In 2016 Jane and Dylan felt like it was the right time to start a family. They begin trying to get pregnant in January and in July of that year, Jane decided it would be smart to get her thyroid looked at. She was told to lose weight, see a sleep specialist and start meeting with a dietitian. Instead, she found a new doctor who immediately jumped into helping her get her hormones balanced.
Over the next 18 months they went through all the different fertility tests and everything came back unexplained. At the 2 year mark of TTC they felt like the next option was to pursue adoption through a small, local agency. Six months later they welcomed their daughter into the world and their home. Jane and Dylan were at the birth and stayed at the hospital with their daughter until she was discharged a couple days later.
Fast forward a few months and they began the discussion again of biological children. After a year of acupuncture, surgery to rule out endometriosis, and a lot of prayer, they decided to give IUI a chance. Miraculously Jane got pregnant on the first round, with twins! At 8.5 weeks they lost Baby B, but we’re so thankful to have a healthy Baby A still growing. After a weird and somewhat tumultuous pregnancy, Jane gave birth to Gus at 41 weeks and 4 days in the comfort of their home.
Jane Tucker Bio
Jane and her husband, Dylan live in Kansas City, Kansas. They have been married since March of 2014 and welcomed their first child into their family through adoption in 2018, and just had their second baby in September 2020. Lucia is almost 2.5 and Gus is 8 weeks old. Dylan works as the business director at A Chick-Fil-A and Jane is a full time SAHM. Connect with Jane on Facebook.
Motif Medical
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Two Unmedicated Hospital Births, Adoption Story & Vasectomy that Reversed Itself
Leanne’s first child was born at 41 weeks in an unmedicated hospital birth with a nurse mid-wife group. She labored for about 7 hours before Wesley came flying into the world. Her middle child, Eloise, joined their family via open infant adoption. Leanne and her husband were present for her birth and received their daughter in the hallway just minutes after her induction and vacuum-assisted delivery. Her 3rd child, Thomas, entered their family after a surprise post-vasectomy pregnancy. He was born at 40 weeks and 3 days, after 2.5 weeks of prodromal labor, in the same hospital as his older brother and with the same mid-wife group. He was born after about 90 minutes of active labor in an unmedicated birth.
Leanne Johnston Bio
Leanne lives in a Fort Worth suburb with her husband of 9 years and their 3 children, Wesley, Eloise, and Thomas. Leanne and Jarrod met in seminary and work together at a local church. Leanne enjoys walking, baking chocolate chip cookies, and wine. Connect with her on Instagram and Facebook.
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To listen to this episode, and more than 300 other birth stories in The Birth Hour archives, join our listener supporter group here!
Adoption through Foster Care
Kavisa and Sky talked about adoption even before they married. They set goals for building a blended family. Five years into their marriage, the timing and details aligned, and they became licensed for foster care and adoption. When Kavisa, who is normally an overthinker who spends days researching all the angles before making decisions, first saw a photo of their daughters she immediately knew. They met their two daughters for the first time in August 2015, officially adopting them in April 2016.
Five Day Wait After Water Breaking, Posterior Baby and Fetal Vacuum
Exactly 1 year and two days after Kavisa and Sky legally adopted their two daughters from foster care, their son was born. He took his sweet time arriving sunny side up with a head tilt (occiput posterior and asynclitic). He refused to follow any of Kavisa’s plans for birth. Kavisa planned for a water birth without any medical inventions or drugs. Her son decided that even though his comfortable womb home of amniotic fluid started leaking on Tuesday, he would stay inside an extra 5 days… and only after 3 days of labor. Inadequate dilation, fetal station/presentation, kidney function failure, and chorioamnionitis meant Kavisa and her son ended up needing medications, an epidural, and a fetal vacuum. However, after all the drama her son immediately latched seconds after birth. Their family 5 is a “real family” and full of love.
Kavisa Wood Bio
Kavisa and her husband Schuyler live in California with their two daughters Taloni (6) and Sharaelyn (3.5) and their son Uhuru (9 months). They intentionally grew their family through a combination of foster care adoption and biological children. Kavisa is a yoga teacher and CEO of her household. She is fueled by Baha’i prayers, running, yoga and coffee.
Resources
Jelly Bean Study for Glucose Test Instagram accounts: @knittogetherbyadoption, @our_foster_parent_life, @fostermoms, @empoweredbirthproject, @4thtribodies and @taprootdoula
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Trystan & Biff’s Adoption and Birth Story
Trystan and Biff adopted their niece and nephew (both survivors of an abusive situation), and that story was featured on WNYC’s parenting podcast, The Longest Shortest Time. Suddenly, the young couple found themselves sharing the lessons they learned, becoming parents under such stressful circumstances, with many people across the country. Then they decided to grow their family by having their own biological child—one that Trystan carried and birthed himself. As a transgender man, he has all the parts necessary to do so in a safe manner. He stopped taking his hormones, and they successfully conceived and had a beautiful, happy baby.
