115. My Maine Birth: Lindsey’s Four EMMC Bangor, Maine Birth Stories
Lindsey: 0:01
Okay, so this is the story. This is the story of a lifetime. So I had continued nursing my third baby and she let's see the summer that we found out about my youngest. My third baby would have been about 14, 15 months old, so she was still nursing, you know, maybe once or twice at night, few times during the day. I hadn't had much of a postpartum period and I was also on birth control that prevented me from having a period I believe it was the mini pill. So I had not really had anything to track as far as cycles and we had gone my kids and I had gone to the beach one day and I had noticed, carrying my third in a carrier, that my stomach was kind of hurting, like it felt painful in a certain spot and I noticed a bulge above my belly button. So I called my mom over to look at it and she came over and she was like I think you have a hernia. Mom over to look at it, and she came over and she was like I think you have a hernia.
Lindsey: 1:10
So I go to my doctor, I end up getting an ultrasound and I do find out that I have an umbilical hernia, and so I'm thinking all right, you know I've got to get this taken care of and we go on vacation, so I don't schedule any appointments immediately because we're going to see family for a couple weeks and I start to kind of notice some signs that I could be pregnant. I start having heartburn, I'm trying to think what else. I start having some sensitivity when my third is nursing and I'm starting to think I could be pregnant. So I end up taking a pregnancy test when we come back from our vacation and it, I mean it turned positive immediately, so so fast. So I'm telling my husband and I'm kind of freaking out thinking, oh my goodness, four kids. I mean I didn't see myself having more than two, but four. You know, I'm honestly mostly worried and he's very excited, very happy, but I'm just kind of in that worry, anxiety mode.
Lindsey: 2:16
So I call my OB midwife practice and get an appointment scheduled practice and get an appointment scheduled and I tell them look, I have not had any period, so I don't know how far along I am. And thankfully there was an incredibly kind nurse or medical assistant who looked at the schedule for the ultrasounds for that day and she said we have an emergency appointment left. Can you be here in 30 minutes and I said, yes, I will be there. So she was really willing to help me out and just make sure that that I felt at ease and that everything was good. So I was able to make it for that appointment and the ultrasound tech is scanning and I'm at first not really wanting to watch.
Lindsey: 3:07
You know, I'm kind of thinking you know, how far along am I really? You know, maybe nine, 10 weeks at the most, and she finishes her measurements and I asked her to turn on the monitor and she says that I'm 23 weeks. So I was already more than halfway through my pregnancy. And so I asked her about the due date. She says at the end of November and this is beginning of August.
Angela: 3:35
I'm Angela and I'm a certified birth photographer, experienced doula, childbirth educator and your host here on the my Main Birth podcast. This is a space where we share the real-life stories of families and their unique birth experiences in the beautiful state of Maine, from our state's biggest hospitals to birth center births and home births. Every birth story deserves to be 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.
Angela: 4:13
This is episode 115 of the my Main Birth podcast. I wanted to share that I don't selectively pick any of the birth stories that are shared on this platform. I accept all of the stories that are submitted to me hospital births, birth center births, all different types of home births and everything in between. The only requirement for sharing a birth story on this podcast is that at least one of your birth stories is a Maine birth story. Other than that, I just want this to be a free resource for Maine families to hear about the different options available throughout the state for pregnancy, birth and postpartum. As an added bonus, all of my podcast guests receive a gift certificate for a family adventure photo session with me on the session day of your choice.
Angela: 5:03
I host session days for my podcast guests at iconic locations across Maine throughout the spring, summer and fall. So if you'd like to join the community of Maine moms sharing birth stories on the podcast, you can fill out the form over on my website, mymainbirthcom. Just click over to the podcast page, or you can always send me a message over on Instagram. At mymainth, today's birth story guest is Lindsay, and she is here to share her four birth stories with us today, all of which were at Northern Lights Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. Hi, lindsay, welcome to MyMainBirth. Hi, so to get started, would you share a little bit about you and your family.
Lindsey: 5:49
Yes, so my name is Lindsay and I'm a local teacher. I teach elementary school and I have four kids ranging in age from one to 11. And we live in a rural part of Maine, outside of Bangor. Thankfully we have my family here locally. My husband's family is about halfway across the country, but we do have great support and then also chances to go visit them. So you know we love being home. We're homebodies but we do like to get out and visit our family and travel a little bit. But yeah, that's just a little bit about us.
Angela: 6:29
Cool. So to jump into your birth stories now. Will you share about how you found out you were pregnant for the first time and what your thoughts were on choosing your care?
Lindsey: 6:41
Definitely. So my husband and I were actually living separately. He was finishing up a job, so we were seeing each other maybe once a month at the time and we figured that we would. You know we would not necessarily start trying. We didn't want to put a lot of pressure on it, but we weren't going to prevent either, and so I just figured okay, you know I'm tracking things, I'm a few days late, I'll go ahead and test. And so we actually weren't even living together when I found out I was pregnant.
Lindsey: 7:12
So I took a test, found out, was able to call him and tell him over the phone and you know he was just very excited. So we were able to start making plans for him to finish up what he was doing and move back to Maine here with me. And I knew that my parents have both worked in the local hospital system. So I knew just through them that there were some really great care providers. And in my own research I figured that I probably would want a practice that had the option of working with a midwife. And so I was able to find women's health care right at the Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center that has both OBGYNs and midwives. So that ended up being a really good fit for me.
Angela: 7:59
Awesome. So how are you feeling throughout that pregnancy and what were your kind of like appointments looking like as things progressed?
Lindsey: 8:06
Well, thankfully, as my midwife used to say, you know, it's just very boring, it's a very boring appointment. So that to me was a good sign that everything was really healthy and everything went really well In the first trimester. I did have a lot of food aversions. Thankfully I was not super sick. I can only remember one time actually vomiting in the morning, having that like traditional morning sickness. It was kind of like an all day nausea for me for the first trimester.
Lindsey: 8:42
You know, but being a teacher you have to get up, you have to kind of be ready for your day. So it helped me get through the day, I think you being a teacher and working with young children, because I didn't really have much of an option. But I felt great through my second trimester. I always felt like it was very exciting to see how my body was changing and, yeah, it was always just great updates that she was growing super well. My husband is quite a bit taller than I am, so you know we only got a couple of ultrasounds with my first pregnancy, lots more with the other three, but they were telling us that she was going to be quite a big baby and she was so how were things as you got towards the final kind of weeks and then days leading up to when your labor started?
