#190 | Babies in the NICU: Three Mothers' Stories

Down to Birth

Cynthia Overgard & Trisha Ludwig

Pregnancy, Childbirth, Postpartum, Midwives, Alternative Health, Home Birth, Society & Culture, Newborn, Documentary, Hypnobirthing, Kids & Family, Health & Fitness, Breastfeeding, Pregnant, Birth, Maternity, Motherhood

4.8 • 586 Ratings

🗓️ 7 December 2022

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

No matter how beautiful, long, short or difficult your birth experience is, nothing compares to the agony of your brand new baby being whisked out of your arms and admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) or Special Care Nursery (SPC). Mothers in this position often experience less autonomy and authority over the decision-making and informed consent process than they did in their own birth experiences. Today, we share the individual stories of three women whose babies...

Transcript

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0:00.0	That's the part that I don't remember walking, and it's 15 feet maybe. I don't remember walking those 15 feet from the observation room to the NICU. They did express when they were trying to do the feedings themselves. They were like, oh, he really didn't want it. So we really had to push it. And I even had one of the nurses say, like, we get it in them one way or another. And I was
0:21.7	like, what are you doing to him? And the doctor comes up to me and goes, I just would hate to not be
0:27.4	able to sign those release papers if your baby has not gained enough weight on Monday. And I know you
0:32.5	don't like the high calorie formula, but I just, it would really hate to not sign those papers.
0:36.9	It is a very weird power dynamic to be in, um, because there were certain times where they'd be like, we won't tell anyone, we'll give you an extra like 10 minutes. And I'd be like, oh my God, thank you so much. But like, I was like, wait a minute. Why am I doing this? That's, I think, really when I snap snap back into, right, I'm a mom, and this is my baby,
0:56.0	and I want to parent my baby.
0:58.0	I might be in the NICU, but I'm still his mom.
1:02.3	I'm Cynthia Overgard, owner of Hypnoberthing of Connecticut, Childbirth Advocate, and Postpartum Support
1:07.7	Specialist.
1:09.3	And I'm Trescia Ludwig,
1:12.9	certified nurse midwife and international board certified lactation consultant.
1:15.2	And this is the Down to Birth podcast.
1:19.8	Childbirth is something we're made to do,
1:22.2	but how do we have our safest and most satisfying experience
1:25.2	in today's medical culture?
1:26.7	Let's dispel the myths and get down to birth.
1:37.9	So my name is Cammy. This is about my son, Benjamin. He was born at 34 and 4. I went into labor at 34 and 3. And we had a
1:48.9	planned home birth and that did not happen. So my water broke in the middle of the night. A sensation
1:55.8	I'll never forget, never have felt anything like it. I'm a first time mother. So I'm also very in tune with my body.
2:01.8	So when I felt it, I was like, oh, my goodness. I think that's what just happened. We drove to
2:06.8	the nearest hospital, which is about 45 minutes away. They wanted to do a cervical check.
2:11.4	I denied it. And they checked their presence of amniotic fluid, confirmed, and they wanted to med flight up to
	...

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