BIRTH

What is it like to receive a positive Trisomy 21 diagnosis during early pregnancy and then prepare to give birth to and become a mother to a child with Down syndrome? Today's guest, the talented film director and writer, Amber McGinnis, opens up and gifts us with a very detailed and vulnerable account of her experience with this reality. She shares everything that she wishes she had known before and during her journey, how she got through a completely unmedicated hospital birth, and she also talks about the unique challenges of breastfeeding a baby with DS. In this episode we also explore how to offer better support to our own loved ones if they receive a surprising genetic test result and how all of us would benefit from approaching the differently abled community with love and curiosity instead of fear and ignorance.

This Episode is the Season 2 Finale!

Check out all the links below to learn more about guest Amber McGinnis and find more resources discussed in today's show.

LINKS:

Amber's WEBSITE

Watch the film Amber directed while she was pregnant: International Falls

"The Adventure" - A Short Film about Amber's daughter

Bottles that worked well for Isla: Advent Bottles

The band that Amber listened to during her unmedicated labor: The Gloaming

Additional Resources:

National Down Syndrome Society

Find Support in Your Area with This List of Organizations by State

Down Syndrome Misconceptions vs. Reality

Find Out If Your Hospital Has A Good Rating and low C-Section and Episiotomy Rate at LeapfrogGroup.org

Visit www.birthshow.com for some great free resources that will help you on your own journey into motherhood.

Follow the Birth Podcast on Instagram:

@birthshow

Follow Christy on Instagram:

@christywill

If you find yourself struggling emotionally and mentally after having a baby, you are not alone. Please visit www.postpartum.net for help. There is someone waiting to talk you through this tough moment. Don't wait, help is only a few clicks away.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/birth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Taking care of a brand new tiny little human brings up a lot of questions and surprises. In this special mini-episode Christy shares surprising and fun facts about newborn babies that no one tells you before you give birth!

PLUS Christy also reveals her most favorite newborn life hacks you should know about.

LINKS:

Newborn Educational Resources

GAS DROPS!

Newborn Nail Care Supplies:

Emory Boards to File Their Tiny Nails

and

Awesome Baby Nail Scissors!

Cradle Cap Cure Supplies:

A Gentle Oil

and

A Soft Scalp Brush or a Soft Toothbrush

The BEST White Noise Machine

Find Out If Your Hospital Has A Good Rating and low C-Section and Episiotomy Rate at LeapfrogGroup.org

Visit www.birthshow.com for some great free resources that will help you on your own journey into motherhood.

Follow the Birth Podcast on Instagram:

@birthshow

Follow Christy on Instagram:

@christywill

If you find yourself struggling emotionally and mentally after having a baby, you are not alone. Please visit www.postpartum.net for help. There is someone waiting to talk you through this tough moment. Don't wait, help is only a few clicks away.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/birth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest Alexis Edwards, LCSW & CD, shares her third and final birth story. We talk about what she learned during her first two birth experiences and how she worked to create a safer birthing environment for herself the third time around. What is it like to prepare for a home birth after having two babies in a hospital? How did she navigate the challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic brought to the mix during her prenatal care, birth and postpartum experience? What is it like to have an overnight postpartum doula and what do they do for you? She is answering all of those question, dishing out the full details of her final birth story and uplifting us all with some sage words of advice as well.

PLUS: Have you heard of Padsicles? In Today's Quick Tip with Christy, find out what they are and how to make them before your due date so you're guaranteed some soothing relief for your super sore lady parts in those early days postpartum. This is a great life hack you don't want to miss out on knowing about!

About Today's Guest: Alexis is working to create safer spaces for birthing parents everywhere by helping survivors of sexual trauma become more aware of the special emotional and mental challenges they may encounter by birthing a baby and she’s educating those survivors on how to advocate for a safe environment to birth in. She is also working to train perinatal professionals themselves in understanding how they can better serve trauma survivor clients throughout pregnancy, birth and postpartum. 

This is PART TWO of a TWO-PART Episode Series with Alexis.

Thank you for rating, reviewing and subscribing to the show!

GUEST LINKS:

Alexis Edwards' WEBSITE: Birth360.net

Follow Alexis on INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK

Trauma-Informed Care for Perinatal Professionals Training

OTHER LINKS:

Birthing From Within Class Information

What is PCOS?

Items you need to make "Padsicles:"

Pads, make sure they are large extra long overnight ones. I love these organic ones but these are great too!