Angela: 9:32
And, yeah, how was your birth?
Lindsey: 9:34
Yeah, I was very, very tired leading up to my birth. I was also very excited but nervous, so just that kind of anxious preparation. I was due just after the new year and I think most first time moms at least the ones that I've talked to you're so focused on that due date and I knew that it was definitely a chance that I was not going to have her by my due date. But just all of that anxiety, like okay, is today going to be the day? When you wake up those last few weeks in your third trimester, you just never know what to expect. I had read a little bit about hypnobirthing and I had done some practicing with it on my own at home and I had read the book. So I was feeling like I had at least done some things to help prepare myself. I really felt like in those last few weeks, just a lot of anxiety, a lot of excitement around everything, and I felt super prepared. With hypnobirthing I didn't feel like I really knew what contractions were going to feel like. So that was the one thing that I was a little worried about and I know myself pretty well. I feel like I have a decent pain tolerance, but not anything, you know, over the top. So I went into the birth hoping that maybe I could birth my baby without an epidural, but knowing that it was a possibility and I would be okay with that if that's what ended up happening. So I, my due date came and went and I, you know, was back to work as a teacher after the new year and just really anxious about everything happening. And so I had one of my last midwife appointments and she could tell that the baby was going to be on the bigger side. And she just said, okay, like you're over 40 weeks, would you be okay with us inducing if we have to? And I said, sure, you know, I was just kind of ready to get things going at that point. So we had set a date for induction that I think was about five days after my due date.
Lindsey: 11:58
And I go to bed the night before thinking, okay, I'm going to have this nice extra day off from work, I have a day to get all the baby's clothes double checked, I have some time to get a few things done. And my water ended up breaking in the middle of the night, that night around midnight. So I was not really expecting that. I got up to kind of roll over in bed and my water broke. So I woke my husband up. He had only been to sleep for about an hour, poor guy. I had been asleep for a while, so I had at least gotten a little bit of rest. And, yeah, we ended up calling driving to the hospital and I was not really feeling a ton of contractions at first. I just remember having a feeling of I wouldn't want to call it pressure, but maybe a little extra weight. Things just felt different in my belly without the water in there, without all of that amniotic fluid. So it was definitely an interesting car ride. I was sitting on top of a towel because my amniotic fluid was still leaking.
Lindsey: 13:03
We made it to the hospital and got all checked in and in our room and we had a wonderful nurse who wanted to make sure that everything was good. She had me on the monitors and I was contracting pretty regularly and doing a great job handling them, I think until I was about four or five centimeters, and then the intensity really started to pick up and that was that was difficult for me. I was having a hard time kind of handling that intensity and so I asked for an epidural around. I think it was 7am that morning and so we had been there for a few hours. I got the epidural, we were able to rest for a couple of hours and all of a sudden I was 10 centimeters, so I was ready to start pushing and thankfully my midwife had a wonderful student midwife with her and she was the one that was actually able to be there and help with my daughter when she was born. So that was really exciting, that I kind of had a team there with me.
Lindsey: 14:06
My sister and my mom were there at the hospital when I started pushing. They ended up staying in the waiting room just kind of hanging out, but I really did use some of those hypnobirthing strategies when I was pushing. It was definitely, I think, a little tougher for me as a first-time mom, like not really knowing what to do, how it was supposed to feel when I was pushing, but I pushed, for I think it was about an hour and a half, almost two hours, and then my daughter was born. I just remember it feeling quite peaceful. You know I was hearing some moms in other rooms. Obviously things can get really intense and that was a little like oh my goodness. You know they're in a lot of pain and that was a little scary for me, but I thankfully was able to, you know, keep things as peaceful as possible for myself, so that felt really good the first time around.
Angela: 14:58
Do you remember how your placenta?
Lindsey: 14:59
was born. Yes, so my daughter came out, she was born and then, probably within the next one to two minutes, I was able to deliver the placenta and I really didn't I think because of the epidural feel much. I will say pushing for me was not super painful for probably you know 90% of it. It was really the last maybe like five to ten minutes. The epidural definitely did its thing to help make sure that I wasn't feeling much, especially of those contractions. But yeah, the placenta was delivered just fine and my daughter was doing great.
Lindsey: 15:36
She was nine pounds one ounce and I'm quite a short person, so that was a big baby, but she was very healthy. I do remember now talking more about it that when my water broke there was some meconium in the water. So the NICU staff was in the room and thankfully my care staff did let me know that that would be happening. They didn't want me to feel nervous, with extra people being there, that anything was wrong, but I think they just wanted to make sure that they were prepared in case she had difficulty breathing, but thankfully she didn't. She was all good to go and, you know, doing really well.
Angela: 16:18
So how was your postpartum time with her?
Lindsey: 16:21
It was really interesting. I think overall it was lovely, it was fantastic. But the breastfeeding was something that I was really really wanting to do and for the first probably week or so it was quite painful, so it was a big adjustment for both of us. Thankfully, she did wonderfully nursing. It was really more of me just making sure I was in the right position and taking care of my own body. I ended up being quite an overproducer of milk.
Lindsey: 16:57
So the engorgement phase, and especially that second or third day when my milk came in, it was very painful. But thankfully I have a couple of mom friends that had babies before me and also chose to breastfeed, so I was able to get in touch with them and use some of my online resources that I had used in the past, just kind of looking things up and finding information that I needed. So we were able to make it through and I my husband was super supportive and you know he would tell me, you know that we can get formula and I would say, no, I not that I'm against it, but I was really. It was important to me to try to make it work more than just a week, and so once we got through that first week everything was smooth sailing from there.
Angela: 17:43
Yeah, that's amazing that you had the support of your community there to help you through that and can really make a difference.
Lindsey: 17:51
Yes, definitely.
Angela: 17:53
Now, when did you find out you were pregnant for the second time?
Lindsey: 18:00
So my daughter my oldest was about a year and a half old and we all of a sudden just realized oh my gosh, I haven't had my period. You know, I'm probably a couple weeks late, maybe even a few weeks late. At this point I had actually just weaned her off of breastfeeding and so my periods were kind of here and there. I didn't really have a consistent period at that point, and so I decided to take a pregnancy test and found out I was pregnant, and when I went to go find out from the dating ultrasound I was already nine weeks along, so it had already been a few additional weeks. You know, if I had probably been keeping better track of things, I would have known to test sooner.
