Latest / MyMaine Birth / 10. MyMaine Birth Laura's PenBay Hospital Birth followed by a Home Birth story.

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10. MyMaine Birth Laura's PenBay Hospital Birth followed by a Home Birth story. · MyMaine Birth

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: I'm Angela and I'm a certified birth photographer, experienced doula, childbirth educator and your host here on the my Maine Birth podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: This is a space where we share the real-life stories of families and their unique birth experiences in the beautiful state of Maine, from our state's biggest hospitals to birth center births and home births.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Every birth story deserves to be heard and celebrated.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Whether you're a soon-to-be mom, a seasoned mother or simply interested in the world of birth, these episodes are for you.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Welcome to episode 10 of my Maine Birth.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Today's birth story guest is Laura, and she's here to share her two birth stories with us.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: The first was at Penn Bay Medical Center in Rockport, maine, and the second was a home birth with the care of a certified professional midwife.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Hi, laura, welcome to my Maine Birth.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Hello, so to get started, will you share a little bit about you and your family?
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: I would love to.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: My name is Laura Duffy and my husband and I, steve Duffy, we have two beautiful, amazing young ladies.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: They are now 15 and 13.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: So it's been, it's been a very interesting, wonderful, amazing experience.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: So, okay, and you're in Fairfield, maine.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Yes, so we're very central Maine.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: We're right next to Waterville.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: So so, yes, right in Fairfield All right.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: So can you tell about when you found out you were pregnant with your oldest daughter?
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we were very lucky, like on all in all aspects.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: We found out that we were pregnant.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: We were very excited and I had already been working, you know, with some midwives as far as women, women things go, and so we just naturally stayed with them.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: We were actually living in Rockport at the time, so we were working with the Penn Bay hospital, the midwives at Penn Bay hospital, and it was just, it was just incredible, like I was like hey, I'm pregnant, and they were like that's awesome, and so we went from there.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: So what types of tests did you do and what did your prenatal care look like over there?
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: So that is a really good question, because when we were pregnant with our first child I definitely was not in the birth world and now I am like over 10 years into the birth world and it was having our first birth experience that got me there.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: So we did the usual.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: You know, we went, we did have the ultrasound we were supposed to have.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: I always find it funny talking to other parents now about the glucose tests that they do.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: We did your.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: We were the couple that were going to the hospital that people couldn't understand why we were going to the hospital because we seemed like the hippie people.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: But you know, I really didn't know anything outside of the hospital so I didn't know anyone who had had home births or even birth center births.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: So we were just kind of very lucky to find midwives who appreciated that we were more natural folk and they just really worked with us on that, which was good.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: So, yes, we did the usual testing as far as really just the sugar, the glucose and then the ultrasounds, so, but the midwives were really great.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Did you find out the gender?
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: We did, we really did, which I think is always such a great question.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: I think it's amazing if people are able to wait.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: I think that's incredible.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: And I had a friend tell me years ago, before having a baby, because you want to wait for the big surprise.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: And they're like it's a big surprise regardless of when you find out.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: So we were fine finding out, so we found out that we were having a little girl and we chose her name, and so it just was really nice to be able I mean and it's beautiful both ways, of course, but it just it was really nice just to be able to talk to her as Autumn, you know.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: So that was really cool.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: So when did your labor start and how did your birth experience with Autumn go?
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so, again, prior to having a baby, I really didn't know much about having a baby and so, thankfully, we were just in this excellent care of midwives.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: They recommended the hypnobirthing class, which we took.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: They said you know, we have a class, we're offering a hospital.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: And so we took the hypnobirthing class and we learned so much from it.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Because I didn't know much about birth but I knew that I wanted and I do a lot of air quotes, but I'm like I knew I wanted it to be natural, whatever that means, because that means something different to everybody, whatever that means because that means something different to everybody.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: But basically I didn't want any drugs and I didn't, you know, I didn't want any interventions really, and then I wanted to breastfeed.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: So we took the class and it was incredible because it just made sense.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: It just worked with what we already felt about birth, which which wasn't much, but it just worked.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: We had a really great pregnancy, like I didn't.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: I didn't have a lot of discomfort during pregnancy, so that was awesome when it was.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: It was funny because when I realized it was, you know, going to be the day ish, we were both working full time still, and so I knew things were happening, like I could feel it in my cervix, which I hadn't felt for like nine months.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: I'm like, wow, I feel something, but I still, I still went to work and even when my water broke at work, I didn't go right to the hospital.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: I'm like I learned in my class as long as there's no odor, no color, I don't have to go right in.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: So I learned a lot from the class.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: And we birthed, we labored at home for quite a while.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: We I don't know if, if you knew yet, our first birth was a rather long birth altogether, from beginning to end it was about 50 hours.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: So not the longest on record, but pretty long for a first time, mom, um, but 12, 12 hours was just like going to work, hanging out there, going home, hanging out there and then going into the hospital, so so.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: And we waited for the 4-1-1, like when you have a wave every four minutes, you have one wave every four minutes for about a minute, you know.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: So we just kind of that was kind of our goal.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: So how long after your water broke did you go to the hospital?
