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Show Notes:

[2:24] Our Reviewer of the Week, katekast425, said "Pregnant with my second baby and I’m on round 2 of binging every episode because I find them so educational and empowering! Anytime anyone tells me they are expecting I immediately suggest this podcast and birthing course because I know they made all the difference in my first labor."

[3:09] Our guest this week is Kyleigh Banks, a mama, birth doula, creator of Autonomy Mommy, podcast Host of the Birthworker Podcast, and self-proclaimed birth nerd. She loves challenging anything status quo when it comes to birth. Anytime that there are good conversations regarding birth, the benefit is always that you guys who are listening get to take all of that in and do what you will with the information.

[5:05] Prior to getting pregnant, Kyleigh had never heard the word "doula" and heard it for the first time on a birth podcast on the Birth Hour. She knew that becoming a doula was everything she wanted when it...

Show Notes:

[2:13] Our Reviewer of the Week is Cllaaaiiiirrrrreeeeee, and she said, "I think I found you while listening to all the Lily Nichols podcasts interviews I could find! Between you and Lily… I have all the pregnancy info I could ever want! I had hypertension and a 38 week induction last labor that ended in a c section (ugh) and am doing all I can to prevent hypertension the next go around (God willing!). Thankful for this podcast to keep me company on my daily thee mile walks! You are knowledgeable, concise, and frankly entertaining. Keep up the good work and know that you are changing lives!!!"

 [03:16] When it comes to sleep, I've had a couple of sleep topics on here before. I love giving all the information and hearing the different sides, different perspectives, and just having good information for you guys to be able to listen, to work through, and do what's right for you. 

Lauren Weber is a three-time certified pediatric sleep specialist. She has...

Show Notes:

[2:18] This week's Reviewer of the Week is klsid86, and she said: "The Best Birth Podcast! I’ve listened to hundreds if not thousands of hours of birth podcasts in the past 5 years. I’m pregnant with my second and a self-confessed birth nerd. I only recently found this podcast, and I have to say it’s quickly become my favorite. A great mix of information and humor. I appreciate every episode!"

[3:08] - Mark and Laura Rowdon have been married for four and a half years and have been living in Japan for the past year. They currently serve as missionaries working at an English conversation school. They had first son two months ago so the birth story is fresh in their minds! They started taking the My Essential Birth Course halfway through the pregnancy.

[4:58] Laura had a smooth pregnancy experience overall. Because they were in Japan, things were just different culturally, and Laura wanted to give birth at a birth center...

Show Notes:

[0:21] Our Reviewer of the Week, kpalsson, says, "I found this podcast about a week ago and have not stopped binging episodes. I really love the positive birth stories! It seems most of my friends have traumatizing birth experiences, normally ending in an emergency C-section. Since before getting pregnant, my husband and I have discussed working towards an unmedicated hospital birth. I’m now 23 weeks pregnant and feeling more confident than ever that we can do this! Thanks for giving an amazing resource of knowledge and positivity!"

I think it's really important that you have positive places, spaces, and people around you as you prepare for your birth so that you can be excited, confident, and ready for this experience, rather than fearing it or being really concerned about what is to come.

[4:31] This week's topic is about what it looks like if you don't have the best support. Which can range from people who are close to you that don't...

Show Notes:

[2:00] Our Reviewer of the Week, mad-dog98, said "I’ve only listened to a couple episodes, but I really love how every story is told. I love the educational side and the emotional side of the episodes. This has helped me feel “heard” in a way but also realize that I need to keep learning. Love this podcast!"

[2:58] This week's podcast is about preparing for that second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. compared to how we prepare for that first one. The best part about having a baby again or having several later on down the line is that you have done this before! As you work through those subsequent pregnancies, you're like "Wait, I recognize this" or "When is this part coming?", or "Oh, my favorite part was . . ." and you have something to look forward to. If the first pregnancy did not go how you had hoped, you'll be able to look back at the things you want to change or do things again that went really well.

[5:41] What is the average...

