Birth Story: Unmedicated But Not Uncomplicated with Stephanie Garrity
We love positive birth stories here at My Essential Birth! 👏🏻 This week, I interviewed, Stephanie Garrity, who shared about her birth experience with her rainbow baby. While the birth map she pictured for the birth of her son may not have included many of the things that brought him into her arms, she felt the birth course prepared her for all the options, which allowed her to look back at her experience in a positive light. 🌈
Show Notes:
[1:12] The Review of the Week is from banandjdnsbaish, who says: “My new fave podcast!” She is halfway through her second pregnancy and longing for information to expand her knowledge on what she can do to have a more natural birth, no induction, no Pitocin, etc. This podcast gives her all the details! “I love it!” She recommends to moms who want to be in charge of their birth instead of letting hospitals decide how you birth.
Thank you, Carson! We are so excited for you and your second pregnancy. At My Essential Birth, we love the idea of whatever you think sounds good for your birth and what that looks like for you! 💜
[2:41] Today, I have a positive birth story to share! Stephanie (our podcast guest, great name, huh? 😏) has an 8-month old son, Cooper, and she’s been married for about two years. She and her husband loved diving into the My Essential Birth Course online and being a part of the supportive Facebook group. 🥰
[3:48] I ask Stephanie about her birth experience. She shares about her miscarriage before becoming pregnant with her son. She opens up about the anxiety and fear that came along with the new pregnancy and how they channeled that energy into focusing on what they could control, which was preparing for the birth of their child. 🤰🏻
[5:20] Stephanie talks about what drew her to My Essential Birth: the support system and community that the private Facebook group offered. She talks about how she was able to take anything that brought her anxiety to the group to receive the support she needed. 💕 She was also able to connect with mamas in her area through that group who are now her friends! She always recommends My Essential Birth to her friends when they ask what she did to prepare for her birth.
[7:38] I talk about what sets the My Essential Birth group apart from other mom groups and how it truly is a safe space where moms can feel supported and educated. Stephanie echoes the sentiment that what works for one mama may not work for another, but that’s okay! 👌🏼
[9:43] Stephanie elaborates about her pregnancy experience with her rainbow baby. She had a midwife from the beginning of her pregnancy. She did not want a “normal” birth experience because she was so fearful of needles! She was more afraid of needles than she was of the pain of birth. 🥴
[15:42] I ask Stephanie to walk us through the preparation she did for her birth. They hiked every weekend until she was 37 weeks pregnant, hiking for 7-8 miles! ⛰ Every night, they would do 2-3 mile walks. She talks about her prodromal labor which started around 32 weeks. She also drank red raspberry leaf tea, which she started around 36 weeks. 🌿
[17:55] Stephanie talks about the effect that the birth experience had on her husband during labor. She talks about how supportive he was and what she did to include him in the preparation. He would watch the birth course videos on his own and research topics that he didn’t understand. 🤓
[22:01] Stephanie dives into her birth story. She’d been having prodromal labor for six weeks. She lost her mucus plug and a few hours later started getting stronger contractions. She called her midwife to ask if she should go into the birth center, which was in a hospital. She talks about how her husband stalled by stopping at allll the pit stops before heading in because he didn’t think it was time to go in yet. 🤣🌮☕️
[29:25] She got sent home to labor for a few more hours. Want to know how she convinced her husband it was time to go to the hospital? She had him touch her stomach during a contraction and said “Imagine this happening to you from the INSIDE!!!” 😖
[30:20] Stephanie walks us through the 45-minute drive it took to get to the hospital . . . including a slow car in the fast lane! 🐌
[33:40] She outlines how the midwife told her that because she was a first-time mom, she’d be there in triage for a while before a room became available. She went from 5 cm to 9 cm in 15 minutes once she got the nitrous oxide and was able to relax. 💆🏼♀️
[38:43] She tells us about how her baby started to crown while she was in the triage room. Looking back, she felt like her body gave her all of the signs that she was right, and she wasn’t overly dramatic about the baby being on his way. Once she started to push, he was born seven minutes later. 😱
[41:00] Stephanie felt like it was one thing after the other before giving birth. She admits that she is not a flexible person, but going through what she did, made her realize that being flexible has its pros too. 🤷🏼♀️
[45:11] Stephanie describes her birth as “fast and furious” once they got to the hospital. 🏎💨
[46:30] She shares what she learned for her next birth experience. 💫
[46:56] I talk about why we call it a “birth map” and not a “birth plan.” There are a lot of different ways to get to an incredible birth. 🗺
[47:46] Stephanie credits the My Essential Birth course to showing her a different side of herself where flexibility is an option. She saw how beneficial the tools and resources she was given changed her entire outlook on her birth experience. 😍
[51:04] Stephanie gives her absolute best advice to other moms. ✨
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