Podcasts about placental abruption

High Yield Placenta Previa & Placental Abruption (abruptio placentae) ReviewReview for your PANCE, PANRE, Eor's, Physician Assistant exams, Medical, USMLE, Nursing Exams.Merchandise Link: https://cram-the-pance.creator-spring.com/►Paypal Donation Link: https://bit.ly/3dxmTql (Thank you!)Included in review: Placental abruption Abruptio placentae Placenta previa Third trimester bleeding Vaginal bleeding during pregnancy Abdominal pain in pregnancy Pregnancy risk factors High-yield OB/GYN review Clinical manifestations Ultrasound diagnosis Maternal hemorrhage Retroplacental hematoma Emergency obstetrics Fetal distress OB/GYN board review Placental disorders Pregnancy emergencies Hypertension in pregnancy Smoking and pregnancy risks Medical mnemonics for examsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cram-the-pance--5520744/support.

Jacqueline re-shares more of her fertility story including the miraculous births of her sons! In this episode she discusses IVF, the NICU, surgeries, hospital stays, a stillbirth and dealing with the emotional and physical challenges of miscarriages and premature delivery. Jacqueline emphasizes the importance of resilience, therapy, and the power of pausing to heal, offering an intimate look at the challenges and triumphs of motherhood and infertility.ALL THE THINGS:Motherhood Intended websiteJoin our FREE Motherhood Intended CommunityFollow @motherhood_intended on InstagramDownload a FREE Month-by-Month Guide to Feeling Grounded & Focused on Your Journey to BabyDownload a FREE Habit & Goal TrackerLeave a review for the podcastApply to be a guest on the show!Send us a Text Message with questions, suggestions, or to just say hello!Support the showIf you're interested in helping give the absolute greatest gift to deserving intended parents, learn more about becoming a surrogate (and earn up to $650 just for taking the first few simple steps!): share.conceiveabilities.com/hello12

