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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 degree in kinesiology, a diploma in holistic nutrit...

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 uterus, a slight detachment can...

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 and serious complication rate for babies compared to waiting till at leas...

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 ...

Show Notes:

[1:59] The Reviewer of the Week is 13021310241026717, and she says, "I just found this podcast at 16 weeks pregnant and wish I would have found it sooner! These women are doing incredible work by educating and providing women a resource to learn. Love their opinions and outlooks on birth with their honest experiences. The BEST podcast on pregnancy and birth!"

[2:36] Our guest this week is Jamie Peterson, who lives in Minnesota with her husband Erik and her daughter Noa who just turned 1 in March. 

[3:15] Jamie's pregnancy experience was pretty standard with nothing super wild or crazy. She hated being pregnant. She was not one of those women who are like, "Oh my gosh, this is the best!" There were a lot of changes that people tell you about, but she wasn't actually ready for like: things she couldn't eat, her jeans didn't fit her anymore, and the extreme fatigue at the beginning. 

[4:45] Stephanie asked if there were any concerns during her pregnancy. Jamie failed he...

Show Notes:

[2:02] Our Reviewer of the Week is basejumping-abbeygbaby, and she said, "Stephanie (along with Courtney in early episodes) does an amazing job of laying out all of the options a birthing momma has before, during, and after pregnancy. She provides awesome information on how to choose a provider, what questions to ask, what different types of providers have to offer, pros and cons of all the different locations you can plan to give birth, how a doula can help, what is “normal” and how to know when medical interventions may truly be needed, and so much more! I listened to this entire podcast from the beginning when I found out I was expecting. I am now holding my beautiful 3-month old daughter as I write this, and I remain inspired and incredibly thankful to have this podcast as a resource. I felt empowered in the decisions that I made throughout my pregnancy, and I was able to have the home birth that I dreamed of!"

What an incredible story. Thank you so much for sharing t...

Show Notes:

[2:12] Our Reviewer of the Week is CoraTheFloralPreserver, and she says: “I love love love this podcast so much. My husband and I are not trying yet (hopefully soon!), but I stumbled upon this podcast trying to stay awake on a drive one night and I was immediately hooked! Stephanie (& Courtney for those older episodes) does such a good job of giving all sides to any scenario, decision, or piece of advice & truly makes learning about my body & birth so fun & exciting! I know I will end up listening to all the episodes twice— once now & again when we are pregnant!”

Please follow along! Even if you are not pregnant yet, this is the best place or one of my favorite places that you can come and listen and learn and be prepared for even getting ready to be pregnant. So thank you for leaving that review. 💜

I polled you guys a few weeks ago about what topics you want to hear about, and prodromal labor came up several times. Let’s get into it!

[3:24] What is Prodromal Labor? ...

Show Notes:

[2:08] Our Reviewer of the Week is aculls334, and she said "When I first became pregnant, labor seemed scary, intimidating, and there was so much I didn’t know. After stumbling upon this podcast, I feel confident in my knowledge and in my body! I have learned SO much and I love the approach they take of explaining pros and cons to many different aspects of birth. There are episodes on topics for just about anything pregnancy and delivery related, so I am always finding something new that sparks my interest. I am 27 weeks pregnant and hoping for an unmedicated hospital birth. This podcast has actually got me EXCITED to give birth and I am so grateful to have found it!!!" Thank you so much for your review! 💜

[3:43] - Jake & Danielle Winter are parents to three IVF (in vitro fertilization) babies, a four-year old girl and almost two year old boys. They live in Southern California, and Danielle is part of the My Essential Birth Team. 👩🏻‍💻

[4:51] Danielle shares her IVF ex...

 Show Notes:

[2:11] - Our Reviewer of the Week is hellotrb, and she says "As I was pregnant with my second kiddo, I started to routinely listen to this podcast. I wanted a natural birth SO bad as my first one wasn’t. I hired a doula, read natural child birth books, and was glued to this podcast. On 1/19/23, I naturally delivered my sweet baby boy and have NEVER felt so great. I felt like going into this birth, I knew what my options were. The MOST important thing I learned from this podcast was deep breathing and meditation. Stephanie, you suggested practicing it every night and so I did. I truly feel that’s was got me through each contraction in a manageable way. Thank you!"

Thank you for your sweet review, and I love when you guys put this stuff into action. Congratulations on your baby. That's really exciting! 💜

[3:01] Our guest this week is Sleep & Well-Being Expert, Taylor Kulik! When it comes to baby sleep, I think it's exciting to know what's normal and when it's not norma...

Show Notes:

We're celebrating our 200th Episode for My Essential Birth! 🎉 To celebrate, Stephanie King, the host of the Pregnancy & Birth Made Easy Podcast and creator of the My Essential Birth Course AND My Essential Postpartum Course, will be sharing her birth stories (one Cesarean, one VBAC, and one home birth!) and how it impacted her to become a doula! You won't want to miss this celebration episode! 

"When it was time to have my third baby, we were moving from overseas back to the States, and the area in which we were moving had one hospital. When I called and said, Hey, this is my experience and I'm ready for another VBAC, they said, 'Nope, plan for another cesarean. We don't care that you've had a VBAC.' And I was like, no, no, no, no. I have worked too hard, too long. I know the risks and the benefits of what I am trying to do. Like that's not happening."

[1:28] - It's HERE! The My Essential Birth Postpartum Course is HERE! Whether you're pregnant, just got baby home, or...