54. My Maine Birth: Hannah shares her Maine Coast Memorial Hospital Ellsworth, Maine Birth Story
Today's birth story guest is Hannah and she shares her experience of birthing her daughter at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth with care of the certified nurse midwives. Hannah's two sisters have also been guests on the podcast, check out Brittney's Birth story in episode #25 and Katie's Birth stories in episode #20.
MyMaine Birth 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. From the first feelings of pregnancy to the first cry of your newborn, we explore the journey of child birth 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.
Hannah: 0:00
I think I've got some trauma for my birth. I don't not necessarily the birth experience itself, but just the care and the shaming that goes in when someone doesn't necessarily agree with the standard care that's being presented, or especially not a standard care. It was at that time it was a new vaccine that I didn't want to get because I was fearful of what would happen.
Angela: 0:27
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 birth 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. As an experienced photographer, I'm dedicated to capturing the beauty and emotion of this special moment in your life. For all of the information, head over to mymainephotocom 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.
Angela: 1:42
Today's birth story guest is Hannah, and she shares all about her experience birthing at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth. Hi, hannah, welcome to my Maine Birth. Hi, so to get started. Do you want to share a little bit about you and your family?
Hannah: 2:00
Sure. So it's myself, my husband Kyle. We've been together almost 12 years. We're a high school sweetheart, so it's him and I and my daughter Zoe, who just turned two in September. I do case management for a local organization and my husband is a self-employed carpenter, home fixer-upper type sort of thing. So, yeah, that's that's kind of us we come from. I come from a really big family. Actually, I've had two of my sisters here on this podcast with you already, so that's kind of how I got to know what what it is that you are doing. So, yeah, not a very eventful life, but it's busy and it's fun, oh my gosh. So who are your sisters? Katie and Brittany? I actually was listening to their, to their episodes a few, a few days ago.
Angela: 2:55
So yeah, Wow, that's incredible. Well, I'm so excited that you guys all have been supporting the podcast. Thank you so much.
Hannah: 3:04
Oh my gosh, that's incredible, it is. I mean, there's two others of my siblings, but I don't think they'll be on because one's a guy, so, but maybe.
Angela: 3:14
Oh, wow. Well, to get started then with your birth story, why don't you share a little bit about when you first found out you were pregnant and your thoughts in choosing your care?
Hannah: 3:32
So my husband and I actually only tried for a couple months. It was, I think it was like Halloween, like October-ish. When we first started trying. It was very much a planned pregnancy. I was like full disclosure. I'm a really anxious person in general, so I often felt like you know, it's not going to happen, like I don't think it's going to happen for me Not that there were any signs or indicators that I wouldn't become pregnant. And lo and behold, only two months in I found out that I was pregnant.
Hannah: 3:57
I felt pretty like, okay, I didn't get morning sickness, I don't think it was until six weeks. It was pretty sudden. I remember I was cooking like a pork roast in the slow cooker and all of a sudden like I felt like I was going to throw up. It was, it was miserable and that's kind of how it went for I want to say another additional six weeks. So started at six weeks and then it happened six weeks more of of the nausea and luckily I was able to find some comfort in like childhood foods that I really enjoyed eating before, like like bread with pesto and like cream cheese, all these weird things. But I was really. I was able to take comfort, comfort in those, in those comfort foods. But yeah, I ultimately decided to go to Maine Coast. That was just one of the closer areas. I do live pretty close to Bangor, so Bangor was somewhat of a thought. But after you know, learning some other people's birth stories, I was a little anxious to go to Bangor where it was a bigger facility and I knew from when I got pregnant that I really wanted to have a natural childbirth and really wanted to make sure I'd be able to advocate for myself in that. So yeah, that's kind of how we found out.
Hannah: 5:23
My sister, katie, actually found out she was pregnant at the same time. She that first initial pregnancy, unfortunately she had miscarried. And then she, a couple like a month later, she found out she was pregnant again. And so we told our parents, actually on the same day, because I had told my in-laws and they are loud, so I knew that once they knew that it was going to be told to everyone in the world. So we had to take that opportunity to tell everyone. And so that was really exciting to be pregnant at the same time as a sister of mine, to go through all of those experiences I think it was pretty early on.
