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.

To listen here, click the play button on the player above, or click the buttons below to listen in iTunes or  Google Play Music .

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).