Birth Center Birth After Three Miscarriages, with Shea Cole

For Shea Cole, getting pregnant was easy, the trick was staying pregnant. After three miscarriages, getting to the end of a pregnancy was a huge mix of happiness and relief, yet it brought along its own set of unusual circumstances, like Shea breaking her leg, having a stranger break into her house, and her water breaking 78 hours before the birth of her son. Go listen.

 

 

What we talked about:

• Going into it feeling prepared, healthy and hopeful
• Easy to get pregnant, not to stay pregnant
• Trying to get clarity and a proactive plan for pregnancy to stick
• Miscarriages: So much more common than think
• The feeling of (finally) going past the first trimester
• Ina May and deciding on having a birth center birth with a midwife
• Proactive measures to lessen the chances of a GBS positive test
• That time when a stranger broke into her house around her due date, and she ends up breaking her leg
• Water breaking without contractions
• Bring on the breast pump and all the things!
• “You can check me, but don’t tell me.”
• “I must be near the end…”
• From hypnobirthing calm to super loud vocalizing
• Get more uncomfortable to make it happen
• Finally pushing!
• “I will call the ambulance, but you don’t have to get in.”
• No tears and the prenatal use of the Epi-No
• “I CAN do hard things!”

 

 

Helpful resources, books, and articles*:

• Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, by Ina May Gaskin (book that made Shea want to have a non-medicated birth)
• Hypnobirthing
• Aviva Romm’s website (check out the natural pregnancy section)
• March of Dimes on Miscarriages
• Epi-No that Shea used leading up to birth (which her mother-in-law sent from Europe, as it’s not sold in US or Canada)
• Natural Factors’ Ultimate Probiotic Women’s Formula (includes strains that Aviva Romm says are super important during pregnancy and breastfeeding)
• Probiotic Cream (when Clotrimazole didn’t work, this was a life saver for Shea)
• Cal-Mag Raspberry Liquid Supplement (Shae took this before bed and leg cramps stopped)
• Episode of The Fifth Estate that helped Shea decide on delayed cord clamping instead of cord blood banking

 

 

Related Birthful episodes:

• You Can do Hard Things, with Elizabeth Nigro (birth story)
• Miscarriage and Pregnancy, with Jessica Zucker

 

 

 

 

 

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About Shea Cole

Shea Cole was born in Massachusetts and now resides in Quebec, Canada with her husband Felix, her son Baer, and her two dogs Mickey and Marcel. She works as VP Marketing for Fullscript, an online supplement dispensing platform for healthcare practitioners. Shea and her family live on a lake in the beautiful Canadian countryside. They spend most of their spare time enjoying nature together.

 

 

 

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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).