagnostics.
Mason is joined on the show today by the magnificent Rosie Rees. Rosie is a leader and pioneer in the field of sexual wellness, and and activist and advocate for the feminine form and its vast array of power and prowess. Rosie champions women of every age and expression to embrace their bodies and reclaim their right to body sovereignty and pleasure. This chat has been a long time coming and it is truly such a gift to have Rosie here with us sharing her special flavour of magic. Throughout the conversation Rosie and Mason touch on the areas of Taoist sexual practice, yoni de-armouring, using self pleasure as a gateway to living through the intuitive lens, sexuality through a woman's seasons; pre and post menopause, conscious relating and so much more! Within the dialog shared around the practice of self pleasure, Rosie highlights the importance of curating a relationship with pain, emphasising the prevalence of numbness that many women commonly suffer from within their yoni space. Rosie puts forward that the process of transforming numbness into pleasure is alchemical and involves an entire spectrum of sensation which may include physical and emotional pain. Rosie goes on to champion the power of holding oneself through this process and re-iterates that self pleasure is a self lead healing practice where anything can come up, in, out and through for release. As with any journey of self knowledge the heroine will be asked to delve into the subterranean depths of her body and psyche, her liberation guided by her willingness to meet whatever arises on her path of embodiment. A potent, juicy, fun and refreshing exploration into the realms of feminine pleasure today, take a moment and dive in. Rosie & Mason discuss: - Marriage and conscious coupling. - The importance of calling on your wellness tools in times of stress or ill health. - The dangerous side effects of Intrauterine devices (IUD's). - The power of yoni egg practices for overall health and wellness. - Applying traditional Taoist sexual practice to the modern age. - Rosie's origin story, and the magic of following the intuitive breadcrumbs when working to bring your dreams into fruition. - Yoni de-armouring; the breakdown and the breakthrough. - Sexuality in perimenopause & menopause. Resource guide Guest Links Rosie's Website Rosie's InstagramRosie's FacebookThe Golden YoniSplash Blanket Website Yinn Body Website Yinn Body InstagramYinn Body Facebook Related Podcasts Life-Changing Sex Makes Anything Possible with Kim Anami (EP#28)Sexual Activation and Feminine Embodiment with Eva Williams (EP#144) Connect With Us SuperFeast InstagramSuperFeast FacebookSuperFeast TikTok SuperFeast Online Education Check Out The Transcript Below: https://www.superfeast.com.au/blogs/articles/yoni-power-embodied-sexuality-with-rosie-rees-ep199
Join us for a relaxed round up of this month's Red Whale primary care Pearls of wisdom. This month, Nik and Caroline discuss:Intrauterine systems, and how they just got a bit simpler…Diabetes and frailty: how we need all our primary care superpowers across the whole multiprofessional team to think about the big picture!Joining with Up: The Adult Cerebral Palsy Movement to help us increase our confidence in supporting adults with cerebral palsy.Antidepressants: help or harm? What we can learn from the BBC Panorama documentary.And hear a clinical room calamity from one listener involving a fabulous skirt and a sample pot!Red Whale women's health team's episode of Boggled Docs discussing 'Davina McCall's Pill Revolution' :https://www.buzzsprout.com/1300702/13119543-contraception-in-crisis-davina-to-the-rescueGP evidence website: https://gpevidence.org Red Whale and Up: The Adult Cerebral Palsy Movement have joined forces to support primary care with a free one-hour webinar that will explore the unmet health needs of adults living with cerebral palsy:Red Whale Webinars (gp-update.co.uk)RCPsych responds to BBC Panorama programme on antidepressants:https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/news-and-features/latest-news/detail/2023/06/19/rcpsych-responds-to-bbc-panorama-programme-on-antidepressants RCGP response to panorama on antidepressants:‘Prescription anti-depressants play a vital role in the treatment of mental health conditions, says College Chair'https://www.rcgp.org.uk/News/BBC-panorama-investigationWe'd love to hear your feedback by email - podcast@redwhale.co.uk or leave us a voice message - Send a voice message to RedWhalePrimaryCarePod (speakpipe.com) If you don't already receive our weekly Pearls email then you can sign up to these herePearls are available to read for 3 months from the date they are first published. After this time, you can get access to any Pearls - along with ALL of the rest of our online written resources - either when you buy a one-day online course from Red Whale OR if you purchase a membership to GPCPD.com here: https://gpcpd.com/subscribe-to-gpcpd Follow us on:TwitterFacebookInstagramLinkedInDisclaimerWe make every effort to ensure the information in this podcast is accurate and/ correct at the date of publication, but it is of necessity of a brief and general nature, and this should not replace your own good clinical judgement, or be regarded as...
This is the first of a special podcast series on obstetric critical care. I am joined on this series by Dr. Elizabeth Garchar, MD, FACOG. She is an OB/GYN and Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) specialist who has a special interest in obstetric critical care. She is also unique in that she flies regularly with our critical care transport teams and acts as one of our Assistant Medical Directors for the flight program. So, Dr. Garchar has unique insight into managing this population in transport. This podcast focuses on severe postpartum hemorrhage. We discuss the epidemiology and risk factors as well as the nuances of diagnosis, specifically how blood loss is actually quantified in this setting. We also go through the importance of point-of-care ultrasound to help identify and manage the causes of postpartum hemorrhage. Then, we transition to the discussion of management, focusing on the medical management of uterine atony, and also go over advanced interventions such as uterine packing, balloon tamponade devices, and REBOA. Finally, Dr. Garchar discusses the indication and procedure for emergent hysterectomy as well as the post-procedure management critical care transport crews may have to perform. References Practice Bulletin No. 183: Postpartum Hemorrhage. Obstet Gynecol. Oct 2017;130(4):e168-e186. doi:10.1097/aog.0000000000002351 Abdel-Aleem H, Singata M, Abdel-Aleem M, Mshweshwe N, Williams X, Hofmeyr GJ. Uterine massage to reduce postpartum hemorrhage after vaginal delivery. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. Oct 2010;111(1):32-6. doi:10.1016/j.ijgo.2010.04.036 Abul A, Al-Naseem A, Althuwaini A, Al-Muhanna A, Clement NS. Safety and efficacy of intrauterine balloon tamponade vs uterine gauze packing in managing postpartum hemorrhage: A systematic review and meta-analysis. AJOG Glob Rep. Feb 2023;3(1):100135. doi:10.1016/j.xagr.2022.100135 Aibar L, Aguilar MT, Puertas A, Valverde M. Bakri balloon for the management of postpartum hemorrhage. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. Apr 2013;92(4):465-7. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0412.2012.01497.x Bagga R, Jain V, Kalra J, Chopra S, Gopalan S. Uterovaginal packing with rolled gauze in postpartum hemorrhage. MedGenMed. Feb 13 2004;6(1):50. Borger van der Burg BLS, van Dongen T, Morrison JJ, et al. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the use of resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta in the management of major exsanguination. Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg. Aug 2018;44(4):535-550. doi:10.1007/s00068-018-0959-y Castellini G, Gianola S, Biffi A, et al. Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) in patients with major trauma and uncontrolled haemorrhagic shock: a systematic review with meta-analysis. World J Emerg Surg. Aug 12 2021;16(1):41. doi:10.1186/s13017-021-00386-9 Collaborators WT. Effect of early tranexamic acid administration on mortality, hysterectomy, and other morbidities in women with post-partum haemorrhage (WOMAN): an international, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. May 27 2017;389(10084):2105-2116. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30638-4 Cunningham FG, Nelson DB. Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation Syndromes in Obstetrics. Obstet Gynecol. Nov 2015;126(5):999-1011. doi:10.1097/AOG.0000000000001110 D'Alton M, Rood K, Simhan H, Goffman D. Profile of the Jada(R) System: the vacuum-induced hemorrhage control device for treating abnormal postpartum uterine bleeding and postpartum hemorrhage. Expert Rev Med Devices. Sep 2021;18(9):849-853. doi:10.1080/17434440.2021.1962288 Dildy GA, 3rd. Postpartum hemorrhage: new management options. Clin Obstet Gynecol. Jun 2002;45(2):330-44. doi:10.1097/00003081-200206000-00005 Dueckelmann AM, Hinkson L, Nonnenmacher A, et al. Uterine packing with chitosan-covered gauze compared to balloon tamponade for managing postpartum hemorrhage. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. Sep 2019;240:151-155. doi:10.1016/j.ejogrb.2019.06.003 Erez O. Disseminated intravascular coagulation in pregnancy: New insights. Thrombosis Update. 2022;6doi:10.1016/j.tru.2021.100083 Erez O, Mastrolia SA, Thachil J. Disseminated intravascular coagulation in pregnancy: insights in pathophysiology, diagnosis and management. Am J Obstet Gynecol. Oct 2015;213(4):452-63. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2015.03.054 Erez O, Othman M, Rabinovich A, Leron E, Gotsch F, Thachil J. DIC in Pregnancy - Pathophysiology, Clinical Characteristics, Diagnostic Scores, and Treatments. J Blood Med. 2022;13:21-44. doi:10.2147/JBM.S273047 Feng S, Liao Z, Huang H. Effect of prophylactic placement of internal iliac artery balloon catheters on outcomes of women with placenta accreta: an impact study. Anaesthesia. Jul 2017;72(7):853-858. doi:10.1111/anae.13895 Higgins N, Patel SK, Toledo P. Postpartum hemorrhage revisited: new challenges and solutions. Curr Opin Anaesthesiol. Jun 2019;32(3):278-284. doi:10.1097/ACO.0000000000000717 Ji SM, Cho C, Choi G, et al. Successful management of uncontrolled postpartum hemorrhage due to morbidly adherent placenta with Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta during emergency cesarean section - A case report. Anesth Pain Med (Seoul). Jul 31 2020;15(3):314-318. doi:10.17085/apm.19051 Kellie FJ, Wandabwa JN, Mousa HA, Weeks AD. Mechanical and surgical interventions for treating primary postpartum haemorrhage. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. Jul 1 2020;7(7):CD013663. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD013663 Kogutt BK, Vaught AJ. Postpartum hemorrhage: Blood product management and massive transfusion. Semin Perinatol. Feb 2019;43(1):44-50. doi:10.1053/j.semperi.2018.11.008 Levi M, Toh CH, Thachil J, Watson HG. Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of disseminated intravascular coagulation. British Committee for Standards in Haematology. Br J Haematol. Apr 2009;145(1):24-33. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2141.2009.07600.x Liu C, Gao J, Liu J, et al. Predictors of Failed Intrauterine Balloon Tamponade in the Management of Severe Postpartum Hemorrhage. Front Med (Lausanne). 2021;8:656422. doi:10.3389/fmed.2021.656422 Lohano R, Haq G, Kazi S, Sheikh S. Intrauterine balloon tamponade for the control of postpartum haemorrhage. J Pak Med Assoc. Jan 2016;66(1):22-6. Maier RC. Control of postpartum hemorrhage with uterine packing. Am J Obstet Gynecol. Aug 1993;169(2 Pt 1):317-21; discussion 321-3. doi:10.1016/0002-9378(93)90082-t Makin J, Suarez-Rebling DI, Varma Shivkumar P, Tarimo V, Burke TF. Innovative Uses of Condom Uterine Balloon Tamponade for Postpartum Hemorrhage in India and Tanzania. Case Rep Obstet Gynecol. 