This week, we are joined AGAIN by my friend Ashley, who is a mom to six kids! In this episode, we are wrapping up her story by walking through her last three birth experiences. Ashley shares how the precipitous, unmedicated delivery of her third baby (which we ended on last week) brought a lot of anxiety into the medicated delivery of her fourth. She also remarks on how different it felt going back to an epidural birth after having experienced an unmedicated birth. This ultimately influenced her to decide to have unmedicated home births with her fifth and sixth babies! It is amazing to hear how much more empowered and excited Ashley felt with her last two births in contrast with some of her other experiences.

It is seriously special to see how all six of her experiences come together to create a beautiful journey through motherhood. Ashley’s stories are truly a reminder that every birth is unique and transformative!

Full episode transcript available at thelaborline.com/episodes

Chapters:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:03:15 - 4th Child: Unsolicited Membrane Sweep, Processing Anxiety, & Choosing an Epidural

00:29:25 - 5th Child: Mentally Preparing, Working with a Midwife, + Mostly Unassisted Home Birth

01:04:05 - 6th Child: Overcoming Doubt & 1-Push Home Birth

01:23:38 - To My Pre-Mom Self…

This week I’m joined by my friend Ashley, a mom of six!! In this episode, we walk through her first three birth stories, and next week she’ll be back to share the final three. Ashley’s journey starts with two smooth pregnancies that resulted in almost identical deliveries (seriously—same birth weight and everything!). But her third baby threw her for a loop, from taking longer to conceive to a labor so fast she didn’t even have time to get an IV!

Each of Ashley’s experiences builds on the last, and I can’t wait for you to see how all six come together to form such a beautiful, resilient story of motherhood.

Full episode transcript available at thelaborline.com/episodes

Chapters:

00:00:00 - Meet Ashley

00:13:19 - 1st Child: Smooth Pregnancy, 45 Minutes of Pushing, & Weaning From a Nipple Shield

00:38:08 - 2nd Child: Finishing School While Pregnant & Admitted at 8 cm Dilated for a Deja Vu Delivery

00:52:46 - 3rd Child: Slower Conception, Unintentionally Unmedicated, Out in 2 Pushes

This week, we’re talking about the stories YOU shared about the nicest things someone did for you postpartum. Y’all gave me all the insider secrets about what your postpartum friends ACTUALLY need. We talk about meal train etiquette, C-section postpartum hacks, and ways dads can help lighten the load.

This episode is packed with ideas and insights that I had never even considered before! Perfect for expectant parents to share with their support team, or for you, like me, who want to do more for your new mom friends, but don’t know where to start!

Full episode transcript available at thelaborline.com/episodes