In Episode Seven of Our Birth Stories Podcast, we talk to Robyn about her experiences of pregnancy, birth and beyond. In this episode, we chat about being an older mother, fertility issues, hyperemesis, gestational diabetes testing, finding support and information for making individual decisions, pregnancy during covid lockdowns, breech baby at over 30 weeks pregnant, spinning babies,  Chiropractic Care, doula support - including support for your partner,  active labour, supportive partner, water birth, home comforts, struggles with bonding with baby, breastfeeding support, tongue tie, postnatal anxiety and intrusive thoughts, postnatal depression and medication while breastfeeding. If you're struggling with getting pregnant you might want to check out this podcast Robin mentioned https://www.bigfatnegative.com/  If you're pregnant and feeling or being sick all day and wondering if how sick you are is normal or if there's better support than being told to eat ginger you might want to check out https://www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk/ and https://thesickfilm.co.uk/ If your baby is breech (or back to back) and you're wondering what Spinning Babies that Robyn mentioned is all about check out thier website https://www.spinningbabies.com/ One option for good breastfeeding support in the UK which was mentioned in this episode is the Breastfeeding Network. Find them here https://www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/ For information on medication and lactation check out https://breastfeeding-and-medication.co.uk/ The doulas who feature in this episode are Sally https://sally.solentparenting.co.uk/ and Sophy https://www.doulasophy.co.uk/ and the Chiropractor is Philippa https://www.alverstokechiropractic.com/

In episode six of our birth stories podcast, we’re back with Sally from Episode Two. At the end of episode two, we left Sally at the point of coming off of antidepressant medication after coming through depression during pregnancy and postnatally. We pick up the story with something else that happened at the camp where Sally stopped taking her medication. This story of Sally’s second pregnancy and birth contains chat about: Falling pregnant while breastfeeding and not having periods,  health care discrimination due to bmi and weight, glucose tolerance testing, gestational diabetes, pelvic girdle pain, induction of labour, fast labour on labour ward, managed third stage, baby kept for 24 hours observation due to gestational diabetes, hand expressing colostrum, being able to look back and feel proud of your achievements even when you did not enjoy a labour experience. This was a challenging pregnancy and birth experience but the positive is the support and information Sally is now able to offer to anyone in a similar situation. This is one of the reasons we’re sharing all different types of birth experiences so we can share how difficult things can be different if you have more information and support. The other reason is that we love to celebrate people who have birthed in hard circumstances and to make very clear there’s no pass or fail when it comes to birth even if that is often implied in the language used in the healthcare system. If you're facing the same challenges as Sally finding good support from other people who are going or have been through the same things could be a lifeline. Please come and join our groups or find groups local to you where you can talk to other people who are pregnant and share the feelings you're having and reach out for support. If you have very negative experiences with healthcare professionals and want to pass on feedback you can find support for that via AIMS https://www.aims.org.uk/contact#post-heading-3  For positive information and support about being plus size and pregnant check out  @fat.and.pregnant on Instagram or read the book Fat Birth: Confident, Strong and Empowered Pregnancy At Any Size. Another recommended resource is https://plusmommy.com/ For information about gestational diabetes check out https://www.gestationaldiabetes.co.uk/ For information and support about pelvic girdle pain in pregnancy check out https://pelvicpartnership.org.uk/ If you're making decisions about induction of labour you might want to start with our blog and video on the topic https://www.informedpregnancybirthandbeyond.org/post/induction-of-labour

Episode Five of Our Birth Stories Podcast was recorded at an online meet-up of our support group. The topic of the meet-up was homebirth and these three birth stories have a lot in common. As well as being home birth stories they were all quite quick births and in two of them, the babies arrived before the midwives. Lucy shares the story of her second baby’s birth topics discussed include choosing homebirth after transferring from homebirth due to high blood pressure in a previous labour , doula support and refusing vaginal exams during labour. Claire shares the birth of her third baby (which was her fourth birth as her third birth was as a surrogate) topics covered include choosing homebirth after a previous postpartum haemorrhage,   meconium in the waters, using the Aims website while in labour,  monitoring in hospital during labour but returning home for the birth, supportive partner, baby being born before the midwives arrived. Philippa shares the homebirth of her third baby topics covered include choosing homebirth after previous c-section birth for breech and a hospital vbac, choosing to birth at home at what was considered a high maternal age, having a friend support you, supportive partner, baby being born before midwives arrive.  AIMS- the Association for Improvements in Maternity Services is an organisation that supports families when they come up against unsupportive or unhelpful policies and practices in their maternity care and campaigns for improvements in how maternity services are run. You can find resources and a helpline via their website. https://www.aims.org.uk/information/page/1 If you have any reason to be concerned that your labour may be very quick and you may birth before either the midwife arrives with you or you arrive at the hospital you may find this course really helpful https://birth-joy.teachable.com/p/unassisted-birth-and-what-to-do-if-you-labour-rapidly-or-your-baby-arrives-suddenly

