New birth story podcast episode ✨ Ja’Nae shares an unmedicated hypnobirthing birth with a broken knee. This birth was 18 Years after her first birth and she shares a bit about the differences in those two experiences. Ja’Nae wanted to tell her birth stories to add to the vast and wide library the Birth Hour holds and to put her little stamp of herstory out there, for her son and daughter. She also wants to share this story with others traveling down this path, creating comfort and community. Listen to the full interview in your favorite podcast app (episode 815) 🎧

New birth and postpartum story ✨ Despite a beautiful, complication free pregnancy, Megan’s path to motherhood was not easy. After years of struggling to conceive, several fibroid removal surgeries, a difficult new role at work and the loss of her father during her first trimester, it felt as if she was stuck in knee-deep mud not knowing whether to grieve or allow herself to be happy. Before long, at 41 weeks, she arrived at the hospital for her scheduled induction. After a great response to the Foley balloon, labor was in full swing. Despite the immense pain over the course of 15 hours, Megan felt like she was finally able to release the anguish that had accumulated over the past 9 months and finally, her son Sterling Dagger was born in a dimly lit room surrounded by his father and grandmother. Megan’s postpartum wasn’t without stress and unfortunately, because of incorrect information regarding her LOA benefits, her maternity leave was cut from 16 weeks to 12 weeks. Returning to work was difficult for her and her husband, and ultimately, it was decided that she would leave her full-time job and pursue part-time work to once again be the primary caregiver of their son. Watching her son grow and explore the world around him felt like the best decision for her emotionally and her family. Listen to the whole episode in your favorite podcast app (episode 814) 🎧

New birth and postpartum story ✨ At the 20-week anatomy scan, Alexis and her husband found out that their son would be born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate. The news came as quite a shock and took a lot of processing. Due to the cleft diagnosis, Alexis had extra ultrasounds which led to them discovering that her amniotic fluid level was towards the higher end of the scale. Her midwife warned her that when her water broke, she would know it. After a cervical sweep at her 41-week appointment, at 41 and 3 her water broke at 5am and her midwife was not lying! It was SO MUCH fluid. Contractions picked up quickly after that and they headed to the hospital. Alexis prepared for birth with the Gentle Birth hypnobirthing app and used it to help her labor for about 10 hours until she got stuck at 6.5cm. Her contractions were picking up and getting stronger, but due to the baby’s position, her cervix was having a hard time dilating. She opted to get an epidural, took a nap, and an hour later was at 8.5cm. After using the peanut ball, other positional maneuvers, and a little drip of Pitocin, she was able to get to almost 10cm with a slight cervical lip. After 14 hours of labor, Alexis was able to begin pushing, pushed for about an hour, and delivered her sweet cleft lip cutie! He was incredibly healthy and took to eating from a bottle seamlessly. Alexis could not be more grateful for her experience. Even though it wasn’t unmedicated like she hoped for, she truly believes it unfolded exactly as it should. Listen to the full episode in your favorite podcast app (episode 813) 🎧

New birth and postpartum story ✨ After the birth of her first son ended in an unplanned C-section, Anna knew she would be trying for a VBAC with future babies, and found a team of doulas and providers to help support her in achieving her goals. While her second labor was long and hard-fought, it ultimately ended in another C-section. With more intentional birth preparation and support throughout pregnancy and labor, Anna eventually welcomed her third baby via a VBA2C the day before Thanksgiving, and found peace with all three of her births in the process. Listen to the full interview in any podcast app! Episode 811

New birth story podcast episode ✨ Michelle Coles is the mother of 5 boys between the ages of 10 and 7 weeks, no twins included. Each birth was a unique experience. All births were vaginal. Her first three were born in hospitals and her last two were born at home with midwives. She was in labor with her first son for around 20 hours and with her last son for only an hour and a half. She received an epidural for her two largest babies, weighing in at 9 and 10 lbs, and went unmedicated for the others. As a result of these varied experiences, she learned a lot about giving birth and is happy to share what she’s learned with others. Michelle is an author who writes novels dedicated to her sons, the first of which is an award-winning young adult historical fiction about the Reconstruction Era called Black Was the Ink. Listen to the full episode in any podcast app 🎧 Episode 809 #thebirthhour #birthstory #birthstories #birthstorypodcast #homebirth #pregnancy #momof5

