Ep 119: A Homeschooling Mama's Seventh Pregnancy and Supported Homebirth

    If you had your baby at your due date or after… how did you feel?  Tired?  Ready? Frustrated that it was taking so long?  Taylor?  Well, she was thrilled to carry her baby as long as she did.  After experiencing several preterm births, she loved every moment of her longer, seventh pregnancy.  This birth story is so lovely, I can’t wait to share it!   Before we jump in, may I ask you a favor? If you’re on facebook, can you run check and see if you’re following Happy Homebirth Podcast?  We’re growing and excited to get our resources in front of more and more mothers.  So help us out by clicking ‘like’, and maybe even sharing with your friends!   Okay, let’s get to the good stuff!   Show Notes 7 Kids- Decided to leave the number of children up to the Lord With their third child, they began following Mama Natural, and Taylor began becoming interested in homebirth Taylor experiences Hypremesis Gravidum during her pregnancies, which occurred again during her seventh pregnancy. During that time, her husband would help when he could homeschool after work, and she would do educational videos and audiobooks  After she got through the first weeks of sickness, she actually felt amazing.   Her midwife very much encouraged nutrition during pregnancies, so she feels she’s improved her nutrition more with each pregnancy As someone who has gone into labor prematurely several times before, she was concerned that she’d begin having prodromal labor.  However, this last pregnancy, she didn’t even have any noticeable contractions in the last month. She felt great, went on plenty of hikes, and went to the chiropractor Magnesium supplementation was highly important in this pregnancy, and she felt it was of great help at keeping pain away Taylor took Gentle Birth tincture and ate dates at the end of her pregnancy Her midwife came and checked her and she was 7 cm.  Everyone expected a quick labor from that point.  Little did they know, they were in it for the long haul. Typically with Taylor’s births, as soon as her water breaks, she has her babies very quickly However, because her baby’s head was never in a good position, her midwife did not feel comfortable going that route. Taylor finally had a moment where she cried out to God, then said she felt like he wasn’t answering.  It was around this time where she realized that she was still holding onto quite a bit of fears from earlier in the pregnancy:  they initially thought the pregnancy may be ectopic, then they received scary news from an anatomy scan when the baby’s stomach couldn’t be visualized.  Though another scan revealed the baby was healthy, the fears still lingered. Taylor realized during birth that she was holding onto the fear that she may not get to meet this baby still. Once she released these fears, suddenly her baby moved position and came down the birth canal.  Her midwife was able to break her water, and Taylor got into the birth pool. At one point in the water,  Taylor was trying to read the scripture cards that she and her children had created together.  Her doula and assistant midwife came over and read the scriptures over her during labor. The song that meant so much to her during pregnancy, Peace Be Still, was actually what was playing when her son was born.     Episode Roundup   What a lovely story!  Let’s head into this week’s episode roundup: I first want to point out how deeply the events of our pregnancies can impact our births.  Taylor realized in the throes of labor that she was still holding onto fears that had been with her from the early days of her pregnancy, as well as the middle.  These stressful experiences and certainties reared their heads as she fought to bring her baby forth in labor.  It took the release of these events to truly help her baby get into position for birth. How wonderful to hear of Taylor’s midwife’s wisdom.  Though they felt confident that breaking Taylor’s water would speed up labor, her midwife knew that doing this before bab