Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ep 3 -Felicia's Home Birth Story of Giuseppe
191 Plays6 months ago
Felicia's Home Birth Story of Giuseppe - Midwives, Yard Sales & Banging on Hospital Doors In this raw and vivid episode, Felicia shares the full story of her pregnancy, birth plan, and the wildly memorable home birth of her son, Giuseppe. From finding her dream midwife to assembling a cord burning kit during early labor, and even a community yard sale the very same day - this episode is anything but ordinary. Felicia walks us through the intensity, the beauty, and the chaos of giving birth at home… and how she ended up pounding on the locked hospital doors in the middle of the night, demanding to be let in. It’s heartfelt, hilarious, and a little bit feral - in the best way.
Recommended
Transcript
Intro
Introduction to Baby Sep's Birth Story
00:00:49
Natalie Richards
Hello, we're back episode three, which is so exciting um because we actually get to talk about the birth story of, fli of ah well, the birth story of baby Sep.
00:00:51
Felicia Devine
Hello.
00:00:57
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:01:05
Felicia Devine
not Not how I was born. Yeah.
00:01:06
Natalie Richards
Not how you were born. But we've been getting some feedback that everybody's very excited to hear about your birth story because it's like, my gosh, why was she on opioids?
00:01:10
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:01:15
Felicia Devine
yeah
00:01:18
Natalie Richards
Why did she have to have surgery? There's so many cliffhangers that we left.
00:01:20
Felicia Devine
Yes.
00:01:22
Natalie Richards
So I'm excited to get into this.
00:01:23
Felicia Devine
I know. Yeah.
00:01:25
Natalie Richards
um So we're going to just do like a little background of pregnancy and your birth and maybe a little bit of how everything's gone.
Pregnancy Discovery and Lifestyle Changes
00:01:36
Natalie Richards
since then.
00:01:37
Felicia Devine
yeah
00:01:37
Natalie Richards
And why don't you start with how you found out you're pregnant?
00:01:42
Felicia Devine
Perfect. Okay. d Dan and I had been trying to get pregnant seriously for two months. And the first month we tried to get pregnant, I was still vegetarian.
00:01:50
Natalie Richards
Yes.
00:01:55
Felicia Devine
We were both vegetarian. And i got my period.
00:01:59
Natalie Richards
I was secretly trying to get you to start eating meat for a very long time.
00:02:01
Felicia Devine
Yes. Yes. Natalie had been sending me videos. Um, and one of the videos particularly really like skewed how I thought. And it was a video about the difference between like a vegetarian mother, her placenta and a meat eating animal based mother and her placenta and like the differences in size, which is actually hysterical, but we'll get to that.
00:02:27
Felicia Devine
Difference in size, differences in color. Um, mascularity like, different things that I was just intrigued by that i was like, okay. So the first month we tried to get pregnant and i was still vegetarian and we did not fall pregnant.
00:02:43
Felicia Devine
And I was like, you know what? The day I got my period, I drove myself to the grocery store. And like and very haphazardly just like bought a good meat stick.
00:02:55
Felicia Devine
And I sat down in my car. It was almost like a cathartic thing. I was just like, I'm going to go the bandaid off. So I'm sitting in my car and I send a picture to Natalie of this like meat stick. And I said, I'm eating meat. And she goes, what happened?
00:03:09
Felicia Devine
go,
00:03:09
Natalie Richards
I know I was like, oh, please don't like, I hope, I hope there wasn't like a problem or something like that.
00:03:14
Felicia Devine
I go, ah go, I didn't get pregnant. And I think it's because I don't eat meat. And like, there could have been different reasons, but like in my head, I said, I didn't get pregnant because I don't eat meat. So she was like, okay, so proud of you. Enjoy your meat stick.
00:03:28
Natalie Richards
yeah I'm like, thank God I don't actually have to.
00:03:32
Felicia Devine
No more videos were sent.
00:03:32
Natalie Richards
have to say, Felicia, you need to eat meat.
00:03:34
Felicia Devine
Yes. Yes. So, and like, was open to it. I just like hadn't pulled the trigger.
00:03:41
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:03:41
Felicia Devine
And like that summer i was doing, I did this like huge liver and colon cleanse and it was like mind blowing.
00:03:49
Natalie Richards
Oh, my God. I forgot about that.
00:03:52
Felicia Devine
That was mind blowing. And the whole cleanse, I had just like visualizations and cravings of like all animal products.
00:03:54
Natalie Richards
oh
00:04:01
Felicia Devine
I mean, I could have eaten an egg 10 different ways during that cleanse. I was just like, give it to me. So like, I think my body was ready for animal products. So that first month didn't get pregnant.
00:04:13
Felicia Devine
Second four weeks go by and I'm eating meat and I'm tracking everything. Like I'm doing all the things. And I had i had been prepping for pregnancy for like three years. Like I'd been balancing hormones. I'd been like doing all the things.
Revealing Pregnancy and Choosing a Midwife
00:04:26
Felicia Devine
um I was in therapy, like talk therapy, doing all the things. Okay.
00:04:32
Felicia Devine
Second month comes. It falls on a Wednesday that I go to take this test. So it was the day i was to miss my period. And I woke up and I was like, OK, I'm going to pee in a cup.
00:04:44
Felicia Devine
I'm going to take the test. I'm going to get in the shower. And it was, i don't know, a couple of... Like i showered. I just like took a normal shower. So I come out and I look at this pregnancy test, which is like a pack of 100 from Amazon.
00:04:56
Felicia Devine
So they look like COVID tests. They look like like you would test your chlorine in your pool with it.
00:05:00
Natalie Richards
Just a little a tiny little.
00:05:01
Felicia Devine
Like it's not... It was no clear blue digital read, okay? It was like the the most faint, faint line. And I go, who are you?
00:05:16
Felicia Devine
Are you a line? And I'm looking at it and I'm like, okay, I'm not convinced this is real. So I took another one. I took a different brand. I don't even know what that brand was. I think more legit. I took another brand and I'm like looking at it and I go, that's pregnant.
00:05:32
Felicia Devine
That is sure it. So Dan's about to leave for work in like 10 minutes. And I'm like, I got to tell him. And the reason I felt the ah forced to tell him before he left for work, because again, in my head, I'm like, this is going to be like cutesy.
00:05:40
Natalie Richards
course. Oh my God. Yeah.
00:05:48
Felicia Devine
I'm going to like go get a onesie. I'm going to, I thought it was going to be some like Hollywood presentation, but he was leaving for work in 10 minutes. And I was leaving for the airport to go visit Natalie for five days.
00:05:59
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:06:00
Natalie Richards
Of course.
00:06:02
Felicia Devine
So it's so fitting that in my head I go, i have 10 minutes to tell him I'm pregnant or i have to keep my mouth shut for five days.
00:06:02
Natalie Richards
So fitting.
00:06:09
Felicia Devine
And I couldn't do that.
00:06:09
Natalie Richards
Oh,
00:06:10
Felicia Devine
I just couldn't. So I walk out and i have my – my mouth is on the floor and I'm just like speechless. I'm just standing there and Dan's looking at me. He's like, what's – are you okay? And I was like, I think we're pregnant.
00:06:23
Felicia Devine
And he goes, you think? And I go, Yeah, I think we're pregnant. He goes, why do you think we're pregnant? Like, I was 0% confident. I was like, I just think we're pregnant. And he goes, okay, why why do we think we're pregnant?
00:06:38
Felicia Devine
And i just start crying. And he's like, why
Early Pregnancy Challenges and 20-week Anatomy Scan
00:06:42
Felicia Devine
why are you crying? Like he was concerned I was upset. And I was like, no, no, no, I'm happy. I'm just overwhelmed because I didn't expect it to be this.
00:06:50
Felicia Devine
and we were very happy. hugged. We're like, okay, see you in five days. So i like, but it's really funny because the person I think I needed to connect with the most was Natalie.
00:06:58
Natalie Richards
Which is so ridiculous.
00:07:05
Felicia Devine
It was like meant to be.
00:07:06
Natalie Richards
I think so too.
00:07:07
Felicia Devine
It was.
00:07:07
Natalie Richards
It was so fitting.
00:07:08
Felicia Devine
So Natalie had Jean about a year and a half before me.
00:07:09
Natalie Richards
It was so fitting.
00:07:13
Felicia Devine
No, a year. Cause Jean had just turned one. A year before i got pregnant.
00:07:17
Natalie Richards
It was basically a year. Yeah.
00:07:18
Felicia Devine
And so Natalie was like fresh off the home birth, fresh off the midwife train, fresh off pregnancy, early postpartum. you
00:07:26
Natalie Richards
Are you sure you want to do this, Felicia?
00:07:26
Felicia Devine
And Natalie was like, turn back.
00:07:30
Felicia Devine
It was too late.
00:07:31
Natalie Richards
It's not too late.
00:07:31
Felicia Devine
And I was so pleased.
00:07:32
Natalie Richards
It was too late.
00:07:33
Felicia Devine
So for five days, we we were at a chiropractic seminar. But um in between, we were just like having such good conversation about pregnancy and midwives and like how to find my midwife. And at that point when I fell pregnant, I didn't have a midwife yet.
00:07:49
Felicia Devine
And I had been looking and i nothing was really like lining up for me um and like checking all of my boxes. And there's ah like a birth clinic here, but it just wasn't hitting everything I wanted to.
00:08:03
Felicia Devine
And so when –
00:08:05
Natalie Richards
You were really conflicted about that at the time because you felt that that was really what you needed to do
00:08:08
Felicia Devine
yes. Yeah. I thought that was my only option.
00:08:11
Natalie Richards
and And, really,
00:08:12
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:08:14
Natalie Richards
yeah And really when it came down to it you're like, this is not right.
00:08:17
Felicia Devine
No. No. And I like knew it wasn't my favorite option. I had done some some before getting pregnant testing and stuff, and I just was like, I just like didn't love it.
00:08:27
Felicia Devine
And so I was like, I need to find somebody that I just absolutely love. And they're great for what they do. they have i have so many patients that work with a birth center, and it just like didn't hit all my boxes. So in In finding out i was pregnant and in searching for a midwife, I found Allie.
00:08:44
Felicia Devine
And Allie, i believe, had opened her practice like pretty recent to when i fell pregnant. And so um she had just recently popped up on my searches. I hadn't found her prior.
00:08:56
Felicia Devine
And i looked at her website. i read her bio. i I sent it to Natalie for auditing. Yeah.
00:09:03
Natalie Richards
Yeah. I was like this, this one, this is the one.
00:09:04
Felicia Devine
This is her. This is the her. And I knew that Allie was going to be write up my right up my alley.
00:09:07
Natalie Richards
This is it. Yeah.
00:09:12
Felicia Devine
That actually worked out. um And so Allie owned her business called Blue Mountain Birth.
00:09:14
Natalie Richards
Yeah. ah That's funny.
00:09:18
Felicia Devine
um She is now merged with another midwife, and it's Malachite Midwifery. But at the time, she was still independent. And so I had a phone call with her, and we just aligned on so many things. And I was like, OK.
00:09:30
Felicia Devine
When is our first appointment? So I talked to her, I think about five weeks. And she was like, I'll see you at 11 weeks. And I was like, great. Sounds good. Go to our 11-week appointment. And I am sick as a dog.
00:09:43
Felicia Devine
couldn't have been more sick. I couldn't have been more depressed, more anxious. was all the things first trimester that you don't want to be. I was just a walking zombie.
00:09:54
Felicia Devine
I struggled like heavily.
00:09:55
Natalie Richards
oh
00:09:55
Felicia Devine
And so and we get to our first appointment. It's at 11 weeks. Dan comes with me and no heartbeat. And it was very sad to not get that heartbeat right away because i think when you get to your first appointment, you just like want confirmation.
00:10:11
Felicia Devine
And I think that's just like external validation, but it doesn't.
00:10:13
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:10:16
Natalie Richards
And you didn't do any ultrasounds.
00:10:16
Felicia Devine
No.
00:10:19
Natalie Richards
So you didn't really have any like, oh, you're pregnant for sure.
00:10:20
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah. Like,
00:10:22
Natalie Richards
Like you get the test, but like,
00:10:22
Felicia Devine
I knew I was pregnant simply by how terrible I felt. There was no denying that.
00:10:28
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:10:28
Felicia Devine
I felt horrible. And we didn't get that heartbeat. And we were both just like, huh. And Allie was like, it's totally expected to not get your first heartbeat until about 12 weeks on Doppler.