In episode 4B of our birth stories podcast, we pick up where episode 4A finished, at the end of Melissa’s pregnancy waiting for her contractions to start.  This episode includes chat about contractions being strong and frequent at home and then easing off during the journey to hospital, accepting induction/augmentation of labour due to concerns about baby’s heart rate, covid testing in hospital, staying calm through concerns with baby’s heart rate after having prostin gel, continuous monitoring, labour in the induction ward, positive midwife support on labour ward, making the birth room work for you, active labour, use of TENS machine, use of cordless telemetry/monitoring, breathing through contraction, ring of fire, use of warm compress on perineum, feelings about meeting your baby for the first time, physiological third stage moving on to managed third stage, struggles with establishing breastfeeding, breastfeeding support on the postnatal ward. If you're wondering what choices you would make about whether to have your labour induced or what it might be like if you do choose that option you might want to check out or blog post and videos of our team chatting about the topic. https://www.informedpregnancybirthandbeyond.org/post/induction-of-labour

Episode four of Our Birth Stories Podcast is split into two parts in this first half of the podcast we will be talking to Melissa about her pregnancy with her first baby.  Topics covered include pregnancy during covid lockdown, lifelong interest in pregnancy and birth, the effects of your own mother’s experiences with and attitudes to pregnancy and birth, researching options and planning for birth in a stand-alone midwife unit, late pregnancy midwife concerns over possible slowing of baby’s growth, late pregnancy growth scans, challenging conversations with health professionals, gathering information and making decisions that feel right as an individual, pregnancy past 41 weeks, resisting pressure to choose induction of labour, standing up for yourself during unpleasant interactions with health professionals, choosing to continue pregnancy past 42 weeks, choosing monitoring rather than induction of labour, support from a consultant midwife and finally the gentle beginnings blurring the end of pregnancy into the start of labour. Wondering what you will do if your labour doesn't start before 41 weeks of pregnancy? Once information source you might find useful to start reading is the AIMS website https://www.aims.org.uk/information/item/due-date if you want to read into the topic more in-depth you might find this book interesting https://www.sarawickham.com/iol/

In this episode, Shelly talks about her pregnancy and birth with her second baby. Shelly birthed her second baby at home in water with the support of her partner, her doula, her mum, her first baby and her continuity of care midwifery team.  Topics covered in this episode include pregnancy in lockdown, pregnancy after postnatal depression, hyperemesis, doula support, mental health in pregnancy, continuity of care/caseload midwifery, possible big baby, waterbirth, position change to resolve shoulder dystocia, homebirth after previous postpartum haemorrhage/transfusion, physiological third stage.  If you find yourself expecting a baby who may be considered a 'big baby' and want to know more about what Shelly refers to as the Gaskin manoeuver for preventing/treating shoulder dystocia (note this is now usually referred to simply as changes of position or sometimes the FLipFLOP technique due to the cultural appropriation issue with a technique learned from Central American midwives being credited to a midwife from the USA) you can find out more in this article https://www.midwiferytoday.com/mt-articles/flipflop-four-steps-remember/ please remember this article is written for midwives and what Shelly is talking about are the first two simple steps which were under her control. These were choosing an all-fours position and then moving one foot forward into a position that looks a bit like a runner starting a race.  You may also want to read about the evidence about "possibly" big babies here https://evidencebasedbirth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Big-Babies-Handout.pdf

Sally talks about the journey to conceiving her first baby, her pregnancy including dealing with medication for depression and the birth of her baby in a hospital labour ward with the support of her husband. This episode includes chat about infertility, pcos, bmi and weight, the medication metformin, depression, antidepressants in pregnancy, hospital birth, TENS machine, continuous monitoring in labour including use of a fetal scalp electrode, discussion of episiotomy, perineal stitches, continuing antidepressants while breastfeeding. During the episode, Sally reflects that she might make different decisions about how she and her baby were monitored had she had different information. If this makes you wonder about what your choices would be when planning for your birth you might want to check out this article https://www.aims.org.uk/information/item/monitoring-your-babys-heartbeat-in-labour and specific information on the scalp monitor here https://www.verywellfamily.com/what-is-internal-fetal-monitoring-2758716 

Hopefully, this first podcast episode will help you get to know Sarah who you will hear interviewing people about their birth stories throughout the podcast series. Sarah tells the story of her second pregnancy and birth. The episode covers previous traumatic birth experiences, continuity of care midwifery,  birth with a toddler around, waterbirth, baby needing a small amount of support to start crying and postnatal anxiety.

Sarah explains who IPBB are, what we do and why we've added a podcast to our peer support and information-sharing activities.  For more information on our support groups check out our website. And for the blog that's mentioned in the podcast click here.