Birth Kweens

Nicole Morales, LM, CPM is a home birth midwife, Approved Spinning Babies Trainer, and Certified Birthing From Within Mentor from San Diego, CA. You may remember her from her episode 72 on breech birth. We invited her back to the show to talk with us about the childbirth prep method Birthing From Within. We hope you enjoy! Also, if you're located in San Diego and you're looking for a local BFW mentor, check out http://birthingfromwithinsandiego.com.

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If you liked this episode of the Birth Kweens Podcast, tell your friends! And go to iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, and Spotify to rate/review/subscribe to the show. For more from us, visit www.BirthKweens.com to sign up for our newsletter. Follow us on Instagram @BirthKweens, join our Facebook group the Birth Kweens Podcast Community, and email us at [email protected] with your questions, suggestions and feedback.

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Andrea Pond is the guest of this episode and she's here to talk about the births of her three kids, Watson, Maggie, and Nora. With her son Watson she'd planned to give birth at an out-of-hospital birth center but after going 24 hours with her water broken and no contractions, she transferred to a hospital where she eventually gave birth via cesarean. She shares about how she processed that experience and what she did to prepare for the birth of her second child, Maggie, which was an unmedicated VBAC in a birth center. For her third birth, Andrea planned another unmedicated VBAC, but this time she delivered at home with Karly as her midwife. It was a longer and more challenging labor than her last one and the birth and postpartum involved some difficult and scary moments. Andrea shares very candidly about all of it and includes a fun surprise at the end of the episode!

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If you liked this episode of the Birth Kweens Podcast, tell your friends! And go to iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, and Spotify to rate/review/subscribe to the show. For more from us, visit www.BirthKweens.com to sign up for our newsletter. Follow us on Instagram @BirthKweens, join our Facebook group the Birth Kweens Podcast Community, and email us at [email protected] with your questions, suggestions and feedback. Also, be sure to click here so that you can support the show while doing your regular Amazon shopping!

In this episode we're talking with Dr. Chris Norton, DC and Dr. Rafael Ramon, DC about chiropractic care for infants and children. Chris and Rafael are San Diego-based chiropractors and have been serving families via their practice, Acru Health, for over 5 years. They also have a podcast called Healthy Habits San Diego where they partner with local experts to empower and equip people to make healthier habits, which leads to healthier lifestyles. Here's what you'll hear about in this episode:

• How to identify whether a chiropractor has adequate training and experience working with infants and kids
• The importance of having a nervous system that functions optimally and how chiropractic adjustments aim to accomplish that
• The benefits and risks of chiropractic care for infants and kids
• A discussion about the safety of chiropractic for kids
• Click here to see the survey study about the benefits of chiropractic for infants
• Common conditions/health challenges in babies and kids that can be treated with chiropractic
• Click here to see the study about how birth impacts newborns' nervous systems
• The best time to start a child in chiropractic care
• What the treatment plans and adjustments actually look like in their practice
• Well Adjusted Babies by Dr. Jennifer Barham-Floreani
• National Wellness Foundation

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If you liked this episode of the Birth Kweens Podcast, tell your friends! And go to iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, and Spotify to rate/review/subscribe to the show. For more from us, visit www.BirthKweens.com to sign up for our newsletter. Follow us on Instagram @BirthKweens, join our Facebook group the Birth Kweens Podcast Community, and email us at [email protected] with your questions, suggestions and feedback. Also, be sure to click here so that you can support the show while doing your regular Amazon shopping!

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In this episode we're exploring the topic of informed consent in birth with midwife Ilana Stanger-Ross. Ilana is a Registered Midwife based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and the author of "A is for Advice (The Reassuring Kind): Wisdom for Pregnancy" (William Morrow, 2019). Originally from Brooklyn, she received a BA at Barnard College; an MA in Fiction at Temple University, where she held their University Fellowship; and a Bachelors in Midwifery from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Here's an overview of what's included in this episode:

• Ilana's background and how she transitioned from being a writer in the US to a midwife in Canada
• What informed consent/choice means and how Ilana speaks about this aspect of care with her midwifery clients
• How being empowered and supported to make decisions for yourself and your baby throughout pregnancy often results in feeling more confident in yourself once your baby has arrived
• Ensuring that clients have informed consent even when they're overwhelmed or experiencing decision fatigue
• The nuances of practicing informed consent throughout labor and birth when most people aren't willing or able to have long conversations
• Some tips for birth workers and birthing people to ensure that informed consent/choice is being practiced

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If you liked this episode of the Birth Kweens Podcast, tell your friends! And go to iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, and Spotify to rate/review/subscribe to the show. For more from us, visit www.BirthKweens.com to sign up for our newsletter. Follow us on Instagram @BirthKweens, join our Facebook group the Birth Kweens Podcast Community, and email us at [email protected] with your questions, suggestions and feedback. Also, be sure to click here so that you can support the show while doing your regular Amazon shopping!

