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Katelyn Fusco 0:03
Welcome to the happy homebirth podcast, your source for positive natural childbirth stories and your community of support, education and encouragement and all things home birth and motherhood.
Hey there, everyone, and welcome to the happy home birth podcast. I’m your host, Katelyn Fusco, and this is episode 33. So I want to ask you a question. What do you do when labor stalls? Now, this is kind of a trick question. Because it seems like when you say that, like, Oh, my body is just not working. And that is definitely not how I feel our bodies are so intelligent, like so intelligent beyond what we even recognize. So I feel like there’s always kind of a reason and a way to get through these kinds of things. But Jasmine experienced a stall in her labor with her third birth after having a super fast second birth. So this was a wild card. So I can’t wait for you guys to listen in on all of the information that she has to share about that entire situation. Before we get to Jasmine story. I want to thank our reviewer of the week who is Miss Chris 1307. And she said forever indebted. I don’t even know how to describe my love for the happy home birth podcast. I’ve been listening actively. Currently 35 weeks pregnant with my third. I constantly surround myself with positive birth stories and now that I’m planning my first home birth, first attempted, so the her first birth was an attempted natural unmedicated labor in the hospital, but it ended up with an epidural. And the second was a natural unmedicated in the hospital. And then she says, I went back through and listened all over again, hearing so many empowered and informed women share their stories help shape my mind and to all the variations of normal and make me more comfortable when I’m in labor. I am so excited to meet this baby. And I’m so grateful to the happy home birth by Casper making these stories available and normalizing birth and that’s Krista from 303. And me You guys have to check out her Instagram. Krista has since then had her baby array. Congratulations Krista. I was so excited to see that you guys should head over to her Instagram because the photos are beautiful and she’s just a blast to follow. I do want to just give you a thank you. Christa, if you’ll email me, I will send you a happy home birth podcast sticker, Chris and I stay in touch on Instagram. She’s like one of my faves. So I am so appreciative of the review. I’m also really excited for this next announcement, which is for our sponsor of the week, Carrie la Chapelle, who is a midwife and CPM of 12 years. Now normally when I talk about Carrie I go through and discuss her home birth services but not today. Today, we are talking about the fact that she is hosting a basic skills midwifery day to for anybody who is trying to become a midwife apprentice. So she’s going to be having that in just a short period of time, July 26, through July 28. And that’s going to be in Greenville, South Carolina. And so she is basically she’s a preceptor offering a weekend of learning basic midwifery skills. The skills weekend will help make you an asset to any midwives birth team, she’s going to be doing everything from CPR class to blood pressure, and everything in between, she’ll have time for skill sign off on norm form to a one if you are becoming an apprentice, or if you’re becoming a midwife. The weekend should end with you having the first sign off on over 35 skills. There’s an outline available for those interested the cost is $325 for the weekend. And it’s there’s a non refundable deposit do. And that is if you’re interested, you can email her at CLL midwife@gmail.com. So that’s Carrie. And I hope that you guys are interested in that if you’re in the south east, so this is Greenville, South Carolina. So if you’re in Georgia, North Carolina, anywhere around this area, please come she is a phenomenal preceptor. I know that from personal experience. Alright, so let’s go ahead and head over to Jasmine interview. Jasmine, thank you so much for coming on the happy home brick podcast.
Jasmin Niemiec 4:19
I’m so excited to be here like I am like after this is a third birth for me. And finally getting brave enough to do a home birth. Like I’m really hoping this empowers some other moms. So I’m like so pumped to talk to you today. And thanks for being a part of my home birth actually.
Katelyn Fusco 4:33
Absolutely. And I’m so excited for the energy that you are bringing to this call. I would love for you to start off by telling us about yourself, introduce yourself, introduce your family.
Jasmin Niemiec 4:44
So my name is Jasmine anemic and I am a mom of three littles I have a daughter who is almost for a son who is almost two and now another son who is just a couple of months old. And this is actually though my first home birth, I’ve had two natural hospital births. But this is the first time got a home birth though I actually come myself from a home birth my mom had me and my brother and sister at home, I was the oldest and then my sister and brother. And I always just admired my mom. It’s so much like for being like the powerful woman to be brave enough to have all of us at home. her birth stories are incredible and kind of like seamless in a way. Like she had amazing birth with each of us. Literally, my brother came out so fast that she caught him before her midwife was like she’s a warrior. But it’s funny, I always remember looking at her and being like, She’s so brave and amazing. But like, I never thought I could actually do that. So I’m excited to be able to share that with you today. Maybe if you’re someone who’s like, I don’t know about if I’m doing a homework they get you’re listening to this trying to figure out Should I do a home birth. And only that, like I was very much in the same boat as you even though I came from like a super powerful woman who had three children at home.
