July 21, 2025 • 34 mins
Join us for another installment of our Birth Stories Series! This story is sure to encourage you as we walk through this mother's willingness to blend midwifery care with the medical model when needed, overcome challenges, and truly lean into trusting her instincts. Listen as we chat about how we navigated issues like hypertension, blood sugar instability, and heart rate arrhythmia together, and the incredible way it helped prepare this mother for an empowered, connected birth.
00:00 Introduction to Kelly and Tiffany's Podcast
01:09 Exciting Birth Story Episode
01:45 Listener Review and Encouragement
03:37 Icebreaker: Embracing Challenges
06:39 Client's Birth History and Midwifery Care
10:06 Navigating Pregnancy Complications
20:07 Labor and Birth Experience
24:22 Postpartum Reflections and Client Feedback
32:07 Conclusion and Resources
Links We Chat About
Our Hypertension Supplement Protocol
Our Blood Sugar Stabilization Supplement Protocol
Our Weekly Newsletter
Our Childbirth Education Course, use code RADIANT10 for 10% off
Our Monthly Membership
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to catch every episode. Follow us on Instagram for extra education and antics between episodes at: @beautifulonemidwifery
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to at Home with Kellyand Tiffany, where we share
powerful tools, excitingeducation, and relatable views
about holistic health,physiological birth, and
thriving in the female body.
We are home birth midwives insunny San Diego.
Passionate about thealternatives that give women
control and confidence inhealth, in birth and in life.
(00:24):
We've poured a lot of love intocreating very in depth and high
value offerings.
A monthly membership, aphysiological birth course, and
holistic guides for the womenwho really want to dive all the
way in.
But this podcast.
We want to bring zero costinformation about health and
natural birth and make theseimportant topics accessible
(00:46):
always.
Your support of the show is alsozero cost and means everything
to us.
When you leave a review, sharean episode and join our
newsletter.
It really helps us keep thisspace open, ad free and full of
honest, valuable conversations.
Now let's dive into today'sshow.
(01:09):
welcome back ladies to the athome with Kelly and Tiffany
podcast.
We are here with a reallyexciting episode.
It's one of our favorites totalk about, which is a birth
story.
I think because we lovestorytelling and sharing
stories, we've kind of, becomeknown for.
Sharing stories, particularly onInstagram, but it's been super
cool to be able to bring thatover to this side of what we are
(01:30):
doing.
So excited to kind of get into avery sweet, hopefully
encouraging birth storyespecially given kind of the
things that she had to workthrough throughout her pregnancy
and all of that good stuff.
So excited to jump into thatwith you today.
Yes, we are.
And I have a review to share andI'm so glad that we're sharing
(01:50):
it today because all the onesbefore it had have disappeared
because we have ladies leavingnew reviews.
So we might have to, we mighthave to share two an episode at
some point.
This one is from Mo's Gal.
The title is My favoriteholistic podcast by far.
All caps by far, five stars, ofcourse, MOS Gal.
(02:11):
She says, I love all theholistic tips and tricks for
women in any stage of womanhoodthat y'all share in such a
humorous way.
I seriously enjoy listening toy'all having so much fun while
you share your priceless wisdomand experience with us.
Mo, thank you so much.
Let me just say how refreshingit is to hear from two experts
in the field that our femalebodies are not a freak of nature
(02:33):
or of evolution, but that wewere designed by an intelligent
creator for pregnancy, birth andbeyond.
Not enough experts are willingto acknowledge that fact, keep
up the good work and the humor,and keep making a difference in
women's lives.
Okay, fine.
We'll Mo Yeah, absolutely.
And just so encouraging.
Like find that in your AppleMusic library.
(02:55):
You can ask me to play a radiostation or ask for your music on
a different app.
Cool.
I think that'll be fine.
This is going really well.
It's great.
But that's just so encouragingand just so, such a good
reminder for what we're doinghere that like, even if
everything doesn't necessarilyhit for whatever season that
you're in and you're like, oh,that's just interesting, just
(03:16):
that idea behind like everythingis foundational.
Where, where is our foundationand how are we sharing from it?
It's just, I don't know, it'sjust an encouragement to me to
hear that landing really wellwith Mo's gal.
Thanks Mo Gal.
You tell us that you heard usread your review, and we will
buy you a drink.
Girly?
(03:36):
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Kelly icebreaker for thisepisode.
Share quickly because I have alot about this birth that I
wanna talk about.
What is something hard that youare doing?
Just for the sake of thechallenge?
I think we kind of neglect thisarea of.
Like growth in our lives.
Sometimes when we have controlof so many pieces, we kind of
(03:57):
like avoid doing hard things.
There's so much value to justdoing something hard just to be
like, oh, I did that.
There's so much crossover withbirth too.
Birth is like challenging hard,and some women honestly just
embrace natural physiologicalbirth because they want the
benefit of.
(04:18):
Getting to the end of it andgoing, that was so freaking hard
and I did it.
And like that's a reason enough,right?
There's so many reasons, butlike I think as a society we
tend to say like, makingeverything easier is better, and
I disagree.
Yes.
And I mean, sometimes easier is,you know, wonderful.
(04:39):
But I think we have allowedourselves to become lazy in
certain ways.
Like whether that's, you know,mentally, emotionally,
physically, whatever.
The thing that I am doing rightnow, so last year I shared I was
trying to do pull-ups because Ihad broke my arm, like right by
my shoulder, and it was hard.
So anyway, last year I was like,I'm gonna do this because I
(04:59):
thought I never would be able todo one again.
And.
Was absolutely able to do them.
And I was like, look at what mybody can do.
And so that felt reallyencouraging.
So this year I've been watchingmy daughter like kill it in her
gymnastics.
She's like continuing to rise upall of these like levels and
whatever things that I neverlearned to do when I was little.
I.
Could not, I never learned howto do a cartwheel.
And so my daughter was like,that's like the easiest thing
(05:21):
that you can do.
And I was like, well, not to me.
It's very hard.
So I have been working.
This makes no, like, I don't geta benefit necessarily, like it
doesn't do my family well, thatI know how to do a cartwheel or
whatever, but I'm workingtowards being able to do a
really good cartwheel simplybecause.
It's hard for me and it'ssomething that I really wanted
(05:42):
to do as a kid and I neverlearned.
And so I'm like, well, thatdoesn't mean I just can throw it
away and I don't ever have tolearn.
So that is my hard thing I amdoing just simply for the
challenge of it.
It's amazing.
I love too, that you're willingto say this doesn't have any
particular benefit.
Yeah, yeah.
Just doing, it's hard.
Yeah.
I mean, I would, I like lovelearning how to use my body in
(06:04):
different ways, you know what Imean?
Like learning how to be like,oh, I can get up and stand, you
know, from the ground indifferent ways.
Or keeping my body like young asI can in terms of movement, but
like.
No, it's not gonna like, benefitmy family or in any way if I'm,
if I'm able to do thisparticular thing.
But it has been enjoyable to belike, oh, yeah, yeah, this is a
(06:25):
good reminder.
Like, fail, fail, fail, fail,fail, fail, fail.
But like you're still getting,you're still getting benefit
while you're doing the failing.
And each fail is a little bitless than the last fail.
I love it.
Beautiful.
Really beautiful.
Thank you.
Okay, so jumping, jumping intothis birth story, I honestly was
so blessed to go back and lookthrough this client's chart.
(06:48):
It felt, okay, this is a littleself-centered.
I realize what I'm about to say.
Because what it felt like to mewas like having coffee with this
client and catching up andlooking at and like just
reviewing the birth together.
But we didn't do that.
She wasn't a part of it.
