Month: May 2024

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/