The 9 Months Podcast

In this episode we hear Kam sharing the births of her girls, Nora & Zoe in Prague, Czech Republic. Kam planned for a home birth with both of her pregnancies and experienced really smooth and active pregnancies leading up to the delivery. Kam shares her journey towards finding the right model of care for her and how she went about choosing a midwife and making a birth plan.

With Nora she ended up transferring to Podoli, and with Zoe she transferred to Rakovník and both girls were born in hospotal after a long labour at home. We talk about the importance of being able to make informed choices and to surround yourself with people who will support your wishes around your birth experience.

Kam really recommends hiring a doula or a midwife to support both you and your partner through the birth. She also really recommends Aperio.cz for all things birth in Prague. Also informing yourself and going for a course, hypnobirthing or other to prepare yourself for labour and delivery.

Visit The 9 Months Podcast directory for more stories or if you'd like to share your story with me on the podcast, you can find all the details there.

Follow me on Instagram @9monthspodcast.

*The stories on this podcast are personal experiences and should never be interpreted as medical advice. Always seek out a birth professionals expertise before making any medical decisions. The 9 Months Podcast is in no way advocating for a specific kind of birth, but on the contrary, we believe that all births are beautiful, just as they are.

In this episode we hear Lucie share her second birth, with her son Harry in the UK (Head back to Episode 8 to hear her first birth story with Freya if you haven’t already). Lucie is Czech and her partner is from the UK and she is now based back in Prague where she teaches Hypnobirthing. This pregnancy was a surprise and Lucie shares with us how it was really hard to wrap her head around having another baby while her first daughter was still quite small. Freya and Harry are 2 years apart, almost to the day. She suffered with all-day-morning-sickness for the first 4.5 months of the pregnancy and after that settled she had a smoother time. Harry’s birth started with the water’s breaking and then Lucie went in to a long and slow labour.

After 24h she ended up having an induction and 4 hours later Harry was born. We discuss choice, knowing your options and how incredibly important it is to educate yourself before going through birth so that you know what everything means in the heat of the moment.

If you’d like to reach out to Lucie, or if you are interested in Hypnobirthing, she teaches courses in person and online, and you can contact her on [email protected] or visit www.hypnobirthingbuddy.com for more information.

Visit The 9MonthsPodcast.com for more information or if you'd like to share your story with me on the podcast, you can find all the details there.

Follow me on Instagram @9monthspodcast

*The stories on this podcast are personal experiences and should never be interpreted as medical advice. Always seek out a birth professionals expertise before making any medical decisions. The 9 Months Podcast is in no way advocating for a specific kind of birth but on the contrary, we believe that all births are beautiful, just as they are.

In this episode I speak to Vinuta (you can listen to her birth stories on Episode 18). Vinuta works within the mindfulness realm and is running the Prague Womens Circle alongside her wellness and aromatheraphy business Aroma Laska. We set out to discuss the wide topic of Postpartum Care and talk about our own experiences and what it looked like trying to meet our own needs next to caring for a newborn.

We speak generally about it all and the goal with producing this episode is to follow up by diving deeper into specific topics within the Postpartum realm. If you have a topic that you would like us to talk further about or if there is anything we didn’t mention (probably lots!) in this episode then please reach out and let us know so we can create more useful Postpartum discussion, support & content.

If you'd like to reach out to Vinuta, check out her work at @aromalaska on Instagram, or just send me an email at: [email protected] and I'll forward everything to her from there.

Visit The 9MonthsPodcast.com for more information or if you'd like to share your story with me on the podcast, you can find all the details there.

Follow me on Instagram @9monthspodcast

*The stories on this podcast are personal experiences and should never be interpreted as medical advice. Always seek out a birth professionals expertise before making any medical decisions. The 9 Months Podcast is in no way advocating for a specific kind of birth but on the contrary, we believe that all births are beautiful, just as they are.

This episode is part 2 of Carly’s birth stories and this week we hear about her second birth with Rosie. Check back with episode 46 for the first part if you haven’t heard it yet.

For this birth, Carly decided to go down a completely different path when it came to preparing for birth. She changed OB, hired a doula, took hypnobirthing and spinning babies classes. She got gestational diabetes in this pregnancy too but with a little one at home it was harder to manage this time around and she had to really focus on breathing and her stress-levels to make it work with.

In the end she managed to have a successful VBAC, with assistance of her wonderful doula and she shares with us how important it is to do your research. To read up on everything to be able to make informed choices.

Listen in for a very informative episode this week.

