In today's episode we meet Katherine and she shares her five birth stories. Katherine’s first cesarean was scheduled due to breech presentation, but when the cesarean was actually performed it was discovered that baby was no longer breech. During Katherine’s next two pregnancies she planned for a VBAC and VBA2C, but ended up scheduling her second cesarean because of the hospital and her third cesarean due to no longer feeling comfortable pursuing a VBA2C. Katherine’s next birth was a VBA3C in the hospital, followed by a UBA3C.

Join us as Katherine shares her birth stories, her varying experiences in healing emotionally after each of her births and 3 miscarriages, and the huge difference it can make to feel heard and respected during labor and birth, regardless of the birth outcome. We also discuss listening to your intuition as a mother, the difficulty in not knowing if you’ve made the “right” choices, struggling with postpartum depression and anxiety, talking to older generations of women about their birth experiences, the inability to advocate your way out of abuse, everyone having the right to share their own lived experiences, how each pregnancy and birth experience can lead you to make different decisions, getting out of extreme mindsets and into more of a journey-based mindset, and the importance of every woman being able to make decisions that align with her and her desires in pregnancy and birth.

Be sure to subscribe to The Home Birth After Cesarean Podcast on your favorite podcast app to be notified when new episodes are available, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram for all of the up-to-date information.

Want to share your Home Birth After Cesarean (HBAC) story? Send us an e-mail at hbacpodcast@gmail.com to get in touch.

This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to replace advice from qualified medical professionals.

In today's episode we meet Alicia, who is a mother of two. Alicia was raised not to fear birth and always knew that she wanted to have a home birth, but when her baby flipped breech right before her estimated due date, Alicia’s home birth plans turned into a cesarean. She went on to plan another home birth with her second baby and had a redemptive HBAC.

Join us as Alicia shares her birth stories, the emotional toll that planning a home birth and then having a cesarean can have, why she chose to labor for as long as possible with her first baby even though she knew she was going to have a cesarean, the stigmas and shame that often accompany cesarean sections, and how essential oils played a vital role in her pregnancy and birth. We also discuss battling self-doubt, intrusive thoughts and fear during pregnancy, the importance of who you invite into your birth space and how those present can make you feel pressure to perform or meet certain expectations, getting into the right headspace for birth, how important the language used to present information to pregnant women and mothers is, and the impact that compassionate and respectful care can have during the transition to motherhood.

You can find Alicia on Instagram, here.

Be sure to subscribe to The Home Birth After Cesarean Podcast on your favorite podcast app to be notified when new episodes are available, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram for all of the up-to-date information.

Want to share your Home Birth After Cesarean (HBAC) story? Send us an e-mail at hbacpodcast@gmail.com to get in touch.

This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to replace advice from qualified medical professionals.

In today's episode we meet Coffee, who is a CRNA and mother to five children. Coffee’s first birth was a cesarean after being drug through the cascade of interventions, followed by a scheduled repeat cesarean. When she was pregnant with her third child, the OB she was seeing was unable to support a VBA2C but gave her a recommendation for a local home birth midwife. Coffee then went on to have three HBA2Cs with her next three children.

Join us as Coffee shares her birth stories and how her beliefs about birth have evolved throughout her journey. We also discuss the lack of humanity and compassionate care that often comes with routine hospital procedures such as cesareans, how transactional a scheduled repeat cesarean can feel, how much more involved our husbands can be when having a home birth, the lack of bonding that can occur when you don’t experience labor (and the mom guilt that comes with that lack of bonding), feeling confident in the choices you make, exploring the question, “but what if my baby dies?”, and how the good OBs seem to be the ones that end up leaving the field because of how much their hands are tied.

Check out Coffee's blog by visiting www.howtobourne.blogspot.com, where she shares her birth stories in detail, along with other pregnancy and mothering related things.

Be sure to subscribe to The Home Birth After Cesarean Podcast on your favorite podcast app to be notified when new episodes are available, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram for all of the up-to-date information.

Want to share your Home Birth After Cesarean (HBAC) story? Send us an e-mail at hbacpodcast@gmail.com to get in touch.

This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to replace advice from qualified medical professionals.