Ep 115:Covid Positive at 37 Weeks... Where Will Kate Give Birth?

So many people have chosen to forgo the hospital for childbirth because of Covid… but what happens when you’re planning an out of hospital birth and test positive for covid…at 37 weeks?     That’s what happened to Kate, and it was quite a difficult time for her, as you’ll see.  But you’ll also see that Kate’s quite resourceful, and her experience certainly makes for an action-packed episode.   In fact, topics covered in this episode include: teen pregnancy, a forced induction, unexpected pregnancy, testing covid positive at 37 weeks, birth center births and becoming a midwife   Before we get into this incredible story, I’d love to take a moment to thank our reviewer of the week, KianaMichelleR. And I just have to say, that review was so deeply touching to me, Kiana.  Thank you for such a kind and specific compliment, it truly meant so much to me.  And, it’s a great opportunity for me to just stop and say thank you to all of you for listening.  I know sometimes it’s weird, and podcasts seem like a one way relationship, but I feel like I know you guys, too.  And I genuinely care about you.  So thank you for making this such a lovely space.  Kiana, if you’ll email me at [email protected] I'd love to send you Happy Homebirth podcast sticker.   And hey, if you get a moment, would you head over to apple podcasts to leave a *hopefully* 5 star rating, and maybe even a review?  It’s a free, easy way to support the show and make sure this information gets into the ears of other mothers who would benefit from it.   Okay, that’s good for now.  Let’s get into the good part.    Please remember the opinions of my guests may not necessarily reflect my own and vice versa, and neither one of us are medical professionals, so continue to see your doctor, midwife, or if you're like me, your chiropractor.   Show Notes At 16, Kate decided to get pregnant.  The relationship disintegrated during the pregnancy, but her mother was great support. She didn’t get great childbirth education for that birth.   She did her best to breastfeed her first, but she’d never seen anyone nurse before.  The breastfeeding relationship lasted 6 weeks.   With her second pregnancy, she waited until she was in a good relationship (5 years later) before becoming pregnant.     Wanted a girl but didn’t want to know the gender, but the ultrasound tech accidentally gave away that it was a boy at 15 weeks.   She was in pre-nursing school at this time.   At 37 weeks, she had one high blood pressure reading, so they recommended induction.  She was only 1 cm dilated and baby at -3 station, yet they broke her water.  Luckily, there were no complications.   2 hours later she was complete.  The nurse told her to do a practice push, and the baby began crowning.  The nurse shoved her legs together and told her not to push.  She waited 10-15 minutes for the Dr to come in from a C-section.   She’d asked for delayed cord clamping, but the Dr. Clamped it immediately after birth.     The nursing staff made the baby take formula because he had jaundice, and she was incredibly disappointed with that.   Went back to work at 4 weeks postpartum.   10 months postpartum, she jokingly took an ovulation test with a friend— it was such a strong positive, that she worried that the HCG was high meaning she was actually pregnant.  She took 3 pregnancy tests.   Her husband had just told her that he didn’t want more kids— so she was terrified when she found out that she was actually pregnant.   One month later she found out that she’d been accepted into nursing school.   Kate used podcasts, especially Happy Homebirth, to prepare for her pregnancy.  She couldn’t go to a childbirth education program in person because of covid, so this was her form of preparation and even almost “hypnosis”   With all that was going on, and her inability to start nursing school in August, she began looking into schooling to become a Certified Professional Midwife.     At 37 weeks, they found out that her