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.
Resources
- The Birth Hour Podcast (obviously!!)
- My amazing midwife Nuranisa Rae of NUR Midwifery
- My fantastic doula team – Myla Flores of My Loving Doula and Emilie Rodriguez of Ashe Birthing Services
- Gentlebirth Hypnobirthing app
- Why Not Home?
- Lucy’s List
- KellyMom
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!
Hello! I am so grateful to Katie for sharing her story. I wanted to share a resource for anyone who has had to terminate a pregnancy for medical reasons: http://endingawantedpregnancy.com/. The website has stories as well as a supportive community of people who have had to terminate a wanted pregnancy for medical reasons. I wish Katie the best on her healing journey & any future pregnancies!
This is the most important episode of the Birth Hour I’ve ever listened to. Thank you for sharing.