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: So it was probably about four hours after the water broke I knew that things were happening.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: I go by like 6am to 6pm.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: So 6am I felt something in my cervix.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: I went to work About one or two my water broke and it was.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: It wasn't like the big gush, it was more like the drizzle, and so I went home and we went to the hospital at about 6pm so, and then we were in active labor for the next 38 hours.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: So yeah, oh boy, so how did that all go, once you got to, the hospital.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: So it was very interesting.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: We learned a lot.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: We basically got to the hospital again.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: You know, we knew that my water had already broken and we were waiting for the waves, or contractions, but we call them waves.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Um, we were waiting for those to be more regular and so we went in.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: We were having regular waves, basically.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: We got to the hospital and they did the, they did the cervical check and again, we are new parents and we don't know much about birthing, but they were just like one centimeter maybe, which is not what you want.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: So the the short story is I ended up having scar tissue that nobody knew about because, um, because if you've had any, any type of surgery or anything going on down around your cervix and you're not aware that you might have scar tissue, so, on a positive note, I can let people know, hey, this might happen and you might have scar tissue, like if you've had a leap procedure or something like that.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: And so, basically, I labored for 24 hours with no dilation and nobody knew what was going on.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: The hospital didn't know what was going on.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: We didn't know what was going on, but what we had learned in our class with the breathing techniques and the confidence in the body.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: It was just basically, as long as baby's good and I'm good, then we're not, we don't have any reason to do anything.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: If it comes to a point where we're not in control, then yes, if I'm not able to handle it anymore.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: So basically we went 24 hours and at one point they said they said okay, we were wrong, we thought you were one centimeter, but you actually don't have any dilation at all, and so that was really quite disheartening.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: But when I tell my story in the classes that I teach because, again, I teach birthing classes I let them know this is a story to empower, this is.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: It's going to sound scary, but it has a great ending.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: So we labored, and labored, and labored and I breathed through every wave and my husband was beside me.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: The hospital staff was insanely amazing and I had I didn't have any fear of the hospital, so I mean, I wasn't like in that fear zone.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: So they were totally relaxed with me and I was relaxed with them.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: And then a nurse was finally was like I think you must, you must have scar tissue because clearly you're in labor, your body's doing what it's supposed to do, you're not dilating.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: So she actually manually with her hand.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: She asked permission, she manipulated the scar tissue and we were able to progress from there, and as soon as she did that, I was instantly two centimeters.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: So because of the scar tissue, you weren't dilating.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: So I wasn't opening at all, like there was zero dilation and so there and so when she was able to manipulate the scar tissue, I was instantly two centimeters.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Um, things, and I've learned, like, I've learned so much and you can learn from everyone's birth story, which is why I love that you're doing this, so you can learn so much Um, a lot of people have had procedures like that and so, just to make them aware, if you've had this procedure, you might have scar tissue.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: Everything is fine, just to be aware of that and things you can do.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: So she manually manipulated the scar tissue.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Then I was two centimeters, yeah, and I talk a lot in my classes about breathing baby out rather than pushing baby out.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: We still had a really good experience.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: We did the good old fashioned push, which took longer than if we had breathed.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: But again, you know, you do, you basically do the best you can with the information you have.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: And she came out eight pounds, seven ounces.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: I didn't have any tears, any stitches, like it was just amazing.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: And the midwives were, were.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, we met everyone on a rotating shift for like four days, so and everyone was just really understanding and they basically they were like we're here for you.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: If you need us, we're here for you, and if you don't need us, we're not going to force anything on you.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: So so it was just really incredible not going to force anything on you, so, um, so it was just really incredible.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: So when she finally was born, at seven 57 on a Friday morning, uh, and it was amazing, I just was like everyone needs to know they can have like it was such a calm birth experience, like it was long, but we were so relaxed like the whole time, like we were breathing.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: We were so relaxed like the whole time, like we were breathing, we were just hanging out.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: A lot of birth is just hanging out and passing the time, and so that's what really made me decide to get into the birth world.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: So so how did your postpartum time with autumn go?
