In today's episode we meet Brittany. After Brittany's first pregnancy ended in a missed miscarriage and she experienced poor care from the hospital, she knew that she wanted something different during her future pregnancies. Brittany chose to receive care from midwives at a birth center during her next pregnancy, but they dropped her from their care when she went past 42 weeks. Brittany was then left without a care provider and eventually had a cesarean at 43 weeks after some intense coercion and manipulation on the part of the hospital. Brittany went on to plan an HBAC with her next baby, transferred to the hospital during labor and advocated for herself to have another cesarean due to the events occurring during labor. Brittany's third birth was a planned hospital VBA2C that was full of more manipulation, coercion and truly unethical behavior on the part of the hospital, and ended in another cesarean. For her last birth, Brittany knew that she could not endure more trauma from the hospital, so she went on to plan an HBA3C and had her baby in the comfort of her living room.

Join us as Brittany shares her birth stories, how she managed her feelings of abandonment after her first birth, and the importance of advocating for yourself and being in control of the decisions surrounding your labor and birth. We also discuss navigating birth trauma, manipulation and coercion, the importance of maintaining a strong relationship with your spouse after having a baby, and how even with what seems like all of the odds stacked against you, you can birth your baby in the way that you desire.

In today's episode, Brittany mentions a website that she created called Smart Birth (www.smartbirth.org). It is dedicated to helping women understand safety and risk in childbirth and how to keep it in a proper perspective. 

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This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to replace advice from qualified medical professionals.