Happy Homebirth

Did you decide to have a homebirth with your first baby, or did this decision take place later down the line?  For mamas pregnant with your first, do you ever find yourself thinking, "Perhaps I'll have a homebirth... with my second..."? 

As a doula, Alexa experienced a number of births before becoming pregnant.  This experience pushed her towards the open arms of her homebirth midwives.  She knew that she wanted to give birth naturally... and she felt certain that that goal would be more difficult to achieve in the hospital setting, where the type and attitude of whatever care providers happened to be working that day could truly color her birth experience.

And so... with the support of her husband, midwives and doula, Alexa had an amazing homebirth.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Believe in Midwifery  Discount Code: HAPPY20

Lactation Cookies

Alexa's Written Birth Story

Keep Up With Alexa

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Website

Deepest Thank You to Our Sponsor!

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Is there anything more transformative than birth?  Than being reborn as a mother for the first, second, or sixth time?  For so many, birth is a catalyst into the next phase of life- not only on the maternal front, but also on the passion and career front.

This is exactly what happened to Stefanie.  After experiencing her own birth with midwives, she was set on fire with a passion for women and babies.  She became a Lamaze instructor, a midwife’s assistant, and a doula.  How amazing!  During today’s episode, we discuss this transformation and the birth stories that caused this shift.

Show Notes:

• Stefanie found out she was pregnant with her first child the same week she and her husband had moved from New York to Atlanta.  She knew exactly where she would give birth in New York, but had to search for a care provider now that she was in a completely different location.
• Luckily, Stefanie found a supportive midwife group in one of the local hospitals. She enjoyed her experience with the midwives, and was grateful for their recommendation of hiring a doula for her labor.
• Stefanie’s first labor was arduous and full of back pain with a baby who was in the posterior position for most of labor. It was quite a long one, spanning 24 hours, so her doula came in handy. 
• Stefanie dilated to 8cm…. and then remained there for 8 hours. She spent much of her time in the shower (accidentally flooding the room at one point!). She was quick to acknowledge that had she not been with the midwives, it’s very likely that she would have ended up with a c-section.
• Finally, even though baby was very high and she was at an 8, her midwives encouraged her to try pushing. They tried every position imaginable, and amazingly, after 2.5 hours, her baby was born!
• Stefanie did struggle with some postpartum anxiety after her first child.
• With her second pregnancy, she thought, “That went so well last time- why don’t we just do it at home?!”
• Between the two births, Stefanie had become a doula, a midwife’s assistant, and a Lamaze instructor. She knew exactly who she wanted to have attend her birth.
• With her second birth, she realized she was in early labor at about 6:20 one evening. She was grateful that her husband was almost home.  He got home and began to take care of their toddler while Stefanie went to take a bath.
• Suddenly, her labor took quite an intense turn. She called her midwife to let her know that she was in early labor.  Upon Stefanie’s call, her midwife said she was on her way over, though Stephanie felt certain she was still only in early labor.
• She was not. She decided to check herself…and only got about a knuckle deep before running into the baby’s head.
• Luckily, her midwife arrived quickly. She got out of the tub and onto the toilet, facing backwards. Suddenly her water broke, and her midwife told her she needed to turn around… neither Stefanie or her midwife could catch a baby in that position!
• Stefanie’s baby was born very quickly at this point—in less than the amount of time it took her to push with her first baby, she labored and had her second!
• Stefanie’s doula business is a 2-person group, which was inspired by a former interviewee, Madeline Murray. Check out her episode here!
• Stay in touch with Stefanie:
• doulasinatlanta.com
• instagram.com/theatlantadoula

Brought to you today by my wonderful, amazing, charming, and highly skilled husband who drove around for an hour today to find Wi-Fi and upload this. He is the real deal. #Blessed #MyHero #WhoShotJFK?

I LOVE working out, and I especially loved it during my most recent pregnancy.  Something about focusing on my health while growing my new babe was incredibly empowering.  What about you?  Did you feel energized and ready to work out during pregnancy?  