Hannah: 6:08
I started getting very anxious about being pregnant, about being concerned that I was going to do something that was going to harm my baby, and I think that I never was diagnosed officially, actually until yesterday, but that was obsessive compulsive disorder, so very intense health concerns that anything that I would do was going to harm my baby, which was really. It happened the entire duration of my pregnancy, which was really hard. I didn't want to eat the wrong things. I was worried about everything and anything that you could possibly worry about. So that happened. It was really really early on, I think after my first initial appointment with the ultrasound, they discussed getting blood work done just to do all the genetic testing and all of that fun stuff you get. Initially I was going to accept and go through with it, but then I decided that it, whatever results that I got, wouldn't change the fact of what was going to happen with my baby. So I was going to just continue on with whatever was necessary and luckily, at 20 weeks my baby was healthy. She we found out she was a girl and we're really excited. My husband was hoping for a boy, but he was totally fine with a girl too.
Hannah: 7:34
So it wasn't a very eventful pregnancy as I was healthy, but I was anxious basically the entire pregnancy and so I didn't really get to enjoy it a whole lot. I had some, some stress from other sort of people in our lives very. They gave a lot of opinions and comments and made it so I was really even more stressed out about the pregnancy. I'm sure they're not going to listen to it, so I'm just gonna say stressed out about the pregnancy. I'm sure they're not going to listen to it. So I'm just going to say my, my in-laws were really really tough during my pregnancy. It took very strong like ownership that my baby that I was growing was their baby, which was really it wasn't helpful, so they were. It was very overpowering and made just made the stress a lot more worse, especially when I was worried about my baby's health in general. So there was that.
Hannah: 8:32
But I also was pregnant in the heat of pretty intense COVID times so we had to go into all of our appointments masked up, masked up and I know at the beginning of my pregnancy one of the midwives that I had seen that I really loved, but she got done like maybe halfway through my pregnancy she left the practice and was retiring, which I was really sad about. But the COVID vaccine had come out and they were saying, oh, you know, there's not a lot of research with pregnant women, like it's it's okay, like if you're not comfortable, that's your choice, which I was really excited about. And then, after you know, getting closer to the end of my pregnancy, that was something that was really forced on me, like I was made to feel really guilty. I actually had a midwife tell me that people who decline the vaccine are killing children basically. And so that was another stressor is I was consistently being made to feel like I was hurting other people because I declined to get the COVID vaccine. Because I declined to get the COVID vaccine and so, of course, with someone who has, you know, seeing it now is OCD, that's a really triggering thing for someone to force a vaccine. That's new. But also you don't know what's going to happen. So that was really really upsetting I got, I did not enjoy a lot of my care with the midwives that I had at Lean Coast.
Hannah: 10:06
There was just a lot of guilting and diminishing of feelings and I would express my anxieties and it was kind of like oh, you're just, you just have generalized anxiety, it's, it's okay, like just calm down. It's like, well, shit if that, if that's the case, then I'll fix it right now. Well, if that's the case, then I'll fix it right now. But really no, it was ongoing. And so when it was about 36 weeks or so, that's when they started doing all of the urine samples and all of the things, just trying to do all of the standard care that they needed to do with you, and so that's kind of where my anxiety started creeping up and more and more there was the COVID vaccine pressure, and there were just other things that they weren't making me feel really comfortable about.
Hannah: 10:59
And so I was getting closer to the end of my pregnancy and I expressed that I felt, you know, really, really anxious that it keeps being brought up to me, that I keep being made to feel guilty, that I wasn't getting the vaccine, and they're like it's not a big deal, like why, why, why, just get it. Who cares? And I'm like, well, it is a big deal to me. And that was again. There was like, well, you'd rather, you'd rather be vaccinated instead of being in the ICU with a dead baby is what a midwife had said while I was having a non-stress test because my blood pressure was skyrocketing every single, every single appointment that I was having that was getting moving forward towards the end.
Hannah: 11:43
And so eventually, like three days in a row of intense, really high blood pressure and some like rising protein levels, they were like, yep, we're going to induce you. You need to come tonight and be induced. And I was like, well, I live about an hour away, like hour round trip, like you need to be here by six o'clock. And it was four o'clock and I'm like like that gives me no time. I have to eat and shower and wait for my husband. Like, well, I guess we can wait, but you really should come. So that's kind of where that started was a really slippery slope. Um, I mean, it might. Actually, I wasn't actually able to give birth to my daughter without, you know, with just laughing gas. I was able to do the nitrous oxide and deliver her naturally, but it was a really long process at the hospital.
Angela: 12:35
I was admitted on a Friday and I had my daughter on a.