It was just me and her chart andmaking the little notes and
(07:10):
stuff for it.
But it blessed me so muchbecause it just made me remember
every single detail, and it mademe fall in love with this family
and just stoked my love andappreciation for this journey in
particular that she was on.
And then I just, I, Iautomatically felt.
So grateful all over again, eventhough this is several years
(07:33):
ago.
So grateful that we got to be apart of it and got to witness
it, and I was like so remindedof how good it is for our hearts
and our minds to remember tojust take the time to go back
and really remember the reallycool things that we've been
(07:56):
brought through and grownthrough.
And just experienced, especiallywith other people, it is like
it's worth putting time intoremembering and oof, this one
got me.
So let's get started a littlebit.
With the history of this client,there was a lot that.
Kind of like she came in withand there was a lot that we
(08:19):
navigated from a midwiferyperspective.
And then there was a lot ofpieces that, I mean, we utilized
the medical model with thisclient too, so let's talk about
her history a little bit and herprevious pregnancies and stuff.
Yes.
Okay.
So she had an adult childalready.
She had, at this point, she hada 19-year-old, and that was her
(08:41):
first kiddo who had, she had ahospital birth, she had an
epidural.
She was very young.
That was just her own experiencethere.
And then 17 years later she hadshe started another family with.
A different husband, completelydifferent season of life.
(09:01):
And at that point, she just knewwith her experience, with just
her level of maturity that shewanted a home birth.
And so I actually met her thefirst time with the preceptor I
was training with as a student.
And she I ended up, I ended upnot going to her birth because I
(09:23):
wasn't continuing on with thatpreceptor by the time that she.
Had had her baby, but it was theabsolute like encouragement of
our brand new midwifery careerwhen she reached out to us and
said, Hey, the little bit oftime that I had with you, even
though you weren't at my birth,made such an impression that now
(09:44):
I'm pregnant again.
And, you know, it was like twoand a half years later and she
wanted to explore the idea ofworking together with us as like
almost brand new midwives.
Not that she had a badexperience at all with her first
home birth.
I think it was a really greatexperience.
But what she did bring into thatinto her history a little bit
was.
(10:06):
Her first two pregnancies, shehad hypertension that came on in
the last month of pregnancy andwas really difficult to manage,
and so we kind of had thischallenge ahead of us with this
particular client.
And we trialed our hypertensionprotocol to prevent hypertension
for the very first time.
(10:26):
And so I know last episode wetalked about using herbs in
pregnancy, and that's what wedid.
I just applied information, Iapplied research., I applied.
The resources and education thatwe had taken upon ourselves at
that point as new midwives tounderstand new information.
And we created our hypertensionprophylaxis, which actually did
(10:48):
prevent her from getting highblood pressure in this
pregnancy.
And that is probably one of myfavorite parts of this story.
Absolutely.
And I, again, as like newermidwives, it felt so good to
implement something and actuallysee the outcome and her be so on
board to wanting to try it andbeing encouraged and, you know,
(11:10):
emailing and being like, Hey,the so far this is working.
You know, and how just excitedshe was to be a part of that.
That was, it was the midwiferymodel of care, like to a t It
was really cool to see.
And so that pregnancy, it was,it was fun'cause she already
like had this, you know,experience with you and
relationship with you.
But usually when that happenswith one of us, right?
We've worked with somebody elsebefore, not together.
(11:31):
It's like just an easy, like ifthey wanna work with you, the
assumption is that they're gonnabe cool working with me too.
And it was just very comfortablefrom the very kind of get go.
She decided to do co-care withan OB throughout her pregnancy.
And I'm forgetting necessarilyif that was an insurance thing
or if that was a just apotential desire in case.
(11:52):
You know, something kind of wenta little sideways as she got a
bit closer to having her baby.
But it was actually reallyhelpful because we got a lot of
great feedback from thisparticular doctor throughout her
pregnancy who was.
Really on board with her makingher own decisions and all that
good stuff.
A couple things that we did haveto deal with.
One you mentioned that kind ofhypertension stuff that we were
kinda prophylactically workingthrough.
(12:13):
We also were working with someissues that she was having with
blood sugar stabilization.
So she was tracking her ownmeals and doing a glucometer at
home, having pretty high postmeal.
Blood sugar ratings.
And so we had to kind of dialin, what are you eating?
What, you know, what istriggering these things?
Let's make some shifts here.
(12:34):
Let's see what we can do.
And she was willing, I mean, asit sounds like already that you
can guess, she was reallywilling to do the hard work.
So it's really easy to be likehey, look at these, look at this
information that we gave.
It like, felt so good to, youknow, be so helpful.
But really she had to implementa lot in that pregnancy to keep
it low risk and to keep herselffeeling good.
(12:55):
And so that was, that was reallyencouraging for me as a midwife
to see, to be like, yeah, that'sthe point.
Like we're mutually respectingeach other, trusting each other
and doing this together was justreally, really cool to see.
And so she was able to kind ofstabilize those things as her
pregnancy went on with that hardwork that she was able to do.
So that's absolutely possible todo with, you know, nutrition.
(13:19):
She had to really work withsupplementation and, you know,
lifestyle rhythms, things likethat to kind of stabilize some
of those things.
But it again, absolutely aspossible.
But as she got closer we, ourhead, our minds were on her on
her blood sugar certainly, butalso on her blood pressure,
right?
As things were kind ofprogressing on in her pregnancy.
But as we were taking care ofher around 34 weeks, we were
(13:40):
listening with a fetoscope.
And I'm pretty sure it was you,TIFF, who heard originally heart
arrhythmia or saying like, huh,that's, that's an, this is just
a little different.
This is interesting.
And that piques our interest,right?
We're like, okay, this isn'tnecessarily what we've been
hearing previously.
This is sounding a little bitdifferent.
Let's kind of dig into that alittle bit.
(14:03):
Let's pay attention to that.
We don't wanna miss anything.
One of the absolute gifts, Ithink, of listening to a
heartbeat.
Like that in particular is to beable to catch some things that,
not saying a Doppler can't catchthat, but just it's a very
particular type of heart ratethat we're listening to with a
fetoscope and you were able tokind of catch something that,
(14:23):
you know, sounded a little bitdifferent.
And it was like, I think somepeople think that like
everything's fine with a midwifeas long as everything's normal
and fine, and that if you have acomplication or some deviation
from normal, then oh, it's justall a loss.
We're just, oh, see, we shouldhave been with a doctor this
whole time.
And there's so much more nuanceto that.
(14:44):
So I can listen to the baby thatI've been listening to for the
past six or seven months.
I know this baby, and now atthis point, which like how
wherever he was at with hiscardiac development, I, I, I
caught the arrhythmia and Ithought, oh, I know that this
could be completely benign andfine, or it could be a signal
(15:06):
that something else.
Is going on.
And so we were able to make therecommendation, let's go in,
let's make sure that we can havethis, you know, checked out and
make sure that it's still safeto have this baby at home.
And I think some people justhave this really black and white
way of looking at midwiferycare.
Either it's safe or it's not, oryou, or, or we're good or we're
(15:26):
not, or it's medical care orit's not.
It was, it was especiallyhelpful that she had co-care
with an OB that we trust in ourcommunity.
So she was able to just jumpright in and get, you know, sent
to a perinatologist who's aspecialist in high risk
pregnancies and she got a.
Cardio echogram on her, on herbaby.
(15:49):
So they were able to do a reallylong study of her, of her baby's
heart function and ultimatelywas determined, especially with
this particular doctor.
I think another doctor couldsay, oh, great.
Here's the perfect.
Reason to not recommend homebirth anymore to you.
Now we got you.
We just don't know.
