Giving birth to our daughter Vienna was the greatest accomplishment of my life so far. In episode 5 of the Joyous Health Podcast, Walker and I dig deep and give you the play by play of bringing Vienna into this world.
To paraphrase a quote from an amazing book called Birthing from Within, it's work, it's gonna hurt but it will be worth it. I never knew how much my mom loved me until I had a child of my own :) The photo below is about two hours after giving birth. I've never been so tired, so relieved and so happy at the same time. I think Walker and I sobbed more than Vienna when she was born, but more on that in the podcast!
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In this episode we discuss:
- Not all birth stories are negative or "horror stories"
- Our positive birth story
- Why we chose to find out Vienna's sex before she was born
- The connection between The Ritz Carlton and Vienna's birth
- How ACDC was involved with my water breaking
- Why we chose not to give birth at home (and chose the Toronto Birthing Centre instead)
- How we felt while labouring at home
- Our birthing centre experience
- "It's work, it's gonna hurt – but it's worth it"
- Natural pain relief methods I used during childbirth, including tens machine and hip squeezes
- What helped me get through the pain of childbirth
- How I felt the moment I had Vienna in my arms
- The time warp that is childbirth
- My thoughts on men who have issues looking at their wife's vagina while giving birth
- My take on the antibiotic eyewash
- The Vitamin K Shot – and why I wish Vienna didn't have it
- What six weeks postpartum looked like
- My challenges with breastfeeding
- Birthing affirmations that helped me during childbirth
- Why you should take each person's birthing story with a grain of salt
It was so fun to re-live this incredibly insane and magical experience with Walker and to share it with you, my Joyous community! I hope you enjoyed this episode and if you did, please leave a rating and review on iTunes. If you know someone that could benefit from hearing a positive birth story, please share this with them!
I've put together a list of resources below as well that you can turn to for support if you are pregnant or if you are post-partum, there are a ton of great resources on the blog as well including Post-Labour Recovery Remedies , Natural Solutions for Breastfeeding Challenges (from 3 Mama Experts) , Post-Partum Depression and How I Learned To Love My Post-Partum Body.
Thank you for tuning in to yet another episode of the Joyous Health Podcast! If you have any comments or questions, please leave them in the comments below!
