52. My Maine Birth: Grace shares her Maine home birth story as a first time mother
Welcome to episode 52 of the MyMaine Birth Podcast! Today's birth story guest is Grace and she shares all about her Maine home birth story as a first time mother with amazing, loving care from her midwife Leslie from Water of Life Midwifery out of Brunswick.
I'm your host Angela, I am a certified Birth Photographer, experienced birth doula and childbirth educator. MyMaine Birth podcast 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 to home births, every birth story deserves to be heard and celebrated. From the first feelings of pregnancy to the first cry of your newborn, we explore the journey of childbirth in all of its beauty, intensity, and emotion. Whether you are a soon to be mom, a seasoned mother, or simply interested in the world of birth, these episodes are for you.
As part of my commitment to capturing these incredible moments, I am proud to offer my birth photography services to families throughout Maine. As an experienced doula and photographer I am dedicated to capturing the beauty and emotion of this special moment in your life. And I create a personalized and intimate photo album that you will treasure forever.
Grace: 0:00
So with the birth tub filled up, I ended up getting into it and laboring in it and ended up staying in there for a lot of active labor and it just felt so good.
Grace: 0:11
I highly recommend using the birth tub if that's an option for you. It just the warm water and the relief kind of from the pressure just felt so good Every time I would get in the tub. I can't imagine having done labor without the tub. It felt incredible. And so really for most of active labor it was just a cycle of me doing several contractions in the tub and then they would help me get out of the tub and do a contraction in the kitchen and then make my way to the bathroom, do a contraction or two on the toilet and then back to the tub and we continue that cycle throughout the rest of labor. And that was so helpful for me, like just to for one to have the tub to labor in and then also that continual movement of not being in one place the whole time was so helpful just to. I think it helps me not feel like I was stuck in a rut or stuck for hours laboring.
Grace: 1:12
You know, it really made labor feel so fast and actually part of our birth plan ahead of time had been like to go for a walk down the road, you know, to try to help labor progress, or do stairs to help labor progress.
Grace: 1:28
But by the time the midwife got there I was, you know, so far into labor and did not feel like doing any of that, which which was a really nice thing.
Grace: 1:37
It was nice to be at that point, and so we just kept up that simple rhythm of laboring that way and the midwives did some counter pressure a little bit, which was really helpful. That felt so good. And I never ended up getting checked to see how far I was dilated, because at the point that Leslie arrived I was definitely in active labor and I think she could tell throughout the rest of labor kind of where I was at, roughly because of just how things were progressing. And even though it was my first baby, I could tell to some extent things are moving along, like I couldn't exactly tell where I was at, but I knew. You know I'm not like stuck at a three or a four, you know. So that was really nice to just not have to worry about being checked and to not have a number in my head. You know to be discouraged by if, if I wasn't progressing as fast as I had hoped. So that was really nice, just to keep it simple.
Angela: 2:39
I'm Angela and you're listening to my Maine Birth 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, from the first feelings of pregnancy to the first cry of your newborn, we explore the journey of childbirth in all of its beauty, intensity and emotion. Whether you're a soon-to-be mom, a seasoned mother or simply interested in the world of birth, these episodes are for you. As part of my commitment to capturing these incredible moments, I'm proud to offer my birth photography services to families throughout Maine. Incredible moments I'm proud to offer my birth photography services to families throughout Maine. As an experienced photographer, I'm dedicated to capturing the beauty and emotion of this special moment in your life, and I create a personalized and intimate photo album that you will treasure forever.
Angela: 3:39
For all of the information, head over to myainPhotocom and fill out the contact form to schedule a call with me. Now sit back, relax and join me as we dive into the world of childbirth in Maine and discover the joy, strength and love that is at the heart of every birth story. Welcome to episode 52 of the my Main Birth podcast. Today's birth story guest is Grace, and she's going to be sharing all about her main home birth as a first-time mom. Hi, grace, welcome to my Main Birth. Thanks for taking the time to chat with me today.
Grace: 4:23
Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm excited. Yeah, me too.
Angela: 4:28
So to jump right into it, will you start by sharing a little bit about you and your family?
