After two years of trying to get pregnant, Madelyn was eventually diagnosed with PCOS and began fertility treatment. With the aid of a trigger shot and timed intercourse, Madelyn became pregnant, and gave birth to her first son in June 2020. Her pregnancy was uncomplicated and joyful. As a trained doula, Madelyn had prepared for an unmediated hospital birth. Despite her preparation, a prolonged labor ultimately resulting in a C-section left Madelyn feeling exhausted and out of control. Immediately following birth, Madelyn felt overwhelmed and highly anxious. In the first months postpartum, depression and anxiety coalesced around an increasingly fraught relationship with alcohol and the isolation of early COVID quarantines. Intrusive thoughts creeped in. As the months passed, her drinking became more frequent and secretive, and her relationships with those closest to her began to fray. With the assistance of therapy, medication and intensive outpatient rehabilitation, Madelyn was able to take control of her mental health and find sobriety. A profound period of introspection and healing followed.
In Spring 2022, Madelyn and her husband decided they wanted to try for a second baby. They were pleasantly surprised when Madelyn became pregnant only two months later and even more surprised when they discovered she was pregnant with twins!
Like her first, Madelyn’s second pregnancy was uncomplicated and joyful; although physically more challenging. Due to the babies’ positioning, a VBAC was not an option and a planned C-section at 38 weeks became an incredibly redemptive birth experience for Madelyn. In the three weeks since the birth of the twins, Madelyn is grateful to report that her postpartum experience has been completely different from her first.
Madelyn Morris Bio
Madelyn is a mom to three. Her first son, Leo was born June 2020 and her twins, Juniper and Elias, were born December 2022. Madelyn and her husband, Andrew, have been married almost 8 years. Madelyn is originally from Utah, but she and her family currently reside in Chicago, IL. Madelyn is a family law attorney. Connect with her on FB or instagram by searching for Madelyn Morris.
This episode is sponsored by Woolino. Woolino’s innovative sleep sacks help babies sleep better and longer. More sleep for baby means more sleep for you! Woolino’s super-soft, temperature-regulating merino wool sleep sacks use 100% natural fibers that are safe for babies, environmentally friendly, and easy to care for. Discover why thousands of babies and parents are sleeping better at woolino.com/thebirthhour and use the coupon code BIRTHHOUR for 15% off.
After an uncomplicated pregnancy, Samara had many days of prodromal labor that lasted well into her 41st week of pregnancy. True labor finally kicked off at 41 weeks and 4 days after a foley balloon placement at the freestanding birth center where she planned to meet her baby boy. Over the next thirty-eight hours, Samara went from laboring at home with her doula to laboring at the birth center in a big, beautiful tub to laboring on all fours in the back of her Mazda 2 Hatchback due to a meconium-related hospital transfer. She was going for an unmedicated, out-of-hospital birth and ended up epiduralized, working with her hospital care team (who were also her coworkers) to pull out all the interventional stops to get her a vaginal delivery. While both she and baby tolerated labor well (the meconium never presented a problem), she still never progressed past 7 centimeters. At the 38th hour, she had a c-section for arrest of dilation.
It’s taken time to process the birth and her feelings have evolved with each passing month. Labor came with its fair share of stress and pain and things did NOT go as planned but overall she’s grateful for the feelings of autonomy she had throughout the experience. She believes that regardless of birth outcome, feeling respected and having autonomy throughout the experience can turn a potentially traumatic birth into an empowering one. She’s incredibly grateful for the care she received both outside and inside the hospital, and she hopes to one day provide that same level of care to her patients as a Certified Nurse-Midwife.
Samara Laxineta Bio
Samara is a Labor and Delivery nurse and Master’s student at UCSF where she’s studying to become a Certified Nurse-Midwife and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner. A once astute conversationalist, Samara now struggles to chat about anything but birth, pregnancy, and her new favorite subject…babies. She welcomes any and all new conversation topics. A lazy cyclist, beer lover, and self-help enthusiast, she lives in San Francisco with her husband Toby, baby boy Ziggy, and two precious cats Sass and Frankie.