Witch Hazel (make sure it's alcohol free)

Pure Aloe Vera Gel

Lavender Oil (optional, but very nice to add)

Aluminum Foil

Large Freezer Bags

DON'T FORGET to add a Frida Peri Bottle and Dermoplast to your postpartum care kit. These are life savers to have on hand for anyone recovering from a vaginal birth.

Visit BirthShow.com for a video on how to make padsicles and tons of other great tips and resources.

Follow Birth on Instagram:

@birthshow

Follow Christy on Instagram:

@christywill

If you find yourself struggling emotionally and mentally after having a baby, you are not alone. Please visit www.postpartum.net for help. There is someone waiting to talk you through this tough moment. Don't wait, help is only a few clicks away.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/birth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get ready for TWO very vulnerable birth stories today! Guest Alexis Edwards is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Certified Doula who is an expert in helping birthing parents with a history of trauma have happy and empowered birth experiences. Alexis is working to create safer spaces for birthing parents everywhere by helping survivors of sexual trauma become more aware of the special emotional and mental challenges they may encounter by birthing a baby and she’s educating those survivors on how to advocate for a safe environment to birth in. She is also working to train perinatal professionals themselves in understanding how they can better serve trauma survivor clients throughout pregnancy, birth and postpartum. 

This is PART ONE of a TWO-PART Episode Series with Alexis. Subscribe and tune in again next week for PART TWO of our discussion.

Alexis Edwards' WEBSITE: Birth360.net

Follow Alexis on INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK

Trauma-Informed Care for Perinatal Professionals Training

TRAUMA TALK

Other Links:

The Business of Being Born Movie

Pregnancy Tests Throughout History

Visit www.birthshow.com for some great free resources that will help you on your own journey into motherhood.

Follow the Birth Podcast on Instagram:

@birthshow

Follow Christy on Instagram:

@christywill

If you find yourself struggling emotionally and mentally after having a baby, you are not alone. Please visit www.postpartum.net for help. There is someone waiting to talk you through this tough moment. Don't wait, help is only a few clicks away.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/birth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's birth story comes from the very funny actress and improv performer Marie Lively! She not only shares about her pregnancy, birth and postpartum experience, she also shares what it was like to perform on stage while pregnant, how she navigated building a support pod in the early days of caring for a newborn during a pandemic and her favorite books that helped her baby learn to sleep (her baby is 5 months old and sleeping from 6pm to 6am, can you believe it?). We also laugh about newborn poop colors and talk about what's normal, share tips on how to relieve engorgement in your breasts, get real about postpartum sex, birth control methods and much more!

LINKS:

The Happy Sleeper Book

Natural Cycles App

Buy Nothing Groups

Haakaa Pump

Bringing Up Bébé Book

Visit www.birthshow.com to see a video about how to use the Haakaa Pump (under the breastfeeding resources section) and for some other great free resources that will help you on your own journey into motherhood.

Follow the Birth Podcast on Instagram:

@birthshow

Follow Christy on Instagram:

@christywill

If you find yourself struggling emotionally and mentally after having a baby, you are not alone. Please visit www.postpartum.net for help. There is someone waiting to talk you through this tough moment. Don't wait, help is only a few clicks away.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/birth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ready for a soothing and eye-opening therapy session? Today's guest is therapist and parental mental health expert Ashley Hanna-Morgan. She tells us her TWO BIRTH STORIES (one with an epidural and one without any pain meds!). And she also shares her own experience with miscarriage, what she learned as a result of her own perinatal mental health struggles and how it changed the trajectory of her career and life.

In this episode Ashley dishes out some truly encouraging and helpful words of advice for all new parents everywhere.

Some topics we discuss include:

Finding a "mom-tribe" and better yet creating a wonderful support group. How to understand and honor ALL of your feelings, no matter what they are. What it's like to navigate ambivalent feelings and intrusive thoughts. Why people tend to grieve privately when they experience miscarriage and loss. Why being a "perfect mother" is a myth. The realities of parenting a toddler and a newborn at the same time. Some reasons your sex drive might take a dive in the postpartum period and why every new mom needs an artistic outlet in their postpartum journey. PLUS in this episode a "Fun Fact" allllll about what you need to know about how Pitocin works and how it's different from Oxytocin.