00:10:38
Felicia Devine
And now if you do ultrasound, like you're going to see like the flickers and all that stuff way earlier. But I just like was confident that I was pregnant, that baby was OK. Like we had this like internal knowing everything was fine.
00:10:50
Felicia Devine
I just felt so terrible, like physically. And so she was like, stick with it. Let's do first trimester labs.
00:10:56
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:10:57
Felicia Devine
Let's do all this stuff. Like we did all the testing that, you know, we felt comfortable doing. And like you said, like no ultrasounds. And we went about our pregnancy. And until about – and people – the funny thing is people are like, just wait.
00:11:11
Felicia Devine
Just wait until you're 12 weeks. And I was like, okay, I'll wait. Get to 12 weeks, still sick as a dog. Wait till 14. Okay. I'll wait till 14. I'll be patient. I'll sit on my hands. Nope. Sick as a
Pelvic Floor Issues and Birth Preparation
00:11:23
Felicia Devine
dog.
00:11:24
Felicia Devine
Okay. I gave up hope that I would ever feel good.
00:11:29
Natalie Richards
There, it was fully possible that you never would have felt it.
00:11:30
Felicia Devine
um no, cause I, yeah. And i would like take my pills and immediately throw them up, like immediately throw up all my pills.
00:11:33
Natalie Richards
Some people don't.
00:11:38
Natalie Richards
Oh,
00:11:39
Felicia Devine
It was, it was not good.
00:11:43
Natalie Richards
Meanwhile, you have just started being able to take liver pills again because you were so
00:11:45
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Literally this like past two weeks, I started taking my liver again. I'm 14 months postpartum. I have not swallowed a pill in 14 – no, more than 14 months.
00:11:56
Felicia Devine
So very traumatized by these pills. um And we were doing everything we could to like kind of get around swallowing pills. And there's so many options out there and we can like kind of get into that later.
00:12:06
Felicia Devine
But um it was it was not until 18 weeks that I like saw the light.
00:12:09
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:12:12
Felicia Devine
And I was like, wow, I actually feel really good. And I got that like second trimester boost of energy. i felt good. I was, I mean, I was sleeping well, all these things. So physically and mentally, I really turned the corner around 18 weeks.
00:12:26
Felicia Devine
And we decided that we were going to get a 20 week break. anatomy scan. That was the only ultrasound we were going to get. And we just wanted to get it to kind of check in on baby and make sure like all the parts were there.
00:12:40
Felicia Devine
um there's so many things you can pick up on ultrasound at an anatomy scan that, um, we felt would be important to us and like continuing with home birth.
00:12:51
Felicia Devine
So it was our check and checks and balance. Um, we checked where placenta was.
00:12:53
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:12:55
Felicia Devine
We basically just wanted to do like a full rundown and do one good scan. Um, we weren't Yeah.
00:13:01
Natalie Richards
I made that same decision.
00:13:02
Felicia Devine
Yeah, I was really happy.
00:13:03
Natalie Richards
Are you happy with that decision?
00:13:04
Felicia Devine
yeah I was...
00:13:05
Natalie Richards
have any more. Yeah. I feel the same way.
00:13:07
Felicia Devine
Yeah, and I think...
00:13:07
Natalie Richards
I wouldn't i wouldn't change it.
00:13:08
Felicia Devine
in another pregnancy, i would do the same thing. um If like everything, blood work was checking out, like all that stuff.
00:13:12
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Same.
00:13:14
Felicia Devine
And there was no other reason that I should get a scan. Like I wasn't against imaging. i just didn't have any reason that I needed it. um And so that anatomy scan was really fun because it was our first glimpse at baby.
00:13:24
Natalie Richards
ye I thought it was all.
00:13:29
Felicia Devine
um and I will say we did not find out the gender. um We did not want to know the gender prior to having him, and now Giuseppe. And I thought that was really fun. I thought it was exciting and thrilling and just something to kind of like be on the edge of our seat for. And it didn't really change kind of how I was approaching like postpartum. I mean, I was pretty neutral anyway. So it wasn't like I was really...
00:13:59
Felicia Devine
theming anything against a boy or girl. So that was really fun. Um, so at the anatomy scan, we didn't see gender, um, and everything checked out perfectly.
00:14:03
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:14:08
Felicia Devine
I believe he was in the 50th percentile for everything. Um, so he was pretty much like middle the perfect baby.
00:14:14
Natalie Richards
That's Gina's
00:14:15
Felicia Devine
Um, and at that point at our anatomy scan, like I felt great. So I was just like, okay, smooth sailing till the end. And Around, i think was like around 30 weeks, I...
00:14:29
Felicia Devine
i
00:14:32
Felicia Devine
in desperation shot Natalie some phone calls and some photographs. Um, because something was wrong with my pelvic floor and I couldn't figure out what it was. And I was just a little bit like panicked.
00:14:44
Felicia Devine
Um, it just like was so tight. Like my pelvic floor was just like literally a rock and we decided collectively
00:14:52
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:14:55
Natalie Richards
that we
00:14:58
Felicia Devine
Natalie, birth advisor.
00:14:58
Natalie Richards
Natalie, your birth team.
00:14:59
Felicia Devine
um No, but like Natalie and like my midwife and Dan and um a few patients of mine that already were seeking pelvic floor therapy, we kind of all consulted we were like, okay, you need to see a very thorough pelvic floor therapist.
00:15:18
Natalie Richards
Yeah, it was not anything that really was a typical pelvic floor
00:15:21
Felicia Devine
Yeah. No, it was like...
00:15:24
Natalie Richards
finding like it was somebody who knew what they were doing needed to evaluate you.
00:15:25
Felicia Devine
Yeah, because my midwife even was like, I don't really know what's going on. um And
00:15:31
Natalie Richards
Yeah, that's that's what I said you and I don't have many things that make me say that I usually have an opinion on most everything.
00:15:32
Felicia Devine
Yeah, yeah so
00:15:38
Felicia Devine
Natalie is my go-to resource. She's an encyclopedia. So if Natalie doesn't know the answer, I'm screwed. And that's pretty much where I fell into, I found a really reputable pelvic floor therapist. um If you're local, it's Pelvic Foundations. And the owner, Dr. Jen, is just a saint because she was like on the phone with me a day later with a consult and was like talking me through things and was like, I think we need to get our hands on you and start working while you're still pregnant.
00:16:08
Felicia Devine
so that we can prep you for your labor. And I was like, sounds good. Yeah.
00:16:12
Natalie Richards
That was a for sure.
00:16:12
Felicia Devine
And like, she is booked and busy. Like this girl is on a wait list for months. And it was kind of like, I just felt like I was really seen and really taken care of.
00:16:24
Felicia Devine
um We had some mutual patients that we cared for. And so it was like a little connection for us. And she really like listened to me and was like, actually, you like you really need, ah like you need intervention now so that you can have the birth you want.
00:16:37
Felicia Devine
So in hindsight, like, or in conclusion, what I'm saying is like my pelvic floor was like extremely tight and I was a runner for the majority of my older adolescence and adulthood. And basically all that running had just created like an extra tight pelvic floor. And she, she saw the future writing on the wall.
00:16:58
Felicia Devine
She was like, if you don't start therapies and like start doing the things to prep yourself, like your pelvis is going to rip in half. I quote you, your pelvis is going to rip in half.
00:17:09
Felicia Devine
Thanks.
00:17:09
Natalie Richards
Isn't that nice to hear?
00:17:09
Felicia Devine
Thanks, Jen. Um, no, it was, it was what I needed to hear because then I started at 30 weeks doing the pelvic floor therapy, hands-on manual therapy for, I, I started seeing her weekly and i think that really did help my birth.
00:17:11
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:17:24
Felicia Devine
Um, but I still probably had a lot more to do before that. Um, so fast forward, um, a couple more weeks, like I had been on multiple ski trips.
00:17:30
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:17:35
Felicia Devine
I was skiing pregnant. I did three ski trips pregnant. Um, I was golfing very consistently. I golfed 18 holes the week before he was born. Like I was living the life.
00:17:45
Felicia Devine
Like I was not on bed rest. This whole pelvic floor thing was not hindering me. Yeah. I felt great.
00:17:51
Natalie Richards
Yeah, you felt good.
00:17:51
Felicia Devine
Um, but I was putting in the work. Like I was getting lymphatic drainage massages. I was under chiropractic care with Dr. Taylor and Dr. Super. um I was again, getting like, I call it noodle therapy, but like talk therapy. Yeah.
00:18:08
Felicia Devine
for your brain because I was under pelvic floor therapy.
00:18:09
Natalie Richards
Noodle therapy.
00:18:10
Felicia Devine
I was in noodle therapy. I was massage therapy. Like I did a lot of things during my pregnancy to help me prepare.
00:18:13
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:18:18
Felicia Devine
Um, and I also was taking like birth education courses. So like I took this very seriously and I was very well educated, well informed, well read on choosing home birth.
00:18:29
Felicia Devine
Like I, I don't want people to think that we just like fly into this because we want to like escape the system. but yeah, we want to raise feral children that are kind of like and not following the rules, but we're also like very educated.
00:18:44
Felicia Devine
Um, and so like, I don't want people to think that we're just like fleeing.
00:18:47
Natalie Richards
Very.
00:18:51
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:18:52
Natalie Richards
Making willy-nilly, yeah.
00:18:53
Felicia Devine
No, no, it's not, it's not because something's trendy.
00:18:54
Natalie Richards
We're not making willy-nilly decisions. We're not like ah this rogue person who like, oh, I feel like Oh, the earth is gonna just, yeah, yeah.
00:19:01
Felicia Devine
Yeah, we're we're like very informed. And so i wanted to take these like things to prepare myself.
Unexpected Labor at 37 Weeks
00:19:08
Felicia Devine
Like Natalie um got me hooked on the Thompson Method breastfeeding course.
00:19:14
Felicia Devine
um Doctor, did you see Dr.
00:19:16
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
00:19:16
Felicia Devine
Thompson passed away? Oh my God.
00:19:19
Natalie Richards
Yes, I was crushed.
00:19:20
Felicia Devine
I hadn't, like, I didn't know she was sick.
00:19:24
Natalie Richards
Crushed. and know I know.
00:19:25
Felicia Devine
I don't either. Yeah.
00:19:26
Natalie Richards
don't really even know what it was, but this woman,
00:19:28
Felicia Devine
She's a midwife.
00:19:29
Natalie Richards
this woman from
00:19:31
Felicia Devine
And she, she was a,
00:19:34
Natalie Richards
nipple trauma, nipple trauma. That's all I could only because Kirsten did that course too.
00:19:38
Felicia Devine
but she did the course too. So my sister.
00:19:41
Natalie Richards
And kevin Kevin took it with her and all Kevin could say.
00:19:42
Felicia Devine
yeah so
00:19:45
Natalie Richards
I just hear Kevin's voice in my head, niler nipple trauma, nipple trauma.
00:19:46
Felicia Devine
ah Did you watch the visualizations of how she would have?
00:19:48
Natalie Richards
Yes.
00:19:50
Felicia Devine
So she would use her thumb as the presentation of a nipple on a baby trying to latch.
00:19:50
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:19:55
Felicia Devine
And it was the funny. Dan couldn't get past it. Also, Dan fell asleep every single, every single time we sat down to watch the videos because she had the most beautiful accent. So soothing. So old.
00:20:09
Natalie Richards
Oh, boy.
00:20:10
Felicia Devine
yeah
00:20:10
Natalie Richards
Seriously, if anybody is wanting to successfully breastfeed, there no other there is no other thing that i would point you to, at least first.
00:20:12
Felicia Devine
The Thompson method.
00:20:17
Felicia Devine
a Yeah. There's extra.
00:20:20
Natalie Richards
Like there's always the lactation consultants after, but oh my goodness, to give you the confidence to know what the heck you're doing.
00:20:21
Felicia Devine
yeah
00:20:26
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah. And it's very science-based. It's all about like supply and demand.
00:20:31
Natalie Richards
yeah it's just natural.
00:20:32
Felicia Devine
And so if you can understand the physiology and the anatomy behind breastfeeding, i will be the first to say you can get through anything.
00:20:34
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:20:43
Felicia Devine
Like i like i had that foundation of education from this course so that in my postpartum, I could really get through it. But okay, so I was doing the courses. Dan and I also took hypnobirthing.
00:20:57
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:20:58
Natalie Richards
Yeah, that's a good one too. That's a really good birth prep.