2018;2018:4952048. doi:10.1155/2018/4952048 Natarajan A, Alaska Pendleton A, Nelson BD, et al. Provider experiences with improvised uterine balloon tamponade for the management of uncontrolled postpartum hemorrhage in Kenya. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. Nov 2016;135(2):210-213. doi:10.1016/j.ijgo.2016.05.006 Natarajan A, Kamara J, Ahn R, et al. Provider experience of uterine balloon tamponade for the management of postpartum hemorrhage in Sierra Leone. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. Jul 2016;134(1):83-6. doi:10.1016/j.ijgo.2015.10.026 Okoye HC, Nwagha TU, Ugwu AO, et al. Diagnosis and treatment of bbstetrics disseminated intravascular coagulation in resource limited settings. Afr Health Sci. Mar 2022;22(1):183-190. doi:10.4314/ahs.v22i1.24 Ordonez CA, Manzano-Nunez R, Parra MW, et al. Prophylactic use of resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta in women with abnormal placentation: A systematic review, meta-analysis, and case series. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. May 2018;84(5):809-818. doi:10.1097/TA.0000000000001821 Papageorgiou C, Jourdi G, Adjambri E, et al. Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation: An Update on Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Therapeutic Strategies. Clin Appl Thromb Hemost. Dec 2018;24(9_suppl):8S-28S. doi:10.1177/1076029618806424 Pingray V, Widmer M, Ciapponi A, et al. Effectiveness of uterine tamponade devices for refractory postpartum haemorrhage after vaginal birth: a systematic review. BJOG. Oct 2021;128(11):1732-1743. doi:10.1111/1471-0528.16819 Quandalle A, Ghesquiere L, Kyheng M, et al. Impact of intrauterine balloon tamponade on emergency peripartum hysterectomy following vaginal delivery. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. Jan 2021;256:125-129. doi:10.1016/j.ejogrb.2020.10.064 Rattray DD, O'Connell CM, Baskett TF. Acute disseminated intravascular coagulation in obstetrics: a tertiary centre population review (1980 to 2009). J Obstet Gynaecol Can. Apr 2012;34(4):341-347. doi:10.1016/S1701-2163(16)35214-8 Revert M, Rozenberg P, Cottenet J, Quantin C. Intrauterine Balloon Tamponade for Severe Postpartum Hemorrhage. Obstet Gynecol. Jan 2018;131(1):143-149. doi:10.1097/AOG.0000000000002405 Sadek S, Lockey DJ, Lendrum RA, Perkins Z, Price J, Davies GE. Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) in the pre-hospital setting: An additional resuscitation option for uncontrolled catastrophic haemorrhage. Resuscitation. Oct 2016;107:135-8. doi:10.1016/j.resuscitation.2016.06.029 Schmid BC, Rezniczek GA, Rolf N, Saade G, Gebauer G, Maul H. Uterine packing with chitosan-covered gauze for control of postpartum hemorrhage. Am J Obstet Gynecol. Sep 2013;209(3):225 e1-5. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2013.05.055 Shimada K, Taniguchi H, Enomoto K, Umeda S, Abe T, Takeuchi I. Hospital transfer for patients with postpartum hemorrhage in Yokohama, Japan: a single-center descriptive study. Acute Med Surg. Jan-Dec 2021;8(1):e716. doi:10.1002/ams2.716 Simpson KR. Update on Evaluation, Prevention, and Management of Postpartum Hemorrhage. MCN Am J Matern Child Nurs. Mar/Apr 2018;43(2):120. doi:10.1097/NMC.0000000000000406 Singer KE, Morris MC, Blakeman C, et al. Can Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta Fly? Assessing Aortic Balloon Performance for Aeromedical Evacuation. J Surg Res. Oct 2020;254:390-397. doi:10.1016/j.jss.2020.05.021 Snyder JA, Schuerer DJE, Bochicchio GV, Hoofnagle MH. When REBOA grows wings: Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta to facilitate aeromedical transport. Trauma Case Rep. Apr 2022;38:100622. doi:10.1016/j.tcr.2022.100622 Soued M, Vivanti AJ, Smiljkovski D, et al. Efficacy of Intra-Uterine Tamponade Balloon in Post-Partum Hemorrhage after Cesarean Delivery: An Impact Study. J Clin Med. Dec 28 2020;10(1)doi:10.3390/jcm10010081 Stensaeth KH, Sovik E, Haig IN, Skomedal E, Jorgensen A. Fluoroscopy-free Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta (REBOA) for controlling life threatening postpartum hemorrhage. PLoS One. 2017;12(3):e0174520. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0174520 Suarez S, Conde-Agudelo A, Borovac-Pinheiro A, et al. Uterine balloon tamponade for the treatment of postpartum hemorrhage: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Obstet Gynecol. Apr 2020;222(4):293 e1-293 e52. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2019.11.1287 Theron GB, Mpumlwana V. A case series of post-partum haemorrhage managed using Ellavi uterine balloon tamponade in a rural regional hospital. S Afr Fam Pract (2004). May 11 2021;63(1):e1-e4. doi:10.4102/safp.v63i1.5266 Tran QK, Hollis G, Beher R, et al. Transport of Peripartum Patients for Medical Management: Predictors of Any Intervention During Transport. Cureus. Nov 2022;14(11):e31102. doi:10.7759/cureus.31102 Weir R, Lee J, Almroth S, Taylor J. Flying with a Safety Net: Use of REBOA to Enable Safe Transfer to a Level 1 Trauma Center. Journal of Endovascular Resuscitation and Trauma Management. 2022;5(3)doi:10.26676/jevtm.v5i3.214 Wu Q, Liu Z, Zhao X, et al. Outcome of Pregnancies After Balloon Occlusion of the Infrarenal Abdominal Aorta During Caesarean in 230 Patients With Placenta Praevia Accreta. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol. Nov 2016;39(11):1573-1579. doi:10.1007/s00270-016-1418-y Zeng KW, Ovenell KJ, Alholm Z, Foley MR. Postpartum Hemorrhage Management and Blood Component Therapy. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am. Sep 2022;49(3):397-421. doi:10.1016/j.ogc.2022.02.001 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is a procedure commonly done in fertility clinics around the world. We place the sperm inside the uterus, close to the fallopian tubes. If you're going to do IUI treatment, you want it to work. Tune in as I break down the steps to give you the best chance of success at IUI. I'll take you through what I typically do with my patients to give you insight into what you can expect! Read the full show notes on Dr. Aimee's website Do you have questions about IVF?Click here to join Dr. Aimee for The IVF Class. The next live class call is on Monday, August 21, 2023 at 4pm PST, where Dr. Aimee will explain IVF and there will be time to ask her your questions live on Zoom. Looking for the best products to support you while you're TTC? Get Dr. Aimee's brand new Conception Kit here. Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh is one of America's most well known fertility doctors. Her success rate at baby-making is what gives future parents hope when all hope is lost. She pioneered the TUSHY Method and BALLS Method to decrease your time to pregnancy. Learn more about the TUSHY Method and find a wealth of fertility resources at www.draimee.org. Other ways to connect: Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more fertility tips Join Egg Whisperer School Subscribe to the newsletter to get updates
Dr Mikayla Couch and Dr Jess Webb share their passion for obstetrics and gynaecology in the context of Indigenous health - discussing IUDs, simple practical tips that can assist health professionals to insert and remove these devices, and other insights into women's health.
Trending with Timmerie - Catholic Principals applied to today's experiences.
Medical Dr. Susan Caldwell – fertility specialist– joins Trending with Timmerie discussing infertility solutions and the problems with Intrauterine insemination (IUI). (1:42) Dr. Caldwell discusses the ability to have children in your late 40's and alternatives to IVF. (24:55) Oxford study confirms link between birth control and breast cancer. Why? And why are feminist telling women to take it anyway? (39:44) Resources mentioned : Doum Vitae – Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html How to Get Pregnant Episode: https://relevantradio.com/2022/09/how-to-get-pregnant-shia-lebeouf-becomes-catholic-2/ Fertility/infertility specialist – NaPro Physicians https://fertilitycare.org/find-a-mc Proov, an At Home Fertility Test: https://proovtest.com/ To find a Creighton Model teacher: https://www.fertilitycare.org/ Dr. Susan Caldwell sharing about having kids from IVF, but wouldn't recommend it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otDOF3ktX8Q Fertility/infertility specialist – NaPro Physicians https://fertilitycare.org/find-a-mc Telehealth NaPro Physicians https://naturalwomanhood.org/find-a-doctor/telehealth/ Dr. Susan Caldwell discusses the problem with being dependent on contraception https://relevantradio.com/2021/12/contraception-dependent-culture/
Intrauterine devices, known as IUDs, have become pretty popular for their convenience and long term usage. But there's some confusion online about how an IUD is placed. Our expert, OB/GYN Neeti Misra, M.D., breaks it down and shares what to expect during insertion.
In this episode we talk with Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class graduate, Leah Bergman about her experiences navigating a recommended 38-week induction due to a diagnosis of Intrauterine Growth Restriction. Leah Bergman is a new mom and has recently made the decision to leave her full-time job as a church musician to be able to dedicate more time to her family and raising her daughter. When she's not involved in music or busy with the baby, Leah enjoys cooking, knitting, coloring, sewing, and going on walks with her husband, Gunnar, and dog, Winnie. In this episode Leah shares how she was inspired by a friend to read Babies are Not Pizzas and on the recommendation of her midwife found the EBB Childbirth Class. Leah and her husband were planning for birth with as few interventions as possible, until an ultrasound showed signs of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). In collaboration with their midwifery team, they pivoted their plans and began to prepare for an induction at 38-weeks. Leah walks us through the difficulties in trying to make informed, evidence-based decisions about pregnancy and how they opted to induce at 38-weeks. Additionally, Leah shares her long two-part induction story and insights into how she was able to use the EBB Childbirth Education to advocate for herself during her induction and after delivery. Despite not having the birth she was originally planning, Leah reminds us that with education and preparation, you can achieve the positive and empowering birth you want, even if it isn't what you originally expected. Content Warning: intrauterine growth restriction or fetal growth restriction, risk of stillbirth associated with IUGR, medical interventions to induce labor, labor induction, pregnancy complications, high risk pregnancy, frequent ultrasound and NST testing, mention of risk of Cesarean birth, mention of the risk factors for IUGR: placental insufficiently, genetic and congenital problems in pregnancy, anti-phospholipid antibodies, baby born small for gestational age Resouces: Find out more about Anna Sutkowski's doula practice and EBB Childbirth classes here. Find out more about Rebecca's book, Babies are Not Pizzas here. Intrauterine Growth Restrictions: Listen to Dr. Nicole Rankin's podcast in IUGR here. Access a Medscape article on Fetal Growth Restriction (requires a free account) here. UpToDate article on Fetal Growth Restriction (requires a paid account) here Inductions: Listen to the EBB Podcast Episode 153: The Pros and Cons of the Foley and Dilapan-S for Cervical Ripening During an Induction here. Listen to the EBB Podcast Episode 222: Navigating Induction and Pregnancy at 35+ with EBB Instructor and Birth Fusion Founder, Jennifer Anderson here. Obtain a copy of EBB Pocket Guide to Labor Inductions here. Go to our YouTube channel to see video versions of the episode listed above!! For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com. Find us on: TikTok Instagram Pinterest Ready to get involved? Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) here Find an EBB Instructor here Click here to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class.
