Motherhood is all consuming.

Having babies, nursing, feeling the fear of loving someone that much, and there's this baby on your chest, and boom, your entire life has changed.

It's a privilege of being your child's safest space and watching your heart walk around outside of your body.

The truth is.

I can be having the best time being a mom one minute, and then the next, I'm questioning all my life choices.

I'm Lo Mansfield, your host of the Lo and Behold podcast, mama of four Littles, former labor and postpartum RN, CLC, and your new best friend in the messy middle space of all the choices you are making in pregnancy, birth, and motherhood.

If there is one thing I know after years of delivering babies at the bedside and then having, and now raising those four of my own, it is that there is no such thing as a best way to do any of this.

And we're leaning into that truth here with the mix of real life and what the textbook says, expert Insights and practical applications.

Each week we're making our way towards stories that we participate in, stories that we are honest about, and stories that are ours.

This is the lo and behold podcast.

Hey, hey.

I have a birth story to put in front of you guys today.

Kayla is someone I met actually via the wild, wild west of social media.

She is a believer, she's a mama of two girls right now, and if you're listening to present day, she is currently pregnant with number three.

They do not know if that baby is a boy or a girl, but they are due in about a month.

She is also an L and DRN, obviously passionate about all things birth, and she is also the co-founder and CEO of dreamy peach go.

So.

As you can tell, this is a mom who is a very busy full mama.

I am super grateful for her time today.

You guys know those last few weeks of pregnancy are a lot, but of course it's also a lot of waiting while you just wait for that little one to decide to show up.

So I'm really excited to put this story in front of you.

She's gonna actually share both of her birth stories and then hopefully we can get her back on at another time and hear how number three goes as well.

Hey Kayla, so excited to have you here on the podcast today.

Thanks for being here with me.

Thanks for having me.

Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself a little bit and then we'll get into those birth stories.

Okay, cool.

Yeah.

I'm Kayla.

I live in Austin, Texas with my husband and I have two girls that are three and five.

I am a PRN Labor and Delivery nurse, so I still work bedside, one or two days a week.

And I own a company called Dreamy Peach Co. So busy all the time.

And I'm currently pregnant with baby number three due on June 27th.

So about a month away from now.

Are you sitting on a birth ball right now?

I am.

We could see each other you guys while we're talking and she's rocking back and forth and I know that rock.

Yeah.

I'm like, I know what you're doing.

Great.

That's great for fetal positioning.

Okay.

Why don't we just start with, yeah, that first birth story and maybe even just getting pregnant and kind of some of that pre first stuff as well.

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

So my oldest daughter is five now.

So she was born the day the country shut down.

March 13th.

And we actually got pregnant pretty quickly with her, which I wasn't expecting because I had been on birth control for, it was like 10 plus years before we started trying.

So I kind of expected it to be longer so I wasn't tracking my cycles.

But I found out and I suspected that I ovulated on maybe like a 21 of my cycle.

But the OB wouldn't let me use that since I couldn't really prove it.

So I had to use my, my period date.

So I feel like my dates were pretty much off the whole entire pregnancy.

And then I, at the time did not have labor experience.

I had only had mother baby experience and I hadn't been bedside for like eight years.

I was actually working in medical device sales at the time, so it had been a long time.

And I didn't have that labor experience, so I knew a lot.

But not as much as I felt like I needed to know.

Mm-hmm.

So, you know, towards the end of the pregnancy, really healthy pregnancy, I'm really blessed with like super easy pregnancies, no morning sickness.

I haven't thrown up in, I dunno how many years, but never got sick during pregnancies.

So that, that's a blessing.

But yeah, healthy pregnancy and then, you know, we get to 40 weeks and then 41 weeks and the doctor's like, you know, we should really start thinking about.

Induction if you're not going into labor, by 41 and five.

And I was like, well, I just feel like everything's okay.

But I kind of got pressured into that induction.

And so looking back, I, I could have said no.

But I had gone into it wanting natural birth at the hospital.

I had a doula.

I took all the classes.

I, I thought I was as prepared as I could be.

And then,

41 and five rolls around and nothing like my cervix was closed, thick and high, like they could barely reach it.

So I consented to the induction at 41 and five, and now looking back, you know, you can't change anything and everything happened how it happened.

So I try not to dwell on that, but I, I drank the midwives brew, the morning of the induction.

And I did start contracting and I went to the office because they were gonna attempt, a Foley balloon in the office if I had dilated at all.

So I was contracting and on the way to the doctor's office, it was like a 40 minute drive.

I was like, this might be it.

Like this feels like something's happening.

And so I got to the office and then the contractions just stopped, like totally stopped.

And so they checked me and I was still closed, so they couldn't put the Foley balloon in.

So she sent me home and she's like, well, we're gonna get you in this evening for induction.

And since we can't do a fully balloon, we'll just have to do cervical ripers.