Oh, there's just so muchunknown.
We don't know what your baby'sgonna need, but he is like, no.
(16:12):
Everything we see here iscompletely fine and normal.
We have no reason to think thata home birth is not safe.
So.
Who you get co-care with and whoyou're asking to partner along
with you if you want to havemedical care really matters.
But then even as we went intopregnancy, his recommendation
was to to come in in those lastfew weeks and get a non-stress
(16:32):
test done twice a week.
And she was able to look at theinformation, the pros and the
cons, recognize that it wasprobably gonna cause more
anxiety for her, more upsetwe're, we're trying to keep.
Trying to keep blood pressurewithin normal ranges, right?
And so just for peace of mind,she de she declined those N MSTs
and it wasn't your responsibleat all because we did, what's
(16:55):
called an OS TATed Accelerationtest inside of the clinic each
week when we saw her.
And it doesn't measure exactlythe same way that an NST does,
but it's very, very close atlooking at baby's health in that
moment, especially as they haveheart rate variability.
And we're able to really kind oftrack the same metrics, but in a
(17:16):
really low technology way.
And I think that's anothermisconception is that midwives.
Can't perform the same type oftesting or get the same type of
information or results, but wewere able to just give her our
limitations and the benefitsand, and the pros and the cons
of that, and she could make herown decision about that.
And so we also let her knowwe're gonna be monitoring this
(17:37):
more in labor.
Everything does seem to be fine,but because it's just this
little flag, just be expectantthat like when we arrive to your
home, we're gonna listen longerthan usual.
When you're laboring, we'regonna listen more often and
probably longer than usual.
We just wanna make sure that thestress of labor on your baby is
not gonna change anything aboutthe way that this little beat is
(17:58):
being skipped.
You know?
So that was a, that was a reallygreat thing to walk through just
for us professionally.
I mean, we were still newermidwives at this time, and for
her to exercise and form consentand for us to make a plan
together, even amidst therebeing like a little flag there,
it was cool.
And again, just like midwiferycare on display in terms of
(18:20):
being able to work together andlike, again, as newer midwives,
a great opportunity to see, oh,I learned about this thing.
I've never actually seen itdone, it never had to be done in
this, you know, situation that Iwas in.
So it was cool to be able, likejust personally reflecting on
that as a professional to beable to be grown in that way
throughout this whole time oftaking care of her and entering
(18:42):
into being on call for her.
This is like towards the verybeginning of our practice.
I feel like this, when I thinkof her pregnancy and her birth,
I think of when you and I.
Like became each other's people.
For sure.
You know, like we had stuffgoing on in our personal lives
that we were always friends andwe became, you know, we became
(19:05):
friends, we started ourpractice.
But I feel like this season oflife that we were in, while we
were caring for her, likesolidified that there were like.
That forever and ever.
We will just be each other'sperson.
And so, that was, it's aninteresting part of thinking
back on that just because weboth were going through things
within the life of like ourfamilies outside of whatever was
(19:28):
going on with midwifery.
And in some ways it was reallyhelpful to be able to.
Walk into the clinic and belike, I can turn that part off a
little bit.
It was like something else tokind of think about and to pour
my heart into.
But it was a very interestinglike time of life to be able to
sort out what was going onpersonally versus what was going
on professionally.
(19:48):
And I can see how that canimpact.
Providers in a very specifickind of way, but I think we were
really intentional in being likewhen we were present somewhere,
we are really present.
And that was really importantto, to both of us.
But that's really what I thinkabout when I think about this
birth of really is whateverything else that was going
on in our lives at the time.
Yeah.
So the, this birth, her laborstarted.
(20:12):
In the middle of the night, so Idon't think we got a heads up.
I think she just called us inthe middle of the night and said
things are really moving along.
We knew that she was gonna giveus more of a heads up than usual
because it's her third baby andshe lived a little bit further,
so she knew we would need alittle bit more time.
But we usually always tellpeople, don't give us a heads up
at night because we're justgonna wake up and come to your
(20:34):
birth.
But this particular night.
You had to drop your kids off atyour mom's house, right?
She was your childcare.
So you had to wake your kids upin the middle of the night, put
them in the car, drive theopposite direction to your mom's
house.
Your mom forgot she was on callfor use, I think.
I think this is the birth whereshe was.
She wasn't answering her phoneor coming to the door,
(20:57):
something, right?
So you had to break into awindow to wake her up.
It was an absolute disasterbecause the plan was for her
just to come to my house.
Like, Hey, if I go to a birth, Ineed you to come over and just
be with the kids.
Okay, great.
She didn't, she just didn'tsleep with her phone that night.
I'm calling, I'm calling, I'mtrying to decide what do I do?
Do I wake up all of my kidsbring them, including like the
(21:19):
baby?
And that's the whole thing.
And eventually I was like, well,yeah, I guess I just have to,
but yes, I did break in througha window and.
I terrified her by waking her upand dropping three kids and
literally just being like all, Idon't, I don't know.
I just have to go, I have to getout of here.
And I was coming in absolutelyhot.
I think I was, I think I gotthere with I mean, you have the
(21:41):
chart.
It was probably just a coupleminutes before she had her baby.
I was just thinking,'cause youwere giving me updates, you
know, and I was just thinking,Kelly's not gonna make it.
You said you were coming, butI'm like, that's fine.
I'm just going to, I'm justgonna be here by myself.
That's okay.
There's just, every midwife hasto go through Yeah.
That thought process at somepoint.
So her, her history, well it's,her first birth was 22 hours,
(22:04):
her second birth was 15 hoursand.
At 39 weeks at 10:00 PM hercontraction started.
We tell our clients, don't callus in the middle of the, like,
if it's after, you know, eightor nine o'clock at night, don't
call us.
Just call us if you need us.
But she called us at two 15 inthe chart.
I said that I arrived at 3 45,so even it took even me an hour
(22:26):
and a half.
To get to her.
And so I get there at 3 45.
She starts pushing at four 12.
Her water breaks at exactly thatsame time she's in the tub.
It just had barely gotten filledup.
Her birth was at four 20, andthen I think in the chart, the
(22:47):
first place where I see yourinitials is like four 16.
So she's already been, she'salready been pushing for four
minutes before you come in andget the chart and start
charting, and I just, there'sno, there's no relief that is
like that when your partnercomes in right before the birth,
because that's when the most.
Unlikely chances forcomplication.
(23:07):
So like if I have to handle a, asoldier, soldier, a shoulder
dystocia, a hemorrhage aneonatal resuscitation, I
really, really want a secondperson there.
So the, so anytime that you justmake it right before the birth,
it's the beautiful thing.
Yeah.
I don't think it registered toher that I was even there until
like well into her postpartum,but she was like, oh.
(23:30):
I was like, yep.
Slid in there as much as I can.
Yeah, I think she asked me like,Hey.
I remember her saying like, is,is Kelly coming?
And I was like, yep.
Who knows when we'll see.
She is, she did tell me she'scoming.
She, so, I don't know.
We'll just see.
But it was, seems she wascoming.
It was so great to like slipinto because you're just like,
(23:51):
everything was going sosmoothly.
She was so in control.
It was such a straight, likepraises, it was such a
straightforward birth and arelatively straightforward
postpartum too.
And so it was just like such agift that it was that one that
was.
Feeling a little stressful forme to get to.
That's a thing though, right?
Like we're, we're rarely neededand, and, and why would we need
(24:13):
to announce that you havearrived and hey, just so you
know, I mean, it's just like,no, no one cares.
We're just, we're doing ourthing, right?
Mm-hmm.
One interesting thing about herpostpartum is that her placenta
didn't come for about an hourafter she.