Katelyn Fusco 5:59
God is so incredible, and especially the timing because I were the same age. I think so this was like the early early 90s. Right? Yes, yes. Yeah. And that was that was like, not a thing that you know, like there this is there’s been a revitalization of home birth, but early 90s. Man, I mean, my mom had all three of us as C sections. So that is really cool.
Jasmin Niemiec 6:20
Like I remember when people would say like, say one fun fact about you at school. I always said like, I was born at home and like people thought that was weird. Like it was weird. I was born at home. I was a weirdo. But it was like, No, my mom is just super powerful. But yeah, I almost almost like condition myself then like, Oh, that must not be normal. Or Oh, maybe I’m not capable of that. You know what I mean? Right?
Katelyn Fusco 6:41
Oh, that’s so interesting. Well, so tell me how all of this happened. So with your first birth, you decided to go the hospital route? What was that? Like?
Jasmin Niemiec 6:50
Yeah, so with Ellie, I just really actually felt a conviction from the Lord that I needed to do a natural birth. I felt like it’s kind of weird. I don’t know if anyone can relate this, right? I feel like there’s areas of your life where you have regrets. And for me, it was at college running, I felt like they were areas where I didn’t reach my full potential. And I wanted to be at a place where I had to fully trust God and put myself in a position where I was uncomfortable. And that’s just really felt like when I was pregnant with her like him telling me like, you need to do this naturally. And I will be with you trust me, kind of navigating in this new thing. And for me, I was like, Okay, I’m going to do this. But what felt comfortable is OK, I’m going to do it with a midwife because I like the touch and the care of a midwife, but I want to do it in a hospital. For me it felt like this like safety thing. Like if anything went wrong. I knew that a doctor could take over and it would be fine. So yeah, I had her in the birth. She was very texts are in the hospital, very textbook. 14 hours labored about half of it at home. I’m like, Yeah, she was super textbook birth. So that was Ellie’s birth.
Katelyn Fusco 7:52
Awesome. And, and how was that experience for you? I mean, having a natural childbirth in the hospital, it went well for you. So
Jasmin Niemiec 8:00
my midwife was a midwives were amazing. But I have just, I’ve never enjoyed being in the hospital. I don’t think you can enjoy being in a hospital, but I just didn’t. I kind of felt like in ways I wasn’t advocated for post birth. I had to stay for two days for like, I can’t even remember what weird reason it I think, because I was group the strip positives. So they said they wanted to watch the mixture. Ellie was okay. And it was just like, I felt like it was all on their timeline, you know, checking in and, you know, coming in and poking or putting thermometers or whatever, checking my heart rate, like every five minutes, like, I felt like we left the hospital insurance sense, like you have extra hands, but I left exhausted, you know, it just felt like I never got some sleep. I’m sleeping in an uncomfortable bed. But it was like, well, I did it to keep me safe. So and then with my son’s birth, we actually were with Ellie, we’re in Maryland with my son, we were in Michigan and in the city be lifted didn’t allow midwives to birth in the hospital is like, it’s like, this is 2019 guys, like how is this not going on? You know, so again, I had another birth and that actually experiences not enjoyable at all, he came very fast from like, he literally came in three hours, we were at the hospital for less than an hour. And they were trying to triage me even though I’m like, you know, I had already done the paperwork. And I’m like, Guys, this baby’s coming. Like, we gotta go. But I felt like it was their timeline, not mine. You know, I couldn’t push because the doctor wasn’t in the room. And they were trying to close my legs. And it was like, I don’t think this is how this process is supposed to go. So I honestly had a bad taste in my mouth after two. And I felt like there has to be like a better way for me personally. And that’s kind of why I was a little bit more open handed when I came into Everett’s birth.
Katelyn Fusco 9:39
Yeah, that sounds like, you know, when when you hear things like that, like there, oh, you have to wait to push and oh, you need to close your legs. Clearly, these are people that are have not really experienced natural childbirth, because that’s just, it’s very close to impossible to do those things.
Jasmin Niemiec 9:57
It’s just like, I know, we live in a world with technology, or we want to like automate things and like, try to time things, but like birth is just not one of those things that you can that you can do that. And yeah, I just felt like I needed to find someone this time around who would like allow me to do things on like, my time, you know? Right?
Katelyn Fusco 10:15
Well, and also so with your your first two births, what was your postpartum experience? Like? Did you have an easy time?