Show Notes:

[2:02] Our Reviewer of the Week, dipetro, said "I listened to this podcast through my first pregnancy (and went back to listen to every podcast ever made). I also bought their birth class, My Essential Birth! Labor and birth went even better than planned. I owe it all to Stephanie! It’s great to be back listening as I grow baby #2!"

[2:45] Our guest this week is Allie Robinson, a My Essential Birth Student and stay-at-home mama who married her high school sweetheart. They have been together for 11 years and have two beautiful children, a three-year old daughter and one-year old son. 

[3:06] Allie shares her pregnancy experience which was pretty textbook. She found out at the 20-week ultrasound that her son was breech. She started doing the spinning babies and seeing a Webster-certified chiropractor to turn him, and he flipped by 37 weeks. 

[5:07] Allie met with a group of midwives because she knew she wanted...

Show Notes:

[2:05] Our Reviewer of the Week, KaitlynL2021, says: "Absolutely love this podcast. My husband and I are hoping to get pregnant in the next year and this podcast makes me so excited. When we started talking about having kids I was nervous because I didn’t know anything. Now I feel confident and like I know what I’m getting myself into. I also feel like I have options and there isn’t one “right” way to give birth. I love that this podcast gives all of the options from crunchy to conventional, and I can’t wait to be in the birth class one day in the future!"

[2:49] Our guest this week is Booby Food founder and owner, Janna Hattingh, who knows all too well about the triumphs and struggles with breastfeeding, pumping, and supply issues. She's on a mission to save your breastmilk and the tears shed over spilled bottles. She is a wife and mama to 4-year-old Sage and 2-year-old Kassius, a.k.a. 'wrecker of nipples.' She has a...

Show Notes:

[2:02] Our Reviewer of the Week, Courtmess412, said, "I am SO thankful for you and for this podcast. Through binge listening daily (haven’t even taken the course yet!), I have no fear or anxiety about delivering my first baby in November. As soon as I found out I was pregnant in March, I started listening to your podcast and feel so empowered, educated and excited for the remainder of my first pregnancy and for birth and postpartum!"

[3:07]  Subchorionic Hemorrhage is any kind of bleeding that you have during pregnancy, and it is gonna be scary. The first thought is probably always the worst one like miscarriage or an emergency situation, which are totally valid. Any time that you see, uh, any kind of trickle of blood or there's any kind of bleeding, at any time during pregnancy, then obviously that's time to go see your provider.

[4:47] - What causes a Subchorionic Hemorrhage? At the location where the placenta originally attached to your...

Show Notes:

[2:15] Our Reviewer of the Week, kaihanks, says "Forever grateful to the friend who lead me to this podcast AND birth course! Between this podcast, the birth course, and all their resources, I feel educated, empowered, encouraged, and overall excited for this experience in my life!" 

[3:05] This week's topic is the ARRIVE Trial. This ARRIVE (A Randomized Trial of Induction Versus Expectant Management) trial is the one that providers are leaning on and using as a reason to induce moms and to tell moms that because of this trial, they are finding that it's actually safer to induce at 39 weeks and that this is an evidence-based practice. During 2020 and this trial, inductions were pushed so much more than I had ever seen it done. 

[6:45] The primary purpose behind the trial was that they wanted to figure out if the elective induction, during the 39th week of pregnancy, would result in a lower death...

Show Notes:

[2:26] Our Reviewer of the Week is JennieHaugen18, and she said, "As you can imagine, hearing both sides to all of these topics has been empowering for me to make my OWN decisions about what I want birth to look like for me."

[3:43] Our guest this week is Sarah Merrill, creator of the podcast Big Kid Problems and Bottle Service. She talks about pregnancy topics like:

• Common symptoms you may be facing each week
• Baby's development that week
• Expert tips for your current week of pregnancy

[7:11] Sarah talks about being the only one getting pregnant in her friend group and how isolating it was. She noticed all her friends who were pregnant or going through it all had totally different experiences. When she got pregnant, she thought it was interesting how her friends kind of forgot about some of the stuff that they went through pregnancy. She felt like she was the only person at that specific time going through pregnancy.

[8:48] Sarah talks about her first signs of...