Now that I'm postpartum, I'm biding my time until I can return to working out.  The first few weeks post-pregnancy are a sacred time of rest, so I know I must take this just as seriously as any other period of time.

But what happens when I get the green light?  Do I just jump back in... full steam ahead?

Nope, I'm going to be incredibly careful to make sure that each exercise I do is actually safe for my new postpartum body, and that it's helping build me up- not causing more distress.

Enter: Glowbody PT.  This episode features a mama and former World Champion athlete, Ashley Keller.  She has created both pregnancy and post-pregnancy workout plans, and she knows the ins-and outs of both intensity and safety when it comes to the fresh new mom-bod.  

Show Notes:

Ashley is an army spouse and mother of 3 young children.  Before babies, she was a professional tri-athlete for Team USA, and won a World Championship for Half Iron Man.  She then served in the Army and became a mom.  She realized she needed short, efficient workouts for herself, so she decided to share what she was doing for her prenatal workouts on YouTube-  GlowBody PT was born. 

Ashley has not created your average run-of-the-mill pregnancy routines.  No, no, my friends.  These workouts are a beautiful marriage of both intensity and safety for pregnancy and post-pregnancy.

Ashley discusses the breakdown of her pregnancy workout plan, which is divided into trimesters.  

First Trimester

During the first trimester, Ashley discusses the importance of maintaining consistency with whatever types of workouts you were doing before.  If you weren't working out much, now is not the time to begin something rigorous.  However if you were working out, continue in the same way.  The caveat: bring your maximum workout level from a 10 to a 6 or a 7.

She mentions that there are several things mothers should avoid during the first trimester: overheating and breathlessness (due to change in hormones).  

The first trimester is a great time to try to get the abs and back very strong, as their strength and stability through pregnancy is key.

Second Trimester

The second trimester is a great time to begin lifting weights, even if you were not lifting weights before pregnancy.

Ashley gives great explanation as to how helpful squats are for avoiding the "soggy bag" pelvic floor.

Third Trimester:

It's incredibly important to remember that the body is creating a hormone called relaxin, which increases greatly during the third trimester.  This makes the joints and body as a whole hyper-mobile, so it is very important to be careful while working out, especially with yoga.  Ashley recommends doing prenatal yoga only once or twice per week.  

Her pregnancy plan ends at 32 weeks... why?  Not because you cannot continue to work out past this time, but because she wants each individual mom to listen to their bodies rather than feeling like they must do a specific workout.  She recommends doing workouts from the second and third trimester if you feel good continuing to work out.  She reminds mothers to listen to their bodies, as it will tell you when to stop!

Ashley has had 3 vaginal births in the hospital on base with midwifery care.  She appreciates the intimacy of the midwifery practice, and the way that the hospital allows her to labor how she wants.  She has found that giving birth on all 4’s, either on the bed or on the floor, is best for opening her pelvis and allowing baby to engage.  She says her most recent baby practically “fell out” as she leaned against the bed.  Nurses had to rush over to catch the baby.

As we delve into postpartum, Ashley's big piece of advice for the first few weeks is toREST HARD.  While it is not time to begin working out, this is a great time to begin doing long kegels (specific description in episode).

Beginning to Work Out Postpartum:

After receiving the "go ahead" from your medical provider, it's important to make sure that you are also checking your body's signals.  Are you still bleeding?  This means you're not actually ready.  Are you still sore?  If you had a Cesarean section, is your incision oozing?  This would also mean that you're not ready.  Just like at the end of pregnancy, it's important to listen to your body's cues during the postpartum phase.

 “We need to retrain our body because it’s gotten a little wonky."  Ashley discusses how it's important that we are not only gaining strength, but rebuilding the very foundations of our body.  It's been stretched and relaxed, and we must be very careful as we begin to rebuild.

 The benefits of Ashley's 12 Week Post-Pregnancy Plan:

• It's Diastasis Recti Healing/Safe
• Saves Time (20-30 minute workouts, 4x/week)
• Does the Brain Work for You- Just click on the video and Ashley works out with you!