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: again super lucky, um, we didn't take.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: They offered a breastfeeding course at the hospital and then a friend of mine was like it's breastfeeding, it's natural, you just do it, which I get, and there can be some tricks to it for sure, um, that we had this awesome nurse after autumn was born, she just gave me a couple of and she was the nurse.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: She wasn't a lactation consultant that I know of, she was just my nurse on duty and she showed me a couple of things and we the.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: I guess my biggest issue with breastfeeding was that I didn't have an issue with breastfeeding, so I didn't go to the breastfeeding group, and so I was actually just talking to a mom before coming to this podcast tonight and I'm like, even if you're not having issues breastfeeding, you go to the group so that you can meet other parents, like they're like, and so that was the thing.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: We were really lucky.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: I think, like I said, I didn't have any physical issues with breastfeeding or emotional, but it was just more the change of life, like your entire world changes whether and you know it, but you can't possibly know it until you're in it, and so that's why I think that there there definitely needs to be there, needs to be more there for the postpartum piece.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: I love, I love birth, I love teaching birth, I love talking birth and there's so much more that needs to be done with the postpartum and um we, it was very funny.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Both of my sisters were pregnant with me when I was pregnant.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Um, with my first they were on their fourth, so they had a lot of experience.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: So I did have a really good support group, which was amazing and so, yeah, so it was good.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: So can you share about when you found out you were pregnant the second time?
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: So that was extremely like I use the word funny, but it was funny in a very opposite way.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: When we were pregnant with our second daughter.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: It was pretty perfect I.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: So we got pregnant and then I went to.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: So we got pregnant and it was.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: We had a little move, like we moved from Maine to Florida and then we moved back again.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: So there was some interesting stuff there, but we were like we've already had a baby.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: It always already went amazingly.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: So we were kind of planning on birthing at Penn Bay again, but we had moved.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: So we were in Fairfield now and we did go to a couple of appointments but again we had already had a baby.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: So we were like we know what we're doing.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: And then I actually got trained to teach birthing classes when I was eight months pregnant.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: So I went to this training this like week long training in Massachusetts when I'm eight months pregnant and I came back ready for a home birth at that point.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: So came back eight months pregnant with my toddler, with my baby in my belly and my husband was already a hundred percent on board for a home birth.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: So we found a home birth midwife and it was great it was.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: It was funny because we went to Belfast and we and we didn't, like we didn't know, like I didn't.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: Now I know that there are home birth midwives like 10 minutes down the road, but I didn't know at that point my husband had passed by this office because he worked on the coast and he's like, well, I think I saw a sign and I'm so thankful because they were amazing.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: So I just called them, I gave them my story and I said we'd like to do a home birth and we went from there and they were absolutely incredible.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: They, they took us on.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: I love it because the sugar glucose thing they were just like just go have a nice big breakfast and come see us.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Like you don't have to drink that sugar thing, you know, just eat what you would normally eat and come see us and we'll test your sugar, kind of a thing.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: So that was really cool.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: And so how did your labor start this time?
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: So also really cute story.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: So with your second baby, they generally expected to go a little more quickly.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: And my husband was traveling with work, so he was actually supposed to go, was traveling with work, so he was actually supposed to go.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: He was supposed to be going on like a four night, overnight trip to an island off the coast of Maine.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: And I called my midwives.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: It was like seven o'clock in the morning and I'm on the phone with them and I'm like, okay, he's all packed and he's going away and I've had spotting.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: I'd already told them I had some spotting, which is totally normal, but you tell your midwife.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: So they know, um, my mucus plug had come out, which I told my midwives, totally normal, everything's fine.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: And so I had them on the phone and they said, okay, so this is your second baby, you're close to your expectant date, you've had spotting, your mucus plug has come out.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: I wasn't having any waves at this point, but they're like, yeah, we don't think he should go anywhere at this point.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: And so that was seven o'clock in the morning and she was born at 416 that afternoon.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: So yeah, and it was also incredible, it was just every, every piece of it was just perfect, you know.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: Um, my neighbor came over to keep me company.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: Uh, cause you do what you normally do before someone, before you're going to have a baby, like take care of loose ends or whatever.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: So my husband was out taking care of loose ends and my neighbor was keeping me company.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: Sends, and my neighbor was keeping me company.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: When my husband got back, he's like so how, you know how close are the waves?