00:20:59
Felicia Devine
Yes. Yes. And so hypnobirthing, if you're not familiar with hypnobirthing, is around the premise that all physiologic normal processes should not be painful.
00:21:13
Felicia Devine
Okay. So anything that's normal and physiologically in order should not create pain in the body.
00:21:15
Natalie Richards
Yes.
00:21:22
Felicia Devine
Like your brain should not recognize those processes as painful. Okay. Yes. Yeah.
00:21:28
Natalie Richards
As overwhelming pain.
00:21:29
Felicia Devine
Like discomfort.
00:21:29
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:21:30
Felicia Devine
Absolutely. Like that's a normal signal to the brain that says like something's happening, but like it should be recognized as like normal.
00:21:32
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:21:39
Felicia Devine
So it's a lot of meditation.
00:21:41
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:21:42
Felicia Devine
It's a lot of breath work. It's a lot of like opening practices, um, positions. So like birthing positions to be in during contractions. And they don't even use the word contraction.
00:21:52
Felicia Devine
They use the word, um, surge. Um, Mm-hmm. And wave. Yep.
00:21:57
Natalie Richards
Surge in wave and wave.
00:21:57
Felicia Devine
And you have different styles of breathing for different parts of what labor you're in.
00:21:58
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:22:02
Felicia Devine
um And so we took that course together. and ah like Dan was in it with me hand in hand for everything. He was at every midwife appointment, which is an hour away.
00:22:13
Felicia Devine
He was in every hypnobirthing class. He took all the breastfeeding courses with me. um We did everything together together because I was like, homie, you're in it.
00:22:24
Felicia Devine
And he was like, I'm in it. So like we did everything together.
00:22:27
Natalie Richards
Yep. Oh.
00:22:27
Felicia Devine
And that might that made him very informed about like what was expected and what was normal and then like what to look for if something was abnormal. um And he was pretty much my birth coach when we were birthing because he had seen like all the hypnobirthing stuff.
00:22:36
Natalie Richards
yep
00:22:42
Felicia Devine
He had read me all of the meditative practices. Like we would lay in bed every night and he would read me the rainbow birth story. And He would read me like the color blue and I would do my breath work while he was reading the stories.
00:22:51
Natalie Richards
oh
00:22:54
Felicia Devine
And like we had this whole thing going because if you practice that way, i mean, you practice how you play.
00:22:58
Natalie Richards
ah
00:23:01
Felicia Devine
Like it's gonna it's going to show. So we did all these things.
00:23:03
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:23:06
Felicia Devine
We had all the practice. Yeah. And I had a vision, okay?
00:23:10
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
00:23:11
Felicia Devine
I was going to work until I was 38 weeks. I was going to take my 39th week off and have a staycation. and I was going to enjoy my time. i was going to like nest and just rest, okay?
00:23:26
Felicia Devine
Yeah, I didn't make it that far, all right?
00:23:26
Natalie Richards
okay
00:23:29
Felicia Devine
Baby Giuseppe decided he was going to make a slamming grand entrance at 37.1.
00:23:33
Natalie Richards
I had those
00:23:37
Felicia Devine
Okay. And yeah.
00:23:40
Natalie Richards
Praise be that it was Oh.
00:23:40
Felicia Devine
Yeah, because in my head, my midwife had had told me 36-6 was when you had to get to to like have a safe home birth that like we as a team decided would be feasible.
00:23:53
Felicia Devine
So I was like, in my head, the whole pregnancy, I kid you not, the entire pregnancy, I was like 36-6, 36-6. And I just like repeated that. And I don't know if I manifested him coming early or if I was just like, sir, sit in there until you're at least 37 weeks cooked.
00:24:08
Felicia Devine
Yeah. And at 36, four ish, I think that week we set up the birth tub as like ah joke. We were just like, oh, we're going to blow it up. See how long it takes to blow up. We're going to see how it fits in his nursery. We're going to move stuff around.
00:24:23
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah. So like why we blew it up three weeks early, I don't know, but we did.
00:24:24
Natalie Richards
One less thing to do later.
00:24:28
Felicia Devine
And sure enough, um, 37 or 36, six, ah it was a Friday. So Dan and I both have have off Fridays and I made us this big lunch. He was doing yard work. We ate outside together. i was folding clothes for the nursery, whatever.
00:24:45
Felicia Devine
We were kind of like doing our last little prep. And I at like mid afternoon start getting like really nauseous. And I'm like, don't like that.
00:24:56
Felicia Devine
don't like that feeling at all. That's sick. Four o'clock hits, four o'clock PM.
00:25:00
Natalie Richards
Oh,
00:25:02
Felicia Devine
And I start getting the most violently ill I've ever gotten. And let me tell you, it was... I was sick.
00:25:10
Natalie Richards
I remember you texted me and I was like, Oh, Oh,
00:25:13
Felicia Devine
It was as if I was like being punished. Truly. I felt, what have I done? Why, why me? It was so miserable. And I thought like, oh, food poisoning.
00:25:23
Felicia Devine
No, Dan, Dan was fine. Okay. And let's just say Dan beats all odds. Okay. The kids never had COVID. He never gets, I've seen him very sick once and it was strep through throat and like, that was crazy. But in 10 years, like he is so resilient.
00:25:39
Felicia Devine
So in my head, I'm like, it could, it could still be food poisoning because Dan doesn't get anything now. So I'm getting sick and sick and sick.
00:25:47
Natalie Richards
I get it. Yeah.
00:25:49
Felicia Devine
And I'm like, well, dan we had plans to go to my parents' Airbnb because they were in town for Giuseppe's birth, but they were like really early because they came from my shower. Yeah. And side note, Natalie drove across the country for my shower with Kyle and their police dog Gator, which was like, it was it was so fun.
00:26:04
Natalie Richards
It was a joy.
00:26:10
Felicia Devine
But that was two weeks before I gave birth, which is crazy.
00:26:10
Natalie Richards
was a joy It was a joy.
00:26:14
Natalie Richards
Yeah, it was so fun being there.
00:26:14
Felicia Devine
Yeah. So, um, so I'm getting super sick and Dan was supposed to go have family dinner, his parents, my parents, and then my brother and his wife who was also pregnant at the time.
00:26:26
Felicia Devine
And I was on 37 weeks.
00:26:26
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:26:28
Felicia Devine
Like I was literally like about to be 37 weeks. No one assumed I was getting, um, like close to labor. Like I hadn't had any signs physically that I was like getting close.
00:26:40
Felicia Devine
Like I wasn't slowing down.
00:26:41
Natalie Richards
Right.
00:26:42
Felicia Devine
And I'm like, Dan, you go to dinner. i just have food poisoning. So Dan leaves and I'm alone now and i continually get sick. And I text him five minutes after he left. He wasn't even at my parents' house yet.
00:26:56
Felicia Devine
And I go, come home now. And he's like, okay. I'm like, I just can't be alone. Like I'm so ill. Like I was like unwell. So it was bad. So I keep getting sick.
00:27:05
Natalie Richards
It was bad.
00:27:06
Felicia Devine
I can't even keep water down. And so I got started getting sick at 4 PM. I go to bed that night. And Dan sleeps on the couch because I'm so violent. Like, like, I don't even know how to describe the type of throwing up someone can do. It just was horrible.
00:27:22
Felicia Devine
So at 3 o'clock, um after multiple times waking up in the night to throw up, at 3 o'clock, I wake up, and I am just defeated. I'm feeling so ill.
00:27:33
Felicia Devine
I'm feeling so depleted. I'm so dehydrated. I'm just kind of like at that point where you just feel like, is this ever going to get better?
Labor Challenges and Family Support
00:27:41
Felicia Devine
So I go downstairs.
00:27:43
Natalie Richards
man
00:27:43
Felicia Devine
to I go to the bathroom. I just like go pee. And I go down to wake Dan up on the couch. And I sit down on the ottoman. And I pee myself. I go, that's crazy.
00:27:54
Felicia Devine
That's so crazy.
00:27:57
Felicia Devine
i go, whoa, I don't know what just happened there.
00:27:58
Natalie Richards
My body's breaking.
00:28:01
Felicia Devine
And he's like, what happened? And I'm like, I think my water just broke. And he's like, really? and I'm like, yeah, because I just peed, Dan. Like, I, like, what? i'm I'm not sure, but I think my water broke. He's like, okay, what do we do? And I was like, well, it's 3 37-1 because it's 4 a.m. I'm 37-1.
00:28:20
Felicia Devine
because it's four am m so i'm thirty seven one And I'm like, let's call Allie.
00:28:24
Natalie Richards
That's right.
00:28:25
Felicia Devine
And I was so hesitant. I didn't want to disrupt Allie my whole pregnancy. I would have issues and I'd be like, okay, I'll just wait till the morning. Like I don't want to text her at 11 PM. um But I was like, I'm pretty sure it's my water. So I call Allie. I say, Hey, I think my water just broke. I'm violently ill. Like is, I don't know if it's like a side effect or like if I just peed myself, she's like, well, in your birth kit that I had purchased in advance and had prepped,
00:28:50
Felicia Devine
She's like, there's two swabs and they will swab for like, i have two separate ones. So if I use it, yeah. If I swab it, like it's fine to waste one if it's not it.
00:28:56
Natalie Richards
Amniotic fluid. Yeah.
00:29:00
Felicia Devine
Okay. So I swab it. If it turns a color, it's supposed to turn blue, green or blue and it's amniotic fluid. So I'm like, okay. So I swab. Sure enough, amniotic fluid. This girl, this girl broke her water.
00:29:12
Natalie Richards
the
00:29:14
Felicia Devine
And Allie's like, yeah, violent puking.
00:29:16
Natalie Richards
The violent puking.
00:29:17
Felicia Devine
And like to this day, I don't know if my violent puking triggered labor or if the violent puking was the onset of labor. And like, I'm, I'm confident that Sepp was ready to come because all of his, like, he was ready.
00:29:26
Natalie Richards
was right.
00:29:32
Felicia Devine
Like he was developed. Um, so I don't think he was like premature by any chance, but so at least like, are you having contractions? And I said, no, I wasn't.
00:29:44
Felicia Devine
So she's like, go to bed. And I said, girl, I haven't slept in all night. I haven't slept one minute. Okay. But she's like, lay down. And I said, okay, I'll, I'll listen. I'll lay down. So I lay back in bed. It's 3am and I'm like, okay, I'll wake up.
00:29:59
Felicia Devine
And hopefully labor will be started, whatever. So i I actually kind of dozed off. And I woke up at 3. Well, I went to bed at 3. I woke up at like 5, 530.
00:30:05
Natalie Richards
amazing
00:30:06
Felicia Devine
five five thirty And I wake Dan up. And I'm like, OK, I'm getting contractions. And he's like, great. Let's get some food you.
00:30:13
Natalie Richards
wow
00:30:17
Felicia Devine
don't be that guy Don't try and feed me. No. He tried to feed me fruit salad. I ate one blueberry, threw it right back up.
00:30:25
Natalie Richards
um
00:30:26
Felicia Devine
Yeah, I ate one blueberry.
00:30:27
Natalie Richards
Oh, no.
00:30:27
Felicia Devine
And I said, not today, sir. So we were like, okay, what do we do? I'm getting contractions and I'm the most depleted I've ever been in my whole life. So Dan's dad, it lives like his parents live locally and his dad has access to IVs.
00:30:43
Felicia Devine
And we're like, Yeah. We're like, hey, let's call his dad because now it's Saturday.
00:30:45
Natalie Richards
Oh, thank God.
00:30:48
Felicia Devine
His dad's not going to work today. Let's call his dad and let's ask his advice because he's like a medical provider. he's He's intelligent. And we're like, you will know what to do, sir. So we call we call Fred and we're like, hey, Felicia's been throwing up. We think her water just broke.
00:31:05
Felicia Devine
Or no, we know her water broke. She's starting to have contractions. What do you think? And he's like, well, let me bring you some ginger ale, some Gatorade. And let's see if we can get fluid in her orally before we like jump to an IB because we would have to go into his office and I was already having contractions. So we're like, let's start least invasive and then move from there.
00:31:23
Felicia Devine
So he came over and I started to keep down fluids. I couldn't eat food, but I could keep down fluids. And so we're like, okay, that's a start. So we call my midwife back. We call my doula and we kind of like just give everybody like the lay of the land. Like, Hey, I'm sick as a dog, but we're like rallying and I'm like keeping fluid down. And they're like, okay, like we will just play this out as far as you can go.