“Getting that VBAC meant everything to me. It helped so much with the trauma of it all.”At 36 weeks along with her first, Ashley started to have intense carpal tunnel pain. At 38 weeks, it was unbearable. Her provider said that delivery would be the only way to find relief and recommended a 39-week induction. Ashley had a difficult labor and pushing experience. Her provider recommended a C-section due to a cervical lip and no progress after just an hour and a half. Ashley consented and felt defeated. She started her VBAC prep the day she got home from the hospital. At 29 weeks with her second, Ashley had plans for a beautiful trip to Saint Thomas with her husband and toddler. She began contracting the night before her flight but didn't think much of it and made it to their gate– while still contracting. As the plane was boarding, she passed a blood clot in the airport. She knew she needed to go to the hospital. In spite of many interventions trying to stop labor, Ashley birthed her baby via VBAC just hours later. She later learned that she had a possible placental abruption that wasn't detected until her doctor examined her placenta after delivery. Though Ashley's postpartum experience was tough balancing life with a newborn in the NICU for 8 weeks while having a toddler at home, the victory of having a VBAC carried her through. The power of a positive birth experience is real and worth fighting for!Pregnancy-Related Carpal Tunnel ArticleHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode Details Meagan: Hello, Women of Strength. It is Meagan with my friend, Ashley. Hello, Ashley. Ashley: Hi. Meagan: How are you today? Ashley: I am good. How are you doing?Meagan: I am doing great. I'm loving all of the stories we are recording and so excited to hear yours. You have a more unique VBAC in the sense that it was a very premature VBAC. Ashley: Mhmm, yep. Meagan: Yes. We are going to talk a little bit more about that. You're going to share information for NICU moms because your baby did go to the NICU. You are a mom of two and a children's therapist. Can you tell us a little bit more about what you do for work? Ashley: Yeah. I work with kids ages 4-18. Right now, I'm Telehealth only. I actually work in Tooele, Utah, but I live in North Carolina. Everything is Telehealth. It happened with COVID. I was out there during COVID. We moved and continued to do Telehealth since I've moved. I really only see 10 and up at this point. Yeah. I see a lot of teenagers all through Telehealth and it's really wonderful that I get to keep that up. Meagan: That's so awesome. That's awesome that you got to keep doing it, and that you are serving our children. I'm sure that you have lots to say about our children and their mental health that is going on out there, but there is a lot. It is a lot of these kiddos of ours. Ashley: Absolutely, yeah. It's hard and challenging, but it's also really wonderful and rewarding. I love that I get to do it. Meagan: Yeah. Well, thank you so much for all of your hard work out there. Ashley: Yeah, absolutely. Meagan: We do have a Review of the Week, so I want to get into that, then I really want to turn the time over to share both of these journeys. This review is from Sienna. It says, “After having a very hard conversation with my OB where I learned she was in fact not VBAC tolerant or friendly, I texted my best friend through tears pouring down my face and she immediately sent me a text back with The VBAC Link Podcast. Ever since, I have been listening to every episode of the podcast. It is so beyond helpful and inspiring for anyone preparing for a VBAC. I'm due at the September, and have made the goal to listen to every single episode before then. I can't say enough for what Meagan and Julie are doing for women like me. I can't wait to rock my VBAC.” Oh, I love that review. Thank you so much, Sienna, and I can't wait for you to have an incredible VBAC. Way to go for realizing that your provider may not be the right provider for you. I think there are so many people who walk through the VBAC journey who think they may have a supportive provider, then at the very last minute, they are having those conversations and realizing, “Oh, shoot. I may not be in the right place.” It is okay to switch and keep interviewing and discussing with your provider. If your provider doesn't feel like talking to you about your VBAC or says, “You've got months to go. We don't need to talk about that right now,” those might be red flags and things you might want to reconsider. Thank you, Sienna, for your review. If you haven't yet, please leave a review. You can Google us at “The VBAC Link” or you can leave it on the podcast platform that you are listening to us on.  Okay, Ashley. Thank you again so much for being here with us. Ashley: Yeah, absolutely. I'm so happy to be here. I never thought I would be. When I was preparing for my VBAC, I was listening every single day during my walks and I just thought, “Oh, if I get a VBAC, that would be wonderful,” but I never thought I would ever be on the show. It's crazy and wild to be here. Meagan: I love it. The more and more that we record, we learn that it goes full circle. We're in your ear all pregnancy with all these Women of Strength sharing their stories, inspiring you, building you up, and now, here you are inspiring and building others up as well. Ashley: Yeah. Yeah. It's cool to be here. Do you want me to talk about my first?Meagan: Yeah. Yeah. Every VBAC starts with a C-section, so let's start with your C-section story. Ashley: Yeah, for sure. For my first birth with my son, it was a pretty easy pregnancy for the most part. There were a couple of hiccups here and there. I had morning sickness in the beginning in the first trimester, but everything else was pretty smooth. At 13 weeks, I had a spell where I had a lot of bleeding. That was terrifying. I thought I was miscarrying. I called my provider and panicked. That was just the worst 4 hours of my life because I continuously bleed. They finally got me in for an ultrasound. They checked me and he was just really active and bouncing. They never knew why it happened, but I was fine. Meagan: Did they ever say anything about a subchorionic hematoma or anything like that?Ashley: That kind of sounds familiar, so that could have been it for sure, but I don't remember. But it stopped. After my ultrasound, the bleeding was done, and everything was fine. It was the weirdest thing, but definitely so scary. Yeah, it was terrifying. That was bad, and after that, after the first trimester, my morning sickness went away and everything was good for the most part. What happened though, I took birth classes. I took breastfeeding classes. I didn't do a ton of research. I just took my little birth class, and I thought that was enough. I actually think I skipped the C-section part. I was like, “I'm not going to need that.” I don't know why I was so weirdly confident that I was going to be able to have a vaginal birth, but it literally was something that I'm like, “I'm good,” and I didn't put much thought into it. I don't know why I did that. Meagan: A lot of people do. It's not what we want. It's not what we think is going to happen, so we just push it aside. Ashley: Yeah. Yeah. I didn't do any research at all, so I didn't need to know about that. I didn't want it obviously, so yeah. Everything was good until about 36 weeks I would say. I started to get carpal tunnel and it just got progressively worse and worse. It was bad. The last month of my pregnancy, it was unbearable. My fingers and wrists were numb 24/7. It was waking me up at night how painful my hands and fingers were. I couldn't do little things. I couldn't put a necklace on anymore. I couldn't put my earrings in because I couldn't use my fingers. It was so bad, and it was something I didn't know happened. It was pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel. I had so much swelling in my body. That's what they said it was. My midwife who I had found and really loved, she referred me to PT. I did that. I did wrist braces every night, and nothing helped. I kind of knew that was going to happen just doing some research. They say the only thing that gets rid of it is delivering your baby basically. Meagan: Do they know why it really starts? Is it something within the blood flow? Do we know? We don't know. Ashley: I don't know. My midwife just chalked it up to the swelling. My carpal tunnel was being squeezed by the swelling. I'm pretty petite as is, and then I was carrying so much water and so much weight that I think for me, my body just didn't respond well. I had the carpal tunnel. That was at 36 weeks when it started getting pretty bad. There wasn't a lot we could do about it. I really didn't want to have an induction. I didn't know much about it either. I didn't do a ton of research, but I knew I didn't want it. I just knew I wanted it to all go as naturally as possible and for my baby to come on his own timeline. By 38 weeks, I was miserable. I was like, “I don't think I can do this.” I was pretty big and uncomfortable, but that wasn't the part that was killing me. It was the carpal tunnel. It was bad. My provider said that we could do the membrane sweep each week. We did it at 38 weeks. We did it at 39 weeks, and we decided that if nothing happened after my second sweep, we would think about an induction. I was ready. I had to stop working a week before I even wanted to because I couldn't type anymore. It hurt to type, and I do a lot of assessments with my job where I am typing all of the time, using my mouse and keyboard. It was just awful. We did the membrane sweep at 39 weeks and nothing happened. I was curb walking. I was eating the dates. I was doing the things and drinking the tea. Nothing. So at 39+5, I got admitted for my induction at 8:00 PM. They did a Foley bulb, then they did the Cervadil I believe. That was all fine. I think they also gave me morphine. I think that's when they did that to manage pain. I looked at my notes, but it's kind of hard. Some things aren't super clear. But either way, I got a really bad rash. At the time, they thought it was PUPPS, but looking back, they thought it was a reaction to the morphine. Meagan: Oh shoot. Ashley: Yeah. I was so horribly itchy. Meagan: Yeah, that's miserable. You're in pain and itchy. Ashley: Yeah, and the carpal tunnel was still active. That was still happening. I don't remember it being super uncomfortable with the Foley bulb. I was more scared of it. I was more scared than it actually was painful. I was okay. I handled it okay. So then my water broke at 2:00 AM I believe. The Foley bulb came out and they started the Pitocin by 8:00 AM I believe because I wasn't moving enough. I wasn't dilating enough. My water broke at 2:00 AM. It was in at 8:00 AM. I started an epidural, I think, at 5:00 AM before the Pitocin because I was just in a lot of pain. That epidural, though, was done by a resident which I didn't know at the time. That was one thing I really didn't want. It wasn't placed correctly, and I had a ton of breakthrough pain. It was horrible. They actually ended up rethreading that at, I don't know, 4 hours later. They had to rethread the epidural, remove it, and put it back in by someone else. It was so bad. Meagan: You just had all of the things coming at you. Ashley: Yeah. I just say everything was botched from the start. It was during COVID. There wasn't a lot of staff. I felt ignored. There were hours when I didn't see anybody. The Pitocin wasn't managed very well either. I feel like they never really increased it. Like I said, after they started Pitocin, I didn't see anybody for 4 hours. It was absolutely horrible. Meagan: Wow. So they were just outside watching your strip, and you were doing okay so they were like, “All right, we'll just leave her.” Ashley: I think so. There were no providers. There was barely anybody on staff. I shouldn't say nobody was on staff. I should say that every single room was booked. They were at capacity, and they were low-staffed. It was just not great. I started Pitocin. I finally got to 8 centimeters. I had really, really bad back pain still, and then that was when the epidural was rethreaded or redone. So then it was just waiting for me to progress, but I couldn't feel anything at that point. I think I was just maxed out on pain stuff on the epidural being rethreaded. I had no control over my body whatsoever. I couldn't feel my legs. I couldn't get up and move. It was so awful. I couldn't feel contractions. I could see it on the monitor, and they would tell me I was having a contraction, but I couldn't feel anything. By 5:00 PM, they told me, “Okay, it's time to push.” I had no urges to push because I couldn't feel anything. I started pushing. I remember just being really out of it because of the epidural. That, and I'm sure there was morphine still. I was just out of it. I did not feel good or in control of my body. I just remember they told me to push. I was pushing for an hour and a half. Every time, they'd be like, “Okay, it's time to push.” I would try to push, but I felt like nothing was happening. I couldn't feel anything. Meagan: Yeah.Ashley: Yeah. I think that was probably the biggest reason why I had a C-section. I blame it on the no feeling and no control of my body. They had me push for an hour and a half, then they said that it wasn't happening enough. I was at 9.5 centimeters. They could see his head, but they said there was a cervical lip. They told me I wasn't getting past it is kind of what they said. They said, “You're not going to be able to get past it.” So after an hour and a half, they told me– well, my midwife, and she wasn't my midwife. She was whoever was on staff. She said, “I think we should talk about different options.” C-section came into it. She didn't think I was going to get past the cervical lip. I stalled, so they had an OB come in and talk to me. They said, “Let's bring him in and get his opinion.” He said the same thing, “I just don't think you're getting past this lip, and I think a C-section is the best course.” Looking back, I'm like, “I pushed for an hour and a half and they never tried to move me.” Given I couldn't feel my body, they never tried to reposition me. Now, I know that if that had happened, give me some pressure. Help me sit up. Maybe I could put some pressure on it. I know it's swollen, so putting pressure could have made it worse, but I just think there could have been so much more done that wasn't done. Meagan: Yeah, and sometimes those cervical lips are baby's head positioning. We've been pushing and aggravating the cervix, so rotating and getting the pressure off of the wrong spot and equalizing the pressure, or getting it over can help. Or sometimes that's what it needs. It's not the swelling, the cervix is just there, and it hasn't progressed all the way, so pushing, and pushing, and pushing against that is what causes that swelling. Then movement, time, or rest– there are so many things. There are things like Benadryl or things like that and things to help swelling, but that's unfortunate. They were understaffed, so I bet they were like, “We just have to have this baby.” Ashley: I think that's a lot to do with it. I felt a lot of pressure to just get the C-section. No other interventions were offered. Nobody talked about moving. Nobody talked about letting me rest. Now I know, afterward, when I was prepping with my second birth, I was like, “Yeah, I should rest. Yeah, I should let my body move. Yes, there are things I should do.” I didn't want an epidural, or I didn't want one that strong. That was a huge mistake in my eyes. I had an epidural with my second and it was great, but with my first, they just overdosed me. They gave me way too much. I went to the OR. I had my baby via C-section. I was so out of it. They gave me more pain meds back there because they were going to cut me open, then I couldn't feel my arms when I pulled my son out. They kept trying to hand him to me, and I could not move my arms. I was like, “Please stop.” It was so traumatic because I couldn't hold him, and they kept trying to give him to me. Everything was a blur for a while. I woke up in the recovery room. I didn't get to hold my baby for 2 hours after he was born just because I was so out of it. Then I got to hold him eventually. We were back in my room. I was there for a couple of days. Yeah. Recovering from that emotionally and physically was so hard. I didn't prep for it. I didn't expect it, and looking back, I was angry that it went the way it went. I feel like it didn't have to. He ended up being 9lbs, 1oz. His head was in the 97th percentile. He had a massive head, and he was a big baby, but I do think things could have gone a lot differently. Meagan: Did he have any swelling on any part of his head that would have indicated things like asyncliticism or a bruise or anything on his head from pushing?Ashley: No, but he had a cone head. He had a very– Meagan: Okay, so he was coning and getting caput. Okay. Ashley: That's it, yeah. Meagan: Okay. I was just wondering if there was anything specific to a positional thing, but it might have just been that your cervix wasn't fully progressed before you started pushing. Ashley: Yeah, I think that had a lot to do with it. When you think about it, I was admitted at 8:00 PM. He was born at 8:00 PM. It was 24 hours and I was on my back the whole time. I was not being moved. I was not being repositioned. Like I said, there was not a lot of staff around. I was ignored. I didn't know any better. I didn't know what I should or should not be doing. I didn't know that I should be moving. I think that had a lot to do with it, a lack of moving around and I was just on my back. Meagan: Yeah. Yeah. So had him and did you immediately know you wanted a different experience or were you just such in shock with everything that you couldn't even process that? Ashley: I knew I wanted a different experience. I remember being in my bed the day we brought my day home in the bassinet, and I remember being on Instagram just looking up C-section groups and support. That's when VBAC came to mind. I was like, okay. I can have a VBAC. I can do it differently next time. We only wanted two kids, so I knew that was my chance. For my second pregnancy, I really had to dedicate myself to how my body would allow, but that was so important to me right away, to have a VBAC. Meagan: Yeah. Did you immediately find a lot of resources? Ashley: I did. I believe that's when I started following The VBAC Link. I believe that's when it happened. There were some other C-section mama groups and stuff that I followed. That was really helpful. I would read people's comments and it brought me so much relief to know other people had experiences like mine and the way I was feeling was normal. That was super helpful. Meagan: Yeah. There's something about having that community behind you, validating you, helping you feel like you're not alone in this world going through this, you're not alone in this world wanting something different. A lot of people will say, “Why can't you just be grateful? Why are you trying to figure out a new pregnancy and birth when you're not even pregnant? You just got this beautiful newborn.” It's not that I don't love my newborn, and I don't want this time with my newborn, but I'm starting my journey now to have a different experience. It's okay that I didn't like my experience. I still love my baby. Ashley: Yeah. That was what I heard a lot. I heard, “At least your baby is here and they're healthy.” I know that was just well-intentioned, but yeah. That was really traumatic. My baby is here. My baby was healthy, and it was wonderful that he was born happy and healthy, but I didn't feel right about it. I felt like I didn't have control. I felt like I didn't have a choice. I felt really pressured, and I didn't have the birth that I expected to have. That was just really, really difficult. Meagan: Yeah. You also went through a lot between the reaction, but then also with carpal tunnel. You were restricted to even move your fingers, then in your birth, you couldn't even move your arms. It went heavier. My spinal also went higher with my second up into my lungs and into my arms. I remember feeling that panicked feeling just laying there. Everyone was doing their thing and I was like, “Oh, is this going to stop? How am I going to hold my baby?” and all of those feelings. Ashley: Yeah. Meagan: Well, okay. So you had this precious baby. You decided you wanted a different experience and how did that experience start? Ashley: Yeah. The second time around, I should say with my first that it took us a while to get pregnant. It took us 13 months. I was thinking– I don't know why it took so long. We were really trying. I was thinking that maybe that would happen again. I was mentally preparing for that. We had been trying for a couple of months. We moved. Right when we started trying was when we moved another state to North Carolina. I needed to find a provider. After getting settled for a couple months and had been trying for a couple of months, I found a provider who had really great reviews. I thought, this is great. I got in with her. That was really just to first get checked up, and then second, to have a plan for if we can't get pregnant in the next couple of months, what should we do? I was thinking about that one medication you can take that releases more eggs. I wanted to ask about that because almost 35 and I wanted to be on top of it. I met with her. She was really nice, but immediately, she didn't read my chart. She didn't know about my first birth. I had to tell her about it and give her that information. After I explained what happened, she basically said that it sounded like it was an anatomy thing for me. One, it was anatomy. I said right away, “I want a VBAC. This is my goal, absolutely.” After I told her my story, she said, “Well, that sounds like anatomy. When it's that, you're more likely to have a repeat C-section.” She was like, “I'll let you try, but the odds are that you're probably going to have a C-section.” I felt so defeated when I left that appointment. I kind of just accepted it and thought, okay. That's probably what's going to happen. She's the expert. She's got great reviews. She must know. I left that appointment and again, did some research, and I started seeing that it was not really true. You still can have a VBAC. What she was telling me was not true. I needed to find a different provider. That's what that meant. I just left it at that and waited. The next month, we got pregnant which was amazing. It only took us 5 months that time which I wasn't expecting. It was super exciting. I did research for VBAC-friendly providers. I found the most wonderful doctor. Her practice is pretty much all women doctors and midwives. They're all VBAC-supportive. When I met with my doctor, she said, “That's what I prefer. 100%, I prefer to do a VBAC. I think it's safer. I would much rather do that than a repeat C-section.” She was very gung-ho and it was great. As soon as we met, she already knew my chart. She read my previous birth. That was super refreshing. I didn't have to tell her anything and she had a plan for me. She said, “If you want a VBAC, this is going to be the plan. We're going to do everything we can to avoid any type of induction and intervention. That's what we want to do.” About the carpal tunnel, it was likely to come back because it was about my body, and it was more my body and my anatomy, and how I handle swelling. The carpal tunnel was likely to happen again, but the problem was the first time around, I got induced because of carpal tunnel. If this comes back, what are we going to do? She started me on a baby aspirin right away. That was more because I ended up having preeclampsia after I gave birth. Meagan: Postpartum-eclampsia. Ashley: Yes, yep. That didn't didn't affect me that much, but yeah. She said, “We want to prevent that, so at 10 weeks, I want you taking baby aspirin.” She said, “If carpal tunnel comes back, I think we should do steroid shots and that should be able to help with the pain. It will help you manage the pain, so we can get to birth without induction or interventions.” Right there, I felt so much relief because that was the reason induction happened the first time around, but I also was a little angry because I was like, why didn't my first midwife ever talk about that? It was never brought up. It was only PT. I don't know why that way, but again if I would have had that, I think I could have had a much better pregnancy the first time around. Meagan: Yeah, and gone through a lot less pain. Ashley: More manageable. Yeah, so I left that appointment feeling really good. I found this wonderful provider, and things were going to go differently this time around. I asked about this time if my baby was bigger, and she said, “No, it's not about weight. It's not about how big your baby is. It's about the way the head is positioned and the way the head is coming out. Big babies can be delivered vaginally.” She just said all of the right things. Meagan: Yes. Yes. When you were first telling me the story from the other provider who you met, I was shaking my head. With this one, I'm throwing my hands up like yes, yes, yes. Ashley: Yeah, that's how I felt. She was wonderful. That was such a relief. It was everything for me. I left that and right away started prep for a VBAC. I already exercised lightly every day, but I started exercising. I made that a priority. I did my 2-mile walk every day. I was drinking the red raspberry leaf tea. I was meeting with the chiropractor. I met with a doula and interviewed a doula. I got that set up. Yeah, everything was pretty smooth. I had horrible morning sickness. This was worse this time around with my second pregnancy. I got horrible pregnancy acne. I had never had acne in my life, and then during my pregnancy, it was just horrible. That's the worst. Everything else was smooth sailing. Meagan: Interesting. I wonder why. Ashley: I don't know. I thought for sure I was having a girl because I never had it with my first pregnancy, so I was like, maybe I'm having a girl this time around. And my morning sickness was worse, so with my pregnancy being so different this time around, I thought it must be a girl, but it wasn't. It was another boy. Meagan: It was?Ashley: Yeah, yeah. Meagan: Maybe the testosterone. I sometimes get testosterone acne. Maybe it was the testosterone. Maybe this baby had extra testosterone creating acne or something. Ashley: Yep, perhaps. I was just so convinced that I did everything. I bought baby girl clothes and all of that.Meagan: You were convinced. Ashley: Yeah, when I found out it was a boy, I was shocked. Everything was good though for the most part. There were no big issues once we got through the first trimester. What kind of happened was, I had never truly felt contractions before because with my first, I already had an epidural when I started to have contractions. I didn't know what they would feel like. I was exactly 28 weeks. I went to the bathroom and there was mucus. I didn't know. It was a lot. I ended up looking it up a lot and it looked like my mucus plug from what I saw. I had a doctor appointment the next day and after reading a bunch of things online, people didn't seem to think it was a big deal. They grow back and sometimes that happens, so I wasn't freaking out at all about that. I saw my doctor the next day, and she said that it was okay. It probably was just part of my mucus plug. She didn't seem very concerned. The next week, I was leaving for St. Thomas on our last vacation as a family of three. It was very important to me. I wanted to go to the beach with my toddler and have uninterrupted time with him before my baby came. This was in March. My baby was coming at the end of May, so I was going to be 29 weeks. It's a good time to travel I thought. We would get this great beach vacation with my toddler. I was cleared to travel. Everything was fine, and then the Monday when I was 28 weeks and 6 days, that night was horrible. I had so much pressure and I was tossing and turning all night. I just kept thinking I had to pee. I kept getting up, trying to go to the bathroom, and coming back to bed, but there was a lot of pressure. I didn't think much of it, and I just knew I didn't get good sleep. The next day was a Tuesday. All day long, I was having tightening on my stomach and pressure, but it wasn't consistent. I feel like it was every 20 minutes to every 40 minutes. I would feel a little bit of pain. It wasn't really bad though. I wouldn't even call it pain. I would call it discomfort. I looked it up online. I was exactly 29 weeks at that point. I saw Braxton Hicks, and I was like, “That's it. I'm just having Braxton Hicks.” It didn't happen with my first, so I didn't even know the difference. I was fine. I just went about my day. We were packing for vacation. We were leaving the next day. That night, that Tuesday night, we went to bed by 11:00 PM. We had to wake up at 5:00 AM for the airport. That night was excruciating. I could not sleep. I was in pain. I was having contractions every 10 or so minutes and tossing and turning. There was lots of pressure. I woke my husband up at 2:00 AM and we started talking about, “Should I go to the hospital?” I was like, “No, I think it's Braxton Hicks. I think it will go away,” which is crazy now that I look back. It was really painful, and I was really trying to–Meagan: Talk it down to Braxton Hicks, and you're early. You don't want to think about it. Ashley: Yeah, I was 29 weeks. There was no way. Again, it did not cross my mind that it was actually real contractions because I was so early. Yeah, then there was a huge degree of denial going on. There was gigantic denial because I just wanted that vacation so badly. Not that I wanted a vacation, but I wanted that time with my son on the beach. We had been talking about it, so I just wanted to make it happen. At 2:00 AM, I woke him up. We talked about it. I was just like, “Okay. I'm going to get a heating pad and put it on my belly. I'll just lay here and hopefully that will kill the pain.” I took some Tylenol as well, and it didn't do anything. By 4:00 AM, I was like, “I'm getting in that hot bathtub, and I'm just hoping that stops this.” I was in the bathtub, which again, should have been my sign that you should leave for the hospital if you have to get into the bathtub and use the heating pad. If all of this stuff was happening, I should have gone in. By 5:00 AM, I was up. We were loading the car, and we were off to the airport. The whole time I was walking into the airport, I was stopping myself in my tracks to have a contraction. Meagan: Oh my goodness. Ashley: I was walking through the airport stopping, catching my breath, then I'd keep walking. It is absolutely wild that I got that far. It was a far walk to our gate. I was doing that a lot, and finally, we got to the gate. We were waiting to board. We were 5 minutes from boarding. People are actively boarding the plane. We are waiting to board last. I was like, “I'm just waiting to go to bathroom.” I go to the bathroom, and that's when I passed a quarter-sized blood clot. I had light bleeding on top of that. I came back, and I looked at my husband and said, “I can't get on that plane. I have to go to the hospital,” but I said, “You guys get on the plane, you and our son. Get on the airplane, and I will drive myself.” We had our car there. I was like, “I'm going to go to the hospital, and I'll just rebook my flight for tomorrow. I'll come out and meet you guys in St. Thomas.” Meagan: Oh my gosh. Ashley: We debated that. My husband went back and forth for a couple of minutes. He was like, “I don't think that's a good idea.” I was like, “No, it's fine. They're going to check me out and release me. I'll meet you guys tomorrow.” Thank God he was like, “No. Let's not do that.” Meagan: Yeah, seriously. Ashley: I still just thought everything was fine. I really thought that. I wanted to go so badly. We ended up that they had to get all of our baggage off of the plane. The crew was really annoyed with us, but so be it. Meagan: Whatever. Ashley: Yeah. We held up the flight a little bit for sure, and then I couldn't even at that point walk back to the car. We called a wheelchair. Someone came and wheeled me out to our car. The hospital was only 20 minutes from the airport which was great. We got to the valet and we couldn't bring my son in, so while my husband talked to the front desk, I waited in the car with my son. They said that my son couldn't come into triage, so me and my husband obviously couldn't leave him in the car. I just walked myself into the hospital. I got seen by triage, and right away, they took me back to the room. I said I was having contractions. They were monitoring me, and they were like, “It doesn't really look like contractions.” I was like, “Okay, well something is happening. I'm in a lot of pain.” They put the monitor on me and didn't see anything. Then they admitted me to one of the rooms in triage. They really wanted to check me, but I was not having that. I did not want to be checked. They really wanted me to go home. They ended up giving me an ultrasound, and everything came back normal with baby which was great, but they were like, “We don't understand why you're in so much pain,” because they still weren't seeing contractions. They ended up seeing them on the monitor, and the doctor said, “I have to check you.” At this point, it was 11:00 AM. Meagan: I have to check you. Ashley: Yeah. She said, “We have to. We don't know what's going on with your body. You're in a lot of pain, so we won't know unless we check you.” She was really kind about it. I didn't feel pressured because I had already turned it down. They had asked me and asked me, but they were like, “We don't know what's happening. We have to know where you're at.” She checked me and when she was done, she looked at me and said, “You're at 3.5 centimeters.” I just burst into tears because at that point, I knew that it was not good. I was too far dilated for 29 weeks.She said, “You're not going to leave tonight. You're not leaving until you deliver basically because you're dilated. We have to keep you until your due date.” My due date was 11 weeks away.That was the hardest part because I knew I wouldn't see my toddler until I gave birth. That was horrible. That's what I cared about at that point. Obviously, I cared that my baby was healthy, but it was excruciating to think about that. Meagan: Mhmm. Ashley: They admitted me right away. They took me to Labor and Delivery. I told my husband because he took my toddler home. I told him, “They're keeping me.” He came back to the hospital. At that point, the plan was just to stall labor as much as possible. Let's get as far to your due date as possible. They did the magnesium drip immediately. They gave me steroid shots to help strengthen my baby's lungs. They gave me one oral medication. I can't remember what it was called, but it was supposed to help stall labor. That was all started and up and running by 1:00 PM. By 4:00, my water broke. With all of the interventions, my water still broke at 4:00 PM, and baby was coming. My water broke by 4:30, and then I was pretty much having contractions from that point on. They were pretty consistent and pretty painful. At 3:00 AM, they really started to ramp up. They were 3-5 minutes apart. They were really painful. At that point, I asked for an epidural. I was really clear that I needed it to be the lightest possible epidural. I talked about my past experience and how awful it was. I was going to try to not do an epidural, but the contractions were so intense that I was like, “I don't think I'm going to be able to push because I'm in so much pain. I can't imagine pushing through these contractions.” I had a great anesthesiologist who came in. He listened to me. He was absolutely wonderful, and he knew his stuff. He gave me the lowest possible dose just so I would be able to take the edge off of pushing. I could feel everything. That was in place by 4:20. I was complete before they did the epidural. I said that I would sit really still but to please give me the epidural. They did. I pushed for a couple of times, and he was born at 5:00 AM. I got to hold him. My husband got to cut his umbilical cord, and then I got to hold him for 30 seconds, then they had to take him up to the NICU. Meagan: Wow. Wow, wow, wow. What a change of plans dramatically, so dramatically. So once baby came out and went to the NICU, what were the next steps for you and baby? You got your amazing VBAC, but also, if I could ask, did VBAC matter at that point? Were you happy that you got a VBAC but your gears changed again to my baby is in the NICU? Tell us about that quick shift of events and what it entailed mentally. Ashley: Yeah. That relief of getting my VBAC was still so important to me. I did not want to have a C-section. I still didn't. That was still top on my mind. I was really scared when I started pushing. I kept having that fear that he was not coming out and they were going to make me have a C-section. The fact that he came out when he did, I felt relieved. That feeling of being able to actually give birth vaginally was such a great relief. It was amazing. Meagan: Yes. Ashley: But yes. I was very, very happy about that. The recovery was so much easier. He was born at 5:00 AM. By 8:00 AM, I was standing and using the bathroom. I was fine. I felt wonderful. Even with him going to the NICU, he was healthy. I knew that right away. That helped a ton, but I feel like the trauma was lessened because I got my VBAC. I can't even imagine what hell it would have been for me if I had a C-section. Meagan: Good. Ashley: He was perfectly healthy, other than being a premature baby. They didn't have any concerns at all at the beginning. He just needed oxygen basically, and he needed to be in the NICU under supervision and watched. He was 3,3 when he was born, so he was pretty tiny. Meagan: Teeny tiny. Ashley: Yeah. Even with that, it's surprising how painful that was. I thought because he was a smaller baby, it would not be as painful, but it was very painful. It was still worth it and amazing. The pain was all worth it. Yeah. Getting that VBAC meant everything to me. It helped so much with the trauma of it all. It was one thing I got to control in a situation where I couldn't. There was so much out of my control. Meagan: Yeah. It was the one thing that you had planned, prepped for, and saw happening when everything else– you should have been on the beach hanging out with your family. All of those things that you saw happening didn't happen, so to have that one thing happen, I'm sure felt amazing. Ashley: Mhmm, yeah. For sure. On that note, every single doctor we saw and nurse who came into our room was like, “Thank God you didn't get on that plane.” Everybody knew that story knew that we were supposed to literally be boarding a plane when I was actually at the hospital. I almost did. I almost did. It's wild. Yeah. Meagan: It is wild. Was there any indicator why you were having the blood clot in the airport and why you were having the bleeding? Ashley: So not until I delivered my baby and then I delivered the placenta, and the neonatal surgeon took my placenta and looked at it, and at that point, he said it looked like placental abruption. He found a 2.5-inch blood clot in my placenta, so he thinks that's why I went into preterm labor. After I learned that, I looked it up and realized that it can be deadly to my baby. It can be deadly to the mother as well. That helped with the trauma of it all to wrap my head around it and to think that if I had gone longer, something so drastic like that could have happened to myself or my baby. At that point, I was definitely thankful that I had a preterm labor because that's what brought me a healthy baby.Meagan: Yeah, wow. They didn't even discover it until after. Ashley: Yeah. They had no idea. I don't know if you typically see it in an ultrasound. I had a normal ultrasound at 20 weeks, and then they had one when I got triaged. They didn't see anything, but the surgeon who looked at my placenta said that's what it was. Meagan: Wow. Ashley: I'm so thankful. I really am. Being able to have that information helped me process it all and feel better about what