Thanks for a great 2015 of The Birth Hour and Happy New Year! Today is my daughter's birthday so last night my husband and I recorded her birth story in honor of her special day. For her birth we planned a home birth attended by an amazing midwife and my husband and I reminisce about everything from finding out we were expected to how the birth affected our relationship as parents and as a couple.
Kathleen shares the stories of her two children's births. Her daughter was born via emergency c section and although Kathleen was trying for a VBAC with her son he was also born via c section in an even more emergency situation. These experiences left Kathleen feeling like something was missing from her motherhood journey and she talks about working through that in this episode. You can connect with Kathleen at Kapachino or on Instagram.
Kellie was planning a hospital birth with an OBGYN until 35 weeks pregnant when she switched doctors so she could give birth at a hospital that had better outcomes for mom's who want a natural birth. It also had a significantly lower C section rate. Listen to Kellie tell her birth story, in her own words.
Jessica is a mom to four boys living in Corona California. She writes about her family's adventures on House Inhabit and has an Etsy shop that sells adorable prints, tees and teepees!
Today she shares the stories of her pregnancies and births. Jessica had a great first pregnancy and birth experience. Her first birth was very fast with her son being born within 1 hour of arriving at the hospital! With her second pregnancy, Jessica experienced pre-term labor and had a cervical cerclage placed. She ended up carrying to term and had a cerclage placed as a precaution in subsequent pregnancies. Her biggest advice to pregnant women is to surround yourselves with positivity and she also also recommends waiting to find out the gender as that's been one of her favorite parts about her births.
Michelle tells the story of her empowering and inspirational VBA2C. She is a mum to 3 boys. Her first two children were born via EMCS (emergency c section), and her third was a vaginal birth that left her feeling so strong. She had always been fascinated by birth but the experience left her fascinated not only by birth but by its unspoken power and left her completely in awe. Giving birth ignited a passion within Michelle too strong to ignore. She now campaigns for women to be given the unbiased information needed to make informed choices throughout their maternity experience and to have their rights respected.
Blythe's episode is pretty light hearted and will definitely make you laugh but I also think it's so valuable in that she wasn't afraid to trust her gut and go for the type of birth she wanted even though she had done things very differently the first FIVE times! I love how Blythe and her husband tease each other about how funny the hospital birth experience is after having so many homebirths. These two obviously really know each other on all sorts of levels and make an awesome birthing team.
Kacie tells the stories of her two homebirths.
For this episode, I got to record my first in person birth story interview with the beautiful, talented and sweet Kacie Case. Kacie is a mama to two boys named Eddy and Rocky and lives with her husband and kiddos in Austin, TX (hey that's where I live too!). Kacie is also a small business owner and makes adorable printed tees for babies, toddlers and kids atmamacase prints.
Kacie and I poured some wine and got right down to talking about her two beautiful and empowering homebirths. I love that Kacie attended her two brother's homebirths when she was growing up and had the honor of cutting their umbilical cords. Pretty much from that moment, Kacie was destined to have some kickass homebirths of her own.
Bailey Gaddis tells the story of her hypnobirthing hospital birth. She ended up uses the same visualization throughout the entire birth and sitting completely still and cross legged in the hospital bed which really surprised her since she'd imagined she'd be moving around a lot during labor.
Paige Rangel of The Love Designed Life shares the birth of her son Diego born at a birth center.
In today's episode, Kristel shares the story of her son's birth which took place at a birth center within a hospital and then her daughter's birth which was a homebirth. Her daughter was born in a birthing tub and to everyone's surprise came out bum first. Kristel's midwife had felt that her daughter was head down the entire pregnancy but she did a last minute flip and Kristel had a vaginal breech birth.
Elizabeth Quinn shares the VBA2C birth story of her third daughter.
Elizabeth Quinn tells the stories of her first two births, which were unplanned c-sections.
Christa Terry tells the story of her daughter's unexpected early arrival. Christa went into labor at 34 weeks and quickly realized that her daughter was coming that same day. Listen to her describe her experience with a preterm labor and the subsequent NICU stay in her own words.
