Happy Homebirth

What happens when you live and breathe homebirth, but you can't quite visualize how you want your birth to unfold.

 

Today I (Katelyn) am sitting down with my husband Thomas to share the birth story of our precious son, Thomas Jr.  

 

For our previous birth stories:

 

 

This Week's Sponsors:
Araza Beauty: Code HOMEBIRTH for 15% off

 

How do we respond to the unexpected? We know we can't control all of the circumstances of life, but what do we do when we're faced with new choices that must be made?

 

This week, we're speaking to my friend and Homebirth Collective student, Leigh Anne. Leigh Anne will be sharing about her two birth experiences and how she and her husband Colton were able to navigate "game time" decision-making in a way that led to a sense of pride and accomplishment.

 

Before we jump in, I want to encourage you to consider joining The Homebirth Collective, which is currently open for self-study. Throughout her story you'll hear the lessons that Leigh Anne learned inside of the program, and I am so grateful to hear how beautifully she was able to apply what she learned to her experience and her perspective of that experience, even now. If you want learn how to prepare for your homebirth, yes, but you also want to take seriously this transition into or back into motherhood as the sacred right of passage that it was always meant to be, join me inside today. Click the link in the show notes, and don't forget to use the code PODCAST for 10% off at checkout for being such a dedicated supporter of the show!

 

 

This Week's Sponsors:
Araza Beauty: Code HOMEBIRTH for 15% off

 

This week, we're speaking to Esmeralda, a mother to 3 children, doula and homebirth shop owner. We'll hear how Esmeralda went from a confined hospital experience to absolute freedom in her homebirths.

 

If you're looking to prepare for your homebirth and motherhood, and you find yourself aligning with the information that I share, I would love to have you inside of one of my programs: Happy Homebirth Academy or The Homebirth Collective. Whether you're simply looking for straight-forward but REAL childbirth education for homebirthers inside of HHA, or you're ready to deeply prepare for not only your homebirth, but for motherhood as a whole inside of The Collective, I am so excited to support you. Click the link in the show notes to join today, and use the code PODCAST for 10% off at checkout.

 

 

 

Goodness, as I reflect on Esmeralda's story, one major, beautiful point comes to my mind. Instinct requires us to go internally. We've got to stop listening to the outside noise and focus on that depthy, God-given inner-knowing that we all hold as Primal Mothers. When Esmeralda did this for her third birth, it truly shifted everything. She found complete freedom in her birth, and she knew exactly what she was capable of as a mother-- that she had everything she needed inside herself all along.

 

This Week's Sponsors:
Araza Beauty: Code HOMEBIRTH for 15% off

The wait is almost over, are you ready for the Fall2023 season of Happy Homebirth?

Join me from your favorite podcast platform on September4 for our first brand new episode and mark your calendars for September 18, when my husband and I will be sitting down to tell all about our most recent birth experience.

 It is completely unlike our previous experiences, and you don't want to miss it.

 

This week, we're speaking with the incredible Dr. Stu Fischbein, a homebirth-attending Obstetrician, founder of Reteach Breech, and one of the two lovely co-hosts from the ever-inspiring podcast Birthing Instincts.

 

In this conversational episode, Dr. Stu, as usual, holds nothing back and shares his opinions regarding the current state of the medical oligarchy and how the last two years of pandemic chaos have exposed the realities that have existed for a long time, how this encroaches on midwives, mothers and people as a whole... and we discuss the responsibility that each one of us can choose to take in regards to our own health.

 

He shares the massive shifts in perspective that he's had over his career in terms of how maternity care should be managed, or better yet left alone, and he unabashedly shares his thoughts on the Covid, the vaccine and more. 

 

 

Resources

 

Links:

Birthing Instincts

Atlas Shrugged

Dissolving Illusions

Casa Blanca

The Business of Birth Control

The Highwire

The wait is almost over, are you ready for the Fall2023 season of Happy Homebirth?

Join me from your favorite podcast platform on September4 for our first brand new episode and mark your calendars for September 18, when my husband and I will be sitting down to tell all about our most recent birth experience.

 It is completely unlike our previous experiences, and you don't want to miss it.

 

 

 

 

 

Rachael Jean is a midwife practicing in Maine

 

She’s been working in ceremonial work, and feels that midwifery is her mission.

 

Rites of passage: a normal social and cultural event that brings societies together:  It brings honor and celebration.

 

birth, puberty, marriage, eldership, death

 

There is not a very strong entrance into adulthood in our current society

 

How do we begin to prepare ourselves for this rite of passage?

 

-It’s about healing: Birth was robbed from women with “twilight sleep” and midwives having to go underground

 

-Rachael’s main goal is to go back through childhood and heal generational traumas: relationship to mother, to father, to child, and wounding patterns related to the elements

 

-Rachael strongly feels that babies are master teachers— they come down and know exactly what lessons you need to learn

 

 

The goal is to gain awareness and presence so that we can create space to make choices.

 

Women deserve to love their birth story, no matter what. 