A pregnant person is referred early in pregnancy to high-risk obstetrician Dr. Stacey Ehrenberg after an ultrasound detects an abnormally developing placenta. Dr. Ehrenberg diagnoses the patient with a molar pregnancy; a placenta that forms into a benign tumor with the potential to become cancerous. While the molar pregnancy will not survive, the patient also has a viable intrauterine pregnancy.Faced with this diagnosis, Dr. Ehrenberg counsels her patient about the risks of continuing or discontinuing the pregnancy. If the decision is made to continue, the patient risks developing mirror syndrome, a life-threatening condition marked by hypertension and edema. There is also significant risk of bleeding if any of the abnormal tissue is removed.If the decision is made to end the pregnancy, the patient faces the risks of any procedure done in a hospital; bleeding, infection, and damage to the surrounding organs, although this happens in less than 1% of cases. Regardless of the patient's choice, Dr. Ehrenberg emphasizes that she and her team will support the patient, no matter what. The patient decides to continue the pregnancy. Dr. Ehrenberg and team develop a care plan to track both the molar pregnancy and the intrauterine pregnancy with weekly ultrasounds and blood pressure measurements. “I really watched her struggle throughout the pregnancy knowing that she knew that at some point the scale was going to tip and that this would no longer be safe for her to continue,” shared Dr. Ehrenberg. “Her hope, as was ours, was that she would be able to get far enough in pregnancy where the baby would be able to survive. She knew that this would probably be an extremely premature baby, but she was willing to take that risk to start her family.”But at 19 weeks, everything changes. “I didn't need vital signs. I didn't need to do a physical exam to know something wasn't right,” remembered Dr. Ehrenberg. “We got vital signs on her and I did a physical exam, and it was very clear to me that she had mirror syndrome and then we had to have the very difficult conversation that we knew that the baby was not yet viable, but it was no longer safe for her to remain pregnant.”The decision is clear: the only viable option is dilation and evacuation. But the procedure is not without serious complications and risks. “... These pregnancy complications are so complex,” shared Dr. Ehrenberg. “The physical aspects of it, the emotional aspects of it, the financial aspects of it … So I really just would love to see more kindness towards other people, more tolerance towards other people, more understanding that we don't understand all the time where other people are coming from and what they've been through.”
There are several forms of hormonal contraception available today, birth control pills, hormonal skin patches, implants, and coils. They all affect hormone levels and prevent pregnancy, but they are used in different ways. How does one decide which form works best for their needs? In part 3 of the 3-part series, listen as Jennifer Shark a Certified Nurse Midwife at MIT Medical with many years of contraceptive counseling experience, discusses what factors you should consider if you are thinking about getting an IUD.
CME credits: 0.50 Valid until: 12-12-2023 Claim your CME credit at https://reachmd.com/programs/cme/long-acting-reversible-contraceptives-their-critical-role-in-addressing-todays-reproductive-health-landscape/14661/ Intrauterine devices and contraceptive implants, also called long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), are the most effective reversible contraceptive methods. The major advantage of LARCs compared with other reversible contraceptive methods is that they do not require ongoing effort on the part of the patient for long-term, effective use. In addition, after the device is removed, the return of fertility is rapid. Join Dr. David Eisenberg has he discusses when LARCs should be recommended as a first-line contraceptive choice and when they should not. He further details how to approach a shared decision-making discussion with patients about their contraceptive options.
Survey: https://bit.ly/feedback_UltraSounds Theresa and Rachel discuss postpartum hemorrhage with Dr. Luke Burns. 00:30 Dr. Burns Biography 01:50 Case 1: 35 year old G4P4 with polyhydramnios, boggy uterus 09:17 Case 2: 35 year old G4P4 with postpartum hemorrhage and chronic hypertension 16:53 Case 3: hemodynamically unstable 35 year old G4P4 with postpartum hemorrhage 23:59 Case 4: 35 year old G4P4 with no return of menstruation Transcript: https://bit.ly/Ultrasounds_PPH Trends in maternal mortality: 2000 to 2017: estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and the United Nations Population Division. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2019. ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 183: Postpartum Hemorrhage. Obstet Gynecol 2017, 30(4). Wormer KC, Jamil RT, Bryant SB. Acute Postpartum Hemorrhage. StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 794: Quantitative blood loss in obstetric hemorrhage. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Obstet Gynecol 2019;134. Bell, S. F., et al (2020). Incidence of postpartum haemorrhage defined by quantitative blood loss measurement: a national cohort. BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 20(1), 271. Parry Smith WR, et al. Uterotonic agents for first‐line treatment of postpartum haemorrhage: a network meta‐analysis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2020, Issue 11. Vogel JP, et al. WHO recommendations on uterotonics for postpartum haemorrhage prevention: what works, and which one? BMJ Global Health 2019. A. Borovac-Pinheiro, et al. (2018). Postpartum hemorrhage: new insights for definition and diagnosis. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 219(2):162-8. A. Leleu, et al. (2021). Intrauterine balloon tamponade in the management of severe postpartum haemorrhage after vaginal delivery: Is the failure early predictable?. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, 258:317-323. Schury MP, Adigun R. Sheehan Syndrome. StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan.
Why Contraceptive Failure Rates Matter In A Post-Roe America Birth control options have improved over the decades. Oral contraceptives are now safer, with fewer side effects. Intrauterine devices can prevent pregnancy 99.6% of the time. But no prescription drug or medical device works flawlessly, and people's use of contraception is inexact. “No one walks into my office and says, ‘I plan on missing a pill,'” said obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Mitchell Creinin. “There is no such thing as perfect use, we are all real-life users,” said Creinin, a professor at the University of California-Davis who wrote a widely used textbook that details contraceptive failure rates. Even when the odds of contraception failure are small, the number of incidents can add up quickly. More than 47 million women of reproductive age in the United States use contraception and, depending on the birth control method, hundreds of thousands of unplanned pregnancies can occur each year. With most abortions outlawed in at least 13 states and legal battles underway in others, contraceptive failures now carry bigger stakes for tens of millions of Americans. Read the rest at sciencefriday.com. The Quest For New COVID-19 Solutions As we head towards our third pandemic winter, the nation still is facing about 2,500 weekly deaths from COVID, and over 3,000 people a day entering the hospital due to the virus. Dr. William Haseltine is chair and president of ACCESS Health International, a former professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, and the founder of several biotechnology companies, including Human Genome Sciences. “This thing knows everything about our immune systems,” Haseltine says. “We have to find new drugs that it has never seen before, and new combinations of those. That's what's worked for HIV. That's what we have to do now—and we're doing a very poor job of that.” Haseltine joins Ira to help explore the viral landscape, and where he sees viral research headed—from new vaccines to antiviral drugs and antibody cocktails. Can Animals Evolve To Survive The Anthropocene? When you think of evolution, you might imagine a slow process that takes millions of years. Take Tiktaalik, for example: The ancient fish, an important human ancestor, took 375 million years from climbing out of water to get to the humans you see now.Now that we're here, we're changing the world at an unprecedented rate. Threats like climate change, deforestation, and pollution are wiping out entire animal species in just one generation. Can evolution punch back? Or are some species fighting a losing battle? Dr. Shane Campbell-Staton joins Ira to discuss rapid evolution in the anthropocene, and whether that's enough to keep these species afloat. Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.
ASK CAROLINA ANYTHINGDon't get pregnant! That is what we are told our entire lives! 24.4% of women between the ages of 15-49 in the United States are on the pill or have an Intrauterine device or contraceptive implant, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In this episode, Carolina speaks with board-certified Reproductive Endrinocologist and Infertility Specialist Carolina Sueldo, MD FACOG about everything a woman should know about birth control. We even debunk some birth control myths. Ready to be in the know about birth control? This is the exact episode for you!Listen and enjoy!What you'll learn:1:53 Does birth control cause irregular cycles?4:31 Carolina's message for women out there5:42 Physicians want to help people7:03 Is birth control the reason for irregular cycles and infertility?The Carolina Sotomayor Podcast is brought to you by Carolina Sotomayor and the Fertility Foundation.Carolina Sotomayor is an Expert Womb Healer who helps women conceive by removing physiological blockages with Reiki. She is the host of the Carolina Sotomayor Podcast, a show that covers everything from fertility to postpartum to motherhood, and the creator of Fertility Foundation Collective, an online membership that helps women heal at their own pace to boost their fertility.Carolina has served over 500 women from around the world to heal. She is passionate about helping women create their families. As a result, there are over 60 reiki babies in the world. Carolina Sotomayor Reiki: https://carolinasotomayor.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carolinasotomayorreiki/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecarolinasotomayor/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thecarolinasotomayorYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuzB6fQOHuRGSupport the showLiked this episode? Share it with a friend. Love the show? Write a 5-star review (even just one sentence helps us keep bringing you the content you want to hear.) Want to get pregnant? Connect to your spirit and heal your fertility blockages inside the Make A Baby Membership. Try it for FREE! DOWNLOAD HERE our free Womb to Dream Connection Sleep Meditation: Connecting to Your Spirit Baby! Connect with Carolina: Website TikTok Instagram Pinterest Facebook DISCLAIMER: This episode is not a substitute for professional medical care but aims at relaxation and stress reduction to support natural healing. Reiki complements, never replaces, medical care. Carolina is not a licensed healthcare provider; always seek appropriate professional help for physical and mental health. Individual results may vary.