Had her baby, and we don't havea whole lot in the chart about
that.
So I don't think we were doing awhole lot of things about it.
(24:34):
I think we were just being cooland like encouraging things
physiologically.
We didn't give her any, wehadn't given her her any herbs.
We didn't give her anymedication or anything like
that.
She got out of the tub and movedto the bed and, and had her
placenta there.
Her perineum was intact.
She lost 150 ccs of blood, whichis incredibly small.
(24:55):
That's on the very low end ofblood loss.
And then she just was like very,very happy, very appreciative,
very wonderful to take care ofbecause she got to have all of
those pieces of her birth, whichwas wanting to have a relatively
unserved experience.
And just knowing that somebodywas there just in case, and a
(25:16):
little follow up on the.
Arrhythmia is, we heard itpostpartum, so we're never sure
as that arterius ductus, I can'tremember exactly what, how it
goes.
It's a phenomenon with thebabies switching over their
cardiovascular system and avalve actually like opens up and
allows all four chambers of theheart to work and stuff like
(25:38):
that.
We didn't know if the arrhythmiawas gonna be, you know, changed
by that.
Usually it resolves on its own.
That was the information we got.
That arrhythmia was gonnaresolve on its own.
And we still heard it.
Up to, I think I had in thechart through six weeks
postpartum, she'd been to thepediatrician relatively quickly
to just have them, you know,take a close look.
(25:59):
They were not concerned.
And then the visit between sixweeks and 13 weeks, somehow it
had resolved and we didn't hearit anymore at 13 weeks.
And that was, that was how thewhole arrhythmia thing ended up
resolving.
Which is so cool to, to see likesomething like that just sort of
resolve on its own with some,you know, maturity and growth
(26:24):
and things like that.
But also, again, looking backtoo, to see all of the many
different things that she didthroughout her pregnancy that
she thought about throughout herpregnancy that led into this
experience where she was like,wow, that was exactly.
What I wanted.
She felt like she was in controlfrom the get go.
And that's like, that's reallywhat we want for women, no
matter the outcome, what thebirth looks like, whatever that,
(26:46):
like, that women feel like thisis a mutually trustworthy
situation and that we like, notonly can they trust us, but that
we fully trust them and theirability to make really good
decisions for themselves whenthey feel strongly about
something.
And so that's like a sweettakeaway.
That I have from that.
Yeah.
And so this was back in our, inthe beginning of our practice,
(27:08):
we had so many pieces.
Really intentional pieces atplay, and not saying that we
don't anymore, but one of theserhythms that we use to ask our
clients is just to reflect ontheir process and share with us
because we do a whole year ofpostpartum care, and so we
really create space for notrushing.
The process of the birth notrushing, you know, integrating
(27:30):
that experience.
And we many points in thepostpartum say, do you have any
questions about your birth?
Do you have any insight?
Do you have any things that youwanna share?
And so we do ask, we did ask ourclients back then to like, if
they wanted to, to formally kindof like express what their
overall opinion was and or, youknow, just reflection.
And so I found that while I waslooking through her information
(27:52):
and.
Some of the things that sheshared about her experience were
just, I think this is the partthat just made me feel like,
whoa, this matters.
What we're doing here reallymatters.
So she had said previously,before her birth, she wanted it
to be quiet.
She wanted it to be intimate.
She wanted it to be reflective.
She wanted it to be empoweringand instinctive.
Those were the words that shewas using to describe her future
(28:16):
birth.
She also wanted her 2-year-oldto be present.
She wanted her husband to beable to catch the baby, and what
she wrote in the reflection wasmy midwives listened.
They affirmed when our son came.
They held space for exactly whatI asked for, even in ways that I
couldn't know to request.
His labor was quick and sointense, and I soon began to
(28:38):
feel overwhelmed andinsufficient for the task.
At one point, I rememberthinking, it's too much.
I'm not enough for this.
And into that headspace came mymidwives not to rescue me, but
to help me work out the laborthat I had set out to have.
In particular, Tiffany had anamazing gift for being present,
but practically invisible,supporting my desires for
(29:00):
empowerment and honoring ofinstinct in the most incredible
way.
I remember her arriving anddoing her assessment, and I
remember her encouraging me thatI could push when I wanted and
reached down to feel the baby'shead if I wished.
And when it was time to push, Iknew that she was near and
watching over us, but I was alsoacutely aware that I was driving
(29:20):
the bus.
I would receive exactly and onlyas much direction and
intervention as I asked for,which made me feel stronger and
more capable.
I felt on a deep level that ifshe trusted my instincts that
they must be trustworthy andthat is available to everyone.
That type of experience isavailable and the midwifery
(29:42):
model of care supports it to thebest.
I just want people to understandthat, that if you want to be
driving the bus, you can drivethe bus.
You can get as much directionand intervention as you ask for.
You can set up your care to bethat way, to make you feel
stronger, to make you feel morecapable, to trust your instincts
(30:02):
and.
I want women to, I want women toown that, to have that, to feel
grounded in that place it go.
It happens with a series ofreally intentional choices and
it can be a lot of hard work inorder to preserve that vision,
but it's worth it.
What you look back on for yourbirth and what you get to say
(30:23):
and how it was, it's absolutelyworth it.
Gosh.
And I remember reading that whenwe first got it, but that last
line about like if.
If like she trusted myinstincts, then I, I knew like
they must be trustworthy.
And so women can get really lostin labor and it's hard sometimes
to be like, what, what am Ifeeling?
(30:44):
Am I, am I actually this close?
Am I pushing too?
All of these questions and justthat like it slight incur you
don't even, probably didn't evensay much at the time.
But just that like,encouragement of Yes.
Listen to your body.
Yes.
Like this is exactly what it'smeant to be.
Like that is so meaningful.
And the fact that she took awaylike that soft encouragement and
(31:09):
presence then turned inward tobe like, yes, my instincts are
trustworthy.
Like, yes, I can be strong inthis.
Yes, I'm capable.
Like I'm, I'm doing this right.
Gosh, like that impactseverything, right?
Imagine feeling that at yourbirth versus, like just the,
that feeling of being railroadedand not trusted and being like,
(31:30):
I have no clue what the heckjust happened.
It's just, it's really sweet andit, again, it just matters so
much who you bring alongsideyou, where you plan to do those
things, the insight that youhave that you're bringing, who
you're, again, who your careprovider is, who your team is in
general, just it matters so dangmuch.
I'm really thankful that we didthis episode because that was a,
(31:53):
that was a really cool one tokind of think back on, and
hopefully women are encouragedby all of the things that this
mom had to kind of walk throughand climb out of and what she
got to walk into also and, andthrough.
Super cool.
Like, of course we want women tofind that we want women to find
that model in their owncommunity.
(32:13):
But if for some reason that isnot available, a really, really
close second to this philosophyis our childbirth education
course.
And so that's where we have allof this preventative information
about specific things like.
Hypertension and navigating, youknow, gestational diabetes and
still staying low risk in, inhaving like, you know, all of
(32:34):
those aspects of that and thatis available.
Of course for any woman.
And so we encourage you to takea look at that.
You'll find that in the shownotes along with our full script
hypertension protocol and ourfull script blood balancing
blood sugar balancing protocol.
So we are not gatekeepers here.
We want that informationavailable to all women so that
they can empower themselves intheir own preventative care and
(32:55):
pregnancy.
So that is there for you guys totake advantage of and look
forward to.
And that's it for us today, butwe will see you guys back here
at the same exact time nextweek.
That's a wrap, Hey ladies, ifyou're loving the show and want
to help us keep it ad free so wecan keep talking about all
(33:16):
things birth and women's health,without cutting to an ad about
electrolytes or grass fed beefsticks, here is how you can
support us.