 

It’s about honoring the mother, the father and the child.  In presence, we get a chance to bring honor back to daily life.

 

 

Rachael’s recommendation: Unpack the baggage while you’re pregnant!

 

Let’s say you’re a birth expert- you’ve been working with pregnant mothers for years, and you’re finally having the homebirth of your dreams.  Is firm education enough, or will there possibly be unexpected tests in the emotional and mental aspects of birth?

This week we’re speaking with the marvelous Dr. Courtney Kahla.  Dr. Courtney is a nervous system centered chiropractor specializing in families. She is the owner of Our Well House: a multidisciplinary wellness center in Dallas, TX. Her mission is to encourage others to experience freedom in their physical, mental, and spiritual health. She is passionate about empowering others to take control of their health by living a lifestyle that honors their God-given innate ability to heal.

 

We’re going to spend part of this episode discussing chiropractic care, and then the rest diving deep into Dr. Courtney’s own homebirth journey.  And wow, you’re in for so much wisdom sprinkled throughout her story.

 

One theme we discuss in Dr. Kahla’s story is the need for emotional and mental preparation when it comes to homebirth, beyond the basics of childbirth education.  With that in mind, I want to invite you to join me as you prepare for your own empowering homebirth experience.  Let’s use the unbelievably transformative time of pregnancy as a catalyst into the most incredible motherhood journey.  How?  Join me inside of Happy Homebirth Academy, where preparing for your homebirth is both thorough and joyful.  Learn to comfortably step into your role as the responsible, intuitive mother that you are, and hone those lifelong skills while we educate you on all aspects of midwifery care, physiological birth, and preparing your heart and home.  We cover the physical, yes, but we also go deep into the importance of emotional and mental preparation, all while inviting your spouse to be deeply involved and connected from pregnancy, through labor and on into the blissful postpartum period.  You ready to transform?  Head to myhappyhomebirth.com/hha to get started today.

 

As always, please remember that the opinions of my guest may not necessarily reflect my own and vice versa, and this show is not medical advice, it’s an educational tool, so continue to take empowered responsibility for yourself and your family.

 

Episode: Communicating With Your Birth Team About Expectations and Desires

Episode: When Your Midwife Choices are Limited

 

This week we’re speaking with an incredible woman, Ginny Yurtich, founder of 1000 hours outsideJih, and mother of 5 children with very different birth stories.  In her first birth, Ginny’s pre-eclampsia “disqualified” her from her birth center experience, and we’ll see just how she handled this in subsequent births. 

 

 

 

Follow Ginny: @1000hoursoutside

Ginny's website: www.1000hoursoutside.com

What surprised you most about your homebirth?  Was it… the way you vocalized during your surges?  Or maybe it was how incredibly accomplished you felt afterward?  Or… was it the number of babies that you gave birth to?

 

This week we’re speaking to Elizabeth Parsons, who really brought the surprise factor to her fourth birth and first homebirth. 

 

Episode Roundup:

Can you imagine that experience?  The shock of thinking you’re pushing out a placenta, but then being handed a second baby?  Absolutely incredible.  As we head into this week’s episode roundup, I wanted to focus on a few things that came up.

 

Today's guest: Dr Rachel Reed is a midwife, academic, author, and international speaker who focuses on childbirth physiology, midwifery practice, and women's rights (and rites). She has provided midwifery care for many women and has attended births in a wide range of settings and circumstances. Rachel is the author of the award-winning blog MidwifeThinking and the co-host of The Midwives' Cauldron podcast. She has published widely in journals and magazines, and her first book Why Induction Matters is a popular resource for women and care providers. Her most recent book Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage: weaving ancient wisdom with modern knowledge will be published early 2021. Further information about Rachel and her work is available at www.rachel-reed.website. and….she’s just delightful. 

 

I find myself getting sucked into her blog archives for hours at a time, and for today’s episode I decided to ask her about several topics that she covers quite wonderfully there.  I know you’re going to deeply enjoy this episode.  With that, let’s jump in! 

 

 

Most women having homebirth in Australia have “big” babies, and they’re not scary. 

In hospital, however, it can be a different story.  If a doctor diagnoses a mother with a “big baby” on ultrasound, it can begin to cause stress and fear for her.

Dr. Reed mentions that the research does not separate healthy, normal big babies from those whose mothers have gestational diabetes.  These babies tend to have bigger shoulders and can have more difficulty coming out (though most of them come out just fine, too).

“Big babies don’t scare me, but what people do about big babies does scare me.”

Women who are told they have a big baby: C sections, tearing, poorer outcomes are more likely— so it’s the outside causing the problem.

A care provider’s fear of the big baby can cause many of the interventions

 

Gestational Diabetes as a label— fairly nonsensical

If there are abnormally high blood glucose levels circulating, that does impact the baby and potentially the birth.  However, the blood glucose levels being used are not evidence-based

In Australia, around 17% of women are now labeled as a gestational diabetic.

When Dr. Reed was training, we only tested those who had risk factors.

The issues with challenge tests: it’s an abnormal test— many pregnant women are not drinking sugary drinks, so the tests results can be very off.