So I was like, okay, well we'll see you around 7:00 PM Well then come back home, the contractions start back up at home like every two to three minutes.

And then I, at seven o'clock they called and said, well, we're gonna have to delay you.

So at this point I had been up.

Since maybe 7:00 AM and then this is 7:00 PM and they say, we're gonna delay you.

And I say, okay, well just call us whenever.

Really?

Yeah.

We have never done that.

That's wild.

I know.

It's usually like, oh, we'll just do it tomorrow instead at that point.

Wow.

Right,

right.

And that again is one of my biggest regrets is actually going in that late with no sleep the whole day.

Right, right.

I should have just said, you know, we're already in bed.

Call us tomorrow.

We'll come in tomorrow if, if I haven't gone into labor.

But we went to the hospital, we got checked in at like midnight and I was already contracting like every two to three minutes when they put me on the monitor.

And when they checked my cervix, I had gone from closed in the office to one.

And so that was my regret is like not just saying, okay, well my body's obviously doing something right now, let me just go home and sleep and see what happens tomorrow.

But I stayed, so I got the first dose, I think it was, misoprostol.

So cyto attack.

And then I was contracting just, just painfully enough that I couldn't sleep

at the

hospital of course.

So I just got, yeah, right.

So I just got super exhausted.

I was really tired.

And then when the next check came, my cervix was pretty much the same.

So they suggested another dose and I.

At this point as a labor nurse, now I know we don't give another dose of cyto attack if someone's contracting that much.

I didn't know that then, but something in me was like, I already feel like I'm contracting a lot.

Like should I, is it okay to even get another dose of this?

And so I asked the doctor and she was pretty much like, well, you know, it's either that or Pitocin.

And one of the doctors at this point had already tried to get a Foley balloon in and she couldn't get it in.

So I was like, well, I guess we'll start Pitocin.

And so then, you know, the cascade of interventions begins.

Like I just, they started Pitocin, I started having flank pain like shortly after they started the pit.

And I had a history of kidney stones and I had had a kidney stone earlier in labor.

I know I'm miserable.

Yeah.

And I can confirm.

Yeah.

Kidney stones are worse than labor.

Having.

Yeah.

So many times that, I mean, obviously it's like hopefully more temporary.

I mean, sometimes it's not.

Yeah.

But I've heard it as just horrific.

Yeah, awful.

And when you're pregnant, you're like not supposed to take narcotics or whatever, so it's just like very complicated to treat.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You get a

Tylenol three and Right.

You just chug lemon water until it passes.

Right.

Ugh.

It's brutal.

Absolutely brutal.

So my first thought was, okay, well surely I don't have a kidney stone in labor, but that's exactly what it feels like.

Mm-hmm.

So I told the nurses and I was like, I, you know, the contraction pain was totally manageable.

I, I like, barely even felt the contraction pain after this flank thing started.

I, that was just like all consuming.

And so now as a labor nurse, that's what caused me to get the epidural to try and get rid of the flank.

Now I realize that it probably wasn't a kidney stone, but I think the baby was just positioned funny.

And you know, I see this often where patients will have side pain or weird pain somewhere, and it's just the baby is in a weird position and it's like hitting a nerve or something.

Mm-hmm.

And it's like radiating that pain to a different part of your body.

And so I think she was probably asynclitic, maybe.

Mm-hmm.

And that's why things just never really progressed.

But, so I got the epidural, the flank pain never went away.

The nurses, I, I guess there were a lot of travel nurses.

I just had a really bad experience, at the hospital in general, but the nurses never came in and suggested any position changes.

They were just like.

You know, keeping me on my left side because that's where the pain was.

Mm-hmm.

To try and like, let gravity, let the epidural flow to that side.

They reus me with the epidural.

Didn't help.

I, at some point in the middle of all this, my doctor came on and was able to get a Cook's balloon or a Foley balloon in.

Mm-hmm.

So I had that.

But yeah, just, I think it ended up being like.

It was days.

I mean, I went in on a Wednesday night.

She was born on a Friday, Friday morning, so it was just really long.

I didn't sleep the whole time.

And so finally at like 5:00 AM before my doctor left, I was just like, what?

What's the plan?

Like, what are we doing?

Yeah, the Foley.

The Foley balloon was still in and you know when it comes out or when it falls out or.

They take it out, you're usually like four centimeters at least.

Right?

But it was still really tight in there, so I. Maybe two, if I'm lucky.

Maybe three.

So, so you said

at 5:00 AM is this like Thursday morning?

So you just, or is this Friday morning?

So Foley bulb has been in for like 24 hours at this point?

No, no, it, it wasn't in for the full, you know, they only leave them in for 12.

12, right.

Okay.

It was sometime after I got the epidural that, so they'd

gotten in sometime like the night prior or whatever?

Yeah.

Okay.

Yep.

And they were, I don't know what they were up to on Pitocin, but I know that they were like.

Pretty maxed out on Pitocin and I sure am pretty sure they just weren't tracking my contractions.