happened. Meagan: I'm sure it offered some validation and took out a little bit of the why. Why did this happen? Why am I 11 weeks early? Ashley: Yeah. They sent the placenta off for, what's the word? Meagan: Testing? Ashley: Yeah, they sent it off for an autopsy. It came back inconclusive and the doctor said that can happen with placenta abruption too so that was inconclusive, but again, the surgeon said that's what he thought it was, so I'm going to accept that and be so thankful that my baby is here. When I think about what could have happened if I would have waited or if my pregnancy would have continued to progress, I really feel so lucky that it actually happened. That helped. Meagan: You know what? It just confirms to me how amazing our bodies are. When something happens outside of the norm, it responds. It's like, “Okay. This is happening. Now my job is to get this baby out.” How incredible is that? It's just crazy. Ashley: Yeah. With all of the interventions, he was coming. I just say that he's a smart guy. He knew he needed to get out. He knew he needed to vacate, and he did. I'm just so happy for that. Meagan: Good. I'm so glad too. So then, having a NICU baby, how long did he stay in the NICU?Ashley: They anticipated 11 weeks which would have been his due date. He ended up getting out at 8. He was there for 8 weeks. He was 37 weeks when he was released which was surprising. He did wonderfully, so that was just so great that he got out when he did a couple of weeks early. But yeah, 8 weeks in the NICU. It was a long time. Meagan: That's a very, very long time. Do you have any tips for parents who may have a NICU baby in the future or anything like that? Ashley: Yeah. I think the biggest thing for me, the first couple of weeks, we went every single day, but we didn't put a ton of pressure on ourselves to stay for too long. At that point, he really just needed his rest, and he didn't need to be stimulated by us at all. They didn't want him to be stimulated. They gave us a couple of hours which was great, but I really let go of the guilt of being there 24/7. There were parents I saw who were there 24/7, and I would compare myself and feel guilty that I wasn't doing the same. I also had a toddler at home. That was a big thing. In the beginning, he didn't really need me to be there. He needed his rest. That's one thing. Give yourself a lot of grace, and do what you need to do. Your baby is getting taken care of under the best supervision. We had the best doctors and nurses. We didn't need to feel guilty about that. The other thing I didn't know until a couple of weeks before I was discharged is that we could request a lead nurse. That made a huge difference too because every day, we had a different nurse, a night nurse, a different daytime nurse, and different weekend nurses. We found out from another parent that if we liked a nurse, we could request a nurse to be with our baby every single shift they had. Meagan: That's awesome. Ashley: Yeah. When we learned that, we got to request nurses that we loved, and it was night and day. They obviously only worked three shifts a week, both of the nurses we requested, but I knew the days that they worked, and I felt so much relief because I knew that they knew my baby, and I knew how they took care of my baby. Meagan: Yeah. That actually sounds like it would be so amazing because you do. You can be cycling through quite a few people in those 8 weeks, so to have that familiar face and that relationship that you can get established, I'm sure meant amazing things for you guys. Ashley: Mhmm, yeah. Absolutely. That's a tip I wish I would have known sooner. I really think it helped him progress too. I think people had said that having that consistent provider would be really helpful for the baby, and I really think it was. So there's that, but I think I read a lot of support groups. Again, I was in them and reading different comments. Again, I think just relying on other people. We had a friend whose baby was in the NICU, and she was wonderful. They were wonderful. Again, I think it's just finding support, and everybody said it feels horrible in the moment, but it's going to be a blip in this story. It's just going to be a blip. It was so hard to actually believe that, but now, it's like, yeah. It went by so quickly. Now he's here. He's perfect. Yeah. Meagan: It was all worth it. Ashley: It was all worth it, and I got my VBAC. It was not exactly how I wanted it, but I got it. Meagan: Yeah. You know, we've talked about it on this show where even when we get a VBAC, sometimes it's not the ideal birth or the ideal scenario or situation or even experience that we wanted. In the end, sometimes people are like, “I actually don't know if I would have chosen the VBAC,” but most of the time people are like, “It was definitely not what I expected, but I'm still happy with the outcome.” Ashley: Mhmm, absolutely. It made me want to have another baby. I've heard that on this podcast. In order to have another VBAC or to have that vaginal delivery, it was just wonderful. Meagan: Yeah, it's funny because I had my VBAC, and it was a really long labor. I'm like, “Okay. I want to do that again, but faster.” Ashley: Yeah. Meagan: Yeah. Maybe someday I'll have another one. I think we're done, but yes. Such great info that you've shared and such a beautiful story. I'm so glad that he is okay, and that you did not get on that plane and all is well. I was thinking about inflammation during pregnancy and how sometimes people can react differently. I wanted to learn more. I just looked it up really quickly about carpal tunnel affecting during pregnancy. I was shocked. This is quick research, so I don't know the deep, deep depths of studies around this, but it says that it occurs when the median nerve in the wrist is compressed causing pain, numbness, and tingling in the hand, and it's actually common during pregnancy. I didn't think it was as common, but it says it affect about 60% of women during pregnancy. Ashley: That's wild because I've only met a handful, not even a handful– I know other people. I was pregnant at the same time as a long of friends, and only two people that I know who I had talked to had experienced that. I had never met anybody else who said they had carpal tunnel. I'm sure to degrees, sure. Probably maybe mild carpal tunnel is 60% and maybe that severe is not as common. Meagan: Yeah. I'm not digging deep in because I wanted to see what it is affecting. It does say that the hormones can cause you to retain fluid, which can soften the ligaments and forms the roof of the tunnel and inflammation which also brought me down to Omega-3s. I don't know if anyone ever talked to you about Omega-3s, but Omega-3s can help because fatty acids can reduce inflammation. I struggle with inflammation just from daily activities in my joints with working out and lifting and these things. I take Needed's Omega-3's. I thought that was interesting, too. I wonder if you've struggled with some form or severity of carpal tunnel and inflammation and things like that or things swelling around the joints causing pressure and pain if Omega-3's can help. It's worth asking your provider, right? Ashley: Yeah, for sure. Meagan: I know. It just seems so crazy and like such a high number. But obviously, it happens. There are things that you can do. Sometimes it just gets so severe like in your case that you just needed to have a baby to be done with that. Well, thank you so much again for sharing your stories with us today, and congrats on your VBAC. Ashley: Thank you so much. I am so appreciative of this podcast. Literally, everything I learned about what to avoid and what to do, I got it all from The VBAC Link, so I appreciate it so much. I really think it's the driving force in me getting to have a VBAC. Meagan: Oh, that makes me so happy. Listen, Women of Strength, if you are still listening and you have recorded your story, listen to just how impactful your stories have been and the things that we share because each of these stories has nuggets of information and education along the way in addition to what we share within the podcast and the blog and on our social media. And here you are. You are just going to help someone else out there get the information and the motivation to go out and do it. Also, a reminder to not get on the plane if we are having symptoms like that. Ashley: Yeah. Meagan: Don't even consider it, and don't send your husband and your son. Ashley: Yes, thank God. Meagan: Okay, thank you so much. Ashley: Thank you. ClosingWould you like to be a guest on the podcast? Tell us about your experience at thevbaclink.com/share. For more information on all things VBAC including online and in-person VBAC classes, The VBAC Link blog, and Meagan's bio, head over to thevbaclink.com. Congratulations on starting your journey of learning and discovery with The VBAC Link.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-vbac-link/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Katie is a newborn and family photographer based out of Chicago. After going through IVF, Katie was surprised to find out that her first pregnancy was with identical twins. At 33 weeks, she had an unexpected bleed and then another at 35 weeks. Because of placental abruption, she went straight to a Cesarean and her babies were in the NICU for 7 days.Katie wanted to know what a singleton pregnancy and VBAC birth could be like. She found a supportive midwife group through her local ICAN chapter that had around a 90% VBAC success rate! She also hired a doula. As her due date approached, Katie decided to opt for membrane sweeps to avoid a medical induction starting at 38+6 weeks.After four membrane sweeps over the course of two weeks, spontaneous labor began. She arrived at the hospital and her sweet baby was born vaginally just 5 hours later!Though she said she has a low pain tolerance, Katie's VBAC was unmedicated and she also shares her experience with a retained placenta and a second-degree tear. Katie, that is no small feat-- we know you are an absolute warrior and woman of strength!How to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode Details Meagan: Welcome to the show, Katie. Thank you so much for being here with us. You guys, Katie is from Chicago, right? Chicago. Katie: Yep. Meagan: She is an IVF mama. She's got three girls. She is a girl mom and two identical twins and then a baby girl. How old is your baby girl now? Katie: She's going to be 3 months tomorrow. Meagan: 3 months so still little tiny. Oh my gosh. I love it. So yeah, and then you guys, when she's not doing the mom thing with all of her girls, she is also a newborn and family photographer which is awesome. Can you share with us your handle so we can come follow you?Katie: Yeah. On Instagram, I'm at katiemichellestudios. Meagan: Okay, katiemichellestudios and we are going to make sure to have that in the show notes so you can go follow her and follow her amazing work. And if you're in Chicago and you need newborn or family photos, hit her up. Is there a specific– Chicago is big. Is there a specific area that you serve?Katie: I'm in the northwest suburbs but I do in-home sessions wherever. I use a studio in Oak Park. Meagan: Okay, awesome. Then with your stories today, we've got a couple of highlights. We have IVF, placental abruption, and sticky placenta. I'm excited to talk about sticky placenta for sure because it's not something a lot of people talk about that could happen. Then, of course, the twins and all of that. We are going to get into that but I do have a Review of the Week. You guys, I know every single week I know you are probably sick of me asking but I love your reviews. Thank you so much for your reviews and remember, we always accept your reviews. Okay, this is from cassie80. It says, “Extremely educational and super empowering.” It says, “After a traumatic C-section in 2016, on my research journey about VBAC, I came across this podcast and instantly fell in love.” You guys, that just says something to me. 2016 is when she had her C-section and 2018 is when this podcast started. It's crazy to think that it's been going for so long but I'm so grateful for all of you guys sharing your stories like you, Ms. Katie, and helping this continue. It says, “I am currently trying for number two and am on a mission to VBAC. Hearing all of these wonderful stories of strength has given me the confidence that I can do it when the time comes. You and all of the women who courageously share their stories are just amazing. You all provide healing and support for all of us mamas.” Thank you so much, Cassie, and I'm so glad that you are here with us and have been with us for so long. Okay, Katie. Thank you again for being here. Katie: Thank you so much. I am so excited to be on this podcast myself because I listened to you guys nonstop my entire pregnancy even before and I always had it in the back of my mind that, Oh, if I get my VBAC, I'm going to come on here and tell my story. I am super excited and thank you for having me. Meagan: Oh my gosh, thank you so much. Let's talk about these twins. Let's talk about that birth. Katie: Yes. They were IVF but they were obviously surprise identical twins. My embryo split into obviously identical twins but they were an interesting pregnancy because usually with IVF, the twins are mono-di which means they share a placenta and have two sacs but my girls are actually di-di so they had two placentas, two sacs, so that meant they were a little bit less of a risky pregnancy and a vaginal birth was a possibility. That's what I was planning on. Everything was pretty smooth up until 33 weeks which is when I had my first bleed. It was just the middle of the night. I got up and I just started gushing. The doctor said that it was a marginal placental abruption. That means it was on the edge of the placenta and it wasn't a risk to them. Obviously, it was super scary. I thought that I was going to lose them both but everything with them was fine. They sent me home after a few days at the hospital. They just told me to take it easy, but they said it might happen again. It did at 35 weeks and 3 days. I had another bleed. At that point, they said, “They are almost to term for twins.” It's technically 37 or 38 weeks is when they like to induce for twins so they just said not to risk going any further and let's just get them out right now. I was planning on a vaginal birth, but because of that abruption and we didn't know what state the placenta was in and what would happen if there was an induction process that was started, so with the doctors, we decided I didn't want to risk induction and then needing a C-section anyway for the other twin so we did the C-section. It was a really, really rough recovery and they were in the NICU for a week. One of them needed breathing support and the other one was there for growing and feeding. Meagan: How big were they?Katie: 5 pounds, 3 ounces, and 4 pounds, 13 ounces. Meagan: Okay, okay. Katie: They were a good size. They were overall healthy but it was for me, super duper rough as a first-time mom to twins especially. The breastfeeding journey was really hard. I dealt with low milk supply and they were so tiny that it was hard for them to latch so I ended up exclusively pumping for 11 months. That's their story. Meagan: Wow. That's a lot of work by the way for someone maybe who hasn't pumped a lot. Holy cow. Good job. Katie: Yeah. So when we decided to have a third which was a tough decision for us, my husband was not on board. We ended up deciding that we wanted to experience what it's like to have a singleton baby and just having a singleton pregnancy hopefully and a VBAC. I definitely knew that I wanted a VBAC and started doing all my research. I found a very VBAC-supportive midwife group in my area. They have a 90-something percent VBAC rate in the hospital which is crazy. Meagan: Wow, yeah. That's amazing. What do you think they do so differently that a lot of other groups don't do that makes them so successful? Or are you going to share about it?Katie: I'm not sure. I think the hospital might be part of it, like the hospital policies might be more supportive. They deliver at Evanston Hospital if anyone is interested. Overall, I think the doctors that they work with because it's a midwife group that they work alongside doctors that when there is a delivery for the midwives, the doctors are also in the hospital. I think the doctors are also very VBAC-supportive so I think that helps when they are working together. Meagan: Yes, absolutely. Katie: That's that story. Meagan: So you found them. You found the providers. Did you go and ask them questions? How did you feel like you realized that they were supportive? Katie: Yeah. I went on– what's that group that have a Facebook group all around the country for different areas about lowering the C-section rate?Meagan: Oh, cesareanrates.org? Katie: I'm not sure. They are an organization. Meagan: Oh, ICAN?Katie: ICAN, yes. I went on my local Facebook group for ICAN and I asked around. I got their info. I first went for an appointment with one of the doctors at that practice before I was even pregnant because I was planning for the transfer and I liked that doctor, but then I realized that they have midwives and people really raved about the midwives. They said if you are looking for a more holistic experience and they spend more time with you than the doctors do. I just decided to go that route and somehow picking the midwives made me dive into the whole unmedicated birth side of things as well. I ended up hiring a doula as well. I never thought I'd be someone interested in unmedicated birth. I consider myself to have very low pain tolerance. Meagan: So tell us more about the birth. You have a low pain tolerance but you did go unmedicated?Katie: Yes. I ended up doing it. Meagan: Okay. Did you go into spontaneous labor?Katie: Yeah, it was interesting. I ended up having four membrane sweeps which is not that spontaneous. Meagan: Well, hey. This is the thing. A lot of people ask about membrane sweeps and sometimes people feel, Hey, this is worth it. Let's do this. Some people don't. Sometimes it works and sometimes it takes many and sometimes it doesn't. It's whatever feels right. So do you remember where you were with the first membrane sweep cervical-wise and how many weeks and things like that? Katie: Yeah, so I wanted to start them. Remember, I had never been pregnant past 35 weeks. Meagan: Right, yeah. Katie: I really thought that I was going to have an early baby again, but that really wasn't the case. I had her at 40 and 5. So the membrane sweep, I started the first one at 38 and 6 so basically at my 39-week appointment. I had no change after that one. Nothing happened. That's kind of what I assumed would happen so I had another one the next week at 39 and 6 and at that point, I was 2 centimeters, 80% effaced, and -1 station. Meagan: Okay, so pretty good cervical statistics there for a membrane sweep. Katie: Yeah. So then it was my due date and I was starting to feel more pressure. The mucus plug was coming out and baby was acting super active which I heard can happen close to when a baby is ready to be born but nothing really happened at that point. So then I decided to get my third sweep. I think that was 40+2 and at that point, I was 2.5 centimeters but the same for everything else. But things were starting to happen. I was having more stuff come out and I was like, Oh my gosh. How much longer am I going to be pregnant? Meagan: I'm sure. This is the thing. When you had either preterm or just early deliveries before and then you go past that, it feels like, No. I cannot be pregnant longer than this. This is eternity. Katie: Yes. It was really hard because I had the two-year-old twins also. It was getting to be a real mental and physical struggle. Meagan: Yes. Yeah. Katie: Also, I was doing pumping to try to induce labor and that wasn't doing anything. Meagan: Yeah. Was it causing contractions at all or was it just causing them and then you'd stop and it would stop?Katie: Yeah, basically it would just cause the Braxton Hicks contractions and nothing else. Meagan: Then it would go away. Katie: Yeah. So I had my third sweep and that one really started to do something because I went into prodromal labor which was a doozy. Meagan: Yeah. You know, that can be a risk of trying a membrane sweep. It can cause some prodromal labor but again, a lot of the time, prodromal labor still does stuff. It's tiring and it's exhausting but it's still doing something. Katie: Yeah, and it definitely did for me. My prodromal labor was a nighttime thing. The sun would go down. I'd put the kids to bed and it would start with irregular contractions. It felt like period cramps then I wouldn't sleep all night with that. I had that for two nights and then I was finally– Meagan: Typical prodromal. Katie: Then it would go away during the daytime. Meagan: It's so annoying. It's like, seriously? Fine. If you're going to do prodromal, at least do it during the day when I'm awake but don't take away my sleep. Katie: I know. At that point, I was getting super disheartened. I decided to schedule my induction because if this was going to happen every night, I would have zero energy for this VBAC. I did schedule my induction for 41 and 3 I believe if I made it to that point but I decided to go back and get my fourth membrane sweep June 3rd so the day before she was born. That started something. The midwife was like, “Okay, if I do this, I might see you back here later tonight.” Meagan: That's a promising thing to hear. Katie: Yeah, so once she did that sweep, I was actually already 4.5 centimeters dilated. That prodromal labor was doing something. Meagan: Um, 100%. Katie: Yep. That morning I had that sweep. We went to get lunch. We walked around. I was starting to right away have contractions and these were during the day so I knew something was up. By 4:00 PM that day, I was feeling it. I was starting to need counterpressure and had to stop what I was doing. Based on what the doula had said, that was when I should call them. I texted her and I told her, “I'm having these contractions that I'm having to stop and breathe through but they are still 10 minutes apart so I don't know what's going on.” She's like, "Okay. I think you need to stay home a little longer. You're probably not in active labor yet.” I'm like, "No, I think I'm there. Things are really intense.” Despite what she said, I headed to the hospital.It's a good thing I did because by the time I arrived at 10:00 PM, I was already 6.5 centimeters. Meagan: Okay, nice. Katie: I was very surprised because usually what the doula community says is sometimes when you head to the hospital when you are not in active labor, things can slow down because of the change of scenery and yeah, your body just shuts down. But in my case, it actually was the reverse. I went from super irregular contractions to walking up to the hospital doors and they started coming super regularly like 2-3 minutes apart. Yeah. Meagan: I do feel like the opposite can also happen where our body gets to that final destination and it's like, Okay. You can do this now. You have this sense of release. What you were saying, yes I've seen that too where the mom has to reacclimate to the space and labor stalls a little bit then it goes on, but this one it sounds like it was the opposite where it maybe brought you relaxation and safety. Katie: Yeah. I think maybe part of it was that this hospital experience was so different than my last one. At the last one, it was rushing to the hospital while I'm bleeding. I get there and there's this rush of nurses. Everyone's checking me and this time, I waddled up to the hospital. The room was dark. There was one nurse checking me in. I'm just chilling on the bed. I was just relaxed. I think a lot of the things that I did with the doulas to prepare, like they did classes about comfort measures and things like that and I was really trying to use those. I got the twinkle lights set up and got the music so that really helped. By 1:00 AM, I was already feeling the urge to push and I was feeling so much pressure, especially in my butt. I needed counterpressure for every single contraction up to that point then I was like, “No more counterpressure.” I was screaming for my husband to stop doing it because it was starting to hurt. I knew that something was happening. I was on my side trying to get some rest in between and I was starting to give up at that point. I know what they say is when you are starting to give up, you're starting transition. Meagan: You're right there. Katie: For me, I was thinking, I need an epidural right now. Meagan: A lot of people do though. A lot of people are like, “I can't do this anymore. I'm done. That's that. I need that epidural. I need relief now.” Katie: Yep. I hadn't had a check since I was admitted. It had been about 5 hours since I showed up or 4 hours since I showed up to the hospital so I was like, This can't be it. I can't be ready to push because I've only been here 4 hours and it's my first labor. I was in disbelief but I was like, “I need a check right now because if I'm not close to pushing, I'm getting the epidural.” The doula was trying to talk me out of it. She was like, "Are you sure? What are you going to do if you're not there?” I'm like, "I'm going to get the epidural.” I was 9.5 centimeters at that point. Meagan: Oh yeah. Right there. Katie: Yeah, and I was like, "Oh my gosh. This is actually happening.” My body was starting to push on its own and it was such a weird feeling. It was so different than my friend's birth that I photographed. She had an epidural and it was an induction. That's the only other birth that I've seen and this was so different because my body was pushing. I can't control it. Yeah. That was about an hour of pushing which felt like an eternity and the contractions were actually fine at that point. I couldn't feel them. I could just feel loads of pressure and the ring of fire which was intense, super duper intense. Then my water broke about 10 minutes before she was born and yeah, she was born. Meagan: You get to 10, your water is probably going out through breaks and baby comes down. Katie: Yeah, I had a bulging bag at the end which is really interesting to feel. She was born at 2:34 AM. Meagan: Aww, that's awesome. So pretty dang quick. Katie: Yeah. If you don't count the two nights of prodromal labor. Meagan: Prodromal labor, yeah. But your body was doing it slowly and surely. Each sweep did give you that extra nudge. It maybe gave you some prodromal labor along the way, but it seemed like it was helping and doing something. Katie: Yeah, if that helped me avoid a medical induction, I'm super glad that I did those. Meagan: Yeah, that's something when it comes to someone facing an induction or facing that hurdle, a membrane sweep might not be a bad idea. But too, with that said, if we go in and we are barely 1 centimeter or our cervix is really posterior and we are 30% effaced, we need to know mentally that if we go for a sweep, the chances of it working is a lot lower. It's just lower because our body is maybe not ready. It also doesn't mean it's not going to work. So like I said earlier, you had that ideal cervical stat. You were that 2 centimeters and 80% effaced. Things were looking good and softer, starting to open and they were able to get a really good sweep but even then, it took time. Katie: Yeah, definitely. My midwives never pressured induction on me. I was pressuring myself mainly because IVF pregnancies– there are differing opinions but some doctors say that you should be induced at 39 weeks and some say you shouldn't go past your due date because of the placenta not being as good. Meagan: Well, yeah. It's so hard because– so twins were IVF and was this baby IVF too?Katie: Yeah. Meagan: Okay, that is hard because there are a lot of people who do say that you should induce at 38-39 weeks with IVF and we do know out there that with IVF, the chances of having placenta issues and abnormalities like abruption are increased. Accreta, previa, and things like that. But if everything is going okay, all is looking well, it's that battle of do we induce? Do we not induce? What do we do?Obviously, your providers weren't pushing it so they didn't see any real medical need but then we have other providers on the complete opposite end where they are pushing it hard. Katie: Yeah, in some of my IVF groups on Facebook, basically every single person is induced or has a C-section. It's pretty rare for a provider to say you can go to 42 weeks like mine did. Meagan: Interesting. I actually don't know the real stats on IVF placental issues after 38 weeks. Had anybody ever talked to you about what your chance of issues really were after a certain point?Katie: No. The abruption was I think more of a risk factor was that it was twins and my uterus was so stretched but no one really mentioned placental issues or even said, “Let's look at your placenta after 40 weeks.” They do have the standard ultrasound to look at baby and do the BPP test, but they said that there is nothing really you can see from an ultrasound after your due date. Meagan: We know that ultrasounds can be off by size and by all the things. Katie: Yeah, and she was measuring bigger. She was 85th percentile which was actually true. She was born 8 pounds, 4 ounces so she wasn't tiny like my twins were. Meagan: Yeah. I Googled really, really quickly. This isn't even a study. This is just an article on it. I'll try to get some more studies and things in here but I'm going to include this article. It's from the Real Birth Company. It looks like they are teachers of birth classes. It's highlighted. It says, “What do you need to know if you are pregnant through IVF and you're being advised to have an induction because you are told that there is a higher chance of stillbirth?” It says, “The only study that we found that gives us the information also noted at higher risk of stillbirth for IVF pregnancies, but crucially, they said no increase in their rate of stillbirth after 28 weeks of pregnancy. It just says, “This research therefore tells us that induction at terms would not necessarily reduce stillbirth rates for babies who are conceived by IVF.”Katie: Yeah. From my understanding, it's hard to do studies on this because a lot of women who need IVF have other health factors which can increase the risk of obviously stillbirth and other issues in pregnancy. Meagan: Yeah, it's showing that sometimes IVF moms have placenta accreta and placental abruption at a higher risk. It shows that IUGR babies have a higher chance for being smaller. It also says that gestational diabetes and preeclampsia have an increased chance. So like you said, there are other things that they may have. I'm just going to throw this in there in case anyone listening is an IVF mama and wants to know more. It's interesting that you're saying that in that group– are they scheduling C-sections?Katie: Yeah. Most women get scheduled C-sections, not scheduled C-sections, scheduled inductions but they end in a C-section because they aren't ready. Meagan: Okay, so they aren't necessarily scheduling them right off the bat just because they are IVF. Katie: Right. Meagan: But again, like you said, they aren't ready and inductions are happening and people are ending up in a Cesarean. Katie: Yes. Meagan: Interesting. Well, this article was written in 2021. I'm also going to put a couple others in here that says actually 2024 so I need to look more into this but it's something to consider because again, this is a space where we are trying to reduce unnecessary Cesareans. We're seeing that it's happening so it might be something that you want to research if you are out there and you are doing IVF, research that and see if it's something that really is necessary for sure. Katie: This is just my personal story, but my placenta looked perfectly fine at 40+5 with this baby. Meagan: Yeah, so everything was looking good at that point. We did talk about that in the beginning– sticky placenta or really retained placenta. Did you have that with this? Maybe you can talk to us more about the placenta. You gave birth to babe. It was a VBAC that was a lot faster than anticipated and you went unmedicated when you didn't think you could. I kind of love that so much that you were like, “I have a low pain tolerance,” but then you did that. It just goes to show how possible it is, right? But yeah, talk to us about your placenta. Katie: Yeah. That was actually worse than the pain of the entire birth and something I didn't expect because I had asked about this because it can be an issue with IVF pregnancies. I had asked about this in one of my prenatal appointments and the midwife said, “We don't know if you're going to have that or not. IVF is a risk factor for it,” but since I had the opposite of a sticky placenta. I had a placenta that was coming off the wall. With my last pregnancy, she was like, “I'm guessing that you're not going to have that,” but I did. After baby was out, my placenta was not coming out after 10 minutes and around 30 minutes, I think they like to have it out by then. So they gave it 10 minutes for it to come out naturally, but my contractions completely stopped. Nothing was happening at that point. My body wasn't expelling it. They were trying to pull on it. Eventually, it came out but I was still having bleeding when they were pressing on my stomach than they would like to see. They gave me the Pitocin and that didn't work and then they tried two or three other medications. Meagan: Did they give you Cytotec at all? Katie: Yeah, I think so and another medication that goes in the back in the booty. Meagan: Oh, yes. They usually will insert it rectally. Yes. Yes. Cytotec is not okay when we are pregnant and we are trying to go into labor, but because it makes the uterus contract so hard which is the whole issue with Cytotec and VBAC, it can help reduce bleeding and help the placenta and all of these things. Yeah. Katie: Yeah. They gave me the max dose of Pitocin in my IV and none of that worked. They gave me the Pitocin in the leg and that didn't work, the Cytotec. Then they brought out the ultrasound machine and scanned around and saw that there were some pieces left inside. So she had to stick her hand up and get them. That was horrible. Meagan: And you were unmedicated. I'm just going to tell you right now that you have a high pain tolerance. I think you might be incorrect on that. Not saying that really, but holy cow. Unmedicated and a retained placenta retrieval scrape– they are essentially scraping and fishing for your placenta. Katie: Yes and she had to go in two or three times. They gave me some kind of IV medication and all it did was make me feel drunk. Meagan: Probably fentanyl. Katie: It was something with a D maybe. Dimerol.Meagan: Dilaudid. Katie: Maybe Dilaudid. It made me feel loopy and nauseous but did nothing for the pain. I was holding my baby the whole time and I just want to forget that horrible experience. Meagan: That is rough. Sometimes placentas “stay sticky” and it really can take up to an hour even for a placenta to come out. Sometimes we don't know why and like you said, IVF stuff maybe could have helped but the placenta usually is in that 5 to 30-minute period and providers do start to worry if it's more than that because after we have our baby, our cervix was 10 centimters. It dilated and everything was open and thinned and then it starts coming back and closing again which is the normal process. Katie: Oh my gosh. I didn't even think of that. Meagan: Yeah, it's just that normal process where it starts closing so providers start fearing that if the cervix is closed or too small, the placenta can't move through and then we've got the placenta inside and retained placenta is a very serious thing. You want to get your placenta out. It's an amazing organ and functions amazingly. It raises these amazing babies through these 9 months. It supports them and feeds them but we need to get it out because retained placenta can make you very sick. They start fearing that and sometimes when they are tugging, it can make it so the blood vessels get ripped off or they weren't ready so then we have bleeding and retained placenta and all of these things. They start fearing it and things like breastfeeding, Pitocin, Cytotec, and all of these things that they are trying to get to help you contract more is an effort to help get that out. But yeah. That is a lot. That's a lot. You had this beautiful birth and then whoa, quite a lot right there. Katie: Yeah, a bit of a turn and in addition to that, I had a second-degree tear that they also had to stitch me up. I don't remember if that was before or after the whole extraction. Meagan: Your provider fishing could have caused more tearing. Yeah. There is also a possibility that if for some reason it doesn't come out that you will have to be taken to an OR which is a more rare circumstance but I've had one client in all the 10 years of doing this and she was a VBAC client too actually. She had a beautiful birth and then had to go in and get it manually removed. So yeah, breastfeeding as soon as you can, changing positions and also emptying your bladder is something that you can do because if your bladder is full then it can hold things up so sometimes it's detached but not coming out so there are things we can do and then of course, taking medication and going a step further if we really need to. Katie: Yeah. Overall though, I don't regret any of that. It was still such a beautiful birth even though the end and the golden hour took a turn, it still was more than I had imagined. Meagan: Yeah. I was actually going to ask you. Even with that which is a lot, would you still suggest doing it or would you have done it differently if you could go back?Katie: No regrets. The recovery was a million times easier even with the tear and all of that. I was going to the botanical garden 4 days postpartum with my family. Meagan: Oh my gosh. You were out walking around. Katie: Yeah. Meagan: Oh my gosh. That is amazing. That is amazing. Katie: With toddlers, you've got to get back to real life. Meagan: I know. It's so hard to take that break and recover when we have life that is still moving around us. Katie: Definitely. Meagan: Remind me, you said you took Needed's collagen, right? Katie: I did. Yeah. Meagan: That actually probably helped healing as well. Katie: Yeah. I love that stuff because I wanted to get more protein in. I just put it in my shakes along with all of the other things that I did like the chiropractor and the dates. I did all of the things. Meagan: Yes. And your doulas, do you want to do a shoutout? Katie: Yeah, 3-1-2 doulas and I worked with Heather. Meagan: Awesome. Katie: Yeah, and they have awesome classes too. If you are a doula customer, they are free and if you're not, you can still sign up for them and they are super great. Meagan: That is so awesome. We love our doulas and to all of those listeners out there, just a reminder. We have a major doula directory from literally all over the US to outside of the US if you are looking for doulas too. You can go to thevbaclink.com/findadoula. We love our doulas so dang much. Obviously, I love doulas so much I became one. Doulas are so amazing. I love that you said you did chiropractic care and dates and all of the things. Are there any other suggestions or tips that you would give our listeners as they are going through their VBAC journey? Katie: Yeah, just listen to these podcasts a lot and you'll learn so much. Join The VBAC Link group on Facebook. Meagan: Yes. I love that community. Isn't it just amazing? Katie: Yeah, it's great. There's also another VBAC Facebook group that I loved as well. Meagan: Do you remember the name?Katie: I don't remember. Meagan: There are a few on there. We love– Katie: VBAC Support Group. Yeah, that one's great. Meagan: Awesome. Katie: Yeah, just believe in yourself. You can do it. You are a badass. Meagan: You are a badass and you can do it. I agree. We'll end on that note because that is such a true statement. Girl, you are amazing and I'm so grateful for you sharing these beautiful stories today. Katie: 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 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

