The Birth Trauma Mama Podcast

On this week's episode, we are rereleasing our Navigating the Holidays episode where Kayleigh talks about birth trauma and navigating the holidays. The holidays can be triggering for many whether its navigating an anniversary around the holidays or family members asking questions about your trauma or future family planning.

Things you will hear on this episode: 
- navigating first holidays after trauma
- coping with an anniversary of birth trauma that falls around the holidays  
- family conversations: establishing coping skills, support plans and boundaries

For more birth trauma content and a community full of love and support, head to my Instagram at @thebirthtrauma_mama.

Learn more about the support and services I offer through The Birth Trauma Mama Therapy & Support Services.

For more birth trauma content and a community full of love and support, head to my Instagram at @thebirthtrauma_mama.

Learn more about the support and services I offer through The Birth Trauma Mama Therapy & Support Services.

On this week's Listener Series episode, we welcome Libby to share her story with us. Libby experienced a missed miscarriage and then became pregnant again shortly after. Libby suffered a cord prolapse while still at home and was brought by ambulance to her hospital for an emergency c-section under general anesthesia. Libby shares how she has processed her trauma and started EMDR therapy in her subsequent pregnancy which helped her navigate a VBAC.

On this episode, you will hear:
- missed miscarriage
- cord prolapse
- emergency transport
- emergency c-section under general anesthesia
- NICU stay
- subsequent pregnancy and VBAC
- EMDR therapy

For more birth trauma content and a community full of love and support, head to my Instagram at @thebirthtrauma_mama.

Learn more about the support and services I offer through The Birth Trauma Mama Therapy & Support Services.

On this week's episode, we welcome HeHe from Tranquility by Hehe, a doula and content creator in the birth education space. In this episode, we tackle the nuance of birth education, including how we approach conversations around birth education that support empowerment and autonomy while also leaving room for the unexpected - this is a complicated and sometimes messy conversation but we really wanted to tackle it. 

On this episode, you will hear:
- Understanding birth trauma
- Navigating healthcare provider relationships
- The role of inductions 
- Finding balance in birth choices
- Empowering through birth education
- The importance of support systems
- Navigating social media and birth conversations
- Ideal maternity care and birth choices

You can follow HeHe on Instagram: @tranquilitybyhehe

Guest Bio:
Haley "HeHe" Stewart is the founder of Tranquility by Hehe Maternity Concierge, a company that helps birthing people manage their birth experience. She has a Master's degree in Human Development and Family Studies. HeHe started Tranquility by Hehe in 2016. She has learned how to support families going through NICU stays, and how to prepare clients for them. She has also witnessed the compassion and abuse that can occur in NICUs.

For more birth trauma content and a community full of love and support, head to my Instagram at @thebirthtrauma_mama.

Learn more about the support and services I offer through The Birth Trauma Mama Therapy & Support Services.

On this week's episode, we welcome Sarah to our Listener Series. Sarah has shared part of her story on our blog before. Today she tells us about her three separate birth traumas. Her first son was born at 30 weeks and had a NICU stay, her second son she had during COVID and she experienced postpartum preeclampsia and a stroke, and her third birth trauma she experienced shoulder dystocia and preeclampsia. 

On this episode, you will hear:
- NICU stay
- pregnancy during COVID
- postpartum preeclampsia with a stroke
- shoulder dystocia
- navigating subsequent pregnancies
- therapy and healing process
- support systems and communities
- reflections on growth

For more birth trauma content and a community full of love and support, head to my Instagram at @thebirthtrauma_mama.

Learn more about the support and services I offer through The Birth Trauma Mama Therapy & Support Services.

On this week's episode, we welcome back Dr. Frankie Harrison, clinical psychologist and co-founder of Miracle Moon UK. We talk all things NICU and health anxiety. Frankie and her co-founder also run an incredible community called The NICU Space, providing all things support for NICU parents and really facilitating that connection that so many people are craving after a NICU experience and birth trauma.

On this episode, you will hear:
- understanding health anxiety
- the impact of NICU on parental anxiety
- trauma and its connection to health anxiety
- coping strategies for health anxiety
- community support and resources for parents
- validating experiences and seeking help

Follow Frankie and her work with the NICU Space by Miracle Moon UK on instagram @miraclemoonuk or visit their website: miracle moon.co.uk

Guest Bio:
Dr. Frankie Harrison is a HCPC registered Clinical Psychologist and has been supporting people with their mental health and wellbeing for over 13 years.

Frankie qualified from her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Leicester in 2017 and has since worked in a number of different mental health settings and across the lifespan, however, currently specialises in supporting NICU parents, past, present and future.

Frankie's passion for helping parents who have been through neonatal care started after having her son prematurely due to Pre-eclampsia at 31 weeks in 2019.

