Four Miscarriages Followed by Empowered Birth & Hard Postpartum and then a Traumatic Birth with an Empowered Postpartum

Katy’s journey to motherhood was fraught with heartache, marked by four miscarriages before Jack’s birth—a journey colored by fear and trauma. Diagnosed with preeclampsia at 36 weeks in the first pregnancy she’d carried to term, the terror was palpable, affirming her darkest fears about what she believed were her body’s failures. In the week before her induction, Katy turned to her greatest strengths: research and advocacy. Armed with knowledge and a newfound sense of empowerment, she faced her 37-week induction with a trust in herself and her body she’d never felt before with pregnancy. The 12-hour labor, guided by an incredibly supportive nurse, concluded with a powerful affirmation as Jack entered the world: “I hope you know that you did this,” her nurse told her. “Your knowledge and advocacy is the reason he made it here so fast.”

Four and a half years later, Branham’s birth story unfolded differently. Without the familiar storm of preeclampsia, Katy was plagued by a different kind of anxiety. Fearing the doctors were missing something that would harm her baby, Katy was unable to believe her body was a safe place for Branham after 37 weeks. She underwent a semi-elective 39-week induction, and the fast-paced, four-hour labor was far from the relief it might seem, leaving her feeling unprepared and vulnerable. This experience underscored a crucial lesson she now shares passionately: the importance of preparing for every birth, including the birth you don’t want, and advocating for yourself relentlessly. This has become a cornerstone of Katy’s advocacy in all realms of motherhood–teaching moms to embrace the unpredictable nature of motherhood with knowledge and courage, while always staying true to their own desires. 

Katy Huie Harrison, PhD Bio

Katy is not just an author but a crusader, redefining motherhood’s narrative after a decade of academic study and personal challenges, including recurrent pregnancy loss and severe postpartum anxiety. This journey led her from academia to founding Undefining Motherhood, a movement against the centuries-old, unrealistic expectations placed on mothers. With a suite of resources—her engaging website, insightful newsletters, transformative books and planners, and an engaging new podcast—Katy champions a new era for moms, focusing on real change and empowerment.

Her innovative pregnancy planner, Expecting & Organized, has already shifted over 20,000 families’ journeys, earning acclaim as an Etsy Bestseller and one of Amazon’s Top Picks in 2024. Anticipation is building for her upcoming release, The Postpartum Playbook.

Featured in places like CNN’s Headline News, Romper, and Wondermind, Katy brings light to the often-shadowed realities of parenting. She fosters a space where moms at all stages feel acknowledged and understood. Follow her journey and transformative advice on Instagram at @undefiningmotherhood and dive deeper into her conversations on the Undefining Motherhood podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Resources

Undefining Motherhood

Undefining Motherhood creates resources to support moms during all stages of pregnancy, including the weeks & months after birth. It’s your home for judgment-free information…so you can take care of baby and yourself, mama. Their Expecting & Organized Planner provides tools for pregnancy, sure–but it’s also about caring for yourself during those for the days, weeks, and months after birth. Check it out at undefiningmotherhood.com to join the more than 20k moms raving about how they now feel relaxed, confident, and prepared. Get 10% off with code BIRTHHOUR. And be sure to check out the new Undefining Motherhood podcast for your weekly dose of mom support. 

Healing from Birth Trauma: Unplanned Hospital Birth in the UK + NICU Stay

After a surprise, but wanted, pregnancy, Jessica dove into the birth world in preparation for a home birth with her first baby. Despite her best efforts, her pregnancy was marked with many difficulties including multiple bleeds, polyhydramnios, an irritable uterus and a preterm labor scare at 29 weeks. Jessica ended up having an unplanned hospital birth when her daughter arrived a month early on Christmas Day 2021. She managed to fight for the unmedicated birth she desperately desired, but felt very disempowered by how she was treated by certain hospital staff. Her daugher Poppy was born, but surprised everyone with unexpected health complications that resulted in a 6 week NICU stay full of uncertainty. Jessica also suffered from a major obstetric hemorrhage and vaginal wall tear during the birth.

Jessica and her husband Mark did everything they could to be there for Poppy as they waited to learn what her life might look like. After the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people around the world, Poppy went from an unresponsive, floppy baby with no suck, swallow or gag reflex, to latching at 5 weeks and being sent home as a healthy baby with no tubes at 6 weeks old! Jessica’s postpartum involved a very difficult breastfeeding journey where they overcame weeks of tube feeding, oral ties and low supply to nurse successfully for 13 months. She has also spent the last two years doing everything she can to heal her perception of what birth can be and to overcome the trauma of Poppy’s delivery and newborn days. 