Ashley Hanna-Morgan's Website:

http://ashleyhannamorgan.com

Ashley's Books:

The Afterglow Support Group Curriculum

I Gave Birth to My Heart: A Collection of Poems about Motherhood, Reimagined

Follow Ashley on Instagram

Resources for Topics Discussed in Today's Episode:

Information about Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex  (D-MER): https://d-mer.org

Article about How Pitocin is Different from Oxytocin, it's risk factors and why Pitocin might be medically necessary.

Postpartum Support International Website

ABOUT TODAY'S GUEST:

Ashley Hanna-Morgan is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) specializing in Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders, as well as Grief and Loss. Ashley earned her Bachelor’s in English Literature at UCLA. After attending Baylor University for her Master’s in Social Work, Ashley became more aware of and interested in Perinatal Mood and Anxiety disorders after she and her husband both worked through it personally after the birth of their daughter. In 2016, she wrote the Afterglow Curriculum and started the first free Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Mindfulness Therapy based support group in Los Angeles for parents with Postpartum Depression and Anxiety. In 2017, she published a collection of poetry called I Gave Birth to My Heart that she hopes will throw back the curtains and shed some light on what Postpartum Depression and Anxiety actually feel like, as well as, most importantly, what the recovery looked like. She is currently the Postpartum Support International Regional Coordinator for Reno, Nevada, where she now lives with her husband, Jayson, her Shih Tzu, Obi Wan, and her daughters and inspiration, Emerie Violet & Aerelyn Jayne. When Ashley is not advocating for parental mental health, she loves to explore nature, practice yoga, experiment in the kitchen, read with a cup of tea, meditate, and write.

Visit www.birthshow.com for some great free resources that will help you on your own journey into motherhood.

Follow the Birth Podcast on Instagram:

@birthshow

Follow Christy on Instagram:

@christywill

If you find yourself struggling emotionally and mentally after having a baby, you are not alone. Please visit www.postpartum.net for help. There is someone waiting to talk you through this tough moment. Don't wait, help is only a few clicks away.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/birth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Merry Christmas and Happy Everything! We are taking the week off to enjoy a holiday break but we will return stronger than ever next week with notable guest: therapist and author Ashley Hanna-Morgan. She is not only a specialist in parental mental health and will be sharing with us some beautiful words of comfort and advice, she will also be sharing with us her TWO birth stories.

Listen to a sneak preview NOW as we discuss "The Myth of Perfection."

Sending you wishes for love, health and peace this holiday season,

Christy

Visit www.birthshow.com for some great free resources that will help you on your own journey into motherhood.

Follow the Birth Podcast on Instagram:

@birthshow

Follow Christy on Instagram:

@christywill

If you find yourself struggling emotionally and mentally after having a baby, you are not alone. Please visit www.postpartum.net for help. There is someone waiting to talk you through this tough moment. Don't wait, help is only a few clicks away.

Special Holiday Music Theme Composed by: Kevin MacLeod

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/birth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Jody Thomas shares her TWO incredible birth stories, her own experience having a baby in the NICU, valuable advice for all you parents who also end up with a baby in the NICU, and we talk about how to prepare for a positive and empowered pain experience. Plus a fun historical fact about the history of anesthesia during childbirth!

LINKS:

Dr. Jody Thomas' Website: https://www.jodythomasphd.com/

Meg Foundation website: https://www.megfoundationforpain.org/

Baby specific pain management: https://www.megfoundationforpain.org/newborns-babies

Comfort Poke Plan chat bot for kids: https://supermeg.comfortquest.io/

Nasal swab comfort plan for kids: https://comfortquest.io/swabplan/

Game plan for nasal swab.

ImaginAction website (free and open use for all): http://imaginaction.stanford.edu/

Audio Guide When Feeling Nauseous: http://imaginaction.stanford.edu/less-nauseous/

BUZZY BEE for Kids Getting Shots.

American Society of Clinical Hypnosis: https://www.asch.net/

Follow THE MEG FOUNDATION on Social Media:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/megfoundationforpain/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/megfoundationforpain

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/megfoundation

ABOUT TODAY'S EXPERT:

Dr. Jody Thomas is a licensed clinical psychologist, and specialist in pediatric medical illness and trauma. A well-known expert in pediatric pain who teaches internationally on the subject, she is also a founder and the former Clinical Director of the Packard Pediatric Pain Rehabilitation Center at Stanford, and a former Assistant Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She still serves as Adjunct Faculty for Stanford and an active consultant for the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Her passion for bringing together the power of medical science, technology and design to transform the way we think about kids and pain led her to her current focus but it's her role as a mom of two that solidified her path in creating the Meg Foundation. Dr. Thomas was recently chosen for the prestigious MayDay Fellowship, which supports pain experts in assuming public leadership roles to help end human suffering from pain through public discourse about research, best practices in care and policy.