Allie Floyd, who had a hospital birth with her 11 year old daughter and just recently had a homebirth, discusses the difference in her birth experiences and how empowered and amazing she felt after her recent homebirth.
Anne Margolis is a practicing Midwife in New York. She received her B.S.N. in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania, her degree in Nurse-Midwifery from the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing, and her Master's in Nursing from Case Western Reserve University. She is a licensed midwife in New York and New Jersey, a licensed OB/GYN nurse practitioner in New York, and is certified by the American Midwifery Certification Board.
Melissa Emler is a mom to three kids, Cooper, Addilyn and Conner and lives in Wisconsin where she works in education. She connects schools with the best and most useful tools available to them in the 21st century! Melissa also has a podcast called On the Vender Floor where she connects educators and entrepreneurs in conversations that positively impact learning.
Melissa's children were born in Iowa under the care of midwives but in a hospital setting. In Iowa all midwives who are legally practicing are Certified Nurse Midwives and many of them are providing care within a hospital setting. The hospital that Melissa gave birth at was set up more like a birth center than the typical hospital image that you may have in your head. It had a large tub as well as other comfort measures that aided her with finding more natural methods of coping with labor than typical hospital pain medications.
Melissa also practiced Hypnobirthing which really made a big difference with her births and kept her from even considering asking for an epidural.
Lauren Hartmann tells the birth stories of her two children, one at a birth center, the other a homebirth. Lauren provides a unique perspective, having started her first pregnancy planning a hospital birth before moving to a birth center, then having her second birth at home. Her stories have a lot to offer for women weighing their options to decide what will work best for their them.
Kimberly Sherman shares the birth story of her twin boys. It's crazy to me that this was the first time that I actually heard a vaginal twin birth story. I know there are plenty of women who give birth to their twins vaginally but I just hadn't met one yet, so this was a really special conversation to me.
Kimberly preparation so well for her boys' birth and went into the experience knowing the type of birth that she wanted, and was a great advocate for herself. I'm so excited for you all to hear her story!
Kimberly also shares some amazing resources in her episode and even emailed me with a few more after we talked so please take the time to check out the ones that are applicable to you.
Paige tells the story of the birth of her son. Paige was induced by choice 4 days after her due date, and after starting a Pitocin drip, things progressed rather quickly. So quickly in fact that by the time Paige was offered an epidural it was not really worth it to her. She trusted her body and decided not to interfere with the track that she was already on.
Shalome Doran shares the stories of her three births. The first was a highly medicalized hospital birth, and the second two were homebirths, one of which was actually an orgasmic birth!
Shalome wants to live in a world where women approach their births with excitement and awe. A highly-medicalised hospital birth and 2 sensational home births taught her that a little preparation can make ALL the difference, and that you can feel like a total Rockstar when you birth, regardless of how you birth. Shalome encourages pregnant mamas to replace their fears of pain with the insights and self-belief to roar their babies out – by creating their own informed, empowered and amazing birth experiences.
Welcome to the Birth Hour! In this episode, Danielle Burkleo shares the birth story of her fifth child, Lula. She talks a little bit about her first 3 births and then tells the story of her most recent pregnancy and birth. Her pregnancy this time around was a little uncertain and as she discusses in this episode; but, ultimately she ended up giving birth to a healthy 11 pound baby girl! Listen to Danielle share her story in her own words.
Welcome to The Birth Hour! In this episode, Joyce tells all three of her birth stories. Joyce had three natural births that share some similarities, but which were also surprisingly different. As a doula, Joyce offers a helpful, informative perspective on birth and doesn't hold anything back!
Welcome to The Birth Hour! Sarah went into her first childbirth experience expecting a vaginal birth and ended up with a cesarean. Find out about the series of events that led to Sarah's emergency c-section in this week's episode of The Birth Hour.
Welcome to The Birth Hour! In this episode, Leah shares the story of her fifth birth, which took place at a birth center surrounded by supportive women. The Red Tent was a hideaway that women in ancient Christian culture retreated to during their periods or to give birth. In these tents, it is said that women shared secrets and traditions of womanhood and motherhood, and cared for each other during times of need. Leah's midwife named Leah's recent birth a "Red Tent Birth" and you will soon find out why.