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Show Notes:

[2:05] Our Reviewer of the Week, KAHerr, said: "First time mom here. I have learned so much during this pregnancy listening to multiple podcasts. I came across this podcast going into my 3rd trimester and it became my favorite to listen to. It was both educational as well as positive and empowering. It just made me feel good. Stephanie knows what she is talking about and her presentation is very down to earth and easy to understand. My favorite episodes are the birth stories. I love the way Stephanie approaches them and the questions she asks. I love hearing the different ways birth looks for every mom. I also loved the mindset they put me, filling me with confidence that I can do this too. We are planning a unmedicated home birth, and I will be listening to this podcast till that day comes and even after. Thank you for helping me prepare for this birth!"

[2:52] Today's birth story is from Hana Naamani, a My Essential Birth student! By the time this podcast airs, she w...

Show Notes:

[1:56] Our Reviewer of the Week, LMPfromMI, said: "I wanted to reach out and personally thank you for all of the work that you put into your web course and podcast. I listened to your podcast every day throughout my recent pregnancy and I know that it made a significant difference in my pregnancy and labor. I am a first time mama and got to have the home birth of my dreams next to my husband, mom (and doula) and midwife. Throughout my first trimester, I was so anxious about labor and delivery and was so uneducated in all aspects of birth. Thanks to your podcast, not only was I empowered to have my baby at home, but it was unmedicated too! And despite complications and almost needing to transfer to hospital, I had so much peace and confidence throughout every contraction. My whole labor was only 9 hours, with pushing for just over one hour. My midwife said if baby hadn’t been in a posterior position, she would have missed my birth! I know not everyone gets to have a birt...

Show Notes:

[1:30] Our Reviewer of the Week, AAL3!, says "I can’t recommend enough!!!  Your episodes always make me feel more calm about everything pregnancy related! I asked questions on Instagram and you made another episode about it to answer my questions. Thank you for always catering to the women you serve and ensuring we are informed about what is happening during pregnancy birth and postpartum. I always recommend your podcasts and the three exercises! I did the three exercises and had a fast labor and only pushed for 12 minutes with my first baby. Baby number 2 is due in July and hoping for a similar experience. Thank you again!"

[2:23] Disclaimer for this Episode: 

This episode with Dr. Stu is not what I imagined when I wrote the outline, and we began our conversation. I had lots of questions about home birth, VBAC, twins, and breech babies. As well as experiences in these settings with Dr. Stu being an OB who attended home births. I think it is so fascinating and such a ...

Show Notes:

[2:10] Our Reviewer of the Week, Cristina Trouy, "As a first time mom, I did so much research before we tried to conceive because I wanted to determine what kind of birth would be best for me and I wanted to prepare as best I could for pregnancy. Coming across Stephanie’s podcast was the biggest blessing! It was exactly what I needed to make an educated decision regarding what was best for me and my baby. After listening to her extensive knowledge on everything birth related, I decided that a home birth was what I wanted! I love how Stephanie takes you through the whole process of birth all the way up to what to expect postpartum. Because of this podcast, I knew how to advocate for myself, how to select a midwife, how to prepare my mind and body for birth, how to stay healthy during pregnancy…I could go on and on. She discusses almost everything you could ever need to know about birth. Because of the confidence I gained through the information in this podcast, I was ...

Show Notes:

[1:30] Our Reviewer of the Week, Amelia R. P., said: "My baby is eight months now she is beautiful thriving and wonderful!! Had a water birth can’t recommend them enough!! We had to deal with a tongue tie but as soon as that was cared for my baby was nursing well!!! Please try to get a dentist on who does those procedures it makes the biggest difference in the world!!!!!"

[2:20] Our guest is a MEB student and mama, Whitni, who jokes that if she could do pregnancy as a full time as a job, she would! She adored her pregnancy. She now has a sweet, almost one year old baby boy named, Hudson. At the time this episode was recorded, Whitni was 20 weeks pregnant with her second baby boy. She lives in the panhandle of Florida. 

[3:41] Whitni shares about her pregnancy experience. She had regular cycles and knew the day after her missed period that she was pregnant. Since they had just moved, she Googled a provider and went with who looked nice. (This was before she found the M...