Stacey Sumereau is on a healing journey. Stacey was pregnant with her third child when she had a placental abruption--Baby Honora (Nora) was born early by emergency C-section.  Stacey's heart broke into pieces as she watched her baby go through what seemed like endless life-saving procedures. The final breaking point was when Stacey and her husband were told they needed to say goodbye.  Miraculously, Nora survived.   Over time, Stacey moved beyond her trauma and into prayerful silence. God created a much stronger heart in Stacey as He put the pieces of her heart back together.  Listen to this inspiring story of surrender and let God heal any broken pieces of your heart, too.             

Links: Mountain Meadow Herbs - use code BIRTHHOUR for 10% off and free shipping on your first order! Know Your Options Online Childbirth Course - use code 100OFF for $100 off Beyond the First Latch Course (comes free with KYO course) Support The Birth Hour via Patreon! (Listen to the Partner Podcast collection here as well at the co-producer level!)

Links: Get your breast pump, lactation support, and maternity compression garments for free at aeroflowbreastpumps.com/birthhour and use promo code BIRTHHOUR15 at for 15% off supplies and accessories. Know Your Options Online Childbirth Course - use code 100OFF for $100 off Beyond the First Latch Course (comes free with KYO course) Support The Birth Hour via Patreon!

“My birth stories are my testimony…I have never trusted God more with any situation in my entire life other than with the lives of my children and bringing them into this world.”Shelby's story is one of faith, trust, and surrendering. Shelby joins us today from Indiana sharing her wildly traumatic Cesarean story due to a placental abruption and her peaceful, healing home birth. Shelby was on vacation at a cabin in New York at 34 weeks when she woke up to regular contractions and heavy bleeding. She rushed to the nearest hospital, was put under general anesthesia for her Cesarean, was transferred via a separate ambulance from her baby to a hospital 3 hours away, and had a 23-day NICU stay in the height of COVID 800 miles away from her family and community.She and her husband were certain they would not have any more children. But as they fought for healing through faith-based counseling, their hearts yearned for another baby and a chance at a healing birth experience. She completely surrendered, found holistic prenatal care, and created a birth space for herself where she knew she felt safe. She was brave and vulnerable, and her second birth was everything she hoped it would be. As Meagan says at the end of this episode, “Get educated. Love yourself. Have faith in you and your body and your baby. You are amazing. You are a true Woman of Strength.”How to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode Details Meagan: Women of Strength, we have our friend, Shelby, here with us today sharing her HBAC story. In addition to her HBAC story, she's got some other unique things that I think are going to be important for us to talk about today. One is placental abruption. That is something that is definitely a reason for a Cesarean and one of those absolute needed reasons for a Cesarean. We are going to talk a little bit more about that and then we are going to talk about faith and how faith in whatever faith looks like to you, it's so important to cling onto that. Shelby has some messages about that. Then we really want to talk about physiological birth. We hear it. We see it online. I mean, if you go on Instagram and you go into the birth world, you're going to see it almost 100% guaranteed but what does that really mean? We're going to be diving in with that today. Shelby, you are in– where did it say, Indiana? Shelby: Indiana, yeah. Meagan: I have to look at my notes. Indianapolis, Indiana. She's in Indiana so Women of Strength, if you are coming from her area, definitely listen up as well. Okay, so we have a Review of the week and this is by birthing confident. It says, “Invaluable information. I love this podcast. As a mom planning a VBAC and a VBAC-trained birth doula, the information shared on this podcast is invaluable. I have become so passionate about helping all women know their birth options and avoid unnecessary C-sections. I think this podcast is great for all expectant mothers” and I 100% agree with that. This podcast is for anyone and everyone because like she said we are wanting to help people avoid unnecessary and/or undesired Cesareans. We have a ridiculous Cesarean rate. It is through the roof. I would love to see it start dropping and I don't know if this podcast truly is going to impact the Cesarean rate the way I would love it to, but I do believe that it's a starting point. It's a starting place for you guys to learn your options for birth after Cesarean and to learn how to have a better Cesarean experience if you have one because that's also a really important factor that I think a lot of people forget about. Not only do we share just VBAC stories, but we do share healing, beautiful CBAC stories and repeat Cesareans. Thank you so much, birthingconfident, for your review. As always, please if you haven't yet, leave us a review. You can do so on Apple Podcasts. You can message us. You can rate us on Spotify and all of the places that you listen to your podcast. Meagan: Okay, cute Shelby. Welcome to the show. Shelby: Thank you. I'm so excited. Meagan: I am so excited. So let's dive in. I am actually really excited to talk a little bit more about placental abruption as well and hear about your experience. Shelby: Yeah. I don't think I even knew it was a thing honestly before it happened to me. I think it's something that people don't really talk about and it's probably a good thing because it's really scary but also, it would have been good to maybe know what was going on. I know it wouldn't have changed the outcome, but yeah. I just had no idea that was even something that could happen. With my first pregnancy, it was very run-of-the-mill. Everything was good and I was planning on birthing at a birthing center in Indianapolis so I was still going for that natural, unmedicated birth. I didn't really know anything that went into that as you do with your first and I feel like you do the typical making the baby registry and doing all of these things that don't really actually help you with your birth. Not that I would have gotten the chance to even try anyway. I feel like I just definitely didn't really have much knowledge and I think the problem is that you don't know what you don't know which is why I literally recommend this podcast to all of my friends who are even pregnant with their first baby because I'm like, “Just learn the things. Learn all of the things.” We took a very basic birthing course through the birthing center and it was just virtual, like four sessions and it was not super helpful honestly but we also didn't get to implement it. The pregnancy itself was just very normal. I mean, I have pretty much all of the symptoms which is the worst like really horrible rib pain and nausea and heartburn and all of the things. What was crazy though, this was in 2021 and I actually got COVID while I was pregnant also. Everyone I've talked to thinks that's probably why I had a placental abruption.Meagan: That's interesting to know. Shelby: Yeah. I had it in about my 5th month of pregnancy in September and I was due in January. It was horrible for a week but then I recovered and I was back to working out. I was totally fine. I didn't have any blood pressure issues after that. Everything reallly seemed okay. We decided at 33 weeks that we were going to go to New York which is really far away from Indiana on vacation for Thanksgiving to gather with all of my husband's family. My midwives cleared it. Like I said, I was working out. I was healthy. I was fine. The trip was going super well. I was working out while we were there. I was doing barre obviously so I was doing safe things. Fitness is a really big part of my life but also, it's not something I added in during pregnancy. It was just normal for me. Meagan: I used to take barre too. I took barre and was teaching barre with my second TOLAC. It's a very low impact but very, very good for strength and cardio. Shelby: Yeah, and my husband and my father-in-law were doing them with me so we have some really awesome videos of me at 34 weeks pregnant working out with my husband and my father-in-law doing barre. But yeah. Everything was going well and anything that was slightly risky which really even wasn't, I wasn't doing. They did this office chair floor hockey where they were pushing each other around in office chairs and playing hockey in a building and I didn't do it. I sat on the sidelines and observed. I was being really what I feel like was cautious. Meagan: Responsible. Shelby: Right, yeah. We even took family pictures on Saturday and everything, I have pictures of us smiling and laughing and then literally the next day we had a baby which was crazy. I start having Braxton Hicks contractions at 20 weeks. For both of my pregnancies, I just feel like I start having them really early so they are not shocking for me. But that Saturday, I remember several times looking at my husband and being like, “These feel a little stronger than I remember them being,” but with your first, you don't know anything. I kept mentioning that to him but they weren't super regular and there were no other signs of anything, just Braxton Hicks contractions. Then that night when we went to bed, I couldn't really sleep. I was laying there by myself the only one awake. We were all staying in this big cabin together which was great. My husband and I were in our room. At 4:00 AM– this is so funny to me now that I know what labor is actually like. At 4:00 AM, I started timing contractions and they were less than 5 minutes apart when I started timing them. I'm like, What was wrong with me?So after an hour of them being like that, I woke my husband up and I was like, “I think you should go get your mom,” because she is actually a midwife which was good. Meagan: Oh, convenient. Shelby: She was in the room next to us. Yeah. I was like, “I think you should go get your mom because this is not right.” They were not just less than 5 minutes apart. They were pretty uncomfortable. She came over and checked things out. I know now that she definitely knew that something was going on but she was really good at keeping her cool. She was like, “Why don't you go shower and try to relax?” When I went to go to the bathroom and shower, I started bleeding. Like I said, I knew nothing about labor, so I was like, “Oh, well maybe I am in labor” which was really scary because I was only 34 weeks but it was a lot of bleeding. I was like, “Well, I don't know what's normal,” but I know that obviously, my mother-in-law knew what was going on. She was like, “It's okay. We'll have Chad (my father-in-law) just go start the car and we'll go in and get everything checked out.” So we were in the middle of the Adirondacks which is literally nowhere. We had a 25-minute drive to the nearest hospital and this hospital, I mean we were probably the only people there. It was 5:30 in the morning maybe. They didn't have an OB there. They didn't have a surgical team there. They were all at home so we come in and the front desk lady is like, “What's your occupation?” She's typing like a sloth. I was like, “Girlfriend, I am bleeding and I am in full-on labor. Can we just go inside?” So that was crazy. She's asking me to sign stuff and I'm telling my husband, “You have to sign.” At this point, contractions were pretty back-to-back and they were super strong. I could tell I was bleeding with every one. I could feel it. They got me back into the ER and the poor nurse. I know that this was probably so scary for her, especially with an OB not even there but she was asking me, “Have you felt her move recently? I can't find a heartbeat.” I was like, “I don't know. I'm in labor. I don't know if she's moving or not.” Every time I'd have a contraction, she'd just be like, “Oh wow, that's a lot of blood.” I'm like, “Thank you. I know.” Meagan: You're like, “I can feel it.” Shelby: Yeah, it was wild. By the time the OB got there, she checked. She said I was fully dilated and effaced. Meagan: Holy cow. Shelby: This was maybe 2 hours. It was not long. Now that I've been through a full labor, I'm like, that is crazy. My body had to have just been in panic mode like, We have to get this baby out right now.She checked and something that was kind of cool was I knew that my baby was head down. She had been from 20 weeks. She was perfectly always in the same spot because I could always feel her kicks really high and one of the times the OB checked, she goes, “Oh, and she's breech so we're just going to have to go.” I was like, “She's not breech. Check again. She's not breech.” She checked again and she was like, “Oh, you're right.” I was like, “Yeah.” So the nurse brings in all of the scrubs and stuff for my husband to put on and as he's getting dressed and everything, he's fully ready to go. He's all excited because he wasn't really super scared. Meagan: He didn't understand what was going on. Shelby: Yeah, but also, he's like, “I'm going to meet my baby today. This is so cool.” And the literal most gut-wrenching thing of my life was when the OB was like, “No, we don't have time. It's going to be under general. You can't come.” She wheeled me out of the room and I looked back and saw him standing there fully dressed just like yeah. It was awful. In that moment, I wasn't even worried about myself and I wasn't worried about the baby. I was just like, He's going to be traumatized from this. This is horrible. They took me back there and I'm in labor holding onto the top of the bed. I was only in there probably for a minute, but it is scary. The whole room is white and there is somebody over here counting instruments. They stick a mask on your face and you can barely breathe and then the next thing you know you wake up in recovery. I woke up as the only person in this room. There were maybe two guys sitting at the desk but that was it. Nobody else was there. They didn't say anything to me. Nobody told me if she was okay. I knew nothing. Yeah. I was just laying here. Eventually, my husband came in and he showed me pictures of her. He was like, “She's okay. She's on oxygen but she's doing all right.” But yeah. It was totally crazy. Then they moved me to– I don't even know. It probably wasn't actually a postpartum room. I don't even know if they have those at this hospital. I feel like they probably try to send everybody everywhere else. Then basically, they told me, “Hey, you have 10 minutes if you want to go see her and try to hold her before the ambulances get here to transfer you guys,” because there wasn't a NICU there and they probably weren't even– they couldn't have cared for her. I think as soon as we got there, they must have called Albany Medical Center because it's 3 hours away. She was born at 7:30 in the morning. I started timing contractions at 4:00 AM. We didn't leave until after 5:00. The whole thing was so fast. I'm getting ready to get out of bed and get in a wheelchair to go see her and they didn't warn me how much pain I would be in and they didn't really help me get out of bed either. As I went to stand up, I leaned back a little and after you've had a C-section, I almost passed out. Meagan: Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Shelby: Yeah, so I get in this wheelchair and I get in the room where she is. She's got the oxygen mask on and she's got all of these tubes and all of the things and you could tell in the pictures I was barely with it. What I remember bothering me the most is I had obviously been intubated so I felt like there was stuff in my throat because it was so swollen. My mouth was all dry and I got to hold her for a couple of minutes but it didn't even feel real. Then the NICU team got there. She was on one ambulance and I was on a different one and my husband was in a car so we were all separated for 3 hours to Albany. Halfway there, my ambulance– so hers left first, and halfway there, we passed hers pulled over on the side of the road. I started panicking. There was no communication between the two ambulances. Meagan: Oh my heavens. I'm dying right now. Shelby: Yeah. The EMT, bless her heart, was amazing. She was like, “It could be anything. It could be one of the monitors isn't hooked up right and they're just stopping to do that or they need to change out an oxygen tank and they can't do that while driving.” She helped me calm down a little bit. She probably shouldn't have said this, but we got closer to Albany and she said, “We don't need to panic.” I don't remember if she actually said this but she said, “Unless they pass us again going fast.” I kid you not but we were 5 minutes out from the hospital and her ambulance went by us with lights and sirens on. I had maybe seen her for 10 minutes before this and she couldn't contact the other ambulance. So just traumatizing, all of it. Thankfully, when we pulled into the hospital, the first thing that the guy on the baby's ambulance did was come over and say, “Everything is okay.” It was just something. They had a lead or something come off so they needed to stop and take care of it so it wasn't a big deal but it made it feel like a big deal. We are in New York still for all of this. We get in there and I have to get settled in the postpartum section and she has to get settled in the NICU and then finally, hours later, I was still bleeding a lot so they were trying to take care of that. They were doing the fundal rubs and I remember texting my mom and I was like, “If they do it again, I'm going to punch someone in the face,” because it was so awful. They were saying, “It's because the EMT didn't do them on the ride over that you are bleeding so much,” so they kept coming over and doing them. It was so awful. So then we had a 23-day NICU stay in New York, just my husband and I because no one else could even visit us because it was 2021 in New York which was pretty bad for COVID. Once I was discharged after 4 days, technically, the only visitors allowed were my husband and I with our NICU bracelets to see her. Even if they had someone come, they couldn't even come into the hospital. We didn't really want to leave the hospital because we wanted to be there with her. We were Ubering to Target. We didn't have a car because we flew there. We are Ubering to Target and thank goodness they had a Ronald McDonald house there so we were staying there and they supplied a lot of dinners and housing which was the biggest blessing in the world. I literally don't know what we would have done otherwise. Getting discharged without your baby is super horrible and she was only 4 pounds, 10 ounces so she was really little and nursing just never took off for us. I didn't get to try for a while even because she was being tube-fed and she could barely stay awake because she was so tiny. Every nurse that you'd have would tell you their tips and tricks which is great but not helpful when every 3 hours you are being told something different. We tried so hard and eventually got to the point where it was like, “Let's just get home. We are 800 miles from home and if it takes a bottle, that's fine. We just need to get home.” Yeah. After 23 days, my amazing mom drove to New York because we didn't even have a car seat. It was all at home. She picked us up and drove us back home. Meagan: Oh my gosh. Shelby: Yeah, so then you are coming home with this little 5-pound baby and you are like, “How are we even allowed to do this? She doesn't even barely fit in the car seat.” It was so crazy. After that, we were really unsure if we'd have more kids. Especially right after, we were like, “I don't know if we can do that again.” My husband and I always wanted lots of kids and a big family. That has always been something that we wanted so after that first experience– and you do a quick Google search of placental abruption and they say, “Once you've had one, it's 15% more likely that you'll have another one.”You're like, I can't go through that again. That was horrible. I knew that if we got pregnant again, I was like, I'm going to feel like a ticking time bomb. All of these also quick Google searches tell you that it can happen as early as 20 weeks. Thank goodness we made it to 34 but I'm like, If that happens at 20, baby is probably not going to make it. Meagan: That's a scary thought. That's a really scary thought. They really have advanced the medical world so much to a point where even when babies are born really, really preemie, there are higher chances than there used to be, but the thought of that in general is just too much to think about. Shelby: Oh yeah, and my mom who drove to New York to get us– which is probably part of the reason they discharged us. She's a NICU nurse so she actually knew how to feed this litle 5-pound baby who was still causing us feeding issues and all of the things, but I've obviously heard from her too the stories of the really early babies. I mean, even 29 weeks and I was like, It's just too much. But we also knew that we couldn't stay in that place because we both were not in a good place with it. My husband was obviously so traumatized for different reasons and I was too. It was just a lot. We started seeking out some faith-based counseling basically like spiritual reconciliationing kind of to work through it all because I knew even if we weren't going to have more kids, I could not just live with that raw the way it was. Meagan: Both of you needed to process that. Shelby: Yeah. We were just praying for the release of that and we even prayed over our poor baby because I was like, She's probably holding trauma from that too. The losses that I was experiencing were also losses for her. She missed out on the golden hour and a peaceful entry into this world. It would drive me crazy thinking that her first moments in this world were with people she didn't know and it was bright in the room and being hooked up to machines. I was like, That was probably so scary for her too. We could tell for a long time, probably her first 7 months that she was so sensory. I mean, just screamed and hated the car seat, hated transitions, hated bedtime. I mean, it was basically non-stop screaming for 7 months. I was like, You were supposed to be in the womb for 6 more weeks and instead, you were in the NICU with lights and sounds and all of the things. We just started praying really hard over all of it and speaking to some really trusted friends who worked through trauma with people. I started listening to The VBAC Link. This is probably when it started obsessively. I was doing Amazon deliveries just for fun on the side. I could take the baby with me so I'd put her in her car seat. This was eventually when she stopped screaming in the car seat so it took a while. I would put my AirPods in and while I did all of these deliveries, I would just listen to back to back to back episodes forever and for months. I think honestly that was probably what started getting me thinking even about more kids. I started learning about VBACs and how really the odds of having a VBAC are not that horrible and that it's really not any riskier than a second C-section and I was like, I really don't want another C-section because that was– I mean, I couldn't even roll over in bed by myself. My husband told me, “You don't usually need me, but that was the one time you actually needed me.” He was like, “Honestly, that was really hard to see you in that much pain and struggling that much.” I was like, “Yeah. I couldn't even pee by myself.” Meagan: Oh, I remember my husband literally helping with my second. He had to hold me up in the shower. I was like, “I just can't stand the whole time in the shower. Can you just hold me up and shower me?” I remember feeling so vulnerable and I was frustrated because I'm like, This isn't my personality. I'm very independent. Why is this happening? Yes. Shelby: Independent and strong. Yes. But also in my fashion, I was walking to the NICU by myself very slowly by day two. I'm like, What was wrong with me? But also, we didn't have a choice. I was about to be discharged. We had to figure something out. Thankfully, I didn't need to stay for 4 days, but because I had nowhere else to go, they were like, “You can stay all 4 days if you want.” I was like, “Okay, great.” But yeah, so I just started learning everything and consuming as much information as I could about physiological birth and about VBACs and there really isn't a ton of information about placental abruption. There are risk factors which I had none other than COVID which no one talks about yet because it had just started, but I didn't have high blood pressure. I obviously didn't do drugs. Meagan: You didn't have multiples. It was a singleton. Yeah. Shelby: It never happened before. My placenta was in a good location. Meagan: Your membranes hadn't ruptured. Shelby: Yeah, my water never ruptured with her so it was crazy. But around when she was probably 9 or 10 months, I couldn't even believe it, but I told my husband, “I'm not totally opposed to having another baby.”He was like, “For real?” We talked about it and we prayed about it a lot and I told God over and over again, “If I get pregnant again, this is going to be the biggest test of my trust in You ever because I know that if I try to worry about it, I'm going to go crazy. If I try to control the outcome which I can't, I'm going to go crazy.” So it basically was like, “If it happens, I'm just going to have to trust you with it fully. No holding back.” Actually, before we were even pregnant, started shopping around for providers. Meagan: That is key. That is so important. Shelby: Yeah. We do have one hospital locally that has midwives and birthing pools. I was like, “Okay, that sounds like a pretty good option for a VBAC.” We went to talk to them– well, I went by myself. I had my list of questions ready. I walked in ready to not take any crap because I also knew a lot about what they were probably going to say and they said, “Yeah.” First of all, they wouldn't call it a VBAC of course because nobody wants to do that. Meagan: TOLAC.Shelby: That was the first thing. I was like, “No. I'm going to do this.” Yeah, so they were like, “We'll allow you to try.” I was like, “Okay.” They were boasting about their VBAC rates and it was 60%. It was not very high and I was like, “Umm, okay. That's not that awesome, but all right.” They started listing off the things you have to do because I had all of these questions ready because I knew. So you have to have an IV hooked up. I was like, That's annoying. I was like, “Can you at least have the hep lock?” They said, “Yeah, that would be fine.” Then they said, “But you have to have continuous monitoring.” I was like, “Okay. I really, really don't want continuous monitoring,” and they try to make it sound better like, “Well, it's waterproof and it's mobile so you can still move around with it,” but I also knew about the statistics of continuous monitoring and how a lot of times they indicate things that aren't actually an issue and then especially if you are a VBAC patient, they're like, “Well, time for another C-section because baby's heart rate is dropping.” Baby's heart rate is supposed to fluctuate as they are descending. Meagan: Just like ours. Shelby: There was that and then they also said, “You can labor in the water, but VBACs aren't allowed to push in the water.” I was like, “Doesn't that defeat the purpose?” Especially if it's a VBAC patient, we should be doing everything we can to ease the labor. Why would you make them get out right when they are feeling like they need to push? They were like, “Oh, well it makes the OBs uncomfortable.” I was like, “Well, the OBs aren't delivering this baby so I don't really care what makes the OBs uncomfortable.”So they made me schedule out all of my prenatal appointments and I went to one of them but I told my husband, “I just don't want to have to fight for it. I know I can. I know that I can go in there and say ‘No thank you' and be confident in myself, but I don't really want to.” So I had never ever even considered a home birth. I don't even remember how, but we somehow heard about the only home birth midwife in our area and I scheduled an appointment with her. I didn't even get established with her until I was 19 weeks. I pushed out the OB care for a really long time when we found out we were pregnant because I knew we didn't really love them. So I just didn't go for a long time. I felt like everything was good. I felt like I was pretty in tune with everything. But yeah, I skipped a little bit but when we got pregnant with our second, it was a lot more immediate where I started praying about it all like, Okay God. This is for You because You are the only one who knows how long this baby is going to gestate and you're the only One who knows if it's going to end how we hope it does. I started praying. This is something. I started praying really specific prayers. I believe that God cares even about the little things which really aren't little things in this, but I prayed that my placenta would be in a good spot and I prayed that my placenta would be strong and that it would make it all the way to term and I prayed that this baby would make it all the way to term. Literally every little concern I had, I pretty much sat in the shower every day and just spoke it aloud. I was like, God, I know that You are a God of healing and restoration and I know that You can do that for me. I believed that through this birth, He was going to heal the trauma from our first because I was like, that feels like this is how it has to go at this point. We went and we met this midwife. She didn't doubt for a second. She didn't say anything that was like, “I'll let you try.” She was like, “You sound like a perfect candidate for a VBAC.” I told her that I had COVID and she was like, “Well, that's probably why your placenta ruptured.” She told me that the placentas she had seen throughout COVID and recently, she was like, “They are not healthy and they are not sustaining a lot of them until the end of pregnancy or if they are, they don't look good by the time they get there.” She wasn't surprised. But yeah, she said, “You sound like a perfect candidate. I think you can do this.” At every appointment with her, we'd sit there for an hour and we'd talk and she totally respected all of my wishes. She'd ask me if I wanted to do something. I'd ask her for information and then she'd let me decide either way which was cool too. With our second pregnancy, we didn't use a Doppler until I was in labor. I could feel her moving first of all so I knew that she was well but we actually started using a fetoscope which was really cool. You can't start using it until after 20 weeks so we had to wait for a really long time to hear her heartbeat but our toddler would watch us do it too. It was really cute because she would walk around with this fetoscope around her neck and she would go put it on daddy's belly and say, “I'm listening to Daddy's baby,” or she'd put it on her belly and it was really sweet. Yeah, we took a full 180 with this pregnancy. I had learned so much at this point that I was so confident in my body and in my instincts and all of it. We didn't find out the gender which with our first one, we found out at 8 weeks with the blood test. We didn't find out gender. I didn't do much prenatal care. We didn't do genetic screening anyway with the first one either because that didn't really matter to us. But yeah, I didn't even do an ultrasound until we were 32 weeks or something. We waited a long time because I had learned a lot about ultrasounds and how we actually don't know as much about them as we might think we know. Meagan: Might think we know. Yeah. Shelby: I read about how sometimes the techs are like, “Oh, they're moving away from it,” because they can feel it and I'm like, “We're not going to do that.” We waited and just had the technician who worked in our midwife's office which was perfect because we could tell her we wanted a very minimal one just to check basically the heart and vital organs and the brain to make sure everything was okay. She would pause the screen and take the measurement she needed and take the Doppler off and everything so it was very minimal. I was like, “I don't really care if they have 10 fingers and toes. We'll figure that out later. Just check the important stuff. Don't tell us the gender.” We did that and she basically was like, “Everything from as far as I can tell looks good.” That was pretty much all we did. My lifestyle was still very active and I was eating as best as I could. I didn't really feel like I had anything that was anything of concern which was perfect. I remember at my 30-week appointment, my midwife looked at me. We hadn't really talked about specific expectations I think for the birth because I didn't really know what I needed or what I wanted but she looked at me at my 30-week appointment without prompting and said, “I think what you really need from me in this birth is for me to just be there and for you to just do your thing.”Meagan: I love that. Shelby: I was like, “That's actually perfect. That's exactly what I want,” because at that point, I had listened to hundreds of birth stories and watched hundreds of birth videos and shown them all to my husband. Everything I was learning, obviously I was soaking it in but if there was anything I felt was pertinent to me, I was showing to him too. He really benefited from that because we went into birth also with him not being afraid. He would watch birth videos with me and he'd be like, “Wow, that's amazing.” That's one of my things. Knowledge is power and educate your husbands too or whoever is going to be with you at your birth. Physiological birth especially, they should be comfortable with it. They should know what it looks like and how it progresses and how to best support you in that. That was huge for us. I made him watch a lot of birth videos and he wasn't even weirded with it by the time it came around. But yeah. She said that and I was like, “Yeah, you know, that sounds great.” We made it all the way to 40 weeks and I just felt completely at peace the whole time. I wasn't worried and I was like, “She's going to come when she's going to come.” Another thing they had told me at the hospital was, “We only let VBACs go to 41 weeks and once you go past 41 weeks, you have to have a C-section.” I was like, “I'm not going to do that. I don't even know what my typical gestation is because I haven't made it term.”Meagan: I was going to say, you didn't even make it to 40 weeks. Shelby: Yeah, so my midwife was like, “Well, if you get to 42 weeks, we'll do an ultrasound and make sure everything is okay,” but she wasn't putting a timeline on it which was so great. I did a lot of courses. I stay at home with my daughters so I just listened to a lot of courses. I did the Christian HypnoBirthing one, our midwives did a course. It was really cool. They got us all together at one of their houses and went through a course with us and our spouses with all the moms who were about to have babies. I also did the Free Birth Society course which I was kind of so/so on but I was like, “If I want to know how to home birth, I just want to know about everything. I want to know about the complications that could happen and what you should do in those situations,” so even though I wasn't planning to free birth, I still wanted to learn all of the things. That was one of the things that I did and I was just listening to constant everything. When we made it to– I guess it was two days before my due date, so July 29, I was having fairly consistent contractions in the evening and so we were all excited. We're timing them and we were texting our moms but then they stopped the next morning which was a Sunday before church so we were getting ready to go to church but then I lost my mucus plug in the shower. I was like, “Okay, just in case something is going to happen, we should probably watch online.” We stayed home, watched online, and nothing was happening all day. We knew that we shouldn't get our hopes up but also you make it that far and you're like, “I'm just ready.” Our church had a picnic that night at a local water park so I was like, “Well, nothing has happened all day. We might as well go because we didn't go to church.” We went to this picnic and we were doing the mini playground with our 1-year-old at the time who is water crazy. I think I jumped to get into one of the tubes and felt something kind of funny then around 8:30 PM, I had a really strong contraction. I was like, “Okay. That was unusual.” I went to the bathroom and had bloody show so I went back out and got my husband. I was like, “We've got to go home.” On the drive home, contractions were 8-10 minutes apart. I showered and we called the midwife and our photographer and my mom and grandma who were coming to get my daughter and the dogs because we didn't know how it would go so we didn't want anybody else there who needed care obviously. Meagan: Well and your last labor was actually pretty dang fast. Shelby: Right, yeah so I was like, “I don't know how this is going to go.” My mom came and helped us clean up the kitchen which is where we were going to put the pool and everything. The midwife and her student arrived at around 10:30 PM. At this point, I was between the coffee table and the couch on my knees holding a comb and my husband was pushing on my back. I labored just in that one position for a long time and that felt as okay as it can feel. Then at around midnight, the midwife heard one of my contractions and was like, “That one sounded a little different. Let's get in the pool.” So I got into the pool and that was instant relief. I was able to sit between contractions and try to relax then after a little while, I was too afraid to feel. We did zero cervical checks. I didn't want to know. I was like, I just want to go. After a while, it was so cool how in tune she was with it all. She goes, “Why don't you see if you can feel your baby's head?” I was like, “Are you serious?” So I reached up and I could feel her head. I was like, “Okay. That gave me a little bit of encouragement to keep going.” I would say probably about an hour after I got into the water, my body started pushing. I didn't push voluntarily once. It was wild. I felt something at one point. We were about to change positions again. I had been in the tub for a little while and they were getting the bedroom ready. I was like, “Hold on, something just happened.” I reached down and a big hand-sized bulge of my amniotic sac was sticking out still full of fluid.Meagan: Yeah, I've seen that. It's so cool. Shelby: I told my husband, “Do you want to feel it?” Meagan: It's like a water balloon sticking out of your vagina. Shelby: Yeah, then the midwife was like, “Okay, we're not going to move. We're going to stay here. Obviously this position is good.” I held a comb in my hand the whole time and I had my husband push on my back because with both labors, I have had total back labor. I don't know why. I just have. I mean, she said I pushed for less than 40 minutes which was crazy. I felt her head come out but we didn't know it was a girl yet so that was fun and then I tried to slow down because I knew that sometimes you need a push or a contraction between and you don't want to get pushed too hard and tear but I couldn't. My body literally just pushed her all the way out in one push. That fetal ejection reflex is definitely a thing. So at 2:14 AM was when she was born and my first contraction was at 8:30 PM. I caught her by myself in the water and pulled her up. She had her cord on like a backpack. It was around both arms and her neck so I had her head out of the water but I could barely get her up. The midwife came over and untangled her and I mean, my husband and I just sat there for probably over 5 minutes before we even checked what the gender was because we were just in awe. We didn't even care. We were like, “Whatever. It's fine either way.” So when we finally looked, we saw it was our girl and we already had a name picked out, Elowen Ruth so we got to hold her for a long time but obviously, my midwife could tell that I was bleeding a lot so she had me get out and I had planned not obviously to do Pitocin unless I really needed it especially before baby was born but it was a lot of bleeding. I tried one of our tinctures first and it didn't really slow it down. So we did some Pitocin. She just did it. I didn't even notice. I was sitting there holding my baby and I was like, “You can't make this moment not perfect.” So we did some Pitocin and delivered the placenta. Then we went out and just sat on the couch and my husband made a snack plate and we all– the photographer and the midwife and her student and my husband and I just sat there talking about the birth and eating snacks.Then after a while, my husband got to hold her while I got cleaned up. I did end up having a lot of bleeding.Meagan: I was just going to ask if the bleeding resolved or did it continue?Shelby: I mean, it stopped pretty well. I didn't end up having to go get checked, but about a week later, my mom and when I took the baby into her first appointment at our nurse practitioner, I wasn't even there for me and she was like, “We are running iron labs on you because you look super pale.” I was really anemic and we didn't know so I think that probably was something. Now I know for the future, if I have a lot of bleeding again, I need to get it checked out really fast because I think it really slowed down my healing. Other than the initial pain of a C-section, my vaginal birth recovery was much more difficult. I could barely walk or stand for 4 weeks. I could not believe it. I remember going to my appointment and I was like, “Is this normal?” The birth went so well. I know it was fast but I think it was because my iron was so low. My body just couldn't heal. I did end up having a little bit of tearing but we didn't stitch it or anything. It healed pretty well on its own. It was super painful when I would have to pee and all of the things but eventually, it healed up on its own. But yeah. I mean, we got to sleep in our own bed. Well, I mean, the husband and the baby got to sleep. I could not. That high we were on, my midwife told me, she was like, “Okay. She's probably going to sleep for the next 5 or 6 hours and you should try to also.” I laid there and I was like, “There is no sleeping. There is none.” After that, she's like, “It's time to nurse 24/7.” Meagan: Of course. Shelby: She's 9 months today and we are still breastfeeding which is huge because with my first, I exclusively pumped for 8.5 months and that was so hard. I was so determined. I also took breastfeeding courses leading up to this baby because I was like, “We are going to make this work because I do not want to pump again.” I love nursing. I have to leave for an Army training here in a couple of weeks and I'm planning to take her with me and still nurse her at night time. I'm like, “We're going to make this go as long as we can.” Yeah, I mean, it was wild but so good. Meagan: Wild but amazing. Shelby: Yeah. Meagan: Did you find it healing? Because sometimes I feel like when you have a harder postpartum where you're like, “I'm not walking as well and I'm feeling gross with the iron,” that can be defeating and frustrating. But did you find that healing or were you like, “I would still take this over the other?” Shelby: Oh absolutely. I mean, I definitely had times where I would just break down not only because of the hormones but everything else. With my husband, I'd be like, “I did it. Why is this so hard?” I had prepared for postpartum. I made sure we had help lined up for our daughter and for meals and for everything so I was really able to take the time I needed. I think if I hadn't done that, I don't know what would have happened honestly because I needed it. I couldn't even sit on the couch. I had to be laying down in the bed or I was in pain. Meagan: Dang. Shelby: I think preparing for it definitely helped and the birth itself made it all worth it. Now, I'm like, Yeah, that was really hard for a couple of weeks but that experience made up for it for sure. Meagan: Worth it. Shelby: Overall, with the recovery, I'm like, Man, that was really hard with the C-section. it was two really hard days with the C-section but everyday is a little better. With my vaginal birth, I was like, Man, everyday is gettig worse. It's hurting more. But it was still really good. Meagan: What was it that was in pain? Was it your pelvic floor? Was it your abdomen? Shelby: It was probably my pelvic floor honestly and also because I think I had torn and she came so fast and there was no slow stretching, I mean– Meagan: Fetal ejection. Shelby: From the first one, it was crazy. I think it really was pelvic floor. I remember one of my friends describing it as she just felt heavy. I was like, “Yes. That is what it is.” It just felt heavy and it ached. Yeah. That was hard. I mean, even being in the shower didn't fix it and that was how my husband and I had planned to bond postpartum was showers together and stuff and I would be in there and I'm like, “I cannot stand up. I have to go back to bed.” Meagan: Too much pressure. Shelby: Yeah, for sure. Meagan: That makes sense. Okay, so let's talk about faith and getting yourself through a really, really rough first birth and you finding that faith. Do you have any advice for the listeners to gain faith in their ability?Shelby: Yeah. I mean, for me it was just knowing that God created my body to do this. No matter what had already happened, my body knew how to birth. I think what helped was I was like, Okay, it's already gotten fully dilated and effaced in my first labor. Maybe not gradually or the way it should have, but I was like, I've kind of already done it. I didn't get to the pushing but just knowing that I was designed to do it and through a lot of prayer and speaking and speaking, “God, you created me to do this. You gave me this baby to grow and to birth,” and just the knowledge is the same thing. Learning about how your body was made to do this is just huge and like I said, just praying those specific prayers for me was so important and proclaiming the promises that God has that He is a healer and a redeemer and He cares about our birth stories. He totally does. That was part of His plan from the beginning. I think for me personally, my birth stories are my testimony. I feel like until these two babies, I really was like, Oh, I grew up in the church and I don't really have a cool story which is fine but also with these babies, I'm like, I have never trusted God more with any situation in my entire life other than with the life of my children and bringing them into this world. For me, that was something I didn't really realize until recently too. That same friend was like, “I think this is your testimony.” I was like, “You're so right.” Meagan: That's cool. Shelby: It totally brought beauty from the whole experience. From the first one, you are like, Why in the world did this happen to me? What good could possibly come of this? We're traumatized. My baby is having sensory overload and I'm not at home. It was all of these things and then realizing that I shared about my story and I was able to connect with so many other moms who were like, “I had an emergency C-section” or “I had a really scary birth story” and now when I hear that a mom had a baby, my first thought is, How did her birth go and how is she doing? Did it go the way she planned and is she hurting? Those are my first thoughts instead of, Oh, is the baby okay? Okay, the baby is okay. It's made me really passionate about postpartum moms and at some point, I'd love to do something with that not while I have a 9-month-old and a 2-year-old but just knowing that there can be beauty that comes out of every story because in the moment, it totally did not feel like it with our first baby. Meagan: Right, yeah. That is the case a lot of the time. It feels like there is no beauty at all anywhere in that story and then you go and you listen to these stories and there is beauty in every single story and growth in every single story. There is learning. I think there is just so much to take from these stories. Then I wanted to go over physiological birth. There's a women and infant's blog or website and it says, “A normal physiological birth and birth are defined globally by midwife organizations as a birth that is powered by the innate human capacity of the birthing person and fetus.” The innate human capacity. “This means that there are no interventions performed that disrupt the normal physiological process in the absence of complications that warrant interventions supporting the physiological process of labor and birth has the potential to enhance birth outcomes and experiences.”I do believe so wholeheartedly that there are sometimes here. You had a real thing happening, a real medical–Shelby: Right. Thank goodness for the medical system in that situation, you know?Meagan: Yes. Thank goodness for intervention in that situation but that doesn't mean that we always have to just get all handsy with birth. It does show the benefits of supporting and fostering physiological birth of individuals include reduced Cesareans, increased breastfeeding success, improved birth experience, and reduced cost of care. Now, this world is very cost-minded especially with insurance and all of those things, but in the end, if you look at the reduced amount of money that we are spending when we are not paying for all of the interventions that happen during birth– and they don't always happen. We know that this is not a blank statement where it's like, “Every birth ends this way,” but usually when there's one, there are more. That adds up. Right? In the end, it's like, is that experience worth another experience? Even if you're in the hospital, you do not– you can totally have a physiological birth in a hospital. I love that so much. Some people don't feel safe out of the hospital. Shelby: Right. That's physiological birth. The key is being where you are safe because your body cannot progress as it needs to if it doesn't feel safe. I majored in animal science and I think about how animals won't have their babies if they don't feel safe. I think that we are mammals and our bodies are the same way. If you feel safest at home, awesome. If you feel safest in the hospital where you know you can get care right away, awesome. Yeah. You definitely just have to make that decision for yourself. Meagan: Yeah. I had a client who really wanted a home birth really, really badly. She decided not to, but decided to labor at home as long as possible and she was laboring and she was laboring and she was laboring and I was like, This labor. Something is off. Something is off. It was going but it wasn't really going and through chatting with her and doing a fear-clearing and fear-release to see if we could get over to that next stage, she never said, “I want to go to the hospital.” She didn't say those words but everything else that she was saying to me, that's what I heard. I said, “Why don't we go to the hospital? If we end up coming back home, that's okay but let's go and let's just see how things are going.” She was like, “I don't know,” because she was steering off of her plan in her mind of laboring at home. I said, “Okay, cool. It's going to be your decision.” About 25 minutes later, she was like, “Yeah, let's do it.” I'm not kidding you. The second she got into that car, it was a game changer. Shelby: Oh my gosh. Meagan: Because her mind was like, I'm going. She immediately felt better and safe. She didn't realize that's where she felt safer. We went. We had a total physiological birth. In fact, we didn't know if we were going to make it. She had the baby on the bed and the doctor was not there. Shelby: There's so much mental work that goes into it and everything. For me, knowing that I was going to my house. I hate packing and knowing I didn't have to leave and go somewhere, that was how I felt safe but I know a lot of people who are like, “No, I want to be in the hospital.” I'm like, “Great. Do it. Just make sure you are informed.” Meagan: Make sure you are informed. That is the ending tidbit here to this story. Be informed. Take a VBAC class. We have our VBAC class online. If you have any questions online, you can always email us on Instagram or in our email at info@thevbaclink.com. Hire a doula if you can. Hire a provider that you really, really trust to support you. Find that birthing location. Get the information. Learn what is important to you because what's important to you is going to stand out that day that you are in labor. Get educated. Love yourself. Have faith in you and your body and your baby. You are amazing. You are a true Woman of Strength. Shelby: Yes. So good. Thank you so much. Meagan: Thank you. ClosingWould you like to be a guest on the podcast? Tell us about your experience at thevbaclink.com/share. For more information on all things VBAC including online and in-person VBAC classes, The VBAC Link blog, and Meagan's bio, head over to thevbaclink.com. Congratulations on starting your journey of learning and discovery with The VBAC Link.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-vbac-link/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Cassi's first four birth stories can be heard here.  Links: Get your breast pump, lactation support, and maternity compression garments for free at aeroflowbreastpumps.com/birthhour and use promo code BIRTHHOUR15 at for 15% off supplies and accessories. Know Your Options Online Childbirth Course - use code 100OFF for $100 off Beyond the First Latch Course (comes free with KYO course) Support The Birth Hour via Patreon!