“I hope I give you some hope.”All around, Lauren's stories are different. Her birthing journey includes Asherman's syndrome, infertility for over 10 years, two rounds of IVF treatments (each with only one viable embryo), a miscarriage, placenta accreta, and significant hemorrhaging after her first Cesarean delivery. Lauren miraculously got pregnant naturally with her second son. She was committed to having a VBAC even with her complicated medical history. When her water broke at 32 weeks, Lauren made her desires known loud and clear to every person who entered her birthing space that a Cesarean was not an option. Sure enough, Lauren was able to successfully VBAC with no signs of placenta accreta or hemorrhaging. After years of so much heartache and holding onto hope, Lauren was finally able to see one miracle unfold after another.Additional linksThe VBAC Link Community on FacebookHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull transcriptNote: All transcripts are edited to correct grammar, false starts, and filler words. Meagan: Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, whatever time it is where you are at, welcome. You are listening to The VBAC Link podcast. This is Meagan and we have our friend, Lauren, today. You guys, she is currently in Vietnam and it is 4:10 a.m. where she is recording. I cannot believe that she is up and ready to record an episode. We are so grateful for her for being with us today. She has a lot of great things in her story, a lot of great things that sometimes we don't talk about or know of. There's a certain thing in her story where I hadn't even ever heard the word before until I saw it in her story. So I can't wait to dive into her story and have her tell more about all of the things about her story.Review of the WeekMeagan: Of course, we have a Review of the Week so I will read that and we will dive right in. This is from saraalbinger and she says, “One month ago, I had a successful VBAC induction just 18 months after a Cesarean section. I almost called to schedule a repeat on my due date because I was so scared. Then I found your podcast and listened to it for two days straight. It gave me the courage to go through with the induction and I am so glad I did. I hope more people find this as a resource.”She actually emailed us, which is awesome. Congratulations, Sara, on your VBAC. So happy for you. Like I said, she emailed. You can email us your reviews if you would like or if you have a moment, maybe push “pause” really quickly and jump onto your podcast whether it be Apple or Google Play, and leave us a review. We would really appreciate it and again, we always read one on the episodes, so your review might be next. Lauren's storyMeagan: Okay. Lauren, I'm so excited to have you. Seriously, I cannot believe that you are up. I don't know if I could get my tushy out of bed at 4:00 a.m. to record a podcast. I'm so grateful. Lauren: It is early. Meagan: Yes, it is so early. Oh my gosh. We just talked about it. You just had a baby not long ago, so you're not only up at 4:00 a.m. but probably sleep-deprived within those few hours that you did get to sleep. So seriously, thank you so much for being with us today. Lauren: No problem, I'm excited to share my story. Meagan: Well, I'm excited to hear it. I would love to turn the time over to you. Share all of the amazing things. You have had such a journey that has led you here today. Lauren: Yeah. Well, thank you so much for having me. This is a wonderful opportunity for me to go back and remember what has happened to me over the last couple of years. My story started, I feel like, way back when. I was a Montessori teacher and at that point, I knew exactly what I wanted out of my birth at the age of 18 or 19 years old. I wanted a water birth. I wanted all-natural and I wanted to have all my kids by the time I was 25. Anyways, that didn't happen. I got married. I got married when I had just turned 23. Kids did not happen right away. My 25th birthday was the most depressing birthday I've ever had. It turns out I was struggling with some infertility there. At that time, I had sought some, I don't know. I will tell you that I pondered on it and it just didn't feel right. The time to take care of our infertility didn't feel right, so we ended up moving our family abroad. My husband and I taught English abroad, then we came back to America. We just so happened to live in Boston. We had some contacts there, but we felt, I don't know the right word, we felt very inspired to move to Boston. We didn't start working on the family thing right away because you have to have insurance for that but on the east coast, they pay for infertility treatment. If you have insurance, it's covered. I didn't know that at the time. Meagan: That's amazing. For real?Lauren: Yes, for real. Meagan: I need to tell my sister who just moved to Boston and is having fertility issues. Lauren: Oh my goodness. Yes, the insurance coverage is amazing. So then I started finding out about other people who had moved there just to get the insurance just to seek infertility treatment. Meagan: Wow, cool. Lauren: Yeah, it was amazing. Exactly. I feel like the right people were put in our path at the right time. They shared the doctors and I was like, “Okay, let me go to your doctor. Okay.” So then pieces started to fall into place to figure out, “What the heck is wrong with me?” I think it had been thirteen years at that point in time of not stopping from having children. Everything was the way it is. So I go and they do this huge check-up on me. My doctors just couldn't believe the long list of all the crap that was wrong with me especially because I was in my thirties.I ended up having what was called Asherman syndrome. It's adhesive. It's scar tissue and they can exist in the cervix or in the uterus. Mine was everywhere. I was 100% scarred over through my cervix and my uterus. It took multiple surgeries to try to remove it. It's called hysteroscopies. Here's the miracle here. Asherman syndrome is not well known. It's still, “Oh, hush-hush.” A lot of women hear the word “adhesive” and that's exactly what it is. It's the scar tissue that's in the uterus and it usually happens after D&C or if you've had a miscarriage, there's a percentage of women who scar over. There are specific doctors out there that will take care of it. One is in Boston and the other one lives in California. I got to see that very specialized doctor and that was just a huge miracle. I felt like I was being taken care of. So we went there and my scar tissue was just so severe. I'm pretty sure I still have it. It's something that doesn't really go away, but it was blocking my tubes. That, and we had a diminished ovarian reserve, so my eggs were like I was a 44-year-old woman. I think I was 32 at this time and going through all this. I'm like, “My eggs are old. I'm old.”Then they did a biopsy of my uterus. It showed that it was inactive.Meagan: What?Lauren: It was menopausal. I was like, “So I've gone through menopause and here I am.” It turns out that if you don't have a period for over a year, you're considered in menopause. I didn't realize that because I hadn't had one in seven years at this point. Meagan: Wow. I didn't even know that either. I mean, I didn't have a period but I have an IUD, so I'm guessing that's a little different, right? Lauren: Mhmm, yeah. Meagan: I didn't know that. Lauren: Yeah, I had no idea. I was learning so much so quickly. There were a lot of emotions. I cried and cried because I felt like my journey of having children was completely over. I had a very slim chance of having a baby and so I was like, “Okay. We're doing this. I'm jumping head-in.” So I jumped and with IVF, I had only one good embryo out of my first round. It ended up in a miscarriage. It was nonviable and it ended up that it had something wrong with the chromosomes in it. They did some testing. This is where I feel like, “Oh, I had this journey.” Here it comes now. With IVF, they watch you and so after my two-week wait, I had a positive test. Okay. Then, they watch it grow. Mine wasn't growing, so then I had my ultrasound. They were like, “Oh, this isn't right. There is no heartbeat. This doesn't even look right. Whatever.” I'm bawling my eyes out because it's really hard.They waited an extra week until I was seven weeks when I went in for my D&E. The doctor told me it was because of my Asherman's that it was going to cause a huge, big problem. So he goes in. He scoops it out. That's the way I like to think of it. He just scoops it out and he's done. Lo and behold, my HCG levels were still the same, if not going up. I was still feeling very sick. The next two or three days later, I'm like, “Something is really wrong. Something is really wrong.” I went back and they drew my blood. Come to find out, my levels are still going up. I'm like, “Something is wrong.” I went back to my Asherman syndrome doctor. They did an ultrasound and then they did an in-office, I was wide awake, hysteroscopy. They took little scissors and they tried to go in and take out what they could see. Meagan: What?! This is giving me chills right now thinking about going through that. Lauren: Uh-uh. It was so painful. Meagan: Oh my goodness.Lauren: It was so bad. I'm just bawling my eyes out on this table and they were like, “This is too much.” I was like, “Yeah. This is too much.” I was scheduled for surgery the next day and that's when I was told about my accreta. That teeny, tiny little sac had grown into my lining. Again, my Asherman's syndrome was worse than the first time I went, which is saying something. I had a few more surgeries after that one just to clean it up. It took a long time, a lot of hormone therapy, and a ton of estrogen to try to get my uterus back up and running. They called it “jump starting” because I was still not having periods. They were forcing them through medication. Anyway, it was just a crazy time of my life. The second round of IVF was maybe six to nine months later. Again, I only had one little embryo. It turned out to be my son. At the time, we didn't know the sex of our child until he was born, so it was a really fun surprise. I was so excited. Well, and surely hesitant because you are like, “Oh my goodness, is this going to stick? What's going to happen?” He stuck and he continued to grow. His percentile growths every ultrasound were still 13% and 15%, so I had a small baby. It always worried me. We got flagged for genetic testing. We got flagged and we got called. It was like, “You've got to come in right now. We've got to do this ultrasound.” The worry that comes over your face is like, “Oh my gosh.” You just start breaking down and immediately crying. We drove straight to the hospital to do a two-hour-long ultrasound of just laying on the table. They don't talk to you, by the way, in this clinic. They just look. They look. They look. They look, and then at the very end, they may say something or you have to go to your doctor and your doctor will tell you but the ultrasound tech does not say anything to you.So it's just nerve-wracking. We ended up seeing a genetic counselor right after who then gave us the results of, “Oh, it's not anything. You're fine.” You had a little bit of leakage that could have caused this. It's not Down syndrome. You're okay. I was like, “Whew.” So other than that, my pregnancy was pretty normal. We got a doula right away, super grateful for her, and then my baby just wouldn't turn. He wanted to be feet down. I don't know how to explain it. He just wanted to be breech. We were doing our birthing classes. I just remember the doula who was doing them was like, “Well,” I don't know I was probably at 30 weeks. She was like, “Oh, he should really be head down.” I'm like, “Really? At this point, he should really be?” She was like, “Yeah. You really need to get on it more.” I was like, “Okay, I need to get on it.” At that point, I was like, “Okay.” So my doula and I worked on Spinning Babies. I spent so much time upside down every day. I was on an ironing board. I was doing all of these things for Spinning Babies. You buy the stuff. All of the stuff, I bought it. It wasn't working, so then someone was like, “Okay, you should go to the acupuncturist and do this epoxy–”. I was like, “Okay.” So then I'm burning this thing on the outside of my pinky toe on my right foot for 20 minutes. Meagan: Mhmm. Bladder 06.Lauren: Yeah, but I'm very pregnant, so to bend over for 20 minutes to do one toe and to do 20 minutes on the other toe was excruciating. I did it every morning and every night. I was like, “Okay. This is a lot. I am very dedicated to spinning this baby.” That didn't work, so I started chiropractic. I started seeing a chiropractor during my last month of pregnancy. I saw her every other day, and then I started seeing her every day. Again, nothing, and then I just got this gut feeling. It was, “Your baby's going to be born the way he needs to be born. You just need to accept that and you need to go with it.” When that happened, it just clicked in my brain. I was like, “Okay. I can still have a birth plan for a Cesarean. I can still do this and that's okay.” But that switch when you have planned something and you believe in something so hard– to make that switch in your brain, it's so difficult. I still was holding hope that somehow this baby is going to flip. They wanted to try an inversion at 37 weeks. I was like, “No,” because they were like, “If you spin the baby in the hospital and it works, then you are having a baby. If it doesn't work, you are still having a baby.” I was like, “Oh, then I'm waiting.” I'm very grateful. So we went in on my scheduled day with my big, long list of everything I wanted for my Cesarean which was wonderful. My doctor was very supportive and she made sure everything on my list got crossed off. I got to completely watch my baby being born, the surgery, and everything which was really unique for me. I didn't realize I was going to get emotional about my little Oden. Anyway, I just remember laying there and having my surgery. My husband was right beside me and my doula was also in the room with her essential oils. He comes out and it was announced that he was a little boy. He gets cleaned up. My husband goes over. My husband gets to do skin-to-skin with him. It was such a beautiful birth. It's like, I don't regret it at all. I'm just like, “I did everything I could.” Once you see that little baby, he was just, oh wow. He was on my husband's chest and he was rooting and making rooting noises. My doctor and everyone in the room just stopped. They were like, “We've never seen this before.” We've never seen a baby come out Cesarean and literally be banging his head on a chest wanting the breast. I knew right away. I was like, “That's my baby. He's hungry. He knows where it's at.” My doula was really excited. So anyways, I remember at this point that my doctor mentioned something about blood. “Oh, there's a lot of blood,” but I was dismissive because I had this cute baby over here rooting. It wasn't even until after I was in recovery and I started breastfeeding that my doctor came in and told me that I had hemorrhaged. I had an MFM who specialized in accreta and percreta and all of these things because I was just so worried that if I had a seven-week sac that stuck to my uterus, then what is it going to look like at full-term? I had done all of this research