Hannah: 12:40
Monday and then I don't think we left until that Wednesday, so it was nearly a week at the hospital. That's crazy. Yeah, I don't think we left until that Wednesday, so it was nearly a week at the hospital. That's crazy.
Angela: 12:47
Yeah, I wasn't like okay, come right now. You know like it just seems like stressor on top of stressor on top of stressor.
Hannah: 12:54
Yeah, and it, and also I think I was even more anxious because my other sisters ended up to my sisters, ended up having miscarriages, so two, three miscarriages from two of my sisters, the entire duration of my pregnancy. So there was just so, so much stuff that just really really strongly affected my pregnancy. And then, you know, moving forward with the stress levels and then being induced, and of course, the entire time I was at the hospital with my induction my blood pressure was fine, there were no issues with my blood pressure and I kind of applaud myself because I did make a formal complaint about one of the midwives that was telling me that I was going to end up in the ICU with a dead baby, which you know, you don't say that to a new mom who has tried to confide in you and then, you know, just make her feel terrible after she's already been stressed out. But the nurses at Minkos were wonderful. I really enjoyed all of the care that I received throughout the delivery process.
Hannah: 14:09
It was really a really slow process. I tried to. I came in with my, my plan and just you know, please take it as slow as possible. I'm only 37 weeks. Like I, my body's not ready. I don't want you to rush this. So that's kind of what happened. It was like a night of it was like off and on side attack and Cervidil for a few days, and then that Monday they're like okay, we're going to break your water and we're going to start Pitocin and we're going to we're going to have the baby, which at that point it was, it was okay, I was, you know, know, my daughter was really low and so I was somewhat dilated after all of those interventions and so it was a really long day so basically it was like you went in Friday night, they let you go the weekend, and then Monday morning rolls around.
Hannah: 14:57
It's time to get things going yeah, yeah, basically they're like we going to have a baby today, but yeah, so it was a really long day. I think they allowed me to eat breakfast that morning, but the rest of the day I wasn't able to eat. So it was. I didn't give birth to my daughter until 1010 that night, so it was over 12 hours of no food, just kind of going through the motions.
Hannah: 15:24
The contractions were getting really intense and when I did have to, they had to do the Foley balloon, and when the midwife was doing it, I I was like screaming in pain. It was probably the most uncomfortable experience I've ever had, and so I was so like tensed up and anxious because of the whole process, and I initially signed paperwork so I could get you know, so I could get pain meds because that it was miserable. And so one of the nurses had gotten the nitrous oxide for me and we I started using it and I actually was. I was able to cope, cope with the pain and the contractions afterwards and we realized like two hours and she forgot to turn it on, like she didn't even press the button, and so it was just all in my head. I was so anxious because it was really painful, um, but I was just breathing with the nitrous oxide in it.
Hannah: 16:19
It it was fine, but then you know, I think it was around like eight yeah, eight at night, because it was two hours of solid pushing and that was intense. The midwife was basically in guiding my cervix the entire time, which I came to find out that that was not normal for that to happen. So, yeah, it honestly felt like my daughter's head was crowning that entire two hours. They were letting me move a little bit but I initially was upright a little bit with my husband, was holding my legs and like I was shaking and screaming and it was really, really painful and I ended up with like a second degree tear and yeah, I mean, since she was, she came out, was healthy, we had no complications. She, she latched right away and was nursing for like an hour, two hours, like they. They let her be and just be. So that was really nice.
Hannah: 17:27
But I was, I was exhausted, you know, after being, you know, in labor and doing these things for such an extended period of time. So that's kind of how that happened. It was really long and tiring and was kind of a slippery slope into postpartum anxiety and depression, which I had to be put on an SSRI two days after my daughter was born because it was, it was significant. That's kind of that birth story in a short, short nutshell.
Angela: 18:08
Will you share a little bit more about your postpartum time?
Hannah: 18:13
Yeah, it was basically all of the health concerns that I had, you know the worries, the obsessive compulsive disorder kind of taken, but now manifesting, and she's here and now, like I'm terrified, she's dying, like there were. No, there was no rhyme or reason for that. It was just my baby's dying and I can't, I don't know what to do. And on top of you know the extreme exhaustion I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't sleep. I was afraid that if I slept something I was going to miss something. So I was, you know, sleep deprived. I was so anxious that I couldn't eat, like I just wasn't able to eat. So then I could barely move around the house, like I was shaking, I felt like I was going to pass out, like I just had no energy. For the longest time my husband was able to stay with home, at home with me for like the rest of the week, but then his work, then he, he had to go back to work like he. He had used up all of his time, which was not so. That's kind of how that played out. I was eventually able to. You know, I was put on Zoloft and that was crazy. Just because I didn't know if it was, I was really anxious that I was getting like a clampsia, like afterwards, like I was really worried about that happening because of what was going on like prenatally, like I was really worried about that happening because of what was going on like prenatally, like I was really worried that that was kind of happening when I was pregnant. So that was in a worry of mine is, you know, my legs swollen or what's happening, and so fixation on bodily symptoms that you know weren't even necessarily there. So it was.
