114. MyMaine Birth: When Birth Plans Change, Autonomy Can Remain - Gina's two Birth Stories - MyMaine Birth

Episode Transcript
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Gina (00:00):
I said to my midwife, as I was like on my side with a
peanut ball in between my legs,I said to my midwife, like I
feel like I have to poop and Iknow people say they have to
poop when they need to push, butI don't think it's that, I
think it's really that I need topoop.
And she was like I don't knowabout that, you might need to
push.
So I had an anterior lipcervical lip.

(00:24):
So I had an anterior lipcervical lip.
So Shauna and my midwife helpedme get into like a
semi-squatting position on thebed, like sort of it was still
reclined, but not totallyreclined, and I started pushing
in that position and veryquickly I was complete and then
I pushed for just under 45minutes and then she was born

(00:48):
and I like I couldn't believe it.
It was, uh, yeah, it was totallysurreal because, like I went in
not at all expecting to have avaginal birth, like I really
thought it was going to be ac-section until I was very close
to actually giving birth.
So, yeah, that was that was.
It was very surreal.
It was really cool.

Angela (01:09):
I'm Angela and I'm a certified birth photographer,
experienced doula, childbirtheducator and your host here on
the my Maine Birth podcast.
This is a space where we sharethe real life stories of
families and their unique birthexperiences in the beautiful
state of Maine, from our state'sbiggest hospitals to birth
center births and home births.

(01:30):
Every birth story deserves tobe heard and celebrated.
Whether you're a soon-to-be mom, a seasoned mother or simply
interested in the world of birth, these episodes are for you.
Hey, everyone, welcome back tothe my Main Birth Podcast.
It's been a few weeks since thelast episode, so I wanted to

(01:52):
take a couple quick minutes toshare a little bit of a behind
the scenes update.
This past month has beenincredibly busy for me in all of
the best ways.
I've had the privilege ofwitnessing so many truly
remarkable births.
Normally I work with two tothree families per month maximum
, but in just the last monthI've witnessed three very

(02:13):
different home births and fourvery different hospital births.
It's been a powerful reminderof how diverse and unique each
birth experience truly is.
As a busy birth photographerand doula, I serve women in all
kinds of settings and Iabsolutely love supporting women
in claiming your power duringpregnancy, birth and postpartum

(02:35):
and in taking charge of yourjourney, regardless of where or
how you choose to give birth.
Currently, I'm booking birthsin November, december and
January, but I do occasionallyaccept last minute families.
If I'm booking births inNovember, december and January,
but I do occasionally acceptlast-minute families if I can
fit it into my schedule, likethis past month, I offer
complimentary consultations overZoom for anyone who might be
interested in working with me,and you can schedule these by

(02:58):
filling out the form over on mywebsite, mymainbirthcom, or you
can always send me a messageover on Instagram at
mymainbirthcom, or you canalways send me a message over on
Instagram at mymainbirth.
All right, I'm so excited to beback with new stories and
conversations starting today.
Today's birth story guest isGina, and she shares her two
birth stories with us.

(03:18):
Her first was a planned homebirth, but then shifted as she
transferred to a hospital due tosevere preeclampsia, where she
eventually had a cesarean.
This was in Virginia, but thenshifted as she transferred to a
hospital due to severepreeclampsia where she
eventually had a cesarean.
This was in Virginia.
And then, for her second birth,after a move to Maine, she was
again planning a home birth, butagain plans changed, this time
just after the 36 week mark andagain due to severe preeclampsia

(03:40):
.
Gina originally was told at asmaller hospital that she would
have to have another cesarean,but after she transferred to
EMMC in Bangor she waspleasantly surprised to discover
that she was given choices,options that she had thought
were not even remotely possible.
She was supported in trying fora VBAC.
Okay, gina, hi, welcome to myMain Birth, hello, hello.

(04:04):
Thank you so much for takingthe welcome to my Main Birth,
Hello, hello.
Thank you so much for takingthe time to chat with me.

Gina (04:10):
Oh yeah, Thank you for having this platform.
I enjoyed listening to thebirth stories while I was
pregnant.
Oh, that's awesome.

Angela (04:18):
So, to get started, would you share a little bit
about you and your family littlebit about you and your family.

Gina (04:23):
Yeah, so we live in Southwest Harbor Myself, my
husband, doug, and our twolittle girls.
Our little river is two andJuniper is five weeks old today.
Yeah, we moved up here about ayear ago from Virginia.
We lived out near the BlueRidge Mountains in Virginia
while we decided like where wewanted to plant roots and we had

(04:48):
gotten married up here a fewyears prior on the cliffs of
Acadia and just really reallyloved the area.
So we we were looking for aplace up here for probably about
three years before we foundfound the perfect spot and I,
yeah, I, yeah, I'm just so, sohappy to be up here.

(05:08):
We really wanted to be close tonature and it just seemed like
such a nice place to raise kids.
So we're really super excitedto be here and just hearing like
every person we meet tells ushow amazing it was to raise
their kids here, so it's likereally validating.
And, yeah, I, I work from home.

(05:28):
Actually, both my husband and Iwork from home.
I run a nonprofit that's basedin DC.
It's a, it's a breastfeedingcenter actually, so in the birth
world, uh, but she's not inMaine and yeah, that's us.

Angela (05:42):
That's so cool.
I love that and, yeah, sobeautiful living out there on
the islands.
Huh, how do you like it out?

Gina (05:48):
there.
Oh, we love it.
We feel so, so, so lucky to behere.
Yeah, it's really nice.
We have a trail like walkingdistance from one of our, from
our house here, flying Mountainswalking distance, and there's
just so many coves that we canexplore right around here.
And it's awesome with a toddlerwho, like, wants to be outside

(06:09):
100% of the time um, to havethese, these things, in such
close proximity oh, yeah, forsure.

Angela (06:17):
yeah, so River was born in Virginia and then, yes,
obviously was born here in Maine.
Yes, yes, exactly.
So to jump into your birthstories now, would you share
about how you found out you werepregnant with River and what
your thoughts were in choosingyour care?

Gina (06:37):
Yeah, sure.
So we had decided to start afamily and so I was tracking my
cycle and all of that.
And there was a day where I wasgoing out on a hike by myself.
Doug was away for work at thetime and I was hiking and I was
specifically not taking apregnancy test until my luteal

(07:00):
phase was longer than itnormally was.
I didn't want to set myself upfor like disappointment, keeping
you know, checking too much.
So I was out on a hike and atone point during the hike I was
just like I don't really feellike I'm alone.
Like I'm alone, but I think I'mnot actually alone.
And so when I got home, eventhough I wasn't to that point

(07:25):
where I said I would wait totest till you know, I took a
pregnancy test and it waspositive and I was super excited
and also like a little bitnervous because we had we had
gotten pregnant before and itended in miscarriage around six
weeks.
And then I was.
I was so excited but, like I, Ifelt like I couldn't tell Doug,

(07:45):
cause I wanted to tell him inperson and he was traveling for
work.
So I had to wait like almost awhole week.
Just really hard, um, but yeah,when, when he got home I told
him and he was really excited, Ithink he was also a little bit
like, uh, there's sometrepidation because of the loss
prior.
But no, we were, we were super,super excited and I I always

(08:10):
knew that I would choose a homebirth, like being.
I've worked at the breastfeedingcenter my entire professional
career, so I've always kind ofbeen in in the birth world and
exposed to different birthstories and different choices
people make, and home birth justsounded like the right choice
for me.