Lindsey: 18:48
But I do remember at first being sad for my oldest because she wasn't going to be the only one anymore. I was very used to giving her 100% of my attention. You know it was a lot of times just the two of us at home, because, being a teacher, I'm home during the summer. So I was initially a little sad for her, but then I realized that she was going to get to be a big sister and have a sibling, and a lot of our family and friends were very excited and I was happy that they were going to be so close in age and I was happy that they were going to be so close in age.
Angela: 19:25
Yeah, that's fun, but it is always a challenge, kind of working through the mental aspect, when you have, like more than one, like there's always different mixed feelings about it, whether it's, whatever it is, for each woman. Yeah, yeah, so what were your thoughts in choosing your care this second time around?
Lindsey: 19:44
Yeah, I was just really excited to call and, you know, get my first appointment with my midwife. We had developed a really great relationship through my first pregnancy so I was super pleased that I was going to be able to continue care with that same practice. And, yeah, I just had a great first appointment with her. She was so excited for our family that we would be adding another baby and, you know, thankfully from the beginning things were very healthy with my son, just because my daughter was on the bigger side. And I believe when I went for my glucose testing, I believe I did not pass the one hour test and so that was the first time I had to do the three hour glucose test and thankfully I did pass that one. So I was not diagnosed with gestational diabetes at that point with him, but it was a little bit of a concern. So she wanted to keep a close eye and we did do a few extra ultrasounds with my son than we did with my first pregnancy with my daughter.
Angela: 20:58
Do you care to share who your midwife that you love at Northern Lights is?
Lindsey: 21:03
Yeah, her name is Bob Bobby Melvin. She no longer works there. She did retire I think it was right after I found out I was pregnant with my third. But Bobby was just so caring and kind and especially during the birth I needed somebody at certain points in, you know, in the labor to say, okay, this is what it's time for, and to be a little more direct with me. I was always involved in sports, growing up, so kind of that coach, and you know I needed her to do that for me and she was ready and willing to do that. She was just wonderful, loved her so much.
Angela: 21:42
So how are you feeling throughout that second pregnancy?
Lindsey: 21:51
Well, honestly, I felt pretty good I mean, I was pretty much through the first trimester by the time I found out that I was pregnant with my son. We were super thrilled to find out that we were having a boy, you know, having a girl as our oldest. So we were just excited that we were going to get to experience being parents of a girl and a boy. And we had some new neighbors move in, which was wonderful. They had a little girl the same age and they were also pregnant with a little boy and he was born just a couple months after our son. So our kids have neighbors that are almost exactly the same age and they get to play together all the time, which is really lovely.
Angela: 22:27
So how are things looking towards the end of your pregnancy and how are those kind of final weeks leading up to when your labor started going?
Lindsey: 22:36
Yeah. So let's see, that would have been the final weeks, would have been after the new year in 2016. After the new year in 2016. And I just remember feeling very, very big this time around, all the time and I work with young children in my job, like I've said before, and just feeling like, you know, anytime I needed to get around kids, like I was bumping them with my belly, you know, I would see staff members around the building that would look at me and go, oh my goodness, like how much time do you have left?
Lindsey: 23:09
You know I'm quite a short person, like I said before, so I really was all belly, thankfully still healthy I wasn't sick, you know, everything was very good in that respect but just feeling very big all the time. He was actually born in the first few days of February vacation that year, so I was lucky enough to get a few days of rest before he was born. I, you know, technically worked up until he was born, but did get the first few days of vacation off, which was really nice to be able to rest and feel like I had some time to, you know, kind of take care of myself before he was born.
Angela: 23:51
Yeah, you really kind of need that time and space to go inward towards the end of your pregnancy and really focus on yourself. Yes, for sure. So how did your labor start?
Lindsey: 24:04
Okay, so for him. Let's see. My water also broke with my second labor and I was just sitting down with my daughter on the couch after dinner and all of a sudden my water broke. So my husband called my parents because that was going to be. Our care plan for our oldest was to have my parents come over to our house and take care of her, so we were able to give her a bath and put her to bed before we left for the hospital. So you know, thankfully my husband was able to do all the same things he did the first time around. You know, call the hospital for me, make sure our bags were packed in the car while I got to finish up things with my daughter.
Lindsey: 24:45
I was having a hard time leaving her. We had not been apart for a night at that point. I mean, she wasn't even two yet. So you know that was going to be really hard for me. And then, once we arrived at the hospital, I still had some amniotic fluid leaking. So they sent me in the bathroom to go change. They were quite full that evening and had to put us into kind of an overflow space for a little while. So I had to change in like a hallway bathroom, but I did notice some meconium in the water again, so I made sure to mention that to my nurse, and so it was kind of the same thing just to having that NICU staff in the room when I did start pushing and when he was ready to be born. But thankfully I knew at that point that that was probably going to happen, so that wasn't a big surprise to me.
Lindsey: 25:35
I did opt for the epidural again this time, and with my son, since everything started with labor around dinnertime. He was born just before midnight and I am the kind of person that the earlier I go to bed the better, the earlier I go to bed the better. So when I started pushing I was not exhausted from the labor, but just exhausted from the day. I remember saying over and over I'm so tired, I'm so tired, and I really only pushed for 10 minutes.
Lindsey: 26:11
It was a very quick progressing labor and quite intense. Actually the epidural started to give me the shakes and it could have been the transition of the labor as well. But I did start shaking uncontrollably, which I did not like that feeling at all. That was very uncomfortable for me, to feel like I couldn't control my body in that way comfortable for me to feel like I couldn't control my body in that way. But yeah, like I said, I think I pushed for five to 10 minutes and he was born. He was just under 40 weeks, but he was still like eight and a half pounds and quite a long, long baby.
Lindsey: 26:52
Oh, my goodness, and how about the placenta yeah, same with my daughter, with my oldest, thankfully it was, you know, just a few minutes later I was able to give a couple of small pushes and I was able to deliver the placenta, everything intact, and, yeah, and I forgot to mention that my midwife was on duty for that labor, so she was able to be there for the second labor and delivery as well.
Angela: 27:19
That's awesome. It is like kind of a chance when you go with those practices, because you sort of get who's on call, but yay, your midwife was there twice in a row. That's awesome, yes.