SUPPORT OUR SPONSOR!

Sign up for a subscription with Ritual Vitamins today! Get your daily multivitamin or prenatal delivered right to your door by visiting Ritual.com/kweens. Use the promo code KWEENS at checkout for 10% off during your first 3 months!

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In this episode we're talking about the amazing PLACENTA! Here's an overview of what we cover, including the various resources we refer to:

• The general structure and function of the placenta
• Great article with in-depth explanation of the structure of placenta, including how/when it develops, blood flow patterns, etc.
• When in pregnancy that the placenta develops
• Typical size and various shapes of placentas
• Info about the umbilical cord – size, length, insertion into the placenta, abnormalities, etc.
• Info about circumvallate placentas
• Info about circummarginate placentas
• A good visual aid to see the difference between normal, circumvallate, and circummarginate placentas
• Where the placenta can implant in to the uterus
• Article from Spinning Babies about how an anterior placenta may impact fetal position
• Delivery of the placenta – when, how, what it usually feels like, and what to do if there are issues with this part of the birth
• Article about the different approaches to managing the third stage of labor (aka the delivery of the placenta)
• Issues with the placenta, including placenta previa, placental abruption, retained placenta, and abnormalities of implantation (i.e. accreta, increta, percreta)
• Signs of placental aging and what you can do to keep yours healthy
• Article on placenta encapsulation from Evidence Based Birth

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If you liked this episode of the Birth Kweens Podcast, tell your friends! And go to iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, and Spotify to rate/review/subscribe to the show. For more from us, visit www.BirthKweens.com to sign up for our newsletter. Follow us on Instagram @BirthKweens, join our Facebook group the Birth Kweens Podcast Community, and email us at [email protected] with your questions, suggestions and feedback. Also, be sure to click here so that you can support the show while doing your regular Amazon shopping!

Jess DeMaster is a wife and mother of two from San Diego, CA. She's had two homebirths (both with our very own kween Karly!) and she came on the show to share about her experiences. On paper, both of her births were very similar – relatively straightforward home births – but her personal experience was quite different each time. Her first birth challenged her in ways she couldn't have imagined, including a very prolonged pushing phase (7 hours!) and an extremely challenging postpartum period. Given her first experience, she prepared carefully for her second baby, focusing specifically on her bulletproof plan for a healing and restful postpartum period. We hope you enjoy Jess' stories!

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If you liked this episode of the Birth Kweens Podcast, tell your friends! And go to iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, and Spotify to rate/review/subscribe to the show. For more from us, visit www.BirthKweens.com to sign up for our newsletter. Follow us on Instagram @BirthKweens, join our Facebook group the Birth Kweens Podcast Community, and email us at [email protected] with your questions, suggestions and feedback. Also, be sure to click here so that you can support the show while doing your regular Amazon shopping!

**CORRECTION** We shared some misinformation about Judaism in this episode and one of our listeners, Daci Goldin, was kind enough to point it out. (Thanks, kween!) She sent us an excellent write up explaining why the info we shared misrepresented the Jewish faith (specifically Orthodox Judaism) and what they actually believe and practice in regards to menstruation/bleeding. You can find her full write up linked at the top of the page for episode 93 on our website.

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In this episode, we're joined by one of our favorite past guests, Monica Toombs (see ep 14 and ep 15 to listen to her birth stories and ep 74 to hear her talk about ancient birth rituals)! She put her research skills to use for us once again and put together a great episode about how periods have been managed through the ages. We cover blood week trends from ancient times through modern day, including factoids about when period products became commercially available and what the cultural/societal beliefs around menstruation were in different eras. For those who are interested, here's the list of sources Monica used to put together this episode:

• https://www.knixteen.com/blogs/the-rag/the-history-of-periods
• https://helloclue.com/articles/culture/what-was-it-like-to-get-your-period-in-ancient-greece
• https://mistakinghistories.com/2017/04/15/menotoxin-when-menstruation-can-kill/
• https://helloclue.com/articles/culture/how-did-menstruation-become-taboo
• https://allthatsinteresting.com/menstruation-history
• https://daily.jstor.org/the-secret-history-of-menstruation/
• https://www.medicaldaily.com/menstrual-period-time-month-history-387252
• https://www.totm.com/history-menstruation-5-interesting-facts/
• https://www.littlethings.com/menstruation-throughout-history/
• https://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/2015/02/10/the-lady-in-red-medieval-menstruation/
• https://www.org/the-history-of-the-sanitary-pad/
• https://www.bustle.com/articles/114490-the-average-age-women-got-their-first-period-throughout-history
• http://www.mum.org/index.html
• https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=http://www.medievalists.net/2017/05/look-make-menstruation-fertility-italian-renaissance-art/&httpsredir=1&article=1045&context=castheses
• https://youtu.be/x5ErtnIcrsw?list=PL_1K-ZpVNrGuxqOehni17cd0t4YacnqQj
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67UkBcseQlA&feature=youtu.be&list=PL_1K-ZpVNrGuxqOehni17cd0t4YacnqQj

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If you liked this episode of the Birth Kweens Podcast, tell your friends! And go to iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, and Spotify to rate/review/subscribe to the show. For more from us, visit www.BirthKweens.com to sign up for our newsletter. Follow us on Instagram @BirthKweens, join our Facebook group the Birth Kweens Podcast Community, and email us at [email protected] with your questions, suggestions and feedback. Also, be sure to click here so that you can support the show while doing your regular Amazon shopping!

Robin Kaplan, M.Ed., IBCLC is a lactation consultant in San Diego, CA. She started the San Diego Breastfeeding Center in 2009 and is the author of a new book, Latch: A Handbook for Breastfeeding with Confidence at Every Stage. She recently launched an online course Breastfeeding for the Working Family (use code BIRTHKWEENS15 for $15 off). Here's an overview of what's covered in this episode:

• Some common mental, emotional, and logistical concerns of breastfeeding parents regarding going back to work
• How/when to prepare for going back to work while breastfeeding. (Click here to get Robin's guide for going back to work)
• Why it's important to make friends with your breast pump and considerations when getting yourself on a pumping schedule
• Introducing your baby to a bottle, and what to do if they're having trouble taking one
• Video about baby led bottle feeding
• Some info about the legal protections for breastfeeding/pumping in America, including the websites Robin mentions, Break Time for Nursing Mothers and Supporting Nursing Moms at Work
• Click here to listen to Robin's first interview with us about how to set yourself up for success with breastfeeding
• Click here to listen to Robin's second interview about feeding a baby with tongue/lip ties
• Click here to buy Robin's book!
• Click here to sign up for Robin's new online course, Breastfeeding for the Working Family and use the code BIRTHKWEENS15 at checkout for $15 off.

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If you liked this episode of the Birth Kweens Podcast, tell your friends! And go to iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, and Spotify to rate/review/subscribe to the show. For more from us, visit www.BirthKweens.com to sign up for our newsletter. Follow us on Instagram @BirthKweens, join our Facebook group the Birth Kweens Podcast Community, and email us at [email protected] with your questions, suggestions and feedback. Also, be sure to click here so that you can support the show while doing your regular Amazon shopping!

**TRIGGER WARNING: sexual abuse**

Karli Haviland is a doula, wife, and mom from Arizona. She was generous enough to come on the show and share about how being a survivor of sexual abuse impacted her experiences giving birth. Karli opens up about how her first birth was unexpectedly triggering for her, the work she did after that experience to begin the healing process, and how she and her birth team approached her second labor to avoid re-traumatization. It's an important and empowering story and we're so grateful that Karli was willing to share it with us!

Here's a few resources Karli mentioned in her interview:

• Melissa Dohse of Cultivate Counseling - https://www.cultivatecounselingflagstaff.com/when-survivors-give-brith
• Info about the workshop When Survivors Give Birth -http://whensurvivorsgivebirth.net
• You can view the birth plan that Karli put together with the help of her therapist on our website. (*please note that this is Karli's personal plan and not a list of suggestions/preferences for ALL survivors)

SUPPORT OUR SPONSOR!

Sign up for a subscription with Ritual Vitamins today! Get your daily multivitamin or prenatal delivered right to your door by visiting Ritual.com/kweens. Use the code KWEENS for 10% off during your first 3 months!

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If you liked this episode of the Birth Kweens Podcast, tell your friends! And go to iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, and Spotify to rate/review/subscribe to the show. For more from us, visit www.BirthKweens.com to sign up for our newsletter. Follow us on Instagram @BirthKweens, join our Facebook group the Birth Kweens Podcast Community, and email us at [email protected] with your questions, suggestions and feedback. Also, be sure to click here so that you can support the show while doing your regular Amazon shopping!