For Katie’s first birth, she had an uncomplicated pregnancy and went into labor spontaneously at 38 weeks, 3 days. She labored at home for as long as possible before delivering her baby in a hospital following a non-consensual episiotomy by an OBGYN. Although she had the unmedicated birth she had hoped for, she had a difficult time recovering both physically and emotionally from the experience.
After receiving sage advice from her doula team, Katie opted for a home birth with a midwife for her second baby. She was amazed by the difference in prenatal and postpartum care and was fortunate to have another uncomplicated pregnancy. At 41 +1, Katie had a peaceful and healing birth at home after laboring for 11 hours.
Katie’s most recent pregnancy ended in loss, after she and her husband made the devastating decision to terminate at 16 weeks following two related diagnoses: a congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) and Pallister-Killian mosaic syndrome. While her experience was traumatic, it only further deepened her passion for protecting reproductive rights for birthing people, for any and all reasons or circumstances.
Katie Kirk Bio
Katie lives in the New York City Metro Area with her husband and two children. Along with her career in transportation planning, she is incredibly passionate about birth and supporting new moms and birthing people as result of her experiences with birth and pregnancy loss. Feel free to connect with Katie via Instagram @kmagz.
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!
Krista had always wanted to be a mother but had an unexpected pregnancy at a time in her life when she was still recovering from grad school burnout. Krista experienced intense nausea for the first 17 weeks of her pregnancy as well as anxiety and depression as a result of feeling isolated in the height of COVID lockdowns of 2020. After a move to a new city at 6 months pregnant to be closer to friends and family, she established care with a team of home birth midwives and was able to enjoy the remainder of her pregnancy. She had a successful but very long 40 hour home birth, and looks back on the experience as feeling very safe and supported by her team despite it being a very hard lesson in surrender.
Although she thought she was very prepared for postpartum, Krista’s experience was very difficult and she struggled with postpartum depression and anxiety. She didn’t immediately bond with her daughter, and struggled with the sleep deprivation and the high demands and changes of new motherhood. Breastfeeding was incredibly painful at first and though she saw many lactation consultants she didn’t receive the support she needed to make feeding her daughter more comfortable. Being the first of her close friends to have children she felt alone in motherhood, and experienced a lot of grief in processing her the loss of old identity and the feeling of obligation that comes with having a nursing baby. As she began sleeping better her mood stabilized again and she now loves motherhood and enjoys working with women and mothers to support them through the challenges that come along with the transition from maiden to mother.
Krista Ehrenfried Bio
Krista Ehrenfried is married to her grad-school sweetheart, Frank, and they live with their daughter, Willow, and Golden-doodle, in Santa Cruz, CA. She is a licensed MFT and Holistic Psychotherapist working with women and mothers experiencing anxiety, depression, stress/burnout and attachment issues with a special focus and passion in supporting women and couples during the perinatal and postpartum phase. She has a virtual and in person private practice and recently launched a podcast called Conversations on Well-being about all things holistic health. Connect with her on Instagram @therapywithkrista or via her Website www.therapywithkrista.com.
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!
Mary tried to conceive for almost 2 years, then became pregnant within two months of changing her diet. She wanted an unmedicated birth but went into the process uneducated and thought she could just do it. At 38 and 1 weeks, her waters broke around 10:30am. She went to the hospital where mild contractions started around 12pm. She was checked in triage and was 2cm and waters were confirmed to have broken. She was put in a room and by 2pm contractions had progressed, were one on top of another, and were very painful. Around 5:30pm she was checked and was told she was 6cm, to which she promptly asked for an epidural. They placed it quickly but before the bed was all the way lowered, she started feeling her legs convulsing and told the nurse. The nurse said she was 10cm and was ready to push. Mary pushed for about 40 minutes and Eloise was born at 6:31pm. Post-partum was hard, with a combo of postpartum depression, feeling like she failed because she got an epidural, learning how to be a mom, and her husband returning to work. But she muscled through it.
A month after Eloise’s 1st birthday, Mary knew she and her husband had slipped up and she might be pregnant but she thought it not likely because it took 2 years to conceive the first time. Sure enough, she was pregnant and this time, she was bound and determined to be educated and have an unmedicated birth, possibly her dream homebirth. Unfortunately, a homebirth was out of her budget so she was determined to have an unmedicated hospital birth and was focused on health and diet and had become totally enthralled with all things pregnancy and labor related.
About halfway through this pregnancy is when she found The Birth Hour and couldn’t get enough of it. At 39 and 5 weeks, she had her bloody show at her husband’s Christmas, work dinner. They went home to get their stuff, headed to the hospital, and she was admitted at midnight and contractions were coming steadily. At around 3:20am she asked the nurse to check her and Mary was complete. The fetal ejection reflex took over and Oliver was born at 3:30am. postpartum was hard again but this time was filled with more postpartum rage and trying to figure out how to be a mom to two, under two.