Lindsey: 27:29
Yeah, especially with it being an evening. But thankfully it was her night on call and one of the other OBs on the practice that is well known oh gosh, I can't think of her name all of a sudden, but she's lovely. She was actually there for my third delivery and she was coming in and checking on me even though I wasn't her patient. So you know they have a really great team there and had a really great team at that time and I've always had exceptional care, especially with the nursing staff in any of my deliveries and postpartum. I was very blessed to have some really great people.
Angela: 28:10
Wow. So how was your postpartum with him?
Lindsey: 28:14
So with my son, since he was my second, obviously breastfeeding was a lot more familiar to me. Oh, she's stuck in the tree. I think she climbed the tree. Honey, she's not stuck. Okay, it's okay. How about you play on the slide or find the swing? Okay, okay, on the slide. Or find the swing? Okay, okay, yeah, my with my son breastfeeding went really well. He seemed to know what he was doing right away and I felt like I did as well.
Lindsey: 28:47
The first month or so was pretty difficult, though. I think my milk came in very, very early and he ended up suffering from a lot of reflux. My first baby was not a spit up baby. She was didn't really have any issues with, you know, burping, spitting up. All of that was very easy for her. And so my son. He would have these massive spit ups after a feeding and I just thought maybe he's a baby that spits up all the time. And it ended up going on for so long that my husband really encouraged me. He was like something is not right. You know we really need to get him checked out. So I brought him into the pediatrician's office and they diagnosed him with reflux.
Lindsey: 29:32
He didn't do a lot of sleeping that first month either. He was usually okay during the day, but it's like when nighttime came and he was laid down he was in a lot of pain. I would try driving him around at night too, and we would get back and I would think that he was sleeping and I would open up the back seat and he'd just be in his car seat wide awake. So we spent a lot of nights up and just kind of you know, watching TV, watching movies. That was very difficult for me. I love sleep and I know with a newborn I didn't expect sleep, but I also was not expecting no sleep. So that was a big challenge, especially having a toddler to care for as well.
Lindsey: 30:16
But, like I said, I've got great family support. So we were able to make it through and my husband and I felt comfortable putting him on some oral medication. It was like a like a Zantac sort of medication. So we did that and he he was able to finally start sleeping and, I think, feeling better all around and he eventually grew out of it. Then I mean, she, my older daughter, really didn't pay him too much mind. She wasn't too interested in him, which I was kind of surprised by. She was really just kind of often doing her own thing. But she, she did love. You know they do a lot together now, now that they're older.
Angela: 30:57
Yeah right, it changes so much. It's so cool, so fun, yeah. So how did you find out you were pregnant now with your third? How much time had passed?
Lindsey: 31:09
Okay. So quite a bit of time had passed. Let's see. In January of 2021, I found out that I was pregnant again and we were very surprised but also very excited. Both of my older children were super thrilled and we went to our nine-week appointment for the dating ultrasound and found out that it was actually a twin pregnancy, but one of the sacs had not developed a baby, and then the other one.
Lindsey: 31:43
The heartbeat was quite low. If I remember correctly, it was only 54 beats per minute. I really didn't know what that meant until I got home and started Googling, but the ultrasound technician had us make an appointment for a week later and once I really realized what that meant, I was a total mess. For like an entire week I could not get out of bed, I was sleeping a lot and I honestly I was just scared to like move, because I felt like there maybe was a chance that I could keep this pregnancy and I didn't want to do anything to affect that. But we did go back to the ultrasound a week later and found out that there was no heartbeat, so that was really devastating. I yeah, my husband was really able to be there for me, and I know that my older kids were really sad and heartbroken because they thought they were getting another sibling and we had never really envisioned having more than two kids. So it was quite a surprise that we were really feeling like, okay, we want to grow our family more. We thought we were done, but I guess not.
Lindsey: 32:54
And even though I was really, really devastated about losing that pregnancy, we felt like once it was medically okay and it was recommended by my midwife that we could start trying again. So I would say it was probably I don't know six to eight months later we found out that we were pregnant again and I I cried, I was just worried, I was worried that it was going to happen again and I was just so worried of getting attached and I know that my midwife knew that and so she was able to schedule an appointment for us to come in a little earlier than most patients would normally come in, which kind of helped alleviate my anxiety, and so everything looked great at that first appointment. So that was really really wonderful. I remember not really knowing how to react. I was just so relieved. It was just such a relief to see that the heartbeat was nice and strong and that she was growing right on track. So that was. That was wonderful.
Lindsey: 34:03
And at that point I was let's see, I think I must have been just turned 35, maybe 36. So I was now able to get lots of you know testing ordered and things that maybe in my first pregnancy we wouldn't have been so concerned about. So we did opt for the genetic testing that is able to tell you if it's a boy or girl early, which is nice. We loved that. Let's see, I'm trying to think if there's anything else that happened during that time. I mean, our older kids were were very thrilled. I was feeling good overall. A little bit of nausea later in the first trimester, um, but I was just really excited that we had a healthy pregnancy so far.
Angela: 34:55
You know, in the beginning part, so how are things looking as your pregnancy?
Lindsey: 35:00
progressed. So I went in for my second appointment and I had found out that there had been a situation where my midwife had all of a sudden had to retire. So I was really shocked. The office had said they had left me a voicemail, that they had tried to call that. I did not receive anything like that. I'm not sure what happened if it was my phone, or they maybe marked me down that they had called me and they didn't.
Lindsey: 35:28
I don't know what happened, but I was just in tears, in tears at the office and obviously they could tell. I was quite upset. I think it was a mix of you know, I've just gone through this miscarriage and my midwife was was with me caring for me during that time, and now all of a sudden I'm in this new pregnancy experience and she's not here. So that was really difficult. But thankfully the student midwife that delivered my first daughter, she um, she's on staff, um, erin Thor is her name, and so I told them. I said I would like to be put on Erin's caseload. I know her, I feel comfortable with her, and they were able to make that happen and Erin was willing to see me that day.
Angela: 36:15
So they got you right in with her.
Lindsey: 36:17
Yes, and I mean, I don't even know if she had, you know, another patient that she was supposed to be seeing, but they put me in a room and, yeah, erin was willing to come see me and come talk to me and she has been nothing but amazing. She and Bobby both took great care of me and all my babies.
Angela: 36:40
So, as things sort of settled with that whole situation, how was your sort of appointments looking and how are you feeling throughout your pregnancy?