I, I think the flank pain was felt constant because it was happening every time I had a contraction and I was contracting back to back to back.

But they weren't tracing it well.

So at one point they came in and were like, we're gonna just turn this down.

'cause I think you're contracting too much.

Okay, well that would make a lot of sense.

If I'm maxed out on pit and I have the Foley balloon and so, yeah, around 5:00 AM I was just like, listen, I don't know how much longer I can do this.

I'm exhausted.

I had already called her to the bedside multiple times 'cause of blank pain and everything, and so I asked for the c-section.

I was like, I, if I'm not even two centimeters, the balloon's not even out.

Like we're still so early, I just can't, I can't do it.

You know, the C-section in and of itself was not bad.

You know, everything happens really fast once they make the call.

And so everybody rushed in, you got the meds, you get bolus with your epidural and you're off to the OR.

And I think she was born at like five thirty six, like mm-hmm.

They were, you know, really fast.

And.

I don't regret the C-section itself.

I just, everything that happened after that, you know, my birth plan was shot at that point.

Like there was no birth plan.

My doula rushed in, 'cause we hadn't called her yet.

Right, so she rushed in and she got there right before, which thank goodness she got there in time.

So we went to the or.

And I said as we were rolling in, you know.

Guys, my birth plan is shot.

Just give me some skin to skin.

Like, that's all, that's all we have left.

Just let me have some skin to skin in the OR.

And the nurse was like, well, you know, it's really hard to do that and we'll, we'll get her to you in recovery, we promise.

And

of course she got swept off to nicu, like, yeah, you know, 10 or 15 minutes after she was born.

So.

I didn't get any of that skin to skin.

And then all the rules changed.

And so with her being in nicu, they wouldn't let my husband and I go at the same time to see her.

So we had to go separately.

They didn't have anyone to push me in a wheelchair.

And it was like the biggest hospital ever.

So post C-section, I'm walking by myself all the way to the NICU and have to stop and take breaks in the hallway.

And you know, it just a, just a really bad experience all around.

There were a lot of other little things that happened and I talked to my doctor a after.

It was just really tough times.

There were a lot of turnover with the nurses, a lot of travel nurses, and so it was just unfortunate, but yeah.

So she ended up coming to, to room with us just like I, I guess like a day and a half after she was born.

So she just had like, trouble transitioning.

They thought maybe she had swallowed or like aspirated to meconium, but, they ruled that out.

So I think she just had a little transition trouble, which is to be expected when you've been on Pitocin for so long and.

Been in labor so long and contracting every two minutes for three, six hours.

Yeah.

Or however long it ended up being.

So, yeah.

Yeah.

So after that, you know, we came home and, struggled through those first several months because our meal train got canceled.

Right.

Our family left town.

Right.

And we were just on our own figuring out parenthood and, you know, zero to one was the hardest transition for us.

And I hear that it is for a lot of people.

So that was, that was really, really tough.

But.

We made it through and then, decided we, we knew we're older.

I'm 38 years old, so we knew if we wanted to potentially have more than two kids, we needed to have them quickly keep going so that we, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

So as hard as that was, we did decide to start trying again, after she turned one, and so.

We got pregnant pretty quickly again, but this time I decided to track because I was like, I wanna know and have proof that I ovulate late if I do again.

Yeah.

And so sure enough, I did, I ovulated on day 21 again.

On the month that we got pregnant.

And so,

Kayla, can I interrupt for a second?

Yeah, yeah.

Just so I wanna kind of explain this ovulation thing just in case someone's like, yeah, why does she keep talking about that?

Because essentially what you're saying is you ovulated about a week later than the textbook would say, right?

Right.

And so typically you guys, 28 day cycle, you know all this.

Yeah.

And so they assume ovulation happens on the 14th.

That's conception when you're pregnant.

And then, you know, they base their dates off of those like very specific guidelines.

And so basically Kayla's saying, Hey, I actually ovulated around day 21, but actually push your due date back a week from what.

The, I'm gonna say again, the medical system would tell you that it was based off of those, you know, very literal kind of specific dates that they like to use.

So, right.

Like in her first story, like she's saying, if that were true is a good chance, it's like, Hey, my baby has another week or so.

Mm-hmm.

Like, they do not need to be ready yet.

And so again, obviously this emphasis on, I wanna know when I actually ovulated.

Because if this happens, again, I'm assuming you could say, right, I'm gonna hold firmer to my dates and not Exactly.

Not be bullied into something.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Yep.

And to go back to that one, she didn't show any signs that she was a 42 week baby when she was born.

Right.

You know, she was seven pounds, six ounces.

She was my smaller baby, like mm-hmm.

Yeah.

She, she didn't show any signs that she was that late, so.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, for sure.

So I, I did track it that the second time, and they let me use the date.

So they let me use my conception date.

That's awesome.

At the doctor's office, at the obs office.

