Welcome to the R.U. Menstrual podcast where we dive deep into all things women's health to support you on your healing journey.

I'm Amanda Montalbo, functional and integrative dietitian, also known as the hormone healing RD.

If you enjoy this podcast and you want to keep learning, check out the podcast Patreon where I share a bonus episode with additional downloadable resources each week.

You can go to patreon.com forward slash hormone healing RD or check out the link in the show notes.

Okay, we have our birth story episode. I am sharing my second daughter, Amaya's birth story today. And I have her

right here. So if you're watching on YouTube, you can see the little mush strapped to my chest

where she pretty much lives. And I'm also going to answer a few questions. I tried to answer a lot of

the questions throughout that were submitted on Instagram, but I also saved some at the end. So just in case I don't fully answer them, I promise I will. And I just want to start by saying, because I had the hard time with my first birth and taking it in after and not feeling sad that I didn't

have this like pain free blissful birth experience. And so I just want to say this is my birth

experience. And I don't know, I had a beautiful home birth. It couldn't have gone better. And

sometimes I almost feel guilty for that. But I don't want to. So, and I know any mom listening would be like, you shouldn't feel guilty for that. I just have so much empathy for people that have an extremely hard birth and like traumatic birth. I have very close friends and family members that had that experience. It's actually

what pushed me towards doing a home birth. When my young, my oldest nephew was born, I was there and

it was like a lot. I feel like I had a little bit of birth trauma after that. And so I just, I've

always want those people to know that I think that our birth experience is the one

that we need. And that's actually Caitlin from Happy Home Birth Podcast. I shared Eliana, my oldest

daughter's birth story on her podcast, so after she was born. And she said to me, she's, you have the

birth you need, not like the one that

you want, typically. And I was like, I sat with that for a really long time and was like, oh my gosh,

that is like too true. Because, you know, it's your first, when it's your first baby, you have such a

big transition, like you're going from maiden to mother. Your whole life is

completely changing and you change yourself. So for me, Eliana's birth was extremely painful.

And I was like sad after. I imagine this beautiful home birth experience. And I think about it now

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