(08:30):
I also feel like I was lucky togrow up with my mom's birth
stories.
She did birth in a hospital,but she was always very positive
about birth.
She had three unmedicatedbirths in a hospital and she
always kind of said I don't knowwhy everyone freaks out about
it, it just happens, it's fine.

(08:51):
Yeah, it's intense, but you getover it quick.
So I feel like I was lucky inhaving that as kind of like the
programming for myself.
So there was never a questionas to what type of provider I
was going to look for, althoughI was in a new area I had
recently moved from Baltimore torural Virginia, so I wasn't as

(09:14):
familiar with the providers outthere.
So I was very familiar withproviders in like the DC area,
the Baltimore area because of mywork, but not so much out in
rural Virginia.
So I had to do some researchthere pretty early on, decided I
wanted to go with a CPM ratherthan a CNM.
I was looking for certifiedprofessional midwives rather

(09:36):
than certified nurse midwivesand, yeah, just found a midwife
I connected with pretty early onand established care around
nine weeks.

Angela (09:45):
Yeah, so how were things looking?
How are you feeling throughoutyour pregnancy?

Gina (09:57):
So early on, I think around six weeks, I started
feeling sick, nauseous, you know, having to lay down at random
points in the day because I justfelt so sick.
Back then, when there was onlywhen I didn't have another baby
yet, it was it was nice to havethe time to lay down and relax
in the middle of the day.
But no, I was feeling prettygood.
And at my first appointmentwith my midwife, again around
nine weeks, I requested that shedraw blood for progesterone

(10:22):
levels.
Just because of my priormiscarriage and how my cycles
were historically, I wondered ifthat was a factor in the
miscarriage.
So I wanted to know where itwas at with that pregnancy and
it was low.
And she suggested that Iconnect with a napro doctor.
I can't even remember whatthat's, what's that, what that's

(10:45):
short for, but it's someone who, who, like, works with natural
family planning and stuff likethat.
So she prescribed, uh,bioidentical progesterone to
supplement with throughout mypregnancy, which was at the time
I was like, really happy tohave that as a resource and felt
like it was very necessary.
But it also medicalized mypregnancy more than I had hoped

(11:09):
it would.
I mean, it was super nice I wasable to see the doctor via
telehealth.
All the time.
I never had to go into an officeor anything, but I did have to
get my blood drawn, I think itwas like every two weeks, to
check progesterone levels andthen if there was any change in
dosing every week.
And I also I lived rurally, soit was like a 45 minute to an

(11:30):
hour drive to the lab to get myblood drawn.
So and now, looking back on it,I wonder, I do wonder if it was
necessary.
But that was a part of thatpregnancy, that it was a big
part of that pregnancy.
That was yeah and otherwiseotherwise.
Yeah, the pregnancy was prettyuneventful until the end, which
I'll get to um, but yeah, I felt, I felt generally really good

(11:54):
after the first trimester.
Um, we were hiking a lot.
We lived on a mountain and didyou know daily walks up and down
the mountain, which was reallyreally nice.
And also we were in Virginia,so the winters weren't brutally
cold, so I was able to hikethroughout the winter and stuff.

Angela (12:10):
Yeah, so how were things looking like those last final?

Gina (12:15):
weeks.
It was the third trimester thatthings started to come up.
So I was from the start of mypregnancy actually from my very
first appointment with mymidwife at nine weeks I remember
being paranoid aboutpreeclampsia and I think that
maybe it was intuition, maybe itwas the time that I was
pregnant it was 2022.

(12:35):
And because I was veryconnected with a lot of birth
workers, I'd heard manyconversations in the past two
years since COVID about like oh,wow, we're seeing a lot of
preeclampsia.
It seems to be happening somuch.
So it was very much on my mind.
So I remember the firstappointment.
I was like, do you think Ishould be taking baby aspirin or

(12:57):
something to try to lower mychances of getting preeclampsia?
And my midwife was like no, youhave no risk factors, like
there's no reason to do that,like it, don't worry about that.
And then in the third trimesterI think pretty early on, I want
to say like around 28 or 29weeks I had an abnormally high

(13:17):
reading at one of myappointments with my midwife and
it was not unusual for me tohave higher readings just
because I do have a lot ofmedical anxiety outside of
pregnancy.
So I do have white coatsyndrome and my blood pressure
often retied.
But this one was like outsideof the normal high, and so we

(13:40):
were like, okay, well, let's,let's keep an eye on it.
Um, I was also going to thechiropractor regularly, which,
amazing, 100% recommend everypregnant person to do that.
So I had them take my bloodpressure the next time I was
there and it was totally normal.
So I was like, oh, maybe it wasjust a one-off, like maybe we
don't have to be too concernedabout it.

(14:00):
But then again, at the nextappointment, it was reading a
little high again, and so mymidwife said well, why don't you
just take your blood pressureat home, check it once a day, or
once every couple of days, justto make sure nothing's going on
?
And then around 34 weeks, I wasgetting readings over 140, over
90, consistently.

(14:22):
It wasn't coming back down.
So I talked to my midwife andwe started the emergency
protocol with the brewer's diet.
Up until now I had been tryingto eat as high protein as I
could anyway, but beingvegetarian, it was challenging
to hit those protein numbers.
So we started oh my god, I ateso many eggs.

(14:43):
After that point it was insane,like per day, the number of
eggs I was eating, but westarted the emergency protocol
for the brewer's diet and alsodid some.
I started some herbs to helpbring my blood pressure down,
which worked.
Generally it was coming backdown into normal ranges.
Every couple of days I wouldget an abnormally high reading

(15:04):
but then the next day it wouldbe back into like acceptable
ranges.
And then I was like obviouslythis was bringing up a lot of
fears about preeclampsia, likethis is so in the front of my
mind.
But also it was like I'm soearly on, I know if, if I'm
diagnosed now like I don't wantto have a 34 week or I don't

(15:25):
want to have a 35 week or so itwas yeah, it was.
It was an interesting kind ofuh time where it's like I think
something's not right but alsomy blood pressures are generally
okay, like all the stuff we'redoing is generally keeping them
Okay, so let's just keep waitingit out.
And I was feeling fine, like,besides the anxiety, I thought I

(15:48):
was feeling fine.
I was like, oh well, there'ssome swelling, but like end of
pregnancy, that could be normal.
Some shortness of breath againend of pregnancy, that could be
normal.
So I was writing off some ofthose you know warning signs.
And then at my 38 weekappointment with my midwife, I
was like I need.
And then at my 38 weekappointment with my midwife, I
was like I think we need to runlabs, like I'm really anxious
that this is preeclampsia and Ineed to know whether or not I