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: And I was doing my best to not pay attention because I didn't want to stress out.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: You know, focusing on the clock, like you know they come, they go.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: My neighbor was like they're close, steve, they're very close.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: You need to call the midwives, like right now.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: So I went upstairs at about somewhere between noon and one.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: Um, they got here somewhere between noon and one.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: Like your mind does that thing where you don't like you're, you're busy birthing a human being, so you're not 100%.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: You know, looking at the clock, it was a really funny experience because at this point I had already had to be.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: I had taken a class, I had a baby.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: Then I got trained to teach people how to have babies.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: So I felt like quite the professional and I was not in the right birthing position at all.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: I was basically sitting on her head waiting for her to be born, sitting on her head waiting for her to be born, and so she wasn't coming out and I finally agreed to go to the bathroom, which is extremely important when one is laboring.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: And when I got up to go to the bathroom, like her head was ready to come out.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: So we waddled back to the bedroom.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: And I love the birthing stool.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: Can't say enough good things about the birthing stool.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: Gives you gravity, you get to sit and have your baby and she just came out so quickly.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: It was just so amazing.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, pretty incredible, and it was funny because, like I knew I wasn't going to have the scar tissue situation again, but I was in my head, like I was in my head like, cause, that's what laboring moms do, like you'll be talkative and then you'll be less talkative and then you'll just be in your head because labor gets really intense and, um, but yeah, I finally got up to go to the bathroom and she was like no, I'm ready to come right now.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: So it was pretty perfect.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: So how did everything go afterwards with her?
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: How did breastfeeding go?
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Postpartum time.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: It was amazing Like I gave myself a lot of more leeway with having the second child.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: Already you know, having had a first child, who's now a toddler, having amazing midwives.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: My midwives basically said because when you have a home birth, they do follow up visits at your house.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: And they were just like if we come to your house and all of your dishes are clean, that means you're not doing your job.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: Your job is to take care of yourself.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: So not that I had a nasty house, just like they.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Like you need to see, like it's a big deal having a baby and you need to take care of yourself.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: So everybody would ask me what are you going to do when you have a second child?
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: I'm like I'm going to nap.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: Like they always tell you, when the baby naps you nap, and I know every mom is different.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: When I was a first time mom, when the baby napped, I'm like, oh, I should do the dishes, I should do the laundry, I should do all these things.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: With our second, I was just like, nope, she's asleep, I'm going to lay on the couch for a while.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: So I really I was a lot more gentle with myself and her big sister.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: So Wilhelmina is our second beautiful little lady and her big sister was just such a great helper so it was just really awesome and again, I'm very blessed to have a really good support group.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: So it was really good and breastfeeding went really well.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: And then you just find your way as a mom and you find your library and, like other moms who have kids around the same age, like you, just you just search them out so you can all can all stay sane together raising children.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: So yeah, so you're also a birth and postpartum doula and you focus on teaching birth education classes, and you recently created an online version of your course.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Can you tell me more about all that?