If you would like to reach out to Carly, you can send me an email at [email protected] and I’ll forward everything to her from there.

Visit The 9 Months Podcast directory for more stories or if you'd like to share your story with me on the podcast, you can find all the details here.

Follow me on Instagram @9monthspodcast.

*The stories on this podcast are personal experiences and should never be interpreted as medical advice. Always seek out a birth professionals expertise before making any medical decisions. The 9 Months Podcast is in no way advocating for a specific kind of birth, but on the contrary, we believe that all births are beautiful, just as they are.

In this episode, we hear Carly share the birth of her first baby, Santiago in Prague, Czech Republic. Carly is American and her partner is Czech. and they were planning for a birth at a Prague hospital. Carly had a good and calm pregnancy with the exception of finding out that she had gestational diabetes quite late in the second trimester. She was able to manage it herself without medication for this pregnancy and talks us through how it was to manage it day to day. She shares how she was in the mindset of ‘Women are meant to give birth’ and decided to go with the flow when it came to planning for the birth itself. Carly ended up with a long, stalled labour with the waters breaking on their own as a starting point and getting induced 18 hours later. After a long time with different interventions the labour stalled and she was offered a c-section which she welcomed at that point. The c-section and postpartum in the hospital ended up being a great experience and she was able to rest a bit and slowly step into motherhood with the help of her partner, the nurses and staff.

We also discuss paternity leave, which is the route they went down as a family after Santiago was born and it is a choice that is available for all families in Czech Republic.

This birth story is part 1 of 2, so next week we will continue on to hear how Carly went down a completely different route for her next pregnancy and birth and how she managed to have a successful VBAC.

Visit The 9 Months Podcast directory for more stories or if you'd like to share your story with me on the podcast, you can find all the details here.

Follow me on Instagram @9monthspodcast.

*The stories on this podcast are personal experiences and should never be interpreted as medical advice. Always seek out a birth professionals expertise before making any medical decisions. The 9 Months Podcast is in no way advocating for a specific kind of birth, but on the contrary, we believe that all births are beautiful, just as they are.

In this episode I share my own second birth with Avi. I was fully set on having a homebirth this second time around too and was very intimidated when I found out the rules around working with a midwife here in the Czech Republic. Mind you, this was in 2019, and many things might have changed since then (I hope!) but my journey was pulling me between the fear of having to go through with a system where I didn’t feel supported at all and the hope of having everything play out as I wanted with a supported homebirth. I found a couple of fantastic midwives who supported me, Trygve & Avi through this journey and the birth turned out to be all that I wanted, and full of magic.

Postpartum was a different story, the first little while was wonderful, then lockdown happened and going from one to two kids while being home 100% of the time was difficult. It was really hard to find my place in all of this, while going back to work, worrying about the world, wearing masks and caring for two little ones. Avi also didn’t sleep well his first year and it’s hard to remember those first few months because I was so tired.

I truly hope that this story can help someone else out there looking for a different kind of birth experience and I am always happy to answer any questions so please reach out.

Visit The 9 Months Podcast directory for more stories or if you'd like to share your story with me on the podcast, you can find all the details here.

Follow me on Instagram @9monthspodcast.

*The stories on this podcast are personal experiences and should never be interpreted as medical advice. Always seek out a birth professionals expertise before making any medical decisions. The 9 Months Podcast is in no way advocating for a specific kind of birth, but on the contrary, we believe that all births are beautiful, just as they are.

In this episode we hear Amelia share the birth of her daughter Valentina, in Catalunya, Spain in 2020. Amelia is an entrepreneur, yoga teacher and found herself pregnant in early 2020, right before the pandemic started. She shares her journey of single parenting and single pregnancy with the support of her mother. She also shares how the lockdowns became an actual blessing that allowed her to slow down and focus on the pregnancy fully.

Amelia’s water’s broke in the morning, early in week 39 and Valentina was born in the afternoon in the hospital that Amelia had chosen, supported by her mother. We discuss how fear is implemented in early pregnancy and how that can really take away from our experiences as we prepare for birth and postpartum.

Amelia is a prenatal and postpartum yoga teacher and trainer, you can reach out to her on Instagram @nydum & @amelia.valls or you can send me an email at [email protected] and I’ll forward everything to her from there.

Visit The 9 Months Podcast directory for more stories or if you'd like to share your story with me on the podcast, you can find all the details here.

Follow me on Instagram @9monthspodcast.

*The stories on this podcast are personal experiences and should never be interpreted as medical advice. Always seek out a birth professionals expertise before making any medical decisions. The 9 Months Podcast is in no way advocating for a specific kind of birth, but on the contrary, we believe that all births are beautiful, just as they are.