(16:11):
need to be anxious or not.
So we did the urine test atthat point.
Yeah, so we did the protein inyour urine test and that came
back the next morning insanelyhigh, like so high that my
midwife thought it was a laberror.
And so she had me come back forher office and redo that, plus

(16:32):
the blood, the blood work too.
And at that point my bloodpressure was like really high,
obviously, because I was justfreaking out about it.
And so at her office she waslike well, we could wait for the
labs to come back.
We'll see what it says.
If you want, we can.
Also we can start a nat homeinduction, essentially, if you
want to, because it's lookinglike this is pretty slancy and

(16:55):
if that's the case we need toget this baby out of.
You ate that.
So at that point we did amembrane sweep.
I consented to her doing amembrane sweep.
I was like barely dilatedenough to do that Like I was one
centimeter dilated but did thatand then also started a like an

(17:15):
herbal induction plus castoroil.
And then she expedited the labs.
A few hours later we got theresults Clearly severe
crudiclampsia.
All my levels were showing that.
So we talked about my option andshe was, she was comfortable
with if I did want to still tryfor a home birth.
She was comfortable with thatIf I did that at her, at her, at

(17:39):
her house, because she livedvery close to the hospital, to
the big hospital in the area.
And she said you know we could,we could to the big hospital in
the area.
And she said you know we could,we could try for it.
We started the induction.
Maybe things will pick up inthe next couple hours and we
just know, like if you'reshowing distress or if baby's
showing distress, we willtransfer, or we can transfer to
the hospital now and start amedical induction and so at that

(18:01):
point, so like up until now,like all I've wanted is a home
birth.
That's like it was so importantto me.
But what became more importantwas having some sort of like
stay in the matter and I didn'twant an emergency transfer.
I did not want things to get tothat point, so I chose to

(18:23):
transfer to the hospital at thatpoint and we, so we got there.
There my midwife came with us,thankfully, and we.
It was in the evening, it waslike late, so they got us into a
triage room and you know theyhook you up to all the monitors
and all that sort of stuff sothey're tracking baby's heart

(18:45):
rate.
And while we're in triage,before they really started any
medication or anything, baby hadtwo D-cells without any
contractions going on with it.
It was, I was not in labor, andso I could tell the second time
that it happened by mymidwife's face that something
was not Like, that wasn't normal, um, and that she was concerned

(19:08):
.
So it was just something I was,I was aware of.
But we'd start.
They started me on magnesium inthat triage room and immediately
as soon as that drip started.
So the magnesium is to is givenwith severe preeclampsia to
prevent seizures.
So it's like it's a necessarything.
But it is brutal, it isterrible.
Oh God, I hate it so much, theworst part of all of it.

(19:30):
But as soon as they started themagnesium drip, I started
vomiting violently and when Idid.
My water broke and it broke allover my husband who was trying
to comfort me as I was throwingup.
So, yeah, so my water broke atthat point and I think they said
I was like two centimetersdilated at that point.

(19:53):
So then we get into the laborand delivery room and at that
point they start the Pitocin andwe could never increase the
Pitocin past the two two likethe first level that they
started on um because baby kepthaving d cells and from the
get-go I was having to I had tokeep moving.

(20:15):
I had turn on this side, no,turn on that side, no, get on
hands and knees, try to sit upmore like, try to get into a
squatting position.
Let's try to get baby in abetter spot.
So it was a constant yeah, itwas a constant battle to keep
baby's heart rate at a levelthat wasn't concerning.
So I could, like I don't know,pretty early on I think I could

(20:36):
see where this was going, thatit wasn't going to end in a
vaginal birth.
But we tried for a few hours.
I hadn't progressed at all,labor had not started, I wasn't
getting any contractions, and soafter a few hours, you know
they come in and discuss.
You know this isn't like we cankeep trying, but this isn't
looking great Like.
Baby's heart rate keeps goingdown.

Angela (20:58):
How was your mindset, as things were kind of progressing
that morning?

Gina (21:01):
I think I was very, at that point, very accepting of it
.
Like I knew, I knew baby wasokay.
I wasn't.
I was nervous about if babywould be okay If we kept going
that route, if we kept trying toto push an induction, and I

(21:24):
don't know like it might havebeen the exception.
Acceptance may have partiallybeen the magnesium, to be honest
, because that is it just reallyI don't know.
For me it's a physical andpsychological thing.
It just really kills me.
Um, but yeah, I was I.
I told my husband on the driveto the hospital that like were a

(21:45):
lot of things that I said Iwould never want.
Like I said I'm never gettingan epidural.
On the way to the hospital Itold him that's probably
changing.
Like, if I'm getting aninduction with Pitocin, I may
ask for an epidural, and I don'twant to hear you trying to
convince me that I shouldn't getit because I don't want it,
because that's not thissituation.

(22:05):
I did tell him, like, but I'mgoing to fight against a
C-section unless, like, eitherme or the baby is truly in
trouble.
Like that's not where I want toend up.
But once I was in that situationwhere there were hours of me
moving around, not progressingat all, just trying to keep

(22:28):
baby's heart rate up.
At that point I think I hadaccepted that a C-section was
going to be necessary.
Yeah, so you know, the doctorcame in and had that
conversation with me and Iconsented to a C-section at that
point because, again it was.
It was important to me that Iwas making the decisions and it

(22:48):
wasn't like this is an emergency, now you have to do this thing,
you know so which is reallyjust autonomy?
you know, like yes yeah, exactly, and I think that that was yeah
, that was ultimately what wasmost important to me.
I was like realizing, yes, ahome birth would have been
amazing, like that is ultimatelywhat I wanted, but really what

(23:09):
I want is the autonomy.
Yeah, so, yeah.
So once I consented this to theC-section, things happened
quickly.
As far as the C-section goes, Ifeel like it went pretty
seamlessly, smoothly,non-traumatically, smoothly,
non-traumatically, at least forme.
My husband was not prepared fora c-section and, like, when

(23:30):
they dropped the curtain to, youknow, show me the baby being
pulled out, he saw the incisionand that was hard for him but
yeah, it went pretty easily.
When they did pull my daughterout, I which we didn't know if
it was a boy or a girl we neverfound out her sex, so that was
fun.
We totally thought she was agirl.

(23:51):
Neither of us thought there wasany chance that she was a boy,
but it was fun seeing that.
But as they pulled her out, Isaw how tiny she was and I'm
like, oh my God, she's so smalland I immediately got very my
God, like she's so small and Iimmediately got very worried
about them taking her to theNICU.
But they assured me as long asshe was healthy, they would not.