Trystan Reese Bio
Trystan Reese is perhaps best known as “the pregnant man” of internet and television fame. But he would prefer to be known as the adoptive father of Hailey and Riley, gestational father of Leo, all-around awesome trans community member, and partner to the amazing Biff Chaplow. He lives in Portland, OR and works as the Director of Family Formation at Family Equality Council. He can be found on Facebook and Instagram as @biffandi or at www.biffandi.com.
Today’s episode is sponsored by the Young Living Premium Starter Kit. If you’re looking to get started on your journey with essential oils (and really pregnancy or when you have little ones is such a great time to start!) then there is no better way than with the Premium Starter Kit. It sets you up with 11 of the most popular oils including lavender, lemon, peppermint, thieves, frankincense and more! The starter kit also comes with the diffuser of your choice (I love the desert mist one for its candlelight flicker setting!)
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Emergency Cesarean followed by Three VBACs & an Adoption
Rachel’s first birth was an emergency c-section, due to baby’s dropping heart rate and failure to progress after many long hours of labor. He ended up being a large baby (9 lbs, 8 oz) with a huge head. Her 2nd birth was a successful VBAC 18 months later to a smaller, healthy boy (8 lbs even). It was another long labor, but it went smoothly. Her 3rd birth was a VBAC birth to a baby girl, a much quicker and easier labor lasting only 6 hours. Baby weighed 8 lbs, 1 oz. Her 4th and last birth was a VBAC birth to a baby girl. Labor was a bit longer than the previous birth (12 hours) due to her water breaking and labor taking a while to get started but it was a smooth and relatively easy delivery. Baby weighed 8 lbs, 8 oz. She and her husband fostered a little boy 2 separate times (once during her 4th pregnancy, and again when that baby was a few months old) and his adoption was finalized last summer.
Rachel Bausili Bio
Rachel is from Oklahoma, and is a mom of 5 children ages 2 through 9. Her first baby was a c-section, and she has had 3 VBAC births and has adopted a child through the foster care system. She teaches fitness classes part time at the local Y, and loves hiking and adventuring with her family, traveling, baking, running, following the Oklahoma Thunder basketball team, and coffee dates with her husband. Connect with her on Instagram @befitandeatchocolate or on Facebook at Rachel Green Bausili.
Earth Mama Organics
Today’s episode is sponsored by Earth Mama Organics. From the positive test to the big push, from the first latch to the thousandth diaper, Earth Mama makes effective organic and natural herbal products for the whole journey of motherhood: pregnancy, postpartum, breastfeeding, and baby care. They’ve been safely nurturing mamas this way since 2002 — and they wouldn’t do it any other way.
To listen to this episode, and more than 300 other birth stories in The Birth Hour archives, join our listener supporter group here!
Homebirth to Hospital Cesarean Birth Story
Natalie’s first pregnancy (conceived with clomid) ended in a miscarriage. For her second pregnancy, she started right away with progesterone and blood thinning shots (she has factor v leiden). She knew for years that she wanted a home birth. She also knew the risks of home birth with her blood clotting disorder—she knew she may transfer at some point for hemorrhaging, but hoped against a placenta abruption. Her hematologist said that taking thinning injections helped cancel out that risk. She prepared for a home birth and anticipated it with so much joy. She wanted a home birth so badly. She couldn’t wait to experience that ‘meeting moment’ she had assisted so many times as a birth photographer.
Natalie’s birth began on a Tuesday morning, May 31. She labored and labored and labored. On Wednesday morning, her contractions became irregular. Wednesday night around 11 pm she transferred to the hospital, hoping to get her body back in order. Epidural didn’t work. Pitocin didn’t work. Her body metabolized the medicine. Thursday she pushed for over 4 hours. She was sure she was going to push him out. He was asynclitic (when a baby’s head is tipped towards one shoulder) and had swelling of the scalp (caput succedaneum). Her birth ended in a cesarean. She kept imagining meeting him, how it would be worth it. Her body metabolized the medicine, once again, so they had to put her under general anesthetics. She was asleep. Then when she woke up and was in a whole world of pain.
Natalie Brenner Bio
Natalie is a freelance writer, soon to be author, and professional photographer who is up for just about any crazy adventure. Natalie’s husband’s name is Loren, but she refers to him as LB. She chugs coffee while changing diapers and singing songs in silly voices to her two sweet boys who are almost 5 months apart and both 1. Before they grew by two kids, Natalie was also a doula; she is passionate about pregnancy and birth, infertility and miscarriage, as well as adoption. All around, she loves people. Connect further with her through Natalie Brenner Writes, Instagram, and Facebook. She also has a free e-book for working through grief called Wholeness Despite the Brokenness and just released her first book, This Undeserved Life: Uncovering the gifts of grief and the fullness of life.