Jessica Reynolds-Corden birth story

Jessica Reynolds-Corden Bio

Jessica is a wife, mama, and lover of Meg Ryan movies and oat milk lattes. Originally from Hershey, PA, she now lives just outside of London with her British husband, Mark and daughter, Poppy. Jessica is passionate about real food and also chocolate, about full bellies and easy cooking, about endometriosis and how to flourish with an illness. As a stay-at-home, work-from-home mom she shares all of it over on instagram, along with life in the messy middle of motherhood. Connect with her on Instagram: @jessicaeatsrealfood or her website: www.jessicaeatsrealfood.com

Resources

BabyPeek 

Have you ever wondered whether your baby will inherit your partner’s eye color, or if their hair will be curly or straight, or maybe they will prefer sweet food over salty? Enter BabyPeek, the revolutionary genetic test that unveils your baby’s potential traits as early as 10 weeks gestation.

With BabyPeek, you can discover 12 distinctive traits before they’re born, from the color of their eyes to whether they’ll have a sweet tooth. For example, you might learn that your baby has a 72% chance of dark brown hair, 18% chance of dark blonde hair, and 11% chance of black hair… or that your baby has just a 12% chance of thinking cilantro tastes like soap!

What sets BabyPeek apart is that it’s the first and only genetic test of its kind, brought to you by BillionToOne’s cutting-edge technology and backed by extensive research. BabyPeek is available exclusively as an add-on to Unity Complete, a routinely offered first trimester prenatal test that screens for genetic disorders. Unity is the only version of this test that sequences your baby’s DNA directly from one maternal blood sample taken at your doctor’s office. BabyPeek uses that same sample and cutting-edge technology to give you a fun sneak peek into your baby’s genetic makeup before birth—for the first time ever.

Visit babypeek.com/birthhour now to request access and learn more about how BabyPeek is transforming the way we connect with our little ones even before they arrive.

Empowering Hospital Birth with Epidural + Unknown Marginal Cord Insertion with Placental Delivery Complication

Labor began on a Sunday, contractions intensified and after over an hour of consistent contractions, Jeannette and her husband began their journey to hospital. Jeannette labored in triage for 7ish hours before getting formally admitted to labor and delivery. This would be the hardest part of labor for Jeannette as those contractions intensified and she was required to stay in the hospital bed in a small room that did not have a mobile monitor she could wear to monitor both contractions and baby’s heartbeat to roam freely. Handling the contractions bed bound were challenging and intense. Jeannette was determined to handle them utilizing all of her learned coping skills. Once she was dilated close to a 4, she was finally formally admitted. She utilized hydrotherapy, aromatherapy, practiced breathing, meditations, and visualizations strategies during labor with her husband as her birthing support partner. She struggled to progress after nearly 16 hours of labor. At this point, she felt discouraged and weary. At the 16th hour mark, she consented to the epidural, hoping it could be successfully placed despite having a lower lumbar scoliosis diagnosis. The epidural was successfully placed and after consenting to the breaking of her water and support of pitocin, she progressed to full effacement and dilation after about 2 hours and then began pushing. She pushed for 40 minutes and soon welcomed her son, Lucas Cole into the world, weighing 7 lb 15 oz and 20 inches long on Tuesday evening, February 28th, 2023. The “second birth” or birth of her placenta was traumatic for Jeannette as it resulted in post delivery placental abruption due to undiagnosed marginal cord insertion. The midwife and nursing staff worked to retrieve and piece together all of her placenta to ensure nothing was retained and would cause further complications or surgery. The placental root was abnormally thin and looped as opposed to being centered with a strong root, despite this miss, Lucas grew healthily throughout the pregnancy and was born without any complications. Jeannette shares her story in hopes to bring awareness to often missed placental abnormalities in pregnancy such as marginal cord insertion and its impacts on pregnancy and birth. 

skin to skin dad hospital

Jeannette Chase Bio

Jeannette is a first time mom living in Virginia Beach, Virginia with her high school sweetheart now husband, Hudson, and their 11 month old baby boy, Lucas. They love living near the beach and getting outside together as a family. Jeannette works in the public school system and provides speech-language therapy to young children and Hudson is a geospatial engineer. Jeannette has a private instagram you can reach her under the name of jeannette.m.chase. 

Resources

  • Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth: Birth Stories Portion
  • Meditation Mama on Spotify for pregnancy, postpartum, motherhood, etc. 
  • The Birth Hour Podcast: Immerse yourself in Uplifting Birth stories, familiarize yourself with things you are curious or concerned about. 
  • Online Birth course and breastfeeding courses: Injoy Health Education.
  • Local IBCLC for breastfeeding support. 

