Birth Story: Navigating Birth Together with Alisha & Brady Williams
Show Notes:
[2:22] Our Reviewer of the Week, kristenmanske, said: "First, can I say if you are here, send to a friend. This podcast could not be more amazing! I just had my second baby, my VBAC baby successfully with an induction I did not want but was needed due to preeclampsia. I felt so knowledgeable throughout the entire process. At one point during transition I said, “I feel like I’m going to throw up” once out of the contraction I looked at my doula with so much joy and said “Ahhh! I feel like I’m going to throw up” because of my knowledge from this podcast I knew I was in transition at that point in my labor. I can’t thank you enough for what you do for mamas! You are amazing!!!"
[4:03] We have Alisha and Brady Williams joining us for the podcast this week. I love when moms AND dads come on the podcast and share what they experienced through the birth with mom. Their son is a year old now. They got pregnant shortly after getting married, and Alisha started listening to the podcast right when she found out she was pregnant. They listened to the podcast together and worked through the birth course together.
[09:50] Charting is under the umbrella of natural family planning. Alisha used SymptoPro, which monitors different symptoms. With her diagnosis of PCOS, it kind gave her the security blanket of knowing what was going on in her body. She would recommend everyone learning how to chart just because you learn what's going on in your body, what's normal for you, what's not normal.
[11:07] Her first signs of pregnancy were an elevated temperature and knowing what was normal and not normal like breast tenderness before ovulation also gave her clues.
[12:30] Alisha walks us through her pregnancy. Her most difficult challenge was that she measured pretty big and she is very short-waisted. She was measuring 43 weeks pregnant at her last appointment and her doctor told her to prepare for a C-section.
[15:03] Alisha interviewed four OBGYN's before finding the provider she chose for her birth. She wanted to find someone who was open to her birth plan and desires. Brady attended the first few appointments with Alisha and asked the provider a lot of questions like episiotomy rates, percentage of C-sections, etc.
[22:32] Stephanie asks Brady for advice for Dads, and he said, "Yeah, this might be a little vague, but I would say listen. Like seriously, listen to what she is saying and just be willing to try out different things. It might be like Today, this might be what we're planning on doing, but that plan can change depending on what we're going through. Don't sit there and try to offer your solutions. Just listen to mom."
[23:34] To prepare for birth, Alisha and Brady worked through the birth course together. Alisha admits that she wasn't as on top of her exercises as she wanted to be since she worked all day and was on her feet the whole time. She loved how much counter pressure helped her especially during the third trimester. Brady helped her with meal prep and monitoring her protein intake. She also had a birth playlist that she would listen to. She and Brady went over their birth plan often together.
[28:01] One of the biggest things they learned from the birth course was knowing their options. If you don't know them, you don't have any.
[31:06] At 37 weeks, she had a cervical check because she was in a competition and wanted to make sure she wasn't going to go into labor. She was 70% effaced. At her last appointment, she was 2 cm and had a membrane sweep done. She had contractions on and off for a little over 27 hours, and then the moment her water broke, everything happened. Baby was born within five hours after that.
[34:37] By the time they got to the hospital, she was a 6 and she was a 7 by the time she got to triage. Alisha walks through the rest of her pregnancy experience including receiving an epidural.
[50:55] Alisha talks about how she worried that getting the epidural would make her feel afterwards. She had set her mind to have an unmedicated birth, but she knew it's what she needed to bring her baby safely into the world.
[53:53] Alisha's advice for moms: "I would say, like, do your research, do your homework, and find what's important to you. Because some women are gonna be fine with certain things, and others won't be, and so, you're going to have your own priorities, and so, communicate that with your spouse, or your significant other, and be on the same page, and go forward accordingly."
To Leave a Review ⭐️
- Open Apple Podcasts
- Find “Pregnancy & Birth Made Easy” podcast
- Select “Ratings and Reviews”
- Click the stars!
- Select “Write a Review” and tell us what was the most amazing, comforting, eye-opening thing that you loved!
ALL the best,
Links Mentioned:
