Category: Show Notes

In today’s episode I talk with a woman whose pregnancy was straight forward, and who was aimed at a home birth with a midwife. 

She talks about why she decided on a home birth

How the home birth was progressing and her strategies for managing it

What sent her to the hospital

the ways that she managed the unexpected progress of her labor.

We also hear from an OB/scientist who is working to decipher how the uterus creates contractions and how these contractions can be measured. What follows is the first part of our conversation.

Today we’ll take a bit of a dive into the mechanics of how a uterus contracts. This is actually really important because drawing meaning from patterns of uterine contractions is how many doctors and midwives manage labor. I’m talking with Dr. Roger Young today, an OB scientist who studies, among other things, the details of how a uterus contracts.

Dr Young’s paper on Uterine contractions (with illustration) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002937822008602#fig1

Today I finish my conversation with Caitlin, the registered dietician who focuses on women’s fertility issues. 

She shares the rest of her story about managing the challenges of PCOS.
She addresses changes she made to:
*her diet
*her exercise
*her mindset
*her ability to manage stress

 and how these changes led to  three children (and stay tuned, maybe more?)…we pick up where we left off last week, Caitlin is about to share the very specific things that she did to overcome her diagnosis.

Today’s guest shares her journey through infertility generated by Poly cycstic ovarian syndrome.

She is a clinical dietitian and talks about things to consider when taking birth control.

 She gives a number of tips on what you can do to improve your fertility, but note: this is not medical advice. What follows is the first part of our conversation.

possible side effects of hormonal birth control:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9842494/#:~:text=The%20most%20common%20side%20effect,some%20point%20in%20their%20life.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159123003331?via%3Dihub

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10347535/#:~:text=Hormone%2Dbased%20contraception%20disrupts%20hormonal%20balance%2C%20creating%20artificial%20states%20of%20anovulation%20and%20threatening%20women’s%20health.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2020.00603/full
To find Caitlin’s podcast, Food Freedom & Fertility, click here

In today’s episode:
 I finish my conversation with Jess. 

We talk about :
* how her research prior to the third postpartum set her up for a significantly better experience.
She describes concepts like constructive rest and matrescence
* practical tips on how much physical work should be done in the early weeks
* a useful time line to set your expectations 

we pick up where we left off last week, where jess is reflecting on all the advocacy she did on her daughter’s behalf and how that might be applied to her own experience in a future pregnancy

What can you do naturally to induce labor (spoiler: not much)
https://www.webmd.com/baby/does-pineapple-induce-labor

https://www.nct.org.uk/pregnancy/your-pregnancy-week-week/third-trimester/can-i-make-myself-go-labour-myths-or-truths

Find Jess at:
https://www.instagram.com/motherme.io/

I talk to a woman who shares the story of her transformative births:
 in particular :

How the postpartum and aftermath of the second birth changed the way she viewed herself and her career. 

It’s an impactful and inspirational story that I think many of us can relate to. What follows is the first part of our conversation.

hyperemesis and anxiety
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14767058.2022.2089550

https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1471-0528.14180

affect of fetal sex on pregnancy outcome
https://bsd.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13293-020-00299-3
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-75969-8
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2017.00144/full
to find Jess’s company: https://www.instagram.com/motherme.io/

In today’s episode I speak with a MINDSET COACH about her experience with pregnancy and with fostering and then adopting a child. She talks about what she learned with respect to colic and tongue tie and some of the challenges she met in this process and how she, someone trained in early interventions from birth to three, ultimately had to change the way she approached parenting. What follows is the first part of our conversation. 

Trends in home and birth center births, 2004-2017
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8827343/#:~:text=(AABC%2C%202021)
Definitions of Preterm Birth
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11386/
Tongue Tie
https://www.healthline.com/health/dental-and-oral-health/tongue-tie-in-adults#9

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10167863/

his week I finish my conversation with Suzzie. She shares:
* how the second birth felt like a redemption of the first one
* all the things she did between the first and second births to make that outcome more likely, including:
* more birth education
* facing her fears
*managing her expectations.

 We pick up where we left off last week. Suzzie has spent hours contracting and waiting and ultimately her stalled labor leads to a C section. She’s now been left in the recovery room by herself, with little sense of where her husband and new baby are.

You can find Suzzie’s contacts:
Childbirth Class: https://shebirthsbravely.com/learn

What Does Your Birth Plan Say About Your Personality Quiz:  https://shebirthsbravely.com/quiz

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shebirthsbravely/

This week’s episode features that story of a woman who had two nearly opposite experiences of birth.
 Like many of us, the FIRST one was ROUGH–including anything but gentle treatment at the hospital and an unpleasant C section;

The SECOND was a vast improvement, which started her on a journey to learn more about birth and to become what she needed that first time around: an excellent DOULA;

 what follows is the first part of our conversation
Molar Pregnancy

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17889-molar-pregnancy

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/molar-pregnancy/symptoms-causes/syc-20375175
Connection between Psychological State and Labor Progress
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4027004/

https://www.parents.com/pregnancy/giving-birth/labor-and-delivery/when-labor-stalls/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1595201/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1595201/

ACOG: infection after PROM

https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee-opinion/articles/2019/02/approaches-to-limit-intervention-during-labor-and-birth

To find Suzzie’ s contacts:
Childbirth Class: https://shebirthsbravely.com/learn

What Does Your Birth Plan Say About Your Personality Quiz:  https://shebirthsbravely.com/quiz

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shebirthsbravely/