(24:14):
They were a baby-friendlyhospital so they didn't have any
sort of like under five poundcutoff to go to the NICU.
She was four pounds and 11ounces, so thankfully she was
perfectly healthy and she got to, you know.
So thankfully she was perfectlyhealthy and she got to.
You know, come onto my chestimmediately and yeah, then we,
we moved to postpartum.
I remember them bringing in alactation consultant immediately

(24:35):
.
So she did get to latch veryearly, you know, within that
first hour, which was nice.
But then after that, themagnesium made everything such a
blur that the first 24 hours ofher life are like, yeah, very
fuzzy, because you stay on themagnesium for 24 hours past the
birth.
So, yeah, those first 24 hoursare really fuzzy.

(24:58):
I don't.
I don't remember feeding herlike super frequently because I
was just was not with it, like Ifeel, like I wasn't in reality
at that time, the way that themagnesium made me feel, you know
, like at one point I rememberher being in the bassinet next
to me and like being confused asto like how this baby is even

(25:18):
here and like, you know, it'sjust very surreal.
Surreal would be the word todescribe those first 24 hours.
But yeah, but we were super,super happy that she was healthy
after knowing how tiny she was.
It was after.
At that point it was suspectedthat there was um growth
restriction due to thepreeclampsia.

(25:38):
That's why she was so small.
Yeah, so that was the birth,and then the postpartum is a
whole other story so how longdid you stay in the hospital for
?
Yeah.
So we stayed in the hospitalthe whole week, which was brutal
.
So, like her birth, even thoughit was a C-section, I don't

(25:58):
find that traumatic, but thepostpartum stay was brutal.
It was like I felt like aprisoner.
They couldn't get my bloodpressure down, like within
reason to discharge me.
So I, like I said earlier, Ihave medical anxiety.
I did not want to be in thehospital and I've always had

(26:21):
white coat syndrome.
And now to know that, like myblood pressure was actually an
issue, plus that on top of itwas, I could not get my anxiety
under control.
And so I knew that I needed 24hours of reasonable blood
pressures to be discharged, andevery time, the one that the
last one that would make 24hours was always critically high

(26:45):
.
And so, yeah, we were there awhole week until they got me on
so many blood pressure meds thatit allowed me to be discharged.
And then I was discharged inthe afternoon and then the next
morning my blood pressuredropped so low I almost fainted
because I was on so many bloodpressure meds.
You know, because I didn't, Ididn't actually need them, like

(27:06):
I mean, I needed them in thehospital, cause my anxiety, but
when I got home I did not.
So I was like, immediately, Iimmediately dropped one of the
medications that was on both myfetipine and labetalol um,
dropped one of them and reducedthe other drastically.
So, yeah, that was.
That was really hard being inthe hospital that long and, yeah

(27:26):
, and having a tiny baby who washaving trouble latching and I
was pumping around the clock totry to get my milk in.
But because of I think becauseof the C-section and because of
all the medications, there was alot of delay in my milk coming
in.
And so, thankfully, we had somedonor milk that my midwife had

(27:49):
sourced from other clients,which was really great.
And then I also advocated hardto get donor milk in the
hospital as well.
They said that it was onlyavailable for NICU patients and
I was like, no, this baby's fourpounds and 11 ounces, like she
needs donor milk.
We're not, you're notwithholding donor milk from her.
So we got that too.

(28:10):
And then then the like six toeight weeks postpartum, there
was still a lot of supplementinggoing on because my milk really
didn't come in like full supplyuntil I was off of the blood
pressure medications aroundseven, eight weeks postpartum.
And River also she had a tongueand lip tie that we got revised

(28:33):
around six weeks, which helpedher with latching and
transferring better.
So those first couple months itwas a lot of finger feeding and
syringe feeding and tubefeeding and nipple shields and
pumping and all the things.
But I was like so determinedfor breastfeeding to work
because the birth went the wayit did.
I was like I'm holding ontothis one thing that I want to

(28:56):
happen.
So, yeah, we persevered.
How long did you breastfeed?

Angela (29:01):
for.

Gina (29:01):
She weaned around 19 months when I was about 20 weeks
pregnant with Juniper yeah.
So it was kind of like anatural thing Like we.
I wanted her to night weanbecause I didn't want to be
getting up in the middle of thenight with her anymore.
So we night weaned by having myhusband just do all the night
wakings and then within like twoweeks of night weaning she

(29:24):
latched one day after daycareand then she unlatched and said
yucky and then never came backagain.
So that's how that happened.

Angela (29:34):
Wow, yeah, now getting into her story, would you share
about how you found out you werepregnant and yeah, we moved to
Maine in May before I waspregnant and conceived her in
July.

Gina (29:49):
June and July actually, funny enough, on the same full
moon that we conceived River.
Um, so, like the, the timelineof my pregnancy was exactly the
same as with River.
My due date was like nine daysapart from river's due date.
So we yeah, it was summer uh,doug was away for work again

(30:12):
when I found out I was pregnantand so again, I had to wait
until he got back to tell him,which it's so funny, how, like
how, everything lined up in sucha similar way again.
But we were excited, but alsolike a little bit nervous
because it was sooner than wehad anticipated having a second.

(30:33):
I think, like in my mind I hadwanted to wait really till the
fall to conceive again, and Doughe was like I don't know if I
would have ever felt like I wasready otherwise.
So it was, it was a little bitof a uh, you know something that
we had to um, get used to thefact that we were going to have

(30:55):
two so soon.
But, yeah, I was really excited.
And then I also wanted I wantedmy progesterone tested again.
So I because with River I wasactually on progesterone all the
way until like 36 weeks, likethat's what the doctor told me
to do, based on my levels.
So I reached out to a localmidwife here when I was like

(31:18):
four weeks pregnant, I think,like really, really, really soon
, and asked if you know if shedoes those blood draws or who
she'd recommend.
And she had me come out to her,her house, to do the draw.
And yeah, it was.
It was low but within normallimits, and so at that, at that
point, I was like, okay, wellthen I'm, I'm not going to

(31:38):
supplement.
Like if it's within normallimits, I need to trust it's
okay, like I need to not make aproblem where there's not a
problem.
So I feel like Juniper'spregnancy, from the start, was
much more leaning into trust.
I think with River there was alot more anxiety, there was a
lot more Googling every singlething and wanting to know all

(31:59):
the things about everything, andwith Juniper it was more about
leaning into trusting my body todo this.
So that was, yeah, I saw mymidwife Rachel around four or
five weeks, I think it was, andthen, yeah, I decided there was
no doubt in my mind that I wasplanning a home birth after
cesarean.
So I did interview a coupleother midwives, just because I

(32:22):
knew.
You know, I knew none of themidwives up here, so I thought I
should interview the ones thatwere available so I could make
an informed decision about whoI'd hire.
And I really loved both Rachel,rachel Cohen and Julie Havener,
so I talked to them both aboutlike could I have both of you as

(32:45):
my midwives?
Um, and they were open to that.
So I actually hired both ofthem and they did co-care
throughout my entire pregnancy,which was really really neat
because they both bring suchdifferent things to the table.
I really loved having andworking with both of them and so
, yeah, I knew early on that Iwas going to hire, hire them.