00:31:47
Felicia Devine
And Allie's biggest thing was like a mom will typically tap out if she becomes extremely exhausted or extremely dehydrated. Now, I was starting off my labor extremely exhausted and extremely dehydrated.
00:32:01
Natalie Richards
Both.
00:32:03
Felicia Devine
And I love nothing more than the odds against me. OK? I want to prove everybody and anybody wrong.
00:32:09
Natalie Richards
I will tell you, I was actually so concerned about you.
00:32:12
Felicia Devine
Yeah. I think Dan was too.
00:32:14
Natalie Richards
i was like, I could see this.
00:32:15
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
00:32:17
Natalie Richards
He was texting me and i he was.
00:32:19
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:32:19
Natalie Richards
He was very concerned. And I was like, I could see this, not unfortunately, like not working out, like because we would just be too exhausted.
00:32:23
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah. And like statistically speaking, like dehydration and exhaustion will send you in to have more comfort measures so that you can get rest and then IVs so you can get hydrated and just kind of like recoup.
00:32:39
Felicia Devine
But I will say I was backed by the most supportive team.
00:32:40
Natalie Richards
Yes.
00:32:42
Felicia Devine
Like Dan through and through had all day long, he had 10 cups and he had straws on all of them. And he goes, okay, Gatorade. Bone broth, liquid IV, red raspberry leaf tea, water.
00:32:56
Felicia Devine
Like, I'm not kidding you. I didn't have to ask for anything because he literally was just like, I'd stop having a contraction and he would stick a straw in my mouth.
00:33:00
Natalie Richards
i Because he knew.
00:33:04
Felicia Devine
And I'd be like, he knew. And he knew the drill because he knew how important this was to us that I stay home.
00:33:07
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
00:33:12
Felicia Devine
And so he was like, we got, we got things to do. So his parents were out sourcing bone broth. My mom, I, I texted my mom first thing in the morning. I go, I want crushed ice.
00:33:22
Felicia Devine
Don't know why said that. I, I didn't even eat it. Okay. I was like, mom, I need crushed ice right now.
00:33:27
Natalie Richards
That's so funny.
00:33:28
Felicia Devine
So she came over first thing in the morning. And this is really special because she came over and she braided my hair. And we have footage of it and we're sitting in our bedroom and I'm having contractions on my but my birth ball and she's braiding my hair.
00:33:37
Natalie Richards
oh
00:33:42
Felicia Devine
And it just like, she braided my hair for so many dance recitals, so many sporting events, so many like like dances, like school dance.
00:33:46
Natalie Richards
Oh, that's so cool.
00:33:52
Felicia Devine
Like she did my hair and it just was so special to have my mom braid my hair for my birth.
00:33:59
Natalie Richards
That's so adorable.
00:34:00
Felicia Devine
Yeah. And it just was like, I needed my mom.
00:34:01
Natalie Richards
I love that.
00:34:03
Felicia Devine
I needed her. And like the fact that they were in town for my baby shower and stayed because I wasn't supposed to deliver him for three more weeks.
00:34:05
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Yeah.
00:34:10
Felicia Devine
Like they could have easily gone home and then come back to Pennsylvania when I had him. But like they were meant to be there.
00:34:16
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:34:17
Felicia Devine
And like my mom was meant to braid my hair. Yeah.
00:34:19
Natalie Richards
Oh.
00:34:20
Felicia Devine
And so my mom just like sat as a fly on the wall for like the majority of like my morning and afternoon labor.
00:34:21
Natalie Richards
oh
00:34:28
Felicia Devine
And at one point I look at them and I go, oh my gosh, you guys, I didn't prep our cord burning box. And everyone's looking around and they're like, this is what you're thinking about. And I said, yes, if you're not familiar If you're not familiar with what cord burning is, essentially it's a ceremony you perform when baby is born.
00:34:46
Natalie Richards
and It's important.
00:34:52
Felicia Devine
Instead of cutting the cord with scissors, you place the cord over a wooden box and you use taper candles and you slowly burn through the cord with flame. Okay. It's a slow process. It's ceremonial. There's no health benefits. There's nothing at all that is necessary.
00:35:12
Felicia Devine
But in my head, I needed it. Okay. And I was going to either have a family member make it.
00:35:17
Natalie Richards
ahha <unk>
00:35:19
Felicia Devine
um my My brother-in-law is a woodworker or I was going to source one on Etsy. But again, SEP came early. And so I was like in labor, I turned to my people and I say, I'm sorry, I need a cord burning box.
00:35:28
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:35:32
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:35:35
Felicia Devine
Okay, my mom, my mom for for like side note, she is a carpenter by trade. Okay, so I trust her. I say, mom, I need a cord burning box.
00:35:43
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:35:44
Felicia Devine
She and Dan find a wooden nut tray. I think it was a nut tray. I don't even know what this thing was. A solid oak wooden tray of sorts in our pantry.
00:35:58
Felicia Devine
And she gets to town sawing and filing
00:36:06
Felicia Devine
these like These like divots so that you can lay the cord in it and then divots so that you can lay the taper candles in it. Okay. So my mom for hours is filing and sawing at this like solid oak nut tray because she knew, she knew it was important to me.
00:36:26
Natalie Richards
Oh, I can't.
00:36:29
Felicia Devine
So she's sitting there on the patio woodworking so that I could have this beautiful cord burning ceremony.
00:36:31
Natalie Richards
Yeah, and it is.
00:36:36
Felicia Devine
Okay. They have people sourcing taper candles for us.
00:36:38
Natalie Richards
Oh my gosh.
00:36:40
Felicia Devine
Like they're behind the scenes frantic to my face. It's done.
00:36:47
Natalie Richards
Wow.
00:36:47
Felicia Devine
Cord, cord burning kit acquired.
00:36:52
Felicia Devine
I had no idea. i had no idea the labor that went into filing the solid oak thing.
00:36:55
Natalie Richards
That's amazing.
00:36:57
Felicia Devine
Okay. And i I'm like not even convinced she had a real file. I think she was using a nail file. I don't know. It took a long time. Yeah.
00:37:04
Natalie Richards
Yeah, like what tool was she actually using?
00:37:04
Felicia Devine
I wish we had GoPro footage of that because Dan films the majority of my labor, but like we have no footage of the but the box being made.
00:37:08
Natalie Richards
Oh,
00:37:11
Felicia Devine
So the morning goes by, midwife shows up.
00:37:14
Natalie Richards
dang.
00:37:15
Felicia Devine
We are just like ebbing and flowing. Like I am in the zone. And Prior to labor, was like making jokes.
00:37:27
Felicia Devine
I'm like a jokester. I'm goofy. I'm funny. I'm silly. My due date was on Memorial Day Parade Day. Okay. And if you know anything locally about me, you know, I lived on the parade route and I was proud of it.
00:37:43
Felicia Devine
Okay. I was on the parade route of the Memorial Day parade and we hosted a party every year and I was proud of it. And it was like, I'm going to have this baby during the parade. Like that was in my head.
00:37:54
Felicia Devine
I'm having this baby during the parade, parade route.
00:37:56
Natalie Richards
not
00:37:57
Felicia Devine
Like the mummers are going by the high school football team is like yelling. I'm having this baby. Well, because I didn't have him on my due date, I had him on three weeks earlier this Saturday. It was the community yard sale day.
00:38:15
Felicia Devine
Okay, a little less glamorous, a little less celebratory, but still buzzing, buzzing with activity.
00:38:23
Natalie Richards
Still a celebration.
00:38:25
Felicia Devine
Okay, this thing pulls from all of the neighboring zip codes.
00:38:30
Natalie Richards
Oh.
00:38:30
Felicia Devine
Okay, the neighborhood yard sale. Now, Dan and I have never participated in the neighborhood yard sale ever. This year, Dan was like, oh, we're going to participate. We're going to sell all these things. He made bins. He labeled things. He had things to sell.
00:38:45
Felicia Devine
OK? So I saw it in Dan's face when he realized I was actually in labor, and he knew he wasn't going to be able to participate in the yard sale.
00:38:47
Natalie Richards
Oh.
00:38:55
Felicia Devine
And he put on a happy face, but I knew deep in his soul, he was like, darn it. This is not how I saw this Saturday going. Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:05
Natalie Richards
That's a lot of work.
00:39:06
Felicia Devine
And he was very excited.
00:39:06
Natalie Richards
That's a lot of prep.
00:39:07
Felicia Devine
So I took that from him, which is fine.
00:39:07
Natalie Richards
That's lot of prep.
00:39:09
Felicia Devine
But he decided that he was going to put out two things free, free of charge.
00:39:10
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:39:15
Felicia Devine
OK, one of which was a table he handmade, a coffee table, and another was a vacuum. Okay. So all morning I'm laboring.
00:39:25
Natalie Richards
Okay.
00:39:26
Felicia Devine
I keep seeing Dan run to the front window and peek out the blinds and say, Oh, still there. Oh, still there. like Dan, you in there free and no one was taking them.
00:39:37
Natalie Richards
That's what he's worried about.
00:39:39
Felicia Devine
And I think, honestly, think they both got taken eventually throughout the day. i gave up caring, but like the neighborhood couldn't been more busy. There were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people walking the streets and And so in my little head, I'm just giggling because i thought I was going to have this like firework display.
00:39:56
Natalie Richards
or
00:40:00
Felicia Devine
And no, it was the neighborhood yard sale. So laboring like, honestly, the labor was the least exciting part. Like I haven't even talked about the actual contractions once because that wasn't even like memorable.
00:40:12
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Yeah.
00:40:15
Felicia Devine
I breathed through them, moved on,
00:40:16
Natalie Richards
It was fine.
Active Labor and Birth of Baby Giuseppe
00:40:17
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
00:40:17
Felicia Devine
breathed through.
00:40:17
Felicia Devine
And I had consistent and strong contractions from the moment I got them until I delivered him.
00:40:19
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:40:22
Felicia Devine
We never, we never got a dip. We never lost steam. I only gained energy. Like I truly was only going up and up and up in hydration and energy.
00:40:35
Natalie Richards
Which is amazing.
00:40:35
Felicia Devine
Amazing. But again, I was drinking the bone broth, that liquid IV. I had, I actually had coconut water, red raspberry leaf tea, ginger ale. Like I had 35 different options and I was consuming all of them.
00:40:48
Felicia Devine
And so between each wave, Dan would just kind of rehydrate me with one of the options. Um, but I still wasn't able to eat. And so like I'm laboring, I'm laboring. And ah about four o'clock I get in the tub and have hated it.
00:41:07
Felicia Devine
I hated it.
00:41:09
Natalie Richards
You have no idea how many people have that experience.
00:41:12
Felicia Devine
hated it. i I was like, am I too tall? And they're like, well, I'm like, nope, I'm too tall. literally was coming with every reason. I said, nope, this isn't it. I said, I'm too tall.
00:41:20
Natalie Richards
This is not it.
00:41:21
Felicia Devine
No, I felt like my contractions were out of the water. Like it when I was thinking of like, what does it feel like when you have a contraction in the water?
00:41:29
Natalie Richards
Oh.
00:41:30
Felicia Devine
I thought I was going to feel like I was floating, that it was taking pressure. off No, I was like having more pressure. And I'm like, this is not comfortable. I couldn't find
00:41:38
Natalie Richards
Oh,
00:41:39
Felicia Devine
rhythm in the, in the tub. And I tried for like maybe 30, 40 minutes of like Dan pouring water on my belly.
00:41:42
Natalie Richards
yeah.
00:41:45
Felicia Devine
He was like ladling water over my belly. That's sticking out of the water. And I'm just like, this isn't it. And he was so supportive and like trying all the things. Um, so i was like, I'm getting out of the tub.
00:41:54
Natalie Richards
Oh, yeah.
00:41:56
Felicia Devine
Like, I hate this. It's just like, it doesn't feel relieving. It's annoying. Like I was annoyed to be wet. So we were just moving around the house kind of like in and out of different positions in the bed.
00:42:03
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
00:42:08
Felicia Devine
Um, I was in the shower a couple of times, but again, like the actual contractions, not memorable. They weren't a big deal. I just breathed through them.
00:42:16
Natalie Richards
Right.
00:42:17
Felicia Devine
The hypnobirthing was working. Like it was really blissful.
00:42:18
Natalie Richards
Right.
00:42:21
Felicia Devine
And at no point was I like screaming. I wasn't um uncomfortable to the point where I was making comments about it. It was just really peaceful. And I think everyone was observing that energy and just like keeping it super chill.