Grace: 4:35
Yeah, I am originally from the Midwest. Actually, I was born and raised there and met my husband, who lives here in Midco, mid coast, maine. So when we got married, I moved to Maine and we live in Nobleboro and I'm really loving being a Maine resident now. It's so pretty here and I love living by the ocean and the mountains, and my husband works at a tool making company and I'm currently a stay at home mom, so the new baby keeps me very busy, which is very fun. I'm loving it.
Angela: 5:12
So now tell me about when you first found out you were pregnant and a little bit about your thoughts in choosing your care.
Grace: 5:20
Yeah. Well, we found out we were expecting last October, so October 2022. And it was our first month trying to have a baby, and so getting pregnant right off the bat was such an exciting surprise. We weren't sure how that would go or how quickly that would happen, so we were so thankful that it happened right off the bat.
Grace: 5:50
And actually finding out was pretty fun, because I had asked my husband months before like when we think that we're expecting, if I wanted to take a test on my own and surprise you telling you that we're pregnant, would that be okay?
Grace: 5:58
And so he said, yeah, I'd be fine with that, and I guess he had forgotten that we had had that conversation so going into October he was just kind of assuming we'd take the test together and find out together. But I did end up taking it on my own after he had left for work one day and of course I was just in shock and shaking and crying and so excited, could barely wait for him to get home that night, and I threw up some decor around the house balloons and a little sign saying you know we're pregnant. And so when he walked in the door that night from work, he was in complete shock. Just it took several minutes for it's a process for him and he was just so excited and of course we were just on a high from you know there on out, just so excited to be expecting and having a little one on the way and it not just being the two of us anymore.
Angela: 6:55
Oh, that is so exciting. So what were your thoughts about choosing your care Like? So after that, did you kind of go into it knowing what you wanted, or were you what? How did that all unfold for you?
Grace: 7:06
Yeah, we were very mixed on our feelings of what care we wanted to go with. With me being a new resident to Maine, I didn't really know any of the hospitals, any birth center or midwife options around, so I was learning. You know all of that, you know brand new, didn't really have any recommendations right off the bat. So I started doing a ton of research and I had done some research before we were pregnant as well and we were really mixed as far as the choice for whether we do a hospital birth or a home birth or a birth center. I had grown up seeing both the benefits of hospital births and home births. My mom has 13 kids, my parents have 13 kids and I'm the oldest of the 13. And so I got to see, you know, lots of little ones coming into the world, which is so fun, and most of those hospital births. But my mom's last few babies she had as home births and I got to be there for several of those and that really was such a cool experience, getting to just experience birth firsthand and see the whole home birth set up as well. So I had a little bit of that background going into us making the decision, my husband and I making the decision on what care we would choose, and so we found a good hospital near us. That was a great option.
Grace: 8:33
We looked into some birth center options as well and then also found a midwife that we got in contact with. There was only really one midwife in our area, at least somewhat close to us, so kind of had the hospital on the back burner as an option that we liked and then contacted this midwife as well and her practice is water of life midwifery out of Brunswick and her name is Leslie, and had an initial phone call with her and really liked what we heard. She was really great, answering our questions and just really put us at ease with, you know, that option and then went ahead and had an in-person visit and really just that sealed the deal for us just getting all of our questions answered and finding out you know how, how wonderful it would be to be able to give birth to our baby at home with great care, and she was just amazing from day one. So that ended up making it an easy choice, and she worked closely with the hospital that we had looked into as an option. So we were still able to do like our labs through that hospital and ultrasound and stuff like that.
Grace: 9:47
So it was really nice to have all of that kind of connected. But Leslie was our midwife and our primary care for the birth and yeah, we just were so excited to find that option. It took a little bit of searching and it was fairly late in the first trimester before we settled on. You know who we were going to use, because we were doing so much research, so much praying and just finding recommendations and yeah, again, we're just really excited with the choice that we ended up settling with.
Angela: 10:21
Yeah, it really is such an important decision and it's so good Like if you're feeling healthy and nothing's really wrong. You know to take that time, especially in the early you know months of your pregnancy, to see what fits best for you.
Grace: 10:34
Yeah, yeah, it really was. And thankfully first trimester I had some morning sickness and nauseousness but it really wasn't terrible at all, it was fairly mild. So that you know made pregnancy from the get go, you know, fairly easy and just knowing that you know there weren't complications right off the bat was a big help.
Angela: 11:01
So how was the rest of your pregnancy? What did that? What did it look like for you? Yeah, it.
