Tag: birth

Listen to my Birth Story on The Birth Hour!

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I’m excited to share that my birth story has been featured on one of my favorite podcasts, The Birth Hour! If you’d like to hear me talk about Aminah’s birth (or hundreds of other people’s birth stories, they’re all pretty great), you can find my episode here!

I really appreciate the opportunity to share my birth story on the show– I never tire of getting a chance to talk about my home birth experience, and I’m definitely a birth nerd so talking about birth in general is something I’m passionate about. I hope you enjoy the episode, and be sure to check out other episodes of the show. Thanks to Bryn at The Birth Hour for having me on the show and for giving so many people a space to share their stories!

Why Midwives Are Awesome

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img_1052For a while now I’ve been wanting to talk about my experience with my providers during pregnancy. I actually had the opportunity to experience both midwifery care with Cynthia Banks and Hannah Weiss, as well as obstetric care through Kaiser. I think I received good care from both, but the care I received from my midwives was particularly thoughtful, compassionate and supportive so I thought I would talk a little bit about my experience and why I think midwives are so awesome. Continue reading →

Our Birth Story, Part 2

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Around 10:30pm my mom went home to get some rest, since it was clear I was not having the baby that day. My sister camped out on our couch, and Kourtney and I went to bed. And that’s when things started to get going. I tried to sleep, or at least lay down comfortably, laying on my side was very uncomfortable, and with each contraction I had to roll over onto my hands and knees, gripping our headboard to steady me, letting the contraction crest and fall. After rolling back and forth probably 5 or 6 times I just got out of bed and pushed away the thought of getting any rest. My contractions were about 5 minutes apart at this point and getting stronger. I probably could talk through them but I didn’t feel much like talking. I would stand next to my bed until I felt the start of a contraction and then I would fold over, head and arms on the bed, belly hanging low, until it faded away. Eventually I asked Kourtney to put counter pressure on my hips to ease the pain a bit. Little did she know, she would be doing this for HOURS. Continue reading →

Our Birth Story, Part 1

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First let me say a few things: I loved being pregnant. I had a very easy pregnancy, with all the typical “symptoms” and “side effects” being relatively minor and manageable. I spent my first trimester with a chronic stomach ache, I had strong aversions to most green leafy vegetables and towards the end of my pregnancy the acid reflux got bad enough that I woke up throwing up bile. And all of that sounds like a bummer but honestly it wasn’t that bad at all. I loved being pregnant, I loved my baby bump, and I was excited about getting to my due date. I had convinced myself that Baby Snow was going to be at least a week late.

38 weeks pregnant, my last day of work before I went on maternity leave

So I was really surprised when my water broke four days before my due date. Continue reading →