Labor Nurse’s Fourth Birth Story: 19-Minute Unmedicated Hospital Birth Caught by Dad | Episode 72

Friends, it's finally here: my fourth (and final) birth story. I'm sharing how Kelvin and I went from "we'll have three" to parenting our way into a fourth baby, and what it was like to get pregnant and receive maternity care as an expat in the Netherlands. As someone who loves this work, I got to see that midwifery model up close, and I'll be honest about the hard parts too, like language barriers and a fragmented system that left me biking home twice after a midwife couldn't find a heartbeat. Then we moved back to the U.S. halfway through the pregnancy and I felt amazing, but I was wrestling with a due date that landed right around my mom's heaven day, and with the question of when we grieve and when we celebrate. Join YBYB: www.thelabormama.com/birth (https://lo-behold-pregnancy-birth-mot...) & use the code PODCAST to save 20% Then we get to the birth itself: a sneaky Sunday morning, a very precipitous labor, and just 19 minutes in the hospital. I talk about laboring on hands and knees, experiencing the fetal ejection reflex for the first time, the baby girl who came out screaming, and why I was so sure I'd torn when I hadn't at all. I also talk about what it's like to process a birth this fast, when your brain needs time to catch up to what your body just did, and the gift Kelvin was as a birth partner who owned that room. This birth felt redemptive and normal in the best way, and it was bittersweet to close the book on this chapter. Grab a snack, because this one is full of joy and gratitude. Listen to my other birth stories: • Labor Nurse's First Unmedicated Hospital Birth with Midwives | Episode 01 (https://thelabormama.com/captivate-po...) • Labor Nurses's Second, Unmedicated, Fast Birth with D-MER and PPA During Postpartum (https://thelabormama.com/captivate-po...) Episode 13 (https://thelabormama.com/captivate-po...) • Labor Nurse's 3rd Fast, Unmedicated Hospital Birth with Midwives | Episode 40 (https://thelabormama.com/captivate-po...) Helpful Timestamps: • 00:00 My Fourth Birth Story • 07:33 Pregnant in the Netherlands • 15:05 Due Date and Grief Milestones • 16:25 Early Labor Signs Overnight • 22:55 Active Labor Car Ride • 30:49 Water Breaks On Floor • 34:13 Afterbirth And No Tear • 36:21 Processing The Fetal Ejection Reflex • 37:26 Redemptive Final Birth About your host: Lo Mansfield, MSN, RNC-OB, CLC is a registered nurse, mama of 4, and a birth, baby, and motherhood enthusiast. She is both the host of the Lo & Behold podcast and the founder of The Labor Mama. For more education, support and “me too” from Lo, please visit her website (https://thelabormama.com/) and check out her online courses and digital guides for birth (https://thelabormama.com/your-body-yo...) , breastfeeding (https://thelabormama.com/breastfeedin...) , and postpartum/newborns (https://thelabormama.com/postpartum-a...) . You can also follow @thelabormama (  / thelabormama  ) and @loandbehold_thepodcast (  / loandbehold_thepodcast  ) on Instagram and join her email list here. (http://thelabormama.com/general-list-...) For more pregnancy, birth, postpartum and motherhood conversation each week, be sure to subscribe to The Lo & Behold podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you prefer to listen! A request: If this episode meant something to you, would you consider a 5 star rating and leaving us a review? Yes, we read them, and yes, they help keep L & B going! ♥️ Connect with Lo more on: INSTAGRAM (https://www.instagram.com/) | TIK TOK (  / thelabormama  ) | PINTEREST (  / thelabormama  ) | FACEBOOK (  / thelabormama  ) Disclaimer Opinions shared by guests of this show are their own, and do not always reflect those of The Labor Mama platform. Additionally, the information you hear on this podcast or that you receive via any linked resources should not be considered medical advice. Please see our full disclaimer here. (https://thelabormama.com/disclaimer) Additionally, we may make a small commission from some of the links shared with you. Please know, this comes at no additional cost to you, supports our small biz, and is a way for us to share brands and products with you that we genuinely love. Produced and Edited by Vaden Podcast Services (https://vadenpodcastservices.com/) Mentioned in this episode: YBYB 20% off ad link (https://lo-behold-pregnancy-birth-mot...)