Moony Birth Stories

This episode of Moony Birth Stories feature McKenzie Hodgins from Saskatoon, SK. Her and her partner at the time, being a same-sex couple, had a few options when it came to how they'd like to have children. After considering things carefully, they decided to use sperm donated by someone very close to them. McKenzie talks about their reasons for choosing this path and how great it was for them. She shares the details of how they conceived and the pregnancies and births of two of their three daughters; both being hospital births with epidurals for pain management.

JeanAnne, from Buck Lake, Alberta joins us for this episode to share her three birth stories! Her pregnancies were relatively smooth and comfortable and all three births were in hospital, two of them involving traveling from her small town to Edmonton, AB. Her first two births started spontaneously and she delivered with epidurals for pain management and her last pregnancy was an induction. Due to lack of availability, she delivered her third without an epidural.

Rylee Dupuis, from Saskatoon, SK, joins me on this episode of Moony Birth Stories to share her two pregnancy and birth stories. Rylee and her husband were able to get pregnant quite easily by the second cycle, which was surprising to them as their doctor had told them it may be difficult to get pregnant. Her pregnancy was pretty smooth and easy but she did feel quite anxious about birth and, looking back, realizes she was uneducated on her care and birth options. Labour started on its own a few days before her due date. Her labour went quickly and she ended up getting an epidural at her care providers recommendation, though it wasn’t something she really wanted. Rylee shares her postpartum experience, going through a stage of euphoria, then onto experiencing post-partum depression while her baby simultaneously developed colic, a very difficult experience that lasted several months.

Getting pregnant with their second child took a little bit longer and the pregnancy came with more symptoms and discomfort. This time, Rylee felt more educated and decided to go with a midwife as her primary caregiver. She had more of a plan this time and felt less anxious. This labour started on its own but ended up stalling for some time. Once things got going again, after a membrane sweep, Rylee went on to have an unmedicated water birth in hospital and shares how she managed the postpartum period this time around!

This episode of Moony Birth Stories has Mackenzie Basiove of Saskatoon, SK sharing the pregnancy and birth story of her son. It took Mackenzie and her husband Mitch a while to get pregnant and once she did conceive, she had a challenging pregnancy that she especially noted when looking back on it. The pregnancy involved a lot of severe nausea and a diagnosis of irritable uterus. As a result of that diagnosis, she experienced contractions early on in her pregnancy and prodromal labour. She was ultimately induced and shares the details of her labour and delivery beyond that. She also goes in depth about the feeding issues she encountered with her son during the postpartum period and the supports she used to overcome that challenge.

This episode features Darya from Saskatoon, SK. She shares the pregnancy and birth story of her 6 month old daughter, Jovie. Darya and her husband started trying to conceive in 2019 and had hoped it would be a smooth and seamless process. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned and Darya shares the details of their struggles with infertility, and a confusing experience with her first pregnancy which didn't end up being viable. She then goes on to share the story of her successful pregnancy and a smooth and positive induction in hospital. Darya did also end up having retained placenta after birth, which was discovered after her 6 week follow-up, and she talks about what that experience looked like.