Visit www.birthshow.com for some great free resources that will help you on your own journey into motherhood.

Follow the Birth Podcast on Instagram:

@birthshow

Follow Christy on Instagram:

@christywill

If you find yourself struggling emotionally and mentally after having a baby, you are not alone. Please visit www.postpartum.net for help. There is someone waiting to talk you through this tough moment. Don't wait, help is only a few clicks away.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/birth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pain is one of the most common fears that women have about childbirth, which is why I am so excited to be welcoming a leading expert in pain management on the podcast for a two episode series. Today, in Part One, we discuss why Dr. Jody Thomas is on a mission to improve the pain experience of children and adults everywhere and how years of working with chronically ill children and also her own experiences with childbirth and having a baby in the NICU have charged her passion to empower kids and parents to be in control of their pain experience. What is pain? How does it work? Do people feel pain differently? Why? How do newborns, babies and children experience pain? How can parents create the best possible pain experience for their children during medical procedures? What do you need to know if your baby is in the NICU? How can you have a positive pain experience during childbirth?

Hear the answers to all these questions, PLUS Dr. Thomas begins to share with us her own birth stories, and I'm not kidding you, my jaw was on the floor while she told me BOTH of her birth stories. After you hear these two episodes I think you will also understand why I now refer to her as the "Jedi Master of Pain." She's incredible. Buckle Up.

ABOUT TODAY'S EXPERT:

Dr. Jody Thomas is a licensed clinical psychologist, and specialist in pediatric medical illness and trauma. A well-known expert in pediatric pain who teaches internationally on the subject, she is also a founder and the former Clinical Director of the Packard Pediatric Pain Rehabilitation Center at Stanford, and a former Assistant Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She still serves as Adjunct Faculty for Stanford and an active consultant for the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Her passion for bringing together the power of medical science, technology and design to transform the way we think about kids and pain led her to her current focus but it's her role as a mom of two that solidified her path in creating the Meg Foundation. Dr. Thomas was recently chosen for the prestigious MayDay Fellowship, which supports pain experts in assuming public leadership roles to help end human suffering from pain through public discourse about research, best practices in care and policy.

LINKS:

Dr. Jody Thomas' Website: https://www.jodythomasphd.com/

Meg Foundation website: https://www.megfoundationforpain.org/

Baby specific pain management: https://www.megfoundationforpain.org/newborns-babies

Comfort Poke Plan chat bot for kids: https://supermeg.comfortquest.io/

Nasal swab comfort plan for kids: https://comfortquest.io/swabplan/

Game plan for nasal swab.

ImaginAction website (free and open use for all): http://imaginaction.stanford.edu/

Audio Guide When Feeling Nauseous: http://imaginaction.stanford.edu/less-nauseous/

BUZZY BEE for Kids Getting Shots.

Follow THE MEG FOUNDATION on Social Media:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/megfoundationforpain/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/megfoundationforpain

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/megfoundation

Visit www.birthshow.com for some great free resources that will help you on your own journey into motherhood.

Follow the Birth Podcast on Instagram:

@birthshow

Follow Christy on Instagram:

@christywill

If you find yourself struggling emotionally and mentally after having a baby, you are not alone. Please visit www.postpartum.net for help. There is someone waiting to talk you through this tough moment. Don't wait, help is only a few clicks away.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/birth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A first time mom, guest Tayler Jackson, shares her experience with Hyperemesis Gravidarum, Interuterine Growth Restriction (IUGR), preterm induced vaginal birth, and she also shares some important information on something to keep an eye out for if your baby is born extra small, this advice could save a baby's life.  

Follow Tayler on Instagram HERE.

Visit www.birthshow.com for some great free resources that will help you on your own journey into motherhood.

Follow the show on Instagram:

@birthshow

Follow Christy on Instagram:

@christywill

If you find yourself struggling emotionally and mentally after having a baby, you are not alone. Please visit www.postpartum.net for help. There is someone waiting to talk you through this tough moment. Don't wait, help is only a few clicks away.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/birth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.