In May of 2020, Mary found out she was pregnant, with another surprise pregnancy. This time, she got to have a midwife and was planning for a homebirth, her dream. Covid was still very new so she was nervous about how it could affect her or the baby, but she managed to dodge the virus and had no close calls, up until she was 38 weeks. The friend who lived with Mary, said she had tested positive for covid. It was the scariest and most stressful part of the whole pregnancy, wondering if the home birth would happen, if her husband would get covid and not be able to attend the birth. Planning for every possible route this could go, all while trying to hold the baby in.
Quarantine ended on Mary’s guess date (Due Date) and then it was on to get the baby out. She tried everything to get the baby out and nothing worked. At 41 and 5 (42 and 1 based on her original guess date) Mary felt contractions start as she was putting her babes to bed around 7:30pm. They quickly intensified and the birth team was called. By 11:30pm, all but the second midwife were there. Mary felt pushy for about an hour and did what her body told her to do. And Primrose was born into her mama’s arms at 12:51am. It was the labor and birth experience she had dreamed of for many years, and it all worked out perfectly. Postpartum was again difficult and had more depression with a little bit of rage sprinkled in, but overall better than the two previous postpartum’s because Mary was honest about her struggles.
Mary Johnson Bio
Mary Johnson is 32 years old, married to her husband David, who is 33 years old. They have been married for 9 years (known each other for 26 years) and have three children, Eloise who is 5, Oliver (Bear) who is 3, and Primrose (Jones) who is 1 year old. She lives in Bakersfield California and is a stay-at-home mom with a side hustle of making custom cakes from her home. She homeschools Eloise and is busy chasing the other two around and trying to stay connected with her friends who help her along this mom journey. She is also currently waiting to be matched with intended parent/s to be a gestational carrier.
Mary can be found mostly on Instagram. She is only on Facebook for the birth hour patron group. Instagram handles are: private account @call_me_murry or her public cake account @cakes_by_maryelizabeth
This episode is sponsored by Caraway Home. Caraway Home has a Cookware and bakeware set that all come in the most beautiful colors and all Caraway Home sets come equipped with easy-access storage solutions so that no stacking is required. It’s a modern & chemical-free version of the traditional 16-piece set, pared down to just four essentials: A Fry Pan, Sauté Pan, SaucePan, and a Dutch Oven with lids for everything plus a pretty and functional storage setup comes included with the set! Visit Carawayhome.com/BIRTHHOUR to take advantage of a limited-time offer for 10% off your next purchase.
Betterhelp
Today’s episode is also sponsored by Betterhelp. BetterHelp is online therapy that offers video, phone, and even live chat-only therapy sessions. I love that Betterhelp is so much more affordable AND convenient than in-person therapy. For many people the barrier to getting therapy is finding a therapist but with Betterhelp, you can be matched with a therapist in under 48 hour! Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com/birthhour.
Clarice has had two very different births – one was a long hospital induction and one was a fast homebirth. You can listen to her first birth story on Episode 345, and on this episode she will talk about her postpartum experience following that birth as well as her second birth and postpartum. Both times she experienced postpartum mood disorders (depression and anxiety) in some pretty significant ways. She has learned many lessons about how to deal with the mood disorders and what she can do to keep things from getting out of hand in the future.
Clarice Amorim Freitas Bio
Clarice is a mom of two young boys, she is originally from Brazil but now lives in Alaska with her kids and her husband. She is currently staying at home but she dreams of being a doula once her littles are a bit older – with the goal of helping other families achieve their ideal birth and postpartum experiences. In the meantime, she is enjoying traveling and exploring nature with her boys. You can follow their adventures on Instagram under the handle @onebarefamily. You can also find out more about her at https://wanderingrootsdoula.com/
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!
Bri loves teaching and empowering families about all things boobs, babies and breastfeeding. She’s a Registered Nurse, IBCLC Lactation Consultant, childbirth educator, and Certified Instructor of Infant Massage. She has 4 kiddos of her own so she knows firsthand how rocky the road into parenthood can be. She likes to help make that transition as smooth as possible for families like you. You can find her on Insta for quick tips and tricks @breezy__babies, at www.breezybabies.com, or on her Breezy Babies Podcast.
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!
After just one short year of moving from Toledo, Ohio her hometown to Houston, Texas Von Lane and her husband decided to try for a family right before the pandemic hit in Jan 2020. Prior to getting pregnant Von started to do a ton of research: reading books, trying to gain knowledge from YouTube, following whoever she could related to pregnancy on Instagram and also listening to her favorite podcast, The Birth Hour.
After a month of trying to conceive she decided to try everything possible from tracking her BBT, cervical mucus, and using ovulation test strips and they conceived in April of 2020. Two days late for her period, she decided to take a pregnancy test and it was positive! She was beyond excited although concerned because it was the middle of the pandemic and no one knew how long quarantine would last.
