First-Time Mom Has an Empowering Natural Birth at a Birth Center | Ep 24: Hannah's Birth Story

Hannah (0:00)

I hear this loud pop. All of a sudden, I have a huge sense of relief. The midwife was like, yeah, your water just broke. Baby's coming. And then that first contraction hit after my water broke. It was the most intense thing, but I was focusing on breathing, and I had my midwife, and she said, when you're ready, you start pushing the second that contraction comes. It was like my body took over. Before my brain could tell my body to push, my body was pushing. When you say your body is built to birth, that was what I felt in that moment. My body's doing this without my brain telling it to do it.

Bridget Teyler (0:37)

In this Built To Birth episode, we get to sit down with Hannah, who shares with us how she went from fear about labor and birth into walking into her birth, feeling calm, confident and truly prepared. She chose to give birth in a way that was different from all of her friends and family, and she got some pushback for it. But despite that pushback, she worked hard to create the experience that she knew she was capable of and one that would empower her. If you want to be like Hannah and move from fear to empowerment, make sure you check out the Built To Birth course at builttobirth.com, or just start by taking the free mini birth class that you can also find at builttobirth.com. Now let's listen to Hannah's birth story. Hannah, I am so excited to have you on the Built To Birth Podcast. I'm so excited to hear your story alongside all these moms who are listening. Why don't you take us to the beginning of before you had your baby, maybe you just found out you were pregnant. How were you feeling about birth, about pregnancy? What are some beliefs that you had for this whole experience that was waiting for you?

Hannah (1:47)

So the very beginning, my husband and I got married in September of 2024

I found out I was pregnant in November of that year, and we were shocked, excited. This is something that I wanted for my whole entire life was to be a mom. But when it came to how I pictured birth and pregnancy, it was kind of like the typical thing you see in movies. The woman's being rushed into the hospital screaming because the baby's coming, and everyone's freaking out, and everyone's rushing, rushing, rushing, and then she gets an epidural, and then she's in the stirrups, and the doctor's saying, push, and she's screaming, and then pushing, and the baby comes out. So I was kind of nervous for all of that from what I was seeing in movies and from stories I had heard from friends and family. So yeah, definitely nervous.

Bridget Teyler (2:32)

So at what point during your pregnancy then were you like, hey, maybe I need to learn a little bit more than I have information of currently so that I maybe don't have that experience?

Hannah (2:45)

It kind of started because I was very focused on non-toxic skin care. And so that kind of led me down this rabbit hole of, okay, if I'm so concerned about my skin care, I should start doing research on pregnancy and how I can help my body to kind of prepare for labor and delivery at the end of this nine months. So that's when I kind of started coming across different people on Instagram and obviously the Built To Birth course. Well, more so the videos on Instagram and your videos on YouTube. And it just kind of opened my eyes to all the different possibilities. And there are other ways to have your baby that doesn't need to be scary or rushed. So that's kind of what pushed me onto this journey and really kind of shaped my whole pregnancy journey, but also my birth experience.

Bridget Teyler (3:33)

How did it shape your pregnancy journey? Did you continue going the hospital route? Did you choose to hire midwives? How did it shape your pregnancy? And then we'll get into your birth experience.

Hannah (3:45)

I would say at the beginning, when I kind of started watching your videos and watching other videos about hypnobirthing and natural birth, I was like, maybe I don't have to have my baby in a hospital. And I seriously had some things to consider. So I had to sit down with my husband, obviously, because if he wasn't on board, then I was like, how are we going to make this happen? So I talked to him and I just kind of expressed like I'd be interested in looking at other ways, more natural ways that kind of go with your body versus like things that are over-medicalized because I feel like sometimes birth is seen as like almost not an illness, but this thing that needs to be intervened with a lot. And that's not always the case. He understood where I was coming from. He was a little bit more skeptical, I would say, in the beginning, but he didn't end up changing his mind until I had a pretty rough first trimester. I was really sick with morning sickness. And anytime I'd go to the practice that I was seeing before I transferred to the birth center, they would just kind of say, okay, that's normal, you're fine, everything's okay. Maybe just eat some saltines before you get out of bed. But they would kind of tell me that in a five-minute window as they're rushing out to see other patients. And I just kind of felt like this is my first pregnancy. And I know you all see pregnant women all the time, but I would love it if you kind of cared a little bit more or showed me that you cared a little bit more versus, you know, kind of throwing things at me and running out the door.