She then decided that she wanted to use her skills as a Clinical Psychologist and her unique position of having combined lived experience to support other parents in a similar situation. This combination helps Frankie to really understand what NICU parents have been through; she has lived it and is able to support you through it.

For more birth trauma content and a community full of love and support, head to my Instagram at @thebirthtrauma_mama.

Learn more about the support and services I offer through The Birth Trauma Mama Therapy & Support Services.

On this week's episode, we are changing things up and rereleasing one of our Listener Series episodes that we feel is critical to consider on the eve of the presidential election.

We welcome Kayla to share her story with us. Her first pregnancy and delivery with their daughter was traumatic after developing severe preeclampsia. On Mother's Day 2022, Kayla found out she was pregnant with their son Brooks. At their anatomy scan, Brooks was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, critical aortic stenosis, and several other heart defects that meant he would not survive delivery. With the recent abortion laws in the state of Idaho, Kayla and her family were put in the situation to seek abortion care out of state adding to the already traumatic diagnosis for their son.

On this episode you will hear:
 - Challenges of accessing abortion care in the state of Idaho
- TFMR & navigating abortion care in a restrictive state
- The financial burden of having to travel out of state for care
- Advocacy for reproductive rights and abortion care.

If you have a birth trauma story you would like to share with us, click this link and fill out the form. 

For more birth trauma content and a community full of love and support, head to my Instagram at @thebirthtrauma_mama.

Learn more about the support and services I offer through The Birth Trauma Mama Therapy & Support Services.

On this week's episode, we welcome Rebecca Dekker, PhD, RN. Dr. Dekker is the founder and CEO of Evidenced Based Birth. We discuss evidence-based birth and why we have such a gap between the research and actual practice in obstetrics.

On this episode, you will hear:
- what is evidence-based birth
- personal experiences shaping evidence-based birth
- researches and practices in labor and delivery
- evidence/practice gap in obstetrics
- preventing birth trauma through better practices
- the importance of communication in the medical setting
- empowering patients through consent
- navigating birth education and trauma
- advocacy skills for parents and healthcare workers
- systemic challenges in maternity care

Check out Evidence Based Birth HERE!
Follow them at @ebbirth

Guest Bio:
Dr. Rebecca Dekker, PhD, RN, is the founder and CEO of Evidence Based Birth(R). After earning her Bachelor's, Master's, and PhD in Nursing, Rebecca embarked on a career as a nurse scientist and teacher. In 2016, she left academia to become a full-time entrepreneur and consumer advocate for evidence based care. Rebecca lives in Lexington, Kentucky, where she and her husband Dan are raising three children and an assortment of pets. Babies Are Not Pizzas is her first book.

For more birth trauma content and a community full of love and support, head to my Instagram at @thebirthtrauma_mama.

Learn more about the support and services I offer through The Birth Trauma Mama Therapy & Support Services.

On this week's listener episode, we welcome Kate. After a relatively uncomplicated IVF pregnancy, Kate went into spontaneous labor at full term and experienced a peaceful labor and delivery at the hospital. After her daughter was born, she suffered a postpartum hemorrhage and 3rd-degree uterine inversion. Kate shares with us her experience of waking up under paralytics and processing her feelings of both fear and gratitude as she navigated healing post-birth trauma.

On this episode, you will hear:
- PCOS, infertility and IVF
- third-degree tear and hemorrhage
- mass transfusion protocol and hypervolemic reaction
- 3rd degree uterine inversion
- uterine artery embolization
- the use of paralytics
- experiencing "final thoughts"

For more birth trauma content and a community full of love and support, head to my Instagram at @thebirthtrauma_mama.

Learn more about the support and services I offer through The Birth Trauma Mama Therapy & Support Services.

On this week's episode, we have another mini series episode! We are talking all things medical records and debriefs.

On this episode you will hear:
- understanding medical records
- process of requesting medical records
- the importance of debriefs
- empowering patients through effective communication

For more birth trauma content and a community full of love and support, head to my Instagram at @thebirthtrauma_mama.

Learn more about the support and services I offer through The Birth Trauma Mama Therapy & Support Services.

On this week's episode of our Listener Series, we are joined by Lynn. Lynn shares her infertility journey during COVID and her long labor which included a mag drip and retained placenta. She then required two readmissions within the first week home, eventually leading to (after lots of advocating) a diagnosis of PPCM. Lynn reminds us about the importance of advocating for yourself when something doesn't feel right, because you know your body best.

On this episode, you will hear:
- unexplained infertility
- IUI and IVF during COVID
- high blood pressure and magnesium drip
- retained placenta and tearing
- readmitted twice after discharge
- cardiology consult 
- PPCM diagnosis
- seeking validation

For more birth trauma content and a community full of love and support, head to my Instagram at @thebirthtrauma_mama.

Learn more about the support and services I offer through The Birth Trauma Mama Therapy & Support Services.