For Camilla’s first birth, she went into labor when the Blue Angels were flying over San Francisco. Her son was born 6 hours later, with a rush to the hospital. Initially the hospital staff told her to go home, and within a few hours her son was born. It was unmedicated as she had hoped. Her labor was so fast that she says her hypnobirthing techniques did not help.

For her second birth, Camilla was fearful that she would give birth at home due to her fast labor with her son so at 28 weeks she changed to a midwife as her care provider and planned a homebirth. She describes it as a very different experience with her 2.5 year old son present holding her hand for a lot of the time. Her daughter was born at sunset in the water.

home waterbirth

For her third birth, Camilla prepared for another homebirth and looked forward to having a lot of help with her older kids and enjoying postpartum. Unexpectedly, COVID changed all of that and her kids’ school was closed down right after her baby was born and even her postpartum care was affected because her midwife became flooded with clients and her postpartum doula switched to virtual support.

Camilla Behnke Bio

Camilla lives in the Bay area with her family. She’s been married to her husband for 10 years. They have 3 kiddos, Benjamin, Cecilia, and Oliver.

Resources

Expectful

This episode is sponsored by Expectful – the #1 guided meditation & sleep app for your fertility, pregnancy, and motherhood journey. Just like you probably take a prenatal vitamin for your body, Expectful’s meditations are like a prenatal vitamin for your mind and can help you have a happier, healthier journey to parenthood. Whether you are TTC, pregnant, or postpartum, everything in the Expectful app was made just for this special moment in your life and created based on interviews with hopeful, expecting, and new parents just like you. Ready to reduce stress, improve sleep, and connect with your little one? Go to expectful.com/birthhour or download Expectful in the App Store to get started with a free trial today. 

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