(33:06):
But we didn't actually startcare until 17 weeks, I think.
So my first trimester was likejust totally on my own, doing my
own thing, which felt so niceafter all.
The anxiety of the firsttrimester with River yeah, not,
not that they would have likeadded anxiety, it just it felt

(33:26):
different to like have noappointments, no checking of
anything, like being I was verysick, though Very nauseous, a
lot of vomiting, which is a lotharder when there's also a
toddler in the mix, but I'd saythat you know that waned around

(33:48):
12 weeks or so and I startedfeeling better after that.
I also felt juniper moving veryearly on, like around 13 weeks.
I felt like little fishymovements.
That was cool and reassuringand yeah, then we started care
around 17 weeks.

Angela (34:05):
It must've been nice just enjoying that appointment
free time it was probably fall,so just really just living your
life, right.

Gina (34:14):
Yeah, exactly it was.
It was very nice.
Like I, I can totallyunderstand why some people
choose to to not see anyoneduring their pregnancy.
Like I get it, it's nice, butyeah, so we started care around
17 weeks and I did the anatomyscan.
I did the anatomy scan withRiver as well, both times.

(34:36):
I don't know ultrasounds arejust some people find them
really fun and like to look atthe.
I don't find them fun.
I find them very anxietyinducing.
Yeah, it's not my favorite partof pregnancy but yeah, it was.
You know, after afterwards youfeel a sense of relief, although
at this anatomy scan theydidn't get to visualize all the

(34:57):
things that they wanted tovisualize and they wanted me to
come back for another one, whichwas very annoying because it
was so long and I yeah, I justwas not interested in doing
another, so I skipped it.
I'm sorry.
Yes, I had to go to the hospitalfor that.
I went to Ellsworth for theanatomy scan.
So, yeah, I just I decidedagainst going back for the

(35:29):
rescan, although during thisanatomy scan we did see that my
placenta was anterior and with aV-back placental location is
important because of the scar.
So because there was ananterior placenta, it did mean
that I had to get a late thirdtrimester ultrasound to make
sure that the placenta wasnowhere near my scar for a VBAC.
So but yeah, it was.
It was interesting.

(35:49):
I was shocked that my placentawas anterior because I felt her
moving so much throughout mypregnancy, like way more than I
ever felt River moving.
That was just kind ofinteresting.

Angela (36:02):
So yeah, how were things looking as you progressed into
your third trimester?

Gina (36:08):
Yeah, everything was looking good.
I felt again really goodthrough my pregnancy Didn't get
to do as much hiking as I didwith River, because the winters
here are not the same as thewinters in Virginia.
There was so much ice, so muchice.
So, you know, I did walks whenI could little neighborhood
walks and smaller hikes.
I also this time had a yogaclass that I went to weekly.

(36:31):
That was so nice.
I loved doing that.
And I also had regularchiropractic appointments and
acupuncture too, which theacupuncture was so amazing and
not something I had done in thepast and I really, really
enjoyed that.
And so, as we got to the thirdtrimester, everything was

(36:51):
looking good.
You know, I wasn't doing manytests.
We did, like the gestationaldiabetes test as, like you know,
eating food and then prickingmy finger to see what my blood
sugar levels were.
Everything was good there.
And then, yeah, I was feelingreally good in my third
trimester, feeling like I wastrusting.

(37:13):
I was trusting things is reallyhow it felt.
And as we got into, I think,around 32 weeks, one of my
midwives suggested that I juststart taking my blood pressure a
couple of times a week just tomake sure it doesn't start
creeping up, or if it does that,we can catch it early.
And so I did that.

(37:34):
And then the ultrasound tocheck my placenta location was
at 34 weeks and that morning Ihad a high blood pressure and I
was like you know what?
I think I'm just really anxiousabout this appointment.
You know, like I don't likeultrasounds generally and this
one, could you know I know itcould mean a lot of other things

(37:57):
, so I think I'm just anxious.
So did the ultrasound, and thisthis time went to oh, I can't
remember what it's called, butit's a private ultrasound place
in Ellsworth, ohigo, and yes,uh-huh, yeah, so I didn't have
to go into the hospital thistime, which was nice, and so I
went there and she had, shelooked at the placental location

(38:18):
and she also looked at a coupleother measurements, which I was
actually very grateful for atthat point, because I was
nervous then about the highblood pressure and I wanted to
make sure like the baby lookedgood and baby didn't look small
and things like that.
So, yeah, I got somereassurance that baby looked
fine, placental blood flow wasgreat, like all of that was
looking good, and my placentawas nowhere near the scar.

(38:40):
So that was really great toknow.
And then over the next week,yeah, my blood pressure was
creeping up.
It wasn't over 140, over 90,but it was getting higher.
And then the next weekend I was35 and a half-ish weeks, had a

(39:00):
couple higher readings again andRachel and Julie suggested that
it might be time to go to thehospital to get some lab work
done so that we can know soonerthan later what we're dealing
with here and if it's justhypertension, just gestational
hypertension, we treat it.
But we need to know.
So that was a hard, harddecision, but ultimately I

(39:22):
decided to go.
So that was a hard, harddecision, but ultimately I
decided to go.
So we went into Ellsworth andthat was on a Sunday night and
my blood pressure was throughthe roof in the hospital, like
well over the 160, over 110 thatthey consider severe.
So it was a lot of trying tocalm myself down in the hospital

(39:46):
and like me telling them overand over again this is anxiety,
like I'm shaking from theadrenaline right now, like this
is not like reflective of mytrue blood pressure, but it you
know, it doesn't matter if yourblood pressure is that high, it
is that high.
And like you're at risk for allof the things if it is that
high.
So it was a very stressfulcouple hours till my blood

(40:10):
pressure came down and I thinkit finally came down.
It wasn't even coming down.
They gave me like the maximumamount of nifedipine they could
and it still wasn't coming down.
And then the doctor who was oncall but not at the hospital
finally came in and had aconversation with me about how,
like we may be transferring toBangor tonight and you might be

(40:32):
having a baby tonight.

Angela (40:35):
Sorry, oh no, you're okay, take your time.
Take your time.
Yeah, this is hard.

Gina (40:42):
There's a, that's a, that's a lot yeah, it was a lot
and it wasn't.
I wasn't expecting it becausemy blood pressures at home
weren't like they weren'tconcerning to me because I knew
what they were like lastpregnancy like it wasn't like
that bad.
So I just wasn't expecting itto be that bad when I went in.
But once he said that I thinkthere was like an acceptance

(41:07):
came over me and I was like,okay, well, if that's what it is
, that's what it is.
And then my blood pressure camedown.
They did admit me for a nightbut then by some miracle, I was
discharged by noon the next day.
I did not, I didn't think I wasgoing to be discharged.