And she measured all, you know, it matched right up to that the whole time with my second.

We still had to like mask at the office.

Yeah.

And but it was kind of like phasing out.

The rules were getting a little bit, a little bit better.

And at this pregnancy and birth, I was still not.

A labor nurse, yet I was still working in, medical device sales, so I kind of, I started with the ob, the same OB I had before, and the further we got into it, I was like, you know, I really love you as a doctor, but I don't know if I can deliver at that hospital again.

Like after that experience, I don't feel like my body feels safe there.

I didn't have a good experience and I know.

You know, some friends who did have good experiences there, but I just didn't, and I, I was like, I just don't know if I can, I can go through something similar again.

And she was totally understanding.

She's like, I get it.

You know, if you wanna switch, I'm totally supportive of that.

I can't control what happens at the hospital.

And I do, she validated my feelings about what happened and she apologized for a lot of the things that happened.

So that was nice.

But I stayed with her, until about 20 weeks and I. Searched around.

I didn't know what kind of birth I wanted.

I searched around for obs and I hired a doula.

Again, I hired a different doula group this time that, I knew I would be able to have one of the two doulas so I could build a better relationship.

The first doula group I had was like an on-call service, so it had like 20 doulas and you just get who you get, like whoever's on call.

So I hired a group that I got to know the doulas a lot better.

In one of our meetings, they suggested I go look at a birth center.

And I was like, oh, that's crazy.

I could never, I, I have to be in a hospital, surely, like, I cannot, I can't do that.

And they were like, listen, just go, just go take a tour of it.

If you hate it, you hate it and you don't do it, but just go take a tour and see what happens.

And so right before 20 weeks I went with my husband and we took a tour of this birth center and then we left and I.

And it's not attached to a hospital, which I thought would scare me.

Mm-hmm.

But it didn't, it felt super safe.

And, you know, they can do pretty much everything that the hospital can do outside of a c-section and an epidural.

Like they can resuscitate baby, right?

They can, they have nitrous, they have IVs, they have IV fluids, they have all the hemorrhage meds.

And so I was like, wow.

I feel.

I felt really good about that.

Okay.

And this birth center takes VBACs as well, or Tolac, because obviously you're trying to tolac at this point as well.

Okay.

Yeah, exactly.

And they take low risks.

So only one, yeah, one prior C, you only have had one prior C-section and then, I mean, you risk out pretty easily too.

Any, any medical complications you'll, you can risk out.

So thankfully I was considered still a low risk pregnancy, even being a. Yeah.

We made the switch and I started going there at like 20 weeks and it was awesome.

Just like the midwifery model of care and I mean like outside of the hospital midwives, not midwives who work in the doctor's office or midwives who work at the hospital.

'cause they're kind of just like obese as well, at least from my experience.

So every appointment was at least an hour.

They talk about everything.

They talk about your total wellbeing, you know.

How, what, what's your diet like?

How do you feel?

Are you like physically active?

How's your mental health?

They talked a lot about my past birth and like trauma from that.

How are you doing?

How are you feeling?

How is that playing into this, you know, this pregnancy?

And so it just, it's just such a more well-rounded level of care and it just seems like they take way more time to get to know you, get to know your body, get to know your wishes, and.

It's like you don't even need a birth plan because they know you so well, right.

By the time you give birth that you don't even have to come in with a written birth plan for somebody to read.

So,

That's so good.

That's so true.

That's,

yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I ended up, I guess towards the end of pregnancy I started having prodromal labor.

So if people essentially.

I thought I was in labor every single day for three and a half weeks, and I wasn't, it never, and I had never really experienced real labor before, so I didn't know what I was looking for.

Mm-hmm.

So it's like, is this it or is it not?

But every single day I would have contractions all day, all the way up until bedtime.

I would go to sleep, they would fizzle out and then wake up the next day and it would happen again.

And so I, you know, I've learned a lot now, and I think again, it was like baby positioning.

My body's just trying to get.

Her in the right position for birth, and she was a stubborn one too.

And so, finally one night I was 40 and four, so I was four days past my due date.

And I, my husband was kind of sick.

He was like not feeling great, so he went to bed and then I went to bed and I opened my Kindle to read and I was like, I had to put it down for a contraction.

I was like, well.

Read through the contraction.

So that's how I knew, okay, well this is, I think this is it.

So I went out to the couch and I labored by myself for maybe like an hour.

And then I was refilling my water bottle and he came out and he was like, whatcha doing?

Like, come to bed.

And I was like, I don't, I don't think we're going back to bed.

I think we are.

And he was like, no, we're going to bed.

I was like, no, I think we're gonna have a baby.

So he called the doula and she got here.

We labored at home for probably four hours with the doula, which was awesome.

Since he wasn't feeling well, she let him sleep and I was able to just labor with her out on the couch, in the shower, on the toilet.

And I started to get a little bit worried about the car ride to the birth center.

It was like a 15, 15 minute bumpy car ride.

