Down to Birth

Writing your birth story seems like a simple thing to do, yet so many of us struggle with where and how to begin; and many of us never get it on paper at all. We can also opt to skip the writing and record ourselves telling the story. Writing  your birth story is not only creating a beautiful memory to be shared and passed on,  but it can also be a necessary and important part of healing from a difficult birth.  Join us today with doula Carrie Murphy who walks us through a simple process to effectively and easily capture your birth story in one hour a day over seven days. 

This show is sponsored by:
Postpartum Soothe*
*Use promo code DOWNTOBIRTH
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Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

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Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

At 41+1 weeks Katie was pressured into an induction beginning with a foley bulb followed by forcefully rupturing her bag of water,  high amounts of Pitocin,  restricted movement due to fetal heart rate abnormalities, a maternal fever resulting in an urgent need for a forcep delivery  to "save her baby," and a six hour separation from her baby for monitoring after birth.
Left traumatized and burdened with guilt, when she became pregnant again she sought out midwifery care at her local hospital and set her intentions on the "redemptive birth" she deserved.  In her second  birth, she didn't even know she was in labor until she had a cervical exam and found she was 6 cm and shortly thereafter had her baby in her arms. Her story represents the classic cascade of labor interventions that all too often leads to an avoidable traumatic birth experience for first time moms who then become empowered with the knowledge to choose differently the next time around.

This show is sponsored by:
Postpartum Soothe*
*Use promo code DOWNTOBIRTH
**********

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

Today on the show we have attorney Hermine Hayes-Klein, a fearless legal advocate for sexual and reproductive rights with a particular passion for defending women’s human rights in childbirth, which, she says, are routinely violated in maternity care systems. We’re also grateful to have her her clients, Lillie and George, whose birth experience we will be focusing on today.

By the end of this episode you’ll have clarity as what obstetric abuse looks like, who is committing it and why it’s self-perpetuating.  Plus, a better understanding of your legal and human rights, and how the two still need to better align in today’s maternity - and, primarily obstetric - model of care systems.

There are two things we would like you to know before listening:
1. Hermine drops one quick f-bomb between the 7-8 minute mark, and
2. We made the choice to bleep-out the hospital name. It was a last-minute decision, and we made it for the following reasons:
(a) we didn’t want to complicate any current legal matters between the client and hospital, and
(b) we don’t want the listener to think stories like these can’t and don’t happen all over, because, unfortunately, they do.

If you follow us on Instagram, you’re welcome to reach out and ask.

This episode is the first among a new series of “legal case studies” with Hermine Hayes-Klein.

This show is sponsored by:
Postpartum Soothe*
Beautiful Births & Beyond*
*Use promo code DOWNTOBIRTH
**********

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

When Kassidy was preconception, she had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)  and was told she would never conceive. But she did. When she told her providers her conception date, they refused to listen, and determined her due date based on her last menstrual cycle. This insistence on method over mother caused them to overstate the gestational age throughout Kassidy's entire pregnancy, which resulted in perpetual talks about how "small" her baby was, and "if" he makes it to 28 weeks. When she was 35 weeks pregnant (with her providers convincing themselves and Kassidy she was at 38 weeks) they induced her, resulting in a long and difficult induction because her body and baby weren't ready for birth. Once he was born, he was misdiagnosed with Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) based on the faulty due-date, and they were helicoptered to a larger hospital immediately after giving birth. Suffering from unstable blood sugars and thermoregulation, her baby spent six days in the NICU.  From beginning to end, Kassidy was provided with misinformation, instilled with fear, and conditioned to believe her baby - both in-utero and postpartum - could die at any moment. Her anxiety through the roof for years, she returned to the same providers in her second pregnancy until the straw broke the camel's back at 34 weeks. Kassidy found a home birth midwife, and on the way to her first appointment, went into labor with her second baby in the car. 

This show is sponsored by:
Postpartum Soothe*
Beautiful Births & Beyond*
*Use promo code DOWNTOBIRTH
**********

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

Our Q&A is here again!  We open with some interesting survey results on how long mothers spend in the waiting room versus in the actual prenatal appointment. This month we had excellent questions from our community on whether or not you should have a membrane sweep in late pregnancy, how to avoid experiencing a postpartum hemorrhage, how and why postpartum hormones influence baby blues versus postpartum depression and anxiety; and whether there any hormonal treatments for postpartum mood disorders. How can one recover from the trauma of still birth? When should you go to the hospital  in labor? Is cord traction necessary for birth of the placenta? And finally what to do if you test positive for Group B Strep and want a low-intervention birth.  

Thank you as always for your great questions and keep them coming! Please see chapter markers to skip to specific questions.

This show is sponsored by:
Postpartum Soothe*
Beautiful Births & Beyond*
*Use promo code DOWNTOBIRTH
**********

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

Breastfeeding women have been having a difficult time knowing whether to get the Covid vaccine, given that the vaccine is new and neither the CDC nor vaccine manufacturers have studied whether vaccine ingredients make their way into breast milk. Meanwhile, pregnant and breastfeeding women have been told to get the vaccine despite this lack of research. It has been the historical norm for vaccines not to be tested on pregnant or nursing mothers, making informed consent difficult, if not impossible.

We provide no recommendation for or against the Covid vaccine for breastfeeding women, as we believe the decision is only yours to make. Whenever there is unknown/potential risk on either side of a decision, freedom must accompany choice.