Jasmin Niemiec 10:23
So I mean, with both of them I tour, I would say like, I wouldn’t like I look back at those memories so fondly, like even with Elliot, very specifically, remember bliss, but again, I had a better midwife support experience of her. So even though there was hard, like, some my body wasn’t quite right. Like with her, I still remember feeling supported or advocated for where with my son not having that life support and just feeling like I was like one on one and a number. After actually, after a week, you know, two weeks after he was born, he had a rotation of his intestines. So we were in the hospital with him then and a month later he had Elliot so we’re like in that hospital, I had tour I didn’t really have support, I didn’t feel advocated for it, it just like it just wasn’t, I don’t think it was optimal. You know, I remember being tired or kind of just stressed. Like I actually remember nursing and Ellie crawling on my legs and kind of having this feeling like, I don’t want anybody to touch me anymore. Like why do I feel like a crazy person? You know, like night What is happening? And I think a huge piece of that is how your birth process goes. Now that I’ve had an extremely great birth process the third time around.
Katelyn Fusco 11:29
Oh, that is so neat. Well, I’m just going to open it up to you, I’d love for you to share your experience, especially with ever it with your your third,
Jasmin Niemiec 11:37
yes, I would love to and just for any of you guys who are listening who have just been going back and forth in like on having a home birth, the one thing I would encourage you to do is to ask people around you, we had I was like six months pregnant when we moved to South Carolina. So we’ve only been here for like, you know, six months or so. And it looks like we really quickly have to figure out like a birth situation. Again, I was back home in Michigan. I didn’t have a midwife there. And I was like, I guess we’re just gonna do another hospital birth, we moved and I was like, You know what, like, I’ve got to figure this out. Like, there has to be a way. So I looked into a birth center. And I don’t know, I just kept feeling drawn to maybe I should give this whole home birthing a try. So I remember putting on my Facebook, I said this, what is the best home birth book wreck recommendation. And I had literally like 100 comments on my post, not only like even a guided childbirth, which is an amazing childbirth homework, but so many people who said I had homework, I did homework, I did homework, I had homework, I had a home birth, and I was like, Oh, this is normal. Like, I there’s like women in my life do this, you know,
besides my mom,
my mom, there’s like other women who do this, like, okay, so I can like women I knew personally. So it was like, it was almost like that feeling of like, well, she can do it, I can do it. Right, you know, like, I’ve done to natural birth before, like they’ve been healthy. Say first. I’m a healthy person, like, maybe I can do this. I started like googling around. And that’s where I found Carrie who’s both of our midwives. And I just thought I just need to talk to someone, I think ultimately, what I need to do is I just need to really feel like it’s someone I can trust. That was like the advice I was getting just like if you can find a midwife who you trust, go talk to her ask her questions. And like, you’ll just know, like, you’ll know, and I remember asking her things like going in and be like, well, like, How common is it that like, you have to rush someone to the hospital? Or, you know, like, is it safe is essentially what it came down to? And I remember her saying like, Jasmine, I’ve been doing that I can’t remember how many years she said, or how many bits she’s like, how
would you say she’s been doing it on her own for 12 years, yeah,
to 12 years. And she said, I can count maybe on one hand, the times we’ve had to go to the hospital. And most of times, it was just like some, even that big of a deal. Like a new mom just wasn’t quite ready, you know, just you know, then she, we just went or this random thing happened. And it just was like, Wow, it’s so rare that like a healthy person who’s taking care of their body and like, is trusting the natural process is going to have issues. And again, if we did, were literally 10 minutes from a hospital, it’s going to be fine. And so I just really felt like I can do this. And I think for me, it just took like reading that book, hearing so many other stories of women who are doing it. But you know, being connected with other moms asking them questions about their birth experience or things they recommend resources. And it I came into that like, okay, I really doubt we’re going to go to the hospital, which is a heat like a huge, huge transformation for me personally.
Katelyn Fusco 14:44
That’s amazing. Yeah, that that does seem to be the big issue. And even when I hear or we’ll see, like on Facebook groups, moms talking back and forth, their big thing is like, you know, I just you know, I’m like 15 minutes away from a hospital, I wouldn’t feel comfortable having a birthday that far. And it’s like, that’s really close. And things that happen that are fast like that. I mean, 15 minutes is nothing that’s it’s just, it’s hard for people to wrap their minds around the idea that wow, this is actually very safe. And my midwife is trained to see red flags as they’re coming up. So it’s not going to be this shocking. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, situation. It’s a nice easy, calm transport, if it were to ever have to happen.
