EP36| Katherine - A Catholic ​healing high-risk HBAC after traumatic emergency caesarean

<p>In this episode, we meet Katherine, mother of two girls and living in the United Kingdom.&nbsp;</p> <p>Baby Angela joins us for part of the episode, so we get to hear her cooing and playing in the background.&nbsp;</p> <p>During her first birth and after over 24 hours in active labour Katherine was no longer able to birth in the birth centre and transferred into hospital care.&nbsp;</p> <p>Meconium was seen in the waters which meant she had CTG monitoring and her care was transferred over to OBGYNS.</p> <p>She managed by using gas and air for a while before asking for and having an epidural.&nbsp;</p> <p>​Katherine started showing signs of illness (pyrexia, bringing up bile, losing clarity &amp; focus) ​which were identified as signs of an internal infection and suspected sepsis.</p> <p>​An emergency caesarean was then arranged and Katherine was in and out of consciousness.&nbsp;</p> <p>​Both Katherine and the baby stayed in the hospital for a whole week. The recovery was rough, and it took me months to realise she had birth trauma.&nbsp;</p> <p>In particular, she was distressed by her missing memories.</p> <p>Katherine did a lot of preparation for her HBAC - She sought counselling, had a birth reflections session, spent time in prayer, informed herself about VBACs, waterbirth &amp; physiological labour, and had to fight for the birth she wanted as she was classed as high-risk due to the emergency caesarean &amp; PPH.</p> <p>Katherine planned for a homebirth with her second baby Angela and was able to have a publicly funded prenatal care &amp; birth with the NHS in the UK.&nbsp;</p> <p>Seeing midwives through her care she planned and prepared for a calm and gentle homebirth. &nbsp;</p> <p>She went into labour at 41 weeks.</p> <p>​During the labour she used hypnobirthing breathing techniques, and also offered prayers during contractions for various intentions.&nbsp;</p> <p>Eventually, she was told she had to come out of the pool as the baby's heart rate was raised.&nbsp;</p> <p>An ambulance was called but not u