Lindsey: 36:49
Yeah. So I felt really great overall, you know, really healthy. But I did end up again not passing my one hour glucose test and then I also did not pass my three hour glucose test with this third pregnancy. So I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes for the first time, which to me was very stressful. I love food. I love eating. I have a major sweet tooth, so it was really difficult for me to think about having to change up not my diet but, I guess, just the kinds of foods that I reach for. Having to change that up so drastically. That felt very stressful to me.
Lindsey: 37:34
But I worked with a great dietician who was able to explain everything to me and, being a little bit more of a type A personality and a rule follower, I really wanted to do everything that was explicitly told to me by the team at the diabetes practice. It was quite a challenge figuring out how I was going to test my blood sugars at the correct times while teaching a classroom full of 18 children, because there were times that I would have to kind of stop in the middle of my lesson and take my blood sugar. So it was taken at the correct time. I was able to figure out, you know, eating at the correct times so that it didn't disturb too much of my teaching day. But yeah, I would be taking my blood sugars in the middle of teaching a lesson, which that was. It was a lot to think about.
Angela: 38:32
Yeah, oh, that is a lot.
Lindsey: 38:34
So were you referred to a different office to manage the gestational diabetes, while also still continuing with your midwife, or yeah, I was, and I think you know they all kind of worked, worked in tandem, they worked together as a team. But I did have some virtual appointments with the dietician and then I did go in person to see I know it was a nurse within the diabetes practice and then I did see the doctor for just a few minutes, but it was more to just say that she had an eye on my sugars. The monitor, the blood sugar monitor that they gave me, could sync to an app which the office would have access to. So it was nice. I didn't have to, you know, bring my numbers over to the office. They could automatically just check on me. So that was something that I really liked, that. You know they were all kind of speaking and discussing and thankfully everything looked really good.
Lindsey: 39:34
I did not have to get on insulin until it was the last couple weeks Because my numbers first thing in the morning, my fasting numbers, were always the biggest concern. I was very much diet controlled during the daytime but my number when I woke up first thing in the morning was always a little bit too high. So I did end up having to start a low dose of insulin in the evenings and that was quite stressful. I don't like needles, I don't like shots, I don't like looking when that's happening. So having to take care of that myself was a lot to learn. To take care of that myself was a lot to learn, but my father has type 2 diabetes and I've seen him do it and I just remembered this was for the health of me and my baby, and thinking about that definitely was what got me through.
Angela: 40:30
So how are the final days leading up to when your labor started?
Lindsey: 40:35
Yeah, so I I worked right up until my, my due date and actually my. My midwife had told me that, because of the history of my babies being on the bigger side and the diagnosis of gestational diabetes, that she would feel more comfortable, you know, kind of continuing to look at ultrasounds, because I think at that point I might have even been having weekly growth scans just to monitor her growth, because they were noticing that her height and weight were on the bigger side, and I know that one of those Hallmark signs of a baby with a mom that has gestational diabetes is a bigger belly, and she was, you know, showing signs of that. So my midwife really just said, you know, I really feel comfortable only allowing you to go till about 39 weeks, and I was okay with that, I really felt comfortable with whatever she recommended, which meant I got to meet my baby a little earlier. So I had everything arranged with work before. One of my last ultrasound appointments and a scheduled midwife appointment were on the same day, and so I went to my ultrasound that morning. You know it kind of mirrors my first experience, thinking, okay, like I've got the rest of this day, I'll be able to finish up some laundry, clean up the house a little bit, and I go to my ultrasound and as I'm watching the tech measure everything that they usually measure, you know, I've kind of noticed their patterns and what they're looking for.
Lindsey: 42:07
I'm noticing that there's not a lot of fluid, like as she's measuring around the baby. The numbers are quite small. They're not usually what they are and she does tell me that. You know you're, there's not much fluid in there, it looks quite low. So I'm going to go speak with the um, the high risk doctor, over the phone and they will talk with your midwife downstairs and I'll come back in a few minutes and let them let you know what they recommend. Few minutes and let them let you know what they recommend. And so I did have her come back in about five to 10 minutes and I had been furiously texting my husband all the things that I was going to need and my mother letting her know what was going on and basically telling them that, yeah, they're sending me to labor and delivery right now because I have low fluid and I don't know that.
Lindsey: 42:55
It was at that point really feeling like emergency to me, but I was definitely like, okay, here we go, this is what's happening. So I got induced for the first time and again, awesome nursing staff. When we went in my husband was able to meet me at the hospital with all of our stuff. My husband was able to meet me at the hospital with all of our stuff and I was just excited. I was feeling ready. It was May 4. So feeling like she has that special Star Wars birthday was kind of fun. Yeah, we were just super excited to meet with her. So we got the Pitocin going and my midwife was not on call that evening but she did come to see me before she left for the day. I know she's got a family and kids of her own, so I knew that I was going to be in great hands. Oh, I'm remembering the name of the OB now.
Lindsey: 43:47
Dr Rinaldi was the one who delivered my third baby. So Dr Rinaldi was with us and I did opt for the epidural again, especially with having contraction started with Pitocin. I was not going to try to you know, hero myself through that. So they they started the Pitocin.
Lindsey: 44:08
I opted for the epidural when I was at a certain point I was able to get a little bit of rest and a little bit of sleep. But all of a sudden I started feeling massive amounts of pressure with every contraction and so I let it go for probably 10 to 15 minutes and I decided to hit the call button because I was like, all right, if it happens one more time, then something's going on Like somebody should probably come check me. And as soon as my nurse came in to check me, dr Rinaldi was in there within a couple minutes and I was pushing. So you know it was time her head was right there and similar situation to my son, I think. I pushed for three pushes and she was born. It was very quick. Thankfully she was breathing just fine. I did not have any meconium in my water this time, but everything was very smooth and I felt super confident with how I was cared for.
Angela: 45:14
Oh, that's amazing. Do you remember how your placenta was born with him?
Lindsey: 45:39
believe that I did have a little bit of excess bleeding. I do remember that the nursing staff asking if it was okay to start, you know, to up the Pitocin dosage I believe it was or add in some other kind of medication because I was bleeding a little too much. But within a few minutes that concern was no longer a concern. So whatever they gave me worked and honestly, I felt great. That was probably the best I felt out of all of the three births I had had. At that point I was just so, so, relieved that she was here and born and that was definitely the feeling that kind of overtook everything for a while.