First, leave us a quick reviewor a rating.
It helps more women, new moms,and birth enthusiasts find our
show.
And it honestly means so much tous to be reminded that you love
(33:38):
what we are doing here.
Second, share this episode witha friend, with a doula buddy, or
anyone who is on their ownholistic health or natural birth
journey.
And third hop on our newsletterlist.
This is where we share.
Bonus goodies behind the scenesstuff.
Fun little extras you just won'thear on the show.
You can find that link to joinin our show notes below.
(34:01):
Thanks so much for being a partof this growing empowered
community.
We could not do it without you.
wrap,
Welcome to at Home with Kellyand Tiffany, where we share
powerful tools, excitingeducation, and relatable views
about holistic health,physiological birth, and
thriving in the female body.
We are home birth midwives insunny San Diego.
Passionate about thealternatives that give women
control and confidence inhealth, in birth and in life.
(00:24):
We've poured a lot of love intocreating very in depth and high
value offerings.
A monthly membership, aphysiological birth course, and
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way in.
But this podcast.
We want to bring zero costinformation about health and
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(00:46):
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It really helps us keep thisspace open, ad free and full of
honest, valuable conversations.
Now let's dive into today'sshow.
(01:09):
welcome back ladies to the athome with Kelly and Tiffany
podcast.
We are here with a reallyexciting episode.
It's one of our favorites totalk about, which is a birth
story.
I think because we lovestorytelling and sharing
stories, we've kind of, becomeknown for.
Sharing stories, particularly onInstagram, but it's been super
cool to be able to bring thatover to this side of what we are
(01:30):
doing.
So excited to kind of get into avery sweet, hopefully
encouraging birth storyespecially given kind of the
things that she had to workthrough throughout her pregnancy
and all of that good stuff.
So excited to jump into thatwith you today.
Yes, we are.
And I have a review to share andI'm so glad that we're sharing
(01:50):
it today because all the onesbefore it had have disappeared
because we have ladies leavingnew reviews.
So we might have to, we mighthave to share two an episode at
some point.
This one is from Mo's Gal.
The title is My favoriteholistic podcast by far.
All caps by far, five stars, ofcourse, MOS Gal.
(02:11):
She says, I love all theholistic tips and tricks for
women in any stage of womanhoodthat y'all share in such a
humorous way.
I seriously enjoy listening toy'all having so much fun while
you share your priceless wisdomand experience with us.
Mo, thank you so much.
Let me just say how refreshingit is to hear from two experts
in the field that our femalebodies are not a freak of nature
(02:33):
or of evolution, but that wewere designed by an intelligent
creator for pregnancy, birth andbeyond.
Not enough experts are willingto acknowledge that fact, keep
up the good work and the humor,and keep making a difference in
women's lives.
Okay, fine.
We'll Mo Yeah, absolutely.
And just so encouraging.
Like find that in your AppleMusic library.
(02:55):
You can ask me to play a radiostation or ask for your music on
a different app.
Cool.
I think that'll be fine.
This is going really well.
It's great.
But that's just so encouragingand just so, such a good
reminder for what we're doinghere that like, even if
everything doesn't necessarilyhit for whatever season that
you're in and you're like, oh,that's just interesting, just
(03:16):
that idea behind like everythingis foundational.
Where, where is our foundationand how are we sharing from it?
It's just, I don't know, it'sjust an encouragement to me to
hear that landing really wellwith Mo's gal.
Thanks Mo Gal.
You tell us that you heard usread your review, and we will
buy you a drink.
Girly?
(03:36):
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Kelly icebreaker for thisepisode.
Share quickly because I have alot about this birth that I
wanna talk about.
What is something hard that youare doing?
Just for the sake of thechallenge?
I think we kind of neglect thisarea of.
Like growth in our lives.
Sometimes when we have controlof so many pieces, we kind of
(03:57):
like avoid doing hard things.
There's so much value to justdoing something hard just to be
like, oh, I did that.
There's so much crossover withbirth too.
Birth is like challenging hard,and some women honestly just
embrace natural physiologicalbirth because they want the
benefit of.
(04:18):
Getting to the end of it andgoing, that was so freaking hard
and I did it.
And like that's a reason enough,right?
There's so many reasons, butlike I think as a society we
tend to say like, makingeverything easier is better, and
I disagree.
Yes.
And I mean, sometimes easier is,you know, wonderful.
(04:39):
But I think we have allowedourselves to become lazy in
certain ways.
Like whether that's, you know,mentally, emotionally,
physically, whatever.
The thing that I am doing rightnow, so last year I shared I was
trying to do pull-ups because Ihad broke my arm, like right by
my shoulder, and it was hard.
So anyway, last year I was like,I'm gonna do this because I
(04:59):
thought I never would be able todo one again.
And.
Was absolutely able to do them.
And I was like, look at what mybody can do.
And so that felt reallyencouraging.
So this year I've been watchingmy daughter like kill it in her
gymnastics.
She's like continuing to rise upall of these like levels and
whatever things that I neverlearned to do when I was little.
I.
Could not, I never learned howto do a cartwheel.
And so my daughter was like,that's like the easiest thing
(05:21):
that you can do.
And I was like, well, not to me.
It's very hard.
So I have been working.
This makes no, like, I don't geta benefit necessarily, like it
doesn't do my family well, thatI know how to do a cartwheel or
whatever, but I'm workingtowards being able to do a
really good cartwheel simplybecause.
It's hard for me and it'ssomething that I really wanted
(05:42):
to do as a kid and I neverlearned.
And so I'm like, well, thatdoesn't mean I just can throw it
away and I don't ever have tolearn.
So that is my hard thing I amdoing just simply for the
challenge of it.
It's amazing.
I love too, that you're willingto say this doesn't have any
particular benefit.
Yeah, yeah.
Just doing, it's hard.
Yeah.
I mean, I would, I like lovelearning how to use my body in
(06:04):
different ways, you know what Imean?
Like learning how to be like,oh, I can get up and stand, you
know, from the ground indifferent ways.
Or keeping my body like young asI can in terms of movement, but
like.
No, it's not gonna like, benefitmy family or in any way if I'm,
if I'm able to do thisparticular thing.
But it has been enjoyable to belike, oh, yeah, yeah, this is a
(06:25):
good reminder.
Like, fail, fail, fail, fail,fail, fail, fail.
But like you're still getting,you're still getting benefit
while you're doing the failing.
And each fail is a little bitless than the last fail.
I love it.
Beautiful.
Really beautiful.
Thank you.
Okay, so jumping, jumping intothis birth story, I honestly was
so blessed to go back and lookthrough this client's chart.
(06:48):
It felt, okay, this is a littleself-centered.
I realize what I'm about to say.
Because what it felt like to mewas like having coffee with this
client and catching up andlooking at and like just
reviewing the birth together.
But we didn't do that.
She wasn't a part of it.
It was just me and her chart andmaking the little notes and
(07:10):
stuff for it.
But it blessed me so muchbecause it just made me remember
every single detail, and it mademe fall in love with this family
and just stoked my love andappreciation for this journey in
particular that she was on.
And then I just, I, Iautomatically felt.
So grateful all over again, eventhough this is several years
(07:33):
ago.
So grateful that we got to be apart of it and got to witness
it, and I was like so remindedof how good it is for our hearts
and our minds to remember tojust take the time to go back
and really remember the reallycool things that we've been
(07:56):
brought through and grownthrough.
And just experienced, especiallywith other people, it is like
it's worth putting time intoremembering and oof, this one
got me.
So let's get started a littlebit.