Hannah: 20:00
It was a really long, long time to kind of get settled on the SSRI but eventually, like it, it did level out to manageable levels, but it's still, you know, all of all the mental health symptoms are still there and very much present and it's it sadly took away the, you know, that valuable time that you should have with your newborn, and I luckily had counseling, I was able to do that and I was able to ask for that help thing. Like you know, I I've got this going on and so that was that was helpful, but I just don't, I don't think providers are necessarily equipped to help moms as much as they should in regards to postpartum anxiety and depression. So that's you know, and it, I think eventually for me it kind of phased out of the postpartum depression and just kind of turned into major depressive disorder. So it's still something that is being worked on on a regular basis for me and I think it has come to light of.
Hannah: 21:07
You know, I do have OCD and it's not just like the cleaning aspect but it's, you know, fixating on certain things and having intense distress that doesn't go away. So yeah, it's kind of, you know, led to having only one child for a good chunk of time. But yeah, that's kind of how that's laid out. It's been a really long process and I do. I kind of I feel sad that I haven't been able to enjoy a lot of my daughter's early life just because of all of the things, and I just don't think there's as much support for prenatal and postnatal care for mental health of women.
Hannah: 22:04
It's just not existent at this point. Yeah, yeah, it is hard and to have that support is crucial. For sure that can be fixed. But I I think I've got some trauma for my birth. I don't not necessarily the birth experience itself, but just the, the care and the shaming that goes in when, when someone doesn't necessarily agree with the standard care that's being presented, especially not not a standard care.
Hannah: 22:38
At that time it was a new vaccine that I didn't want to get because I was fearful of what would happen. So I ultimately will never go back to Maine Coast for having a child. I just I can't do it. I don't want to have that shame again. I'd rather be supported in whatever decisions, as long as it was a healthy one. And I don't want to have that shame again. I'd rather be supported in whatever decisions, as long as it was a healthy one. And I don't think declining a vaccine that was new is considered an unhealthy choice. Especially, I worked from home. I didn't see anyone in person, I wasn't going anywhere, so I don't know how I was posing much of risk to anyone at that point in time. I don't know how I was posing much of risk to anyone at that point in time.
Angela: 23:21
So yeah, and on top of that, it sounds like there was a lot of other things that were very abusive. You said she had her hands inside of you the entire time that you were pushing, which you said was two hours Like that's insane, it really was, and I think, unfortunately, there's trauma in the lady region.
Hannah: 23:43
Still that it's, it's it. It wasn't. It was a very forceful thing, it wasn't a natural way. And I remember even her asking like oh, did you, did something happen? What like? Did you get like some sort of cervical testing, not like the normal stuff, but like testing like any sort of your cells if there's any cancer? I think that one of those things like no, and she's like oh, we've got a weird cervix or something like okay, but still just very like in, just both hands touching my cervix right now.
Angela: 24:17
You don't yeah Like it was.
Hannah: 24:19
It was really uncomfortable. I, yeah, I screamed the entire time and I actually they told me to not yell and they told me to hold my breath, which at this point I was exhausted. So I'm like, okay, whatever I'm going to, I'm going to do whatever. And I ended up bursting the blood vessels all over my face and in my eyes and it it took the life right out of me, like just doing, doing the things and you know, learning that.