This episode was sponsored by Motif Medical. Motif designs insurance-eligible products for busy moms. With a focus on innovation and empowerment, Motif’s line of breast pumps and maternity compression garments are sophisticated, yet discreet, and made to support mothers as they navigate new motherhood. Discover why moms are reporting more milk in less time with the Luna breast pump, and see how you can get it covered through insurance at motifmedical.com/birthhour.
Pat got pregnant with her first baby, Liam, a couple of months shy of her 40th birthday. Despite the anxiety that the statistics for her age made her feel, Pat had a healthy pregnancy. Due to an OP baby and lack of support, a difficult five-day labor lead to a cascade of interventions. After getting stuck at 6cm and having the baby suffer decels, the birth ended on a c-section–– something far from the unmedicated birth she so much had prepared for and dreamed of. During her labor and stay in the hospital, she felt unheard and mistreated by some of the residents, which added to the trauma she carried from the birth.
When she got pregnant with her second son Oliver, she made sure to hire a doula and surround herself with the support necessary to try to have a different experience this time. This was also an uncomplicated pregnancy, despite being 42 this time around. She also switched providers to a specialist in VBACs. When the labor began, Pat recognized some of the same patterns in this labor (baby was also OP) and triggered some of the trauma, but with the help of her doula and rockstar husband, Pat headed to the hospital after two days of labor and she was already at an 8, which made her feel so proud of herself. This time, no residents were allowed and she had an incredible midwife, Rachel, who was a blessing. Although the birth ended up with a VBAC, something she had dreamed of and makes her feel proud of herself, Pat once more has struggled with the treatment received, this time from the OB, and is trying to process the experience and coming to terms with it.
Pat Santana Bio
Pat Santana was born in Barcelona and moved to LA in 2013 to pursue the love of her life, her now husband Jesse, who he met at film school. They both work in the film and tv industry and have two kids–– Liam (2 years old) and Oliver (5 months old)–– with her dog, Yuna. Connect with her via Instagram- @patsantanaf or on Facebook- facebook.com/patbzz.
This episode is brought to you by Kindred Bravely. From adorable maternity wear to comfortable nursing bras, this mom-owned company has you covered. See all of their comfy clothing at kindredbravely.com! I especially love their Simply Sublime nursing tank, their high waisted leggings (for pregnancy AND postpartum). Listen to this episode for a special coupon code and to hear about my new favorites in their summer line of clothing and loungewear!
Jenny’s pregnancies were considered high risk due to pre-existing hypertension and a history of cancer. She was induced at 40 weeks with a long labor and eventual C-section for her first baby. For her second baby, she strongly desired to avoid induction and go into labor spontaneously so she hired a doula to help advocate for a VBAC. After a roller coaster of medical interventions at the end of her second pregnancy, she had a scheduled C-section at 41 weeks. During her postpartum period she experienced several challenges including postpartum high blood pressure, blood in baby’s stool, hemangiomas, and breastfeeding challenges.
Jenny Novak Bio
Jenny is an emergency manager and writer residing in Long Beach, California with her husband, J.B. and two daughters. Scarlett was born in July 2019 and Sasha was born in August 2021. Connect with her on Instagram @jennynovakbrown Facebook Jenny Novak Brown or via her website http://jennynovak.com
Resources
The Birth Hour
Nest Collaborative
Kindred Bravely
Facebook Groups – Respectful Sleep Training/Learning, Due Date Groups, Local Childcare Groups, Local Buy Nothing, Dairy and Soy free Breastfeeding Support
Apps – What to Expect, Baby Tracker App, The Bump, Mamava
Ergobaby
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 Embrace in Soft Air Mesh and new Evolve 3-in-1 Bouncer that we discussed on the podcast!
Jordy opted for an elective c-section with her first baby due to a genetic narrow birth canal and not wanting to risk an emergency situation. She was planning on doing the same with her second baby, however her daughter had other plans and she went into spontaneous labor at 39 weeks, followed by an urgent, but not emergent, c-section. Jordy will also talk about the stresses of giving birth during the peak of the pandemic as her son was born in May 2020.
Jordy Levin Bio
Jordy, originally from Sydney, Australia is a teacher and sleep consultant living in NYC. She is married to Dorron, an IT specialist, and has two young children, Zev who is 2 years old and Malka who is 7 months old.