With the history of this client,there was a lot that.
Kind of like she came in withand there was a lot that we
(08:19):
navigated from a midwiferyperspective.
And then there was a lot ofpieces that, I mean, we utilized
the medical model with thisclient too, so let's talk about
her history a little bit and herprevious pregnancies and stuff.
Yes.
Okay.
So she had an adult childalready.
She had, at this point, she hada 19-year-old, and that was her
(08:41):
first kiddo who had, she had ahospital birth, she had an
epidural.
She was very young.
That was just her own experiencethere.
And then 17 years later she hadshe started another family with.
A different husband, completelydifferent season of life.
(09:01):
And at that point, she just knewwith her experience, with just
her level of maturity that shewanted a home birth.
And so I actually met her thefirst time with the preceptor I
was training with as a student.
And she I ended up, I ended upnot going to her birth because I
(09:23):
wasn't continuing on with thatpreceptor by the time that she.
Had had her baby, but it was theabsolute like encouragement of
our brand new midwifery careerwhen she reached out to us and
said, Hey, the little bit oftime that I had with you, even
though you weren't at my birth,made such an impression that now
(09:44):
I'm pregnant again.
And, you know, it was like twoand a half years later and she
wanted to explore the idea ofworking together with us as like
almost brand new midwives.
Not that she had a badexperience at all with her first
home birth.
I think it was a really greatexperience.
But what she did bring into thatinto her history a little bit
was.
(10:06):
Her first two pregnancies, shehad hypertension that came on in
the last month of pregnancy andwas really difficult to manage,
and so we kind of had thischallenge ahead of us with this
particular client.
And we trialed our hypertensionprotocol to prevent hypertension
for the very first time.
(10:26):
And so I know last episode wetalked about using herbs in
pregnancy, and that's what wedid.
I just applied information, Iapplied research., I applied.
The resources and education thatwe had taken upon ourselves at
that point as new midwives tounderstand new information.
And we created our hypertensionprophylaxis, which actually did
(10:48):
prevent her from getting highblood pressure in this
pregnancy.
And that is probably one of myfavorite parts of this story.
Absolutely.
And I, again, as like newermidwives, it felt so good to
implement something and actuallysee the outcome and her be so on
board to wanting to try it andbeing encouraged and, you know,
(11:10):
emailing and being like, Hey,the so far this is working.
You know, and how just excitedshe was to be a part of that.
That was, it was the midwiferymodel of care, like to a t It
was really cool to see.
And so that pregnancy, it was,it was fun'cause she already
like had this, you know,experience with you and
relationship with you.
But usually when that happenswith one of us, right?
We've worked with somebody elsebefore, not together.
(11:31):
It's like just an easy, like ifthey wanna work with you, the
assumption is that they're gonnabe cool working with me too.
And it was just very comfortablefrom the very kind of get go.
She decided to do co-care withan OB throughout her pregnancy.
And I'm forgetting necessarilyif that was an insurance thing
or if that was a just apotential desire in case.
(11:52):
You know, something kind of wenta little sideways as she got a
bit closer to having her baby.
But it was actually reallyhelpful because we got a lot of
great feedback from thisparticular doctor throughout her
pregnancy who was.
Really on board with her makingher own decisions and all that
good stuff.
A couple things that we did haveto deal with.
One you mentioned that kind ofhypertension stuff that we were
kinda prophylactically workingthrough.
(12:13):
We also were working with someissues that she was having with
blood sugar stabilization.
So she was tracking her ownmeals and doing a glucometer at
home, having pretty high postmeal.
Blood sugar ratings.
And so we had to kind of dialin, what are you eating?
What, you know, what istriggering these things?
Let's make some shifts here.
(12:34):
Let's see what we can do.
And she was willing, I mean, asit sounds like already that you
can guess, she was reallywilling to do the hard work.
So it's really easy to be likehey, look at these, look at this
information that we gave.
It like, felt so good to, youknow, be so helpful.
But really she had to implementa lot in that pregnancy to keep
it low risk and to keep herselffeeling good.
(12:55):
And so that was, that was reallyencouraging for me as a midwife
to see, to be like, yeah, that'sthe point.
Like we're mutually respectingeach other, trusting each other
and doing this together was justreally, really cool to see.
And so she was able to kind ofstabilize those things as her
pregnancy went on with that hardwork that she was able to do.
So that's absolutely possible todo with, you know, nutrition.
(13:19):
She had to really work withsupplementation and, you know,
lifestyle rhythms, things likethat to kind of stabilize some
of those things.
But it again, absolutely aspossible.
But as she got closer we, ourhead, our minds were on her on
her blood sugar certainly, butalso on her blood pressure,
right?
As things were kind ofprogressing on in her pregnancy.
But as we were taking care ofher around 34 weeks, we were
(13:40):
listening with a fetoscope.
And I'm pretty sure it was you,TIFF, who heard originally heart
arrhythmia or saying like, huh,that's, that's an, this is just
a little different.
This is interesting.
And that piques our interest,right?
We're like, okay, this isn'tnecessarily what we've been
hearing previously.
This is sounding a little bitdifferent.
Let's kind of dig into that alittle bit.
(14:03):
Let's pay attention to that.
We don't wanna miss anything.
One of the absolute gifts, Ithink, of listening to a
heartbeat.
Like that in particular is to beable to catch some things that,
not saying a Doppler can't catchthat, but just it's a very
particular type of heart ratethat we're listening to with a
fetoscope and you were able tokind of catch something that,
(14:23):
you know, sounded a little bitdifferent.
And it was like, I think somepeople think that like
everything's fine with a midwifeas long as everything's normal
and fine, and that if you have acomplication or some deviation
from normal, then oh, it's justall a loss.
We're just, oh, see, we shouldhave been with a doctor this
whole time.
And there's so much more nuanceto that.
(14:44):
So I can listen to the baby thatI've been listening to for the
past six or seven months.
I know this baby, and now atthis point, which like how
wherever he was at with hiscardiac development, I, I, I
caught the arrhythmia and Ithought, oh, I know that this
could be completely benign andfine, or it could be a signal
(15:06):
that something else.
Is going on.
And so we were able to make therecommendation, let's go in,
let's make sure that we can havethis, you know, checked out and
make sure that it's still safeto have this baby at home.
And I think some people justhave this really black and white
way of looking at midwiferycare.
Either it's safe or it's not, oryou, or, or we're good or we're
(15:26):
not, or it's medical care orit's not.
It was, it was especiallyhelpful that she had co-care
with an OB that we trust in ourcommunity.
So she was able to just jumpright in and get, you know, sent
to a perinatologist who's aspecialist in high risk
pregnancies and she got a.
Cardio echogram on her, on herbaby.
(15:49):
So they were able to do a reallylong study of her, of her baby's
heart function and ultimatelywas determined, especially with
this particular doctor.
I think another doctor couldsay, oh, great.
Here's the perfect.
Reason to not recommend homebirth anymore to you.
Now we got you.
We just don't know.
Oh, there's just so muchunknown.
We don't know what your baby'sgonna need, but he is like, no.
(16:12):
Everything we see here iscompletely fine and normal.
We have no reason to think thata home birth is not safe.
So.
Who you get co-care with and whoyou're asking to partner along
with you if you want to havemedical care really matters.
But then even as we went intopregnancy, his recommendation
was to to come in in those lastfew weeks and get a non-stress
(16:32):
test done twice a week.
And she was able to look at theinformation, the pros and the
cons, recognize that it wasprobably gonna cause more
anxiety for her, more upsetwe're, we're trying to keep.
Trying to keep blood pressurewithin normal ranges, right?