and I was prepared to lose my uterus with this birth. It didn't happen. I just felt so blessed. I felt so blessed that I got to keep it and that my child was born at full term. I just remember, “I can't wait for baby number two.” Anyway, I enjoyed this birth so much and him so much. The hemorrhage only added to my list. I had forgotten about it until baby number two and then it starts adding on, right?Okay, miscarriage, baby number one, baby number two comes and I really wanted my VBAC. I don't necessarily– my pregnancy was baby number two. I had accepted a job that paid for my insurance and I was going to go back to my doctors, but I ended up getting pregnant before. I mentioned before that I stopped having periods sometime in my twenties and went through menopause. I had gotten the COVID vaccine and gotten both shots. After my second shot, 17 days later, I started the first period I had in years and years and years and years and years and years. I was so shocked. I had no idea what was happening to my body. I was like, “This can't be happening to me. This is so weird and so foreign to me.” I remember just calling my doctor like “What is going on?” She was like, “You are not the only woman to report this. It's okay, just go with it. Track it. Let's see if we can have a natural pregnancy. Let's see if you can get pregnant naturally.” I'm like, “Wow. This is insane.” So, in the third month, I was pregnant. I just couldn't believe it. Meagan: Wow. Lauren: I'm like, “But my eggs are crap.”Meagan: Wow, wow. Lauren: Yeah! I'm like, “My eggs are crap. Everything is crap, right?” She's like, “Lauren, we are just going to go with it.” I'm just like, “Okay. Just going with it.” So yeah. Third month, boom, and I was pregnant. And yeah, wow. But it started off–Meagan: I'm sure. Yeah. Lauren: You just don't believe it. After you've been through everything, you don't believe it. So I just couldn't believe it. I started having a lot of pain and this is where I was like, “I'm going to lose this baby.” I just had this gut feeling like something was really wrong. I ended up going to the emergency room the day I took a pregnancy test. I was going. I was like, “It had better not be ectopic. I need to make sure this is in the right place. There's something going on.” They're like, “You're not pregnant.” That's what they told me. I was like, “Okay.” This little, dinky hospital. They did a urine test and they told me I wasn't pregnant. I literally had to tell them, “Listen. I've been through infertility treatment and I know that you could do a blood test to tell me if I'm pregnant or not. Come on.” And so then they do a blood test but in the meantime, it's been an hour and I'm a mess. I am crying. I am just an emotional, crazy mess. They come back and they're like, “Oh yeah, your levels are 100, so most likely, you're going to lose this baby. It's very early.” They already put this on me. So then they gave me a doctor because I am new to this facility because, sorry. I had moved from Boston to Connecticut to work and buy a house during the pandemic. So I am in little Podunkville with Podunk doctors. There's nothing wrong with Podunk doctors, sorry! But it's just different when you go from downtown Boston, top-notch to country, okay?So we were there and he kept telling me that my levels weren't rising. They weren't doubling. They are supposed to double and they weren't. Baby wasn't growing and nothing was happening for two weeks. So they did an ultrasound, but no heartbeat, nothing. There was something there, but they were like, “Lauren, we will give you another week before we do something.” I'm just a mess. I'm a complete mess. They drew my blood again and my progesterone levels were decent, but my pregnancy hormone was just not growing.And so a week or two weeks went by, I can't remember. I had a heartbeat. I just remember feeling so relieved. I looked at the doctor. I was like, “I'm never going to see you again. I'm so sorry, but I'm never going to see you again. I'm going to go to the best of the best.” So I jumped right back to my MFM up in Boston. The first thing out of my mouth was, “Okay, I'm pregnant. Will you support me with a VBAC?” And she said, “Yes.” She said, “Yes, 100%.” This was the kicker. She was like, “But Lauren, you have to know that because of all your issues, we are aiming for a vaginal birth. You can't sit there and go, ‘I want it to be unmedicated.'” She was like, “What we are aiming for is a vaginal birth.”I was like, “Okay.” And then I go home, I'm like, “I want an unmedicated birth!” I'm like, “I don't care.”Meagan: You're like, “Joke's on you guys, I'm going to do that anyway.”Lauren: Yes, exactly. So my pregnancy is progressing. Baby is head down the whole entire time. I'm super excited. I remember at 28 weeks, I had this very distinct feeling come over me that I was going to have this baby early. I didn't know what that meant. So I was like, “Okay.” So around week 30, I started prepping my house. I bought all of the baby things, got baby things out, just little things like that. In the meantime, I'm teaching kindergarten, I'm still working full time. I still have a toddler now and I'm just resuming life.This is when I really started hitting hard on The VBAC Link. I was listening to every podcast every chance I got. I was listening on my lunch break just to prepare myself. I did a class with you guys. There was an OB that was there. I had a ton of questions that I got answered, so that was really wonderful. I just really appreciate this podcast being there. I feel like that's why I really want to share because it was just so helpful, but no one had anything like what I had gone through. I'm like, “Maybe that means something.” I'm like, “Am I crazy? Can I do this?” sort of a thing. Anyway, so I didn't feel very prepared. My 32-week doctor's appointment was on a Friday. I drove to Boston which was an hour and a half away from where I live. It was a devastating doctor's visit. My sweet little baby boy was not growing. I had what is called, I have it in here because I'm like, “What? I forget everything.” It was fetal growth restriction.Meagan: Was it IUGR? Intrauterine growth restriction?Lauren: Yeah, but they called it FGR here. It was like fetal growth restriction, yes. Meagan: FGR, fetal growth restriction, yeah. Lauren: Thank you for that. I forget all of the things. And so then I was like, “Okay. Tell me exactly what that means.” My baby was measuring in the 1st percentile. So then she goes back and she was like, “Well, he's barely been over a 10th percentile this whole time. He's always been very, very small.” He was in the 10th and the 13th. I was like, “Where do we need to be to get out of this?” She was like, “You have to be at 10% to not have this label.” I was like, “That's not going to happen, is it?” She was like, “No, I'm sorry.” And I'm like, “Oh man.”So at this point in time, I was like, “Okay.” I was visiting her every week. I had her visit plus I had a blood draw, plus I had an ultrasound, so now it was moving up to three visits a week and I was having to drive an hour and a half. I'm like, “This is not going to be sustainable. I cannot work full time and do this.” I had made all of my appointments for that next week. I go home that Friday and then Saturday morning at 3:00, my toddler wakes up and I go in to tend to him. A big thing about FGR was that I had to count my movements. I wasn't feeling my baby move because he was so small that there were times that I didn't feel pregnant. I was like, “This is really weird.” It was one of those times when I was up at 3:00 a.m. and I noticed that there were zero movements. I'm like, “Okay, maybe he's asleep.” So I spent time with my toddler, put him back to bed, go back to my room and I'm starting to feel him move. So then I start kick counting, kick counting, kick counting, and then my toddler gets up again. I'm like, “Oh my goodness, you've got to be kidding me.” He comes into my room. He wants to snuggle, so I let him in my bed and he's holding me. I'm holding him and my husband gets out of bed. He doesn't do that. Anyway, next thing I know, I just feel this gush between my legs and I'm like, “What the heck? I am not prepared for this. This is not okay.” We have Google in my home, so I was like, “Okay, Google. Broadcast.” I'm screaming at the top of my lungs, “My water just broke! You have to come right now!” My husband runs in and he's freaking out. I don't know. It was a really wacky picture in my mind. He has his arms and legs sprawled out like, “What's going on?” I'm like, “Take our son. Take our son and get me a cup because this is gushing out and I don't know what to do.” It was crazy. I started contracting, but they weren't painful at all. They were like Braxton Hicks. My belly was tightening and then it was just gushes of water. I was like, “This is so crazy.”So I immediately called my doctor. This was the part that made me nervous because here I am preparing for a VBAC and the doctor immediately said, “You need to get to the hospital right now. You will have a repeat Cesarean and we will get this baby out. Something is wrong.” Meagan: Whoa. Lauren: I immediately started crying. Yes. Meagan: Scary. So scary. Lauren: Oh, 100%. The good thing is that I had 40 minutes for someone to drive to be with my son to ponder, sit down, and try to process this. Meanwhile, I'm walking around the house with a cup between my legs trying to catch all the water that is coming out of me. My husband and I were talking back and forth like, “This is not anything I had ever ever ever thought of.” I'm like, “Okay. I'm going to go in. I'm going to have a VBAC.” And so we both agreed that we were going to be open to what the doctors were saying. “This a bunch of learning. We are on a learning curve now. This is not on our terms. It's on this baby's terms. We are now open-minded and learning.” It took us an hour and nine minutes to get to the hospital. We passed five policemen. One actually passed us. We were way speeding. We were easily doing 90-100 the whole way. No one pulled us over, thank goodness. It turned out to not be that much of an emergency. We got there and the first thing that they did was they took me back to confirm that I broke my water. I was like, “You guys can't see the stuff gushing out of me?” I'm like, “Is this not water?” They're like, “Well, it could be urine.” I was like, “No, no, no, no, no.” I know what urine is. This is not urine. They were laughing because I was like, “This is not pee, or else I have been continually peeing on myself for two and a half hours now.”And so anyway, I'm like, “Okay, whatever.” And then they were like, “Yes. Okay. This is the fluid.” They came to my room and they talked to me about everything. PPROM is what it's called. It's a premature rupture of membranes. Now, I was a PPROM. Meagan: Yeah. PROM is just premature rupture of membranes but PPROM is premature meaning that the baby is before 37 weeks. Lauren: Exactly. Meagan: Premature premature rupture of membranes. Lauren: It was happening way too early. And because I was 32 weeks, they weren't going to stop it, so I did not receive any magnesium or anything like that to stop it which I was kind of grateful for because after I read, I was like, “Oh, I don't want that in my body.” It burns like fire. But they did start me on penicillin and steroids and all of these things because they wanted the steroids for the baby's lungs. The penicillin was because the risk of infection goes significantly higher when you have PPROMd or when you have PROM'd early because now I'm just sitting there with open stuff and it's easier to get an infection.They refused to check me, which was nice. They would not check my cervix to see how dilated I was or anything like that, but I do remember at the very beginning, she guesstimated that I was about a 1, so it was nothing. And so I sat there. They were like, “You're being admitted to the hospital. You will be here until you have your baby. Since you are 32 weeks, we will induce you. If you get to 34 weeks, you will be induced and you will have your baby.” The reality was that they go through my chart and this is where my past kicked me in the butt. They were like, “Okay, you have a chance of accreta. You have hemorrhaged with your previous Cesarean. You have to put in your mind that most likely you are going to have another Cesarean.” I was like, “No, I'm not.” This whole entire time, I was like, “No, I'm not.” I was like, “No, I'm not. I'm having a VBAC and that's it.” I kept telling every doctor that came into my room. I was like, “Listen, I'm having a VBAC.” I was like, “I'm having a VBAC. It's happening, so I don't even want to discuss another Cesarean unless it really gets to that point. I don't want to discuss it.” I was like, “I want to discuss how I can have this baby vaginally. That's what I want.” They were very supportive. I'm just so grateful and they were just like, “Yeah. Okay. This is awesome. This woman has opinions.” And so every new resident– I was at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Sorry, I don't know if I'm allowed to say that.Meagan: You can totally share. You can totally share. Lauren: Okay. Okay, so it's a learning hospital. You have a lot of residents and interns. I don't know exactly what you call them all. Every morning, there were ten doctors that would visit my room a few times a day. It was a lot of doctors. Anyway, so Wednesday comes and before that, they were like, “Okay, listen. You're either going to have this baby within 48 hours or it's going to be a week or two. It's either one or the other. We don't really have people in the middle.”Guess what? I was in the middle, so whatever. Meagan: Way to be different.Lauren: Right? All around, I'm different. The thing that really worried me is that I was like, “Okay, I want a VBAC,” but at the same time, I had these NICU doctors who were right there on my case like, “Okay. Here are the chances of this. Here are the chances of this. Your baby might be dealing with all of these different things.” Anyway, they were updating me every day on where my baby's development was for that day and what could be possibly wrong with him when he was born. “Oh, by the way, our NICU is full. We don't have any beds. So if you go into labor, we will be transferring you to a different hospital with your child,” or however it works. I'm like, “What? Are you serious?” They're like, “Yep. We're full and so is the hospital next to us, so it will be the hospital down the street.” I'm like, “Oh wow. This is incredible.” Anyway, so right then and there, I started praying, “Okay. Listen to me. If I'm going to go into labor, it better be the day that someone gets sent home.” It's got to work out. It's got to work out. It did, by the way. It worked out. On Wednesday, I started to have more pain. It was like, “Okay. I'm still contracting by the way. I keep having what I call Braxton Hicks contractions because they were not painful. It was just that my whole belly would tighten and my water would continue to spew out. That's the best way I can say it. I remember distinctly that I woke up at 1:00 in the morning on Wednesday and I started having pain. I called my nurse right away and I was like “Listen, they shifted. My contractions have shifted now, but they are still 10-14 minutes apart.” We just kept an eye on it. In the meantime, every time I have a contraction, my baby's