 Happy Homebirth listeners receive a promo code (for being the greatest listeners in the world)!

https://www.glowbodypt.com/12-week-post-pregnancy-plan-2

Code: homebirth15

Follow Ashley:

Facebook.com/glowbodypt

Instagram.com/glowbodypt

Youtube.com/glowbodypt

No matter how far postpartum you are, you can close that diastasis recti gap with Ashley’s 12 week post-pregnancy plan!

Deepest Thank You to Our Sponsor!

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864-907-6363

Help out the show:

Leave a review on iTunes for a chance to be the reviewer of the week– you’ll be sent a Happy Homebirth sticker if selected!

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What do you do when labor stalls?

Somewhat of a wonky question, as the body is generally far more intelligent than we give it credit.  However, there are times when our mind and body are just not connecting and we need help figuring out how to progress. 

Enter Jasmin-Mom boss and entrepreneur.  Jasmin, who herself was born at home, never even considered the idea of homebirth until she became pregnant with her third child.  After a very quick second birth she assumed baby #3 would practically fall out with ease.

Not so.  Baby #3 was a wild card!  After hours of labor, Jasmin realized she was not progressing.  She'd been at it for quite a while, and realized something had to give.  Deep down, both she and her midwife knew she was holding back.  With the concern of needing to transfer to the hospital if things didn't get moving, Jasmin dug deep.

Listen in to hear how Jasmin decided to have a homebirth in the first place, and just how that homebirth ended.  

Deepest Thank You to Our Sponsor!

Hatched at Home- Midwife Carrie LaChapelle: 

www.hatchedathome.com

https://www.facebook.com/MidwifeCarrieLachapelleLMCPM/ 

864-907-6363 

Help out the show:

Leave a review on iTunes for a chance to be the reviewer of the week– you’ll be sent a Happy Homebirth sticker if selected!

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What happens when you break a bone, undergo surgery, or get sick?  Typically, very specific time is taken to rest, and most importantly, to heal. 

What about when you have a baby?

After creating an entirely separate, entirely new life in your womb for 9-10 months, then bringing that life forth one way or another, what do you do?  Do you give your body the same type of attention and care that one does when recovering from any other strenuous/difficult event? 

I sure as heck hope so, but I sure as heck worry that it isn’t happening enough, especially when considering our western culture’s nonchalant attitude regarding postpartum recovery. 

Today’s episode is all about Adilah’s personal experiences with postpartum recovery.  As the daughter of a mother with a Malay background, she was truly required to rest and recover after giving birth.  Her mother made her broths, soups and warming stews, and saw to it that she was given traditional healing treatments: postpartum massages, belly pastes to warm her body and increase circulation, herbal baths, body scrubs, belly binds, hair treatments and feminine washes.  All of this combined with rest taught Adilah the true benefits of taking the postpartum period seriously. 

Now, with her in-depth understanding of these treatments, Adilah is providing many of these same kits to interested mothers through her website, www.ibudoula.com

With all of this attentive care, it’s no wonder that Malaysia ranks the lowest in the number of women with postpartum depression.  Perhaps if we adopt some of these principles, the western struggle with postpartum depression and anxiety would decrease as well.

This podcast is full of beauty and fascinating cultural information.  Listen in to hear how Adilah’s grandfather understood so deeply the importance of this postpartum support that when her mother gave birth to Adliah, he came and stayed with her and cared for her just as Adilahs mother did for her (her grandmother had passed away before Adilah was born).  This example so clearly demonstrates the depth of understanding this culture has in regards to the importance of postpartum healing and bonding. 

Connect with Adilah:

www.ibudoula.com

www.instagram.com/ibudoula

www.marleymoomaternity.com  

www.instagram.com/marleyandmoo

Other resources mentioned in this episode:

Click here to get your postpartum workout program.  Use the promo code homebirth15 for a $15 discount!

Sponsorship:

Deepest Thank You to Our Sponsor!