Lindsey: 46:13
So how was your postpartum with her? So postpartum with my third was just lovely all around. I felt super confident about breastfeeding. With her being my third. She really took to it very, very well. She was always hungry, but that didn't bother me. My older two were just so excited to have her home and it was just a really wonderful experience. You know it was springtime so I was able to get outside with her during my maternity leave and my older two kids were involved in quite a bit at that point. So you know it was great to just feel like okay, like we can continue our same life as before with a newborn. She was a fairly easy baby overall. She did not like sleeping on her own and I did not necessarily intend to co -sleep with her, but you know doing my best to make sure that things were safe for you know, all of us in the bed and, yeah, she, she eventually got it on her own, but we did start out, you know, doing some co-sleeping just so that I was not awake all night long.
Angela: 47:28
Yeah, she was a wonder.
Lindsey: 47:31
Yes, yeah, it's, it's important for that healing, for sure. But I, yeah, I just felt super happy with how the whole maternity leave experience was. I would, in the mornings, drop my older two off at school, come home, she would sleep for a while, we would take naps and oh, it was lovely.
Angela: 47:48
And then you probably had summer vacation soon after that, right?
Lindsey: 47:52
So yes, so it was a bit of an extended maternity leave, just by chance. It was really wonderful. I was able to, you know, go on my leave and have a substitute continue through the end of the year and then still have my summer vacation. So, yeah, it was lovely. It was, I think, about four months total, which is nothing you know that I would get if I were just doing it during the school year.
Angela: 48:21
How special.
Lindsey: 48:22
Yes, it was.
Angela: 48:25
When did you find out you were pregnant with your youngest. Now your fourth.
Lindsey: 48:29
Okay, so this is. This is the story. This is the story of a lifetime. So I had continued nursing my third baby and she let's see the summer that we found out about my youngest. My third baby would have been about 14, 15 months old, so she was still nursing, you know, maybe once or twice at night, a few times during the day.
Lindsey: 48:54
I hadn't had much of a postpartum period and I was also on birth control that prevented me from having a period I believe it was the mini pill. So I had not really had anything to track as far as cycles and we had gone my kids and I had gone to the beach one day and I had noticed, carrying my third in a carrier, that my stomach was kind of hurting, like it felt painful in a certain spot and I noticed a bulge above my belly button. So I called my mom over to look at it and she came over and she was like I think you have a hernia. So I go to my doctor, I end up getting an ultrasound and I do find out that I have an umbilical hernia and so I'm thinking all right, you know, I've got to get this taken care of and we go on vacation. So I don't schedule any appointments immediately because we're going to see family for a couple of weeks and I start to kind of notice some signs that I could be pregnant. I start having heartburn, I'm trying to think what else. I start having some sensitivity when my third is nursing and I'm starting to think I could be pregnant. So I end up taking a pregnancy test when we come back from our vacation and it, I mean it turned positive immediately, so so fast. So I'm telling my husband and I'm kind of freaking out thinking, oh my goodness, four kids. I mean, I didn't see myself having more than two, but four. You know, I'm honestly mostly worried and he's very excited, very happy, but I'm just kind of in that worry, anxiety mode.
Lindsey: 50:46
So I call my OB midwife practice and get an appointment scheduled and I tell them look, I have not had any period, so I don't know how far along I am. And thankfully there was an incredibly kind nurse or medical assistant who looked at the schedule for the ultrasounds for that day and she said we have an emergency appointment left. Can you be here in 30 minutes? And I said, yes, I will be there. So she was really willing to help me out and just make sure that I felt at ease and that everything was good.
Lindsey: 51:28
So I was able to make it for that appointment and the ultrasound tech is scanning and I'm at first not really wanting to watch. You know, I'm kind of thinking you know how far along am I really? You know, maybe nine, 10 weeks at the most, and she finishes her measurements and I asked her to turn on the monitor and she says that I'm 23 weeks. So I was already more than halfway through my pregnancy and so I asked her about the due date. She says at the end of November and this is beginning of August. Total shock, total shock. So I leave with some pictures that they printed for me and I'm calling my husband, like okay, here's what's happening. This baby is going to be here in like weeks, at this point, you know, just a short amount of months.
Lindsey: 52:24
Yes, and you know they did put that she was a girl into an envelope for us because we weren't sure. You know, everything was so all of a sudden and my husband and I opened it when I got home from the appointment and I felt like I knew because she did some scans after she turned the monitor on and I, you know, with it being my fourth baby, watching that, I felt like I really could see what was going on. But yeah, we were just kind of in shock and it was a little bit like, okay, how do we tell people, you know, not only that we're pregnant again, but that the baby is coming this fall? So it was definitely. It took me like a solid, I'd probably say, five to seven days.
Lindsey: 53:11
You know, I was slowly telling some of the closer people in my life and by that time, you know, once my brain and body kind of connected, I noticed that I really popped. You know that umbilical hernia, I think, was, is definitely there. But I had also thought like maybe I just gained a little weight. You know I haven't really been exercising and you know things don't fit me like they used to, but it was definitely the baby. It was, it was her, she was making her appearance, that is incredible Wow.
Lindsey: 53:46
What a shock. Yeah, it's definitely something really special. I I will never, ever forget that.
Angela: 53:55
Oh my goodness. So how are you feeling then? As, like the next few weeks went on?
Lindsey: 54:02
So it was mostly it was a lot of overwhelm but also a lot of excitement. I think just having another, knowing it was going to be another girl as my fourth, and having just had a girl, I was feeling like okay, like we've already got a lot of the things. You know I can just check a lot of things off of my to do and to buy list because we just had a baby. You know, she's barely even over a year, so we have all of these things and I felt, you know, in that respect ready. But I think there was also in my own mind four felt like such a large number and I really, especially with my older two, you know we would get out and go do things and just I felt very independent and thinking about how challenging it can be going out with young children and babies and toddlers. It's like, okay, I could handle one, but what am I going to do when they're both not walking yet? Or you know, how is that going to look for me going out and going on adventures with my kids and how is that going to change the lives of my older two, because the younger two are going to need a lot more of my attention. So I think some of that overwhelm kind of changed into a lot of anxiety thinking. You know I was super grateful that she was healthy and so so thankful that she was. And even in that dating ultrasound you know they were able to to see that everything looked great. You know she had zero health concerns. To see that everything looked great. You know she had zero health concerns. You know, just perfect, healthy baby for her size and her gestation. So it was definitely a combination of a lot of feelings and I did know right away that there was a high risk of me having gestational diabetes again. So pretty much right away when I found out, I dragged out my paperwork from my third pregnancy and started probably 90% of the time following the gestational diabetes diet, figuring that I'd probably be headed in the same direction.
