Charlotte: Second Birth, NHS Birth Centre Birth, Two Miscarriages, Prolonged Early Labour, Retained Placenta, Theatre, Informed Second Birth, Becoming a Doula

About this episode

Charlotte shares her transformative second birth experience after overcoming trauma from her first birth and two miscarriages.

  She had two miscarriages, a traumatic first birth, and a husband who said he could never put her through it again. And then she came back, did everything differently, and pushed her son out standing in a doorway on her own terms.   Charlotte is a mum of two from Leeds who shares her second birth story at an NHS birth centre on Christmas Day weekend. After a first birth that left her with birth trauma, breastfeeding struggles, and months of emotional recovery, Charlotte decided that if she was going to do this again, she was going to understand everything. She threw herself into evidence-based research, hired a doula for birth prep, changed her midwife at 20 weeks by making a formal complaint, and went into labour armed with a clear birth plan and a husband who finally understood why it mattered.   Labour started with gentle contractions at a Christmas nativity play. Over three days of stop-start early labour, Charlotte made her way to the birth centre on Boxing Day evening, spent hours labouring in the pool, and then found herself in transition in a corridor, standing in a doorway, refusing to get on the bed. Her son Noah was born with her husband holding her up…

People in this episode

Host: Georgia McGivern

Guest: Charlotte

Topics covered

• birth stories
• miscarriages
• NHS birth centre
• informed birth
• doula support
• emotional recovery

Keywords

• second birth
• NHS birth centre
• retained placenta
• emotional recovery
• doula
• birth trauma
• evidence-based research

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Leeds

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