Jasmin Niemiec 15:29
Exactly. Yeah. So for me going into birth, I really didn’t have fears around like we’re going to the hospital. Say though with this one, you know, with my daughter, I was five days late with my son, Henry. I was two days late. So I felt like I must be trending on the like, Okay, this baby will come early, and he was giving me signs. I was feeling sick, like two weeks before. I had a lot of strong Braxton Hicks. So I kinda always felt like I was in this like, hurry up and wait. And we were 10 days past.
Unknown Speaker 16:00
I was like, Where’s this baby?
Jasmin Niemiec 16:03
Whoops. Yeah, like what’s going on? What are you doing in there and but the thing I loved is I remember feeling pressure from my second is while you know like, we have your scheduled induction for this day. And we won’t let you go the full two weeks because our doctor isn’t on call that day and it again, I was just like, but with Carrie it was just like babies and come on baby comes and she had a great ability of just keeping me calm, like it was all going to be good. And I think that like our babies feel that I think our babies feel our stress or are happier our joy and I think again will lead to this later. Like that’s what contributed to such a good birth for me as she just knew how to keep me calm and know that everything was going to be fine. So I love that thing. Yeah, she’s she’s incredible. So you know, we’re I’m I’m again, I’m coming to the evening of the I guess it would be the fifth February 5. He was supposed to be due on the 29th. And back in my other hospital Michigan. They said maybe that might be that was 20 seconds. So it was like this is way too. I just started having contractions and Katelyn Keenan, the Braxton Hicks but you just kind of have I don’t have any you guys have ever had that mom dealing with each kid. Like, I just you just know, like, Okay, this is it. And right around 630 at night, I started having regular contractions around 5% of seven centimeters. And I kind of went into like, what’s a good word for it just like until I’m labor mode. It was like, Okay, this is great timing. Kids are gonna put the kids to bed right around 730. And it was my husband is like such a champ with our birth. Like, he’s all like I’m a hip sweet girl like stands way back and forth hip sweet. So what we did from like, 630. To about I think it was 11pm it was just like, I literally walk circles around my living room, we started watching the office to kind of get me relaxed. And lab that was like, our first series we finished when we were married, it was kind of funny. So kind of brought back some, some some great moments, like remember this episode. And I’m just like walking loops around my house last night at the office hip squeezes and we just kind of kept going in this rhythm. And I got to I think it was right around 11pm maybe 1030. And it was progressing. And I was there really certain and get strong. And that’s the point where we called the dual. We had we call or we texted or called Carrie and everyone was going to start moving in. So I can I think she came right around like 11 11:30pm somewhere in there. And she checked me. And I was at eight centimeters. And I was like hot dog. Let’s go you know, like I’m still in, I’m still in control. I feel like, like good. The only thing I had this feeling in the back of my head is like I’ve been on my feet a lot. And I was starting to get tired. You know, we’re approaching midnight and my grandma, I go to sleep at like nine o’clock. And it was like, Well, okay, we’re eight centimeters. So you know, hopefully we can get this baby out soon. And so in my head, it’s like, okay, maybe an hour, maybe two hours left. So okay, I can do that. But I kind of what I did is my mind started to go back to with the biggest fear I had coming into this first, which I voice to realize, I did not want to tear this time around, I really didn’t want to tear because I believe that’s what made maybe the post labor not as comfortable but it made me bleed longer. And I really wanted to be in control. Like I really wanted to feel like when I had to come to pushing that I was not just going to like shoot this ad out of me and rip. So I think when they came it kind of made things become more real for me. And it was like, Okay, well, the attitude instead of was get this baby out. It was like don’t tear. And so I almost went more into this like conservative mode. I mean, we put me in the tub, I started sitting instead of walking and like they were doing backups, which all kept me relaxed, but like that my baby wasn’t moving. So after being in the tub for about an hour and sitting for a little bit, I mean, I’m definitely very uncomfortable. At this point, I’m starting to get really tired. And we did this for probably about three hours. And I you know, I’m trying different positions on the floor on the bed. And it’s weird for the first time time I was kind of like waiting for Kerry to tell me what to do. Because in the hospital, I’m used to being on their timeline, like you push at this point you do like, let’s try this. And she was just kind of like girl, like trust your body and do your thing like you know what to do. Which was really, really kind of a neat thing. And I think it helped keep me relaxed, but again with that story in my head. But I’m trying to position that position. And then eventually, like, Can you just check me again and tell me where I am. And this is somewhere around like three in the morning 330. And