00:42:36
Felicia Devine
Like no one was asking me like, oh, did that hurt? Or like, oh, like, I don't know. It just felt like it was just like no pressure.
00:42:41
Natalie Richards
right Which is amazing.
00:42:44
Felicia Devine
And so um the most like monumental time of my labor.
00:42:44
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Yeah.
00:42:49
Felicia Devine
So I started contractions or like, I guess my water broke at 3 a.m. And we're now at 9 p.m. So like I've gone through the whole day, still have not consumed any food, but I'm like really feeling good.
00:43:00
Natalie Richards
hu
00:43:03
Felicia Devine
Like I didn't feel like I was teetering out or like I was getting or petering out. I was like really feeling good. So we get to like –
00:43:10
Natalie Richards
and
00:43:11
Felicia Devine
I want to say it was 9 o'clock PM. And my doula at the time was like, we should do a cervical check. And in my birth plan, I said, no cervical checks.
00:43:22
Felicia Devine
I had had no hands on. i didn't want any interventions. I wanted my body to tell me when the baby was coming. And my midwife, my team, everybody was on board with that.
00:43:31
Natalie Richards
Yep.
00:43:32
Felicia Devine
No one was pressuring me. And I just felt like it was like one comment that kind of twisted my spirits and I was like, oh, I should get one.
00:43:42
Natalie Richards
ye
00:43:42
Felicia Devine
So like i agreed and opted and asked for ah cervical check.
00:43:44
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:43:48
Felicia Devine
And I don't know. It just was one of those pieces of my labor that I was just like, oh, if I had one regret and it didn't change anything, it didn't disrupt me. It just was like one thing that I was like, I really didn't want it. And then I agreed and asked for, and I just was like, oh, I didn't love that part.
00:44:08
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:44:08
Felicia Devine
Um, but I think everybody has that in their birth where they're just like, oh, that like one thing or like those couple of things.
00:44:09
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Didn't feel right.
00:44:13
Felicia Devine
Like, so I get the cervical check and I'm nine centimeters.
00:44:15
Natalie Richards
Definitely.
00:44:17
Felicia Devine
Um, So it was good news. It wasn't like, oh, you're one centimeter and you've been laboring all day.
00:44:21
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:44:24
Natalie Richards
Right.
00:44:24
Felicia Devine
So, so my team was like, Hey, how about you try the water birth or like the the tub again? And I said, okay, I'm open to it. Cause I tried it like four, four 30 and I didn't like it, but it was now nine o'clock.
00:44:36
Felicia Devine
Um, and Obviously, it was like dark out at this point. And they were like, you and Dan and our dog, Josephine, go in the the nursery.
00:44:42
Natalie Richards
No, like
00:44:45
Felicia Devine
you guys take your time. Just like relax. And I said, OK. So we go in there. And the whole day, Dan kept thinking like, oh, is this the one? Is this the one? Is the baby coming? Is this the one?
00:44:55
Felicia Devine
And like in our defense, we had never been in birth.
00:44:56
Natalie Richards
you don't know. Yeah.
00:44:59
Felicia Devine
Like we had never been around birth. We don't know.
00:45:01
Natalie Richards
no like you don't know
00:45:01
Felicia Devine
Like, and you hear all these people being like, I just like spit my baby out on my kitchen floor after like three contractions.
00:45:03
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:45:07
Felicia Devine
And so like Dan and I really, truly didn't understand the concept of like, when is this baby coming? Because I really...
00:45:15
Natalie Richards
huh And how long that actually takes.
00:45:16
Felicia Devine
Yeah. And like, I had been feeling so in control the whole time. And so like, we really were like, at what point does this like happen? You know, like when is the baby going to actually like exit my body?
00:45:27
Natalie Richards
Right.
00:45:30
Felicia Devine
And I remember my midwife just being like, you'll know. And I'm like, what do you mean? She's like, you'll, you'll know. And I'm like, but when is that happening? She said, you'll know. And I'm like, I need more answers, okay?
00:45:42
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
00:45:43
Felicia Devine
So we go into the birth tub. We're in the room. The
Post-birth Hospital Stitches and Bonding
00:45:46
Felicia Devine
lights are low. um We're listening to like lo-fi beats. And at this point of labor, I really started to like make a shift in like how I was – contracting and then what it looked like in between those.
00:46:00
Felicia Devine
So I would have like a really intense contraction and intense didn't mean that I was out of control or like I was in significant discomfort or pain, but it was like significantly more um firm or like more pressure longer.
00:46:15
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Longer and yeah, more intense.
00:46:16
Felicia Devine
And i would have these contractions and then I would fall asleep in between. And so I was actually falling asleep in between each contraction.
00:46:23
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:46:26
Felicia Devine
And again, like we never faded. We never slowed down. It was just like my body was like resting for this like final grand finale. And in hindsight, like looking back on it, like we knew something was happening because it was like drastically shifted.
00:46:38
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:46:45
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:46:46
Felicia Devine
And we have on film this one contraction and I start making more of those like animalistic noises.
00:46:47
Natalie Richards
Different. Yeah.
00:46:54
Felicia Devine
Whereas before I was like making breaths through and I was like deep, like I was like groaning through those contractions with those like deep, deep like audibles.
00:46:59
Natalie Richards
Yes.
00:47:02
Natalie Richards
Uh huh.
00:47:02
Felicia Devine
And the noises changed. And you see my midwife and my birth team trickle in to the room quietly. They just tiptoe
00:47:12
Natalie Richards
They know.
00:47:13
Felicia Devine
And you see some flashlights come out. You see some computers come out. like They're setting up a towel. They're getting their things situated. And like obviously, I'm in the contraction. I'm in like the zone. I don't notice any of that's happened.
00:47:27
Natalie Richards
We're in like a totally different realm.
00:47:28
Felicia Devine
Yeah. And I didn't know how much time had passed.
00:47:30
Natalie Richards
There's.
00:47:31
Felicia Devine
I didn't know where I really was in the the process. All I knew was like, it's changing.
00:47:36
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:47:38
Felicia Devine
And that happened ah about, i would say like 10, 10, 15 at night.
00:47:40
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:47:44
Felicia Devine
So I was, Dan and I were alone for about an hour in the tub. And then they came in. And then that's when like they started really like, i don't want to say like intervening, but that's when they started like more like audible coaching me on like, okay, this is what's next.
00:47:57
Felicia Devine
Like it's starting to happen. And Dan and were like, oh, this is it This, you know, we know what's happening now.
00:48:01
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:48:04
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:48:06
Felicia Devine
um And like, even in between contractions, like I was still like holding conversation. Like I was completely like lucid and with it but During a contraction, it was super intense. And, like, I was making, like, pretty crazy noises.
00:48:21
Felicia Devine
And um I started to like, feel his head start to, like, prairie dog. And I started that pressure. And I was like, okay, like, these contractions feel like like pushing contractions.
00:48:32
Felicia Devine
And so – Literally at the time that I started to quote unquote start pushing, my midwife goes, ooh, you've been in a tub the tub long enough that like the water's getting to the point where like you might need to get out because if it's too chilly, like it'll be too shocking to the baby. Yeah.
00:48:50
Natalie Richards
Uh-huh.
00:48:51
Felicia Devine
So she's like, either we need to drain siphon off and drain off the water and add new hot water, or you need to get out.
00:48:52
Natalie Richards
Oh, God.
00:48:58
Felicia Devine
And I look at everyone and I say, let's start draining because I was so happy and tough at that point. I was like, no, no, no.
00:49:04
Natalie Richards
We're gonna move.
00:49:05
Felicia Devine
I want to be here.
00:49:05
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:49:06
Felicia Devine
But this was between literal pushing contractions.
00:49:08
Natalie Richards
Uh-huh.
00:49:10
Felicia Devine
And so Deanna's like, okay, we got a window.
00:49:11
Natalie Richards
Uh-huh.
00:49:12
Felicia Devine
i can start paling water out with like sauce pans. Okay. Yeah. Or we can siphon into the tub. And we were just like drawing up conclusions of like, how do we get water off the tub?
00:49:25
Felicia Devine
Because we were in the nursery and we needed to either get it out a window or into the tub or the toilet.
00:49:28
Natalie Richards
Yes.
00:49:31
Felicia Devine
Quickly, because I'm now pushing.
00:49:31
Natalie Richards
And fairly quickly.
00:49:33
Felicia Devine
And um they decide, so my midwife brings a pump along to pump off the dirty water after you deliver.
00:49:34
Natalie Richards
yes
00:49:39
Felicia Devine
And she's like, I've never used this pump before. It's a brand new pump. She's like, the quickest way we can get water off is if I stick this brand new pump in, we pump it off, and then we refill it. And so Dan's like, check, Red Rider.
00:49:51
Felicia Devine
Gotcha. He's running around. I start having contractions. He sprints into the room, holds my hand. i contract. He leaves. He's sprinting around, comes back, holds my hand. So we are just, we are like working around the clock trying to get hot water into this tub. And they did. And they got hot water back into the tub. it was at a perfect like temperature.
00:50:12
Felicia Devine
And I go to push Giuseppe out. And I was like, I think it's happening. Like this next one, like his head is right there. And I didn't know it was a he. So I'm just saying that. But um baby's head was right there.
00:50:24
Natalie Richards
Right.
00:50:24
Felicia Devine
And i I go back. So I was on like kind of all my like I was in like a squatted, almost like on my hands position. and I was like, I just don't feel like this is it. Like I didn't feel powerful in that position.
00:50:33
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
00:50:34
Felicia Devine
I almost felt like I was like trying to like be under the water. So i was like making myself small. So my midwife was like, lean back onto like your your side and your hip. And like, that's how you can like be comfortable. So I did that.
00:50:46
Felicia Devine
And he, on that next contraction, like his head comes out and it was so relieving, but it was almost like, What now? Like I literally was like, oh my God. And my midwife was like, you can touch him. And I said, I don't think that's for me.
00:51:05
Felicia Devine
I go, I don't think I'm ready. And like, I think that's really normal. I think people get a little like, oh, I don't know if I want to touch this yet.
00:51:11
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:51:14
Felicia Devine
And it wasn't that I was disconnected from my baby.
00:51:16
Natalie Richards
ah huh
00:51:16
Felicia Devine
I just was like a little bit in shock that like it had already started. Yeah.
00:51:21
Natalie Richards
That that had actually happened.
00:51:22
Felicia Devine
And so like in between that contraction, I was like, okay,
00:51:23
Natalie Richards
Mm hmm.
00:51:26
Felicia Devine
Let's breathe and let's regroup. So that's when he started restitute. Like we're giggling. We have some like banter back and forth. And then the next contraction happens and he comes out and he's perfect and whatever. Cries on my chest. And my midwife was like, we need to get you to your bed.
00:51:40
Felicia Devine
And I go, okay. yeah Okay. So she's like, all right, we're going to scoop you up. Like is she was super professional, super like, let's get this rolling. Like didn't make me feel nervous.
00:51:49
Natalie Richards
ah Yeah.
00:51:51
Felicia Devine
And I was like, okay. So we scooped to the bed and she's like, you have a tear. I don't want you to be concerned, but like in the water, the the blood seems exponential because it it like just disperses.
00:52:05
Felicia Devine
And i was like, okay, um, what does this mean?
00:52:07
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:52:09
Felicia Devine
And she's like, well, it looks like it's a grade three. And grade threes are pretty much to your rectum. And so she was like, I just would feel more comfortable if you go to the hospital.
00:52:24
Felicia Devine
Ah, that's when I scream. No, I didn't actually scream. I was just like, okay, let's do it. Let's do it.
00:52:31
Natalie Richards
yeah I mean, what do you do at that point?
00:52:32
Felicia Devine
Let's go to the hospital. Let's do it.
00:52:33
Natalie Richards
Oh, that's
00:52:33
Felicia Devine
Call my mom. She had left for the afternoon. um And I said, call my mom.
00:52:38
Natalie Richards
ah that's right.
00:52:39
Felicia Devine
My mom comes to get me. There was no rush. I had my golden hour with Giuseppe. I decide...
00:52:45
Natalie Richards
Meanwhile, yeah, you had birthed your placenta.
00:52:45
Felicia Devine
I birthed my placenta. I'm in really, I'm in great shape. I'm not even bleeding, to be honest with you. Like literally barely bleeding.
00:52:51
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Right.
00:52:53
Felicia Devine
ah We do the newborn exam. Like we do all the things in like normal golden hour time. And we decide Dan is going to stay home with Giuseppe and the midwife.
