Kristen Seward’s First Hand Account Giving Birth During COVID-19
Kristen went into birth thinking it would look a lot like her previous birth— in a hospital, with midwives and a doula, and pain-medication free. However, after her 38 week appointment, the U.S. coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions went into place and she had to adjust her expectations and plans for birth. Connect with Kristen in our listener-supporters’ Facebook group by joining here.
Today’s episode is sponsored by Ergobaby. Founded in 2003, Ergobaby is dedicated to building a global community of confident parents with smart, ergonomic solutions that enable and encourage bonding between parents and babies. Ergobaby offers a broad range of award-winning baby carriers, strollers, swaddlers, nursing pillows, and related products that fit into families’ daily lives seamlessly, comfortably, and safely. At the end of today’s episode I spoke to Kelly all about the new Embrace carrier from Ergobaby.
Kimberly and Matthew began dating when they were 38 and 40 years old. About a year later they committed to each other and planned to have a family. After nine months of trying to conceive, and with a diagnosis of diminished ovarian reserve, they proceeded with their first unsuccessful fertility treatment: intrauterine insemination (IUI). When Kim was 40 years old, they underwent three rounds of in vitro fertilization (IVF) consisting of three egg retrievals followed by four embryo transfers, with a total of 10 embryos. Three embryo transfers resulted in negative pregnancy tests, and one in a chemical pregnancy, which terminated around 6 weeks gestation. Despite the heartbreak, Kim and Matt were inspired by a friend’s experience with egg donation. About two months after their last unsuccessful embryo transfer, Kim was pregnant with Matt’s baby, using a frozen donor egg. Every parameter of this pregnancy was strong and healthy!
Jacob was born at 40 weeks 2 days gestation, when Kim was 42 years old. They hoped to have an unmedicated birth in a hospital, assisted by their doula, Melissa. Labor started around 11 pm on Friday night, and Kim was 8 cm dilated by 8 am Saturday morning. However, her progress plateaued and at 5:30 pm Saturday evening, she was still only 9 cm dilated, and Jacob was in a posterior position. Kim’s contractions were coming fast, she was tired, and requested an epidural. Once the epidural was placed around 6 pm, they all rested, and Melissa positioned Kim on a peanut ball to help turn the baby and labor down. At 11 pm Kim started pushing and Jacob was born at 11:52 pm Saturday night.
Now Jacob is a happy, healthy and talkative seven-month old! Kim and Matt will forever be grateful to their egg donor, doctors, doulas, and support from family and friends to make their journey to parenthood possible. Kim, Matt and Jacob live in Atlanta, GA. Connect with Kim on Instagram @kemw28.
Resources
Support group: Parents Via Egg Donation (pved.org)
Book: Let’s Talk About Egg Donation, Marna Gatlin and Carole LieberWilkins
Doulas: TheAtlantaDoula.com
Podcasts: Beat Infertility, Heather Huhman; Birth Kweens, Karly Nuttall and Ali Feroah; Living Childfree with Erik and Melissa
IVFMEDS.com
Babylist
The people at Babylist believe that you should be able to get exactly what you need for your unique and growing family. That’s why their baby registry lets you add any item from any store. Even add cool services and favors like prenatal yoga, doula support, home-cooked meals or dog walking. Start your registry today to be eligible for a free Hello Baby Box of goodies for baby worth up to $190 while boxes last.
When Monique got pregnant she didn’t have a lot of information on birth. She only knew that it was her desire to have a vaginal birth. At 34 weeks she decided to switch from having a hospital birth to a homebirth. Labor started at 38w6d, but contractions were only lasting 35 seconds on average. Waiting for them to reach the 1 minute mark, she almost waited too long to call the midwife, who arrived only 15 minutes before her baby was born.