Grace: 11:07
Um, the whole pregnancy really was was very enjoyable for me for the most part. I know for some women it is, you know, a challenge being pregnant, and so I kind of went into it with that mindset. But I was so thankful that I never had terrible morning sickness or nauseousness and no real complications throughout pregnancy and right about 12 weeks the nauseousness that I did have wore off and I didn't really have any other, any other morning sickness throughout the pregnancy and had good energy and just felt good, really good, and throughout the pregnancy and we did you know, the basic testing throughout the the different trimesters and thankfully all of that came back clear and I didn't have any sort of you know no gestational diabetes or anything of that sort. And so I was very thankful to not have to deal with any complications throughout the pregnancy and just, uh, just be able to plan and get ready for her to come, which was very nice.
Angela: 12:12
Yeah, wow. So now tell me about the final, like weeks and days leading up to your birth, and then about how your labor started and your yeah, the let's see, I think about two.
Grace: 12:25
I think about two weeks before she was born. Well, our, our due date was July 5th, and so about two weeks before she was born. Well, our due date was July 5th, and so about two weeks before she was born, we I'm sorry I should back up we did find out in the second trimester that we were expecting a girl. So we had the ultrasound and the anatomy scan and found out we were having a girl and picked out the name Gwendolyn right away. So we were so excited to have our little Gwendolyn on the way. And, yeah, so about two weeks before her due date of July 5th, I could definitely feel that she had dropped and that was really exciting, because I hadn't really had Braxton Hicks. I felt like I maybe experienced them a couple of times in the final weeks. But looking back, I'm wondering if I was just imagining it. I don't know that I necessarily even did feel any Braxton Hicks and, of course, it being my first pregnancy, I didn't really know what to expect or what I was looking for. So really, I didn't have any signs of labor approaching, aside from her dropping a couple of weeks before the due date, and so we were just on baby watch and I was really hoping for her to be born early, and I would have loved for her to be born a week early or something within that safe window. But thankfully she was not, because my husband ended up in the emergency room a week before her due date with an emergency appendectomy and so he was laid up a week before she was born and recovering from surgery and he couldn't lift more than 10 pounds for a couple of weeks. So we were hoping and praying that she would not be a big baby, because if that was the case he wouldn't even be able to carry her around. But thankfully she wasn't measuring big or anything like that. But you know, we just kind of had to rethink through some things because we were helping him heal from surgery.
Grace: 14:23
That next week rolled around right before July 5th and my birthday is actually July 3rd. So we had my birthday and then 4th of July, of course, and on 4th of July my in-laws took us out for lunch and we spent some time at the ocean and just had a fun day. The four of us and I had no inklings of my body doing anything getting ready for labor, it just felt like another normal day and at midnight that night I think. I fell asleep about nine o'clock on the 4th of July and at midnight, so right at July 5th, right when the due date hit, I woke up to just a couple of little cramps, and they felt kind of like period cramps, just just a little little twinge of something. And so I thought, oh, I don't know, maybe this is just because I haven't had enough water or just cause I've been laying on my side wrong, or something. So I got up and went to the bathroom and just walked around for a little bit and they continued every few minutes, you know, just these, these little twinges. And then they started getting a little bit stronger, but still just very, very mild.
Grace: 15:39
And, of course, like I said, with this being my first baby, I had no idea what to expect. I had no idea what contractions would actually feel like, and so I was very, I was trying not to get my hopes up. You know this was something happening, but I didn't want to, um, want to get my hopes up that labor was actually happening that day, and so I I just kind of walked and swayed around the bathroom for about an hour and that was still happening, and so I decided to go try to lay down and see if I could sleep, because that's what I had heard a lot of people say is, if you think you might be in labor, you know, go try to sleep and see what happens. So I did that and they started getting a little stronger and I definitely couldn't sleep. So I got up and I realized that all of our towels, or most of our towels, were dirty and if we were going to have the baby that day, we needed clean towels and needed to get things in order. So I started doing laundry and that woke my husband up.
Grace: 16:37
This was about one or just after one in the morning and he's like what are you doing? And I said, well, I'm feeling a little bit of something, but I don't want to get our hopes up. You know, it might not actually be labor, so just go back to sleep. And of course he couldn't go back to sleep. He was. He was wide awake from that point on, and so we just started doing a cleanup around the house, getting everything prepped. We had already gotten most everything ready, but, you know, just did the final dishes and laundry and started getting things ready and and the contractions kept progressing.
