#323 | Two Planned Home Births at the Hospital: Emily's Birth 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

🗓️ 2 July 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Emily Woodward is a mother of two who planned a home birth for each of her babies. Her first labor began with confidence and joy—and stretched across multiple days, testing her endurance, her trust in her birth team, and her ability to surrender when the path ahead took an unexpected turn. She transferred from home to hospital with a crowning baby. Her second pregnancy was smooth and uneventful—until 31 weeks, when she awoke in the middle of the night to a pool of bright red blood, and everyt...

Transcript

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0:00.0	This was just dark. I felt like alone on a life raft in the middle of the ocean. So anyway, I get up, turn the light off. I get into my bed and I immediately start praying and immediately start talking to my baby. And I told my baby, if you need to come earlier than we expected, that's totally fine. We will, we're going to get through this together, but we are not having a cesarean with that woman.
0:23.2	Can you just hold on?
0:24.3	Can you hold on eight more hours until she is off shift and gone?
0:28.1	And if you need to be born after that, then great.
0:30.7	But not tonight.
0:31.7	I don't trust her with you.
0:35.7	I'm Cynthia Overgard, owner of hypnoborthing of Connecticut, childbirth advocate, and postpartum support specialist.
0:42.5	And I'm Trescia Ludwig, certified nurse midwife and international board certified lactation consultant.
0:48.6	And this is the down-to-birth podcast.
0:53.2	Childbirth is something we're made to do, but how do we have our safest and
0:57.3	most satisfying experience in today's medical culture? Let's dispel the myths and get down to birth.
1:16.5	Hi, my name is Emily Woodward, and I'm going to be telling my birth stories from my son's Wyatt and Reese.
1:19.0	So, firstly, my first pregnancy with my son Wyatt was totally uneventful.
1:24.0	I felt fantastic.
1:25.3	I loved being pregnant.
1:26.7	I was actually due on January 30th of
1:29.2	23, but I was totally convinced that I was going to be late because all of the women in my family
1:34.8	historically have gone quite late with their babies. My mother was 42 weeks with me. My sister was
1:39.1	41 and 2 with her son. All of my aunts, I was like, I'm going to have a Valentine's Day baby,
1:43.7	so I'm not worrying about much. So in classic Emilyts. I was like, I'm going to have a Valentine's Day baby, so I'm not
1:44.2	worrying about much. So in classic Emily fashion, I'm like, let's do my maternity photo shoot for the 28th of January because I'm still like three weeks out, right? And my wife- Wait a minute. Was that like your due date? Well, my due date was January 30th, but the 28th, you know, two days before, I'm like, Saturday, it's great.
2:01.4	Let's go hiking.
	...

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