 

Is this as dangerous as the medical community seems to happen?

Research related to this is mixed with those who are having inductions and those who are not— when we remove those who are having inductions, we see the already small number of issues become all the smaller.

Statistically a <1% chance of uterine rupture, compared to all of the issues that may occur during a Cesarean (there is a higher chance of losing the uterus due to hemorrhage during c-section than having a uterine rupture).

Inside the hospital, there’s been higher support for VBACs… if it’s done the right way: prepared for surgery, continuous monitoring, etc.

Many women are choosing to have home births because they’re having VBACs to avoid all of the issues that can occur in the hospital

 

The woman is the decision-maker.  It’s her body, her baby, her experience.  Dr. Reed discusses how the care provider’s role is to support the woman in whatever decisions she is making.

 

It’s so important to make sure that the midwife and client are on the same page at the very beginning of the relationship. 

 

“This is who I am, this is what I want, this is what I expect of you” from both client and midwife.

 

 

Dr. Reed considers fear to be an important aspect regarding birth, as ancestrally we always would have had some amount of respect/fear for birth.

 

 

Separation Phase (early labor)— There’s anxiety and stress because you’re feeling the contractions begin.  The neocortex needs to be functioning at that time to prepare your surroundings.

 

Liminal Phase (active labor)— High endorphins, you look stoned— a woman should not be frightened significantly during this phase

 

Emergence Phase (birthing baby)— Requires neocortex function again, as you need to be able to push out your baby and then care it. 

 

How does this happen? (transition)  The body sends a huge serge of adrenaline— many people experience this as fear.  “I can’t do it” “help me” “I’ve had enough”

 

 

Preparation phase— all about the woman building self-trust.  Instead of trying to get rid of fear, we should focus on nurturing self-trust.  What do YOU need in order to trust that you can do this?

 

 

It’s been a very long labor, post dates!

 

Herstory

Legacy

Blood Mysteries

Childbirth as a Rite of Passage

Preparation (physiology, rites of passage, rites of protection,

Separation

Liminality

Emergence

Integration

Medical Birth Rites

 

 

 

I really want to end today’s episode focusing on the first two words in the title of Dr. Reed’s upcoming book: Reclaiming Birth.  What does that mean to you, to reclaim birth?  The honest truth is that this momentous event, this life-altering rite of passage has indeed been stolen from mothers.  Generations of women didn’t even realize this, and many in my own generation still do not see that their power to be decision-makers in their own birthing experiences has been removed.  But… now, there’s such easier access to information.  Now we can look back, see the atrocities of the medical system in regards to birth, and CHOOSE something different.  We can choose to be in charge of our care, in charge of our birthing experience, in charge of our motherhood.  I want to thank Dr. Reed for adding to the evidence with her continued work. 

 

 

 

Christine and Andrew started their pregnancy journey traditionally with OB care.  However, as the pregnancy progressed, they began feeling more and more frustrated about the fact that appointments were fast and shallow.  There was not in-depth preparation for childbirth, and they felt there must be something missing.

The couple decided to begin their own research, which led them to switch to midwifery care and homebirth.

Their commitment to giving birth at home grew as they became closer with their midwife, and as she answered their questions and prepared them deeply on what to expect during the entire process.  Both Christine and Andrew recognized the added layers of safety in their homebirth experience because they did know their midwife so well.

Whenever there were questions about what happens if something goes wrong, their midwife always had a quality answer on what to expect and the protocol.

Christine expected to go beyond 40 weeks, for at 38 weeks she and Andrew decided to go camping.  On the trip, her water began leaking.  They went home the next morning and prepared for the onset of labor.

Throughout the process of labor, Christine and Andrew worked together.  He kept up with what she needed and encouraged her through contractions— reminding her to breathe and relax.  This was incredibly helpful during Christine’s long and arduous pushing phase.

Andrew recalled how amazing it was that the midwife was able to recognize when to step in and provide feedback and when to stay back and remain an observer.

He truly understood that it was his duty to be Christine’s support person.

After baby was born, he needed resuscitative breaths.  Christine and Andrew were calm and confident during this experience.

Once he was breathing and stable, the midwives began tended to Christine, as she was bleeding a good bit.

After a while, the midwives had to perform an internal examination of the uterus to see what was causing the bleeding.

Though uncomfortable, Christine and Andrew both felt completely calm during what could have otherwise been a traumatic experience, as the felt heard, understood, and like the most important people on the birth team.

 

 

I am so appreciative of this episode and the perspective it brings.  It’s so important to focus on mothers and their experience of birth, yes, but what a disservice we are doing if we’re not showing up for dads and helping them see how they fit into the equation.  Christine and Andrew worked together so beautifully before, during and after their birthing experience, and Andrew’s understanding of his responsibilities as the birth partner certainly added massive value to their homebirth.  I hope this episode acts as inspiration and as a roadmap for other fathers who are looking for ways to be involved in the birthing experience.  You’re part of this team, and you’re incredibly important.