Grace: 17:12
They definitely weren't anything intense yet, but I was feeling them. They were actually fairly close together, which really surprised me. They were less than five minutes apart, but they were very mild and only lasted for about um for about 30 seconds each, and so I definitely could tell it wasn't to the point where we needed to call the midwife yet, but I was surprised at how close together they were. So we just kind of kept up watching, seeing what was happening, timing the contractions, and my husband and I got to have a little devotional together and pray together, and that was just such a sweet way to start the day.
Grace: 17:56
And then, at about, I think, around five in the morning, contractions are picking up and I started having some bloody show, and so that at that point we called the midwife and let her know and she's like, okay, well, that's exciting, you know, baby could be coming today on her due date, but just keep me updated. And so we just we hung up the phone, I went ahead and texted my mom and told her that you know, it seemed like it was baby day and to start heading over, cause we wanted her there for the birth and she lived about she lives about three hours away and so wanted to get her on the road as quick as possible, and so that was just like right after we called the midwife. So minutes later that happened. And then Alex, my husband, called his mom and told her that labor was happening and that it seemed like it was baby day. And in the middle of that phone call, we're in the kitchen and my water broke and you know, all over the kitchen floor. And so he immediately, immediately, is like oh, okay, I gotta go. Your water broke.
Grace: 19:02
And at that point we called the midwife back and she's like okay, this is, you know, this is the real deal. It seems like things are really progressing and it's going to get more intense from here on out. And she said to keep her updated, because you know, of course it could have been hours, quite a few hours. Um, after that, that, before she needed to arrive, um, the midwife needed to arrive, and so we were just supposed to keep her updated. And, like she said, labor did get more intense from there on out pretty quickly stronger contractions and longer. So that was exciting, but made it hard to keep prepping for her to come, getting sheets on the and all the towels where they needed to be in, the birth tub set up and all of that. But we, thankfully, were able to get everything done, just, you know, in time before my contractions got to where I couldn't really, you know, work through them anymore and had to just focus on labor. So at that point they were really intense and I was sitting on the birth ball a lot, just breathing through the contractions, just trying to get through them, and finally reached the point where they were close enough together and long enough that we needed to call the midwife and tell her you know, okay, it's it's time for you to come. So she started heading our way and I remember that was, you know, again my first time experiencing birth, not knowing at what point I was in labor, in the labor process.
Grace: 20:38
It definitely felt intense, but I wasn't sure am I close to the end or am I right in the middle? You know, where am I? It just felt very intense. So I stayed on the birth ball. I remember I had to go to the bathroom really bad and I knew that you weren't supposed to try to wait. You know you're supposed to try to keep. You know, keep things going, go to the bathroom when you need to. But I was afraid that if I got off the birth ball before the midwife came, that she could come. You know that Gwendolyn would arrive, and so I stayed on the birth ball for quite a while, longer than I should have, waiting for the midwife to get there, cause I every time I moved or got up, things got more intense, and so I just stayed put until she arrived, and then, when she arrived, just felt a lot more at ease to try to work through labor and try to get it to progress. And so she arrived about nine in the morning, and then my mom shortly after, and then the assistant midwife arrived a little later.
Grace: 21:41
Her name is Tiffany and our birth plan involved having a birth tub set up, and so my husband and I had set that up early in the morning in early labor, and our birth plan involved having a birth tub set up, and so my husband and I had set that up early in the morning in early labor, and my husband got it all filled and everything, and so the plan was to try to have a water birth, but again, with it being my first baby, I didn't know if I would end up actually wanting to do that when the time came. You know, in labor I didn't know if that would be enjoyable or comfortable for me or if it wouldn't be. So the plan was to try for a water birth, but if that didn't end up being the best option in the moment, that that was fine and we just deliver her wherever in the house. So with the birth tub filled up, I ended up getting into it and laboring in it, ended up staying in there for a lot of active labor and it just felt so good. I highly recommend using the birth tub If that's an option for you. It just the warm water and the relief kind of from the pressure just felt so good.