Yeah.

And so I was like, well, maybe we should just go ahead and head in so it doesn't get worse.

Like, I don't wanna drive.

So we went to the birth center and when I, when we got there, I was six centimeters.

And my midwife, she's actually my home birth midwife now, so it's funny connection here.

But, when she first checked me, she was being so nice and sweet and she was like, well, you've been doing a lot of hard work.

And I was like.

Uh oh.

Oh my gosh.

Don't even tell me that.

I'm like, three centimeters.

Seriously, you're a fingertip.

Yeah, that's what I was expecting.

But she said, no, you're six and nice.

And so I was like, okay, well that's great.

And so, yeah, I just labored at the birth center and all kinds of different positions.

The bed, the toilet, they had a big tub, so I labored a lot in the tub.

And, you know, it was essentially like a first time birth, first time labor, so it took a long time.

I think it was like 12 hours of active labor, which was really hard.

But yeah, I, I labored in all kinds of different places and I felt the urge to push pretty early and I was only like seven centimeters, so that was hard to fight as well.

But, I made it through and I did use some nitrous with that one.

They had it available and so when it was time to push, it was.

I was like, all right, well, let's just try it and see.

And so I decided afterwards that I don't like it and I won't, I wouldn't do it again.

But I think it in the moment, it was even just the act of like having to hold it and breathe it in myself was maybe distracting enough, right?

To take my mind somewhere.

But, I just didn't like the way it felt after, like right after she was born.

I just felt like totally out of it and I just didn't really.

Enjoy that.

Mm-hmm.

Sensation.

So I probably wouldn't do that again.

But yeah, I pushed for an hour and a half.

Okay.

Which is, I guess for a first time, not that long, but when you're unmedicated and,

yeah.

Yeah,

it's, it feels like forever.

And she was asy clinic as well, which I suspected, that was my first, so she was very asynclitic, like all of her, you know, cap and molding was on the side of her head and.

I think that's why it took a little bit longer, but

just so y'all know, asy clinic basically means crooked.

Like

yeah,

they come down in the birth canal instead of their head being, you know, perfectly aligned, it's like cocked off to a side or whatever.

And so they end up with that swelling or that mold, you know, molding on a side of their head because they're in their crooked and it can slow things down a little bit.

It can make pushing a little like tougher longer, would you say, because you just kind of have, your body has to kind of.

Get the baby turned as well as like mm-hmm.

Get them to descend almost.

So that's what that word means, just in case.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So overall, I had a great experience at the birth center.

You know, obviously she came straight to my chest and I got all that experience that I didn't have before, but there were still some things afterwards that I was like, well, they gave me, a new midwife.

So she was training and I didn't, I didn't know that, or I guess I didn't know the extent of it, but she came from a hospital setting and so she was coming from the hospital to the birth center.

And so there were a few things that happened that I just like wasn't totally happy with.

And thankfully I had learned at this point that I could speak up for myself a little bit more and I can advocate a little bit more.

So like.

When I started feeling her tug on my cord, like right after the baby was born, I was like, stop, don't tug.

Like, so she was just born like, stop pulling on the cord.

I could feel it.

And so she did stop.

And there were a couple of other things.

They gave me some IV fluids to try and like move things along.

Mm-hmm.

I wasn't really like.

Drinking as much as they wanted me to or eating as much, which that's another cool thing about the birth center is they were encouraging me to eat the whole time.

They were like, you gotta get something in.

You are like, you can't just not drink and not eat.

So, that, that was really cool.

But I wasn't really, I didn't really have much of an appetite, so they gave me some fluids and I don't know if it helped or not, but she stuck me twice with the iv.

She missed twice.

And then finally I was like the other.

Let's just get the other midwife, like, I don't want another stick.

Like, this is so silly.

I have really good veins too.

So it was kind of wild.

But yeah, there, there were a couple things and then the repair afterwards I had a second degree, laceration that needed to be stitched up and so yeah, she didn't do a really great job with that.

I lost a stitch like just a few hours after I got home and.

Had to go back in and get that looked at.

And so, mm-hmm.

There were a few things that I was just like, you know, it was almost my perfect, almost my perfect birth, but it was such a redemption from the C-section and I just felt like, you know, I, I got to go home six hours after she was born.

We got to be home with my toddler, who wasn't even two at the time.

And so to be home to put her to bed was really awesome.

Have dinner at home.

Our daughter to bed and just be comfortable in our own bed after that.

It was great.

So yeah, totally, totally awesome compared to the first.

And I was, you know, the whole time in between birth to birth, I would just, I had I guess PTSD or it led to intrusive thoughts.

I would just replay everything that happened during my first birth.

Over and over and over again.

Mm-hmm.

Well, what if I had done this?

What if I had done that?

And I realized that that's not really healthy.

I know it's not really normal, but my OB never asked me about my mental health.

You know, the only thing they do to screen is at the pediatrician and you have a screaming baby and your boobs are leaking.