Hatched at Home- Midwife Carrie LaChapelle: 

www.hatchedathome.comhttps://www.facebook.com/MidwifeCarrieLachapelleLMCPM/ 

864-907-6363 

Help out the show:

Leave a review on iTunes for a chance to be the reviewer of the week– you’ll be sent a Happy Homebirth sticker if selected!

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Motherhood: What does this word mean to you?  What comes to mind? 

I know that personally, I think of my own experience- raising my daughter, and now starting again with raising our second girl.  

Sydney's experience, however, is quite different.  She has experienced motherhood from several different aspects: as a biological mother who placed her child for adoption, as a mother raising her second child with her husband, and as a surrogate.  

This episode details Sydney's experiences in all of these areas, providing us all with a fresh perspective on the word 'Motherhood'.

Show Notes:

Sydney found out she was pregnant directly after college- she was not expecting or planning on this pregnancy.  She felt sure that she was not ready to be a parent, she did not want to parent alone, and she knew she had to figure out quickly what she needed to do. 

Her family assumed she would get an abortion, but she felt that because she wanted to be a mother one day, she could not allow herself to end this pregnancy with abortion.

Once she chose the family to adopt her child, she wanted them to be as involved with the pregnancy as possible.  They got along very well. 

Sydney struggled with her familial relationships in terms of deciding to keep the pregnancy, and in fact did not speak to her father for the entirety of the pregnancy.  Their relationship was quickly reestablished afterwards, when he acknowledged that he had handled the situation incorrectly.  He now continues a relationship with the child by sending presents, birthday cards, etc.

For the first year, all seemed to go well.  Sydney felt rejuvenated to be able to spend time with her friends without being pregnant… she felt like her old self.  However, at the 1 year birthday party of the baby, she became very emotional and realized she had not taken the time she needed for herself to heal after the birth. 

She decided to take a job with Teach for America and travel.  She moved to Memphis and met her husband.  Within a year, they were pregnant and married!

Her second birth was a homebirth in Las Vegas.  Her husband was able to catch her son and passed the baby to Sydney under her legs.  Both she and the baby were crying!  She discusses the difference of feeling between having her first baby with her second- knowing that this baby was hers to keep. 

 Her third pregnancy was as a gestational surrogate.  The beginning of her pregnancy was incredibly easy- she had no morning sickness, which was very different from her two previous pregnancies. 

During the 20-week anatomy scan, a heart defect was found in the baby.  The parents of the baby had to decide whether or not to terminate the pregnancy.  Right before Christmas, they’d decided to terminate. 

However, the day after Christmas, they changed their minds and said they would keep the baby no matter what! 

The rest of the pregnancy went okay for Sydney, though she did feel stressed trying to make sure she was doing everything she could to help the baby be healthy.  She was induced at 39+2. 

The labor was long, but once she finally was pushing, she pushed for only 3 minutes.  The baby was born screaming- so she could breathe!  And she didn’t need oxygen.  She was also strong enough to have her heart surgery on day 2 as opposed to day 5.

Sydney was able to breastfeed the baby while she was in town, and then she was able to donate over 3,000 ounces of milk to other babies. 

Sponsorship:

Deepest Thank You to Our Sponsor!

Hatched at Home- Midwife Carrie LaChapelle: www.hatchedathome.comhttps://www.facebook.com/MidwifeCarrieLachapelleLMCPM/ 

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Help out the show:

Leave a review on iTunes for a chance to be the reviewer of the week– you’ll be sent a Happy Homebirth sticker if selected!

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Show Notes:

Happy Homebirth hit 10,000 downloads!  It's time to celebrate.  What do you want to see?  A Facebook group?  Merchandise?  Send an e-mail to katelyn@myhappyhomebirth.com with your suggestions.

Imagine your ideal birth.  Where are you?  Who is with you?  In what position are you laboring?  Listen in to hear Katelyn's most recent birth.  Her experience was "magical," as she was surrounded with exactly the right people in exactly the right time.  Katelyn set up her birthing space very intentionally and set her mind to the exact kind of labor she wanted to experience.

She and Thomas share their labor story, as well as a hilarious postpartum experience that occurred.