Aeroflow Breastpumps

Today’s episode is sponsored by Aeroflow Breastpumps. Aeroflow has helped millions of new and expecting parents discover the breastfeeding and postpartum essentials covered by their insurance including breast pumps, maternity compression, and lactation education & support.

They take care of everything – including all paperwork, working with your insurance company, and explaining your options to get these free essentials shipped straight to your door. Aeroflow offers all major breast pump brands including Medela, Spectra, Motif, Lansinoh, Ameda, Elvie, Willow and more.

All you have to do is go to the Aeroflow Breastpumps website and fill out their free and easy Qualify Through Insurance form. Be sure to go to aeroflowbreastpumps.com/birthhour so they will know we sent you! Bonus — use the promo code “BIRTHHOUR15” in their online shop for 15% off all supplies and accessories.

Long Induction after Cholestasis Diagnosis, Postpartum Hemorrhage and Pospartum Preeclampsia Two Weeks after Birth

Alessandra and Jim were elated to find out they were pregnant after about 3 months after their wedding. She had a fairly normal start to pregnancy but did experience nausea. At around 30 weeks, Alessandra began experiencing itchy hands which led to a cholestasis diagnosis. This diagnosis called for two doctor appointments to check on the baby, which caused extra anxiety. But Alessandra and Jim remained optimistic and focused on keeping her and baby healthy. At 37.5 weeks, Alessandra’s doctors encouraged her induction which lasted a grueling 2.5 days. After an exhausting 4 hours of pushing, Layla was born but Alessandra began hemorrhaging and suffered major blood loss.

Alessandra labor and birth was traumatic for her and Jim. Her postpartum experience wasn’t any easier recovering from a 3rd degree tear and being readmitted to the hospital 2 weeks postpartum due to preeclampsia. Followed by postpartum anxiety and self-doubt of how to navigate this new life.

alessandra birth story

Alessandra Migliore Bio

Alessandra, her husband Jim, daughter Layla (16 months) and three dogs live in NJ. She can be found on instagram @alessandra_migliore.

Resources

SNP Therapeutics

Today’s episode is sponsored by SNP Therapeutics, makers of the Genate Test. Based on over 16 million dollars in NIH grants, and more than 30 years of nutrition and genetic research, SNP Therapeutics is leading the charge in the field of prenatal, precision-nutrition genetic testing.

SNP Therapeutics is committed to providing accurate and usable information to help mothers provide the best possible nutrition to their babies through The Genate Test: a prenatal, precision-nutrition, genetic test that offers personalized dietary adjustments and supplement recommendations based on your DNA. 

You can rest easy knowing that your prenatal nutrition has been optimized by tailoring it to your genetic code. Find peace of mind about your prenatal nutrition with the Genate Test by SNP Therapeutics. Learn more at genate.com and Use code BIRTHHOUR15 for 15% off your order.

Easy pregnancy, Magical Unmedicated Hospital Birth Story, then the Shock of Postpartum

First time mom Jenni had an unmedicated hospital birth in Austin, TX in June of 2021 that was 13 hours from start to finish. She had an easy pregnancy, magical hospital birth, and what she describes as a shocking and difficult postpartum. Jenni and her son had latch issues, followed by triple feeding, followed by exclusive pumping for 14 months. Jenni was diagnosed with postpartum depression and anxiety around 6 months postpartum. Around 20 months postpartum, other health issues emerged & she was also diagnosed with a prolactinoma (pituitary tumor); treatment is ongoing. Jenni credits the KYO Childbirth Course & The Birth Hour with giving her the courage to switch providers at 28 weeks pregnant!

Jenni Gordon birth story

Jenni Gordon Bio 

Jenni is a lifelong dancer & dance educator, and currently training to become a classical Pilates instructor. She lives in Austin, TX with her husband, son, and dog, Lady. You can find Jenni on Instagram @jennibegordon. 

Resources

Redd Remedies

Part I of this episode is sponsored by Redd Remedies. Redd Remedies has strong roots in the natural product industry and crafts Master Herbalist formulated supplements from premium ingredients, ensuring natural and effective solutions for life’s physical and emotional challenges. Peaceful Mama, one of their star products, provides stress support to all moms, including pregnant and nursing women!

To learn more about Peaceful Mama, Rhythm and Flo, and Redd Remedies and to view testimonials, head to www.reddremedies.com and use code BIRTHHOUR at checkout to get 20% off any 2 or
more items.
 