Hannah: 24:50
Now my sisters are like, you know, like that's not, you're not supposed to do that either, like you're really, you're supposed to breathe through it. And you know, even the nurses were like, oh, hold your breath, breath, you know, push, like you have to poop and all of these things. And you know, I was trying to follow my instinct initially and I don't think I was making the progress that they wanted. So they were like you need to hold your breath and push, which you know it ended up being okay. I didn't end up having to have a C-section. I think that was a fear too, and not that there's anything wrong with having a C-section by any means. I think, just with my, my health anxiety that I have, like I just didn't want it to go to that extent it was. It was really really upsetting to not be supported by people that were are supposed to be there for you, and so I felt a lot of shame and I think that still continues on, like you know, making you feel like you're not a good enough parent, that you're not doing all the things that you're supposed to be doing. So you know that the care that you receive lasts for like a lifetime. You remember those things. And so the nurses again, the nurses were were wonderful. I had one nurse that she was supposed to be off of her shift and she stayed and helped me push until my baby was born, so that you know, that was really, really sweet of her to stay and she like made like a cute sign afterwards and said congratulations and I didn't see her again. So that was, that was sad. But so the nurses were phenomenal.
Hannah: 26:24
That it's not to diminish their expertise, but definitely the midwife care is is is lacking there for sure. Um, it's unfortunate that that there it seems to be more of a common occurrence is people are being women, are being shamed into having a baby, like into how their baby is born and to what choices they make, and that's it. I don't, I don't think that's acceptable, that women should be shamed for what they want, especially if it's not going to harm harm your baby or them in that, for that matter. Like I wasn't, I'm not, I don't smoke, I don't drink. Like I don't, I didn't drink during my pregnancy at all. Um, of course, after that, but um, you know, I did, I was doing the things to be healthy, and then you know, when you're being made to feel like you're doing something, so catastrophic it's, it's not great.
Angela: 27:28
So let me ask you because both of your sisters had pretty empowering births then ultimately so had you heard about either of those at that point, or were they kind of, was that before?
Hannah: 27:44
It was before. Yes, yeah, so my daughter Zoe is, I want to say, 10 months older than Katie's baby right now. And then Zoe is, I want to say, like over a year older than Brittany's baby at this point, I think, yeah, I don't know, there's so many of them. There's nine grandkids right now, so there's a ton.
Angela: 28:12
but so I guess it was a while after that where you started to kind of process what had happened as like wait a minute, this is, this is wrong, and then to realize there's a better way. Was it kind of like seeing them go through that? Would you choose something differently? You know, if you were to become pregnant again, like yeah, absolutely.
Hannah: 28:32
So I think during I was really, I think I knew in the heat of it like it was wrong, but I just felt guilted into into like. But I just felt guilted into into like, obeying with what they were doing. But, yeah, I think pretty soon after I was talking to my sisters and they were explaining like that's, that's wrong, like that shouldn't have happened the way that it was, especially with the birthing experience, and so, definitely, moving forward, I don't know where I will go to seek any sort of postpartum or, you know, prenatal care and to deliver a baby. I don't, I don't know. My health insurance is often limited, especially to, you know, within those hospitals, and so birthing centers aren't necessarily something that would be covered and financially it can be expensive. So I don't, I don't know what, what I would do necessarily. I know I've heard really great things about MDI hospital Like that's where both of my sisters had their wonderful birth there which it is a haul for me. It's I think it's over an hour of a drive to MDI from my home.
Hannah: 29:44
But I definitely would make different choices and I know, I know the warning signs of my mental health and how I could keep that at bay and how to. I know the things that I know now that were normal for pregnancy and that I could keep the stress levels at a, you know, attainable level. That wasn't, that wasn't ruining my pregnancy. So I don't, I don't really know necessarily, but I know for sure that you know the pandemic, the pandemic's kind of over, so they don't really care about the vaccine, they don't care about forcing that on you anymore. But so, yeah, I don't know. I just know that I want to do more research on how to just let my body do its thing, especially, you know, listening to Brittany and just letting your body just, you know, have have the baby naturally, like your body is intended to, instead of having someone it in your vagina. They can have your time.
Hannah: 30:48
It's just, it's not comfortable and I don't think childbirth necessarily has to be as painful as that, to the point where you're nearly passing out after every contraction. And you know the nitrous oxide was. It was helpful until I started pushing and I didn't need it anymore. But it's just yeah now. I just I know things now that I think are helpful in the long run into having another, another baby, and luckily I don't have to worry about advocating for myself, for a VBAC. If that were, you know, if I, if it were to end in a C-section, then I wouldn't have to worry about that conversation. So now I'm like, hey, even though I'm a tiny woman, you told me that I was really petite and it might be a challenge Like I was able to have my baby naturally. So kind of giving anyone a middle finger, saying, like I can do it.
Angela: 31:43
I can do it. They told you that too, that's crazy.