(41:28):
My midwife, rachel, who waswith me, did not think I was
going to be discharged.
We both kind of thought that Iwas, I was staying until I had a
baby.
But yeah, my blood pressureswere like totally fine 12 hours
later.
So they discharged me on likethe very lowest dose of
labetalol and then, yeah, withyou know, of course, the promise
of me coming back for afollow-up visit to make sure

(41:48):
everything was okay.
Oh, and I meant to mention aswell that the first hour or two
that I was in Ellsworth they didtest my urine and my blood, and
there was protein in my urine.
So I was diagnosed with mildpreeclampsia at that point in
time Mild, because my bloodpressure came back down.
My blood work looked fine atthat point in time though, so

(42:09):
yeah.
So then it was contending withwhat a diagnosis of mild
preeclampsia meant, because withmild preeclampsia the
recommendation is delivering at37 weeks and Ellsworth, the
community hospitals will not doan induction for a VBAC, so it
meant a repeat C-section at 37,which I feel like I actually

(42:32):
accepted that pretty quickly andwas like you know, it'll be
different, it's.
I know what to expect, I canplan for it, I can ask for
certain things.
I can make it more of what Iwould want.
So I did accept that prettyquickly, and there was also, you
know, the off chance.
My midwife was like you know,you never know, you could go

(42:53):
into labor before that and, ifthat happens, like I'll still
attend you at home.
You know, we could just seewhat happens.
I wasn't holding my breath forthat, but I was anticipating
going in for a repeat C-sectionat 37 weeks.
Then I had my follow-upappointment a few days later,
around 36 weeks, again at theEllsworth Hospital, with the

(43:17):
doctor there and my bloodpressure again, of course, was
high in the office and they didan NST in the office as well to
just make sure that baby wasdoing well and she was.
She was doing perfect.
We did repeat blood work atthat appointment as well.
My blood pressure in the officethe doctor said that

(43:41):
appointment as well my bloodpressure in the office, the
doctor said was at a level thatprotocol says he needs to send
me to LND immediately.
He was really understandingabout the white coat syndrome
and like really compassionateabout that.
He's like you know, we'll just,we'll do the blood, repeat
blood work, we'll do an NSTinstead of sending you to labor
and delivery.
We won't send you there as longas the NST is fine.

(44:03):
So I really I did appreciatethat a lot.
That was really nice.
So but yeah, we did the repeatblood work and by the time I got
home I got a call from himsaying that my liver enzymes
were now elevated, which tips meinto severe preeclampsia.
Now elevated, which tips meinto severe preeclampsia and
with severe preeclampsia afterlike I think, 34 weeks, the

(44:29):
indication is immediate delivery.
So I was very upset about thatbecause I didn't anticipate it
this time I really didn't haveany signs of preeclampsia, like
symptoms of it besides thehigher blood pressures.
So I just I really didn't thinkit was going to go into the
severe range and so I was 36weeks.
At that point he I thought aslong as I was 36 weeks Ellsworth
would still deliver.

(44:50):
But he said that he had talkedto the pediatrician at the
hospital and they felt that Iwas too high risk and they would
have to transfer me to Bangor,which is something I really
didn't want.
I was really nervous aboutgoing to, like the high risk,
high volume hospital.
I didn't want that.
That's what I had in Virginiaand while my birth in Virginia

(45:11):
wasn't terrible, the postpartumstay really was.
So I was like trying to be in asmaller, smaller hospital that
might be more understanding andless policy driven.
So I was really upset abouthaving to transfer to Bangor.
But you know I mean my midwifesaid we'll, we'll get there
together, I'll walk in with youfrom start to finish, I'll be
there.
And we were prepared to go infor an immediate C-section.

(45:35):
So that's what the doctor toldme and that's what they also
told my midwife that we weregoing in for an immediate
C-section.
So we get there, they alreadyhad an L&D room set up so I
didn't have to go to triage thistime, which was also nice.
And so we get in there.
They start magnesium, or no,they didn't start magnesium yet

(45:56):
the OBGYN on call came in firstand it was Dr Breda.
Was the OB on call at thatpoint in time?
It was the end of her shift, Ithink it was like 6 PM and they
switch at seven or somethinglike that.
And so she comes in and goesover the preeclampsia stuff,
which I know all the risks, Iknow all of that stuff.
It's not my first rodeo, butshe tells me.

(46:19):
She asked me she's like did youwant to go for the repeat
C-section, are you going to do atrial of labor?
And I was like I was justfloored because I was not
expecting to have a choice.
And I was like I was shockedand also like totally not
prepared to to choose.
And so, like my first questionwas because I had such a bad

(46:40):
experience on the magnesium lasttime, I was like, well, if I
consent to a C-section right now, can I avoid the magnesium?
Because I think I would have.
I would have consented to theC-section if I could have
avoided the magnesium.
But she said, no, either way,like you have severe
preeclampsia, we need to startyou on magnesium sulfate ASAP.
And I was like, well, then I'lldo a TOLAC.

(47:01):
And I was really likepleasantly surprised to have
that option.
I did not think at that pointthat it would end in a vaginal
birth.
I definitely thought it waslike it was going to end in
c-section because it felt all ofit was so familiar to what
happened with river right like.
But I thought you know, atleast this time this baby seems

(47:26):
like so active, so strong, likeI don't have any reason to
believe that this baby is in anysort of distress.
Like maybe I could actuallyexperience some of labor, like,
if nothing else, I'll be able toexperience some labor.
So we started the yeah, theystarted the medications and all
of that.
This time, because of theexperience I had last time with

(47:47):
the magnesium sulfate andgrowing up, everything I ate and
drank for you know whatever 30hours I asked them if I could
have Zofran as well to help withthe nausea.
So I got that with themagnesium sulfate, which helped
a ton with the nausea, which wasgreat.
Still, all of the other effectsof magnesium were there, but at

(48:09):
least I wasn't throwing up, andthey started the Pitocin at
that point.
I don't think I was evendilated at all when they started
the induction, but we were ableto get some rest that night.
I asked them or I told themthat I didn't want they wanted

(48:31):
to do a Cooke's catheter, theCooke's balloon, to help
manually dilate my cervix.
And I said you know my cervix?
And I said you know I don'twant that.
Yet, like, I just want a nightto rest before we do all the
things.
So I got that night to rest.
I mean, they were increasingthe pitocin throughout the night
so I was having contractions,but they were so minimal that

(48:53):
you know I was able to restthrough them.
I mean, I rested as much as youcan in a hospital when you have
preeclampsia, because they'rechecking your blood pressure
constantly and coming in and outall the time.
But yeah, so that was the startof the induction.
And then in the morning we hadanother doctor in, dr Rinaldi,
who was so funny she has such abig personality so she was in on

(49:17):
Saturday and my midwife wasalso there with us the whole
time.
She went home to sleep for alittle bit when things just had
started.
But she was there as well, andso Dr Rinaldi came in and was
like to get things going here.
We need to do something morethan the Pitocin.
The Pitocin is really not doingmuch for you.