New birth story podcast episode ✨ Kat tried to conceive for a year using IUIs from a known sperm donor (her wife Emily’s brother). When that didn’t work, Kat sought fertility treatment and she was diagnosed with PCOS; because her PCOS had gone undiagnosed her whole life and she had never been on birth control, the unopposed estrogen from anovulatory cycles had caused endometrial cancer (stage 1, grade 1). Using fertility sparing treatment (a Mirena IUD and oral progesterone), Kat was free of cancer within 6 months and able to try IVF, which they were able to access because they had moved to MA. After two miscarriages and four years of trying, Kat was pregnant with her daughter Alice. That pregnancy, Kat experienced a long-lasting subchorionic hematoma and her daughter had a marginal cord insertion, and she was induced at 41 weeks. Kat got chorioamnionitis during the long birth, and the antibiotic treatment led to both her and her daughter having thrush. With her second pregnancy with her son Sam, Kat had another subchorionic hematoma. That birth led to an induction due to what ended up being a gallstone attack, a postpartum hemorrhage and blood transfusion, and a postpartum period affected by Covid. Her partner Emily is currently pregnant with their third and final baby, via reciprocal IVF. Listen to the full interview in any podcast app. Episode 808) #thebirthhour #ivf #ttc #birthstory #samesexparents #pregnancy #pcos #postpartum #endometriosissurgery #endometriosis #endometrialcancer #reciprocalivf

Listen to Bryn‘s entire conversation with cofounder of @needed, Julie Sawaya, are on the latest episode of The Birth Hour. Bonus: Save 20% off your first order of Needed’s Complete Plan or any of their other perinatal nutrition products at thisisneeded.com with code BIRTHHOUR. #prenatal #prenatalvitamins #pregnant #expecting #thebirthhour #postpartum #ttc #fertilityjourney

New birth and postpartum story ✨ Allison Yarrow shared her first two birth stories on episode 273 of The Birth Hour and today she is back to share her more recent homebirth as well as her postpartum experience —all of which influenced her newly released book: Birth Control: The Insidious Power of Men Over Motherhood. @aliyarrow Listen to the full interview in any podcast app (episode 807). 🎧 #thebirthhour #pregnancy #childbirth #postpartum #homebirth

Excited to introduce our new sponsor, SNP Therapeutics, makers of the Genate Test. Based on over 16 million dollars in NIH grants, and more than 30 years of nutrition and genetic research, SNP Therapeutics is leading the charge in the field of prenatal, precision-nutrition genetic testing. SNP Therapeutics is committed to providing accurate and usable information to help mothers provide the best possible nutrition to their babies through The Genate Test: a prenatal, precision-nutrition, genetic test that offers personalized dietary adjustments and supplement recommendations based on your DNA. You can rest easy knowing that your prenatal nutrition has been optimized by tailoring it to your genetic code. Find peace of mind about your prenatal nutrition with the Genate Test by SNP Therapeutics. Learn more at genate.com and Use code BIRTHHOUR15 for 15% off your order. #genatetest #pregnant #pregnancy #prenatalvitamins #prenatalnutrition #expectingmom

New birth story podcast episode ✨ Sidrah became pregnant with her daughter in 2018, after trying to conceive for 10 months. Her daughter was born at 39 weeks, but due to fluid remaining in her lungs, she had to be taken to the NICU where she stayed for 6 days to ensure there was no risk of infection or pneumonia. Because of this difficult start, Sidrah experienced challenges with breastfeeding and struggled with low milk supply. Despite becoming pregnant unexpectedly just 7 months after giving birth, Sidrah was determined to have a successful breastfeeding journey with her son. However, he was born a little early at 37.5 weeks and didn’t develop the sucking reflex, which made breastfeeding a challenge. Compounding the issue was the pandemic, which made it difficult to find a lactation consultant who offered on-site visits. Sidrah eventually found a consultant who could meet with her in person, but had to do her own research to determine the correct flange size. Despite these challenges, she was ultimately successful in breastfeeding her son for a whole year. Listen to the full story in your favorite podcast app 🎧

New birth story podcast episode ✨ Julia shares her decision to become a single mom by choice and how she got there navigating fertility treatments, pregnancy, and birth during a pandemic on today’s episode of @thebirthhour. She also has a podcast where she interviews other people about their unique families @storkd_podcast Listen to the full interview by searching for The Birth Hour (episode 800) in any podcast app! 🎧 #birthstory #birthstories #birthstorypodcast #postpartum #postpartumstory #smc #soloparenting #singlemombychoice #ivf #fertilityjourney #thebirthhour

Can’t go wrong with an @ergobaby baby carrier! Such a staple of my early mama days! We’ve been releasing postpartum episodes in collaboration with Ergobaby for over a year now and the feedback has been amazing! Thanks for supporting the podcast, Ergobaby! #babywearing #lovecarrieson #ergobaby