Catherine is the mother to her TWO angel babies, Brooklyn (11/29/16) and Miles (12/7/17 - 12/14/17) and her now miracle baby, Lux. Catherine's experiences have covered a range of "rare" circumstances. We discuss ALL of it. She has faced an incompetent cervix, placental abruption, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), the NICU, a journey with a gestational carrier and miscarriages. After thinking she would never be able to physically carry another baby, she carried her miracle baby, Lux, to 37 weeks in 2021. Almost 8 years after her first loss, she shows us that grief has no expiration and how she includes all of her babies in their family today. Check out her Podcast: Angel Moms SisterhoodInstagram: @angelmoms.sisterhoodYouTube: @angelmomssisterhoodEmail: angelmomssisterhood@gmail.com JOIN THE LOSSLINK WAITLIST HEREOr if it's after July 18th, go to LossLink.com *************************************NOTE: I am not a doctor or a therapist. The views of my guests are not always reflective of my own.  I am just a real life loss mom describing her experiences with life after loss. These are my experiences, and I'm putting it out there so you feel less alone. Always do your own research and make informed decisions!For more REAL TALK about baby loss and grief, hit subscribe to be notified when another episode drops!Support the podcast and shop the store!  At a Total Loss Shop Instagram @thekatherinelazar Youtube: @thekatherinelazarEmail: thekatherinelazar@gmail.comWebsite: www.katherinelazar.com Some helpful resources:https://countthekicks.org/https://www.measuretheplacenta.org/https://www.pushpregnancy.org/https://www.tommys.org/ Local to Atlanta:https://www.northsidepnl.com/

Which of the following is consistent with the clinical presentation of placental abruption? a. A 38 year-old with primary HTN, who is now 28 weeks pregnant with her 6th child, presents with a 1-h history of sudden onset abdominal pain as well as dark red vaginal bleeding,dizziness,  tachycardia and BP= 88/ 55b. A 32 year old who's pregnant with her eighth child, now 32 weeks pregnant presenting with A2 hour history of bright red vaginal bleeding stating she does not have abdominal pain.c. 28 year old who states she had a positive home pregnancy test three days ago with last menstrual period six weeks ago. Normal timing and flow with an 8 hour history of intermittent bright red vaginal spot spotting with mild cramping.d. A 26 year old with a past medical history of pelvic inflammatory disease who's now 8 weeks pregnant by LMP with A2 hour History of sudden onset. Severe left sided abdominal pain radiating to the shoulder, Small amount of bright red bleeding per vagina. Feeling lightheaded. Vital signs reveal tachycardia in ABP of 80 / 45.---YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlRlHSKphHQ&list=PLf0PFEPBXfq592b5zCthlxSNIEM-H-EtD&index=60Visit fhea.com to learn more!

In today's episode, we dive into Fallon's incredible journey through pregnancy, birth, and caring for her premature baby. From the minute she found out she was pregnant, to weeks after he was born - Fallon's story has a ton of ups and downs! Her story is one of resilience, intuition, and the power of advocating for yourself in the face of medical challenges. So join me for this rollercoaster of a birth story, and hear about the valuable lessons she learned along the way!  Want to erase anxiety and actually feel excited about birth? Get instant access to my FREE Birth Workshop to learn tons of pain-coping strategies and actionable tips today! Have an even better birth! CLICK HERE to learn more about our online birth classes that will help you feel prepared and in control - no matter how you deliver. And be sure to follow @mommy.labornurse on Instagram to join our community of over half a million for education, tips, and solidarity on all things pregnancy, birth, and postpartum!