Monique Lamhut Bio
Monique is a stay-at-home mom to her 2 year-old-daughter. She is from Brazil, but currently lives in The Netherlands where she just finished her doula training. Connect with her via email at lamhutm@gmail.com
Today’s episode was sponsored by Grove Collaborative. Join over 2 million families who have shopped Grove Collaborative to buy products that are good for their homes, their family, and the environment. Make your home more sustainable this year. Now for a limited time when my listeners go to Grove.co/birthhour, you’ll get a FREE FIVE PIECE set from Grove so you can swap out plastic in an easy way. Plus, you’ll get free shipping AND a free 60-day VIP trial!
Danielle Edwards was arrested for a parole violation related to drug charges and sentenced to prison while pregnant with her daughter. In this episode she shares her experience with being pregnant while incarcerated, giving birth without any family support, and the physical and emotional toll of recovering from childbirth while in prison and separated from her baby. I was connected with Danielle for this interview by the Executive Director of Motherhood Beyond Bars, a non-profit organization that offers services to pregnant and postpartum women in prison in the Atlanta area.
Motif Medical
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.
Patreon Member
Become a listener supporter and gain access to archived episodes, a private Facebook community, and bonus content each month! This month we featured Amy Ard of Motherhood Beyond Bars, an organization that supports pregnant and postpartum women in prison.
Jackie and Albert tried for a year to get pregnant before they had a successful IVF transfer. Jackie had a pretty good pregnancy until the end when she had kidney stones and then the wild ride of the twins’ birth! 48 hours from beginning to end, baby A came vaginally on September 10th, and 15 hours later, baby B was born on September 11th from an emergency C section. The babies were in the NICU for about a week before they got to take them home and they are now happy and healthy!!
Jackie Laino Bio
Jackie lives in New Jersey and works at a medical device company as a Marketing Manager for the US Region. She is happily married to her husband, Albert, who is a solutions consultant and they’ve been married for three years. They have identical twin girls named Amelia and Shea, and a 90lb fur baby named Gus. You can follow their life with twins on Instagram @jakk__ & her husband @all_day_alay, or you can join her twins community @tipsfortwinning.
March of Dimes
Today’s episode was sponsored by March of Dimes. March of Dimes leads the fight for the health of all moms and babies. They support research, lead programs and provide education and advocacy so that every baby can have the best possible start. March of Dimes is partnering with the CDC to generate awareness among women of childbearing age, families, and health care providers about things they can do to help prevent birth defects. At the end of this episode we’ll be discussing 5 main tips from March of Dimes and the CDC to help your baby have a strong start. You can also find out more at marchofdimes.org/TheBirthHour.
Yoga teacher Brett Larkin wanted a natural homebirth (despite objections from her husband and family). As a compromise she and her husband decided on a plan for collaborative care, wanting to be prepared for both a hospital and a homebirth. Brett got more than she bargained for when her son arrived so quickly that she gave birth at home in her bathroom! Her midwife talked Brett and her husband through the birth on FaceTime while she drove to their house. The midwife arrived 15 minutes after the baby was born and cared for Brett and baby in the comfort of their bedroom.
Brett Larkin Bio
Brett’s an accredited RPYT prenatal yoga teacher at the highest level with Yoga Alliance. She also certifies other yoga teachers in prenatal yoga. Brett’s been practicing yoga for 16+ years, teaching for 10+ and has graduated over 600 yoga teachers in her Uplifted Yoga™ Teacher Trainings. Brett’s award-winning yoga Youtube channel has 5 million minutes watched a month and close to 300K subscribers. Prenatal yoga is a cornerstone of her offering. She’s also a mom to her beloved son, to whom she gave birth in October 2017. Connect with her on her website or via Instagram.
Today’s episode was sponsored by Grove Collaborative. Join over 2 million families who have shopped Grove Collaborative to buy products that are good for their homes, their family, and the environment. Make your home more sustainable this year. Now for a limited time when my listeners go to Grove.co/birthhour, you’ll get a FREE FIVE PIECE set from Grove so you can swap out plastic in an easy way. Plus, you’ll get free shipping AND a free 60-day VIP trial!
