Ep 92: Learning That There's Something To Learn About Birth

Congratulations to the newest members of Happy Homebirth Academy! Check out myhappyhomebirth.com to access the interview application.  It's open this week!   Show Notes: In her first pregnancy, Katie felt excited about her birth, but did not think there was anything for her to learn.  She knew that God had made her to give birth and she would.  She thought that any education she found, like What to Expect When You’re Expecting would be negative and unhelpful.  Looking back, Katie says this was well-meaning, but very naive.   With her first labor, she was in Mass and noticed that she was having “stomach pains” almost every 6 minutes.   Once she went to the hospital, she labored all night without any coping mechanisms.  She just knew that she wanted to have an unmedicated birth.   She called her mom and asked her to make her way there- a 5 hour drive.  Katie’s labor stalled the entire 5 hours her mom was making the drive.  As soon as she arrived, her labor began progressing immediately.     Once her baby was born, they were taken to a recovery room with an amazing queen-sized bed.     With her second birth, her husband was deployed.  Her mother came to support her.   Once she went to the hospital, she met up with her doula, who was an amazing support.     They walked the hospital halls, then went to their room.  Once Katie’s water broke, her baby was born about 4 minutes later.   Because she had declined antibiotics for GBS, Katie had to stay for 3 days.   Katie learned so much about birth between her 2nd and 3rd birth.  Because she didn’t want another experience like her previous hospital one, she began looking into birthing centers.  Her doula asked if she’d be interested in homebirth, to which she replied “no way”.  Later that very week, Katie decided she did in fact want a homebirth!   Her doula accompanied her into the bathroom, then yelled for the midwife to get in there.  Katie was adamant that she didn’t want to have her baby in the bathroom,, so she walked over to the tub, where her water broke and Fetal Ejection Reflex kicked in.  She flipped over onto her back and then pushed her baby out.  She found out that her baby had a nuchal hand.   Katie loved the experience of her third pregnancy and adores homebirth.