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Welcome to the birth prep podcast. I'm Taylor, your birth bestie, who's here to support you as you plan and prepare for the unmedicated birth of your dreams. If you're ready to ditch the fear, conquer the hospital hustle, support that bump and bod, and walk into the delivery room like the HGIC you were born to be, then buckle up, babe.
This is where it all goes down. Hello, hello, and welcome back to the birth prep podcast. It's time for another episode of the HGIC hotline, where I help you go from, I have no idea what I'm doing, to catch me running this birth like a boss.
We've got three amazing questions this week, from water breaking with no labor, to prepping your body before the baby journey even begins, to how to shut down those unwanted cervical checks like the head girly in charge that you absolutely are. And I have to tell you, the birth plan party is officially happening. It's my free event to help you finally make a real birth plan that reflects your wants and your needs.
We're talking nitty gritty decisions, preparing for the hospital hustle, and how to turn that birth plan into a birth strategy. I'm going to drop all the details at the end, so stick with me, but let's get to those questions first. Question number one is from Hannah.
What if my water breaks when I'm not in labor yet? Do I have to go to the hospital? I love this question because this situation throws a lot of women off. One of the biggest questions that I get is, how will I know when it's time to go to the hospital? And so many people are just like, well, you'll know. That answer doesn't fly with me.
Information is power. And while there is some nuance and you won't be able to pinpoint the exact perfect time to go, there's absolutely information that can help you make an informed decision. So here's the truth for this.
Just because your water breaks doesn't mean your baby is about to fly out, okay? I know TV and movies make it seem like that, like the first drop of water, or usually it's a big gush. It's a big theatrical thing, right? Everybody's freaking out. Everybody's like, run quick to the hospital.
Can we just take a moment and take everything that we've learned about birth from TV and throw it in the trash? Because that's what it is, literal trash. You don't have to drop everything and sprint to the hospital. You're not in danger.
Your baby's not about to fall out on aisle five of your favorite store. You have time to breathe, to assess the situation, and to make an informed decision. Now, hospitals love a timeline.
They'll often say you've got 12 hours or you need to be in active labor by X time before they push for interventions like pitocin, antibiotics, things like that. But evidence shows that waiting for labor to begin on its own, especially if you're GBS negative, is totally reasonable. The research tells us that most people go into labor naturally within 24 hours of their waters breaking.
Your body knows what it's doing, and unless there are signs of infection, distress, or other risk factors, you have options. Now, if you're GBS positive, it is recommended to go in when your waters break so that you can get your, uh, what is it called? Antibiotics. Good lord, stay with me.
But even if you are positive, you still get to ask questions. You still get to decide what makes sense for you. So what can you do if you want to stay home and wait for labor to ramp up, which I strongly suggest considering if you're going for an unmedicated birth.
Monitor your amniotic fluid for color and smell. It should be clear or slightly pink. They say it should have no odor, but I think it has almost like a sweet smell to it.
I'm like, if I, um, where my waters broke with my last baby and my provider was like, are you sure? I'm like, I'm sure. I know what this stuff smells like, but if it's foul smelling and it has like a brownish greenish, or even like a yellowish tint to the waters, your baby has probably passed their first stool inside of your womb and what is just called meconium. And that could put you and baby at risk for infection.
So you want to just be mindful of that, make an informed decision with that information. It's not recommended to go in pools or to have intercourse or anything like that. Once your waters have broken to minimize the risk of infection, you're probably going to want to opt out of frequent cervical checks or opt out of them altogether because they up your risk for infection.
If you are staying home and you are wanting to wait, please hydrate rest, eat, get in your birth zone. And most importantly, trust your instincts. Quick story time with my last baby.
I had my waters break as the first sign of labor for the very first time. I've never experienced that before. My waters had always been broken for me and my hospital births.
And then with my fourth birth, I prayed for my waters to stay intact as long as possible. Like that was a literal prayer that I prayed and they didn't break until I was pushing. I wanted to have that experience of my waters breaking on their own.