Katelyn's labor march:

Katelyn's birth video:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2DSJQYpxCc8MHVyeWxfa0xhb3FiVVhkT3ctenZpQmhiWm8w/view?usp=sharing

Sponsorship:

Deepest Thank You to Our Sponsor! Hatched at Home-Midwife Carrie LaChapelle: www.hatchedathome.comhttps://www.facebook.com/MidwifeCarrieLachapelleLMCPM/ 864-907-6363 

Help out the show:

Leave a review on iTunes for a chance to be the reviewer of the week-- you'll be sent a Happy Homebirth sticker if selected!

Take a screenshot listening to this episode and add it to your Instagram stories tagging @happyhomebirthpodcast.  We'll add you to ours and give you a shout out!

Deepest Thank You to Our Sponsor!

Hatched at Home-Midwife Carrie LaChapelle: www.hatchedathome.com

https://www.facebook.com/MidwifeCarrieLachapelleLMCPM/

864-907-6363

Show Notes:

• Rachael is a mother of 3: Her oldest is 10, she has a 4-year-old son, and a 1.5 year-old babe
• In 2009, when pregnant with her first, she decided to have a birth center birth. We discuss how uncommon this choice was at that time, at least in the area she was living.
• She had two friends who had had hospital births without any interventions. When she asked them about their decisions, she began seeing the benefits of an intervention-free birth and thought it might be something she’d like to do.
• Rachael admits that another big aspect of choosing an out-of-hospital birth was the fact that she wouldn’t be allowed to eat in the hospital. The more she learned, the more she began to feel rebellious!
• We discuss the fact that childbirth education courses can truly help shift your perspective of what your body can tolerate (in regards to pain) during labor, and what you can do to relax and enjoy the experience.
• “It was as much like therapy as it was a [prenatal] appointment”
• Rachael finds it very interesting how different each one of her birthing experiences were.
• With her first, she had prodromal labor for a week and a half
• Rachael kept feeling like she needed to poop- so she had her husband run grab her an enema from the store. She laid down on the couch while she waited, and after about 3 minutes, she heard a sound that sounded like a shot going off.  Initially, she thought her colon had exploded!  And then she realized it “worse”—her water had broken!  She expected that she still had several weeks to go before having her baby, so this was quite a shock.
• She called her midwife, who said she would check back in with her once contractions began. About 30 minutes later, her midwife called back and asked her if she’d like to begin heading to the birth center so she could be assessed (she also recognized that traffic would be getting difficult soon, as rush hour approached).
• 12 hours after he water broke, her baby was born.
• Rachael discusses how all of the things she thought she’d want in labor were NOT what she wanted. The opposite was true, too!  She did not imagine wanting to labor on the toilet, but it worked for her during labor.
• When Rachael laid down, she would vomit- she was grateful that she learned about how sphincters work during her childbirth education class, so she wasn’t shocked or scared by this reaction.
• “I didn’t panic… until I hit transition, which is I guess when everyone panics!!”
• “I looked like I’d been pulled behind a speedboat for about 6 hours when Lilah was born, but I felt SO good!”
• “Don’t be so afraid of birth—don’t let somebody else handle it because it scares you. Learn what you can about it so that you can make informed decisions.”
• Between her first and second child, Rachael had been divorced, and she was now in her late 30’s. She did not think that she would have more children.
• Her next pregnancy was a surprise—“No one was planning that!” She was grateful that her partner was completely supportive and on board with having a birth outside of the hospital.
• Rachael feels that her second baby’s birth was even more straight forward. He was born en caul!
• The day before labor, she didn’t feel good and decided to stay home instead of going out to dinner with a friend.
• Rachael talks about how in her mind, she did not want her daughter to miss school because she was having a baby (She’s not sure why that was a big deal to her, now!). She didn’t go into labor until 1 am on a Saturday, so she thinks she must have mentally willed that to happen!
• “I didn’t want to wake up the midwife before 5am—I thought that was rude.”
• Rachael remembers feeling more “with it” during her second birth.
• Her son was born around 9 am, and they were back home by lunch time
• With her last birth, CeCe, Rachael was 40 years old: “That’s not what I had planned for this year!”
• Once again, Rachael had prodromal labor. 
• Her husband’s mother came into town a week before the baby was due- she was hoping that she’d be around once the baby came.
• Rachael made dinner, then decided to go get in the bed, as contractions (she was confident they were prodromal) were making her uncomfortable.
• Rachael contacts her midwife, who tells her that she’s heading out for a birth that’s in quite a distant location. She asks how Rachael is doing, and Rachael tells her not to worry, she feels like she has plenty of time.
• Thank goodness—the other baby was born in quite a hurry, and the midwife (who was acting as a second for that birth) was called and told not to even worry about coming out because everything was taken care of.
• In the meantime, Rachael’s daughter began getting sick. She got up to go check on her--
• “When I stood up, I had that ‘Oh no, what have I done’ contraction!”
• She went to the bathroom and saw that she’d lost her mucous plug. “Okay great, well we have to go now!”
• Somehow Rachael and Andy were able to make it to the birth center in 30 minutes—usually a 45-minute drive!
• Once they arrived at the birth center, Rachael’s baby was born within 30 minutes.
• “It just keeps getting better… maybe we should just keep having more kids!”