We do, however, want to empower you to conduct your own research. We begin by demonstrating how easily misleading and biased information makes its way to major news outlets, and how it's carefully designed to look like statistically-valid research when it is actually rhetoric. If you've listened to our podcast before, you know "medical rhetoric" in pregnancy and childbirth is a recurring theme in obstetrics and maternity care, and one of our missions is to help our listeners develop an ear for recognizing rhetoric. In the first half of this episode, we cite specific headlines (e.g. New York Times Parenting; Apple News, Reuters) and point out that the underlying "research" does not adequately support the headline, nor are the sources necessarily independent/objective.

In our own quest to find vaccine information for breastfeeding mothers, we invited Dr. Kaytlin Krutsch from Texas Tech University's Infant Risk Center, which, for years, has studied the effects of drugs and medications on breast milk. In September 2021, the Infant Risk research team published the first known study of the Covid vaccine and its possible impact on breastfed newborns. They did this research because curious/concerned breastfeeding moms flooded their call centers all year with questions about the vaccine. Dr. Krutsch shares the results of the Infant Risk team's study while also pointing out the gaps in their own research and what work still needs to be done.

Our hope is that, whatever parents choose, they will learn from this episode (a) how to recognize research versus rhetoric in all areas of healthcare; (b) how to interpret whether research is valid and significant, and (c) what is meant by certain scientific terms such as "confidence interval"; "control group"; etc. 

This is an important topic affecting millions of breastfeeding women today who simply seek evidence of risk and safety.  We hope it empowers you in your healthcare decisions both now and in the future.

Please share this episode with others who might benefit from the discussion. We thank the Infant Risk researchers, who are self-funded and independent, for their work and contribution to this episode.

The Infant Risk Center

The VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) Database
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Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

Did you know that Pitocin is said to be the most abused drug in the world today? Did you know it is used 97% of the time for off-label purposes?  Did you know it is not FDA approved for labor augmentation or the elective induction of labor? And that  Pitocin is not the same as Oxytocin? Join us as Cynthia and Trisha talk through all the things you probably don't know about Pitocin but wish you did,  and how it impacts birth and postpartum.  

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

When Julie was 40+4 she had a slow leak but no contractions. Eagerly, she went to the hospital where she was admitted and encouraged to "get things going" by breaking her water.  She started Pitocin and when it came time to push, her baby was born with meconium and shoulder dystocia and was helicoptered to a nearby hospital with a NICU.

Devastated, poorly treated by hospital staff, and left in the dark about what was happening to her baby, Julie drove hours to get to her newborn who was being treated for possible brain damage.. Thankfully, her baby was fine, but she was not. 

When she became pregnant the second time, she realized in order to overcome her fear and anxiety, she needed to educate herself and take more authority over her own birth experience. She found a home birth midwife who reviewed her medical records, smiled, and said, "This shouldn't have happened and it won't  happen again."

Tune in today to hear Julie's redemptive home birth story and how it changed her for life.

This show is sponsored by:
Postpartum Soothe*
Beautiful Births & Beyond*
*Use promo code DOWNTOBIRTH
**********

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

It's that time of the month! We are back with our October Q&A. Today, we begin with a recap of fundal massage and postpartum bleeding as Trisha shares a story of postpartum hemorrhage at a recent home birth. Next we jump into our questions including: Can midwives help with pre-conception care and fertility, especially when it comes to PCOS? When should I start kegels after giving birth? Is it ok to take a bath after waters have released? What causes postpartum night sweats? Are there any special positions for labor if you have spinal issues such as scoliosis or spinal fusion? Why does the length of labor vary so much among women? Can I drink coffee in pregnancy? And finally, we wrap with a recap of feelings shared by one woman in our weekly postpartum support group. 

Check out the chapter markers to skip to specific questions. 

This show is sponsored by:
Postpartum Soothe*
*Use promo code DOWNTOBIRTH
**********

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

This week's mini-side  provides a scope into dozen of emotions we can feel, especially when home with baby postpartum. Cynthia provides an explanation of Nonviolent Communication - the communication method developed by clinical psychologist Marshall Rosenberg - for better connection in our interpersonal relationships. It's about feelings, but it's ultimately about needs.

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Connect with us on Instagram @DownToBirthShow, where we post new information daily related to pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. You can reach us at [email protected]. We are always happy to hear from our listeners and appreciate questions for our monthly Q&A episodes. To submit a question, visit the Down To Birth website or send us a voice memo through Instagram messenger.

This show is sponsored by:
Postpartum Soothe*
*Use promo code DOWNTOBIRTH

Connect with Cynthia and Trisha at:

• Instagram: @downtobirthshow on Instagram
• Email: [email protected]
• Call: (802) 438-3696 (802-GET-DOWN)

Connect with Cynthia:

• Email: [email protected] 
• Text: 203-952-7299 to RSVP to attend a free information session live on Zoom. Upcoming dates are posted at HypnoBirthingCT.com. You can also sign up for our "Fourth Trimester Workshop" or Cynthia's HypnoBirthing classes and weekly postpartum support groups at HypnoBirthing of Connecticut. 

Remember - we're in CT but you can be anywhere. We serve women and couples coast to coast with our live, online monthly HypnoBirthing classes, support groups and prenatal/postpartum workshops.

Connect with Trisha at:

• Email: [email protected] for online breastfeeding consulting services

We are so grateful for your reviews and shares - we love what we do and thank you all for your support!

Please remember we don’t provide medical advice, and to speak with your licensed medical provider related to all your healthcare matters. Thanks so much for joining in the conversation, and see you next week!

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.