00:53:00
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:53:05
Felicia Devine
Oh, placenta baby is still attached.
00:53:05
Natalie Richards
Still attached to his placenta. This is where placenta baby comes in.
00:53:10
Felicia Devine
Okay. Because I wanted to burn his cord. Okay. So Dan and my team and my mother respect my wishes and they say, okay, we are going to keep Giuseppe connected to his placenta.
00:53:15
Natalie Richards
yes
00:53:21
Natalie Richards
the
00:53:24
Felicia Devine
And then we are going to have Felicia go to the hospital and with mom and we are going to reconvene in a couple hours because if if you take Giuseppe to the hospital, they'll admit him as a patient to do assessment and whatever.
00:53:40
Felicia Devine
So i don't know.
00:53:41
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:53:42
Felicia Devine
I mean, he didn't need to go the hospital and he was perfect and fine.
00:53:44
Natalie Richards
And he was perfect. He didn't need to go to the hospital.
00:53:46
Felicia Devine
And I decide that my mom's going to drop me off at the door and then she's going to go park. Okay. I'm in a robe but and a diaper. It's midnight.
00:53:59
Felicia Devine
No, it's 1230 AM. The hospital is closed other than the ER.
00:54:02
Natalie Richards
Oh, God.
00:54:06
Felicia Devine
I don't know where the ER r is.
00:54:07
Natalie Richards
All right.
00:54:08
Felicia Devine
I just assume it's the entrance that I've always seen when I've walked or driven past. So I say, drop me off at this door, go park. I'm now standing outside in the dark of the hospital and the door doesn't open.
00:54:22
Felicia Devine
I'm banging on the door and there's people inside looking at me going, you can't come in. i go, need to come in. And they say, no, you can't come in. I say, I need to.
00:54:32
Felicia Devine
I look like a strung out homeless person trying to break into the hospital. I go, that's crazy. I didn't know hospitals closed. Like in my head, I'm like, what's happening here?
00:54:43
Natalie Richards
Oh my God. Oh my God.
00:54:45
Felicia Devine
Why is the hospital closed? I am like begging them to let me in. And they're literally like, you have to walk around to the ER. r And I'm like, I don't know. I thought this was ER. I thought all doors were ERs.
00:54:55
Natalie Richards
Oh my God.
00:54:57
Felicia Devine
Okay. I don't know a darn thing about a hospital. I don't know anything about a hospital. I'm like the yeah ER. And they're like, yeah, walk around.
00:55:05
Natalie Richards
Oh.
00:55:14
Natalie Richards
Oh my God.
00:55:24
Felicia Devine
And he's like, he's like, come here, come here. So he opens the door for me and he's like, what's wrong? And I say, I just had a baby. And I need to get to labor and delivery. He goes, where's the baby? I go, at home.
00:55:35
Felicia Devine
He's like, what? i go, I just had a baby. And I need to be in the labor and delivery unit. And he's like, I'm so confused. He's like, what? He's like, can you walk?
00:55:46
Natalie Richards
Oh my God.
00:55:47
Felicia Devine
And I go, no, I just had a baby. I shouldn't be walking. He wanted me to walk to labor and delivery, which he ended up wheeling me in a wheelchair was like a mile through all these corridors and, and elevators and all these things.
00:56:01
Natalie Richards
oh my God.
00:56:01
Felicia Devine
And I'm like, oh no, like you,
00:56:06
Natalie Richards
Also, can they just admit you to labor and delivery without going through the ER?
00:56:09
Felicia Devine
My midwife called. She called in advance. Yeah. So that kind of comes up in in a couple minutes because he wheels me.
00:56:12
Natalie Richards
Oh, she did. Okay. Okay.
00:56:16
Felicia Devine
Now he misinterpreted the whole situation.
00:56:17
Natalie Richards
Okay.
00:56:19
Felicia Devine
He wheels me to the ah ER r and he goes, she's here. And the yeah ER r looks at me and they go, where's the baby? And I go, why is everyone looking for this baby? like, this baby's at home. And they're like, didn't you just have the baby in the cafe? Yeah.
00:56:35
Felicia Devine
I go, what? He had radioed, but when he went to go the that get the wheelchair for me, he had radioed to the ER saying, I just had the baby in the cafe of the door I was trying to get into.
00:56:37
Natalie Richards
oh
00:56:47
Natalie Richards
Oh
00:56:47
Felicia Devine
I delivered this baby in the cafe that was closed. I go, oh no, I'm not supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be in labor and delivery. They're expecting me. And the yeah ER is like, oh, that makes so much more sense.
00:56:59
Felicia Devine
Okay, let's get you. So the security guard just was a hoot and a half.
00:57:02
Natalie Richards
my, I can't even imagine this.
00:57:05
Felicia Devine
They finally get me up to labor and delivery. Those people are waiting on me and they literally come up and they're like, we thought you were dead. i go this hospital system is just so silly.
00:57:17
Natalie Richards
Oh my word.
00:57:17
Felicia Devine
She's trying to find me because I got swept away and she went to park and couldn't find me.
00:57:18
Natalie Richards
Where's your mom?
00:57:23
Felicia Devine
She found her way to the er r and it was like TSA security to get through.
00:57:25
Natalie Richards
Okay. Okay.
00:57:29
Felicia Devine
and she finally found me, but they finally got me to labor and delivery.
00:57:30
Natalie Richards
I'm sure. I'm sure.
00:57:32
Felicia Devine
And they're like, we thought you were dead because your midwife called an hour and a half ago.
00:57:35
Natalie Richards
my God. Right.
00:57:37
Felicia Devine
And grade threes usually are bleeding heavily and you just never showed up.
00:57:38
Natalie Richards
oh my god
00:57:43
Natalie Richards
right
00:57:44
Felicia Devine
I go, well, I'm here. And there is no baby, okay? Don't ask about the baby. The baby ain't here, okay?
00:57:49
Natalie Richards
I don't have my baby with me. Baby's good.
00:57:52
Felicia Devine
So really the next steps are they sew me up.
00:57:53
Natalie Richards
Baby's at home.
00:57:56
Felicia Devine
It was a botched job at the end of the day. So then I –
00:58:03
Natalie Richards
Your you and wife would have been better off probably.
00:58:05
Felicia Devine
Yeah. I would have been better off not getting stitched up right away, but that's hindsight is 20-20.
00:58:10
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:58:12
Felicia Devine
So I agreed to get an IV drip of fluid and an IV antibiotic.
00:58:13
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Yeah.
00:58:17
Felicia Devine
And that was probably my worst decision because that took almost two hours. And I was away from my baby for
Postpartum Recovery and Medical Struggles
00:58:25
Natalie Richards
Yep.
00:58:25
Felicia Devine
four and a half hours.
00:58:27
Felicia Devine
Meanwhile, still attached the placenta um because that
00:58:29
Natalie Richards
Yep.
00:58:32
Natalie Richards
That Dan is somehow having to take care of a new baby.
00:58:32
Felicia Devine
Dan is literally a new baby without me. And, and so then my mom calls Dan and is like, cut the cord, cut the cord. She's not coming home right now.
00:58:44
Felicia Devine
And so Dan's like, okay, I guess. I mean, and so Dan ended up cutting the cord with a midwife and like detaching the placenta and like getting that frozen and whatnot. Um, so I never got the chance to burn the cord.
00:58:58
Felicia Devine
which like, don't think, I don't think I'll get over it.
00:59:00
Natalie Richards
I hate that for you.
00:59:02
Felicia Devine
Cause I still have the kit that was presented and made for us. And like, I still have my placenta in the freezer and I'm like, do we just pull it out and reburn it? i don't know. We could, but that's for like a ceremony, I guess.
00:59:11
Natalie Richards
ah you could. Oh, man.
00:59:15
Felicia Devine
I don't know. Maybe another day, but anyway, he was fine.
00:59:17
Natalie Richards
oh yeah
00:59:19
Felicia Devine
He was at home with Dan. i get to get this botched job. i come home And we reunite and I go, mom, you have to stay. i don't i can't be trusted.
00:59:32
Felicia Devine
What do I do with it? I was like, what is it where?
00:59:33
Natalie Richards
What do i do What do I do now?
00:59:35
Felicia Devine
She's like, you.
00:59:37
Natalie Richards
That's truly what I felt.
00:59:37
Felicia Devine
it was whiplash. I go, i was so prepared for the the laboring.
00:59:39
Natalie Richards
It was like, what what happens now?
00:59:43
Felicia Devine
i was not prepared for the for the baby.
00:59:44
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:59:46
Felicia Devine
and i was like i was like shellshock
00:59:47
Natalie Richards
Right. Same. Like the actual logistics of what you do with that baby the first two nights is like,
00:59:53
Felicia Devine
Because like quite literally, you're alone. They leave you with this, like your midwife leaves. Obviously they come back at 24 hours.
00:59:58
Natalie Richards
yes.
00:59:59
Felicia Devine
They come back at three days. Like there are check-ins, but like you're alone. And it felt very scary. And I was so grateful my mom was there and I was like, you need to stay.
01:00:06
Natalie Richards
Yes. Yes.
01:00:11
Felicia Devine
And so she spent the night with us, which was two hours because it was then the morning.
01:00:12
Natalie Richards
Oh, that's good.
01:00:17
Natalie Richards
cute.
01:00:17
Felicia Devine
And that's when we started our journey with Giuseppe. But it was like, The funny parts of the labor weren't even the labor. Like the the fun parts weren't even the labor. It was all the things that were just like ancillary added on and like goofy parts of it.
01:00:31
Felicia Devine
But like the labor itself was so, I don't know, it was so peaceful.
01:00:33
Natalie Richards
you
01:00:36
Felicia Devine
it was so exhilarating in its own way and like powerful because it was, in my mind, so tangibly easy.
01:00:49
Felicia Devine
Like the labor was easy compared to the vomiting compared to like what was to come.
01:00:50
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:00:53
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:00:56
Felicia Devine
Yeah. And like kind of fast forwarding, like i ended up retearing and that so job originally didn't hold.
01:00:57
Natalie Richards
What was to come after. Yeah.
01:01:05
Felicia Devine
And i was torn like open.
01:01:11
Natalie Richards
Did they not stitch the muscle?
01:01:14
Felicia Devine
No, they did.
01:01:15
Natalie Richards
Was that the issue? Did they only, they did.
01:01:16
Felicia Devine
I don't know what the complication was, but it retore pretty, pretty heavily.
01:01:17
Natalie Richards
Okay.
01:01:20
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:01:24
Felicia Devine
About three weeks because I started getting nerve pain that was like uncontrollable, tear inducing.
01:01:24
Natalie Richards
When was that?
01:01:27
Natalie Richards
Oh.
01:01:30
Felicia Devine
I couldn't say i I like it's not even describable. The experience I was going through, it was so, so painful And nothing took the edge off.
01:01:41
Felicia Devine
Literally, quite literally nothing took the edge off. And so it was like, it was theorized that it was like nerve regeneration pain.
01:01:45
Natalie Richards
It's ridiculous.
01:01:47
Felicia Devine
It was um like just sensitivity in, oh, a stitch is a little bit like stuck. And like all these things were like theorized. And then like the pain never got better.
01:01:59
Felicia Devine
It only like truly got worse and more intolerable. And then like postpartum, I just like really struggled.
01:02:05
Natalie Richards
Yes.
01:02:08
Felicia Devine
Like I started getting panic attacks. I didn't want to be alone. i like was so grateful I had such a good support team because I truly was like, how does anyone do this?
01:02:20
Felicia Devine
And I think part of my overwhelm and part of my lack of resiliency was because I was in the most incredible, insatiable pain. I couldn't escape.
01:02:31
Natalie Richards
Yes.
01:02:31
Felicia Devine
And it was so bad.
01:02:33
Natalie Richards
ah
01:02:35
Felicia Devine
The car, I didn't know cars vibrated so, so like you can't even feel your car vibrating until you have horrific nerve pain. I would hover in the car.
01:02:46
Felicia Devine
I couldn't put my bottom down on the seat the whole car ride. I would cry when we would drive and I was the passenger.
01:02:50
Natalie Richards
Oh.
01:02:53
Felicia Devine
i would cry because it was so painful.
01:02:55
Natalie Richards
oh Oh.
01:02:56
Felicia Devine
And that led me to getting assessed by like a pelvic surgeon and realizing like something deeper is going on, but we can't even see it. Like I was in so much pain they couldn't even do a physical exam of me because I would burst into tears.