And so just for peace of mind,she de she declined those N MSTs
and it wasn't your responsibleat all because we did, what's
(16:55):
called an OS TATed Accelerationtest inside of the clinic each
week when we saw her.
And it doesn't measure exactlythe same way that an NST does,
but it's very, very close atlooking at baby's health in that
moment, especially as they haveheart rate variability.
And we're able to really kind oftrack the same metrics, but in a
(17:16):
really low technology way.
And I think that's anothermisconception is that midwives.
Can't perform the same type oftesting or get the same type of
information or results, but wewere able to just give her our
limitations and the benefitsand, and the pros and the cons
of that, and she could make herown decision about that.
And so we also let her knowwe're gonna be monitoring this
(17:37):
more in labor.
Everything does seem to be fine,but because it's just this
little flag, just be expectantthat like when we arrive to your
home, we're gonna listen longerthan usual.
When you're laboring, we'regonna listen more often and
probably longer than usual.
We just wanna make sure that thestress of labor on your baby is
not gonna change anything aboutthe way that this little beat is
(17:58):
being skipped.
You know?
So that was a, that was a reallygreat thing to walk through just
for us professionally.
I mean, we were still newermidwives at this time, and for
her to exercise and form consentand for us to make a plan
together, even amidst therebeing like a little flag there,
it was cool.
And again, just like midwiferycare on display in terms of
(18:20):
being able to work together andlike, again, as newer midwives,
a great opportunity to see, oh,I learned about this thing.
I've never actually seen itdone, it never had to be done in
this, you know, situation that Iwas in.
So it was cool to be able, likejust personally reflecting on
that as a professional to beable to be grown in that way
throughout this whole time oftaking care of her and entering
(18:42):
into being on call for her.
This is like towards the verybeginning of our practice.
I feel like this, when I thinkof her pregnancy and her birth,
I think of when you and I.
Like became each other's people.
For sure.
You know, like we had stuffgoing on in our personal lives
that we were always friends andwe became, you know, we became
(19:05):
friends, we started ourpractice.
But I feel like this season oflife that we were in, while we
were caring for her, likesolidified that there were like.
That forever and ever.
We will just be each other'sperson.
And so, that was, it's aninteresting part of thinking
back on that just because weboth were going through things
within the life of like ourfamilies outside of whatever was
(19:28):
going on with midwifery.
And in some ways it was reallyhelpful to be able to.
Walk into the clinic and belike, I can turn that part off a
little bit.
It was like something else tokind of think about and to pour
my heart into.
But it was a very interestinglike time of life to be able to
sort out what was going onpersonally versus what was going
on professionally.
(19:48):
And I can see how that canimpact.
Providers in a very specifickind of way, but I think we were
really intentional in being likewhen we were present somewhere,
we are really present.
And that was really importantto, to both of us.
But that's really what I thinkabout when I think about this
birth of really is whateverything else that was going
on in our lives at the time.
Yeah.
So the, this birth, her laborstarted.
(20:12):
In the middle of the night, so Idon't think we got a heads up.
I think she just called us inthe middle of the night and said
things are really moving along.
We knew that she was gonna giveus more of a heads up than usual
because it's her third baby andshe lived a little bit further,
so she knew we would need alittle bit more time.
But we usually always tellpeople, don't give us a heads up
at night because we're justgonna wake up and come to your
(20:34):
birth.
But this particular night.
You had to drop your kids off atyour mom's house, right?
She was your childcare.
So you had to wake your kids upin the middle of the night, put
them in the car, drive theopposite direction to your mom's
house.
Your mom forgot she was on callfor use, I think.
I think this is the birth whereshe was.
She wasn't answering her phoneor coming to the door,
(20:57):
something, right?
So you had to break into awindow to wake her up.
It was an absolute disasterbecause the plan was for her
just to come to my house.
Like, Hey, if I go to a birth, Ineed you to come over and just
be with the kids.
Okay, great.
She didn't, she just didn'tsleep with her phone that night.
I'm calling, I'm calling, I'mtrying to decide what do I do?
Do I wake up all of my kidsbring them, including like the
(21:19):
baby?
And that's the whole thing.
And eventually I was like, well,yeah, I guess I just have to,
but yes, I did break in througha window and.
I terrified her by waking her upand dropping three kids and
literally just being like all, Idon't, I don't know.
I just have to go, I have to getout of here.
And I was coming in absolutelyhot.
I think I was, I think I gotthere with I mean, you have the
(21:41):
chart.
It was probably just a coupleminutes before she had her baby.
I was just thinking,'cause youwere giving me updates, you
know, and I was just thinking,Kelly's not gonna make it.
You said you were coming, butI'm like, that's fine.
I'm just going to, I'm justgonna be here by myself.
That's okay.
There's just, every midwife hasto go through Yeah.
That thought process at somepoint.
So her, her history, well it's,her first birth was 22 hours,
(22:04):
her second birth was 15 hoursand.
At 39 weeks at 10:00 PM hercontraction started.
We tell our clients, don't callus in the middle of the, like,
if it's after, you know, eightor nine o'clock at night, don't
call us.
Just call us if you need us.
But she called us at two 15 inthe chart.
I said that I arrived at 3 45,so even it took even me an hour
(22:26):
and a half.
To get to her.
And so I get there at 3 45.
She starts pushing at four 12.
Her water breaks at exactly thatsame time she's in the tub.
It just had barely gotten filledup.
Her birth was at four 20, andthen I think in the chart, the
(22:47):
first place where I see yourinitials is like four 16.
So she's already been, she'salready been pushing for four
minutes before you come in andget the chart and start
charting, and I just, there'sno, there's no relief that is
like that when your partnercomes in right before the birth,
because that's when the most.
Unlikely chances forcomplication.
(23:07):
So like if I have to handle a, asoldier, soldier, a shoulder
dystocia, a hemorrhage aneonatal resuscitation, I
really, really want a secondperson there.
So the, so anytime that you justmake it right before the birth,
it's the beautiful thing.
Yeah.
I don't think it registered toher that I was even there until
like well into her postpartum,but she was like, oh.
(23:30):
I was like, yep.
Slid in there as much as I can.
Yeah, I think she asked me like,Hey.
I remember her saying like, is,is Kelly coming?
And I was like, yep.
Who knows when we'll see.
She is, she did tell me she'scoming.
She, so, I don't know.
We'll just see.
But it was, seems she wascoming.
It was so great to like slipinto because you're just like,
(23:51):
everything was going sosmoothly.
She was so in control.
It was such a straight, likepraises, it was such a
straightforward birth and arelatively straightforward
postpartum too.
And so it was just like such agift that it was that one that
was.
Feeling a little stressful forme to get to.
That's a thing though, right?
Like we're, we're rarely neededand, and, and why would we need
(24:13):
to announce that you havearrived and hey, just so you
know, I mean, it's just like,no, no one cares.
We're just, we're doing ourthing, right?
Mm-hmm.
One interesting thing about herpostpartum is that her placenta
didn't come for about an hourafter she.
Had her baby, and we don't havea whole lot in the chart about
that.
So I don't think we were doing awhole lot of things about it.
(24:34):
I think we were just being cooland like encouraging things
physiologically.
We didn't give her any, wehadn't given her her any herbs.
We didn't give her anymedication or anything like
that.
She got out of the tub and movedto the bed and, and had her
placenta there.
Her perineum was intact.
She lost 150 ccs of blood, whichis incredibly small.
(24:55):
That's on the very low end ofblood loss.
And then she just was like very,very happy, very appreciative,
very wonderful to take care ofbecause she got to have all of
those pieces of her birth, whichwas wanting to have a relatively
unserved experience.
