Join Merelise and her guest, Meg, as they delve into Meg’s two vaginal birth experiences, with an extra special guest appearance from Aubrey, Meg’s 10 week old daughter!

Meg, who is a professional equestrian, did a lot of preparation for her first birth, from hiring a doula, to pelvic floor physical therapy, to yoga, in the hope of having an unmediated vaginal birth and being able to get back to riding as soon as possible postpartum. She details how she ended up getting an epidural during that birth and the struggle with connecting with her body, before ultimately giving birth to her son vaginally about 24 hours after arriving at the hospital.

Meg opens up about dealing with postpartum depression and wishing she’d addressed it sooner, and then getting pregnant with her daughter while she was still breastfeeding her son. The plot twist with her daughter’s pregnancy was that she was transverse or breech up until 38 weeks, so Meg explored different traditional and non-traditional ways to approach “breech release”. She talks about how her first birth experience left her a bit disappointed and disconnected from preparing for her second birth until the very end, when she received a few signs that it was time to tune back in with her body. Not long after, her daughter was born vaginally in a quick birth that didn’t leave time for an epidural, which felt scary at first, but ultimately became a beautiful, connected experience for Meg.

Both of Meg’s births are beautiful examples of creating a more “natural” environment in a hospital with the help of a doula as your birth advocate. If you know you want a hospital birth but see the appeal of a peaceful home birth, this episode has lots of tips for how to create that experience in a hospital!

Resource Links:

• Doulas of ATL
• Revelle Physical Therapy
• Moonlight Midwifery

Want to be a guest on Arrivals? Contact Merelise here!

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Disclaimer: This podcast contains general information and discussions around health and related subjects. This information and the other content provided in this podcast and any linked materials are not intended and should not be construed as medical advice, nor is this information a substitute for professional medical expertise or treatment.