In this episode Tatum shares the birth of her two sons, JP & Liam Lionheart in California. Tatum is a medical doctor in residency and she takes us through what it was like being pregnant and navigating the system while going through med-school at the same time. With her first birth she had an induction that caused lots of extra intervention further into labour. She had an epidural in the end and she describes this labour as being rough, but the moment of birth itself being calm.

In 2021, after having symptoms of brainfog, anxiety and migraines she spent some time cleaning up her diet and lifestyle and they tried for their second baby. Tatum shares her concerns regarding the western medicine approach that she is working with as being a ‘band-aid’ instead of looking for the root-cause of what is actually going on in our bodies and she used the same approach for her second pregnancy and birth which she cared for herself. She had no official checkups, and ended up having a freebirth at home with the assistance only of her mother-in-law and her partner.

Listen in for a different kind of story, for a story that might help us see that birth isn’t one size fit all, but rather individual and that we have the power to birth the way we feel is right for us.

If you would like to reach out to Tatum you can follow her on Instagram @tatumface or you can send me an email at [email protected] and I’ll forward everything to her from there.

Visit The 9MonthsPodcast.com/Directory for more stories or if you'd like to share your story with me on the podcast, you can find all the details here.

Follow me on Instagram @9monthspodcast.

*The stories on this podcast are personal experiences and should never be interpreted as medical advice. Always seek out a birth professionals expertise before making any medical decisions. The 9 Months Podcast is in no way advocating for a specific kind of birth, but on the contrary, we believe that all births are beautiful, just as they are.

In this episode we hear Gitanjali sharing the birth of her daughter Lilyana in Berlin, Germany during the pandemic. Gitanjali is Indian and her partner is German and she talks us through their conception journey and what it was like to go through pregnancy in Berlin.

Gitanjali shares how important it is to be able to say that we sometimes don’t really like being pregnant, or how we actually don’t hear about the big changes and shifts that can actually happen in the body as we are growing another human within it. Gitanjali shares how she experienced forgetfulness, breathlessness, heartburn and many other symptoms that made her feel quite uncomfortable throughout her pregnancy.

She planned for and had a hospital birth with an epidural and stayed in the hospital for 3 days postpartum before reuniting with her partner at home with their daughter.

We also chat a lot about breastfeeding and feeding in general and how important it is that we get the proper support to be able to figure it out whichever way we decide to go, breast or bottle.

We also speak about @La.Leche.League which is an international breastfeeding support system and you can find more information on their website.

If you would like to reach out to Gitanjali you can follow her on Instagram @hippie.mamaa or you can send me an email at [email protected] and I’ll forward everything to her from there.

Visit The 9MonthsPodcast.com/directory for more stories or if you'd like to share your story with me on the podcast, you can find all the details there.

Follow me on Instagram @9monthspodcast.

*The stories on this podcast are personal experiences and should never be interpreted as medical advice. Always seek out a birth professionals expertise before making any medical decisions. The 9 Months Podcast is in no way advocating for a specific kind of birth, but on the contrary, we believe that all births are beautiful, just as they are.

In this episode we hear Bruna share the birth of her little boy Noah. Bruna is Brazilian/Italian, her partner is German and while they are currently living in Germany, her birth story took place in Prague, Czech Republic. Bruna shares with us how her journey to her pregnancy with Noah first took her though a miscarriage and how that affected the start of Noahs.

We talk about looking for Pre-Natal care that we feel comfortable with and Bruna chose to go with Canadian Medical and giving birth in Podoli Maternity Hospital in Prague which she was happy with in the end.

Towards the end of the pregnancy her doctors advised her that Noah was very big and Bruna opted for a planned c-section in the end. She shared her experience with going through a c-section during the pandemic and how that affected the choices they could make for the birth and postpartum in the hospital.

Bruna really recommends listening to birth stories as a preparation for your birth experience and also talking to your friends and family who have given birth before.

If you would like to reach out to Bruna you can send me an email at [email protected] and I’ll forward everything to her from there.

Visit The 9 Months Podcast directory for more stories or if you'd like to share your story with me on the podcast, you can find all the details here.

Follow me on Instagram @9monthspodcast.

*The stories on this podcast are personal experiences and should never be interpreted as medical advice. Always seek out a birth professionals expertise before making any medical decisions. The 9 Months Podcast is in no way advocating for a specific kind of birth, but on the contrary, we believe that all births are beautiful, just as they are.