What You Didn't Expect in Fertility, Pregnancy & Birth: Real Stories & Expert Insights

This week's episode features details of a pregnancy on a boat.

My guest Tanya shared her experiences of her other 4 births on an earlier episodes:

Her first episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-you-learn-from-your-first-two-of-5-births/id1546909059?i=1000617239231

The second half of that story: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-happens-when-with-each-birth-you-get-closer-to/id1546909059?i=1000618066765
 
She had a variety of experiences in the hospital:
*induced labor
*shoulder dystocia
*large babies
with midwives and OBs, but this pregnancy and birth are entirely different. 

She shares what she learned both about her body and the process of birthing, including the fears she had and how she overcame them. 

Acupuncture & Labor Induction

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6953318/

https://www.ajogmfm.org/article/S2589-9333(23)00414-7/fulltext

Today's guest uses IVF to get pregnant
* she's successful, but nearly not
*she has a relatively straightforward pregnancy, but
*hypertension sneaks in at the finish line, and
*a not straightforward postpartum, ushered in by a hemorrhage and uterine atony.

She  can look back over that experience at both the beautiful and hard parts, and learn something important from them.




geriatric patient
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6789409/https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22438-advanced-maternal-age
unexplained infertility
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23187-unexplained-infertility
retained placenta
https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijgo.14800
https://www.healthline.com/health/pregnancy/placenta-delivery#takeaway
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6789409/
breastfeeding trends
https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/nis_data/rates-any-exclusive-bf-state-2020.htm

This week we have the end of my conversation with Andria. 

She talks about:
* how that first birth unfolded
* dealing with the unexpected C section and all the pain and fear that it brought
* the difficulties of that first postpartum 

AND 
she also shares:
*the research she did for the second birth
*the value of the midwife
*the empowered birth she created

Dr Amutah-Onukagha shares her advice for how to manage challenging birth settings and her hopes for the future of black maternal care

In today's episode I talk to a woman who walked into her pregnancy imagining that:
*  it would be relatively easy
* miscarriage wasn't a part of the equation and 
* that her doctor would tell her everything she needed to know. 

It's a very relatable story, given that this is the way a lot of us walk into this experience. It's certainly the way I initially walked into pregnancy. 

She'd wanted an unmedicated birth, but her scheduled induction turned into a C section in a way that really scared her and her husband. It also taught her how to adopt a different approach for the second child. 

We talk about her experience as a black woman in a maternity setting, and I also talk with a fantastic professor of black maternal health who shares the work she's doing in improving this setting from within a medical school.

ACOG preparation for an unmedicated birth:
https://www.acog.org/womens-health/experts-and-stories/the-latest/thinking-about-childbirth-without-pain-medication-heres-how-you-can-prepare

Dr. Amutah-Onukagha at Tufts School of Medicine: https://medicine.tufts.edu/people/faculty/ndidiamaka-amutah-onukagha

Note: this episode contains some information about military sexual trauma; no explicit details are shared

In today's episode we hear from a woman who navigated her pregnancy and birth with all kinds of obstacles, including that her partner was away on military assignment

She also encountered some significant issues in delivery that turned out to be related to an undiagnosed chronic condition-- Ehler Danlos syndrome,

Once she got her diagnosis, she was able to use it to improve the lives of her children.

She also shares what she did to create the community around her that she needed, and how ultimately getting a diagnosis dramatically changed her life and her children's lives.

For more facts on military sexual trauma: https://www.protectourdefenders.com/?fbclid=IwAR1hFiujoboAufjSw7MrN2TnBM9CSnhgRa84TrcOqSpKYCTiaYmvGowIe1g

In today's episode we talk about: Kelly's second birth, which was at home.
As a BIRTH EDUCATOR & LACTATION CONSULTANT, she shares:

*Some critical ingredients for an empowered birth (hint: the setting doesn't necessarily matter)

*What clues might suggest  that you need breastfeeding help and how to find it

* Autoimmune issues that are not uncommon to confront in the postpartum period and what to do about them

You Can Find Kelly's Book here: https://www.amazon.com/Protecting-Potential-Breastfeeding-Kelly-Durbin/dp/1946665665/ref=sr_1_2?crid=BN31OXY3SLPX&keywords=kelly+durbin&qid=1702852134&sprefix=kelly+durbin%2Caps%2C177&sr=8-2

Article about Birth as a Neuro-Psycho-Social event: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/authors?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0230992

Stat's on Gestational Diabetes and Postpartum Thyroiditis
https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/gestational.html#:~:text=Gestational%20diabetes%20is%20a%20type,pregnancy%20and%20a%20healthy%20baby.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/15294-postpartum-thyroiditis

Institute of Functional Medicine: https://www.ifm.org/

In today's episode we talk about the many challenges Kelly faced in postpartum, including:
* very painful breastfeeding, in part likely due to a significant tongue tie that was never caught,
*signs of tongue tie and the difficulties identifying it

We also hear about her second birth, which was a home birth.

This is the second of three episodes.

torticollis
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22430-torticollis

Signs you might be having a difficult postpartum:

In today's episode I talk to a woman about the first of her two births.
She talks about HOW her experience in pregnancy and her first birth changed her life in ways she couldn't have anticipated.

Because of the things that happened in this pregnancy and birth she left teaching and became a BIRTH EDUCATOR & LACTATION CONSULTANT.

She shares  how she faced her fears in the first birth, and offers useful tips for others who have fears of childbirth.
She COUNSELS THAT: 
every single decision point is important, and people feel more empowered when they know they have options). 

• If you're worried about pain relief, learn about natural coping techniques, use these as a first line, 
• Believe in your own power.
• Learn about how labor progresses. Create a plan for early labor by keeping your mind occupied. 
• Create a plan for active labor. Use people-centered coping techniques (people providing emotional and physical support )
• Believe in yourself!
• And MORE

 This is the first of three episodes.

In today's episode I finish my conversation with Chantal. 
We talk about:
* how she used her experience of her first birth to inform how she walked into the second birth. 

One major change she made was in her research strategy:

The second time around she traded a home birth for a hospital birth
she researched:
her doctor
her hospital
all the procedures that might accompany preeclampsia
and more
which led to a much more empowered birth experience.

It also ultimately led to a career change, away from an office job to becoming a doula.

In today's episode,  I talk to a doula who learned a great deal about her body and her pregnancy in a challenging postpartum that included both a hemorrhage and preeclampsia. 

we talk about:
* the dramatic gap between her expectation: that everything would be easy, 
and 
* her actual experience: how she managed her home birth, which required a transfer to a hospital after the birth to manage retained placenta
*how that transfer allowed doctors to manage her hemorrhage,  and the postpartum preeclampsia that followed
*how she used these experiences to guide her in her second birth