In today’s episode we’re hearing from Reyna, who is a Navy Spouse. Reyna shares the birth story of her second child, who was born at the very end of 2019. Reyna and her family PCS’ed overseas when she was 6 months pregnant, only to find out almost immediately that she’d be sent back to the states to give birth. Reyna had a planned c-section and then a few days later, she ended up at the ER with severe stomach pain which ended up being what the doctors called retained products of coneption. After an emergency D&C she had a few weeks to recover in the airbnb before needing to fly back to Japan, and then her husband deployed shortly thereafter. Needless to say Reyna really went through a lot during this birth and postpartum and despite it all she still devotes much of her time and energy to making the military life easier for other families through her own work on her blog and podcast called The Desk of a Navy Wife.

Check out these resources from Reyna:
Website: https://www.deskofanavywife.com/
Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zvZenaRy479Oi34ATN8RP?si=e5fc13d20d8542c7
Newsletter for Additional Tips & Resources: https://www.deskofanavywife.com/about
IG: https://www.instagram.com/thedeskofanavywife/
FB Community: https://www.facebook.com/the.desk.of.a.navy.wife.community/

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Facebook: Military Birth Resource Network & Postpartum Coalition

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In today’s episode, I’m speaking Hannah who is Active Duty in the Navy as an ER nurse. Her first birth took place at the MTF where she worked, and it was a very long experience which ended with a forceps delivery resulting in a birth injury that took nearly a year to be resolved. Her second experience was totally different, and ended up being an accidental unassisted homebirth, which she describes as an amazing and empowering experience. We talk about the importance of self advocacy and doing everything you can to be informed about your choices when preparing for birth.

Follow along with Military Birth Talk:
Instagram: @militarybirthtalk
Facebook: Military Birth Resource Network & Postpartum Coalition

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In today’s episode I’m speaking with LT Samantha Mclaughlin, who’s Active Duty. LT Mclaughlin shares the birth story of her daughter who was born just shy of 33 weeks, after her water broke at 31 weeks. At the time, Samantha was working as a Labor & Delivery Nurse in 29 Palms, but because there was no NICU there they had to be transferred to another local hospital about 45 minutes away. Samantha stayed as a patient for 2 weeks until giving birth via C-Section, and then her daughter stayed in the NICU for 21 days before being discharged. Samantha talks about how her medical knowledge impacted her experience, navigating the totally unexpected way that her birth and postpartum period went, and what it was like having to return to work.

Follow along with Military Birth Talk:
Instagram: @militarybirthtalk
Facebook: Military Birth Resource Network & Postpartum Coalition

Submit your birth story!
forms.gle/3TT7FyV1QQV3RZGc8