In this episode of 'Military Birth Talk,' Anni interviews Becca, a Midwest native now living in Japan, who shares her challenging pregnancy journey marked by cholestasis. Becca discusses her husband's military background, her impeccable early pregnancy stages, and the onset of severe itching in her third trimester, leading to a diagnosis of cholestasis. She recounts the rigorous process of advocating for herself in the healthcare system to secure the right diagnosis and treatment. Her labor ultimately ended in an unplanned C-section, and after an initially blissful first month postpartum she experienced some significant challenges in the extended postpartum period including her husband's TDY and ongoing medical issues. Becca emphasizes the importance of self-advocacy in military medicine and shares key takeaways for others who may encounter similar challenges.

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In this episode of Military Birth Talk, Anni interviews Ally, a certified nurse midwife, women's health nurse practitioner, military veteran, and spouse, currently stationed in the Netherlands with her Air Force husband. Ally shares her traumatic experience of giving birth to twin girls in November 2024, detailing her challenges, including being in a remote foreign country with no nearby U.S. base support. She discusses her pregnancy journey, the unexpected discovery of twins, and the unique aspects of Dutch prenatal care. Ally recounts her fast-paced labor, unexpected complications leading to induction, postpartum hemorrhage, and subsequent medical interventions. Despite facing numerous obstacles, including retained placenta and sepsis, Ally emphasizes the importance of trauma-informed and respectful prenatal and perinatal care. She reflects on how her professional knowledge influenced her experience and calls for trauma-informed care to be the standard practice in birth work. The episode also highlights Ally's struggle with the isolation of being abroad and her efforts to heal and cope with her traumatic birth while raising her twins.

You can connect with Ally here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allyson-crain-dnp-cnm-whnp-bc-4a088418a/

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In this episode of 'Military Birth Talk,' Anni interviews Anna, a Scottish musician connected and Air Force spouse. Anna shares her journey from meeting her husband on a cruise ship to navigating the challenges of giving birth within the military system. She recounts her diverse birth experiences in Ohio and Japan, emphasizing the significance of hypnobirthing and self-advocacy. Despite some hurdles, including transitioning from on-base to off-base care and dealing with restrictions in Japan, Anna successfully achieves her goal of unmedicated births while highlighting the importance of positive mindset and education. The episode also explores her postpartum period and how military life influenced her birthing experiences and personal growth.

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Season five of Military Birth Talk is here! We kick things off with Kimberly as she shares her two birth stories overseas in Japan. Kimberly gave birth both in Okinawa and Yokota, and highlights the differences in medical care, challenges with postpartum preeclampsia, and a gallbladder surgery. Adding another layer to her experience, she was also a GS employee during the time of her first birth and was required to return to work even before her Active Duty husband. Hear about all this and more in today's episode.

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In today’s episode we’re hearing from Reyna, who is a Navy Spouse. Reyna shares the birth story of her second child, who was born at the very end of 2019. Reyna and her family PCS’ed overseas when she was 6 months pregnant, only to find out almost immediately that she’d be sent back to the states to give birth. Reyna had a planned c-section and then a few days later, she ended up at the ER with severe stomach pain which ended up being what the doctors called retained products of coneption. After an emergency D&C she had a few weeks to recover in the airbnb before needing to fly back to Japan, and then her husband deployed shortly thereafter. Needless to say Reyna really went through a lot during this birth and postpartum and despite it all she still devotes much of her time and energy to making the military life easier for other families through her own work on her blog and podcast called The Desk of a Navy Wife.

Check out these resources from Reyna:
Website: https://www.deskofanavywife.com/
Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zvZenaRy479Oi34ATN8RP?si=e5fc13d20d8542c7
Newsletter for Additional Tips & Resources: https://www.deskofanavywife.com/about
IG: https://www.instagram.com/thedeskofanavywife/
FB Community: https://www.facebook.com/the.desk.of.a.navy.wife.community/ 

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In today’s episode, I’m speaking Hannah who is Active Duty in the Navy as an ER nurse. Her first birth took place at the MTF where she worked, and it was a very long experience which ended with a forceps delivery resulting in a birth injury that took nearly a year to be resolved. Her second experience was totally different, and ended up being an accidental unassisted homebirth, which she describes as an amazing and empowering experience. We talk about the importance of self advocacy and doing everything you can to be informed about your choices when preparing for birth. 

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In today’s episode I’m speaking with LT Samantha Mclaughlin, who’s Active Duty. LT Mclaughlin shares the birth story of her daughter who was born just shy of 33 weeks, after her water broke at 31 weeks. At the time, Samantha was working as a Labor & Delivery Nurse in 29 Palms, but because there was no NICU there they had to be transferred to another local hospital about 45 minutes away. Samantha stayed as a patient for 2 weeks until giving birth via C-Section, and then her daughter stayed in the NICU for 21 days before being discharged. Samantha talks about how her medical knowledge impacted her experience, navigating the totally unexpected way that her birth and postpartum period went, and what it was like having to return to work.

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In today’s episode I’m speaking with Melissa, who is Active Duty in the Coast Guard. Melissa mostly focuses on her third birth experience, which was a natural birth through a midwife clinic out in town. She had had epidural births with her prior two and wanted to try something different this time so she dove into hypnobirthing and really prepared for a different experience with her third and final baby. We also chat a lot about the dynamics of parenting in a dual mil family and especially the experience of giving birth and then managing all the competing demands of motherhood and being active duty.

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In today’s episode, I’m joined by Navy Spouse Ebony. Ebony is a homeschooling mom of five kids, and she and her family are currently stationed in Stuttgart. In this episode Ebony shares the birth story of her third child, who was born at home on base in Yokosuka Japan, while her husband was deployed. Ebony had a wonderful team around her and describes the experience as incredible and amazing. Ebony is also a doula and hypnobirthing instructor so we chat a bit about her professional experience as well, and her take overall on trends and progress in the birth world. 

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In today’s episode I’m speaking with Dr. Jen Bertoluzzi who is a Coast Guard Spouse and Physical Therapist with a focus on pelvic floor PT. Jen’s birth experiences begin with a miscarriage that happened right at tbeginning of the COVID 19 lockdowns. They got pregnant again, and Jen gave birth out in town with a team that was not very supportive of her birth plans and it ended up being a very long delivery. They PCSed from Massachusetts to Oregon at 2 months postpartum, and once they were settled Jen began to look into pelvic floor training as part of her PT focus, after working through some of her own pelvic floor issues after birth. 

Find Dr. Bertoluzzi on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube at @craftmywellness.

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