still eight centimeters. So at this point, I’m like, very frustrated. My contractions are extremely strong. I’m like, I’m trying to do this singing through it. As Amy says, I’m trying to like do deep breathing. I’m squeezing Joe’s hands. I’m like, flipping from the bed to the floor. On my side. I’m just trying all this stuff. And we get to four and again, eight centimeters. And at this point, I’m like, What is happening? Why is that? IY I’ve been doing this for four hours, and I’m making no progress. I’m exhausted. Like I really at this point. Like I was like, is it possible for me to fall asleep and like literally like, I guess you can fall asleep between contractions, you know? And I just looked at Carrie and I said, Carrie, what do I have to do? What do I gotta do to get this baby out? Like, I’m so tired? What do I need to do? And she just said, Jasmine, like, you have to, you have to try harder, you have to push like, I think they both knew deep down. I wasn’t really giving my all I was holding back. I didn’t want to tell me that. They knew it. And she just said, I mean, here’s your options, Jasmine, you either push this baby out, or we go to the hospital. And at this point with how far along you are, we have to get an ambulance to the house to ambulance you to the hospital and get this baby out. And Lord knows I was not going to the hospital. I made it way too far to only come this far. And there was just this kind of resolve that I was reminded like this is for a purpose. This isn’t to avoid pain. This isn’t to like protect myself this is to bring a human into the world. The human that actually didn’t know if we were having a boy or girl we’d been surprised with each baby. And I just felt myself kind of like change my posture. I was on the side of my bed I grant I was like holding my hand in line and my husband’s hand on the other and I literally went into cavewoman mode, and I pressed that baby as hard as I could. And after a push, she was like, Yes girl, like Okay, I see that baby move in. And it was like all right, well, let’s do it again. And the baby was out in 10 minutes. Oh my word. And I say that because I think this is such an analogy to life for me, like how many times do you come to like a goal or something you’re working towards? Maybe it’s a race or labor or whatever, and you come so close, but like things are starting to get uncomfortable or the Goldfield starts feels like far away. Or like I don’t know if I can do this. Your mind starts telling you all these lies. What if we really just like buckle down and like pushed? We’d have this amazing reward on this. I literally went from screaming like a cavewoman. They put him on my chest, and I just laughed, and then I leaked. It was just like he was peeing all over me. And it was like, I don’t care because I did it. I did it. And like now I get to hold this beautiful child on the other side.
Katelyn Fusco 23:17
Wow. Whoa, so Okay, what was that? Like? I want to know what you were feeling when? You So? So were you like, kind of showing signs that it was time to push? You just weren’t? Like, connecting into that. Yeah,
Jasmin Niemiec 23:32
that’s good. Yeah. For me, it was like, I felt like it was really strange. I never felt like a deep urge to push. And it was the same thing with Ellie. It was like, they told me like you’re 10 centimeters. And I’m like, Okay, I guess I’m going to try to push and I just like, couldn’t connect it. And it was the same thing with me. It was like, I definitely feel super uncomfortable. So I think I should be pushing right now. But it wasn’t like, I can’t resist with Henry. I could not help push like he be right out, you know? And yeah, whatever it was like, I think I’m pushing. I think I’m pushing I think I’m pushing. And I never had that. Like, I can’t even help myself pushing, if that makes sense.
Katelyn Fusco 24:09
Oh, yeah. No, it totally does. It’s funny. There was a client of birth that I went to not too long ago. And the mom was like, I heard her say, 1.0 don’t push but don’t push out. And I was like, Did she just say that and waited a little bit longer. And then I heard her say it again. And I was like, do you have the urge to push? You don’t even light it like yeah, there’s to push, push and, and I think sometimes that knowing like, oh, but I’m, I am only eight centimeters, like I can’t be able to push because I’m only eight centimeters can really, like confuse us because that happened. That’s how it happened. For me. I was eight and a half centimeters. And I was having the urge to push and I was like, Oh, I don’t know if I’m, you know, supposed to do this. And then it got to the point where I was like, Okay, I can’t help it. I am pushing right now. Now and Okay, here’s the baby. That’s really interesting. But that’s so neat how that happened. So he’s on your chest. Everything went beautifully. What? What was the actual pushing? Like, I know, you said it was 10 minutes. And you were concerned about tearing? How did that all play out?
Jasmin Niemiec 25:16
So I mean, like, obviously, it’s so funny. I think God like kind of tries to fog our memory a little bit because it’s like, Did that really hurt that bad? But yeah, it was so. so mad. The Ring of Fire is so real. But I felt like when I was in those 10 minutes, there was like purpose, like, purpose. One was like, I will hold my baby on the other side of this. I am so tired, but I get to hold the baby. And then the second was, I do not want a doctor touching me with their stinking monitors. I do not want to be in the hospital like so when you go into zone. It’s like, it’s like paying with a purpose. You know, it’s like I this is gonna hurt so bad. But I don’t even care because it’s it’s going to give me something that’s so rewarding, you know? Yes.