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Show Notes: 

• Anne is a mother of 6 children who range in age from 25 to 3
• She has been a doula/labor support person for 25 years (before the term really even existed!)
• In 1999, Anne trained formally as a doula. She trained a second time with another organization the following year, and found that the two organizations had rather opposite methods and beliefs.  One was very medical, the other was almost medically antagonistic.  Anne felt she was lacking training from both organizations, so she set out to do something about it.
• She and a group of women started a business called Maternity Wise, and she’s been training doulas since 2004.
• With her first birth, Anne had a doctor who she says was more like a midwife than a typical doctor. At the end of her labor, she did use some narcotic pain relief at the end of her labor (though her doctor did discourage it), which she attributes to having a more difficult pushing phase.  Anne mentions how it made her feel drunk and slow- unable to move the way she wanted to.
• Once the narcotics wore off, Anne was able to push more successfully and baby came out quickly at that point.
• “What I’ve learned throughout the course of my births is that I’m one of those moms who does a lot of early work.” Her births are fast, but she does a lot of laboring off and on in the weeks beforehand. “I do a lot of laboring off and on during the weeks beforehand… and that sort of thing makes everybody nutty!”
• With her second child, she was actually put on bedrest several weeks beforehand. She had both of these babies 2 weeks before her due date, and both were over 8 lbs!
• As soon as they took her off bedrest, she went into labor.
• When she went to the hospital, the nurse checked her and her water broke. The nurse left, saying that she had quite a ways to go.  As soon as she left, Anne begins feeling the “poop pressure”
• The nurse ran back in, lifted the blanket, and caught Anne’s baby as he came “shooting out”!
• All in all, her second labor was 55 minutes long.
• Between her second and third birth, her amazing doctor stopped practicing. She was referred to an OB who she very much liked, but in 1999, doctors were now working in groups, so she was not necessarily going to be attended by her own doctor. 
• At 37 weeks Anne went in because she was experiencing potential labor. After being there for several hours and having everything die down, she wanted to go home. The doctor said, “Let me just check you one more time and we’ll go from there.”  What she didn’t know is that the doctor had an amniohook in his hand, and he broke her water without her permission. 
• After the baby was born, Anne felt he looked far too small and young. She’d been studying for quite some time at this point, so upon assessment, she felt confident that he was not 3 weeks early, but closer to 5 weeks early. 
• “I think of all these moms whose due dates could be miscalculated- and how they induce and how they hurry things up and how they have these itty bitty babies who are just not ready.”
• In 2002, Anne decided to have her first homebirth (baby #4). With this baby, she went 3 days past 40 weeks- much further than she’d ever previously gone!
• Anne’s sister in law came to stay with her because her husband was working an hour away, and they knew that might be too far to make the birth! Of course, her baby waited until the day her sister in law left to be born!
• She began feeling slight contractions, but they very suddenly made a turn and got very strong. She called her midwife, who said she was on her way, but was 45 minutes away.  She had been in the tub, but got out because she was uncomfortable.
• As she got up, her body started pushing. She walked to the bed, and with the next contraction, her baby was born. Anne’s husband caught her, juggled her around a bit, and put her on Anne’s chest.  The baby took a good breath, but then went limp, which very much scared Anne at the time.
• Anne mentions that as a toddler, this daughter would faint if she were surprised or scared… she now thinks that’s what happened at her birth!