And so when you're filling out the paper, you're just like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, everything's fine.

When in reality I was not fine.

And I. Some help, but I didn't even know I needed help until I was like right after my second.

I was like, oh, well, so that's not normal.

You know, the midwives are asking you all these things.

And I was like, well, who?

You?

Right.

So that's, yeah, that's something really important to, to pay attention to and I tell all of my friends that too, like intrusive thoughts are not, it's not normal to picture all the ways that your baby is gonna die.

I thought it was.

So yeah.

But yeah, I felt so different.

So much better.

My recovery obviously was way easier.

I was like walking around the neighborhood a couple days after she was born and it was just way better.

So we actually thought we were done after that.

We thought we wouldn't have any more babies because she was a terrible sleeper.

She had, and both actually, I mean, neither of them slept and still.

There are still a couple nights a week where they don't sleep.

So we were like, we can't, we can't do that to ourselves.

We're too old for that.

We can't, we just have to be done because we won't survive.

So in the middle of all of this, I was still, I was, trying to start this business and I had been working in med device sales full time.

And then after my second, there's no, I got no paid maternity leave.

'cause in Texas there's no required paid maternity leave.

So.

They wanted me back traveling six weeks after she was born.

And I, I used to travel like two or three nights a week and I was like, I can't leave a six week old that's exclusively breastfeeding and go stay one or two nights in Houston.

You know, I, it just, I, I couldn't do it.

So my husband was like, well, let's just take a chance on this business.

Like, quit your sales job, work full time on the business for, and we'll see what, see what you can do in a year for the business.

I left my job in device sales.

I had always kept my nursing license active, so we said, you know, that'll be a fallback.

Like if I have to go back to work, I'll just go back to nursing and I can work parttime or whatever.

And.

We'll make it work.

So that's how I ended up back at the bedside is starting a business is hard and so, we needed some money and so I had to go back to the bedside.

Had you been to the bedside prior or did you just go straight from nursing school and then end up in the like medical devices?

Yeah, so I worked

five years bedside, outta nursing school.

So I worked in the er.

In like a 24 hour observation unit.

And then I worked mother baby for a couple years.

Oh yeah, that's who you said.

I'm sorry.

You mentioned that.

But not the l and d came, the return back to the bedside was when the labor delivery came in.

Okay.

And labor and delivery was always my dream, but back in the day it was really hard to get into labor and delivery.

So I was on the wait list Yeah.

For two years while I was in mother, baby and I, a position never opened up, so I got really lucky.

To get offered a position on day shift labor and delivery, you know, when I applied, right?

So that, that was awesome.

But it was really hard for my husband because I had to go through a fellowship and so I was working three days a week full time, essentially.

And he had the babies that didn't sleep

at home.

Yeah.

Yes, he did.

Like he couldn't,

it felt like a year, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

And my youngest had the worst reflux, like undiagnosed.

The pediatrician kept brushing us off, which again, another lesson learned like follow your.

Your parenting instincts.

Like I knew she had reflux, but they were like, she's growing, she's healthy.

I'm like, okay, well she throws up like five times a day and she's up all night.

This is, something's wrong.

And so, yeah, we thought we were done, but they slept through the night for about a week together and we're like, you know what?

We didn't do anything.

That's what happens.

So we.

Now, obviously you're pregnant with number three and this time, you know, I've been back at the bedside for I guess over two and a half years now, and I've been working in labor and delivery this whole time.

So I've gotten to see a lot and I've learned a lot that I didn't know before.

So it's been really cool and people are always like, well, you're a nurse, but you're gonna have a home birth.

Yeah, because the hospital scares me more than the home scares me.

So yeah, I. The biggest thing is like, this time I, I started with one of the obs that I worked with because I wasn't sure.

Again, I was like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna start with her.

She is, , one of the more chill, like natural minded doesn't break down the bed.

She sits at the, you know, at the foot of the bed.

Like there's no stirs and stuff.

And so, I was like, she's my girl.

Like I can do, I can do this at the hospital.

And you know, I work with a really good team and the nurses are all like, for the most part.

The, the nurses are so much more advanced with knowing what needs to change and, you know, going with with that.

And, so I had like picked out my nurse and I still have her on backup too.

I was like, you're gonna be my nurse if I do have to go into the hospital.

That's the best part about delivering where you work, right?

Like I was always texting who's on charge?

Yeah.

Who's anesthesia?

Just in case I need like that crna.

Like, I love being, like, I'm coming in.

Who's there

for me?

I had the, I had the doctor send me the call sheet so I know who's on call every single.

Exactly.

Yep.

Yep.

I did too.

Yep.

So I can plan.

But yeah, I, I stayed with her for until 20 weeks.

Again, kind of the same as before.

And I told her at the first appointment, I was like, listen.

I don't know if I wanna have a hospital birth or not.

I'm gonna keep going with you until I figure it out.