Ergobaby

Part II of this episode is sponsored by Ergobaby. Founded in 2003, Ergobaby has pioneered the gold standard for comfortable, ergonomic soft structured carriers. Their commitment to providing parents with the foundation to thrive has launched the company into creating a broad range of award-winning products that fit into families’ daily lives seamlessly, comfortably, and safely – where function and quality are not compromised. In 2020, they launched Everlove by Ergobaby, a first of its kind baby carrier buy back and resale program, a sustainability effort to support families and the planet. Check out Ergobaby’s new Life with Baby Podcast and follow Ergobaby on Instagram and Brandi Sellers-Jackson (host of their podcast) as well! Use code BIRTHHOUR for 15% off at ergobaby.com.

Redemptive Maternal Assisted Cesarean Birth after Profound Incontinence Following Vaginal Birth

Nicole was supported by her healthcare team to have an empowering and redemptive elective maternal assisted cesarean birth with the birth of her second son, Harrison. The decision to pursue this option was following a traumatic first time vaginal birth with several postpartum complications (planned homebirth turned hospital transfer for prolonged rupture of membranes and prodromal labor after attempting an at home castor oil induction followed by multiple days of a long labor once at the hospital. Nicole then experiences a retained placenta and cervical laceration with attempt at manual removal of placenta followed by the cervical laceration being improperly repaired and healing abnormally. She ultimately needed a D&C which was followed by having a latex Foley catheter inserted despite a known latex allergy that was listed in her chart. In the months that followed Nicole experienced profound postpartum urinary incontinence requiring multiple interventions and procedures and ultimately a surgery to correct at 6 months postpartum which thankfully worked.  Nicole’s second pregnancy was complicated by a shortened cervix, ptsd, anxiety, and perinatal OCD but her maternal-assisted cesarean birth was the most empowering and redemptive experience she could’ve imagined.

mom delivers own baby c-section

Nicole Minghine Bio

Nicole is a registered nurse and certified nurse midwife. Presently, she is a stay at home mom to her 2 children. Nicole lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband Josh and their 2 sons (Jude 2yo & Harrison 7w). Connect with her on Instagram @nminghine.

postpartum incontinence

Resources

  • Best pads for urinary incontinence: Poise Ultra Thin Incontinence Pads & Postpartum Incontinence Pads, 4 Drop Moderate Absorbency, Long Length, 144 Count (3 Packs of 48), Packaging May Vary https://a.co/d/iSfoF2R
  • The CONfidence app enables people with bladder and bowel leakage to find useful information, self-care tips and links to support – all in one place. The app was developed in collaboration between Expert Self Care Ltd and the Bristol Health Partners Bladder and Bowel Confidence (BABCON) Health Integration Team, and co-produced with public contributors, topic experts, charities and other partners.
  • PMSL: Or How I Literally Pissed Myself Laughing and Survived the Last Taboo to Tell the Tale https://a.co/d/0VknfCy
  • Birth photography: Jennifer Mason 
  • Maternal assisted cesarean inspo: Empowered Motherhood Project Blog

Psychiatry support

  • MC3 offers no-cost psychiatry support to prescribing health care providers who treat behavioral/mental health in youth and perinatal people in Michigan through same-day phone consultations to offer guidance on diagnostic questions, safe medications, and appropriate psychotherapy. MC3 offers direct perinatal mental health services to patients of providers enrolled in MC3 in select counties. This is a pilot program that includes free same-day access to behavioral health consultants that will provide virtual counseling, case management, and care coordination for your patients. The MC3 program offers psychiatry support to health care providers in Michigan who are managing patients with behavioral/mental health concerns. This includes children, adolescents, young adults through age 26, and women who are contemplating pregnancy, pregnant, or postpartum (up to one year). MC3 is part of the Michigan Medicine Department of Psychiatry. It is funded by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) via general funds, Medicaid Administration funds, Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) funds, and Flint Water Crisis funds.

SNP Therapeutics

Today’s episode is sponsored by SNP Therapeutics, makers of the Genate Test. Based on over 16 million dollars in NIH grants, and more than 30 years of nutrition and genetic research, SNP Therapeutics is leading the charge in the field of prenatal, precision-nutrition genetic testing.

SNP Therapeutics is committed to providing accurate and usable information to help mothers provide the best possible nutrition to their babies through The Genate Test: a prenatal, precision-nutrition, genetic test that offers personalized dietary adjustments and supplement recommendations based on your DNA. 

You can rest easy knowing that your prenatal nutrition has been optimized by tailoring it to your genetic code. Find peace of mind about your prenatal nutrition with the Genate Test by SNP Therapeutics. Learn more at genate.com and Use code BIRTHHOUR15 for 15% off your order.

Optimized by Optimole