My name is Staci Freed, formerly a certified personal trainer, and now mom of four. If you are pregnant or plan to be, I hope you will take a few minutes to read this blog post and allow me to help you avoid some birthing pitfalls and unpleasant scenarios.
You see, I thought I had this birth thing figured out, but truth is I had skipped over childbirth education and relied on medical staff to guide me through two hospital labors and births. Well basically, I went into my first birth pretty blindly, it didn't go well, nor I did not consider the epidural my new best friend.
With the second, I figured out what a midwife was and why to use one (if healthy and birthing in a hospital).
With number three, I'll briefly explain why I elected to have a home birth in Georgia and lastly, how I learned (even though I had several children already), the easiest way to give birth by far is to be knowledgeable of what to do and not to do during contractions, have a trained coach to help, be in the best physical shape possible, practice breathing and relaxation and be prepared to understand how to acquire informed consent and how to make the very best decisions for you and your baby, no matter where or with whom you decide to birth.
Luckily for me, with baby number four, I nailed all the above, because I had quite a unique variation of normal during my last home birth. I hope by sharing highlights from my own four labors (each with a very different outcomes), you will take time to really ponder... what does a target birth experience look like for you? Now let's get to it!
Fact: Not all women share the same birthing goals. Regardless of individual choices, for example to medicate or not, that you come to realize, like I did that education is key. That there truly is a level of both physical and mental preparedness needed to give birth and execute your happy "BIRTH"day free of words like scary, horrible, overwhelming, etc.
One conventional hospital birth in 2008, complete with an epidural; One traumatizing midwife assisted natural hospital birth in 2020… "winged it" well, because I only thought I knew what natural birth was all about and I went into it with very little training and without doula support to help advocate for me bedside.
Life changed for everyone that year and I was determined to learn a better way.
In 2021, I had the most amazing home birth experience with my Your Birth Helper® doula Pamela Sauls, CCE, CD, CMT and my midwife Simone Marshall, CNM, WHNP. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
It was at this point, I realized my passion for natural health. I began pursuing certifications to transform my practice from physical to holistic. My goal is to help and bless clients along their own personal health & healing journey.
2022, brought me two Master Certifications (Iridologist & Herbalist) AND another bundle of chaos, I mean joy! LoL… Baby #4 was on the way! From my doula, who helped better prepare and train me to "give birth," not just endure it, to my local chiropractor, Dr. MacKenzie Puckett, (who also treats my children), to my growing Your Birth Helper® birth family, I began absorbing strength from the women who surrounded me. Those who had both accomplished their birth- their way, and those who had overcome various unforeseen birth challenges, yet still focused on the JOY of their baby's "BIRTH" day, despite experiencing medical complications.
Little did I know, just around the bend, would be news of a potential birthing challenge that was headed my way. I continued to focus my energy on my target birth experience, clean eating, exercise and maintaining my namaste All Day.
Planned, prepped, and ready to go; only the baby was comfy in his “frank breech” position. Hospitals will NOT deliver breech babies as doctors are trained in “medical intervention” and “extraction.” Under certain circumstances, c-sections are necessary, however, not all breech babies need to be c-sectioned and mine is the “Case & Point!”
My very competent home-birth team helped put my mind at ease and my intuition was to NOT try to turn the baby. He was delivered breech and it was painful as hell, but it was so worth it. Oh and lingering symptoms of the flu made breathing through contractions challenging (as our family had the flu gifted to us the the week before and my labor began.
Here are the photo highlights from my frank breech birth story in Hull, Georgia.
I learned GRAVITY would be my friend on this day!
Special thanks to my family, my midwife Simone and doula Pam (for assisting through two home births), plus our awesome collaborating OBGYN and YBH doula apprentice, Anniston for capturing my amazing birth on video!
I felt so supported throughout my entire frank breech journey. We had a plan and a backup plan in case transport was needed, but with the assistance of my team and post birth, the fabulous local female paramedic, who so kindly came by to check on me post birth and do more fundal massage to reduce my bleeding and she rocked! The bleeding stopped.
Check me out on YouTube @FitMomOnFire TV & @StaciFreed.
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I leave you with this empowering thought...
I educated. I prepared. I stayed healthy and low risk. I exercised. I practiced labor techniques, had a supportive team and believed I could do it, so I did!
You got this momma!