Milk Trails: A Journey In The Out-Of-Hospital Birth Experience

In this special episode, we have Jeanne-Marie Paynel, a mother of two as well as a parenting guide and mentor. Jeanne-Marie has a Masters in Montessori education and over 15 years of experience guiding and mentoring parents and children. She is the founder of Voila Montessori – a parenting school and mentoring community based in San Diego, California. Jeanne-Marie and I talk about about her passions of the Montessori philosophy as well as ways to improve your relationship with your child (through what’s known as) Conscious Parenting and Positive Discipline. Also, (what was most intriguing to me) as a home consultant, Jeanne-Marie guides families on how best to prepare their home from birth onward to promote a peaceful environment for both parent and child. She is a beautiful inspiration and reminder of the true importance of our role as caregivers – not as servants of children but supporters of their natural curiosity, wonder and development.

For the birth of her second child, midwife and mother, Erin, planned a home birth with a midwife. For weeks leading up to the due date, her baby kept turning from head down to butt down until, at 39 weeks, she had to schedule a cesarean due to her baby’s unstable position. Here she was faced with the frustrating prospect of having to give up her home birth. Also, being a midwife herself, she felt conflicted in deciding between what she knew and how she counseled her own patients and what she wanted and felt as a woman and mother. The day before Erin’s c-section, her baby miraculously turned head down once again! In this episode, Erin tells about the race against the clock to get labor going naturally in order to have the home birth she wanted.

Miscarriage is such a complicated and often silent topic. Unexpectedly losing an expected child can come with so many feelings of confusion, guilt, grief as well as anxiety, doubt, and depression. While miscarriage is unfortunately not that uncommon (10-20% of women who know they are pregnant will lose a baby early in pregnancy), it can feel like such an isolating experience. In this episode, Amanda Squitieri is proud to share the stories of the children she has birthed who are here on the outside as well as the ones she has loved and lost on the inside. She offers her insight, advice and reassurance of how to hold space for pregnancy loss and find the courage to conceive again.

Erica Mock knew she wanted a home birth as soon as she found out she was pregnant. Her past experience using alternative modalities helped her trust her body to have the birth she wanted. However, there was more work to be done to prepare her mind for the unexpected and unknown. So, of course, Erica’s labor started with her water breaking, something she had not anticipated as it is actually quite uncommon contrary to popular belief! On a side note, Erica started an incredibly delicious organic prepared meal service specifically designed for prenatal and postpartum mothers. Check out 25/8 - nurturing mothers 24/7 so they can be mothers 25/8.

Eileen came from a long line of women in her family who had highly medicalized births, including her own, each one with less intervention than the last. After a cesarean with her first child and a vaginal birth after cesarean (also known as a VBAC) in the hospital for her second, Eileen chose to have a home birth with a midwife for her third. Eileen felt it was important for her two older daughters to be part of the experience in an attempt to rewrite their family birth history. With a tub, her husband, mother, and two daughters present, Eileen gave birth to her third daughter on what she calls the greatest day of her life.

In this episode, your host and midwife Hayley Oakes is five weeks postpartum after having her first child. This time she gets to answer the questions! Birth doula Carson Meyer interviews Hayley about her pregnancy, home birth and postpartum experiences. Hayley discusses the benefits of proper preparation as well as the potential downside of being a medical professional and knowing almost too much about the process. Tune in to hear more about Hayley’s personal transition from midwife to mother.

Alannah, an ER nurse in her native Australia, wanted to have a home birth for her second child here in the States, but she was met with cultural confusion, financial difficulties and medical resistance. Although her first child was induced and born at 34 weeks due to growth restriction, she knew as a health care provider and intuitive mother that this previous experience did not risk her out of a home birth for her second child. She managed to find an OB and a midwife who co-managed her pregnancy and the health of her growing baby. Redemption was sweet (albeit hard work) when she spontaneously went into labor at nearly 40 weeks, supported by her midwife and surrounded by her loved ones.

Alexis is a mother of three and a psychotherapist specializing in the prenatal and postpartum transition into parenthood. In this episode, she shares her transformative experience of becoming a parent for the first time. We explore the common yet unexpectedly difficult feelings around caring for a child and the resulting growth from surrendering to what is needed. Also, Alexis always knew she wanted a home birth but was met with strong resistance from her parents and her partner, especially for her first child. But after two positive hospital births with midwives, Alexis finally had the home birth she always wanted.

Morgan Campbell, a postpartum doula, grew up hearing the tales of her and her siblings’ out of hospital birth stories. For her own birthing experience, she believed home was where she would feel safest to be her most primal and vulnerable self. And primal she got. She made loud and visceral vocalizations during every contraction. Her sounds even attracted a neighborhood skunk who walked in the house as Morgan was close to pushing out her baby.

Prior to having her own children, Amber traveled to a midwifery clinic in Mexico to train and attend births as a doula. Her work there helped shape the choices she would make for her own births later down the road. With her first child she planned a hospital birth with midwives, and after a very quick labor she barely made it to the hospital in time. For her second, she thought, “Why not a home birth”?