01:03:11
Felicia Devine
And it was just like one of these things that it was like, well, we can wait and see.
01:03:12
Natalie Richards
Oh.
01:03:15
Felicia Devine
And so I was like, well, yeah, let's like wait and see. Because again, I'm like, let's try least invasive if we can. And that ended up being like suppository steroid for like, I think two months.
01:03:23
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:03:29
Felicia Devine
It did. It took the pain down significantly.
01:03:30
Natalie Richards
Did that help at all?
01:03:32
Felicia Devine
But at the end of the day, like I was still so sensitive and I was like, something's wrong.
01:03:34
Natalie Richards
Okay, that's good.
01:03:36
Felicia Devine
Like something down there is not right.
01:03:39
Natalie Richards
yeah
01:03:39
Felicia Devine
And I'm in horrific pain. And she was like, well, we could either give you like a like oral sedative kind of like, I don't even know what it's called, but you kind of like take it and it makes you like a little bit loopy and do like an in-office procedure where like I'm still awake or
01:03:44
Natalie Richards
yeah
01:03:56
Felicia Devine
or general anesthesia, full on like surgery.
01:03:56
Natalie Richards
Oh my God.
01:04:00
Felicia Devine
And I was like, general anesthesia. Like I was to that point that I was like, knock me unconscious because I cannot, I cannot make it one more minute like this.
01:04:03
Natalie Richards
Oof. Yeah. Flip me out. Mm-hmm.
01:04:12
Felicia Devine
And so she got me in really quickly and like went in and was basically doing exploratory surgery because we couldn't even see what was wrong with me.
01:04:14
Natalie Richards
Oh my God.
01:04:19
Felicia Devine
And she came out and she was like, you needed this.
01:04:20
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:04:21
Felicia Devine
Like I had a huge fissure, which is like an open wound. And she, yeah, internally she had to and my rectum.
01:04:28
Natalie Richards
Internally.
01:04:30
Felicia Devine
Yeah. It was pretty, pretty graphically terrible.
01:04:32
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:04:33
Felicia Devine
And she had to clean out the wound. So she had to reopen all of the like granulation tissue and scrape it out. And then she sewed me up and I i don't remember it was three or four layers And then
01:04:50
Felicia Devine
she told me, i had surgery on Friday.
01:04:51
Natalie Richards
Oh.
01:04:51
Felicia Devine
She goes, you can go back to work Monday. What? Come again?
01:04:56
Natalie Richards
That was the most crazy thing I've ever heard.
01:04:57
Felicia Devine
Pardon?
01:04:59
Natalie Richards
Like what?
01:05:00
Felicia Devine
Come again. What? That is crazy. I said, I'm a chiropractor. I work like on my feet. I bend over. I'm like using my core all day long.
01:05:09
Natalie Richards
Losing my core.
01:05:09
Felicia Devine
And she was like, no, no, no, you should be fine.
01:05:10
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
01:05:11
Felicia Devine
And like, I was not fine. I ended up taking three weeks off of work. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't lift my baby.
01:05:20
Natalie Richards
Mm.
01:05:21
Felicia Devine
My baby was five and a half months old for, I believe it was 10 days.
01:05:24
Natalie Richards
yeah
01:05:25
Felicia Devine
I didn't pick Giuseppe up but one time. Somebody had to lift him.
01:05:30
Natalie Richards
Oh my God, just physically you couldn't do it.
01:05:31
Felicia Devine
Someone had to lift him to me to nurse. And then I had to just sit and and heal. And so I was with my mother-in-law during all like day hours. And then my husband was up with me all night whenever I had to nurse because he wouldn't take it.
01:05:45
Felicia Devine
He was a stinker. he wouldn't take my pumped milk because the goal was like when I'm recovering, I'll pump and then I can sleep.
01:05:50
Natalie Richards
course. Oh my God.
01:05:51
Felicia Devine
No, he goes, as like not today.
01:05:52
Natalie Richards
Mm-mm.
01:05:54
Felicia Devine
Not today. I want it straight from the boobie. So I would wake up and Dan would bring him to me. I would nurse. And that and i was I was on opioids for like three days, I think. um And I was, again, I'm not one to opt for like the most invasive.
01:06:11
Felicia Devine
And I was miserable.
01:06:13
Natalie Richards
Right. But you had no choice.
01:06:14
Felicia Devine
I woke up from surgery, still numb. She injected me with local lidocaine. So I was like, oh, I'm feeling pretty fine. Okay, take me home. Sure. Dan fed me. I was like, I'm going to go take a nap.
01:06:25
Felicia Devine
And Dan's like, okay. I woke up. Natalie, you would have thought
01:06:32
Felicia Devine
You would have thought I was having an adverse reaction and was actually going insane, ludicrous, violent. I was screaming like you've never heard a scream before, writhing around, hysterically crying in so much pain.
01:06:53
Felicia Devine
And I had originally said, like, Dan, don't even get the opioids.
01:06:54
Natalie Richards
ah
01:06:56
Felicia Devine
And he's like, well, we'll just get the prescriptions in case you need them.
01:06:58
Natalie Richards
Right. I don't need this.
01:06:59
Felicia Devine
And I said, oh, I don't think I'll need them.
01:06:59
Natalie Richards
I can deal with it.
01:07:00
Felicia Devine
Don't get the opioids.
01:07:01
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:07:01
Felicia Devine
Well, sure enough, Dan ordered them because he was like, I think we should have them on hand in case you need them. When I woke up from that two-hour nap, like like somebody had actually removed half of my tissue and not replaced it, i was hysterical.
01:07:18
Natalie Richards
Oh.
01:07:18
Felicia Devine
He had to call in for backup. He had to have somebody come help us because I was screaming and hysterically crying as if I was having an adverse reaction.
01:07:25
Natalie Richards
Oh.
01:07:27
Felicia Devine
And it truly was just pain. And so I couldn't even be calmed down.
01:07:29
Natalie Richards
Wow. Yeah.
01:07:31
Felicia Devine
he like so The pain meds weren't even ready. i was on the phone with my parents, my poor parents.
01:07:36
Natalie Richards
Mm-mm.
01:07:37
Felicia Devine
They probably were like, what did she sign up for? like What is wrong?
01:07:40
Natalie Richards
Oh, I know.
01:07:40
Felicia Devine
like Did something go wrong?
01:07:41
Natalie Richards
I'm so nervous.
01:07:41
Felicia Devine
Because I was like, I regret this. like i was
01:07:47
Felicia Devine
I've never been that hysterical.
01:07:48
Natalie Richards
Wow.
01:07:50
Felicia Devine
And I was hysterical. I was out of control. It was like so scary. and and then And then in hindsight, I go, and she thought I could go back to work three days later.
01:07:59
Natalie Richards
Oh my God.
01:08:03
Felicia Devine
what
01:08:03
Natalie Richards
Right. so Yeah. Like what? and don't think she understood how much pain you were in prior, which then made this so much more sensitive.
01:08:07
Felicia Devine
prior and like the lack of, yeah, the lack of resiliency I had going into it. And so that was like really shocking to my system and like totally humbling because i was reliant on pain medications.
01:08:15
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
01:08:24
Felicia Devine
I was reliant on other people to take care of my baby. And I was like reliant on other people to take care of me.
01:08:30
Natalie Richards
It
01:08:30
Felicia Devine
And like some of the things that Dan had to do for me postpartum like will go to his grave with him because it is so mortifying, horrifying. I mean, some of my like closest people have heard some of these stories, but it's like your postpartum vulnerability is so, so like exposing.
01:08:40
Natalie Richards
tears you down. and person i could be talked about
01:08:55
Felicia Devine
And like, i don't know. I think everyone goes through it
01:08:58
Natalie Richards
tears you down
01:08:59
Felicia Devine
And we're made for this and we're made for birthing and we're made for like going against odds.
01:09:00
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:09:04
Felicia Devine
But man, like the labor was easy.
01:09:07
Natalie Richards
Oh my God.
01:09:08
Felicia Devine
the birth was easy.
01:09:09
Natalie Richards
have been the right.
01:09:09
Felicia Devine
It's like the postpartum hit me like a train. and I'm kind of just coming out on the end of it at this 14-month mark.
01:09:15
Natalie Richards
Of course. Because that was like, mm-hmm.
01:09:17
Felicia Devine
I'm like, oh, I'm like catching my drift again. Like I'm like, oh, I can do this. But I've been in like intense pelvic floor therapy.
01:09:22
Natalie Richards
or
01:09:24
Felicia Devine
Now I'm still having pelvic floor therapy like post-tear.
01:09:29
Natalie Richards
Yes, you probably will for a while.
01:09:30
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Because like my pelvic floor got rocked. And like, imagine if I didn't even get pelvic floor therapy prior to pregnancy or like prior to the like actual labor.
01:09:41
Natalie Richards
I can't even, you may not have had a successful birth.
01:09:42
Felicia Devine
No, she was pretty sure like, or pretty spot on when she said like your pelvis will rip in half. And like, i did all the work for 10 weeks and like, that still wasn't enough for me to like leave without a tear.
01:09:49
Natalie Richards
Right.
01:09:56
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:09:56
Felicia Devine
And then like I re-tore and I,
01:09:58
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:09:59
Felicia Devine
I don't think I would have changed anything as far as like postpartum goes because I was doing the best I could with what I had. And like I was under the the notion that like my nerves were regenerating because it was nerve pain.
01:10:10
Felicia Devine
And so I didn't know really how in depth the actual retear.
01:10:11
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:10:15
Felicia Devine
I didn't know I retoir. I literally thought it was nerve regeneration. And like I just I didn't know what I didn't know.
01:10:21
Natalie Richards
Well,
01:10:22
Felicia Devine
And that's like all you can do. You can do the best with what you have.
01:10:26
Natalie Richards
um and you also don't know what normal is supposed to feel like.
01:10:28
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah.
01:10:31
Natalie Richards
You've never gone through postpartum.
01:10:31
Felicia Devine
No, no, no.
01:10:33
Natalie Richards
You've never had a tear like that. You don't know if that's what you're supposed to be be feeling.
01:10:37
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
01:10:39
Natalie Richards
I mean, yeah, it's horrible, but then you're like, is this what everybody feels?
01:10:40
Felicia Devine
Yeah. And then, and then I was like, I have to go back to work with all this pain.
01:10:42
Natalie Richards
Like, is this real? Is this normal?
01:10:46
Felicia Devine
Like I was, I went back ah I went back to work at 10 weeks and I worked until I was, I mean, I got the surgery five and a half months postpartum.
01:10:48
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:10:52
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
01:10:55
Felicia Devine
So like I worked for a couple months in like
01:10:58
Natalie Richards
Yeah, a long time.
01:10:58
Felicia Devine
horrible, excruciating pain. i was exclusively nursing. i was taking Giuseppe with me to work. i was like I was doing so many things because I wanted to do it all.
01:11:06
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
01:11:08
Felicia Devine
And I was determined that I was going to make it work. And I was going to be the business owner. I was going to be the chiropractor. I was going to be the mom. I was going to be the exclusively nurser. like I had all of these things set out in my head. And I was like, if you keep getting like one day at a time, one day at a time. And like I'm glad in i'm glad i did it all one day at a time.
01:11:28
Felicia Devine
but like I look back and I'm like, I'm pretty crazy. I'm pretty crazy.
01:11:34
Natalie Richards
It was insane. Yeah, I feel the same thing. I'm like, I'm happy about my decisions, but also like that was wild.
01:11:38
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Wild. Yeah. Like I, I got panic attacks postpartum because I was literally pushing myself to the edge of like what I should have been doing.
01:11:42
Natalie Richards
Like why? Yes.
01:11:49
Felicia Devine
Um, and yeah, I mean,
01:11:50
Natalie Richards
yes
01:11:53
Felicia Devine
I think telling these stories and exposing yourself is like part of the process and like not scaring other people because it shouldn't be scary and like not trauma dumping on other people because like that again is just a fear tactic.
01:12:04
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Nope.
01:12:07
Felicia Devine
But like sharing your story and being like, I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I got through it. I'm glad I was like perseverant in these really hard times because like nursing didn't come easy. Like Sep had a lot of troubles. Like Sep's journey postpartum, like his first couple months were like treacherous.
01:12:26
Felicia Devine
He struggled. And so like he has his own story.
01:12:28
Natalie Richards
you know
01:12:29
Felicia Devine
I have my own story. And like, we just put our foot one step ahead every day.