PODCAST EPISODE - KELSEY'S BIRTH STORY - PLACENTAL ABRUPTION - RETURN TO TRUSTING - #103 Join your hosts Lea and Sophia as they interview Kelsey on her birth story. They discuss topics such as obstetric violence, fetal heart arrhythmia, post term pregnancy, placental abruption, and cesarean. Kelsey is an herbalist living and working on a farm in Petaluma. Her and her husband, Roberto welcomed their baby boy, Julio, in November 2023. They are finding their groove as a family of 4 (including their sweet and sassy shiba inu, The Maki Dog!) and they love going for walks around the farm and watching the Warriors together. Kelseys favorite hobby is aerial silks- she can't wait to get back into it once Julio is old enough! Kelsey recommends: •Free Birth Society: @freebirthsociety •Birthing Instincts: @birthinginstincts •Hard truths about placental abruption episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/birthing-instincts/id1552816683?i=1000642767921 Connect with Kelsey: •IG: @kesocandisco Listen here: IG: linktree in bio FB: https://anchor.fm/bornwild/episodes/103--Kelseys-Birth-Story---Placental-Abruption---Return-to-Trusting-e2fmsq4 @sophiabirth @bayareahomebirth @bornwildmidwifery Stay Wild

Today on the podcast, Blyss & Dr. Stu respond to fellow travelers' stories and take a hard look at a serious disorder.This episode is a deep exploration of the complex and often urgent medical scenarios that can arise during childbirth, such as placental abruption and uterine rupture. From understanding the different classifications of placental abruption to recognizing the symptoms, we shed light on the critical importance of swift medical attention for the safety of both mother and child. Blyss shares our Patreon vision and Dr. Stu revisits some information on the cervix.Key highlights:Routine Pelvic ExaminationsPlacental Abruption and Uterine Rupture RiskUnderstanding Placental Abruption, Its Risk Factors, and Its ClassificationsRecognizing and Managing Placental AbruptionPlacenta PreviaEpisode resources:Placental AbruptionRoutine Pelvic Examinations and the Ethics of ScreeningThe “30-minute rule” for expedited delivery: fact or fiction?This show is supported by:LMNT | Go to drinklmnt.com/birthinginstincts to get a free sample pack with every orderNeeded | Use code BIRTHINGINSTINCTS for 20% off your first month at thisisneeded.comBIRTHFIT | Go to birthfit.com and use the code INSTINCTS1 for a discount on the Basics Prenatal program, or INSTINCTS2 for a discount on the Basics Postpartum program.Connect with Dr. Stu & Blyss:Instagram: @birthinginstincts / @birthingblyssWebsite: birthinginstincts.com / birthingblyss.comEmail: birthinginstinctspodcast@gmail.comCall-in line: 805-399-0439Podcast webpage: birthinginstinctspodcast.com

We're back with SEASON 3! Pop the champagne, it's the 1 year anniversary of Motherhood Intended!In this episode, Jacqueline shares the unique conception and birth stories of her six children - the two sons she's blessed with at home, her three angels in heaven, and a baby girl on the way due in April. *trigger warning* the topics of premature delivery, miscarriage, and stillbirth are discussed.In this episode...Infertility, a blocked fallopian tube, hypothyroidismClomid, IUIs, IVFClubbed feet birth defect, cervical insufficiency, polyhydramniosBedrest, premature delivery, the NICU, c-sectionsMiscarriages and stillbirthPregnancy after lossPlacental abruptionGenetic testing of embryosSurrogacyGrief, trauma, and anxietyStruggling to conceive? Download this *free* Month-by-Month Roadmap to Your Fertility Success to help you stay calm and focused on your journey to baby. •  Leave a review for the podcast•  Join the Motherhood Intended Community•  Follow @motherhood_intended on Instagram• Apply to be a guest on the podcast• Want in on the ground floor of Motherhood Intended? Reach out to Jacqueline for available opportunities! --> hello@motherhoodintended.comIf you're interested in helping give the absolute greatest gift to deserving parents, learn more about becoming a surrogate (and earn up to $650 just for taking the first few simple steps!): share.conceiveabilities.com/hello12Support the showLoving the podcast? Then we would love your support with the production of the show! With the help of our audience, the podcast will be able to bring you the best content, most interesting guests, and helpful resources. Consider skipping your coffee run today and instead show some love here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/motherhoodintended

Welcome to That NICU Mum, a podcast sharing the stories of New Zealand parents who have had a baby in a neonatal unit across the country.Today's episode (the first for 2024!) is with Sophie, who's son Freddie was born at 32 weeks after a partial placental abruption at 27 weeks saw her having to stay in hospital until his birth.She talks about his calm birth, their straightforward NICU journey and the hard experiences they had after Freddie got home.She is also pregnant with baby #2 so hopefully things turn out differently for them this time!Enjoy,Shan x x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, in honor of the holidays, we celebrate the beauty of life by discussing only good news, such as a potential monument to the unborn, the 4-month-old sucked up by a tornado who lived, and more! While not every story we cover this week is directly abortion related, each reminds us that life is a gift. Topics Discussed:Directory of Catholic, Christian, & Pro-Life Birth ProfessionalsArkansas' Monument To The UnbornStudies Reveal Babies Born With The Ability to Perceive The Beat In MusicCouple Travels Thousands Of Miles To Find A Way To Save Their SonPreemie Who Spent 9 Months in Hospital Goes Home For Christmas4-Month-Old Sucked Up By Tornado And Lives!Holiday Free Toy Store For Kids in Nashville Opens Links Mentioned:The Made For This Birth DirectoryPro-Life America Podcast Episode 85: Surrogacy & IVF - Good or Bad?Commission recommends design for ‘monument to the unborn' at Arkansas Capitol - NPRBabies appear to be born with the ability to discern a beat in music - Popular ScienceIsraeli Couple Travels to U.S. for Life-Saving Treatment After Unborn Baby Diagnosed with Heart Failure: 'He's a Miracle' - People MagazineNICU baby born at 23 weeks, 5 days goes home in time for Christmas - Good Morning America‘By The Grace Of God': 4-Month-Old Baby Found Alive In Fallen Tree After Family's Tennessee Home Wrecked By Tornado - Daily WireBrad Paisley And Wife Kimberly Williams Open Free Toy Store For Kids Ahead Of Holidays - Daily WireRate & Review Our Podcast Have a topic you want to see discussed on the show? [Submit it here.]To learn more about what Life Dynamics does, visit: https://lifedynamics.com/about-us/Support Our Work

In this episode of Healthful Woman, Dr. Nathan Fox speaks with Dr. Andrei Rebarber regarding placental abruption. This uncommon yet serious pregnancy complication occurs when the placenta partly or totally separates from the inner wall of the uterus before delivery. This can decrease or block the baby's oxygen and nutrient supply, and cause heavy bleeding in the mother.

Welcome to That NICU Mum, a podcast where we share stories of New Zealand parents who have had a baby in a neonatal unit across the country.As we are in the holiday season, we have dropped down to one episode a week - Saturdays. We will pick back up to two episodes from February 2024!Today we speak with Shannon, who's son Grayson was born at 33 weeks due to what they call a silent placental abruption, which is very scary and very dangerous.Shannon is super open and honest and talks a lot about her experiences, feelings and her journey with Grayson but in particularly about her mental health.A huge thank you to Shannon for sharing her experiences with us - it's not an easy thing to do!Enjoy,Shan x xP.s if you hear Angus in this episode - ignore him! hahaha Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get ready to be captivated. This week, we had the privilege of sitting down with the incredibly resilient Emily, a mother of five and soon -to-be six, who shared her riveting journey through pregnancy and birth. Emily's raw and honest recount of her first birth experience, a sudden placental abruption at 36 weeks leading to an emergency C-section, will leave you on the edge of your seat. But it's not just about the drama; Emily's story is a testament to her strength, a whirlwind of emotions, and the overwhelming relief of finally holding her newborn daughter.But Emily's story doesn't stop there. She also walked us through the struggles and anxieties that came postpartum. The emotional roller coaster of a NICU stay, the fear of not being able to bring her daughter home immediately, and the subsequent pregnancies and births that each came with their unique challenges. Emily talks about her desire to have a VBAC and the tranquil joy of welcoming each new life into her ever-growing family.As our candid conversation with Emily unfolds, you'll gain profound insights into her journey with multiple pregnancies, the mental and physical changes that come with each one, and the importance of seeking help. Emily openly shares her struggles with postpartum anxiety, the strength she found, and her trajectory towards a positive mindset. Listen closely to Emily's advice for new moms and anyone grappling with their mental health. This episode is a treasure trove of wisdom from a brave woman who has walked through the fire and come out stronger on the other side. This is a conversation you don't want to miss.Join our Facebook group community here!To sign up for our newsletter visit our website and blog: www.goldenhourbirthpodcast.comFollow Liz on Instagram here and Natalie hereFollow us on Facebook here.

Hi Molly,In today's episode, I interviewed a very dear friend and fellow mama, Carla Barnes. She and I met way back, during our freshman year in College. We lived in the same dorm. Being first-time moms together now is so exciting, especially since we're older mamas.Today, Carla opens up about the placental abruption she had at 34 weeks. She shares how she spent almost a week in the hospital before giving birth to her determined little girl, Ariana, at 35 weeks. And why it was so important that they hit the 35-week mark! We Also Hear: What it was Like to Try to Feed a NICU Baby Breastfeeding and Pumping Challenges when Ariana came home Ariana's Milk Protein Intolerance and the Emotional Turmoil Carla Felt at the Subsequent Early Weaning it Caused (as would any mom!) Finding the Right Formula The Importance of Local SupportLinks: Pink Stork No Flow Tea - https://amzn.to/3FQDAvG Medela Soothing Gel Pads - https://amzn.to/3u2LnUh Coconut oil - https://amzn.to/3MyxSlU More Milk Please FB Group for Strong Supportive Mamas+ https://www.facebook.com/groups/moremilkplease Molly's 10 Game-Changing Milk Production Tips: https://www.mollyrider.com/top10milktipsThank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, it would mean the world to me if you'd be willing to take 30 seconds to rate and review the podcast. And, if you're interested in coming on to share your own baby-feeding story, head to mollyrider.com and click on “Share Your Story.”

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

On this week's Listener Series episode, Julia shares about the loss of her second baby, Rosalind, as a result of placental abruption.  Julia experienced a PPH and her daughter required resuscitation. After transferring to another NICU for cooling treatment, it was determined that Rosalind did not have any brain activity.  She was alive for just over 21 hours.Julia shares about the impact of Rosalind's loss, specifically on her mental health, and the challenge of navigating postpartum without her baby.  Julia and her husband decided to have another child after Rosalind, and she also shares what it was like to navigate a high-risk pregnancy after loss. If you have a birth trauma story you would like to share with us, click this link and fill out the form!For more birth trauma content and a community full of love and support, head to my Instagram at @birthtrauma_mama.Learn more about the support and services I offer through The Birth Trauma Mama Therapy & Support Services.

On this episode, Ingrid joins us to share her birth trauma and NICU journey.  Ingird experienced PPROM and placental abruption which led to an emergency c-section under GA, while also forcing her to switch providers in the midst of all this chaos.  Her son spent 147 days in the NICU, 40 of those on a ventilator. Ingrid shares about her change in identity after becoming a mom to a medically complex child and leaving her career to be a full-time care provider. Ingrid also touches on the importance of advocacy and trusting your gut when things don't feel right.If you have a birth trauma story you would like to share with us, click this link and fill out the form!For more birth trauma content and a community full of love and support, head to my Instagram at @birthtrauma_mama.Learn more about the support and services I offer through The Birth Trauma Mama Therapy & Support Services.

Young moms aren't usually seen as high risk, but 23-year-old Jerrika Latham experienced numerous complications throughout pregnancy that she suspects was due to her endometriosis. By 28 weeks, she started to dilate, went into labor at 32 weeks, and stopped it until she needed to be induced and then sent for an urgent C-section at 35 weeks. Her daughter will be 9 months on April 30th and is doing great given the circumstances surrounding her birth.In this episode she shares how she advocated for her herself and her baby, and wants all moms going through the birth process to know that it's okay to ask for help.Connect with Jerrika on Instagram: @jerrikaluna_Connect with Jerrika on TikTok: @jerry.babyc Support the showConnect with Lina on @linaforrestal on InstagramFollow the @newmamaspodcast on InstagramRead Lina's Blog: www.linaforrestal.comSupport the Show: Buy Me a Coffee (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newmamaspodcast)

Today I'm joined by Hannah, who shares with us about the traumatic experience she encountered when she was nearing the end of her pregnancy with her second baby. Having had a very straightforward first birth in a birth centre, Hannah had opted for a home birth with her second. But when she began haemorrhaging at 36 weeks, her plans for a peaceful, gentle home birth were foiled. She was experiencing a placental abruption which ultimately resulted in a very rushed emergency cesarean. The final moments before Bradley was born were the source of Hannah's PTSD symptoms that haunted her in her postpartum journey. Despite asking for help from the professionals she was repeatedly declined support and reminded that actually she was one of the lucky ones, that under the circumstances she was lucky to have a healthy baby. This did nothing to relieve Hannah of her depression and anxiety, and only served to fuel the guilt and shame that she held surrounding her experience. At 6 months postpartum she finally received the care she needed to begin her healing process. A brilliant psychologist used EMDR therapy with Hannah and the PTSD symptoms immediately started abating. Two years on, Hannah is now a birth doula. Primarily she hopes to change the story for others who experience a traumatic birth and are pregnant again. Topics covered in this episode include: placental abruption at 36 weeks emergency cesarean with inadequate anaesthesia (then GA) PTSD - description of symptoms lack of access to trauma support anti-depressant medication EMDR therapy for PTSD managing the resurfacing of birth trauma on child's 1st birthday To train in holistic birth trauma support with me (Carla), visit: https://www.healingbirth.co.nz/training-with-carla Or to find healing after a traumatic birth through 1:1 support with me: https://www.healingbirth.co.nz/healing

Today's episode is information all about the placenta: its function, risks, complications, and how to equip yourself with knowledge in order to make the best decisions for you and your baby should you run into one of these conditions. My goal for this episode is purely informational so you can tuck this away and refer back to it IF this happens to you.

In this episode, Rachel Roudik, a labor and deliver nurse, shares her birth stories and pregnancy experiences. Rachel shares a special perspective on her pregnancies and births having assisted hundreds of other women in the same process. Additionally, she was a pregnant during Covid while continuing to work as a labor nurse. Rachel experienced placental abruption with her second delivery. Listen to her experiences, frustrations, insights, and a few laughs in this episode of The Birth Journeys Podcast. Coaching offerSupport the showConnect with Kelly Hof at kellyhof.comMedical Disclaimer:This podcast is intended as a safe space for women to share their birth experiences. It is not intended to provide medical advice. Each woman's medical course of action is individual and may not appropriately transfer to another similar situation. Please speak to your medical provider before making any medical decisions. Additionally, it is important to keep in mind that evidence based practice evolves as our knowledge of science improves. To the best of my ability I will attempt to present the most current ACOG and AWHONN recommendations at the time the podcast is recorded, but that may not necessarily reflect the best practices at the time the podcast is heard. Additionally, guests sharing their stories have the right to autonomy in their medical decisions, and may share their choice to go against current practice recommendations. I intend to hold space for people to share their decisions. I will attempt to share the current recommendations so that my audience is informed, but it is up to each individual to choose what is best for them.

This episode covers placental abruption.Written notes can be found at https://zerotofinals.com/obgyn/antenatal/placentalabruption/ or in the antenatal care section of the Zero to Finals obstetrics and gynaecology book.The audio in the episode was expertly edited by Harry Watchman.

Meghan Murray and her husband decided to have one more baby. She'd already experienced beautiful vaginal births with her first two boys and, like so many women, she mentally went through all the things she could do this time around to get things just right. In preparing for her dream birth, Meghan hired new midwives who practiced outside of a hospital setting and seemed perfectly aligned with her wishes. She remained fit, practiced Spinning Babies and learned relaxation techniques for a comfortable physiologic birth. She savored her pregnancy knowing it was her last, and excitedly planned her first water birth. At 36 weeks, Meghan suddenly heard a pop and assumed her membranes had released. But instead of amniotic fluid, she saw blood -- and lots of it. As she and her husband left immediately for the hospital, Meghan knew a placental abruption had occurred.Meghan is more than a year out from her birth, and talks to us about her journey of processing what happened. In particular, what it was like having a very traumatic birth her last time around, when her hopes and expectations were at their highest. This show is sponsored by:Silverette USA*Postpartum Soothe*Baby Notebook - Get the App Here*Use promo code DOWNTOBIRTH**********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.

Do you know what a Placental Abruption is? Placental abruption occurs when the placenta separates from the inner wall of the uterus before birth. Placental abruption can deprive the baby of oxygen and nutrients and cause heavy bleeding in the mother. In some cases, early delivery is needed. Today's guest experienced a placental abruption along with a uterine rupture that lead to her pre-term birth.  Kimberly May lost her 6 day old son due to an overlooked placental abruption/uterine rupture. While she is still struggling with grief from this profound loss she shares her journey in hope to inspire others. Listen to this episode here: sistersinloss.com/ep280 Become a Sisters in Loss Birth Bereavement, and Postpartum Doula Here Living Water Doula Services Book Recommendations and Links Below You can shop my Amazon Store for the Book Recommendations You can follow Sisters in Loss on Social Join our Healing Collective Online Support Group Join the Sisters in Loss Online Community Sisters in Loss TV Youtube Channel Sisters in Loss Instagram Sisters in Loss Facebook Sisters in Loss Twitter You can follow Erica on Social Erica's Website Erica's Instagram Erica's Facebook Erica's Twitter

Pregnancy and infant loss can often be the first experience of grief that parents face. Because we live in grief illiterate culture, we often lack the experience and knowledge of what is normal and expected as someone grieves and mourns. Education helps to provide a roadmap through the rocky terrain of grief. Michelle shares the different types of grief bereaved parents can experience such as disenfranchised, traumatic, ambiguous, cumulative, and delayed grief. Resource: www.grief.comConnect with Rev. Michelle:Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-supportFacebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:   @birtheaselossssupportLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithThank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief. 

Join us on this episode of The Birth Journeys as Caitlin shares her journey through a traumatic second birth and the choices it led her to make for her third. This episode covers hospital birth, cesarean birth, placental abruption and ERCS. VBAC Link Episodes featuring VBAC after Placental Abruption: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vbac-link/id1394742573?i=1000430714775 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vbac-link/id1394742573?i=1000430237837

Eir got pregnant unexpectedly after years of suffering from endometriosis. During her pregnancy, she had two partial placental abruptions and was put on bed rest. At about six months pregnant, Eir began to have severe pain in her abdomen. She tried multiple times to call her doctor, but was written off as a first-time mom who was experiencing ligament pain. Even with her history of TWO partial abruptions, her pain was not taken seriously. When Eir went into labor, her water broke first. Contractions never started, even with Pitocin. But the pain in her abdomen got worse. When they checked her baby's heart rate, they knew something was wrong. Eir was rushed to the OR for an emergency c-section, where they discovered she had a severe infection. She went septic, clinically died, and was brought back. Due to hospital negligence, her daughter almost died as well. Eir shares how crucial it is to stand up for yourself and your baby, even to medical professionals who think they know your body better than you do. She stresses the importance of having a great support team to help advocate for you, and how you can still create a life that you will love, despite past trauma. Twin Raven Naturals The Herbal Eir PodcastLaborLessons.comEnjoy listening to Labor Lessons? Leave a review here! Let me know what your favorite episode is and why!Follow me on Instagram: Labor LessonsDisclosure: Links to other sites may be affiliate links that generate us a small commission at no extra cost to you.

As a Certified Grief Educator with David Kessler and Grief.com, Michelle explains the Five Stages of Grief™️- denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance as well as the sixth stage- meaning through the lens of pregnancy and infant loss. She shares that unfortunately over the years the 5 Stages of Grief™️ have been misinterpreted by many, including mental health professionals. These six stages reflect where we are in our journey of grief at any given moment. They are about change we do not want. The stages are unconscious and natural responses to loss. They are tools to help us frame and identify what we may be feeling. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross explicitly stated that the stages “are not stops on some linear timeline in grief."  Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order. Everyone's grief is unique.  These stages can provide a roadmap for grief's rocky terrain and help us to be better equipped to cope with life and loss. Michelle invites you to also listen to Season 1 Episode 3 for an overview of the Four Phases of Bereavement for Baby Loss.Resource: https://grief.com/ Connect with Rev. Michelle:Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-supportFacebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:   @birtheaselossssupportLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithHolding Space for Pregnancy Loss Training:  birtheseservices.com/training-for-professionalsThank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief.  

Being able to create a new life inside your body is both an awesome feat and one fraught with the real possibility of death. Once you really hone in on the millions of things that have to go right in the just right way to make a baby, it's a wonder anyone is born ever. Today's guest spends time on both sides of this line. Her first pregnancy ends at the beginning of her third trimester in a stillbirth. Although the exact cause of her son's death is not definitively found, my guest suspects that the proximate cause may have been a placental abruption which may reflect her past history of trauma. Given this experience, she was on high alert for the second pregnancy, which also ended early, at the start of the third trimester, but this time her daughter survived.  

