by thebirthhour | Apr 14, 2016 | Birth Stories, Cesarean, Hospital, VBAC
Erica Fleischer’s Birth Stories
Erica Fleischer lives in Chicago and is a mom to two girls ages 4.5 and 21 months. Her first daughter was born via c-section and Erica had a difficult emotional recovery from it. She quickly found ICAN and 3 years later had a successful unmedicated VBAC. With both babies she suffered from low milk supply but found different ways of handling it with each baby. In this episode she shares both of her birth experiences and how they affected her both physically and emotionally.
Erica’s day job is as government policy analyst but she truly enjoys helping other moms as a co-leader of ICAN of Chicago and through writing. You can see links to Erica’s published writing on her website
ericafleischer.com.
To listen to this episode, and the rest of The Birth Hour archives, join our listener supporter group here!
Resource Links
IGT and Low Milk Supply Support Group on
Facebook
by thebirthhour | Apr 12, 2016 | Birth Stories, Cesarean, Hospital
Emergency Cesarean Birth
Today’s birth story guest is Lindsey Shipley who is sharing the story of her daughter’s birth. Towards the end of her pregnancy Lindsey noticed a lack of fetal movement one day and knew she needed to go in to the doctor, when she was hooked up to a non stress test she was told that her daughter was in distress and needed to be delivered immediately via cesarean. Her husband was out of town and had to FaceTime in to witness the birth. The experience wasn’t at all what Lindsey was expecting but she trusted her intuition and her body and brought her daughter into the world safely. As a L&D nurse and lactation consultant, Lindsey has a unique perspective on her own birth experiences which I thoroughly enjoyed hearing.
To listen to this episode, and the rest of The Birth Hour archives, join our listener supporter group here!
Lindsey Shipley & Lactation Link
Lindsey Shipley, RN, IBCLC is a mom of 2, Registered Nurse, Childbirth Educator and Board Certified Lactation Coach. She owns Lactation Link, a private practice offering breastfeeding support through her video classes, website, and online support forum. She is the voice behind @lactationlink on instagram that has 27,000 followers engaging and supporting each other daily. She also offers in-home lactation support services before and after baby is born, including home and place of birth consults. Lindsey’s goal is to empower women through education to reach their goals, whatever they may be. Lactation Link creates confident moms.
Lactation Link video classes are available to view in the comfort of your home at www.lactationlink.com. The courses available are Breastfeeding Basics, Intermediate Breastfeeding, and Pumping and Storing Breastmilk. Lindsey also offers in-person classes once a month in Highland, UT and on location several times per year (you can request a class in your area by emailing hello@lactationlink.com). Lindsey offers in-home and video chat lactation support services before and after baby is born. Lindsey is specially trained to help with issues such as slow weight gain, flat/inverted nipples, multiples, tongue/lip tie, cleft lip/palate, and more.
Resource Links
Ergobaby Carrier
Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn
by thebirthhour | Jan 21, 2016 | Birth Stories, Cesarean, Hospital, Hypnobirthing, VBAC
Healing from Birth Trauma
Today’s guest is Kacey Nelkin Pedersen who is a mother to two boys. After her first birth resulted in an unplanned c-section, Kacey felt that so much was missing from her birth experience. It wasn’t until she found out that she was expecting again that she realized just how traumatic that experience was and how badly she wanted to have a vaginal birth the second time, if possible.
VBAC Birth Story
Kacey and her husband went on an educational and eye-opening journey toward eventually having a highly transformative, drug-free VBAC experience. Kacey and her husband, Adam, live in Lincoln, NE raising their two beautiful boys. Kacey’s story is really amazing to hear, she is now such an informed advocate for positive and informed birth experiences.
To listen to this episode, and the rest of The Birth Hour archives, join our listener supporter group here!
Resource Links
International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN)
Hypnobabies
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, by Ina May Gaskin
by thebirthhour | Jan 7, 2016 | Birth Stories, Cesarean, Hospital, Loss
To listen to this episode, and the rest of The Birth Hour archives, join our listener supporter group here!
