In this episode, Lauren shares two birth stories on two continents, in less than two years. In our time together, we discussed:

-Navigating birth in your partner’s passport country 

-Returning to your passport country for birth 

-navigating perinatal care as a woman of color

-Feeling at home in your new country 

-Depending on the local and expat community 

-Investing deeply in local community 

-Finding local resources 

- slow-paced birth in Rwanda 

-Utilizing three different languages in care 

-A provider who stops practicing medicine in the middle of the pregnancy

-Hospital birth 

-Shared labor space 

-Hiring a doula

-A faster than typical first birth 

-Choosing to move in labor and the father being present for the birth even when not culturally normal 

-unmedicated birth 

-Bringing your own supplies postpartum

-Choosing what aspects of culture to embrace and what to do differently 

-Having 2 under 2

-Dad missing the second birth 

-Feeling unheard in American hospitals 

-A failed epidural 

-Traveling with a toddler and newborn

-the importance of mental health check ins

-Finding people who are navigating a similar journey 

-Sharing your birth story 

In this episode, we talk about:

• An unexpected pregnancy after 10 years of infertility 
• Traveling for the birth
• The gift of having a local friend who was a doctor
• Navigating the burning season during pregnancy
• A rushed exit from their country due to pregnancy concerns
• Packing up the house while on bedrest
• Feeling pressure to complete work before the baby arrived
• Struggling through a 5-day induction 
• Laboring in the water
• laboring along while waiting for a c-section
• Going under general anesthesia and missing her son’s birth
• A NICU stay
• Grieving family not being able to come out
• Struggling with breastfeeding
• Meeting with a Psychiatrist and discussing Postpartum Depression
• Realizing her husband was experiencing depression as well
• Choosing exclusive pumping
• EMDR Therapy
• Healing through art and poetry

In this episode, we talked about:

▪️cesarian section awareness month

▪️finding resources in a new city 

▪️pregnancy in the first year overseas 

▪️pregnancy after a miscarriage 

▪️threatened miscarriage 

▪️finding a provider who matches your risk tolerance level

▪️switching providers

▪️responding to cultural beliefs surrounding pregnancy  

▪️grandparents coming to visit 

▪️childcare for their toddler 

▪️a transverse baby

▪️an external cephalic version 

▪️planning a c-section 

▪️traveling for visas and passports in the first two weeks postpartum

In this episode, Audrey joins us to talk about her high-risk pregnancy that resulted in an early relocation to Thailand to remain on bed rest until she gave birth. Audrey was able to have the birth she wanted, an unmedicated vaginal birth in a supportive environment, but she opens up about what it was like to navigate bed rest in a different country with a busy toddler in tow. 

In this episode, we talk about:

Previous infertility

Getting pregnant in the first 4 months overseas

Traveling for birth

Cervical insufficiency 

Bed rest in pregnancy

Unmedicated birth

Finding childcare for an older sibling

Laboring in water

Faith and birth

Grieving the birth story you hoped for 

Postpartum anxiety 

Moving from the city to the village postpartum

In this episode, Eden shares what it was like to work with a provider who had a very low tolerance for risk and how that impacted her mental health and eventually led to changing providers at 40 weeks. 

Topics we discuss in this episode:

Pregnancy Sickness

Having a doula

Not trusting the medical system

Switching providers at 40 weeks

Navigating a system of high-intervention births

Cervical cerclage 

Gentle cesarean 

Anxiety during pregnancy 

Birth story processing

In this episode, Kierra shares the story of bringing together all the right pieces to have a redemptive hospital water birth in Pakistan. She shares how all her previous birth experiences motivated her to devote so much time and energy to creatively finding answers in her new city.

In this episode, we talk about:

Stillbirth

Misciarrage

Hospital Birth

Epidurals

Home Birth

Home Birth Transfer

Doula Support

Water Birth

The mental load of gathering birth resources in a new country

October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. In honor of this month, we are launching an important new resource to better support families in our community navigating the grief of loss while serving cross-culturally. LaDonna joins us to share about the Perinatal Loss Debrief Packet and The Virtual Village CARE Facebook group.

On October 15th we will be participating in the International Wave of Light to honor each child who is no longer here with us. We will create a virtual candle in honor of your child and post it. We ask that all name submissions be sent by October 13th to ensure time to create the posts.

Link to the debrief page:

https://chandler-gilow-s-school.teachable.com/p/perinatal-loss-resources

Link to the Virtual Village Care:

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/AjJn6kKSwJ8irwaU/?mibextid=K35XfP

Link to A Beautiful Remembrance Instagram Page:

https://www.instagram.com/abeautifulremembrance?igsh=dW1iMGtwdGVqeDhk

In this episode, we have the joy of experiencing a shortened version of a Birth Story Listening Session with Christine Rollings. Birth Story listening is not a well-known service, however, I think it is such a gift to our community as we process all the layers of birth abroad. Since this is a new service, we thought it would be helpful to do an episode to answer some common questions and provide a demonstration. You can compare this episode to Season 1 Episode 3 (A Healing Vbac in the Middle East) where I tell my full birth story to see how this differs from a traditional sharing format.

You can also check out Christine's first birth story from abroad in Season 2 Episode 3 (Leaning into the Culture: A Vaginal Birth in Turkey).

You can find Christine's Birth Story Listening information at https://www.ivyandrill.com/ or follow her on IG @ivy.and.rill