Ep171: Erica’s Birth Story - Living with Loss

Trigger Warning: this episode involves a full term baby dying 13 days after a home birth.

 

Today’s episode is obviously a difficult subject. I don’t talk much about home birth - if folks want to have a home birth I support that but it is not my lane. 

However I thought it was important to share this story for a number of reasons. Sometimes the potential complications of home birth are downplayed and although this is a rare thing that happened it’s important to share it.

Due to past medical trauma, Erica opted for a home birth. Her prenatal care was great. She got lots of attention and personal care that she may not have been able to get in a traditional setting. However, after the fact she began to realize that the potential dangers associated with home births had not been fully communicated. She was basically as prepared as an expectant parent could be but you just can’t know everything.

There are a LOT of lessons in here that apply to birth in general, as well as pregnancy loss in general. I know it can feel like even talking about these kinds of worst case scenarios will manifest them, but loss is not contagious. It’s important to have a dialogue around the scary parts of birth in order to be better prepared.

In this Episode, You’ll Learn About:-What made Erica decide to have a home birth

-What research she did to prepare for her birth - it was a lot!

-How she felt that the potential dangers of home birth were minimized by her home birth care team

-What went wrong during her birth and how her care providers handled it

-When and why she was transferred to the hospital

-How hospital staff made her feel worse instead of better by not being trauma informed

-What her postpartum recovery was like - don’t forget that even if she doesn’t have her baby with her she still had to go through the same postpartum

-Why she’s choosing a scheduled cesarean for her next birth

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Full website notes: drnicolerankins.com/episode171

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