01:12:32
Natalie Richards
that
01:12:32
Felicia Devine
And like, we really tried our best. And I don't know. i mean, it's just a human experience, but I am grateful for this journey and like what it's kind of made me do and become.
01:12:35
Natalie Richards
you can do.
01:12:43
Felicia Devine
And I don't know, you just can't go backwards. I can't undo what I've done.
01:12:47
Natalie Richards
Yeah. No, no. I think it's great. It is great to have other people here.
01:12:51
Felicia Devine
yeah
01:12:53
Natalie Richards
Like what is a variation of
01:12:55
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
01:12:55
Natalie Richards
of a birth story that like was really good, but then had some, had some twists and turns.
01:12:59
Felicia Devine
yeah
01:13:01
Natalie Richards
And that's, everybody has that.
01:13:02
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
01:13:03
Natalie Richards
Even if you have, whether you have home birth, hospital birth, whatever, there's always something where you're like, Ooh, like that could have gone different, but like, that's the experience.
01:13:09
Felicia Devine
Right. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
01:13:12
Natalie Richards
That's what it is. You can't control anything about it. And no matter how much you prepare and how much you do and set up and it will be different than what you expect, no matter what.
01:13:20
Felicia Devine
The labor was easy.
01:13:24
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah.
01:13:27
Natalie Richards
you just have to kind of like go along. You do have to go along for the ride. Otherwise you will fail.
01:13:31
Felicia Devine
Yeah. yeah And i think I should have, or I could have, I don't think should is a good word because like I did what I knew i could do, but I could have prepared more for the postpartum.
01:13:43
Felicia Devine
I really prepared.
01:13:43
Natalie Richards
I agree.
01:13:44
Felicia Devine
Like I was so set on like the labor, the delivery, the labor, the delivery.
01:13:44
Natalie Richards
I wish I would have done that too.
01:13:48
Felicia Devine
And I don't think I was prepared mentally or physically um for what postpartum was going to feel or be like.
01:13:48
Natalie Richards
Yep.
01:13:55
Natalie Richards
Yep.
01:13:56
Felicia Devine
And I was surrounded by incredible people delivering meals, helping with the baby, helping with me, like being there supportive. But like I didn't do the work in advance and you can't do the work during.
01:14:09
Felicia Devine
I was in survival mode and like
01:14:10
Natalie Richards
No, it's...
01:14:12
Felicia Devine
If I could have prepared myself a little bit more, I think it could have been a different story, but like the story is already written and my options are moving forward.
01:14:12
Natalie Richards
You're in total survival.
01:14:20
Felicia Devine
Like, what does that look like?
01:14:21
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:14:24
Natalie Richards
And it's also like we didn't, we you don't know what you don't know.
01:14:26
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
01:14:27
Natalie Richards
And we had never gone through that before.
01:14:28
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
01:14:30
Natalie Richards
So I don't think anybody's stories of postpartum can ever really fully encompass what you have to go through every day so raise a baby.
01:14:38
Felicia Devine
yeah
01:14:43
Natalie Richards
So it's just kind of one of those things that people were like, yeah, I mean, it's hard.
01:14:44
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
01:14:46
Natalie Richards
You're like, yeah, that's hard.
01:14:46
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
01:14:48
Natalie Richards
Yeah, of course. And then you do it and you're like, oh, and then if you have, God forbid, anything else going on like you did, it's immensely harder and it's just not, there's nothing easy about it.
01:14:53
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
01:15:00
Felicia Devine
Right.
01:15:00
Natalie Richards
You're in survival, whether you prepare or not, because it's always going to be different than what you expect.
01:15:01
Felicia Devine
Right. Yeah. Yeah.
01:15:04
Felicia Devine
Yeah. And a lot of my relationships shifted drastically postpartum because I just like could barely show up for myself. And then to show up for other people was so
Gaining Empathy and Supporting Postpartum Moms
01:15:13
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:15:13
Felicia Devine
hard.
01:15:14
Felicia Devine
um My focus was like, make sure this baby is cared for and like his priorities are first.
01:15:16
Natalie Richards
Yep.
01:15:22
Natalie Richards
Yes, alive.
01:15:22
Felicia Devine
And then it was me. And then it was like everything else.
01:15:23
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
01:15:24
Felicia Devine
Like I really, i have been in like a cave for a year. And so I don't know. I think I'm coming out on the other side of it now and I have more perspective on it. But Yeah, I just, I don't know.
01:15:37
Felicia Devine
I have a lot more empathy for the postpartum mom and a lot more passion for like helping serve my moms in practice and like understanding where they are and how to support them.
01:15:43
Natalie Richards
No kidding.
01:15:48
Felicia Devine
And like a postpartum mom needs direction. Like they need to be like, here are the resources. Not like, oh, do you need something? Like what, is there anything I can do for you? No, like here's a meal.
01:16:00
Felicia Devine
Here's a therapist.
01:16:02
Natalie Richards
Yeah, right.
01:16:03
Felicia Devine
Yes.
01:16:03
Natalie Richards
Don't even make them have to make the decision.
01:16:03
Felicia Devine
The decision fatigue is so tangible that it's like, like I could, like, I just wanted to scream because I was like, I like, I just needed decisions made for me.
01:16:05
Natalie Richards
Don't ask them anything.
01:16:14
Felicia Devine
And now I have that empathy and I have that understanding of like, you just have to act for the postpartum mom. You can't like ask a bunch of questions.
01:16:21
Natalie Richards
know
01:16:22
Felicia Devine
Don't ask a postpartum mom a question. No.
01:16:25
Natalie Richards
Yeah, don't stay around too long.
01:16:25
Felicia Devine
Yes. Don't ask questions about how she's raising her baby.
01:16:28
Natalie Richards
But also do something. Just bring a meal.
01:16:32
Felicia Devine
Yes.
01:16:33
Natalie Richards
Don't ask what they want. Well, kind of just just do it.
01:16:35
Felicia Devine
a And maybe that's part of the like prepping for postpartum more is like having those conversations ahead of time.
01:16:37
Natalie Richards
Just do the task. Yeah.
01:16:41
Felicia Devine
Like this is the kind of food I like or like these are the tasks that like I i would appreciate done or this is how you can be of service or help to our family instead of like i didn't tell anyone anything.
01:16:43
Natalie Richards
Yes. Be upfront about what you like. Yeah.
01:16:52
Natalie Richards
Yes.
01:16:55
Felicia Devine
I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready.
01:16:56
Natalie Richards
No, I had no idea what I wanted.
01:16:57
Felicia Devine
And like, they still showed up for me and it's not that they were asking a bunch of questions. It's just like the decision fatigue is so real, but I don't know.
01:17:03
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:17:04
Felicia Devine
it
01:17:05
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:17:06
Natalie Richards
you don't you just don't know what you're going to want.
01:17:08
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
01:17:09
Natalie Richards
That's the other thing. like i was fully expecting, I don't want anybody around me for a couple weeks.
01:17:12
Felicia Devine
hu Oh my gosh. Same.
01:17:16
Natalie Richards
And then I was like, oh no, I need people.
01:17:18
Felicia Devine
Yes.
01:17:21
Natalie Richards
This is not me. i don't spend an ounce of my time alone.
01:17:22
Felicia Devine
Alone. Natalie.
01:17:25
Natalie Richards
Why do i think I'm going to want to be alone postpartum?
01:17:27
Felicia Devine
I know. I can't wait to hear Natalie's story back because Natalie and I had very different experiences.
01:17:28
Natalie Richards
like What?
01:17:31
Natalie Richards
But then other people... my God, it's going be funny. Other people though... Very, birth very births, very different postpartum, just in general, everything's, but you know, the same trend is there where it's like, we learned a lot.
01:17:37
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
01:17:45
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm. Yep. Experience and yeah, learning.
01:17:49
Natalie Richards
I learned a lot.
01:17:50
Felicia Devine
I think that's the biggest takeaway is like, don't beat yourself up about it. You did what you did. the decisions you made were the decisions you made.
01:17:56
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:17:57
Felicia Devine
And i don't know, as long as everyone's healthy, like at the end of the day, like let's just keep moving forward.
01:18:01
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Yeah. That's written that really is.
01:18:05
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
01:18:06
Natalie Richards
that really is what matters. There's going to be all kinds of details in between there.
01:18:09
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah.
01:18:10
Natalie Richards
But yeah, it's so funny thinking about my birth story. I was like trying to trying to conjure up all of my my thoughts and all of the the memories because sometimes you you forget a lot.
01:18:22
Felicia Devine
Yeah, I had to write a lot down just to like remember and refresh. Mm-hmm.
01:18:26
Natalie Richards
Yes. Yeah. And then all these things like start popping back into your head.
01:18:29
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
01:18:31
Natalie Richards
But I had texted my midwife who's amazing. And I said, can you just like look back and just see like what things stuck out to you from my chart?
01:18:41
Felicia Devine
fun. Yeah.
01:18:44
Natalie Richards
And she's like, oh my gosh, yeah, I can do that. So it was so funny. She emailed me all this stuff. And Kyle and i went to dinner last night and we were reviewing it and just chatting about stuff.
01:18:52
Felicia Devine
Oh, my.
01:18:53
Natalie Richards
We were dying laughing because there's a couple
01:18:56
Felicia Devine
Oh, I can't wait.
01:18:56
Natalie Richards
parts that are so funny that are just yeah it's great
01:19:00
Felicia Devine
So that'll be next.
Conclusion and Reflection on Home Birth Experiences
01:19:01
Natalie Richards
so i'm excited to tell it yes yes yeah i just i love listening to other people's birth stories i hope other people do too
01:19:01
Felicia Devine
Natalie is going to be telling her story and her experience of her home birth of baby Jean, which is exciting. I do, too.
01:19:12
Felicia Devine
And i I did a lot of that prep work um of listening to home birth stories because they're just, I don't know, they're inspiring and every single one is different.
01:19:18
Natalie Richards
too i do too
01:19:22
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
01:19:23
Natalie Richards
Yeah, it helps you understand that you really can't expect anything about your experience. And the more you let go of what you expect, the better off you're going to be
01:19:29
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm. Right. And there's so many variations of normal.
01:19:34
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
01:19:34
Natalie Richards
Yep, that's exactly right.
01:19:35
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
01:19:36
Natalie Richards
Exactly right.
01:19:38
Natalie Richards
So, um this was great. I loved hearing your story because I don't think we've ever actually, we've never sat down and actually gone through all of this.
01:19:38
Felicia Devine
Thanks for hanging out with us.
01:19:41
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
01:19:45
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Right.
01:19:47
Natalie Richards
I've, I've been, been there kind of like on the other end of texts and stuff, but never really gotten into all the details.
01:19:47
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm. The full.
01:19:54
Natalie Richards
And it's crazy.
01:19:54
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
01:19:55
Natalie Richards
You've gone through tons and tons, but I'm so glad you're, you're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and coming out of it.
01:19:59
Felicia Devine
Yeah. I am too. Yeah.
01:20:03
Natalie Richards
So. Yeah. So now we can get onto some other things and now people, people know what the heck you've gone through.
01:20:05
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
01:20:09
Felicia Devine
Right, right. And then we can we can have your story next and then kind of share more about the choices we've made raising these kids because, yeah, I mean, we've we've gone a little bit off the beaten trail of what's normal.
01:20:11
Natalie Richards
It's been a lot.
01:20:20
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
01:20:24
Felicia Devine
So giving our experience out loud – and again, these are our experiences.
01:20:27
Natalie Richards
Yep.
01:20:28
Felicia Devine
They're not, you know, this is how you should raise your kid or this is how you should birth. But it's just another variation of what's out there and there's options beyond – what society tells you you have to raise your kid like or how you have to birth.
01:20:43
Natalie Richards
Exactly.
01:20:44
Felicia Devine
There's such thing as informed consent and like the option to say no.
01:20:45
Natalie Richards
Exactly.
01:20:50
Felicia Devine
So
01:20:52
Natalie Richards
That's, yeah, it's my most favorite topic.
01:20:53
Felicia Devine
yes, I think not.
01:20:56
Natalie Richards
Oh, you think I should do this?
01:20:57
Felicia Devine
excuse
01:20:59
Natalie Richards
No, thank you.
01:21:00
Felicia Devine
Well, Yes.
01:21:02
Natalie Richards
So we will, ah we will reconvene next time and we'll talk about my birth story.
01:21:07
Felicia Devine
Yes. all right. Thanks for joining us, guys.
01:21:09
Natalie Richards
So bye.
01:21:09
Felicia Devine
by