Jordy can be found on Instagram at @contentedkoalas, where you will also find content on infant and toddler sleep and relaxation tips for young children.
This episode was sponsored by Motif Medical. Motif designs insurance-eligible products for busy moms. With a focus on innovation and empowerment, Motif’s line of breast pumps and maternity compression garments are sophisticated, yet discreet, and made to support mothers as they navigate new motherhood. Discover why moms are reporting more milk in less time with the Luna breast pump, and see how you can get it covered through insurance at motifmedical.com/birthhour.
Brooke shares more about her story in her own words below.
My story begins in June 2020 when I went in for a Pap smear and they discovered a large mass in my uterus. They thought I was pregnant but after a quick pregnancy test they realized it wasn’t that. Fast forward and I was diagnosed with having a large fibroid on my uterus. I was told if we were done having kids it would have been an automatic hysterectomy. I was devastated – they had me meet with a fertility doctor to make sure the surgical plan was appropriate considering we still wanted to have children. Surgery went really well and they said to wait 6 months and then start trying to conceive. We hadn’t planned on starting our family until my husband finished law school but my doctor felt like the fibroids would return and that we should try and get pregnant before that happened.
We started TTC in June 2021 and got pregnant our first cycle, unfortunately it was a blighted ovum and I miscarried at 10 weeks. I jumped right back into tracking my cycle and I ovulated again a couple weeks later and we decided to go for it. We conceived easily again, something I never imagined would happen so quickly after everything we had been through. I found I was pregnant in September and was due in May 2022.
Pregnancy was fairly uneventful, super healthy. First 16 weeks were hell lol. Because of my previous surgery, called a myomectomy, I had to have a C-section according to my doctors and the second opinions I asked for from the MFMs. I have been holding out hope that I would still be able to deliver vaginally, it’s an experience I always really wanted. I’ve been a birth nerd all my life and the idea that it’s something I would never get to experience was really hard for me. I put a lot of energy and effort into dealing with the loss of that experience before giving birth, I really had to grieve it.
Because I had to have a scheduled cesarean, they wanted to do it between 37 weeks and 38+9 to prevent me from going to active labor. We picked the day after classes finished for my husband but before finals began. It was very stressful time. My C-section went wonderfully, no complications. I was able to really prepare for the procedure before hand so I felt like I really knew what to expect and I would highly recommend that for anyone else. I was able to have a gentle cesarean, as far as my arms were not strapped down they were able to do delayed cord clamping and placed my baby on my chest afterwards. I quickly learned that I do not like being hooked up to things and I was up walking around just a few hours after he was born. They gave me an abdominal binder in the hospital and that thing was my best friend for a few weeks. We weren’t allowed to have visitors in the hospital due to Covid and our friends and family live a few hours away (we moved for law school) so we had a houseful waiting when we came home.
Immediately postpartum, my biggest challenge was breast-feeding. Something that I really didn’t expect was to have any issues with that I thought it would be fairly easy for me. My milk supply was low right off the bat, I could tell because my tiny baby who has a tiny stomach was just not getting enough. We had trouble latching at first. He was born at 37+6 and he was so sleepy. He didn’t latch for 12 hours. I think that was the first thing that went wrong. I didn’t know how important it was to hand express or pump if your baby doesn’t latch. Then once we finally got that I could tell my baby was frustrated and hungry and losing weight. I can go into more detail on this and what we did to help with the IBCLCs we saw. We ended up supplementing with formula which was really difficult for me emotionally. I remember staring at that first little bottle of formula they gave me and bawling. It was so hard and I felt like my body was failing my baby. They had me triple feeding and I was so exhausted. Trying to do all that with company coming to see the baby and trying to host while also trying to navigate this new life with all the postpartum emotions.
Brooke is 33 years old and she and her husband live in the California Bay Area with their 4 month old son Theodore “Teddy” and cat Piper. Her husband is in his last year of law school and she’s currently staying home with their son. She previously worked as a one on one aide for special needs students at an Elementary school.
Ergobaby
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 Embrace in Soft Air Mesh that we discussed on the podcast!