Grace: 22:50
Um, every time I would get in in the tub, um, I can't imagine having done labor without the tub. It felt incredible. And so really for most of active labor it was just a cycle of me doing several contractions in the tub and then they would help me get out of the tub and do a contraction in the kitchen and then make my way to the bathroom, do a contraction or two on the toilet and then back to the tub and we come, we uh continue that cycle throughout the rest of labor and that was so helpful for me, like just to um For one to have the tub to labor in, and then also that continual movement of not being in one place the whole time was so helpful just to. I think it helped me not feel like I was stuck in a rut or stuck for hours laboring. You know, it really made labor feel so fast and actually part of our birth plan ahead of time had been like to go for a walk down the road, you know, to try to help labor progress or do stairs to help labor progress.
Grace: 23:57
But by the time the midwife got there I was, you know, so far into labor and did not feel like doing any of that, which which was a really nice thing. It was nice to be at that point, and so we just kept up that simple rhythm of laboring that way and the midwives did some counter pressure a little bit, which was really helpful. That felt so good and I never ended up getting checked to see how far I was dilated because at the point that Leslie arrived I was definitely in active labor and I think she could tell throughout the rest of labor kind of where I was at, roughly because of just how things were progressing and even though it was my first baby, I could tell to some extent things are moving along Like. I couldn't exactly tell where I was at, but I knew, you know, I'm not like stuck at a three or a four, so that was really nice to just not have to worry about being checked and to not have a number in my head. You know, to be discouraged by if I wasn't progressing as fast as I had hoped. So that was really nice, just to keep it simple.
Grace: 25:06
And then labor, you know, was getting more intense, more intense, and finally got to the point where I I honestly couldn't really tell a difference between active labor and the point where I needed to start pushing. But the midwives could tell, you know, I was to the point I was in transition and to the point where I needed to push, and so they ended up. In the moment I didn't really know what was happening, why it was happening, but we ended up going to our bedroom and she ended up being born on the bed and I was kind of laying on my side a little bit and delivered her that way and even though that wasn't like the initial plan for our birth, that was so amazing because the midwife was able to really coach me through pushing, and one of my biggest fears and I know a lot of other women have this fear was tearing, and so, ahead of time, I talked with my midwife about, okay, what can we do to prevent tearing, if possible, and so she was really trying to make that possible for me to not have to deal with tearing, and so I think delivering on the bed ended up being more optimal for that to happen than delivering in the tub in our case, so they were able to just coach me through each push. I think I ended up pushing for an hour, they said, but it didn't feel like an hour, it felt like 15 minutes or so, which was really nice. I was surprised, looking back, that it was actually an hour, but they used oil and hot rags as counter pressure while I was pushing, and that was huge. That just put me at ease, made me feel like I wasn't going to tear, and just helped me be able to slowly and efficiently push her out.
Grace: 26:59
So at let's see 1.14 in the afternoon, gwendolyn was born, and that was just you know, you're in kind of a fog and a haze and just you know, working through contractions for all of labor as soon as she was born. It was just like an immediate switch for me. You know those hormones and that adrenaline just hits and I was just like they actually had to tell me to quiet down a little bit, cause I was so excited. I was just like, oh, my baby, I love you. And I was so, so excited, like over the moon. And so they're like, okay, calm your voice down a little bit, come back down. And um, it was.
Grace: 27:41
You know, we did skin to skin right away and delayed cord clamping and that was just such a precious few minutes just getting to hold her and look at her in those first few minutes, and you know my husband being right there helping me through labor and then, of course, that experience together of seeing her for the first time, seeing the baby for the first time and holding her for the first time, and my mom was there and all through labor she was such a huge help. She was amazing. Labor, she was such a huge help. She was amazing just helping me out of the tub and giving me cool cloths and you know she just kind of knew what would be helpful for me to get me through labor. And then through pushing, she was amazing, holding my leg and helping me through and encouraging me, and so for her to be there for that moment was amazing too. So, yeah, we just soaked up those first few minutes with Gwendolyn and she started crying pretty quickly, which was really exciting and a relief to hear her cry.