Lindsey: 56:14
My midwife was able to get me the one hour test pretty much right away after that ultrasound and I passed it. But she was like, okay, you know, let's, let's wait a few more weeks and I'm going to have you do the one hour again just to make sure that we're not missing anything. And when that did turn up, I did. I did not pass the next time that I took the one hour and she took mercy on me and said let's not even do the three hour, let's just go ahead and refer you to the diabetes clinic. And I said I think that sounds great. The three hour is so tricky.
Lindsey: 56:57
And thinking back on it again, I do remember during my third pregnancy, after I took the three hour, I ended up very, very sick. My blood sugar was extremely, extremely low by the third hour. I was down into like the 50s and 60s and I do remember, on my way to get something to eat, feeling very woozy. So I just felt like it probably wasn't the best thing for me to do yet again. You know, I don't want to put myself in a situation of, you know, starting out too high with a blood sugar in the morning and then going super low because I can't have anything to eat at all. Yeah so, yeah it was. It was a little scary having to think about doing that again. So I was very happy that she offered pretty much right away for me to just get referred and start seeing the staff at the diabetes clinic again and I unfortunately did have to go on a dose of insulin pretty early in my time with the diabetes clinic.
Lindsey: 57:59
I think it was probably for the last two months of my pregnancy that I was giving myself an insulin shot in the evenings before bed and I did have to up the dosage of my insulin with their recommendations. You know they told me if things look like this, then you'll need to up it to this amount. So I was definitely very well versed, thankfully, in taking the blood sugars and doing all that. So I felt pretty confident. It was just kind of a repeat of the thing I had done a year and a half before. But yeah, having to start taking more of the insulin and then understanding that I might have to start taking it during the day too was a big kind of mental hurdle, I think. And she, thankfully, the whole way through, was very, very healthy.
Lindsey: 58:50
But there was a lot of extra monitoring, a lot of extra ultrasounds, lots of appointments and, especially with having three other children at home, it was quite stressful to feel like, okay, I'm needed at my job, I'm needed at home, but I also, for the health of myself and my baby, need to go to these appointments. Thankfully, my parents are super helpful. You know my husband does a job where he is sometimes working odd hours. So they have been a huge support in you know me just saying, hey, can I drop so and so off at this time and come back and pick them up, and it's always a yes. So that is. I don't know what I would have done without them. Yeah, it can be really hard.
Lindsey: 59:38
Yeah, it was especially during those ultrasounds and I was having a lot of those and thankfully, my midwife was always fine with whoever needed to come to appointments, which I was very grateful for, because there were times, I think at least once or twice, where I did have to bring somebody with me but, you know, driving 20 to 30 minutes just to get to an appointment. I'd be leaving my school as the students were getting on the bus and having one of my coworkers check and make sure that everybody was good, and then I'd be running to my car. But yeah, it was. It was all worth it, you know, definitely for the health of us both. But we were taken care of very well and I felt really good about being able to get such quick care, especially not knowing what was really going on and how far along she was, and being able to get such a quick answer was really, you know that made me feel so much better about about her being healthy.
Angela: 1:00:41
So how are the final weeks and then days leading up to her labor and birth?
Lindsey: 1:00:49
So again, just like with my third and my second two just feeling so big toward the end, just oh man. And I had actually done really well, especially with the gestational diabetes diet, not gaining a ton of weight. I mean, when I, you know, got pregnant with my fourth I was definitely the heaviest that I had ever been and was a little concerned about that, just for my, my own health, and you know I have also been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. So just putting that extra stress on my joints and my immune system, you know, I just wanted to hopefully not gain as much weight, but definitely eating in a different way, I think, was helpful for that. And again, my midwife didn't want me to really go past a certain stage of pregnancy because my fourth was yet again measuring quite big. Same with the bigger belly. Thankfully my fluid the whole way through looked fantastic. But there was a little bit of a concern with her changing positions and how she was moving around in there. So for quite some time she was kind of laying horizontally across my belly and she had changed to head down. And then in the next ultrasound she was again horizontal and so my midwife called me and she said, like I'm not trying to alarm you and this is totally up to you, but with her changing positions like this, I really would like to set a certain date for her induction. She said I'm looking at the calendar. I wasn't going to let you go past 39 weeks anyway. I can take you the Saturday before you hit 39 weeks. I will be at the hospital all day, all night. I'm there that day. Let's just schedule you then. And I said perfect, let's do it. So I worked the day before. We cleaned the house that night, made sure we were all packed up and ready, and my mom came over the next morning bright and early and my husband and I left to go to the ready. And my mom came over the next morning bright and early and my husband and I left to go to the hospital and I was induced for my fourth. And again awesome nurses, I feel like we had another great team that during those tough points, was really able to kind of be the coach and help me out.
Lindsey: 1:03:16
I did max out on the Pitocin dosage. My contractions would start and then they would fade. So I kind of think my body may just have not been ready for labor yet. So it was a high, high dosage of Pitocin and again I did opt for the epidural because of the Pitocin and the induction. The nurses tried me in quite a few different positions but unfortunately one of the positions seemed to have the epidural kind of stuck on one side and probably, I'd say, within the last half hour of my labor the epidural wore off completely on one side of my body and so I was doing a lot of breathing just trying to work through the pain. I had a nurse right there with me on one side, my husband on the other side, just trying to help me through.
Lindsey: 1:04:11
But it was extremely, extremely painful, and when it was time to start pushing was when I could pretty much feel the entire contraction and it was nothing like I had ever felt, even with three labors before that. So it was very, very intense. You know I was able to push, but I was my husband said he was like out of all four, that was the loudest you have ever been. I was really just, you know, using all of my energy, and it felt much better to get it out through. You know being really loud and you know my hands were holding on tight to the hand rails. One of the nurses was trying to encourage me to put my hands behind my legs, but I just felt so much stronger with my hands on the rails instead of behind my legs. So she and my husband held my legs for me and I was just pushing as hard as I could and she, thankfully, was out in just a few pushes and was doing fantastic from the beginning in just a few pushes and was doing fantastic from the beginning.
Lindsey: 1:05:21
She was definitely big for her gestational age, because I think we were just a few days over 38 weeks and she was about eight and a half pounds. So she was. She was a pretty big girl. They were all tall you know my husband's a tall guy, like I said so but she was doing fantastic.