Being pregnant in the middle of a pandemic left Von feeling that her options were very limited, but all of that research paid off when she knew 100% that she wanted a homebirth. She did a quick Google search for midwives in Houston and there were plenty of midwives but not as many black midwives she wanted. She knew that she wanted to hire an all black birthing team.
After just four interviews she found the perfect midwife for her—Frances Coleman. They did a phone interview after just about 60 minutes of chit chatting and getting to know one another, she decided that Frances was the best fit for her and her family. Now all she had to do was find the perfect Doula. Again after a quick Google search she finally found someone by the name of Anya and she was absolutely amazing. Little did she know, Anya and Frances were friends and had worked together on quite a few occasions which made the decision even easier for her.
Pregnancy was fairly easy for Von and her first trimester flew by with no nausea, just mild food aversions and headaches. During her second trimester she decided to get out in the world to work as a nail technician. Getting out in the world means exposing yourself to COVID-19 so of course she was scared but she knew that after being quarantined for 90 days she needed a little bit of socialization. Her second trimester flew by with no complications. Third trimester for her went along the same way and at 38 weeks Von decided to stop working to rest before Baby came. At her 38 week check up she was two centimeters dilated and 80% effaced. She started eating dates and drinking her red raspberry leaf tea and also started curb walking.
At her 39 week check up, her blood pressure was high and her midwife was worried about preeclampsia but there was no protein in her urine so she was advised to start taking magnesium and go home and rest. Von was told to take her blood pressure every few hours and record it. If nothing changed in 24 hours her midwife would come and they would try to do everything natural possible to have a baby. They did nipple stimulation, curb walking, eating dates, midwives brew, castor oil, sex and at 40 weeks they did her first membrane sweep.
During the membrane sweep Von was dilated to 3 to 4cm and she had contractions for a few hours so she decided to get in the tub but the contractions stopped. She was devastated. Her Midwife told her to relax, take her time, and allow for baby to come when baby is ready. Luckily, her blood pressure was regulated and under control so they were back in the safe zone and had time.
At her 41 week check up, Von decided not to do another membrane sweep and to try to get baby to come on its own. That didn’t work and she was back in at 41w+4d and she told her midwife to do all the things. They tried clary sage essential oil and another membrane sweep and before she could walk out of the building she had three contractions.
That night January 12 at 2am she realized she was in full fledged labor and reached out to her doula, Anya, letting her know that she was having contractions that were lasting one minute long for one hour and were five minutes apart. Anya told her she was going to get ready. Von decided to wake her husband and went into the next room to let her best friend and her father know that she was in labor.
Anya arrived at the house at about 5am. By that time Von was nearing the transition stage. She started throwing up at about 4am and from then it never stopped! By the time her midwife arrived at 10am Von was 9 1/2 cm dilated. Baby was not in the best position so they had her doing some mile circuits to help baby move down into the pelvis a little better. At 11am, her midwife broke her water. She was GBS positive so this was the best scenario for starting antibiotics. At 12:30pm it was time to push and Ramsei Quinn Lane arrived at 12:54pm. She came out with her hands by her face, causing two tears in the clitoral hood and labia. They shared the golden hour together and they waited one hour before cutting the umbilical cord.
Postpartum for Von was long and she struggled with breastfeeding and vaginal healing. At two days her milk came in and that’s when she realized her baby was lip tied and tongue tied. By day five she reached out to a lactation consultant, Leah Whitley, who saved her life. She confirmed that baby girl Ramsei was tongue tied and lip tied. She gave her some recommendations and by four months old she got the procedure done to release the ties.
In the meantime, she was able to successfully breastfeed with Leah‘s help with and without a nipple shield. She never had any issues with her milk supply; a few clog ducks here and there things started to look up for her. Her vaginal healing finally healed completely at around six weeks postpartum.
Around six weeks postpartum she also started to experience anxiety and she went back to work at 12 weeks. Von recognizes that for some people, going back to work causes more anxiety but she needed to be out in the world and socializing again and work is her happy place just as much as home. Finally, when baby was seven months old, she felt like herself again.
By 10 months she was pregnant with her second baby due July 2022. She is planning another homebirth and using the same team. She hopes to be able to share that story some day as well!
Von Lane Bio
Von is from Toledo Ohio and moved to Houston in 2018 just one year after after being married to her husband, Charles. Charles is from Seattle and a navy veteran. They have a daughter, two dogs Astro the pit bull & Yogi the English bulldog, and are expecting their second baby. Connect with her on IG @Von__Lane, via TikTok: von__lane or listen to her podcast – Anchored Podcast.
Part I of this episode is sponsored by Panda Crate from KiwiCo. With Panda Crate, your baby receives a new crate filled with two-months’ worth of products and content every other month that help build a foundation for early learning! Get 50% off your first month on ANY crate line with code BIRTHHOUR at kiwico.com.
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 Embrace in Soft Air Mesh that we discussed on the podcast!