Show Notes:

[2:00] Our Reviewer of the Week, Neenah66, said: "I listened to this podcast through my first pregnancy (and went back to listen to every podcast ever made). I also bought their birth class, my essential birth! Labor and birth went even better than planned. I owe it all to Stephanie! It’s great to be back listening as I grow baby #2!"

[2:49] Our birth story today is from Savanna Davis! She and her fiance, CJ, welcomed their first baby girl in January of 2023. She actually came on New Year's day, which was unplanned, but exciting. They are from Cleveland, and her fiance owns a flooring company, and Savanna is in grad school right now, which is a whole challenge in itself.

[3:40] Savanna's pregnancy was not planned. She did not know right away. She was feeling awful, and she was worried because autoimmune diseases run in her family. She went to the doctor, and they actually didn't even test her for pregnancy. Everything was coming back normal, but she decided to take a ...

Show Notes:

[2:04] Our Reviewer of the Week, ERees307, said: "This podcast was my best resource during pregnancy! I just had my first baby and before the birth I listened to every episode of this podcast! My birth preferences went out the door when my babe was diagnosed with fetal growth restriction, and I was scheduled to be induced early. This podcast gave me the strength and knowledge to stay positive and continue forward to have the most amazing natural(ish) hospital birth. Now I have a beautiful baby girl who is as healthy as can be at 1 week old. Thank you!"

[3:01] We have a birth story fromKatelynn Monty, who lives in Michigan with her husband and son, who was born October 2022.

[3:26] Katelynn shares her overall pregnancy experience and how she knew she was pregnant before she had missed her period.

[8:41] She went to a Midwife group and tried to meet as many midwives as possible. Once she found a midwife she loved, she tried to schedule all her appointments with her. Sh...

Show Notes:

We're celebrating our 200th Episode for My Essential Birth! 🎉 To celebrate, Stephanie King, the host of the Pregnancy & Birth Made Easy Podcast and creator of the My Essential Birth Course AND My Essential Postpartum Course, will be sharing her birth stories (one Cesarean, one VBAC, and one home birth!) and how it impacted her to become a doula! You won't want to miss this celebration episode! 

"When it was time to have my third baby, we were moving from overseas back to the States, and the area in which we were moving had one hospital. When I called and said, Hey, this is my experience and I'm ready for another VBAC, they said, 'Nope, plan for another cesarean. We don't care that you've had a VBAC.' And I was like, no, no, no, no. I have worked too hard, too long. I know the risks and the benefits of what I am trying to do. Like that's not happening."

[1:28] - It's HERE! The My Essential Birth Postpartum Course is HERE! Whether you're pregnant, just got baby home, or...

 Show Notes:

[1:11] Our review of the week, sls610, said: “First podcast I listened to while pregnant! I LOVE this podcast! I’ve been listening to it for about 2 months since finding out I was pregnant, and it’s been so helpful in teaching me all the different things to think about for labor and delivery. I started from the beginning and hope to listen to all the episodes before I’m due in June! Stephanie’s ethos for birth is so similar to how I’m thinking about it (holistic combined with western medicine practices) so I feel right at home with this podcast. I even signed up for the My Essential Birth course, and my husband and I are starting tonight! So excited!! Thank you for all the helpful info!”

Thank you for this review and jumping into the course! I love hearing when you guys tell me you started listening to the very beginning episodes! We’re almost 200 episodes in! You’re doing the work and having incredible birth experiences! 💜

An unmedicated birth experience doesn't jus...

Show Notes:

I want this episode to give you some things to think about when it comes to delayed cord-clamping and questions to ask your provider. We’ll talk about the pros and cons and different methods of cord-clamping, which I hope will help you make the decision of how you want to handle it for you and your baby a little easier! 💜

[1:11] Our reviewer of the week, KaitlynL2021, says: “Absolutely love this podcast. My husband and I are hoping to get pregnant in the next year, and this podcast makes me so excited. When we started talking about having kids I was nervous because I didn’t know anything. Now I feel confident and like I know what I’m getting myself into. I also feel like I have options and there isn’t one “right” way to give birth. I love that this podcast gives all of the options from crunchy to conventional, and I can’t wait to be in the birth class one day in the future!”

I am so excited! You totally get it and you’re not even pregnant yet! This is exactly what I’m...