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: So it, um, I was teaching birthing classes.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: So when I was pregnant with Willa, that's when I took the class to get trained to teach.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: So I did teach birthing classes at that point and it was great and it was really.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: I really love the teaching because, a, I love to talk about birth Like I love like to just like listen and hear and talk and share and all of the things, um, and so basically I was a stay at home mom and I'm like, well, I want to do something, cause I'd always worked, but I want to do something that I love and I still want to be home so I can be with the girls.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: And they told me at the hospital I could learn how to teach, because I was so excited about my birth.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: So I went and I got trained to teach birthing classes.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: So once you start on that path, you just meet so many people who do so many things.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: And so I learned and I had heard about what a doula was that I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: But again, I wasn't afraid of the hospital.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: I had a partner who was by my side.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: I had an amazing hospital birth which I did not know was unheard of.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: So when I heard more about the doula part of things, I thought, well, that would be a great way to get more education for myself.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: And so as soon as I did that, then people that I worked with teaching classes wanted me to be their doula, and so it just kind of worked.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: It worked well that way and then I was actually watching.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: So that was when I became a labor and birth doula.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: And then I was watching a video.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: It was by Ina May Gaskins.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Well, ina May Gaskins was in it.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: I'd have to find the name of the video, um, but it was a documentary and she was talking about the postpartum piece and like so much focuses on the birth, which is and.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: But then you have a baby and then, like, women are just left by themselves with these, with this baby, and historically you would have a village and a grandma and a mom and an auntie, but we live all over the place.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: Now we don't have that support system.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: So that's when I decided to become a postpartum doula and we've actually hosted.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: I hosted a training in the area.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: I had someone come in from Massachusetts, so we got quite a few postpartum doulas, which was great.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: But the more I met with people, the more I realized that, as far as the online class that I have, it's the first class that I was teaching was a five-week class which is hard to schedule.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: It's important, but it is hard to schedule and it's hard to get a bunch of people to sign up for the same class.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: And so I went to meet a friend and say, you know, I have this friend and she's pregnant and she'd like to talk to you.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: And she said can you just come over and we'll cook you dinner and we'll talk birth.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: And I'm like that sounds fabulous.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: And so that's when I created.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: It's basically a nuts and bolts Like this is the most important things I could possibly teach you in a short amount of time class and cause, and then I can follow up with lots of more information, of course, but that's basically how it started.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: I'm like that's exactly what I want to do.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: I just want to talk birth with people and, and you know, and just do my my own thing, and so, and that worked great.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: And then, luckily, I have a pretty tech savvy husband who encouraged me to do an online course, because I mean, I can do private classes and I can do online classes, but to be able to download the videos and then just do like a follow-up chat, like you have any questions, like that sort of thing, cause just people have such busy schedules, now they can do it at their own pace.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, to be able to just like, if it's yeah, you know, everybody has such interesting schedules and then they always ask, should my partner be there?
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, of course your partner should be there.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: So doing the online version also, like it's not just my schedule and their schedule, but it's like their schedule and their partner's schedule, you know, or or whoever is going to be supporting them at the birth, supporting them at the birth, so that way they're all learning the same information, so they know what to do and their partner or their support person knows how to help them as well, you know.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: So, um, all of that being said, people still do love the private class, like not the private classes, but the in-person classes.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: Um, just because it's birth, like it's so intimate, it's such it's one of the most intimate things that you're going to experience.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: So being able to have that like one-on-one is is is pretty special.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: So, but it's just this way.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: Like I said, I just I, I just want people to know that their birth can be amazing and they don't have to be afraid and they just need to educate themselves.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: You know, and you know and find, find their support system and and they, they can do it Great.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: So what's the best way to get ahold of you?
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: So I would say, um, you can go to mainly birthingcom and that's M-A-I-N-E-L-Y birthingcom, and I've also my Gmail is mainlybirthing at gmailcom.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: I am on Facebook and I am also on Instagram and I don't always get the Instagram messages, so that's why really emailing is the best way to go.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, great.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: So that's why really emailing is the best way to go.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, great, all right.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: Well, I'll link all of your information in the show notes so everyone can find you, and thank you so much, laura, for sharing your birth stories today of course.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for reaching out and for having me.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: I listen to all of your podcasts and just love them.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: I love what you're doing and it's just, it's really important work.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: So, thank you.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: Oh, that means a lot.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Laura.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: Before you go, I just want to remind you I have a ton of resources for pregnancy and birth.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: If you're pregnant, whether you're a first time mom or if this is your fifth baby, I want you to check out the show notes, because I have some free trainings and free downloads that you can sign up for, as well as the link to access my labor of love, a comprehensive self-paced online childbirth education course for moms who don't want to be told what to do, regardless of where you're birthing or who you're birthing with, and I'd honestly love to teach you everything that I know so that you can prepare for an autonomous birth experience and prepare to step into your role as the leader of your birth journey.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: So click to the show notes, check out all of those links and, if you ever have any questions, feel free to DM me at my main birth over on Instagram.