Amelia Barnes’ Pregnancy and Birth Stories
Today’s guest is Amelia Barnes. Amelia is going to share the stories of her two children’s births. Her son Landon was born in July of 2014 and lived for just four days. I don’t want to tell much of her story for her because she tells it so beautifully but I do want to say how thankful I am for this mama. She began sharing Landon’s story on Instagram during his pregnancy and continued after he was born and was so unbelievably honest and raw about all of her experiences and emotions that she quickly found herself surrounded by a virtual support system of women who had also experienced a loss.
Amelia’s story is especially close to my heart because it helped me navigate the unbelievably hard journey of supporting my best friend through the loss of her son around the same time. Amelia shared her most private thoughts of grief, jealousy, anger and healing in ways that not every mother who’s experienced a loss is able to express but most are feeling. It was so helpful to me to read her posts and know some of the things my friend was struggling with and be able to offer support in the right ways. She’s since created a retreat in Canada for women who’ve experienced the loss of a child to attend called Landon’s Legacy. Amelia gave birth to her daughter Lily very recently and will also be sharing the story of her pregnancy and birth which ended up bringing some answers as to what may have caused Landon’s death. Both stories are beautiful and emotional and so worth the listen.
Amelia Barnes’ Bio
Amelia is a mother, yoga teacher, retreat facilitator, and writer from Winnipeg, Canada. She is also the creator of PranaVidaStyle.com , a unique line of inspired and custom-designed yoga apparel made in Canada.
Landon’s Birth Story
Amelia’s life took an unexpected turn in July 2014, when her first-born baby Landon passed away at just 4 days old, due to brain damage sustained when his hearth suddenly stopped beating during his birth. Her and her husband were given no answers as to what happened, no reason as to why their perfectly healthy baby boy died. Thrown into an intensity of pain beyond what she’d ever imagined possible, she started sharing her feelings and experiences on social media to help her heal and create something beautiful of Landon’s short life. Within less than a year, her community of Instagram followers @ameliakyoga grew from 10,000 to over 100,000.
Lily’s Pregnancy and Birth Story
In November 2015, at 37 weeks pregnant with her daughter Lily, Amelia discovered that she had Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy (ICP) and that this had most likely been what cause Landon’s death. This was an terrifying and stressful time, but ultimately lead to a very beautiful healing c-section birth of a healthy, adorable baby girl (read Lily’s birth story here).
Her journey of loss, grief and healing is compiled in her book Landon’s Legacy, soon to be available in Spring/Summer 2016. She is also a guide at the online yoga and healing community www.oneOeight.tv and hosts Landon’s Legacy Retreat, an annual holistic healing yoga retreat for bereaved moms. You can make donations to help mothers attend Landon’s Legacy Retreat and support them in their grief by going here. My best friend attended the 2015 retreat and it was such a healing experience for her.
by thebirthhour | Jan 5, 2016 | Birth Stories, Cesarean, Hospital, VBAC
Monica Louie’s Cesarean & VBAC Birth Stories
In this episode, Monica shares the birth stories of her two births. Her son was born via cesarean section and after much preparation and research her daughter was a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) birth. Listen to Monica tell her stories in her own words.
Monica Louie Bio
is a mother, wife, blogger and financial coach. She and her husband have paid off $120,000 of debt in two years, and their ultimate goal is to pay off all of their debt, including their mortgage, by the time they turn 40. Her mission is to help others take control of their money so they can pay off debt and work toward true financial freedom. She shares her family’s journey, money-saving tips, and inspirational debt-free stories on her blog at OurDebtFreeFamily.com. You can also find Monica on Facebook, Twitter, and Periscope.
Monica is so passionate about her family’s goal to be debt free that she wants to share her knowledge and has set up a landing page at www.ourdebtfreefamily.com/birthhour for birth hour listeners to download her free Checklist for a Strong Financial Plan.
To listen to this episode, and the rest of The Birth Hour archives, join our listener supporter group here!
Resource Links
Natural Hospital Birth: The Best of Both Worlds
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth
The Business of Being Born