Grab the tissues! Mikell and I sat down to talk about all things placenta abruptions, particularly her story.When I had my abruption with Beau, the only person who I was able to reach out to and who knew exactly what I was going through was Mikell. She had recently gone through an abruption 2 months before me and truly was heavensent during that time.A lot of this story though, I was hearing for the first time and you'll hear that, but above all, Mikell is AMAZING and all around INSPIRING and I can't wait for you to meet her!***Instagrams:@munchandminglepodcast@mikellcolohan

Ann Pearson  and author Margaret Scofield  share with Michelle  the story behind the much-needed book  I Love You Still: A Memorial Baby Book which was inspired by the loss of Ann's daughter, Riley, due to miscarriage. I Love You Still is a first-of-its-kind baby memory book made for moms experiencing a miscarriage, stillbirth, or newborn loss- no matter how long ago that loss took place. It is a treasured keepsake to create a tangible way to document  and honor the baby's life, no matter how brief. Margaret explains the obstacles that were holding her book—and other books on perinatal bereavement—back from mainstream publication. Shockingly, there is not a literary categorization code (both medical and popular) on the topic of perinatal loss.  These codes are the system through which all print and digital materials are categorized. The BISAC codes list is the preeminent literary categorization tool that is used to organize everything from online search results to bookstore layouts. About Margaret & Ann:Author Margaret Scofield created I Love You Still: A Memorial Baby Book—a first-of-its-kind baby memory book made for moms experiencing pregnancy and infant loss—after her friend Ann Pearson lost her daughter, Riley, due to miscarriage. In 2019, a local news story about the book quickly spread across mainstream outlets such as NBC, CBS, FOX, TODAY, MSN, People Magazine, and HuffPost. Yet, Margaret struggled to find a publisher because her book didn't “fit an existing genre.” After selling out in 3 days at the #2 spot on the Amazon Best Seller List, landing on the shelves of all major US retailers, and shipping to over 30 countries, Margaret decided to find out exactly what was holding her book—and other books on perinatal bereavement—back from mainstream publication. Now, Margaret is on a mission to change the literary landscape for loss moms by 2023—but she needs our help. Margaret is joined today by her friend and inspiration for the book, Ann Pearson. Ann discusses the events and emotions connected to her pregnancy with Riley, and the role Margaret's book has played in her grief journey. The two friends now come together to raise awareness for the missing literary categorization for all books (both medical and popular) on the topic of perinatal loss. The system through which all print and digital materials are categorized is called the BISAC codes list: as the preeminent literary categorization tool, this list is used to organize everything from online search results to bookstore layouts. However, in 2022, there is still no categorization for books about miscarriage or perinatal bereavement. That means there is no central spot wherein these resources are compiled—it also means that those looking to provide them are turned away at a much higher rate. Margaret now asks for our help to change that by reaching out directly to BISG, the organization responsible for voting on changes to the BISAC literary codes list each year. Help Add a BISAC code for Perinatal BereavementThe link to the BISG's full Subject Headings list (with a link to the Contact Form) can be found here: https://bisg.org/page/BISACEditionThe direct link to the Contact Form can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/K9CH9MD Connect with Margaret: Instagram: @iloveyoustillbook Website: https://www.iloveyoustillbook.com/Email: margaret@iloveyoustillbook.com Connect with  Michelle:Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-supportFacebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:   @birtheaselossssupportLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithThank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief. 

In this week's episode I speak with Dani of @mydarlinghart. Dani is the kind of human that I watch in awe, knowing that what she has navigated must have broken her in ways most of us will never understand and yet, she manages to shine in the reality of her life and all that she has been through. Dani is a 34-year-old wife and mama, who resides in Newcastle NSW. She has two beautiful daughters; Bonnie Hart in the stars and Inka James, who was born earthside this past Valentine's Day. Dani has poured her heart into a social media space, where she vulnerably shares her journey navigating infertility, baby loss, grief, and motherhood. She has recently found purpose in her pain, starting a volunteer role in Red Nose Australia's new Footprints program. She is passionate about sharing awareness and information (on safer pregnancy programs, safe sleep and bereavement care) and hopes that in the future, no parent will ever have to suffer the heartache of pregnancy or infant loss.In this episode we talk about … + Dani's story of conception and pregnancy with each of her girls + Placental abruption and how that lead to the loss of her first daughter Bonnie Hart + How she navigated that time and when she knew she was ready to begin IVF again+ What pregnancy after loss was like and how Dani was able to move into this next pregnancy at all+ How history repeated itself in the way of another placental abruption, and how she feared the worst+ What her birth was like with Inka James + How motherhood has been since welcoming her beautiful Inka James into her arms+ What she is focusing on now and how we can support other parents navigating the unfathomable loss of an infantDani mentions her work with Red Nose Australia's new Footprints Program and as mentioned on the episode, I want to make mention to this in case you are called to offer support in Bonnie's honour. Finally, you can make a difference and help fund world-leading research and support families impacted by death of a baby or child by making a donation to Red Nose. You can read more about Dani's work with Red Nose in the Shownotes for this episode.  Get your copy of Ripe.Use the code PODCAST for $5 off.This episode of the Awakened Pregnancy Podcast is sponsored by MooGoo. The Milk Wash products and all of its sizes and variations, as mentioned in this episode, can be found at the link below.  Be sure to enter the code KATE15 at checkout for 15% off storewide, excluding Gift Voucher, Value Packs and Bulk Sizes.Milk WashMilk Shampoo BulkTerracycle Program

This week we are joined by Brodie, who discusses her experience suffering PTSD and anxiety related symptoms after a traumatic birth experience. Brodie's symptoms manifested in severe anxiety  triggered by her baby's crying.  Brodie generously shares her self admission and stay at a mother/baby unit, which provides specialist mental health support to mothers in the postnatal period. Brodie has gone on to have another baby where she has healed from her PTSD. Enjoy xxx

Laura LaBelle and Michelle discuss how children are often overlooked as grievers when death and loss occur. They remind us when death and loss occur children are learning how to manage their grief and that they must adjust to a new identity that this loss brings. Laura stresses the importance of conversation and creating an empathetic space where pain can be absorbed. Laura provides tips for communication and helping kids to process their grief such as memory jars, breath and grounding exercises, models of grief, observing how animals grieve, discussions about grief and playing out scenarios, and involving the deceased by creating traditions that remind the bereaved it is ok to still talk about that person. They explain why it is vital for adults to become more comfortable with death and grief. Laura also shares signs to look for regarding if a child is having difficulty coping with the loss.  "It's a heightened, heightened, heightened anxious time.  And so, oftentimes we don't say anything to kids right away. But they know something is up. They feel it. They can feel it. We think we are hiding it and it's like NO. No one's hiding anything other than the fact that we all see that everyone's kinda freaked out right now. Like nobody knows what to do."—Laura LaBelle  Resources:The Invisible StringTenth Good Thing About Barney Why is Mommy Crying? -explaining early pregnancy loss to young childrenBambi IIBereavement Reactions of Children and Young People By Age Group:https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/bereavement-reactions-children-young-people-age-groupSesame Street:https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/topics/grief/Dougy Center:https://www.dougy.org/grief-support-resources/kidsNew Hope for Kids:https://newhopeforkids.org/Children's Grief  Center:https://childrensgrief.org/ National Alliance for Children's Grief:https://childrengrieve.org/ About Laura:Laura LaBelle holds a Doctorate degree from the University of San Francisco in Education, Organizational Leadership, and has worked extensively with relocated people groups in varying parts of the world who have been displaced by their governments, war, and history of colonization. Over the last 20 years, Laura has been a credentialed teacher working in K12 education as an educator, mentor, and consultant including working with students, parents, teachers, and administrators. Laura frequently consults with groups to create curriculum, experiences, and gatherings on a variety of topics they need help organizing and implementing. Laura is the owner of Life Shifts Companion working as a full spectrum doula, 1:1 companion, support group leader, speaker, and workshop/retreat facilitator. Much of their time is focused in the realm of working in a trauma-informed manner with the birthing, the dying, and those who find themselves in the midst of life changes. High interests are exploring healthy ways of mourning and grieving, and helping those experiencing perinatal loss. Laura's background with kids and loss began in middle school as a hospital volunteer filling in on the children's floor in the playroom. Eventually, as a teacher in a high needs, short personnel funded area, Laura gained much experience in the moment often during science when children who'd experienced intense loss would boldly ask questions about how those life cycle lessons connected to the loss of their family members. Learning to navigate those conversations and not leave the students fearful or questioning their familial beliefs, proved to be some of the most important lessons Laura learned. While teaching, Laura began to volunteer with the sick and dying and returned in part to the children's floor at the hospital they first experienced grief and children. Laura has since worked throughout Thailand and Lao PDR with relocated people groups, often finding themselves listening to the stories told by the traumatized women and children regarding unbearable pain and loss. These relationships that still exist are part of the foundational belief that what people want, including children, is someone to listen, create and hold space, to just be with—a companion. Today, Laura runs a sibling grief group for kiddos who have lost a sibling, and conducts workshops on similar topics. A long term goal of Laura's is to help communities create public mourning spaces to help normalize our relationships to grief and death. Laura feels deeply that this is one way to help us contextualize and manage our collective grief as a nation, while helping to address our fearful attitudes toward death and grief so that we may truly begin to heal and live. Laura is committed to working with people who have experienced discrimination, trauma and/or loss due to some aspect of identity such as  gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and religion. They have created numerous educational products, and have trained professionals for close to two decades.  Connect with Laura:Website:  www.lifeshiftscompanion.comTikTok: @Let'sTokAboutDeath Instagram:  @spaceforgrief,  Connect with Rev. Michelle:Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-supportFacebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:   @birtheaselossssupportLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithThank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief. 

Mother's Day can be quite painful for those who have lost their mom or for those that have struggled to become pregnant, experienced pregnancy and infant loss, or the death of a child. For many, the day may bring feelings of sadness, isolation, loneliness, unworthiness, and pain. They may feel left out and forgotten on Mother's Day. Michelle provides a brief history of Mother's Day and the creation of International Bereaved Mother's Day in 2010 by Carly Marie Dudley after the loss of her stillborn son, Christian. Many in the baby loss community have embraced this day and events have been designed around it such as this year's 3rd Annual Bereaved Mother's Day Conference - A Healing Collective, on May 1, 2022, which is available online.  Yet, just as each person's journey of grief is as unique as their fingerprint, it is understandable that International Bereaved mothers day would bring up differing feelings for parents that have experienced the unfathomable loss of their baby or child. The beautiful thing is that as International Bereaved Mother's Day becomes more recognized, mothers and families can honor one or both days in the way that is best for them, even varying it year by year. Michelle shares tips to support someone that is grieving their child on both Mother's Day and Bereaved Mother's Day. Michelle closes this episode with a short meditation for Bereaved Mother's Day.  References:https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-52589173https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/mothers-day#:~:text=The%20official%20Mother's%20Day%20holiday,mothers%20made%20for%20their%20children.https://stillstandingmag.com/2016/06/02/international-bereaved-mothers-day/https://www.gpshope.org/know-sunday-may-6-international-bereaved-mothers-day/https://pregnancyafterlosssupport.org/can-we-talk-about-bereaved-mothers-day-and-mothers-day/https://www.joincake.com/blog/bereaved-mothers-day/ Connect with Rev. Michelle:Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-supportFacebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:   @birtheaselossssupportLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithThank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief.  

Short, quick review of PANCE topics with associated printable cards to include for your board review prep

In this very personal episode, Michelle and Susan Dascenzi, Licensed Psychotherapist, discuss the implications of the pandemic as it relates to grief and loss. While this episode was originally recorded in September 2020, Susan's wisdom regarding the journey of grief is just as relevant now especially for those grieving the loss of a baby or a loved one. Their conversation explores the multitude of losses the pandemic has brought us globally. Together they dig deep into the places where we may not even realize the amount of grief and loss we are experiencing due to the pandemic, where we may be in grief overload, and tips to walk with grief. Susan explains the differences between emotions and feelings and what can happen if we push our feelings aside as we work to get back some normalcy. They discuss why people often can have a difficult time supporting someone that is grieving.  {This episode originally aired as  episode 57 on The Birth Ease Podcast.}“It's so many little pieces that we give insignificance to, but they all are a part of it.”—Susan DascenziAbout Susan Dascenzi: As a Licensed Psychotherapist and Spiritual and Emotional Resiliency Coach, Susan Dascenzi bridges the gap between the East and West, Heaven and Earth. She is an author, Speaker, and Podcast Host. Susan has invested the last 27 years in guiding her clients in recognizing how their past negative conditioning creates their present and future and stops them from stepping into their infinite possibilities. As a highly regarded human behavior and emotions expert, she has become known as “The Possibilities Curator,” and co-authored an Amazon Ranked #1 International Best-Selling book alongside Neale Donald Walsch and Marci Shimoff.Connect with Susan:Website:  https://www.susandascenzi.com/Facebook: Susan DascenziTwitter: susandascenziInstagram: @sdascenzi1LinkedIn:  Susan DascenziPodcasts:  The Spiritually Expressed Human    Kick Your Buts  

Michelle shares her heartfelt conversation with  Sarah L. Dickey, grief recovery specialist and fellow Calm Birth Teacher. Together they discuss the importance of holding space for the messiness of grief. "What if we created ways in which we trusted our ability to grieve?"— Sarah L. Dickey  About Sarah L. Dickey:Hi friends, it's Sarah. I seek to create sacred, intuitive space for other women to embrace the evolution that life is. My hope is, the breakthroughs you experience are missing stepping stones to guide you gently through life's unique journey.My specialties have been developed over the last 10 years working with those looking to heal and grow. The variety of specialties I have pursued allows me a vast selection of resources I can pull from to provide the guidance women need to heal and grow, no matter what stage of life they are in.My Specialties: Pre & Perinatal Support, Birth Psychology, SSP Practitioner, IVF & Pregnancy Loss, Personal Transformation Sessions, Grief, Birth Imprints, Personal Birth Empowerment Sessions, Calm Birth Meditation for Pregnancy & Childbirth Support, Advanced Heart Centered Hypnosis, SSP Practitioner, Educational Seminars, and Workshops.Feedback from women who have been in a session with me seems to always include that they were offered a chance to experience something new about themselves—a deeper sense of connection to their knowledge, of slowing down enough to feel what needs to be felt, and discernment to inhabit their lives in new and empowered ways. This feedback guides my practice and encourages growth in myself continuously. I love supporting the evolving woman at every stage of her journey. From birthing a new life to birthing a baby, it is a joy to be on this journey! Big Love— Sarah  Contact Sarah:Email: Sarah@sarahldickey.comWebsite:  www.sarahldickey.comInstagram:  @sarahsouldoulaPublished Author:  Ode to Love,  Sweetly Seeking, Seasons: 31 Heart Offerings, Holding: The Conscious Art of Embracing Connect with Rev. Michelle:Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-supportFacebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:   @birtheaselossssupportLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithThank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief. 

Michelle is a certified Calm Birth Teacher. She explains the Calm Birth  meditation practices and shares samples of the audio guides the organization designed for pregnancy and infant loss. "The loss of a pregnancy or infant is an incredibly common heartbreak. Yet, we are given so few opportunities to grieve a loss that is often invisible to those around us. Calm Birth for Pregnancy and Infant Loss presents an opportunity to move through emotions and to send life on its way with love. If someone you know has lost a pregnancy or infant, this can be a beautiful way of supporting them through this journey. If you lost a pregnancy or infant recently, or in the past, please use these audioguides for healing and moving about life changed but still whole."—Calm BirthResources:Calm Birth Meditations for Pregnancy Loss https://www.calmbirth.org/audioguidesProgressive Relaxation for Grief: https://www.futurity.org/grief-progressive-muscle-relaxation-2617232TONGLEN MEDITATION by Pema Chödrön: https://youtu.be/QwqlurCvXuM Connect with Rev. Michelle:Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-supportFacebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:   @birtheaselossssupportLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithThank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief. 

Stephanie Smith, E-RYT, PRYT shares with Michelle how meditation and her yoga practice helped her to work through the grief, guilt, and fear of infertility, difficult pregnancies, and miscarriages. Together they discuss how pregnancy loss can shake one's faith, how unaddressed grief can impact us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spirituality, and the importance of finding support and practicing self-compassion. "The doctor pulls up the ultrasound and there's no heartbeat. And, it's one of those things where you are just kinda sitting and you are so excited. And to hear that silence in that room, there's… there's not a way to describe that silence."—Stephanie SmithResources:Calm Birth Meditations for Pregnancy Loss https://www.calmbirth.org/audioguidesAbout Stephanie Smith, E-RYT, PRYT:Stephanie is an Orlando based Yoga Instructor specializing in Pre and Postnatal Yoga. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Sports and Exercise Science from the University of Central Florida and is an E-RYT, PRYT Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance. Her love of Yoga and travel has taken her to Thailand numerous times where she has had the privilege of studying Yoga extensively at Centered Yoga. As a mother herself, Stephanie has an understanding of how the Yoga practice evolves both during pregnancy and postpartum. She strives to create an environment of support for fellow Mothers to know that they are not alone on the beautiful, yet sometimes rocky, journey that is Motherhood.  Connect with Stephanie Smith:  Instagram: @thetravelingyoginiFacebook: Stephanie Smith https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003339931011 Connect with Rev. Michelle:Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-supportFacebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:   @birtheaselossssupportLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithThank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief. 

Tammy candidly shares her unexpectedly difficult journey to become pregnant. In her sharing, she provides the insights she gleaned as she worked with her obstetricians, reproductive endocrinologists, fertility specialists, registered dietitians, acupuncture physicians, her extensive research regarding her own fertility, and the importance of advocating for yourself. Tammy remembers the sinking feeling she got each time she got a negative pregnancy test each month, the grief and trauma of miscarriage, and the self-blame that infertility and pregnancy loss often brings. Tammy also shares with Michelle how her faith and maintaining hope lead to the miracles of her children.  "It is very intense and you go through a lot of grief. And yet, when you have a loss a lot of times it's kinda like, "Well, you know, a lot of people have miscarriages," is sometimes the attitude. And sometimes you are made to feel like it's not okay to grieve. And it is.  It's important to grieve. And it's important to recognize that life. I mean you are entitled to have those feelings. You deserve to feel those feelings and to get the support that you need during your journey."—Tammy SchaufConnect with Tammy:Email: tamaraschauf@gmail.com Tammy's Resources: Dr. Milton McNichol of Fertility Center of Orlandohttps://www.adventhealth.com/find-doctor/doctor/d-ashley-hill-md-1336164326  Dr. Angela Mazza, endocrinologist Dr. Fiona McCulloch of White Lotus Integrative Medicine in CanadaDr. Yin, Acupuncture PhysicianAngela Grassi of the PCOS Nutrition Center in Wayne, PAhttps://www.shadygrovefertility.com/resources/educational-resources/articles/monitoring-infertility-treatmenthttps://www.fertilityauthority.com/blogger/cathy-carlson-rink/2011/06/02/iron-and-fertilityhttp://margaretwertheimrd.com/vitamin-d-fertility-vitamin/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22459633 Connect with Rev. Michelle:Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-supportFacebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:   @birtheaselossssupportLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithThank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief. 

Dr. Ankita Marjadi openly shares with Michelle how her book  "Knock, Knock, Let's Talk" was born during her second pregnancy as she searched for a way to lessen the fear and stress that threatened to consume her after losing her first child to stillbirth. This sweet book, which can be used at any time to receive a dose of motivation and positivity, is the achievement closest to her heart. We all need a guide to help us stay in a more positive and peaceful space for ourselves and our babies. Dr. Ankita Marjadi's book, "Knock, Knock, Let's Talk" is just that. This beautiful resource is for all expecting mothers. It is designed to reduce the fear and anxiety a mother may be experiencing during her pregnancy and to enhance bonding with the baby in her womb. It acts as an uplifting guide for mom during each week of her pregnancy and provides a passage to be read to the baby that teaches a virtue such as kindness, happiness, and honesty.  It also includes a space for journaling and sharing a mother's own thoughts and dreams with her baby.  {This episode originally aired as episode 21 on The Birth Ease Podcast.}“I conceived again with my rainbow baby and anxiety took toll right from the first day of seeing those 2 pink lines. As each day went on I was super anxious. Then I consciously realized that this anxiety is going harm my health and my baby's health. This anxiety is not right for me. This anxiety is going to create problems.”— Ankita Marjadi About Dr.Ankita Sapan Marjadi:Dr. Marjadi, Co-founder of Arogyada Online Homeopathy Clinic, is a homeopath,  psychotherapist, author, entrepreneur, blogger, social activist, and a doting mother of two beautiful girls. She blogs on topics such as health, relationships, life, and its mysteries, happiness, parenting. As a motivational speaker, guides women about life after 40, how to take your health in your hands, how to keep your mental health good and As a certified child health practitioner,  I also try to educate children regarding good touch bad touch, menstrual hygiene, how to develop good eating habits in children. Dr. Marjadi is the pioneer of the Need to talk Initiative, Starting a Smile Mile will You Join Me, I Choose to Happy and Healthy through Homoeopathy. She is the author of the book, “ Knock Knock Let's Talk”  which is on positive thinking during pregnancy which has been the achievement which is very close to my heart. Connect with Dr. Ankita Marjadi: Websites www.ankitasmetanoia.inwww.arogyadaclinic.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ankitasmetanoia/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ankita_sapan/The Amazon USA link for the book:https://www.amazon.com/Knock-Lets-Ankita-Sapan-Marjadi/dp/9353473454/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1579241186&sr=8-1 Connect with Rev. Michelle:Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-supportFacebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:   @birtheaselossssupportLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithThank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief. 

Brianne Griffis, Birth/Postpartum/ Bereavement Doula, and Certified Lactation Counselor, candidly shares with Michelle her journey of motherhood through pregnancy, life-threatening hyperemesis gravidarum, birth, and the loss of 5 pregnancies. Together they discuss how trauma and loss can take many forms. Brianne provides many valuable insights and resources for grieving parents as well as birth and bereavement professionals. "I will never forget the words he [Dr. O'Leary] said to me. He said, 'While don't know your space, I know this space.' Those words were just so impactful." —Brianne GriffisAbout Brianne Griffis:Brianne Griffis is a Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC) and birth/postpartum/ bereavement doula, with ten years of experience working with breastfeeding parents and babies and births. She has attended many additional training classes on topics such as pumping, flange fitting, lip and tongue tie, babies in the NICU, feeding multiples, pumping after loss, just to name a few. Brianne has worked in the industry with companies like Spectra Baby USA, Pumping Essentials, and Kiinde. She has been in both marketing, sales, and director of the lactation departments at all the companies she has been with.She has two boys and angel babies that she can't wait to meet one day. She lives in sunny Winter Garden, FL where she has a private practice seeing mom/baby dyads for breastfeeding, attending births, and supporting bereavement and loss. Connect with Brianne Griffis:Website: www.coastallactationandbirth.comFacebook: @coastallactationandbirth   Instagram: @coastallactationandbirth Resources: https://www.winniepalmerhospital.com/physician-finder/timothy-d-oleary-mdhttps://www.natera.com/womens-health/anora-miscarriage-test/http://www.floridahealth.gov/certificates/certificates/birth/Nonviable_Birth/index.htmlhttp://www.floridahealth.gov/certificates/certificates/birth/Stillbirth/index.htmlhttps://www.etsy.com/listing/605918235/custom-infant-urn-size-extra-small-tall?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=vitrified+studio&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&frs=1https://www.mollybears.orghttps://thetearsfoundation.org/https://stillbirthday.com/ Connect with Rev. Michelle:Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-supportFacebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:   @birtheaselossssupportLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithThank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief. 