Katelyn Fusco 26:00
Wow. I love that. So So you went through the Ring of Fire ever? It comes out on the other side. And what was that? Like?
Jasmin Niemiec 26:08
I mean, it was like I said, I literally went from screaming to laughing I was pretty sure he was a boy. It’s funny you always do subconscious things before he was born I put all of my boy clothes in my dresser like in for the but not any my girl clothes. I kind of left him in a box and was like I like if I never said it but it was like, you know, he just kind of that feeling. And I think my favorite part of each of my birth is hearing Joe say the gender. Every time he says it and he he starts crying like every time you know, and it’s like this beautiful surprise on the other side. And it was just like this feeling of we did this together like yes, I know I’m pushing a baby out but like I had Joe. My doula. My midwife, the midwife assistant, they were all staying up through the night to support me doing this and like you Will you come into this place of like, extreme gratitude. like wow, these people rallied around me, you know, for people rallied around me for our, the night to help bring this to reality. So is this feeling of just like, gratitude and satisfaction and like, I just like it’s crazy how your heart just like, in love so quickly, you know, like, holding him this abstract thing in my belly for so long? Like, are you a boy or a girl? What? Why are you just telling in there for 10 days late? Like what is happening? Why are you kicking me so hard? Why are you making me don’t dig and then you’re just like, hold them and you’re like, I don’t even care what you are. I just love you so freaking much you know, and I think it just makes it takes almost like the the pain amplifies the, the emotions you feel after so I mean, I was exhausted, I was so tired. In fact, I couldn’t even get up to I think I need to get up to pee and I couldn’t move like I I almost actually fell asleep with him laying in my arms. I was so exhausted, like I remember them. Like they were kind of cleaning up everything. And I had like almost dosed holding ever on my side. And Gary came in she’s like, Can I believe is best to neck and like your freakin with you. And, but it was it was magical, but exhausting. And yeah, I do remember feeling a little nauseous and tired. But like the post birth experience has been so good this time. And I know it’s because of her timing, I actually didn’t tear with him. And because the whole time, you know, like they’re kind of like rubbing whatever that areas got my vagina.
out, I actually struggled really bad with hemorrhoids. And I’ve had them really bad after every child. And like this time, postpartum immediately after I did not, as you know, they were like holding where my current hemorrhoids were from the pressure of pregnancy. And like it was just like, my body felt so good for just having a baby. And again, it was because them listening to my body like advocating for my needs, and which I just had not had that and my other two births.
Katelyn Fusco 29:03
I love that. And, and that makes such a huge difference. Just number one, the fact that your midwife knows you so well. She knows like, okay, yeah, Jasmine mentioned that she has hemorrhoids, Jasmine mentioned that she’s got a fear of tearing, you know, she has all of these things in her mind. So that when you are going through those periods of time that are very vulnerable and potentially concerning for you, she’s able to do whatever it is that needs to be done to support you in that way. So the warm compresses with all of oil that is a winner for for perinatal support and Hemorrhoids and anything like that. But isn’t that just so cool that you have that beautiful relationship where she knows she knows what it is that you need? and is able to provide that for you?
Jasmin Niemiec 29:47
Yeah, I just feel supported, like, you know, like, and then like, I remember her explaining even before he was born, like, you know, what’s your post care? Like, she comes back to my house, you know, two days later, you know, I went to check in on her like six weeks later, and it’s always it’s always on, she just makes me feel like it’s my timeline. You know, like, What do you need? Do you need us to stay longer? Like, do you need a snack? Do you need this? instead of like me falling some other person’s schedule. And I think just being able to be I think as women, maybe it’s hard for us, we’re not used to being in that position of like, hey, these are my needs, can you meet them? And I think a midwife and doula like both of those types of people are just like wired to do that so well for people. And it just, I think it changed my whole my stress levels the way I felt afterwards. And I think I’ve, I feel I’ve been able to tell that a lot with my son. I mean, he has such a chill baby. He, yeah, he’s just like our postpartum experience has been really good. We’ve bonded very well together. And I know a lot of that was from the support that we had. That’s amazing. Well,
Katelyn Fusco 30:49
yeah, I would love for you to go into some more on your postpartum experience, because, and you guys have got to check Jasmine out she’s, I’m going to have her plug her social media and a little while but she is is a boss like she is going on business trip. She’s doing all of these amazing things and looks so healthy and vibrant. To have just had a baby a few months ago. So Jasmine, I mean, what were the secrets behind that? And how did you get? How’d you get going and up on your feet? So so well.
