Birth Story: Managing the Process of Natural Birth with Lisa Thrower
Show Notes:
[2:09] Our Reviewer of the Week, lakakrndus, said, "I loved all of the positive birth stories! I love all the information Stephanie gives and she helped me make informed decisions for my own birth. I was able to become confident and have the unmedicated birth I dreamed of. The weeks before I listened to all of the birth stories over and over to help me dispel some of my fears." Thank you so much for leaving that review, and I'm excited because today I have another birth story for you. So if you are somebody that follows along and you love these birth stories, get ready for another one. 💜
[2:36] Our guest is Lisa Thrower, a mama of two girls. They enjoy camping, gardening, experimenting with new sourdough recipes!
[3:40] Lisa walks us through her pregnancy experience. She had morning sickness during the first trimester. With her second birth, she had gestational diabetes and had to manage her diabetes.
[5:00] She had a group of midwives versus an OB. Her first birth was a hospital birth and pretty traumatic because they punctured the epidural wall and she had a spinal headache for a few days with a blood patch. Her baby's heart rate dropped while she was pushing, and they had to use a vacuum. She felt like her voice was not being heard.
[6:26] Lisa saw a video of a midwife on YouTube who described natural birth and the process as something that is not suffering. It is something that you can manage. It really resonated with her and she started listening to the My Essential Birth podcast and doing more research.
[7:38] What was it like to have a group of midwives? Lisa said her midwives were calm, soft-spoken, and gave gentle direction. They wanted Lisa to feel heard and made sure she didn't have any questions or concerns.
[9:12] Lisa experienced a miscarriage between her two pregnancies and went back to the same midwives who helped her through her loss. Lisa's husband was on board with the midwife group and supported Lisa by listening to her as she talked about birth and worked through the My Essential Birth Course together. She also had him watch a birth video and he would help her with her stretches.
[15:40] After Lisa got over her morning sickness, she started working out again. She also went to the chiropractor once or twice a week. During the third trimester, she started drinking red raspberry leaf tea every day. She also started taking evening primrose oil, practiced her breathing, and found that relaxing her entire body was so helpful.
[18:58] Her first pregnancy she went 5 days past her due date. She didn't think much as she passed her due date with her second. When she was six days past, she had an appointment with her midwives because if she got to 42 weeks, she'd have to be transferred. Her midwife did a cervical massage, and within an hour, she started getting mild contractions. She also went into her chiropractor and got adjusted. She went to the mall to walk around for a few hours. She did the Miles Circuit and one more evening walk.
[22:45] Once Lisa went home and just relaxed and took a bath, she felt her contractions were longer and stronger. She took a shower and decided to wake her husband up after about an hour of contractions. She called her doula and then decided to head to the birth center. The car ride to the birth center was miserable for her because she had to focus on her contractions and breathing. By the time she got there, contractions were 2-3 minutes apart.
[28:24] During her contractions, she would lean into her husband and sway back and forth. She also had a TENS unit on. her back, which she felt was helpful. She decided to get into the shower which was so relaxing. After she got out, she went to the bed to lay down where her midwife put a heating pad on her back and her husband used a massage roller. After about 30 minutes, she got into the tub. Her main focus was to keep her jaw relaxed.
[32:27] Her body started pushing involuntarily. She felt like it hadn't been long enough and was surprised that she was already in transition. She pushed for a while but started getting very tired. Her midwife gave her two options: get out of the tub and go to the bed or use the birthing stool. She felt the baby moving down and her head began to crown.
[42:03] She did delayed cord-clamping, but her baby was scored really low on the APGAR scale. After a few minutes, baby started crying and improved. They gave Lisa a Pitocin shot to stop her heavy bleeding. She didn't have any tearing. They went home four hours after birth.
[47:06] Best advice for moms: "I want to just encourage any mom that's considering having unmedicated birth that you can do it. Just prepare yourself for it and you can absolutely do it. It's very, very manageable. Like I said in the beginning, it's not suffering, it's the most beautiful experience. As far as advice, prepare yourself. Knowledge is power. The birth course is wonderful. I would recommend the birth course to anyone and the podcast as well. During contractions just stay as relaxed as you possibly can, keep your jaw relaxed and breathe to stay very, very focused.
[49:01] Best advice for dads: "Just be as supportive as you can. It was very, very comforting that my husband never left my side. Even if he needed to leave, my mom was there for me too right by my side the whole time. She was offering me a cold rag for my forehead, giving me sips of water, and in between contractions, comfort me and tell me that I was doing a great job. Having a good support team is everything. Try to educate yourself as well about the birth process, ways that you can help manage the pain and comfort.
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