5 Births: All Different, with Bronwyn Fackrell

We continue still with our “Birth Stories” for the summer series!

It’s a jam-packed episode today with five, very different birth stories! From traumatic, to physiological, to emergency Cesarean with placental abruption, to VBAC, to homebirth, and a bit of Lyme disease thrown in there to keep you on your toes, Bronwyn Fackrell shares it all. Check it out.

What we talked about:

• Approaching birth as a science experiment?
• A traumatic first birth feeling bullied by the system
• Planning something completely different for the next time
• Feeling empowered by a physiological birth, on her own terms
• Taking charge of your fertility
• What did the hospital do for us? Exploring a homebirth
• And suddenly, it’s an emergency
• 99 days in the NICU
• Can you VBAC with a classical incision?
• Finding the right support
• From water breaking to baby in under 4 hours!
• Are they done, or not?
• An exhausting new pregnancy, filled with surprises
• Not happy with bed rest
• Beautifully walking the baby down
• A demoralizing sunset, followed by a happy baby
• What’s scary for some, and not scary for her
• Super long cord? Sure sign of a very active baby
• We just had a homebirth!
• Reflections about all her different births

Related resources*:

• FertilityFriend.com
• The Daysy fertility monitor device and app
• Subchorionic Hematoma definition
• International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN)
• specialscars.org
• A Quick Guide to Prodromal Labor Contractions
• Long-held theory on human gestation refuted: Mother’s metabolism, not birth canal size, limits gestation
• lymeactionnetwork.org

Related Birthful episodes:

• Fertility Before & After Pregnancy, with Emily Varnam and Kelsey Knight
• VBAC Facts, with Jen Kamel
• Navigating the NICU, with Sue Hall
• Bed Rest 101, with Darline Turner
• Protecting Your Perineum, with Rachel Reed

All photos by April Newman Photography, and are used with permission, courtesy of Bronwyn Fackrell

Title music: “Vibe Ace” by Kevin MacLeod, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).

Sponsorship music: “Air Hockey Saloon” by Chris Zabriskie, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).