And I wanted them to stay intact for as long as possible because there are some benefits for your waters being intact still. And I'm the Lord's favorite. So of course he gave me what I wanted and I'm God's favorite.
So he gave me what I wanted. Anywho, my water breaks with baby number five, my provider's like, are you sure? I'm like, yes, I'm sure. And I was not having contractions.
Like there was nothing going on. So she of course was running on policies and stuff for the state of Florida. And she was telling me all these things that I could start doing and trying to get those contractions to start.
And I just was not feeling it. I'm like, I'm not, I'm not going to do any of that. Actually.
She was like, oh, I can come sweep your membranes. We can come do this. We can, um, you know, try the mile circuit.
We can do some nipple stimulation, try your pump, whatever. And I'm just like, no, I'm good. I'm good.
I'm not going to do anything. I don't think she liked that very much, but it was my decision to make. And I understood the risks of her not being able to attend my birth if I went over that time limit.
And it was a risk that I was willing to take. She wanted to see me with active contraction pattern before the 12 hour mark. And I had my baby before that.
So it was totally fine. And everything was calm and cool and collected. I got to relax and rest.
And I woke up when I was in transition and had my baby a couple minutes after that. And it was great. Everything was wonderful.
And it was so, it was, I just, I felt delusional. It felt crazy. Even when I called them based on one contraction, everything felt like, like it wasn't how I was supposed to do it, but I trusted myself and the instincts that I had that day.
So that's my little story time. But to answer the question, what if my water breaks, but I'm not in labor yet. Do I have to go to the hospital? No, you don't have to do anything.
You should be making an informed decision on the matter and make a decision that feels right for you and the experience that you're trying to create, et cetera, understand the risks and the benefits of all the options that are available to you and make the decision that you feel is best as with all the decisions, right? You guys have probably heard me say that a million times, but onto the next question. This question is from Dakota. We've had the baby talk.
We'll be ready to start trying in the next couple of years. What should I be doing now to prepare my body for pregnancy? Okay. Future HGAC in the making.
I see you. We're planning ahead. I love to see it.
Here's the thing prepping your body for pregnancy. Doesn't have to wait until you're peeing on ovulation strips. You can start right now by building a strong foundation.
Think of it like prepping the soil before you plant the I'm going to give you five of my favorite tips for this. First off nutrition is queen. Start eating like you're already pregnant, whole foods, protein, healthy fats, leafy greens, ditch the junk, or just start crowding it out.
You know, like we still love a little sweet treat. At least I do. And you can even start looking into prenatal vitamins in advance and start taking those.
The eggs that will become your future babies are already in your body. Number two, consider detoxing your lifestyle. There are so many things on the market that disrupt our hormones nowadays, like literally so many things.
So consider switching those things to non-toxic products slowly over time. I know it takes time. We've we've switched a lot of our stuff, but like, there's still things that probably aren't the best to have in this house.
You've seen such a rise in infertility. And I think it's hugely attributed to the things that we're using in our everyday lives. I'm talking skincare products, your makeup, your cleaning supplies, even your period products.
If you can clean some of that up, switch to some cleaner alternatives, your hormones are going to thank you. Number three, start tracking your cycle. If you're not already, it's not just for ovulation, but to just understand your body.
I recommend tracking your cycle. If you're a female, okay. Is your luteal phase long enough? Do you spot, do you feel energized or wrecked during your period? Your body is dropping you hints and telling you so much.
So start tracking that and get really curious on what your body is telling you. Number four, you can start to strengthen your pelvic floor and your core. Not with just kegels, although kegels are great, right? But functional movement, breath work, you can even look into like some prenatal safe workouts, even before you're pregnant, all those things start understanding how you can best support your body for this upcoming adventure.
Then number five, arguably the most important thing in my personal opinion, do the mindset work journal, pray, visualize, release the fears that you're having and gather information so that your brain doesn't have so much runaround room of all these what-ifs you don't have to wait to become the mom. You can start becoming her now. And honestly, truly the mindset stuff impacts every area of your life, right? I use the same mindset stuff for my business as I do for my births.