Like I just have to, there's a lot of things I need to think through.

We're in a different financial situation right now, so it's a little bit more expensive to, to deliver at home than at the hospital.

So I was like, I just, I have to figure it out, but I, I don't know where.

And she was always like, that's totally fine, just like, keep me updated, let me know.

And so I stayed with her until 20 weeks after the anatomy scan and then.

We started talking to home birth midwives, and the midwife that started my labor at the birth center has since gone and joined a home birth practice.

And so I already knew her and so I reached out to them and I had an interview with her and her partner, and it just, again, just like what happened at the birth center, it just felt like the right thing to do.

You know, I, I felt super safe with both of them.

And yeah, I just decided, you know, this is a sacrifice that I think is important for us to make financially.

If it, if, if we lose that money, we lose that money.

But, yeah, they do work with insurance, so there's a chance that some of it could be covered by insurance.

Mm-hmm.

So, mm-hmm.

Yeah, we, we're really excited about it and I had the same doula as last time, so Okay.

Got my birth team built and, yeah, we're just like looking forward to.

Going into labor at home, not having to worry about driving in the car, just being at home.

We got our childcare secure.

My mom's coming to town and it just, it feels like the safest place for me.

I was having, like the whole 20 weeks that I was seeing the ob, I would have a nightmare every single night about the hospital.

So we've been super busy, which I don't know if it's the same all over the country, but like.

People are having babies.

They're just so many babies.

And I, we, I work at a smaller hospital.

We only do like 150 to 180 births a month.

Which is small compared to a lot of the bigger systems.

I work just like right outside of the city.

So it's one of the smaller community hospitals.

But, it's busy all the time, especially in the summer, like there are days in the summer.

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

And we had a shift just like a month ago where we had no rooms.

All of our labor rooms were full.

We were, we had people delivering in triage rooms and we had triages in our antepartum rooms and we were about to open up our PACU for labor patients.

And so.

I would, before this even happened, I would have nightmares that I would come in, in labor.

There were no rooms.

They put me in a storage closet and it was like dirty.

And I was like this, I was, you know, just like recurring nightmares the whole time I was with the ob.

And then as soon as I switched to home birth, they just stopped.

Like all the nightmares stopped.

And so that kind of helped me feel way more at peace with the decision as well.

So, and you know, I am a practical person and I'm a planner and I'm.

I know that not everything always goes as planned, so if I have to transfer back in, that's fine.

My OB said she would take me back at any point if I need to.

If I need to go, they're fine letting me transfer back.

If I need to transfer during delivery, we would go there.

So yeah, I feel, I feel really at peace with it and I'm really actually excited.

I don't know how many people say they're excited to.

Have an unmedicated birth, right?

I do.

Yeah.

I get it.

I do.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it can't

wait every time.

Yeah.

It's really weird.

It's funny.

It's like, well, you know, I was like, I made it through the last time and this time in theory, it's gotta be faster and easier.

Right.

So if I can do it, then that's the hope.

Yeah.

It's like a competition with myself.

But it's so funny because so many of our nurses go unmedicated and it, it seems like it would be the opposite, but so many of us.

Go unmedicated and like wanna have that and love to give birth.

Mm-hmm.

Which is awesome.

But

I think Okay.

I think personally that that topic is such an interesting one and a whole separate conversation.

I have talked to this to other nurses about this.

I feel like, and this could be just 'cause social media or something, but I feel like a lot of labor nurses, including those who are on social media and doing teaching, supporting.

Choose to birth unmedicated, even though they work at a hospital, and I feel like there's something there.

Not a negative thing, but just is that this, Hey, like we do prefer less intervention 'cause we've seen all the thing like that.

There is some sort of line of thought.

I also know labor nurses who are like, gimme the epidural.

That's amazing.

Yeah.

I love this thing.

So I'm, I don't know if there's truly like a split that would be like 90 10.

I doubt it's probably 50 50, but I felt the same that sometimes it feels like a lot of hospital labor nurses and they, a lot of them choose to deliver in a hospital.

I definitely did.

But they do choose.

To do it unmedicated.

And there's just something interesting in that for me too.

I know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And

it's not only that there's a lot of things that they choose to do differently and yeah, it's, it's pretty cool.

There's another nurse who's due date is one day after Ryan, she's having a home birth as well.

Okay.

So there's two of us on the unit right now that are about to have home births, which is really cool.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I

am excited for you and I think as a nurse, this is really cool for you too, because you're gonna have three really different experiences, which is only gonna make you a better nurse.

And so I think that that's so valuable.

Like, I'm not gonna knock my own bursts, but I had like pretty similar bursts.

Where, I'm not the nurse who, oh, I had a C-section 'cause my baby was breached and then IV backed and then I had an induction.

And I just think it's really valuable, real experience.

You bring that to the bedside and so I think that that for you will just be a really cool thing.

It's almost a gift for your patients to say like, Hey, I've been there.