heart disappears. They can't find him. I'm like, “Okay. Baby, cut this out.” So when that happens, guess what they start talking about? They talk about a Cesarean. They're like, “Oh, Lauren. His heart rate is really dipping really low. We are going to end up. You need to prepare.” I'm like, “Nope. I'm not preparing.” And so I finally get up out of my bed. I've been in a bed this whole entire time. A friend came and visited me. It was 1:00 in the afternoon at this point. I was standing up during the whole visit which was the most I had stood in two or three days. I'm starting to have regular contractions. They were easy, 4-6 minutes apart, somewhere around there. They started being really painful and I had to breathe through them. I'm this way. I'm like, “Listen. I'm not going to call my nurse in here because she's just going to prepare me for a Cesarean.” So I go for an hour with my friend and my friend is like, “Lauren, you really need to call your nurse.” I'm like, “Fine. You leave. I'll call my nurse.” So I called my nurse and, sorry I'm laughing. She's freaking out because she is like, “Why didn't you call me?” I was like, “Listen, I didn't call you because I don't want to have a Cesarean.” They called the doctor. He guesstimates and he says I'm about a 1 or a 2. I haven't changed much. Now, they have increased and they're back to back. I could not. I was like, “What? A natural birth? I wanted that? That's crazy.” They wouldn't let me out of my bed because of the heart rate and everything that was going on with the baby, so I was stuck and confined to my bed. I was just holding the railing and turned to my side. Every contraction was worsened by a million because my nurse was like, “Listen, if you don't want a Cesarean, I have to find the heart rate of this baby.” And so she is literally, in the middle of my contractions, I'm screaming and she has got that monitor and she is searching for the baby's heart rate to prove that he is okay. This continues and she calls the doctor back in here because my contractions were literally on top of each other for 2-3 minutes. It was so intense. I really didn't feel like I had time to breathe. I was like, “Listen. I am having this baby. I am going to have this baby.” My doctor– he's not really my doctor. He's the resident of my doctor. He walks back in and he basically tells me to suck it up and that lots of moms go through this. I'm not having this baby. He will check me for real this time. So he goes in and I'm about 3 centimeters dilated, but I'm 90% effaced. He was like, “Oh. Hmm. This could change. We're going to send you to labor and delivery, but don't put it in your mind that you're having a baby today because this could stall.” He was like, “I've seen this stall so many times.” I was like, “How would this stall? I'm in so much pain.” He was like, “No. This could still stall.” I'm like, “Okay, whatever. I've PPROMd. I have no idea what I'm talking about. This is all new to me. Okay, fine. This can stall. This labor can stall, sure. Okay.”I am put in labor and delivery and my labor nurse looks at me. She was like, “You're going to be having this baby in a couple of hours. I don't know what your doctor is talking about.” She is bad-mouthing him so hard. She's like, “I don't know what he's talking about. This is insane.” She was like, “Listen, I know. I don't want you to be infected,” but she was like, “I am going to check you right now. There is no way that with the amount of pain you are in and your contractions are on top of each other.” She was like, “I'm going to check you. I'm going to call the anesthesiologist. We're going to get him in here. We're going to get you an epidural,” because I was in so much pain. Anyway, I can't believe it. This is where I'm like, “I wanted a natural birth?” So my anesthesiologist comes in right after my doctor had come in again to check me. He was like, “It's only been 30 minutes. Stop paging me.” Those were his exact words. “Stop paging me. It's only been 30 minutes.” And now, I've progressed to a 5. His eyes got really wide because before that, he yelled at my anesthesiologist, “You're not needed here. You need to leave. This is not happening,” like that. My nurse was like, “What?!”And then he checked me and he was like, “Umm, this is happening. I'm so sorry. Anesthesiologist, please come back in the room.” He's yelling, “Please come back into the room. Help her! This is happening and it's happening very, very fast.” They were like, “Where's your husband?” I was like, “Oh my gosh, my husband's not with me.” At this point, I'm panicking. He's not even with me.Meagan: Oh no!Lauren: Yeah and I'm like, “Oh my gosh, I've got to call him right now.” They were like, “Call him.” So I call him. I was like, “Listen, I know I called you an hour ago and things were progressing slowly, but you have to be here now.” He was like, “Lauren, I've got an hour and a half.” I was like, “Permission to speed. Permission to put your cute little sports car to work. Go fast.” He was there in 45 minutes. He showed up. They were like, “Hold the baby.” There are the funniest things that you remember. It's like, “Okay.” My epidural half-worked. I was still having pain, but it was this weird floating area of, “I can feel pain on my left side, but not on my right side,” and so it was this weird state of where I was. I'm actually kind of grateful for it because I still got that natural birth feeling that I wanted. I still very much felt the ring of fire and the birth and at the same time, I feel like the hard contractions were taken away.So it was a nice in-between that I felt. But as soon as my husband got there, my labor nurse was like, “Listen, Lauren. I just need to tell you that because of your long list,” here it comes again, “because of this long list, you might end up with a Cesarean. I want you to know that they are preparing for it.” This time now, I'm uncontrollably crying because this is not what I wanted. She was like, “I need to also tell you something else.” I was like, “What?” She was like, “There are going to be probably 12-15 people in this room as you give birth.” I was like, “What? How many people?”Meagan: Why? Why so many people?Lauren: Exactly, because it was a learning hospital. Meagan: Oh, okay. Lauren: My doctor had his two doctors and my labor nurse had three assistants, and then I had the NICU team for the baby, and that's what it was. So I had the NICU doctor plus his three assistants or residents, and then they brought people in to watch me have this VBAC after accreta and after hemorrhaging. I wanted to be fully present for this birth. I told the nurse, “I want to grab my baby and I want to pull my baby out. That's what I want. I want to pull him out. I want him out on my chest.” They were like, “Lauren, the realization of that happening– if he cries, sure. If he doesn't cry, we are so sorry. We have to take him. We have to.” I'm praying. Long story short, the baby comes straight out. I mean, he's 4 pounds. They estimated him to be 3 pounds, but he was 4 pounds. He comes out. I got to watch the whole thing with the mirror. I had one of those resident people taking pictures the whole time, so I got really good pictures of my birth and here he is. He's screaming, so he has healthy lungs. I was just so happy that he had healthy lungs. I was like, “Okay. We're good.” Anyway, I got to hold him for about one minute while we did delayed cord clamping, and then I had to hand him over. I didn't get to see him again for hours and hours which was really hard, but I had done it. I had done it and I had my VBAC. It was successful. I'm just so grateful through my whole entire story that it had gone the way I really wanted it to go. I feel like I was prepared for so many things. Right after he was born, they were like, “Okay, the placenta is not stuck, Lauren. There's no accreta. Check. Lauren, you're not hemorrhaging. Check. Now, we just have to stitch you up.” I remember him taking way too long to stitch me up, but I just remember what I always wanted. I was able to jump out of my bed. The epidural got turned off and I was able to get up and start walking within an hour and a half. That's the whole reason for me. I want this vaginal birth, but I want to be present whereas, for my Cesarean, it took me almost a full 12-24 hours before I could really get out of my bed. It's just very different and I'm very grateful. I'm very grateful for the information that I received through this podcast to help me get the birth story that I wanted. I'm hoping that my story can help some of you out there that are listening that maybe struggle with infertility and any of the same things I did. I hope I give you some hope. Meagan: Yes. Oh my gosh. So many miracles in your story. So many miracles.Lauren: So many. Meagan: From moving to Boston and finding the doctor that you did find because that in itself, there are so few doctors out there who even know much about this, and then to go through all that you did to get pregnant and then trusting that, “Okay. This baby is just wanting to be this way and this is the journey.” And then again, not getting pregnant and what a crazy thing that all of a sudden, you are pregnant after months and then years!Lauren: Mhmm. They did a pathology. They did testing on my placenta to see why this all happened and why I PPROMd. It was because, I don't even know what they are called, but the placenta has the phalanges that attach to the uterus and it pumps the vitamins and nutrients in. Mine were scarred over and adhesive. They had adhesives and they were swollen. He wasn't getting the proper nutrition that he needed, which was why he came early. I can't help but think, “Oh, maybe that's my Asherman's.” They tell me it's because of COVID because I had COVID.Meagan: That's another question I was going to ask. Have you had COVID? From what I have heard, even the vaccine, which is interesting how yours is linked to the opposite with starting your period. They are saying that COVID vaccines are related to changing cycles and things like that. But sometimes, if they get the vaccine, then they go into premature labor. We've been seeing a lot of people get COVID and then their placentas are just like, “Hey, I'm done,” and they send the message to the body that they need to have a baby. I'm curious. Maybe it's a little bit of all of it. I don't know. COVID stuff is all a mystery. It's all very a fascinating thing.Lauren: Well, I'll tell you that the NICUs are definitely full. The doctors are definitely telling people that it's because of COVID that so many of these women are having early, premature births. Meagan: So interesting. How long before did you have COVID?Lauren: I had COVID at Christmas and I PPROM'd in late February. He was born on February 23rd. Meagan: Crazy, so a couple of months. Lauren: A month and a half-ish. Meagan: Yeah. Interesting. So interesting. Well, I am so grateful for you for getting up at not even dawn, for getting up in the middle of the night to share your beautiful stories with us. We are so happy for you and grateful for you. I will promise you this. You are going to touch someone out there. I know you will. Lauren: Thanks. I really appreciate that and again, thank you so much for having me. 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 Julie and Meagan's bios, head over to thevbaclink.com. Congratulations on starting your journey of learning and discovery with The VBAC Link. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Brooke Schrader had her first baby four months to the day before her 40th birthday. And five months after her 40th birthday she moved to Arizona with her family for a job. And throughout that year she was suffering from postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety. As someone who dealt with depression and anxiety previously, she anticipated some postpartum issues. But she was caught unaware when the ‘baby blues' slipped into something more significant. Plus, her usual coping tools and strategies didn't work with a new baby. Oh, and throw a midlife crisis on top of it all. Forty was a challenging year for Brooke. Guest Bio Brooke was born and raised in New England and currently resides in Gilbert, Arizona. In 2010, she embarked on a new adventure on the west coast. It was there in San Diego that she met her husband Brett. Brett and Brooke got married in 2015 and immediately tried to start a family. Unfortunately, it was not as easy as they had hoped. They were lucky though because after one round of IUI, Brooke was pregnant. After a relatively normal “geriatric” pregnancy, Brooke and Brett welcomed a healthy baby girl, Everly, on June 11, 2017. With a new baby, the prospect of a new job that would bring the family to a new state and the big 4-0 all within a few months of each other, 2017 was set to be an exciting year. Little did she know that the weeks following Everly's birth she would find herself back in the hospital fighting an infection followed by almost a year of severe postpartum anxiety and depression. This is Brooke's story of what it was like for her to become a first time mom in her 40s. Meet BrookeBrooke Schrader was a New England girl, born and bred. She moved to San Diego at 33, met her husband at 35, got married at 37 and had her daughter in 2017 at age 39. Then, in 2018, she was up for a promotion at work that would relocate her to Arizona. That meant convincing her husband, who had been born and raised in the most beautiful place in the world, to move to the desert. At first he was resistant - not to moving, but to Arizona. Then, he looked at the price of buying a house and he got on board with the idea. Brooke works as a client relations executive at ADP Total Source. She likes it well enough that she hopes it's the last company she will work for. Brooke had her daughter four months to the day before she turned 40. She turned 40 in October 2017 and moved to Arizona in March 2018. A lot happened that year! Getting PregnantAs a younger woman, Brooke wasn't sure she wanted to have children. She had an absentee father and never wanted to pass that experience along to another generation. But when she met her husband, Brett, they knew they were meant to be together and, shortly after, they knew they wanted to have a child. At her age, though, getting pregnant wasn't easy. It took a couple years, and the help of IUI, Intrauterine insemination. The doctors told her it had a 6% chance of working so she was shocked to find out she was pregnant. She had a good pregnancy, and even saw the bright side of gestational diabetes, which she said helped her to not gain too much weight since she had to be careful of what she ate. Giving birth was uneventful but two nights later she ended up in the hospital with an infection in her uterus. She had a temperature of 103. She called the nurse on duty who said she should go to the hospital, but she didn't want to because that meant leaving her two-day-old daughter. But the nurse told her she might leave her daughter forever if she didn't take care of herself. She went to the hospital by herself since her husband had to take care of the newborn. She found herself crying hysterically in the waiting room, thinking she was starving her baby to death. She was crying so much that a stranger handed her tissues and then walked away. A friend suggested formula, which her fever-brain hadn't even considered. She called her husband and...
