In today's episode we meet Dr. Sarah, who is a chiropractor and birth educator, and she shares her three birth stories. After her first pregnancy ended in a missed miscarriage, Dr. Sarah stayed with the same OBGYN group for her next pregnancy after undergoing IUI to become pregnant. Despite a voice in her head saying to just stay home, Dr. Sarah went into the hospital and had a cesarean for no reason other than falling into a cascade of interventions and her birth not following the hospital’s timeline. Immediately knowing that she needed to do things differently next time, Dr. Sarah hired a homebirth midwife when she became pregnant with her next baby, but later decided to to have an unassisted birth (UBAC) at home instead. For her last pregnancy, Dr. Sarah hired a different set of midwives and had a 2HBAC.

Join us as Dr. Sarah shares her birth stories, how her birth experiences have inspired her to connect with other women and become an advocate against obstetric violence and abuse, how obstetric violence and abuse can still occur even if your care team is “nice,” the importance of taking responsibility for your choices, knowing why you’re making the choices that you are, not blindly following what anyone says, and that doctors are just a consultant and the woman should be the final authority regarding their care during pregnancy and birth. We also discuss the Prenatal Care Workbook that Dr. Sarah is currently working on, how statistics on topics such as uterine rupture can be skewed, the role of the husband/partner during labor and birth, and the importance of preparing for postpartum and having postpartum support.

Find Dr. Sarah on Instagram, here.

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