And just knowing that somebodywas there just in case, and a
(25:16):
little follow up on the.
Arrhythmia is, we heard itpostpartum, so we're never sure
as that arterius ductus, I can'tremember exactly what, how it
goes.
It's a phenomenon with thebabies switching over their
cardiovascular system and avalve actually like opens up and
allows all four chambers of theheart to work and stuff like
(25:38):
that.
We didn't know if the arrhythmiawas gonna be, you know, changed
by that.
Usually it resolves on its own.
That was the information we got.
That arrhythmia was gonnaresolve on its own.
And we still heard it.
Up to, I think I had in thechart through six weeks
postpartum, she'd been to thepediatrician relatively quickly
to just have them, you know,take a close look.
(25:59):
They were not concerned.
And then the visit between sixweeks and 13 weeks, somehow it
had resolved and we didn't hearit anymore at 13 weeks.
And that was, that was how thewhole arrhythmia thing ended up
resolving.
Which is so cool to, to see likesomething like that just sort of
resolve on its own with some,you know, maturity and growth
(26:24):
and things like that.
But also, again, looking backtoo, to see all of the many
different things that she didthroughout her pregnancy that
she thought about throughout herpregnancy that led into this
experience where she was like,wow, that was exactly.
What I wanted.
She felt like she was in controlfrom the get go.
And that's like, that's reallywhat we want for women, no
matter the outcome, what thebirth looks like, whatever that,
(26:46):
like, that women feel like thisis a mutually trustworthy
situation and that we like, notonly can they trust us, but that
we fully trust them and theirability to make really good
decisions for themselves whenthey feel strongly about
something.
And so that's like a sweettakeaway.
That I have from that.
Yeah.
And so this was back in our, inthe beginning of our practice,
(27:08):
we had so many pieces.
Really intentional pieces atplay, and not saying that we
don't anymore, but one of theserhythms that we use to ask our
clients is just to reflect ontheir process and share with us
because we do a whole year ofpostpartum care, and so we
really create space for notrushing.
The process of the birth notrushing, you know, integrating
(27:30):
that experience.
And we many points in thepostpartum say, do you have any
questions about your birth?
Do you have any insight?
Do you have any things that youwanna share?
And so we do ask, we did ask ourclients back then to like, if
they wanted to, to formally kindof like express what their
overall opinion was and or, youknow, just reflection.
And so I found that while I waslooking through her information
(27:52):
and.
Some of the things that sheshared about her experience were
just, I think this is the partthat just made me feel like,
whoa, this matters.
What we're doing here reallymatters.
So she had said previously,before her birth, she wanted it
to be quiet.
She wanted it to be intimate.
She wanted it to be reflective.
She wanted it to be empoweringand instinctive.
Those were the words that shewas using to describe her future
(28:16):
birth.
She also wanted her 2-year-oldto be present.
She wanted her husband to beable to catch the baby, and what
she wrote in the reflection wasmy midwives listened.
They affirmed when our son came.
They held space for exactly whatI asked for, even in ways that I
couldn't know to request.
His labor was quick and sointense, and I soon began to
(28:38):
feel overwhelmed andinsufficient for the task.
At one point, I rememberthinking, it's too much.
I'm not enough for this.
And into that headspace came mymidwives not to rescue me, but
to help me work out the laborthat I had set out to have.
In particular, Tiffany had anamazing gift for being present,
but practically invisible,supporting my desires for
(29:00):
empowerment and honoring ofinstinct in the most incredible
way.
I remember her arriving anddoing her assessment, and I
remember her encouraging me thatI could push when I wanted and
reached down to feel the baby'shead if I wished.
And when it was time to push, Iknew that she was near and
watching over us, but I was alsoacutely aware that I was driving
(29:20):
the bus.
I would receive exactly and onlyas much direction and
intervention as I asked for,which made me feel stronger and
more capable.
I felt on a deep level that ifshe trusted my instincts that
they must be trustworthy andthat is available to everyone.
That type of experience isavailable and the midwifery
(29:42):
model of care supports it to thebest.
I just want people to understandthat, that if you want to be
driving the bus, you can drivethe bus.
You can get as much directionand intervention as you ask for.
You can set up your care to bethat way, to make you feel
stronger, to make you feel morecapable, to trust your instincts
(30:02):
and.
I want women to, I want women toown that, to have that, to feel
grounded in that place it go.
It happens with a series ofreally intentional choices and
it can be a lot of hard work inorder to preserve that vision,
but it's worth it.
What you look back on for yourbirth and what you get to say
(30:23):
and how it was, it's absolutelyworth it.
Gosh.
And I remember reading that whenwe first got it, but that last
line about like if.
If like she trusted myinstincts, then I, I knew like
they must be trustworthy.
And so women can get really lostin labor and it's hard sometimes
to be like, what, what am Ifeeling?
(30:44):
Am I, am I actually this close?
Am I pushing too?
All of these questions and justthat like it slight incur you
don't even, probably didn't evensay much at the time.
But just that like,encouragement of Yes.
Listen to your body.
Yes.
Like this is exactly what it'smeant to be.
Like that is so meaningful.
And the fact that she took awaylike that soft encouragement and
(31:09):
presence then turned inward tobe like, yes, my instincts are
trustworthy.
Like, yes, I can be strong inthis.
Yes, I'm capable.
Like I'm, I'm doing this right.
Gosh, like that impactseverything, right?
Imagine feeling that at yourbirth versus, like just the,
that feeling of being railroadedand not trusted and being like,
(31:30):
I have no clue what the heckjust happened.
It's just, it's really sweet andit, again, it just matters so
much who you bring alongsideyou, where you plan to do those
things, the insight that youhave that you're bringing, who
you're, again, who your careprovider is, who your team is in
general, just it matters so dangmuch.
I'm really thankful that we didthis episode because that was a,
(31:53):
that was a really cool one tokind of think back on, and
hopefully women are encouragedby all of the things that this
mom had to kind of walk throughand climb out of and what she
got to walk into also and, andthrough.
Super cool.
Like, of course we want women tofind that we want women to find
that model in their owncommunity.
(32:13):
But if for some reason that isnot available, a really, really
close second to this philosophyis our childbirth education
course.
And so that's where we have allof this preventative information
about specific things like.
Hypertension and navigating, youknow, gestational diabetes and
still staying low risk in, inhaving like, you know, all of
(32:34):
those aspects of that and thatis available.
Of course for any woman.
And so we encourage you to takea look at that.
You'll find that in the shownotes along with our full script
hypertension protocol and ourfull script blood balancing
blood sugar balancing protocol.
So we are not gatekeepers here.
We want that informationavailable to all women so that
they can empower themselves intheir own preventative care and
(32:55):
pregnancy.
So that is there for you guys totake advantage of and look
forward to.
And that's it for us today, butwe will see you guys back here
at the same exact time nextweek.
That's a wrap, Hey ladies, ifyou're loving the show and want
to help us keep it ad free so wecan keep talking about all
(33:16):
things birth and women's health,without cutting to an ad about
electrolytes or grass fed beefsticks, here is how you can
support us.
First, leave us a quick reviewor a rating.
It helps more women, new moms,and birth enthusiasts find our
show.
And it honestly means so much tous to be reminded that you love
(33:38):
what we are doing here.
Second, share this episode witha friend, with a doula buddy, or
anyone who is on their ownholistic health or natural birth
journey.
And third hop on our newsletterlist.
This is where we share.
Bonus goodies behind the scenesstuff.
Fun little extras you just won'thear on the show.
You can find that link to joinin our show notes below.
(34:01):
Thanks so much for being a partof this growing empowered
community.
We could not do it without you.
wrap,
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