Intrauterine devices, also known as IUDs, are a popular form of birth control in this country. This week on The Dose, Dr. Renée Hall, medical director of Kelowna General Hospital's Women's Services Clinic, shares what you need to know about IUDs.
Join Aileen and a GUEST, as they talk about conspiracy theories, population control, and perhaps the worst IUD in human history – the Dalkon Shield. Surprisingly, there are no digressions (huh, who even knew these were possible) Sources Adeolu Oluwaseyi Oyekan, Conspiracy theories and pandemic management in Africa: critical reflections on contexts, contradictions and challenges (2021) Anna C. “Instrument of Torture”: The Dalkon Shield Disaster (2016) Asia Murphy, Conservation's Biggest Challenge? The Legacy of Colonialism (Op-Ed), (2019) Butte College, TIP Sheet: Conspiracy and Conspiracism (2019) Charlotte McDonald, How Many Earths do we Need? (2015) Clare L. Roepke & Eric A. Schaff, Long Tail Strings: Impact of the Dalkon Shield 40 Years Later (2014) David Pendergast, Colonial wildlife conservation and the origins of the Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the Empire (1903–1914) (2003) E. Wesley F. Peterson, The Role of Population in Economic Growth (2017) Egypt Initiative for Personal Rights, Beyond superstition: How IUDs moved (2021) Hala Iqbal, How the CIA's fake Hepatitis B vaccine program in Pakistan helped fuel vaccine distrust (2021) Heather Prescott, “This Is Not A Dalkon Shield”: The Renaissance Of The Intrauterine Device In The United States” (2016) Hippolyte Fofack, Changing the Africa Population Narrative (2021) Jan-Willem van Prooijen, Karen M Douglas, Conspiracy Theories as Part of History: The Role of Societal Crisis Situations (2017) Karl Ittmann, African Populations and British Imperial Power, 1800–1970 (2022) Lisa Baker, Control and the Dalkon Shield (2001) Mark Dowie, Barbara Ehrenreich, Stephen Minkin, The Charge: Gynocide (1979) NHS, Intrauterine device (IUD) (2021) Planned Parenthood, IUD (n.d.) Rachel Sullivan Robinson, Population Policy Adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Interplay of Global and Local Forces, (2016) Rainey Howitz, The Dalkon Shield, (2018)
Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is a procedure commonly done in fertility clinics around the world. We place the sperm inside the uterus, close to the fallopian tubes. If you're going to do IUI treatment, you want it to work. Tune in as I break down the steps to give you the best chance of success at IUI. I'll take you through what I typically do with my patients to give you insight into what you can expect! Read the full show notes on Dr. Aimee's website Do you have questions about IVF?Click here to join Dr. Aimee for The IVF Class. The next live class call is on Monday, May 16, 2022 at 4pm PST, where Dr. Aimee will explain IVF and there will be time to ask her your questions live on Zoom. Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more fertility tips! Join Egg Whisperer School Checkout the podcast Subscribe to the newsletter to get updates Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh is one of America's most well known fertility doctors. Her success rate at baby-making is what gives future parents hope when all hope is lost. She pioneered the TUSHY Method and BALLS Method to decrease your time to pregnancy. Learn more about the TUSHY Method and find a wealth of fertility resources at www.draimee.org.
One of the common dilemma most patient's encounter is, should I even try IUI's. IUI's are known to be lower chance than IVF. At best they are up to ~22% per month, whereas IVF is above 60% per transfer. In today's episode we discuss this question and when and when not IUI is worth trying, and when it is not.
In this episode, we review the high-yield topic of Intrauterine Fetal Demise from the Obstetrics section. Follow Medbullets on social media: Facebook: www.facebook.com/medbullets Instagram: www.instagram.com/medbulletsofficial Twitter: www.twitter.com/medbullets
In this episode, we review the high-yield topic of Intrauterine Growth Restriction from the Obstetrics section. Follow Medbullets on social media: Facebook: www.facebook.com/medbullets Instagram: www.instagram.com/medbulletsofficial Twitter: www.twitter.com/medbullets
Actress and playwright Rachel Diamond never intended to be the “Poster Child” for sterilization. What she knew was that she didn't want to have children. But in spite of a copper Intrauterine device (IUD), a back-up form of birth control, and a fertility-challenged partner, Rachel became pregnant. The pregnancy was ectopic; a potentially fatal condition in which the embryo implants, and can begin to grow, in an area other than the uterus. Finding herself in the Emergency Room, Rachel asked for doctors to perform a surgery involving her fallopian tubes to ensure she wouldn't become pregnant again. When they refused, it sparked a lengthy process of Rachel taking on a mission of medical advocacy.While many people are familiar with the reference of women who don't want to become pregnant and “have their tubes tied,” Rachel's request was to have her “tubes” “cut.” Her story was featured in a recent New York Post article (linked at www.ImFriendsWithYouNotYourBaby.com) examining a growing number of women telling their doctors they're certain they don't want kids.
In Episode 2, we begin to tell our story. The first chapter of which is about Unexplained Infertility. We wanted to jump right in and discuss a topic that many have experienced but almost nobody talks about. Other subtopics include: -The Stigma of Infertility -Struggles of "trying" unsuccessfully -When sex isn't fun anymore -The sales tactics of modern fertility clinics -Why doesn't health insurance cover fertility treatments in America? -Clomid Treatments -A woman's biological clock -Nature vs Science (how far are we willing to go?) -Intrauterine insemination (IUI) -The mean fertility nurse -We finally found the right doctor for us! (Dr. Evans) https://www.pfcla.com/doctors/michele-evans/ -Failed attempt at IUI -We have a heartbeat www.thankfulforpod.com
Dr. Lauren Tabor & Dr. Catherine Bevan of FĒNOM on Intrauterine Device (IUD) Birth Control Today we’re going to talk about something that’s really important birth control. Specifically we’re talking about IUD. This is an important conversation because most people, when they think about birth control, their immediate assumption is birth control pills. Today, we are going to talk with Dr. Lauren Tabor & Dr. Catherine Bevan about the different types of intrauterine device birth control, and if they could be the right choice for you.