Grace: 28:43
And then my husband cut the cord, which was special too, and the midwives started towards the end of that period of time encouraging me to try to push out the placenta. And we tried a couple of times and it wasn't coming and I didn't really feel any more contractions happening to help me push it out. So they tried a couple of times and it just it wasn't happening. So eventually they and I think this was about a half hour after Gwendolyn was born they had me hand her to my husband and so she got to do skin to skin with him and they were actually prepping a shot of Pitocin to help me deliver the placenta, which I would have been good with if it was necessary, but if it wasn't necessary, I I really didn't want to have to do that. And so they said, okay, we'll, we'll try getting you up off the bed and, um, try to let you push standing up and see if we can deliver the placenta that way.
Grace: 29:44
And my midwives were amazing Leslie was amazing and then the assistant midwife as well. They held me up, you know, cause this was just like a half hour after giving birth. So they held me up. Uh, the assistant midwife, tiffany, got behind me and, and you know, held me like really held all my weight up and they coached me through pushing out the placenta, cause I really wasn't feeling any more urges to push or contractions or anything. So it was, you know, difficult to get it to deliver and I was getting a little nervous because it was getting towards the end of when Leslie was feeling comfortable for it to, you know, have not come yet. And so you know I'm thinking, oh, I hope we don't have to. You know, do interventions of any kind if we don't have to? If we did, that would be great and necessary, but I was just really hoping that we could not have complications if we didn't have to.
Grace: 30:40
So after a couple of pushes or trying to push, it did deliver and that was really the only hiccup throughout the whole labor and delivery, which I'm very thankful for, labor and delivery, which I'm very thankful for. And even at that Leslie told me that the window of time for you know what is safe for the placenta coming or delivering hadn't we hadn't gone past that yet. It was just kind of at the high end of normal, you know. So she was getting to where she was, like, okay, we got to try to get this taken care of here. So that was really the only only hiccup throughout the whole process, which I'm very thankful for.
Grace: 31:20
And, yeah, we just got I got cleaned up, got Gwendolyn cleaned up and got her weighed and she was six pounds seven ounces, which was so nice and made, made delivery so much easier and there was no tearing, so we didn't have to worry about stitches or anything, which was so nice I was very thankful for. And, yeah, she was just a healthy little baby and so perfect and we were just so thankful for an easy birth and a quick, a relatively quick delivery. It was, I think, 13 hours total, so that I had prepared myself for a long labor because it was my first baby, but for it to be 13 hours was really shocking to me. I was so thankful.
Angela: 32:06
How has your postpartum been going? She's four months old now.
Grace: 32:10
Yes, yeah, she's four months old. Yeah, yeah, she's four months old, yeah. So that has been relatively easy as well, no huge dilemmas to deal with or anything. I did have mastitis about a week and a half into postpartum and that was not fun, of course. For anyone that's experienced that was kind of a shock, you know, as a new mom I knew that that could happen, but to have to deal with that wasn't fun at all. Thankfully, you know, my husband wasn't back to work yet, or it happened over a weekend, so he was home. My mom was also staying with us to help with the baby, and so we had help around and my midwife was very on top of helping me to recover from it and gave a lot of suggestions for how to clear it up, naturally, because I came down with it in the evening, and so she gave me some suggestions for things to do during the night to see if it would clear up by itself, and then she was going to prescribe an antibiotic in the morning if it hadn't cleared up, and thankfully that's all it took was just, um, you know, heat pumping, nursing throughout the night and resting, and by morning I felt fine again. So it was a short. You know, intense, not fun thing to deal with, but I was thankful that it healed up quickly and other than that, didn't have any other real issues.
Grace: 33:38
Postpartum Nursing was a bit of a challenge, as I know a lot of first time moms say. I tried to prepare myself some ahead of time and set myself up well for breastfeeding but it was, you know, that I felt like nothing really did prepare me fully for what it would actually be like and I did have trouble with Gwendolyn latching at the beginning and you know, had to work through that and thankfully was able to keep nursing and there were definitely times where it felt like, oh, formula would be so much easier and I was thankful to have that option if we needed that. But in the end I was able to keep nursing her and doing some pumping quite a bit of pumping in order to boost my milk supply, and also worked with a lactation consultant about a month or two in to get some help with milk supply and getting Gwendolyn's weight gain progressing and that really helped. And actually the lactation consultant was the assistant midwife that was at the birth, so it was nice to use someone that had been there at Gwendolyn's birth and it had been there when she first tried nursing for the very first time, and so this assistant midwife is also in IBCLC and so she was amazing to work with and so helpful.