Lindsey: 1:05:37
She was quite sleepy after birth. She was not super interested in nursing, so the nurses in the postpartum area of the floor were really great about reminding me like okay, you know, we need to try again. It's time to try to get her fed. I think that there was also quite a concern with me not finding out about the pregnancy until so far into the pregnancy. So they were doing a few additional tests on her and had me save some of excuse me, had me save some of her first few diapers for testing. But you know everything came back healthy and you know the pediatrician was able to let us go home at the 24 hour mark. I have never been one to want to stay longer than I absolutely have to and if she had said we really would like for you to stay, I would have. But pretty much every single time I left as soon as they would allow me to, every single time I left as soon as they would allow me to.
Angela: 1:06:43
Yeah, it can be really hard with those Pitocin contractions, for you, you know with the intensity, and then also for your baby you know it's, it's a lot for them.
Lindsey: 1:06:49
And I do remember, thankfully, no, no issues with her heart rate during the labor. It was always just the issue with my body kind of responding to the medication and the contractions because I would be watching, especially after I got the epidural, because I couldn't always feel it watching the monitor and just noticing like hey, it's been like 13 minutes since my last contraction and they were coming very consistently every four minutes a little bit ago. So and I know that the nurse was a little concerned about that she just she kept a really close eye on us so I was very thankful that she was so proactive in making sure that, you know, we were both doing OK.
Angela: 1:07:32
Do you remember how your placenta was birthed with her?
Lindsey: 1:07:36
Yes. So they did have me wait just a couple minutes, but I, thankfully I had her on my chest and I think they wanted me to kind of like catch my breath for a couple minutes because everything was so intense at the pushing stage. But again, everything was the placenta was delivered after just you know, a little bit of a short push and everything was good. I believe I did tear just a little bit, so there was some time for repair needed after the placenta was delivered. But at that point, you know, I've just I've got my newborn baby and she's healthy and I'm good, and so I didn't really pay much attention to that part. Yeah, it's just the best.
Angela: 1:08:19
It is, it really is. So how is your postpartum? How old is your youngest now?
Lindsey: 1:08:24
So she will be 18 months in the middle of May. So she's almost a year and a half old. Yeah, she's almost 18 months. She's doing super amazing. She's starting to say a few words, which has been really fun.
Angela: 1:08:39
And you had a. You've had a good postpartum initially with her.
Lindsey: 1:08:44
Yeah, I really did. It was nice that she was born just before Thanksgiving so I didn't have to follow that gestational diabetes diet during the holidays. I definitely had a little pig out of you know my favorite things as soon as my third and fourth were born after being on that specialized diet. But yeah, it was pretty wonderful. We were able to come home and my older two kids had school for a couple days and then it was Thanksgiving.
Lindsey: 1:09:17
So it was really lovely to just kind of have lots of family time right after my fourth was born and my younger sister had had a baby in between my second and third just before my third was born. So there was you know, there's other young family members around for my little people to play with. And yeah, it was wonderful snuggling a baby all December long in front of the Christmas tree and just making things special for that month and really being able to focus on being a mom, because that's not, that's not usually what I get in the month of December. I've got, you know, my hand and a lot of different pots, so it's it was really lovely to focus on taking care of her and my other kids during that time.
Angela: 1:10:06
How special, yeah, it was. So, as a final question, if you were to give advice to someone who's expecting, or even new parents, what's the biggest thing you'd want to share?
Lindsey: 1:10:16
or even new parents. What's the biggest thing you'd want to share? Oh gosh. Well, I know that I always heard this from all kinds of people, but you really can't ever be prepared for parenthood and what it's going to be like to have a baby. And you know I am definitely of the prepared mind. I love to research things, I love to know about things ahead of time, and that was very helpful to kind of learn as much as I can from articles and books and people that I know. But you really have to just kind of get to know the baby that you have.
Lindsey: 1:10:54
All four of mine are similar in some ways but very different in their own ways, and I feel like with my older two, you know, I felt so confident about them as they were newborns. But I'm I'm learning so much about being a parent again with my third and fourth, because there was that gap between my second and third and fourth because there was that gap between my second and third, and I feel like, you know, I look back on things that I did with my first and second and I'm like, oh my gosh, why did I even do it that way? But there's a lot of learning that happens through parenthood. So, as much as you feel prepared, there's just sometimes no way, and that's okay. Like we're, we're all doing our best and just being as honest about it as you can is is the best way to go.
Angela: 1:11:41
Yeah, it's that natural evolution of consciousness really.
Lindsey: 1:11:46
For sure, and you know, I've always been very honest with my older two. When I'm realizing that, hey, maybe I should have handled that situation differently, you know, if it's in recent times, I'll, you know, mention to them, hey, I feel really bad about how that happened and I wish I would have done it differently, because now I know with your sisters that you know that maybe felt really bad for you or that that made you not feel so great. So it's, it's definitely an always learning situation. It's definitely an always learning situation. You're always figuring out new ways to handle the stuff that parenting throws at you.
Angela: 1:12:26
Yeah, I completely agree with that. It's so true and it just yeah, it all comes in phases and you really learn so much with each stage and then yeah going through it again.
Lindsey: 1:12:41
It is really interesting how you do things differently. Yeah, it's pretty incredible kind of getting like a second chance, in a way you know, to figure out how to make things better for my younger two. And you know it's okay that not everything's perfect all the time as well. I have to remind myself of that.
Angela: 1:13:01
Yeah Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today, Lindsay, and share your stories. It's been such a pleasure chatting with you.
Lindsey: 1:13:09
Yeah, well, thank you, it was. It's really fun to talk about it. I mean, I think all of us moms we love to share our birth stories. When we have somebody that will listen, it's always for I think, most of us that have had those positive experiences it's nice to be able to talk about it.
Angela: 1:13:28
Before you go, I just want to remind you I have a ton of resources for pregnancy and birth. If you're pregnant, whether you're a first-time mom or if this is your fifth baby, I want you to check out the show notes, because I have some free trainings and free downloads that you can sign up for, as well as the link to access my Labor of Love, a comprehensive, self-paced online childbirth education course. I created this course specifically for moms who don't want to be told what to do, regardless of where you're birthing or who you're birthing with, and I'd honestly love to teach you everything that I know so that you can prepare for an autonomous birth experience and prepare to step into your role as the leader of your birth journey. 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.