In this week's episode, the Good GP welcomes back Dr Karin Sekhon to discuss long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs). This episode covers LARCs and Intrauterine devices (IUDs). Karin explains how they work, the procedures, contraindications and side effects. We also cover contraceptive injections. Dr Sekhon is a practicing GP with a special interest in women's health. Helpful resources: LARCs RACGP journal article: https://www.racgp.org.au/afp/2017/october/larcs-as-first-line-contraception/ Marie Stopes Australia: https://www.mariestopes.org.au/contraception/larc/ SHQ contraception choices: https://shq.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Contraception-choices-2021_final.pdf SHQ LARC flyer: https://shq.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/SHQ-contraceptive-implant_web2019.pdf SHQ copper IUD: https://shq.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/SHQ-copper-IUD_web2019.pdf SHQ hormonal IUD: https://shq.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/SHQ-Hormonal-IUD_web2019.pdf SHQ contraceptive injection: https://shq.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/SHQ-contraceptive-injection_web2019.pdf
A mind-blowing conversation on reproductive tech, how it's already changed us and what's on the horizon, with Rachel Lehmann-Haupt. A rise in the age of motherhood, an explosion in single parent families and sci-fi level realities in repro tech are changing our options. Technologies like egg freezing, in vitro fertilization, the use of donor eggs, 3-parent embryos, external wombs...and even the option to become a “DIY mom”.In this Episode, we cover:Changes in parenting in today's society, especially in motherhood.Inclusions and refinements that need to be done in current government policies and childcare systems.Rachel's story and her “Modern Family”Rachel's on her forthcoming book, “Reconceptions: A Story of Love, Science and the Future of Family”Current Reproductive Technologies - The collaboration with Science and drawing the line for human reproductionFuture of incubators, artificial wombs and data on today's childbirthMultiple roles as a parent in our children's lifeSome terminologies to learn: -Artificial insemination -Intrauterine insemination (IUI) -In vitro fertilization (IVF) -In vitro gametogenesis (IVG) -Parthogenesis -Dosies -and MORE!Rachel Lehmann-Haupt's Forthcoming book: Seven years after raising her son as a single mother by choice, Lehmann-Haupt decides to meet her son's “dosies,” or donor siblings, and their parents. Reconceptions: A Story of Love, Science and the Future of Family, tells the story of the relationships she and her son form with this modern tribe of mothers and DNA siblings while at times she meets and tells the intimate stories of other new families shapes and the reproductive technologies shaping the future of family.Helpful Links:The Art and Science Family newsletter - about leading edge scientific research on the changing shape and nature of modern family planning | Sign-up HERE StoryMade Studio - focuses on developing and marketing digital stories for health brandsTo get updates on Rachel's forthcoming book, Reconceptions: A Story of Love, Science and the Future of Family that will be published on 2022, Visit and Like her Facebook GroupIn Her Own Sweet Time: Egg Freezing and the New Frontiers of Family book by Rachel Lehmann-HauptJane Metcalfe's Neo.Life - Get the book: a collection of 25 essays, interviews, and works of fiction and art offering a big-picture perspective on the profound changes made possible by the merging of biology and technology.A Womb with a View - article by Rachel Lehmann-Haupt on Neo.lifeFollow Rachel on InstagramShould I freeze my eggs?Perineal Massage and the New Mom: Let's Talk About EverythingListening Within, Self-Care, Birth Equity and More with Latham Thomas (MamaGlow)Normalizing the conversation on reproductive healthFind Rosebud Woman on Instagram as @rosebudwoman and Christine on Instagram as @the.rose.woman See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
The Fertility Motherhood and Wellness Show -True Stories with Dr Rajeev
If pain wasn't bad enough for a woman to suffer, Endometriosis also causes Infertility in most of the women it affects. The questions Dr Apoorva Pallam Reddy and I have tried addressing in this podcast are: How does Endometriosis cause Infertility? How should a woman with Endometriosis take her fertility journey forward? Is natural conception possible or advisable in a woman with endometriosis? Role of Intrauterine insemination and IVF in Endometriosis Should endometriotic cysts be removed or drained? Should chocolate cysts be left untouched? Is there a role of medical therapy in Endometriosis and Infertility? Is the success of IVF the same in a woman with Endometriosis? Some take-home messages: Endometriosis is a progressive disease Sometimes it may take up to 8 years before a diagnosis can be made The symptoms do not correlate with the severity of the disease Endometriosis causes infertility Fallopian tubes are usually open in endometriosis giving a false sense of complacency that pregnancy can occur naturally Endometriosis is bound to recure after both medical and surgical management Treatment will depend on the age, the symptoms, and the need for fertility Speak to your doctor about future plans and the pitfalls of surgery before getting a laparoscopy done. Dr Apoorva Pallam Reddy is a Gynaecologist, IVF specialist, Laparoscopic surgeon and Aesthetic Gynaecologist from Bangalore. At a very young age, she has achieved the knowledge and expertise that's enviable. We work together on many projects together including hosting a series called “What Women Want” on Instagram as well as an Academy for training young Gynaecologists in Infertility called International Fertility Academy. An oration at any conference is like the coveted guest lecture which is given by someone very very senior and is usually in the main hall of the conference where every delegate, Indian and foreign is listening. You could almost compare it to a lifetime achievement award. I am proud to say that Dr Apoorva is the young fertility expert in the country to have delivered this Oration at a national conference and that too 2 years ago. To know more about her visit: http://www.drapoorvapallam.com and https://www.instagram.com/drapoorvapallamreddy. #endometriosis #endometrioticcyst #endometriosisandinfertility #chocolatecyst #endometriosissociety #endometriosishelp #endometriosisforum --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rajeev-agarwal2/message
Gary Chapman, author of The 5 Love Languages, found 5 general categories through which humans give and receive love. The categories are: words of affirmation, quality time, physical touch, gift giving (and receiving), and acts of service. Each of these love languages plays uniquely into our lives, and they help us understand our loved ones. In today's episode we go into depth on each of these love languages, what makes them tick, what makes them happy, and how they relate to our money mentalities. We also discuss: The importance of physical touch Thorough communication of your needs Understanding the differences between people's love languages Resources: Sea-sential fact - Intrauterine cannibalism The 5 Love Languages The 5 Love Languages Quiz Previous Episode: The Psychology of Money Let's connect: Website: www.funfrugalfree.com Instagram: @funfrugalfree Etsy Shop: www.etsy.com/shop/FunFrugalFree Email: funfrugalfree3@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/funfrugalfree/support
Today we'll be covering Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC), going along with this month's theme, Newborn Medicine. If you haven't listened to our podcast before, each week we have a case-based discussion about a medical topic to help you study for the pediatric medicine board exam. Episodes are released every weekend, and the case is then reviewed and reinforced on social media throughout the week. Follow the podcast on social media: Facebook- @portablepeds (www.facebook.com/portablepeds) Twitter- @portablepeds (www.twitter.com/portablepeds) We'd love to hear from you via email at portablepeds@gmail.com! Also, feel free to visit our website, www.portablepeds.com, for more content. Today's Case: An infant was born weighing 1,250g at 30 weeks gestation due to premature rupture of membranes. Pregnancy complications included maternal cocaine use and intrauterine growth restriction. As feeds were introduced with donor breast milk, the infant appeared to have increased discomfort with feeds. The baby went on to develop necrotizing enterocolitis, also known as NEC, at 20 days of life. Which of the following is NOT a risk factor for the development of NEC? Pre-term birth Very low birth weight (defined as < 1,500g) Intrauterine growth restriction Maternal cocaine use Feeding with donor breast milk We would like to give an enormous thank you to Zack Goldmann for designing this podcast's logo and accompanying artwork. You can find more of his work at www.zackgoldmann.com. The intro and outro of this podcast is a public domain song obtained from scottholmesmusic.com. Intro/Outro- Hotshot by Scott Holmes Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for healthcare professionals. The information presented is for general educational purposes only and should NOT be used as professional medical advice or for the diagnosis or treatment of medical conditions. The views and opinions expressed do not represent the views and opinions of our employer or any affiliated institution. Expressed opinions are based on specific facts, under certain conditions, and subject to certain assumptions and should not be used or relied upon for any other purpose, including, but not limited to, the diagnosis or treatment of medical conditions or in any legal proceeding. Full terms and conditions can be found at portablepeds.com. Thanks for listening! As always, please Rate and Review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Facebook, or your favorite podcasting platform. Also, Subscribe to get all the latest episodes, and Share this episode with someone you think would enjoy it! Hope to see you real soon!
When I brought Nikki onto my show, I thought we were going to talk mostly about exercise, pelvic blood flow, and optimizing fertility through movement, but she's very open about her past struggles with fertility. So, we ended up talking about some really interesting and important topics regarding her personal journey with IVF. Nikki happens to be one of Canada's most sought-after health and fitness experts. With a background as a Pilates instructor and former professional dancer, she serves as an inspirational trainer and creative educator with a passion for encouraging women to lead happier, healthy lives. I also cherish her as part of my amazing group of local female entrepreneurs kicking ass in my neck of the woods! She's dedicated her life to creating fitness programs with creative choreography from science. Each is specifically designed to enable women to ditch the guilt and bring balance into their bodies. The methods combine physical therapy with Pilates-style functional movement, which helps women improve incontinence, prolapse, and diastasis recti. In today's episode, we discuss Nikki's experience with IVF due to male factor infertility. We dive into her unhappiness with her clinic and switching doctors, advocating for herself, and being a Type A personality embracing surrender. Also, she shares some great tips regarding exercise and body movement during fertility struggles. This is a great interview with an expert trainer who displays her passion for helping women feel confident and strong throughout their pregnancy, postpartum, and beyond. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did! Show Notes: [02:41] - Michelle welcomes Nikki to the show and asks her to tell us a little about herself. [05:21] - Michelle recalls how she and Nikki met and wants to hear more about her fertility journey. [06:13] - Why did Nikki feel like she and her husband had to get tested? [07:49] - Before her first IUI (intrauterine insemination), Nikki had to undergo an unexpected surgery to get rid of this. [08:46] - Find out why Nikki felt like her old clinic was just throwing darts at a board to see if something stuck. [09:39] - Nikki switched clinics and started trying IVF instead. It made a huge difference for her mentally too. [10:07] - Michelle has frequent discussions with her patients surrounding trust issues with fertility recommendations from other experts. [11:14] - Hear the response Michelle often gets from her patients and the advice Nikki offers on how to advocate for yourself. [13:48] - Nikki describes the fertility process at her new clinic. She and her husband had fairly good luck at this point, but not in the way she expected. [15:18] - After a frank discussion, Nikki decides to take her chances despite the odds of success against her favor. Listen to what happened next. [18:02] - Michelle explains ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) for those unfamiliar with the term. [19:07] - The word “surrender” was a mantra for Nikki that didn't come easily to her, especially because of her Type A personality. [19:55] - Nikki recounts a conversation with a friend who asked her this important question. [20:42] - Feeling like her husband wasn't as diligent, Nikki describes how she felt resentment toward him. [21:40] - Michelle shares some Canadian statistics about male and female factor infertility and other observations based on her clinic experience. [23:09] - Michelle and Nikki describe how people express a patriarchal attitude towards women in fertility-seeking partnerships. [24:36] - Nikki emphasizes pragmatism and working together, not playing the blame game. Yet, it's entrenched in society. [25:25] - Seeking an end to unsolicited comments from her father, Nikki recalls telling him about her first false pregnancy alarm. [27:24] - Nikki offers some advice on how to deal with unsolicited comments from others. [28:56] - Surprisingly, Nikki found a lot of support in an unexpected place. She found the women here truly a lifeline for her. [29:44] - How are you supposed to exercise if you're looking to conceive? The answer differs for everyone, but here's what Michelle and Nikki do and don't recommend. [32:33] - Nikki sees this as the perfect exercise and asks these questions of people who insist on doing something strenuous. [34:25] - What does Nikki regard as the key to exercise? She shares this sentiment with women when they're postpartum too. [35:50] - There's a tendency to have less and less trust in your body the further you go in the process. Nikki shares how to listen to your body and the ways we're trained to ignore it. [38:05] - Michelle urges Nikki to tell us about her Belle Method and the inspiration to create it. [39:39] - Nikki discusses progressive overload versus what she calls “progressive underload.” She guides her clients to slowly scale things up and down. [42:29] - Before signing off, here's Nikki's advice to someone who's just getting started in their fertility journey. [45:02] - Hear what Nikki admitted after Michelle stopped recording. Links and Resources: Diastasis recti Intrauterine insemination (IUI) Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) Progressive overload The Belle Method @thebellemethod on Instagram The Universe Has Your Back by Gabrielle Bernstein Michelle Kapler @fertilityacademy on Instagram Fertility Academy Community
Intrauterine insemination, or IUI for short, is one of the most commonly used infertility treatments. As an infertility patient, this is sometimes one of the first type of treatment protocols your doctor may prescribe for you, depending on your specific diagnosis. In this episode, join Dr. Neil Chappell and Fertility Answers IVF nurse Caroline Porter as they discuss the details of an IUI treatment cycle and what to expect throughout the process.
In this episode, we meet Silka, a mother of three who desperately wanted to experience a vaginal birth when she was pregnant with her first baby. After booking in with the birth centre and feeling ready to vaginally birth her baby, she felt that her baby wasn't thriving and had a growth scan to check on her baby. After finding out that her baby had Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) she was kept in hospital for monitoring. After another scan Silka was shocked to learn the next day she would deliver her baby by c-section. Something she had never considered and felt very overwhelmed by. Her tiny baby was sent to NICU as soon as she was born for weeks and Silka knew something was wrong and suspected Deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Knowing she wanted a VBAC with her next baby Silka advocated for a VBAC where she felt she was constantly being the told of the risk of VBAC. After being told after a growth scan her baby would be 12-13 pounds at delivery Silka felt pushed into another C-section. Suffering birth trauma and not planning on another baby, Silka was surprised to find herself pregnant a few years later and unsure of what to do after being told once two c-sections that was her only choice moving forward. Silka advocated for herself yet again and felt deeply she wanted to have a VBA2C, connecting with a supportive midwife to finding herself on a journey to homebirth Silka experienced a calm and healing HBA2C. This story is filled with so many twists and turns that it's surely not one to be missed! Listen to this episode to find out more about Silka's healing homebirth after 2- csections. Want support finding your voice, confidence & be supported during your VBAC journey check out this online community with pregnant & new mothers - Journey into Motherhood - https://members.themotherhoodcircle.com.au/join-3/
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