Jasmin Niemiec 31:19
So it’s really interesting. So I am an entrepreneur, I’m a business owner. And a lot of times people will say things to me like jasmine, how do you do it all? And my response is always I don’t I don’t I know my limits. And I know, I’ve learned I’ve learned to ask for help. And so for us, I really thought like what is the third third time’s a charm, what are things we can do this time to really make sure we’re setting our family up for success? You know, one of those actually was Katelyn, like for a while I’ve seen this whole Placenta Encapsulation thing buzzing around, just knowing how much nutrient density was in my body to support my baby. And like losing all of that all the whole young changes that were happening, why not put those back in my body. And I was like, I actually asked Carrie about someone that I could be referred to, she referred me to Katelyn. And having that knowing that, like I’m getting the proper nutrients for me for getting my hormones back. Like for me, and Everett was huge. Second, like we do have help in our home. So I again, I’m an entrepreneur, I’ve been an entrepreneur for about four and a half years now. And I’ve got three little kids at home. And I know that work wise if I need to get things done, like I need some time to like crank out work. And so that means like we have a nanny come for eight hours a week, she comes into four hour chunks. And like I thought you said things like that’s the rich people are like I’m less of a mom, if I’m like not cleaning my toilets. And it was like, You know what, my kids see me working hard and pursuing a goal that’s impacting people. And I’m cool with that. And I knew that postpartum we were going to use her. She very much like helped us to get meals together and just kind of keep the house tidy. While I was able to like sleep and rest those first couple weeks. On top of that this time around, I did have a doula the home birth knowing they were coming back in two days to check up on me was huge. I also learned after my son my body just like I don’t remember my body being a wreck after Ellie but I don’t know it was Henry just coming so fast. My my neck hurt my back hurt. So I started chiropractic care after Henry. And I knew that that would keep going here just I mean, you’re in these horrible nursing positions where you’re hunched or you’re picking up babies and like, you know, women actually like your your neck is supposed to make this kind of like see back position and most women’s neck sticks like straight out because Are you still looking down, or nursing or whatever. So pretty much immediately after birth, I started chiropractic. And then I started working with a PT it’s actually an online program. It’s super affordable, her name is knocked up fitness, Aaron zeal. It’s like a core rehab program where it just progresses me through very safe exercises to restore my core, and to get in alignment to do reading, which is good not only for your body, but for your stress levels. And we just kind of gotten this groove or was like, okay, just like jasmine had her team to push the baby out. Jasmine’s got her team to like, make sure baby and mom are thriving, and love that. Yeah. And I just think Yeah, and I also a huge blessing. And so my business is now in a place where, you know, my, you know, my husband and I moved to South Carolina, he’s actually an elite runner. So he’s pursuing a dream of qualifying for the marathon trial. So he works extreme part time hours, we’re actually kind of in the midst of helping him you know, get an idea for a business he wants to pursue so he was around, which helps to, you know, like I did, for sure, well, around me like some dads go back to work after like two days and moms like home with her three other kids or whatever. And it’s like, what the one baby actually isn’t that hard. It’s like, okay, they if, you know, I remember with Ellie, it’s like, okay, I feed her and then she’s leaves on taking a nap. The real thing is like, Okay, well, I’ve got almost four year old, almost two year old that, like, I want to make sure that they’re thriving too. So like, what does that look like? And you having other people in the home like Joe or like the nanny when she came, you know, family were in and out like to that just made such a difference? So I think it’s just kind of being selfish and saying, like, what do I know I need to thrive? It is okay. Like happy wife, happy life, happy mom, happy life, if you are to make the investment in yourself to do things that are going to help you thrive, because it’s going to make you such a better mom, it’s gonna put you in a better mood, it’s gonna help you recover faster, I think it’s going to help, it’s going to help avoid the blues more. And for me, I really think that’s why we’ve thrived is just saying, Hey, I can’t do it all. And I’m cool to admit that who needs to help me and be on my team? Right,
Katelyn Fusco 35:38
who’s signing up? I’ve got a paper and a pen. Jeremy.
I love that. You also I saw I love your Instagram post on this. You did belly binding.