Hannah: 31:46
I mean, I don't even know. I know that they're like yeah, you're pretty petite, you've got a really small pelvis and all of that fun stuff, um, but my daughter was really low, like even at 37 weeks she was head down ready to go, um, and so I had those odds in my favor, but yeah so body doesn't make a baby.
Angela: 32:06
that's too big for your body to birth, Like no matter what.
Hannah: 32:10
Luckily, my daughter was tiny. She was only like six pounds, 12 ounces, like so she was. She was a good size, but unfortunately, just yeah, all of all of the trauma from that and the, the tearing and all of that fun stuff it's, you know, it still causes discomfort to this day. And you know, I was able to go see it wasn't even a pelvic floor therapist, it was just a physical therapist and she saw me for like five minutes and I was like, yep, you've got some tightness, you just got to do this and that was it. It was like a $300 copay after that and so it was.
Hannah: 32:50
It's the lack, the lack of resources that are available, but also, like, financially, a lot of people can't necessarily afford the things that are empowering and helpful and actually beneficial to you. So I think it's there's a lot of disadvantages there for people who don't necessarily, who don't always have the means to, you know, do those things and take care of themselves. So it's unfortunate that there just really isn't a lot of support, that if you can't financially swing it, then at that point I was worried about my work, health insurance and that they didn't cover a whole lot and they were really tricky. So just, and of course, most health insurances don't cover any sort of holistic care, which I think having a baby is a pretty holistic thing. So I think that our society is kind of failing us women all the way around.
Hannah: 33:59
Postpartum care, you know only having. I only took eight weeks off with my daughter and I was able to stay remote for my job because I had a disability, um, like verification, because I had postpartum anxiety and depression. So she didn't have to go to daycare until she was like five or six months old, which was really nice. But yeah, there's just, there's just not a lot out there that's easily accessible for women and it's unfortunate.
Angela: 34:29
Yeah, it really is. I'm hoping to connect with more postpartum doulas and postpartum specialists to sort of connect those resources, because I feel like there are people out there that are better equipped than the people through the mainstream. You know sources through the hospital and those sorts of therapists, but it's sometimes hard to connect with those people. And I want to take a second to mention another resource, too that's available for new moms that I've recently found out about. It's called Be Her Village and it's like a gifts registry, like a baby registry for support and not stuff. Be Her Village helps parents access funds to pay for things like doulas, lactation support, maternity leave, pelvic floor care, midwifery care and other types of support that's often not covered by insurance and out of reach for so many people. So, just like you'd ask your family to contribute to a fancy stroller, you ask them to contribute to your pregnancy, birth and postpartum support.
Hannah: 35:33
So amazing, oh, yeah, because the postpartum support is so important and yeah, it is really important, unfortunately, because, because COVID was so intense and my siblings you know all of their kids were sick when my daughter was born, so I wasn't really able to have any visitors and with the health anxiety that I had, I was fearful of people coming over to see us, like if I wanted people to wear masks inside the house and all of those things, and so yeah, it's, it was just. I think the timing was really really shitty all the way around, so hopefully I don't have a another pandemic happen while I have a baby.
Angela: 36:19
Yeah, yeah, still. Anyway, though it's just such a such a tumultuous time to just have some support transitioning back into, like you know, a new routine.
Hannah: 36:32
Yeah, it's, it's really tough and it. You know, I did have the village of people. It's just the everyone is sick all the time when you have kids, so the village can't always help when you need it, and so I think it is really. I think, yeah, it's just important to have have support into for women to reach out to tell people if they, if something's not right. I think is really important too is really important too.
Angela: 37:07
Yeah, that is huge, and I want to thank you for being open enough to speak on these issues, because it is something that is hard to talk about and if you're going through it, it's hard to identify and then also ask for help for to to tell other people that you're going through it, Um so so I really thank you for sharing that story Other moms can know that they're not alone and other people are going through this and to find support if you need it.
Hannah: 37:30
Yeah, I think, yeah, the biggest thing is it is normal to feel the baby blues, but it's not. It's not normal to be crying excessively, worrying excessively or having, you know, all of those intrusive thoughts like that's. That's not normal. So it's, it's common but it's not normal. So, knowing those warning signs and you know, reaching out to whoever to get immediate support, so you're not continuing to struggle with those struggles, yeah, oh well, thank you so much, hannah, for sharing your story today.
Angela: 38:06
It was such a pleasure.
Hannah: 38:06
Thank you for having me. Yeah, it was great talking with you.
Angela: 38:09
Thank you so much, 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.