(49:40):
I was one centimeter dilatedafter 12, more than 12 hours on
the Pitocin.
So she asked if she couldinsert a Percocet at that time,
which I consented to.
That was probably the worstpart of the entire experience.
That was uncomfortable in avery, very intense way, but it

(50:00):
did work.
Within a few hours I dilated tolike, I guess, around a four.
So it came out at that point.
And at this point I'm likereally feeling the effects of
the magnesium, because I'd beenon it for almost 24 hours
already, and which for me meanslike a feeling of heaviness that

(50:22):
it's really it's hard todescribe Like.
It means like I can barely liftmy arm to get a drink of water,
like I'm so I just feel likestuck, stuck to the bed.
I also can barely like openingmy eyes feels like a Herculean
effort.
So that was, yeah, saturdayafternoon-ish.

(50:43):
So I'm around four centimetersdilated.
Again, dr Rinaldi comes in totalk about breaking my waters
and I was not thrilled about theidea.
I hadn't wanted to do anartificial rupture, but I also
knew that my body didn't reallyrespond to the pitocin very well

(51:05):
.
So, yeah, dr Rinaldi wasdefinitely recommending breaking
the waters.
After talking with her andrealizing that it wouldn't put
me on a clock, because I thoughtthat hospital policy in general
is okay is 24 hours after yourwaters are open, the baby has to
be out one way or another,which was one of the big reasons

(51:26):
I didn't want to do it.
I didn't want to be put on thatclock.
But she said that that's notthe case, that I could labor for
however long I wanted, as longas I was good and baby was good.
So I consented to that and atthe same time started thinking
about pain management, becauseup until now the contractions

(51:46):
really were not I mean, theywere totally manageable, totally
like really very little.
I didn't feel them much at all,to be honest.
But I knew once active laborstarted that would be different,
especially on Pitocin, and Iliterally couldn't move.
And so I was thinking like howam I going to weather this

(52:07):
without, you know, being able tomove at all, without being able
to get in water, without thecoping mechanisms that I thought
I would have.
You know, I think this was atthe point where I was thinking
like, oh, maybe this is going toend in a vaginal birth and I
had never considered thepossibility of having a vaginal
birth in the hospital.

(52:28):
So, like I wasn't thinkingabout the different options
available to be in a hospital, Iwas always thinking vaginal
birth, it's home, all of thoseoptions available, and if I'm in
a hospital, it's going to be aC-section.
So yeah, that was a little bit.
That was something I wascontending with the different
set of options that wereavailable to me in a hospital.

(52:50):
So I talked to my husband and mymidwife about, you know, I
think I think I need an epidural, like I don't midwife about,
you know, I think I think I needan epidural.
Like I don't.
I don't know how else I willcope with the pain if I can't,
if I can't move.
So I, you know, I told thedoctor that, or the nurses that
at some point, and they startedthe epidural that evening and at

(53:14):
that point things got a littlecrazy because the epidural
caused my blood pressure to dropreally, really low, which was
very weird when it had been sohigh, and so they had to stop
the epidural, stop the Pitocin.
They gave me other drugs tobring my blood pressure back up
and that wasn't working.

(53:35):
And then they had to tryanother drug.
It was a whole thing.
And that wasn't working.
And then they had to tryanother drug.
It was a whole thing.
During all of that my husbandhad left the hospital room for a
moment and he was hearing thenurses at the nurse's station
talking about a C-section.
So he thought that at thatpoint we would be going for a
C-section.
Luckily I had no idea that thatwas discussed.
I didn't know that until afterthe fact because in my mind this

(54:00):
wasn't again, probably becauseI was on the magnesium and not
quite all there.
It didn't seem that big of adeal to me.
It just seemed like, okay,they're just figuring things out
and it'll be fine in a second.
But I guess it was more of abig deal than I realized in the
moment.
But ultimately they got my bloodpressure back up and we they

(54:20):
restarted the Pitocin, restartedthe epidural, but only at like
half power because I guessthat's all my body could
tolerate, which ultimately was agood thing, because I did want
to be able to feel thecontractions Like I wanted to.
I wanted to feel labor.
I just didn't want to be liketotally overtaken by it and not
be able to get through it andneed a C-section.

(54:41):
So yeah, so ultimately I thinkthat was for the best and things
really started picking up.
I went from four to sixcentimeters in a few hours and
then from six to nine and a halfin like 40 minutes.
And so I had an amazing nursethat night.

(55:03):
Her name's Shauna.
She teaches like independentspinning baby classes outside of
the hospital.
She was incredible.
I feel so lucky that she was mynurse that night and she would.
She's also so strong like she'sable to get me into positions,
cause again, I couldn't Icouldn't even roll to my side,
so she was like getting me intodifferent positions to help help

(55:23):
my cervix open and help thebaby to get into a good position
.
And Rachel, my midwife, who isthere, was also helping with
that.
And I just remember the entiretime I had my eyes closed
because I couldn't open thembecause of the magnesium, and I
just remember chanting throughcontractions just open, open,
open, open.
Like just over and over andover again.

(55:44):
That was my mantra and it wasreally intense.
But I don't know if I'd call itpainful, really it was just it
was super intense.
It felt like such immenseexpansion, each contraction, so
yeah, so that that was Saturdaymidnight-ish and then it was

(56:07):
time to start pushing.
I said to my midwife, as I waslike on my side with the peanut
ball in between my legs, I saidto my midwife, like I feel like
I have to poop and I know peoplesay they have to poop when they
need to push, but I don't thinkit's that.
I think it's really that I needto poop.
And she's like, I don't knowabout that, you might need to
push.
So I had an anterior lip,cervical lip, so Shauna and my

(56:35):
midwife helped me get into likea like semi-squatting position
on the bed, like sort of.
It was still still reclined,but not totally reclined, and I
started pushing in that positionand very quickly I was complete
and then I pushed for justunder 45 minutes.
Um, and then she was born and Ilike I couldn't believe it.

(56:59):
It was totally surreal becauseI went in not at all expecting
to have a vaginal birth.
I really thought it was goingto be a C-section until I was
very close to actually givingbirth.
So yeah, it was very surreal.
It was really cool, verysurreal.

(57:22):
It was really cool.
She came out in like one push,head and body.
I was able to take a littlebreath, like once.
Her head was sort of crowning,kind of got to wait until the
next contraction so I was kindof just resting for a minute or
two until the next contractioncame and just pushed her out all
in one.
And yeah, it was really cool tolearn that she was a girl
because again, we didn't knowand this time we really didn't

(57:45):
know, like I had no idea if itwas a boy or a girl.
I had no intuition this time,and so that was really fun to
learn that we had our secondlittle girl and the placenta
came in about 10 minutes.
I'd say that was really the onlyweird part of my delivery, I'd

(58:06):
say, is because I wasn'texpecting a hospital birth, like
am I clamping?
How long?
Blah, blah, blah, all of thatsort of stuff I wasn't thinking
about, because I was thinking ifit's a vaginal birth, it's a
home birth, I'll have theplacenta, it'll just be, just be
there like I'm not doinganything with it, you know.
So the doctor who delivered, umDr Anderson, was like well,

(58:28):
what do you want to do here?
And me, my midwife and Doug allwere like kind of talking
amongst ourselves like, well,wait, do we want to?
No, we don't want to clamp what?
No, but no, but how long.
And he was, I think he was alittle annoyed that we weren't
like we didn't have a decision,so that was the only kind of
like time I felt that was alittle stressful during the

(58:51):
birth, but otherwise it was,yeah, really smooth and yeah.
So he, the placenta came out,he pulled it out and, you know,
put it on top of me.
She had a very short cord, sothen I could finally pull her up
to my chest, which was nice,because otherwise she could only
reach to my belly.
And then they just left usalone for three full hours.