Michelle has a tender conversation with Heidi Faith, president and CEO of Stillbirthday. Heidi shares her very personal journey that led her to found Stillbirthday Global Network, which is an internationally trusted benevolent organization whose philanthropic mission is simply to doula: to nurture sources of perinatal bereavement, strengthen skills of healthcare professionals and increase healthy engagement of perinatal related needs among communities. Together Heidi and Michelle discuss the depth of the resource that Stillbirthday is for families experiencing baby loss and for professionals alike, suggestions for supporting a bereaved mother,  the ways in which grief is like a tapestry, and a reminder that it is okay to be vulnerable and go slowly when navigating grief.  “A woman experiences a miscarriage literally every minute. Every minute in just the US alone.”—Heidi FaithAbout Heidi Faith:Heidi is an international speaker and the founder, president, and CEO of stillbirthday, which is the legacy of her fourth child, who died and was born in the first trimester on April 19, 2011. The vision for stillbirthday is not only deeply personal, intimate and closely special, but is here to spread our paradigm globally of truly understanding the importance and sacredness of the places where birth and bereavement meet. With a background in social work and counseling of abused and at-risk youth, when Heidi became pregnant with her first child she felt her calling shift to clinical perinatal psycho-spiritual therapy and birth support work.As an Emergency Services Chaplain and certified Grief & Loss Coach, Heidi completed her studies through the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary and is a member of the American Academy of Christian Counselors (AACC) Grief, Crisis and Disaster division.Heidi holds certificates through Cascade Christian Childbirth Association in birth education and labor support and is a member of the International Christian Childbirth Coalition.  As a double-certified crisis pregnancy counselor in pre- and post- abortive counseling, she began the Newborn Adoption Doula Network, which provides birth support to families experiencing the transition of fostering or adoption.  Heidi has received additional training through Kansas City Hospice and Palliative Care, and Hospice Foundation of America's Hospice Clergy End-of-Life Education Project. Her long-term goal is to open Stillbirthday Palliative Birth Center. Contact Heidi Faith:Website: stillbirthday.comFacebook: stillbirthday.comInstagram: @stillbirthday

Nazli Tezcur openly shares her story of motherhood, the trauma she endured from her cesareans with the medicalized births of her boys, and the grief of her miscarriages. As a linguist, Nazli reflects with Michelle upon how the language and culture around women's bodies strip women of their power creating guilt, shame, self-blame, silencing, and the accompanying loneliness that so many women experience. Together they discuss transformative power and the personal nature of birth, loss, motherhood, and the exploration of our emotions as women. "It is very existential, and it lives and breathes through our own daily experiences because we are reproducing what is exerted over us. If we take all this power exerted over us as women, we keep on re-experiencing everything. We are reproducing what has been exerted over us. So if we want to break that cycle, I think we can switch the game. Maybe take ourselves out of that frame or take our own being out of that circle that we have been put into. … Experiencing something else, something that can make us feel liberated and free. And, which will allow us to talk a different language in a sense, instead of the language that was exerted over us. That was imposed on us and we keep on saying the same thing, "I failed. I am a failure.' "— Nazli TezcurAbout Nazli: Nazli Tezcur is a TESOL professional and language tutor with a special interest in identity, race, and translanguaging. As a polyglot, she likes to utilize languaging as a remedial way to express and interpret her experiences beyond categories and across borders. Connect with Michelle:Classes or Sessions with Michelle: birtheaseservices.com/birth-ease-childbirth-education, birtheasehypnobirth.com/hypnobirthing-classes-orlando-michelleFacebook:   Birth Ease,   The Birth Ease Podcast,  Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:    @birtheasemichellesmith,  @birtheaselossssupportYouTube:    Birth EaseLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithWebsite:  BirthEaseServices.com  birtheasehypnobirth.com Thank you for listening! 

Michelle has a profound conversation with her mentor, Amy Wright Glenn. Through a series of serendipitous events, their conversation took place exactly a week after Michelle's stepmom passed away from liver cancer two years ago. This episode holds a very special and significant place for Michelle.  Because birth and death are intertwined, their conversation not only benefits bereaved parents but provides powerful insights to birth professionals as well.Amy reflects upon what healing means as it relates to loss and how the managed medical care model can do a disservice to the bereaved. Healing does not mean a return to what was, a fixing, or making it look like it never happened. Healing is an ongoing journey of keeping our heart open, and being compassionate and present to what is. It is an approach to learning how to walk in a world where we do reconcile with things we didn't want to occur. And yet, these things happened.Mourning is our personal expression of grief. Our inner experience of loss is the grief. That grief needs to be expressed through mourning. That can be public, it can be private, it can be a combination of both. That expression is unique to each person. Rituals can be a powerful tool at any time after a loss. It is never too late to utilize ritual to create meaning and process the loss.Amy and Michelle touch upon the importance of planning and preparing for the death of a loved one when circumstances allow so that decisions are made when the brain isn't in emergency mode and feeling rushed and overwhelmed. And at the same time, the emotional pain of the loss is difficult, intense, and raw; no matter how prepared we may be. Creating space to slow down and be gentle with ourselves is vital."Loss is a deep, deep [life] transition to integrate… We, over time, learn to reconcile with the losses we have known. But this may take many, many years." – Amy Wright Glenn About Amy Wright Glenn:As the author of Birth, Breath, and Death– Meditations on Motherhood, Chaplaincy, and Life as a Doula and Holding Space– On Loving, Dying, and Letting Go, Amy Wright Glenn weaves together scholarly research with the heartfelt telling of stories in her work. She founded the Institute for the Study of Birth, Breath, and Death in 2015 drawing upon her interest in exploring pregnancy loss, the work of facing fear, cultural attitudes about birthing, and what it means to be a doula for the birthing and dying. Amy offers innovative and inspiring professional development opportunities focusing on the self-care of teachers, doulas, midwives, chaplains, and all drawn to holding space for mindful birthing, living, and dying. Contact Amy Wright Glenn:Website: www.birthbreathanddeath.comInstagram: @amywrightglennFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmyWrightGlennFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/birthbreathanddeath Connect with Michelle Smith:Website: BirthEaseServices.comFacebook:  @birtheaselosssupport Birth EaseInstagram: @birtheaselosssupport @birtheasemichellesmithYoutube: Birth EaseThank You for Listening! 

Placental abruption (aka abruptio placentae) is where there is  a partial or complete detachment of the placenta from the uterine wall prior to delivery of the baby. In this episode we discuss how the terminology changes by trimester.  A placental abruption is an obstetrical emergency and can cause injury to both the mom and baby.  Check us out on our website or social media! www.truebirthpodcast.com Maternal Resources Social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maternalresourceshackensack |nstagram: @maternalresources Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, & Stitcher and leave a review!

Michelle and two student filmmakers, Taylour Marks and Candace Williamson, discuss their debut documentary film, a deeply flawed system, the disparities facing black mothers, and perinatal loss. Black women are twice as likely to experience a miscarriage than other races. African American infants are 3.8 times as likely to die from complications related to low birth weight, have 2.3 times the infant mortality rate, and in 2017 had over twice the sudden infant death syndrome mortality rate as non-Hispanic whites.Their film, In Between US  is an intimate portrait of black motherhood, a deeply flawed system, and the complicated beauty of life. The story was born from the alarming statistic that black women are three to four times more likely to experience pregnancy-related mortality than white women in America. If it's not about money, education, or pre-existing conditions, then why are black mothers and their babies still dying at higher rates?"There is so much power in your voice, and you have the right to speak up. You have the right to share your story. And when you do, it really brings people together."—Candace Williamson"I think that it is really important that we start prioritizing mothers. The first steps are to validate the feelings and the stories of these mothers by showing them that they aren't alone. There are so many other mothers that are going through the exact same thing. ...And we should trust Black women and what they have to say and their feelings and their pain. So I think it is a three-step process of listen, share, and trust and then make change off of what you have represented."—Taylour Marks {This episode originally aired in June 2020 as episode 040 on The Birth Ease Podcast.} About Candace Williamson & Taylour Marks:Candace Williamson is a Broadcast Journalism Student at the University of South Florida. Ever since the age of 6, Candace knew she had a passion for being anywhere near a camera. She has written and directed a number of broadcast stories and documentaries all with a message of hope and love. Her work has been shown across the globe from the Cannes Film Festival in France to the Geelong International Festival in Australia. Candace hopes to continue her journey as a documentary filmmaker to tell stories that become catalysts for change.Taylour Marks is an honors Telecommunication Student at the University of Florida.  As a writer, photographer, and multimedia journalist, she takes joy in telling the stories of others and empowering the public with information.  Taylour has experience working with photo, print, and broadcast journalism.  She has been recognized by BBC World News and the Aisthesis Undergraduate Honors Journal for accomplishments in photojournalism.  Taylour aspires to one day work as a local news reporter or a documentary storyteller. Resources:https://inbetweenusdoc.wixsite.com/mysitehttps://blackmamasmatter.org/https://4kira4moms.com/https://sistersinloss.com/https://rtzhope.org/grieving-black-parentshttps://www.annaya.org/home Connect with Candace:Twitter:  @heycandacemaeInstagram: @heycandacemaeLinkedIn: Candace WilliamsonWebsite: https://heycandacemae.wixsite.com/mysite Connect with Taylour:Twitter: @taylourmarksInstagram:  @taylourmarksFacebook:  @TaylourMarksNews Connect with Rev. Michelle:Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-supportFacebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:   @birtheaselossssupportLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithThank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief. 

Michelle and Naima Bond discuss the experience of supporting families through pregnancy and infant loss as doulas. Naima shares her own story of pregnancy loss and how that inspired her to do additional training in perinatal loss as she became a birth professional. Naima explains some of the challenges that African American families can face in receiving compassionate care, understanding, and support when they are experiencing perinatal loss. She also shares tips for grieving families and for those supporting them. "So that's what I would say. The support of people who truly love you and just knowing, fortunately, or unfortunately, that other people are going through the same thing; and, that you are not alone [makes a difference]."—Naima BondAbout Naima Bond:Naima Bond, M.Ed. has been serving children and families for over 25 years in the area of early childhood and disabilities. She has recently shifted her focus to supporting mothers through the birthing process. She is a certified Birth Doula with the Matron and is also going through her DONA certification. She has been associated with Calm Birth and completed the program in 2017 and then became a Calm Birth teacher trainer in 2019. Naima was brought up with meditation as a child. She learned about Calm Birth through APPPAH and knew it was a practice she wanted to include in her birth business. She supports families in her private practice and is assisting Calm Birth in teaching Calm Birth to other birth and wellness practitioners. She resides in Atlanta Ga. with her sons Mashante and LaParish.Connect with Naima Bond: Website: http://www.oyabirthandwellnesss.com/Email:  Oyabirthandwellness@gmail.comInstagram: @naimadanita Resources:https://sistersinloss.com/https://rtzhope.org/https://blackmamasmatter.org/https://4kira4moms.com/ Nneka Hall: https://pailadvocates.mypixieset.com/about/https://www.annaya.org/about-us/nneka-hallNenka Hall's PAIL Summit 2021:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/advocating-pregnancy-and-infant-loss-conference-october-2021-tickets-172272059367 Episodes mentioned: Gary Vogel  S1 E11 & E12, Diana Kelley  S1 E7, and Amy Wright Glenn S1 E18.  Connect with Rev. Michelle:Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-supportFacebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:   @birtheaselossssupportLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle SmithThank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief. 

This week Amy and her mum Janene a midwife join us to share her extraordinary three birth stories. Her first a vaginal birth, her second a caesarean birth, and her third a VBAC with twins.This episode has a trigger warning as baby loss is discussed.Amy's first pregnancy was thankfully straightforward with a positive induction experience followed by a vaginal birth under Midwifery Group Practice at her local hospital. Having her mum's guidance she was well informed ahead of time, however she was faced with breastfeeding struggles following her first birth and the positive birth experience was marred by the passing of her father from Motor neurone disease, a battle he had fought for many years.For her second pregnancy Amy was planning to have a homebirth through her hospital's birth center homebirth program and looked forward to this experience. However at 36 weeks her pregnancy took an unexpected turn. Amy experienced a concealed placental abruption and she was taken for an emergency caesarean.Her son Arlo was born premature but healthy and she was discharged from hospital, but at five days of age they returned to hospital as his health began to deteriorate. It was found he had contracted a common cold virus. Arlo was airlifted to Westmead Hospital in Sydney from Newcastle and in the coming weeks Amy and her husband would stay by his side while he was fighting for his life.Amy tells of the unspeakable grief of losing Arlo and the 29 days of his life which was cut short far too soon. Amy tells of navigating this difficult period and of the family, her church community, and the hospital staff who helped her.When Amy and her husband Sam felt ready to welcome another baby Amy prayed for twins and incredibly her prayers were answered. Amy's rainbow babies were born via VBAC, and she and Janene tell of twin A emerging direct posterior and twin B being born breech and en caul.Thank you so much Amy and Janene for reaching out to us to share your difficult yet remarkable and heartfelt journey. We know your story will be a source of comfort and inspiration to our listeners.~ Notes ~Birthing Multiples Naturally: https://www.facebook.com/groups/418436544869922/?ref=shareBirth Photographer: https://katekennedybirthphotography.comBooks:Birth Skills by Juju Sundin with Sarah Murdochhttp://www.jujusundin.comYour Baby Your Birth by Hollie De CruzPregnancy and Infant Loss Support:https://www.bearsofhope.org.auhttps://rednosegriefandloss.org.auhttps://www.sands.org.auhttps://miscarriagesupport.org.auhttps://www.gidgetfoundation.org.au**VBAC Birth Stories features women's lived experiences. It is not intended to replace medical advice. Should you have any concerns during your pregnancy please always consult your healthcare provider.Please connect with us on Facebook or Instagram: @vbacbirthstories

Michelle has a beautiful and inspirational conversation with Nydia, mother to Santiago and Mateo. Her insights will benefit anyone traversing the pain of losing a child, a loved one, or some sort of tragedy. During Nydia's eighth month of pregnancy, she lost her beloved older sister to cancer. Approximately a month later, Nydia experienced the stillbirth of her son, which almost cost her her own life, as well. Nydia sagely shares what she found instrumental in her ability to move forward from such intense grief.   "Suffering happens, I think, when you are in one place and wanting to be somewhere else." — Nydia, Santiago's mother Connect with Rev. Michelle:Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-supportFacebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss SupportInstagram:   @birtheaselossssupportLinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle Smith Thank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone. 

Do you know what a placental abruption is? Placental Abruption is a serious pregnancy complication in which the placenta detaches from the womb (uterus). Placental abruption occurs when the placenta detaches from the inner wall of the womb before delivery. The condition can deprive the baby of oxygen and nutrients. Symptoms include vaginal bleeding, belly pain, and back pain in the last 12 weeks of pregnancy. Depending on the degree of placental separation and how close the baby is to full-term, treatment may include bed rest or a cesarean section. Today's guest experienced a placental abruption of her daughter.  Leslie Damper found out she was becoming a mother in August 2020 and by November 2020 she was called home due to placental abruption.  In this episode Leslie takes us back to the joy she experienced when finding out she was pregnant and to the day when she lost her baby girl.  She shares in this episode how she overcame fear and weakness and how she is not giving up hope to become a mother again. This episode is for you to listen to if you have experienced a placental abruption. Register for the Sisters in Loss Summit 2021 October 1-2, 2021 HERE! Become a Sisters in Loss Birth Bereavement, and Postpartum Doula Here Living Water Doula Services Book Recommendations and Links Below You can shop my Amazon Store for the Book Recommendations You can follow Sisters in Loss on Social Join our Healing Collective Online Support Group Join the Sisters in Loss Online Community Sisters in Loss Instagram Sisters in Loss Facebook Sisters in Loss Twitter You can follow Erica on Social Erica's Website Erica's Instagram Erica's Facebook Erica's Twitter

Emelie shares her two birth stories: the first, an induction due to preeclampsia; the second, an emergency c-section due to a placental abruption.

Raquel Caffet, from Spiritwood, Saskatchewan, joins me on this episode of Moony Birth Stories to share her four pregnancy and birth stories.  Her first pregnancy was a surprise that happened early on in her relationship with her now husband. It was a smooth pregnancy but Raquel was very fearful of pain as labour approached.  After reaching 10 days overdue, she was induced and delivered her first daughter after epidural complications and a long period of pushing.  Baby number two was also a surprise for the couple and Raquel had another smooth pregnancy.  Again, overdue, she was induced and delivered their second child but had a placental abruption.  After this birth, Raquel struggled with a period of postpartum depression and was able to work through it with the support of a councilor.  With baby number 3, Raquel had a much more difficult pregnancy suffering many more symptoms and the baby remained breach until the end of pregnancy.  Raquel was again induced and had a successful epidural for this birth.  Her final pregnancy and birth happened during the Covid-19 pandemic which made for a much different experience as she wasn't able to have many in-person visits with her healthcare providers.  She developed gestational hypertension later in the pregnancy and was ultimately induced before her due date.  

This is the first partner perspective episode of Moony Birth Stories!  It features Rob Horsely, sharing his wife's pregnancy and birth stories of his three children from his perspective.  The pregnancy with their first, Charlotte, was pretty smooth and they had a relatively uncomplicated vaginal birth in hospital but the epidural didn't work.  Sadly, after their first daughter, they suffered two miscarriages before becoming pregnant with their twin sons.  This pregnancy was much more challenging and they encountered a few scares along the way, including two partial placental abruptions during pregnancy.  The boys, Sebastian and Connor ended up being born in hospital at 34 weeks and required some time in the NICU.  Rob shares his experiences navigating this journey with his wife Courtney.

In this special episode for the month of October honoring Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, Michelle has a profound conversation with her mentor, Amy Wright Glenn. Because birth and death are intertwined, their conversation not only benefits bereaved parents, but provides powerful insights to birth professionals as well. Amy reflects upon what healing means as it relates to loss and how the managed medical care model can do a disservice to the bereaved. Healing does not mean a return to what was, a fixing, or making it look like it never happened. Healing is an ongoing journey of keeping our heart open, and being compassionate and present to what is. It is an approach to learning how to walk in a world where we do reconcile with things we didn't want to occur. And yet, these things happened.Mourning is our personal expression of grief. Our inner experience of loss is the grief. That grief needs to be expressed through mourning. That can be public, it can be private, it can be a combination of both. That expression is unique to each person. Ritual can be a powerful tool at anytime after a loss. It is never too late to utilize ritual to create meaning and process the loss.Amy and Michelle touch upon the importance of planning and preparing for the death of a loved one when circumstances allow so that decisions are made when the brain isn't in emergency mode and feeling rushed and overwhelmed. And at the same time, the emotional pain of the loss is difficult, intense, and raw; no matter how prepared we may be. Creating space to slow down and be gentle with ourselves is vital."Loss is a deep, deep [life] transition to integrate… We, over time, learn to reconcile with the losses we have known. But this may take many, many years." – Amy Wright Glenn  About Amy Wright Glenn:As the author of Birth, Breath, and Death– Meditations on Motherhood, Chaplaincy, and Life as a Doula and Holding Space– On Loving, Dying, and Letting Go, Amy Wright Glenn weaves together scholarly research with the heartfelt telling of stories in her work. She founded the Institute for the Study of Birth, Breath, and Death in 2015 drawing upon her interest in exploring pregnancy loss, the work of facing fear, cultural attitudes about birthing, and what it means to be a doula for the birthing and dying. Amy offers innovative and inspiring professional development opportunities focusing on the self-care of teachers, doulas, midwives, chaplains, and all drawn to holding space for mindful birthing, living, and dying. Contact Amy Wright Glenn:Website: www.birthbreathanddeath.comInstagram: @amywrightglennFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmyWrightGlennFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/birthbreathanddeath   Connect with Michelle Smith:Website: BirthEaseServices.comFacebook:  @birtheaselosssupport Birth EaseInstagram: @birtheaselosssupport @birtheasemichellesmithYoutube: Birth EaseShow: Birth Ease 

In this special episode honoring Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, Michelle has an open and raw conversation with Matt who lost his daughter, Rowan, to a stillbirth. Matt candidly shares the journey of baby loss from the perspective of a bereaved father. He describes how grief and loss, through no fault of your own, can create a sense of being ostracized by those around you. Because of the unique nature of perinatal loss, Matt explains how grieving parents inadvertently often end up comforting those around them. Michelle and Matt discuss how the loss of a child can shake the foundation of your belief system, how you understand the universe, and even your place in the world. Matt also points out that sharing unsolicited religious beliefs in an attempt to comfort someone mourning can often inadvertently have a profound effect on their grief — it can cause anger, sadness, increase their sorrow or compound the burden that they are already carrying. "Because to be honest, a loss of a child isn't fair. No matter how it happens, it just isn't fair. And that is something to be angry about." — Matt Connect with Michelle Smith: Website: BirthEaseServices.com Facebook: Birth Ease Baby Loss Support Instagram: @birtheaselosssupport YouTube: Birth Ease Show: Birth Ease

Episode 006: In this special episode honoring Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, Michelle has a beautiful and inspirational conversation with Nydia, mother to Santiago and Mateo. Her insights will benefit anyone traversing the pain of losing a child, a loved one, or some sort of tragedy. During Nydia's eighth month of pregnancy, she lost her beloved older sister to cancer. Approximately a month later, Nydia experienced the stillbirth of her son which almost cost her her own life as well. Nydia sagely shares what she found instrumental in her ability to move forward from such intense grief. "Because suffering happens, I think, when you are in one place and wanting to be somewhere else." — Nydia Connect with Michelle Smith: Website: BirthEaseServices.com/loss-support Facebook:  fb.me/BirthEaseLossSupport Instagram: @birtheaselosssupport YouTube: Birth Ease Show: Birth Ease

Episode 005: In honor of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, Michelle shares that 1 in 4 women have experienced pregnancy or infant loss. Because of the silence surrounding loss of a child, it can cause the necessary grieving to to be a lonely and isolating experience. Even if you, as the listener, were blessed to have never personally experienced perinatal loss, the chances are quite high that you know someone that has. The silence surrounding this type of loss can leave us unsure of how to really support grieving families, which can sometimes lead to well-meaning comments inadvertently cutting a grieving parent to the core. Michelle shares best practices and helpful ways to support families experiencing the devastation that perinatal loss brings. “It is time to break the silence surrounding pregnancy and infant loss so that families are no longer grieving alone.” —  Michelle Smith   Connect with Michelle Smith: Website: BirthEaseServices.com//loss-support Facebook:  fb.me/BirthEaseLossSupport Instagram: @birtheaselosssupport YouTube: Birth Ease Show: Birth Ease Episode references: Handouts and materials from Gary Vogel, LMT and Bereavement Services: Resolve through Sharing