I use the same mindset stuff for my births as I do for parenting my children and navigating my relationships as an adult. It's work that's going to serve you long-term. Such helpful work, okay? It's literally changed my life, I swear.
If you want to start preparing for your future birth, maybe you should check out the birth prep course. Just saying, it's got all that stuff in there. Body prep, mindset prep, all the goodies.
Okay, final question of the day. How do I handle cervical checks that I don't want or need? First things first, you can say no. Period.
End of story. Full stop. That's a full sentence, babes.
Cervical checks are not mandatory. They are not required to go into labor. They do not predict when labor will start and they sure as heck don't tell us how strong or capable you are.
So while you might want a cervical check at some point, I don't think there's really ever a situation where you need one. The only time that I could even think of that would be like a good time to do one is to choose an induction method. So if you're not very dilated, you're going to start on some medications before you start on Pitocin.
But if you're dilated to a certain centimeter, then they're going to start you on Pitocin and skip the other stuff. But y'all aren't getting induced. You're my unmedicated girlies.
So I can't think of any situation where you would actually need a check. And I say that because language matters so much. The question was how do I handle cervical checks that I don't want or need? But let's talk some strategy.
If someone's reaching for gloves and you are just so not feeling it, here's what you can say. I'm declining checks right now. Please note that in my chart.
Before I consent, will you tell me the medical reason for doing this check today? Is this necessary today or is this just routine? Because if it's just routine, I'm going to be opting out. And just for the record, bringing it right back to just saying I'd prefer not to or saying no is totally enough. You don't owe them a five paragraph essay.
You don't owe them an explanation. If they push or guilt trip you or try to educate you into saying yes, that's not informed consent. That's manipulation.
You deserve a care team that's going to respect your voice. And guess what? That's exactly why your birth plan isn't just a cute little checklist. It's a strategy.
It's a game plan. It's a whole vibe. Thanks for the segue, Janice.
That brings me to the birth plan party. If you're listening to this thinking, oh my gosh, I have no clue what I'd say, what my options are, what I should even put on my birth plan. You need to be at the birth plan party.
Even if you have a birth plan and you're like, I want to make sure that I'm backing this with strategy and then I'm preparing for this plan so that it actually has a chance of being pulled off. This was quite literally built for you. It's a free event.
It's happening April 25th. It's a Friday. It's 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
If you can't make it live, I'm going to send you guys a replay, so don't stress about it. But try to make it live. I'm going to do Q&A at the end and stuff.
It's going to be a fun time. You're going to walk away with a clear, strategic, valued-based birth plan that's made for you. No copy-paste nonsense, no templates, no none of that, okay? We'll walk through dozens of decisions, talk through how to prep for pushback, and make sure you're not just hoping for a good birth.
You're planning for it. And I'm also going to send you home with a little juicy goodie bag full of some digital resources to help you take action on what we're going to learn that day because if you're not backing this information with action, it's kind of pointless. So if you're going to come and you're going to come, you don't have to come.
This is a waste of your time, honestly. And you know I'm going to tell it like it is. So I want you guys to take action on this.
I'm going to set you guys up for your best chance of success of doing that. I can't do the work for you, but I can make it as easy as possible for you to do it. There's more information and the link to register inside the show notes for you guys, but that was a good episode.
Thank you ladies for asking those questions. I hope this episode made you feel bold, equipped, and maybe a little bit fired up to protect your piece and to prep like a pro. If you have a question that you'd love to see answered here right on the podcast, there's a link in the show notes for you to submit those.
I've been getting some DMs from you guys about you guys listening to the podcast and little breakthroughs that you're getting and the questions that are coming up. I love that. Keep them coming.
Always excited to chat birth with you guys. I will chat with you ladies again soon and I'm so looking forward to seeing you at my birth plan party. Until then, as always, happy prepping.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