(59:12):
It was amazing.
So she stayed connected to herplacenta for that whole time and
it was really just like me,Doug and Rachel and Juniper here
and the nurses would come inoccasionally to like, I guess,
check my blood pressure.
But yeah, I felt like we werereally really left alone those

(59:33):
three hours, which was amazingand totally unexpected.
I did not think that that wouldhappen.
Which was amazing and totallyunexpected.
I did not think that that wouldhappen and she latched within
an hour and did like she.
She really did great withlatching, which was very cool.
She was a whole, over a wholepound, bigger than River was
when she was born, so that wasthat was great too, even though

(59:58):
she was like two weeks earlierthan river had come and yeah,
that was, that was her birth, ohmy gosh.

Angela (01:00:01):
So they let you keep the placenta attached to the baby
for over three hours at thehospital.
They were just like no big dealyeah, it was, it was.

Gina (01:00:11):
It was like almost three hours exactly that they came
back.
Yeah, um, yeah, no big deal,yeah it was.
I feel like a lot of it was.
I don't know I still don't knowif we just got lucky with, like
, the different providers whowere around or if, I don't know,
they were used to home birthtransfers and we're like, oh,
she doesn't want to be here,like let's just give her what

(01:00:32):
she wants, like what we can.
But yeah, I never expected thatthat would happen in a hospital
and yeah, it did and it wasn'ta big deal.

Angela (01:00:40):
They just like, respected your choices and
supported you with that.
You didn't even know you weregoing to be supported with.

Gina (01:00:48):
Oh my gosh, what an amazing thing.
Yeah, yeah, no, it was.
It was.
I mean, I still I still can'tbelieve it, and my midwife and I
were talking about that as well.
I still can't believe it, andmy midwife and I were talking
about that as well, and it'slike, yeah, a lot of things
happened, like positive thingshappened that neither of us
expected, and so it was good.

Angela (01:01:06):
Yeah, so how has your postpartum been going?
How long were you in thehospital for this?

Gina (01:01:12):
time we were just two days postpartum, so we got
discharged on day two or day one, day two, day three on the
morning of day three we againpostpartum.
Once they moved me to thepostpartum room and I was off
magnesium like there was.
They barely came into our room,which again is something I
wanted Like I know some people,you know, like having people

(01:01:34):
check on you.
I did not want that.
So I really I really loved thelike privacy and respect they
gave us and again Juniper seemedto be doing great.
There was some concern aboutjaundice.
On that last night we werethere and you know they were
wanting to check that we had todo the heel prick to make sure

(01:01:55):
that she wasn't like toojaundiced to need the lights.
But ultimately we were able tobe discharged and that was great
because it was my daughter,river's second birthday that day
.
They were born two days apart,323 and 325.
So we were really happy to beable to go home to River and

(01:02:18):
celebrate her birthday on herbirthday, even though she has no
idea, like she wouldn't havecared, but we cared and yeah,
then we had to.
We had to recheck her jaundicetwice more.
We had to go to we went to MDIhospital once we were back home
to to get it tested there and bythe time my milk came in it was
totally fine.
So, yeah, and breastfeeding hasbeen going great, like it's just

(01:02:43):
night and day.
The difference between thispostpartum and last, yeah, I
feel so lucky to be able to justjust nurse this time and
there's no pumps, no, no tubes,no syringes, no nipple shields,
just nursing and and Juniper isgaining weight.
Great, my mom was here for likethe first five weeks of

(01:03:05):
Juniper's life.
She just left two days ago.
So that was a huge, huge helpand really helped, I think, with
the transition for River,because she had someone to pay
like full attention to her,which was really nice.
Yeah, it's been, it's been somuch easier and like this time
it just I think it shows me how,how important like the

(01:03:28):
breastfeeding relationship couldbe, to like how your postpartum
feels, cause it feels so easythis time.

Angela (01:03:35):
Oh yeah, that's amazing.
Now, as a final question if youwere to give advice to someone
who's expecting, or even newparents, what's the biggest
thing you'd want to share?

Gina (01:04:04):
that I carry with me in parenting as well is to do your
research, be strong in yourconvictions and what you want
and need for your family, butalso be open to change and yeah,
so even if things don't go theway that you think they're going
to go because that is pregnancy, that's birth, that's parenting
, that's going to happen atleast you can come back to what
your conviction is like what,what's the core of what I need

(01:04:26):
here or want here, and how can Imake that still still happen,
even through this change.
So, yeah, I feel like a lot ofpeople, because of the
unpredictability of pregnancyand birth, they're like, oh,
I'll just go with the flow, i'tlearn anything, my doctor will
just tell me what to do, andfine, if that's how you want to
do it, good for you.

(01:04:46):
I can never do it that way, butI do think it's important to
kind of ground down into what isimportant to you and find ways
to make that happen, no matterwhat what else goes on, whatever
external things are happening.

Angela (01:05:03):
Yeah, having that mindset to be able to do that is
really so important.

Gina (01:05:08):
Yeah.

Angela (01:05:08):
Yeah, exactly.
Well, thank you so much, Gina,for taking the time to share
your story today.
It's been such a pleasurechatting with you.

Gina (01:05:17):
Oh well, thank you so much for having me I.
It's been such a pleasurechatting with you.
Oh well, thank you so much forhaving me I.
Uh, I listened to birth storieswell through my pregnancies,
but like for five years beforeever getting pregnant.

Angela (01:05:27):
I love birth stories and I'm glad to share mine before
you go, I just want to remindyou I have a ton of resources
for pregnancy and birth.
If you're pregnant, whetheryou're a first time mom or if
this is your fifth baby, I wantyou to check out the show notes,
because I have some freetrainings and free downloads
that you can sign up for, aswell as the link to access my

(01:05:50):
Labor of Love, a comprehensive,self-paced online childbirth
education course.
I created this coursespecifically for moms who don't
want to be told what to do,regardless of where you're
birthing or who you're birthingwith, and I'd honestly love to
teach you everything that I knowso that you can prepare for an
autonomous birth experience andprepare to step into your role

(01:06:13):
as the leader of your birthjourney.
So click to the show notes,check out all of those links and
, if you ever have any questions, feel free to DM me at my main
birth over on Instagram.

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114. MyMaine Birth: When Birth Plans Change, Autonomy Can Remain - Gina's two Birth Stories

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}114. MyMaine Birth: When Birth Plans Change, Autonomy Can Remain - Gina's two Birth Stories