• This daughter that she had alone- Ruth- is very shy. On the other hand, her next daughter is the life of the party.  And for this birth, Anne needed all of her people there!  She had plenty of women around her, as well as her husband, and her kids were in the other room “eatin’ triscuits”.
• Her midwife was about 10 minutes out, and her water had yet to break. With the next contraction, she felt a big, warm gush.  This contraction was particularly difficult. She assumed her water had broken, but when she opened her eyes, she saw that everyone around her looked concerned.  She looked down and realized that this was not water, but blood.
• One of her friends, who is a lay midwife, was with her and supporting her. She prayed over Anne, then looked at her and said, “You need to push the baby out.”
• At that time, Anne’s midwife arrived. She grabbed a Doppler and checked baby’s heartrate, which was good, so everyone felt reassured.  However, she was still bleeding copiously, so there was great concern.  Her midwife checked her and told her that she had a cervical lip, which she was going to hold while Anne pushed through the next contraction.  Her midwife kept saying, “You have to push harder.  You have to push harder.”
• Anne remembers thinking, “They can’t help her if I can’t get her out.” So she pushed with what she felt was her last bit of life force (she was weakening with each contraction, as she was losing so much blood) and her baby came out screaming.
• Once her baby arrived, Anne’s perception of what happened vs. the reality of what happened were very different. She says she wouldn’t have believed it had it not been video taped. 
• Anne is in a state of delirium at this point, but suddenly something amazing occurs. Her two-year-old daughter Ruth, who is incredibly intuitive,   comes up beside her mother’s face and touches her. 
• Her midwife later diagnosed that Anne had had a marginal placenta previa, which is what caused the tremendous bleeding. A piece of Anne’s placenta actually came out before her baby, but it broke off on her cervix.  This was a serious complication. 
• Between the next two babies, Anne gets divorced and remarried. She has been traveling all over the country and the world training women as doulas.  To her surprise, she finds herself pregnant!  At 40 years old, Anne is considered “advanced maternal age.” 
• Once again, Anne is experiencing lots of prodromal labor. All of her babies had been born in the evening up until this point, so when she would feel signs of labor in the morning, she typically ignored them.  One morning, she was having a consistent feeling of, “Oh, if I could just go poop, I’d feel better…” This turned into her walking around, getting in different positions, and continuously thinking, “If I could just do this (insert activity), I would feel better.” 
• Anne had her husband fill the tub with water. She sat on the toilet while she waited, and had several very intense, uncomfortable contractions there.  She gets into the tub and tells her husband that he should call the midwife.  In the meantime, she’s thinking, “Oh, if I just get my tummy in the water, I’ll feel better….”
• Anne gets on her hands and knees, and the next contraction was more manageable. The next contraction happens, and Anne does “the big Moo”.  Her midwife was on the phone at this point, hears Anne and heads for the door.  Apparently she had been nursing her toddler—she threw her toddler at her husband, ran out the door without a shirt on, and drove straight to Anne.  This was the first birth her midwife ever missed!
• With the next contraction, Anne’s baby’s head was born. She was still en caul (her water had not broken)
• “For good or bad, I think we define ourselves as women by our birth experiences- and that’s why when you have a bad birth experience you’re more likely to suffer from postpartum depression or anxiety.”
• “Birth works all on its own- We just interfere with it so much.”
• Anne on MaternityWise: “One of my favorite things to do is help women birth their business.”