Grace: 35:03
And again, my midwife my main midwife, leslie, was just incredible through the whole prenatal and birth and postpartum the whole prenatal and birth and postpartum. She, you know, was always there for me to text if I had questions or concerns and she was very knowledgeable on everything but was also. I was so thankful she was also so intentional about making sure that I was prepared emotionally and mentally for labor and really took the time at every visit to, you know, not just take care of all the physical and medical side of things, but also to learn, you know, what my personality was and what would be helpful for me or not helpful and what my preferences were, and so that I was just so thankful. It was really like the care was very tailored to my husband and I and our little family and I was so thankful for that.
Grace: 35:58
And I don't know exactly what the normal amount of postpartum visits are that she does, but I'm thinking that what she ended up doing for us was more than what was normal and that was so helpful with either, you know, concerns about weight gain or with breastfeeding, things like that. She made several postpartum visits, like right in the first few weeks, and that that was just, you know, so helpful to, because as a first time mom I was very, you know, nervous and felt like I had no idea which I was, what I was doing, and so to have her come by and all of, actually all of our prenatal and postpartum visits were in home, so that was huge and, you know, just so nice and convenient, and so she would come and, you know, check on Gwendolyn, check on me, and was just, you know, really caring and reassuring and very on top of things. So that made the whole process, especially postpartum, made the whole process less, a lot less daunting than it would have been if I hadn't had her.
Angela: 37:11
Yeah, for sure, having that support is so valuable.
Grace: 37:16
Yes, it is, it is for sure.
Angela: 37:21
So now, as a final question, if you were to give advice to someone who's expecting, or even new parents, what would be the biggest thing that you would say to them?
Grace: 37:35
One thing that I heard recommended a lot when I was expecting was to read Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, and so I picked that up at the library and read it, and that was so helpful. She just lays out all different aspects of labor and delivery and pregnancy, of course, and the different options you can choose and different procedures and the pros and cons of different the different options, and that was just so helpful. It made me feel so much more knowledgeable and so much more capable of making decisions for our pregnancy and for our baby, and so I would definitely recommend that book to anyone expecting. And then I would also recommend listening to podcasts, like yours, of birth stories. I did that long before I was pregnant, before we were married.
Grace: 38:33
I just loved listening to people's birth stories, and so there are so many podcasts out there, like yours, that just share women's birth stories, and I've probably listened to hundreds of them, and that was so helpful to me because, birth with birth, you never know what's going to happen and every birth is different, and so just hearing all sorts of stories and different experiences was really helpful to you know, just feel like I had a grasp of different things that could happen during my birth and you know again, with my birth I could have never fully known what would happen in labor and delivery.
Grace: 39:16
But just having all of those stories and experiences in my mind to pull from and know what's helpful or what could happen was wonderful. I would also recommend, even if you're planning a home birth for me it was helpful not to just listen to home birth stories, especially in the decision-making process of what provider we were going to go with. It was just really helpful to hear hospital birth stories, home birth stories, birth center stories Because, again, you never really know what's going to happen with your specific pregnancy and so just hearing you know the pros and cons of different options and different people's experiences was really good, just to get in the mindset of what labor and delivery and pregnancy are actually like. So that's a big, that was a big help for me and I would highly recommend listening to birth podcasts if you're able to.
Angela: 40:16
Yeah, I totally agree. Hearing all of the different types of stories is helpful.
Grace: 40:21
Yeah, for sure.
Angela: 40:25
Yeah, oh my gosh. Thank you so much, grace, for sharing your story today. It's been such a pleasure talking with you.
Grace: 40:32
It's been wonderful talking with you, thank you, and I enjoy listening to your podcast.
Angela: 40:39
And that's the end of another episode of the my Main Birth podcast. Thank you for joining me and listening. I hope that the stories shared here have been inspiring and informative to all of my listeners. If you're looking to capture your own birth story, I highly recommend considering my birth photography services. I'm a professional photographer and I'm very passionate about capturing the raw and emotional moments of the birthing process, and I designed a personalized and intimate photo album, creating a beautiful and lasting memory of one of the most special moments of your life. For more information, head over to mymainphotocom and schedule a call with me. Thanks again for tuning in and I look forward to bringing you more amazing birth stories. Don't forget to subscribe and leave me a review, and I'll see you back here again next week.