Hey, I. Experience Pitocin two or you know, whatever.

Yeah.

Whatever that thing is that you guys are talking to each other about.

Yeah.

So yeah,

for sure.

I'm excited for you.

Totally

agree.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Okay.

Really briefly, you mentioned I run a small business.

That's actually how we met you guys socially, social media.

But I want her to tell you about a tiny bit because I just love what she's doing and I'm a huge fan of her product, so I want her to tell you about it because I.

Happily endorse this thing.

So why don't you tell everyone really quick?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, with my first, you know, I had babysit, don't sleep.

When we transitioned out of the swaddle, I tried everything.

Nothing worked.

We.

There's a ton of products out there.

But yeah, nothing worked.

And then I was venting on the phone to my friend Amber one day.

She, we went to nursing school together and she had a daughter, right around the same time as me.

So she was like, oh my gosh, I had the same problem.

Like, nothing worked.

And so we just, we were like, well, what if we took this one and we gave it the features of this one?

And we, and so we talked for like 30 minutes and we like designed this product in our head on the call.

And I was like, well.

Don't we just do it like mm-hmm.

How hard can it be?

Like people do, like baby products exist, so people do it.

Like, let's just try to do it.

And so she sketched it out on a piece of paper and we went from there and yeah, we designed this, what we think is the best, swaddle transition product on the market now.

Four years, how hard can it be?

Right, right.

How hard can it be?

You know, you just go and you figure it out.

So that's why I, to which is a blessing.

I, yeah.

Launched.

It's been less than a year ago since we launched, and you actually were one of the first people that we reached out to.

One of my friends, I think, followed you on Instagram and she sent me, she was like, you should check out her page.

She's really cool.

She just had a baby.

And so I reached out to you and you tried it and loved it.

And so that was really cool.

And we're really appreciative of that too, because we're not making enough money to pay ourselves yet.

Still not yet.

That's why I'm still working.

Not yet One day.

But, yeah, Scotty loved it and you loved it and that was awesome.

And so, yeah, it's just a product to, it's a sleep sack to help babies transition out of the swaddle.

It just wants that moral reflex just enough for them to kind of connect some sleep cycles a little bit better without being woken up.

So yeah, it's, it's pretty crazy times running a business.

Mm-hmm.

Working at the hospital, being pregnant.

Mm-hmm.

Having two little kids at home and.

But it's awesome.

I wouldn't trade it, trade it for anything

Good.

So the business is called Dreamy Peach Co. She didn't mention that.

Oh, I'm sorry.

We'll, that's okay.

I want them to know.

We'll drop the link in the show notes.

You guys, I'm not being paid to say this.

I'm not like making bucks off the affiliate.

I loved the sleep sack with my girl.

I just thought it was the perfect.

In between when you do want or need to break that swaddle or if you just don't ever really wanna swaddle, but you wanna be doing some safe sleep.

Kind of some in-between stuff, like I thought it was awesome.

So those links are there for you if you guys wanna check it out and see, see what we're talking about.

'cause I really, I liked it and my girl liked it too, so

thanks.

Yeah, I appreciate that.

And you mentioned safe sleep and also obviously that's really important to us as a mother baby nurse before and now labor and delivery nurse.

I've been like a stickler for safe sleep.

And my friend Amber, too, she's A-C-R-N-A, we went to nursing school together.

She's A-C-R-N-A now.

So that was really important.

So we were very careful in our design features, to make sure that it was very safe.

Yeah.

It's great.

I love it.

Okay, so let's see.

Where can people connect with you?

I guess there might be two ways, or do you wanna just send them to the business?

Yeah.

Personal.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Per my personal page is Law l AA Anderson.

Okay.

My Instagram, I don't post a ton there, but I do try to update for big milestones.

So my birth will be on there, hopefully.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

And then, the business is just at Dreamy Peach Co on Instagram.

We're still trying to figure out TikTok because we're 38.

Aren't we

all?

We all is hard, but yeah,

that's

So maybe.

Yeah.

Okay.

That's perfect.

We can share both of those if people wanna reach you in either way.

Okay.

And then last thing I ask everyone when they come on, just first thing that pops in your mind, don't get too thoughtful about it.

What is something right now that is just like bringing you life and sparking a ton of joy?

You know, my kids.

They're three and five and they're just such a fun age and they're getting more independent and they're just learning so much.

It's, it's really cool to see, like you look back at all those struggles where they didn't sleep and you're just like barely surviving, and now it's like finally feel like we're thriving.

So I think that's it.

I love it.

It's about

Perfect.

Perfect time to add a baby then, right?

I was gonna say, it's time to shake things up again.

You know.

Exactly.

Well, I'm pumped

for you.

I can't wait to hear this story.

We should have you back on and you can tell us how it goes.

Great.

I would love that.

Thank you for having me.

Yeah, thanks Kayla.

Thank you so much for listening to The Low and Behold Podcast.

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