#281 | Co-sleeping with a NICU Premie: Taylor's Birth Story at 33 weeks with an Unconsented Episiotomy

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

🗓️ 4 September 2024

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Taylor Westenberger celebrated her baby shower at 33 weeks pregnant with her first baby. Little did she know, two days later she would go into labor and give birth to a 4.5 pound baby boy. Her birth experience, while generally smooth, involved the absence of her husband due to Covid protocols and an unconsented episiotomy. She was encouraged to breastfeed in the NICU, but when it came to taking her baby home she was warned about the dangers of co-sleeping and told horror stories of babies who...

Transcript

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0:00.0	You know, walking through the door, especially seeing all of the stuff, like there was balloons on the front door, baby shower presence everywhere.
0:11.0	I was feeling all of this ecstasy almost in what happened for the two of us.
0:16.4	And he came out safe and all of these things, all of these like empowering feelings.
0:20.2	And yeah, it all just
0:21.2	crashed down when I just saw that I was home and he wasn't. It was not good. It was not good.
0:31.5	I'm Cynthia Overgard, owner of hypnoborthing of Connecticut, childbirth advocate, and postpartum
0:36.7	support specialist. And I'm Tresha Ludwig, certified nurse midwife and of Hypniburthing of Connecticut, Childbirth Advocate, and Postpartum Support Specialist.
0:38.4	And I'm Tresha Ludwig, certified nurse midwife and international board-certified lactation consultant.
0:44.5	And this is the Down to Birth podcast.
0:49.1	Childbirth is something we're made to do, but how do we have our safest and most satisfying experience in today's
0:55.0	medical culture? Let's dispel the myths and get down to birth.
1:07.3	Hi, I'm so happy to be here, you guys. My name's Taylor, Taylor Westenberger, and I am a mom of two now.
1:15.2	I'm going to be sharing my birth story for my first.
1:17.9	My son, who's now three and a half, he was born at 33 weeks.
1:22.2	So he spent a month in the NICU, which was a trying time for all of us. But luckily, being my first,
1:29.6	I was able to be there a lot and got through our breastfeeding journey and everything like
1:34.4	that. So that's kind of where this story will take us. So why don't you begin by just sort of
1:41.0	letting us know what happened at 33 weeks. Obviously, we're not expecting to go into labor at 33 weeks. So jump into your birth story from there.
1:48.9	Okay. Because your pregnancy was uncomplicated, correct? There was nothing really to share there.
1:53.5	Yes. Yeah. So, yeah, my first pregnancy, I think I was in this kind of naive little bubble, which is great to be there sometimes.
2:00.5	You know, I just was, I got pregnant. And I was like, okay, we're be there sometimes. You know, I just was,
2:01.4	I got pregnant and I was like, okay, we're having a baby. You know, there wasn't any, I don't know.
	...

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