Jasmin Niemiec 35:50
Yeah, that’s right. So what was that? Like? It was, again, another just for me my posture after my son was such so bad, like, bad. And I just wanted anything that was going to help my body restore. And I remember seeing these like wraps up in Kerry’s office. And I was like, What is that thing and she said it was a belly bind. And it’s you know more than just like one of those like Velcro things you strap on you. It’s like a almost like a this not system where you can customize where areas where I know I need more support. For me, I’ve had like the dialysis wrecked eyes splitting, like through all of my kids. And it could help to bring my core back together while improving my posture for nursing. And it was so great. So I did it my first six weeks postpartum, like Carrie came over, you know, I think it’s two or three days after ever was born. And she showed me how to use it. And like I just did it every day had to be on for like about four to six hours a day. And I just really helped, like, I don’t have any back pain or neck pain. And my pain was so big with with ever with Henry. And I know it’s just because again, the Chiropractic and intentional mindful posture, through physical therapy and through having things that were intentionally supporting my body as it recovered from pushing a human out, you know,
Katelyn Fusco 37:02
oh, man, I love that I love to hear how you mentioned, like, you know, I know my limits, I know that I am not capable of doing it all. And nobody is and this idea that I should be able to is just kind of wonky. So you took matters into your own hands,
Jasmin Niemiec 37:18
you figured out how to delegate everything that you guys needed for your family to thrive. And you guys are just doing such an amazing job. It’s so fun to see. Thank you so much. And again, like I just totally want to echo I am not Superwoman. I’m not Superwoman, like, Don’t you dare come to my Instagram and be like, I wish I could do what she does. Like, I just asked for help. So yeah, just be brave and ask for help. You are not less of a woman for asking. But it’s going to be such a help to you to receive that help. It feels so good to receive, you know, we love to give to our children. Let’s take some time to receive to sometimes.
Katelyn Fusco 37:53
I love that. Will Jasmine. On that note, do you have anything else that you’d like to add to the end of this? I’d love to hear your last little thoughts and tidbits.
Unknown Speaker 38:03
last thoughts? I mean, I guess for me, it would just be like you it’s all about that support. Like I said, for me, the only thing that gave me bravery to do a home birth was support, like, knowing that other women in my network had done it and then going in and like asking the questions of Okay, should I have a doula? Like what is that midwife care look like letting her know my needs being in, you know, having Joe at a place where he could support us, you know, you know, reaching out about you know, the Placenta Encapsulation, just knowing like, bringing the team together is going to be what helps me thrive. It is, it is ok. If there’s postpartum you think, hey, my back hurts, or like, hey, my emotions are out of whack. speak your truth, say it and find the support you need. And it will help make the process so much better to just bring those issues to light. But if you’re on the fence for a home birth, just do it. Look through Katelyn speed and see like all the amazing women who are doing it, and if you are a healthy woman who like you know, has been just has any urge to figure it out, read even a book ask women like me, or other women in Katelyn, deed or other podcasts interviewers and know that, like, I totally believe in you can do it. Like let’s normalize this. And I would love to see one day that home births are more popular than hospital births.
Katelyn Fusco 39:23
Ooh, giving me chills. Like that. Awesome. Jasmine, I would love for you to just tell people where they can find you on social media, all of your accounts, because you have so much information to share. This is wise, but also personal life wise, and, and the balance between that So please, please tell my listeners where they can find you.
Jasmin Niemiec 39:43
Yes, absolutely. So I am Jasmine Nemec on Instagram . So I’ll spell it because I know that it My name is spelled weird. So Jasmine is JASMIN. There’s no way at the end, and then the mic is NIEMIV. See, and that would be the same thing on Facebook. And then my website currently is coach Jasmine calm right now I’m currently focused on empowering a lot of moms and business owners to increase confidence I do that through either helping them start their own business. I’m mentor partner with a luxury hair care company. So I get the honor of actually working with a lot of postpartum moms on helping giving them a really simple hair routine postpartum. Because let’s be honest, the postpartum hair loss is real.
And if you have pregnancy, hair loss was real for me this time. I was shocked about that.
Interesting. Yeah, I was he I mean, I was so that I remember. Like, hell, Elliot had a full head of hair. And then with Henry, I had this thick, luscious, beautiful hair. And then he was born and I was a mess. But it’s funny, though, I didn’t even really realize it. It’s almost like you look in the mirror six months later, and you’re like, what happened? Right? You were born. And I find a lot of moms are in that boat. So I give them access to like a vegan luxury hair line that for a lot of women may find you know, when you can’t shower every day, a great clean, dry shampoo can help you still feel really good about yourself knowing like, hey, if all else fails, like, my hair feels and looks good. And you can look in the mirror and say like, hey, like that is one thing that is like making me feel good about myself today. So I give a lot of moms access to a line that is like, specifically formulated to help them have a great hair routine. And then I also help those women to start their own online businesses. I have a lot of women in my network who want to be home with their kids, but want to be able to support their families financially. So I get a lot of business advice. I give a lot of health tips. And a lot of random hair tutorials too. So you can check me out over there.
Katelyn Fusco 41:45
Oh, I love it. Jasmine, I cannot thank you enough for coming on the podcast, you brought so much fun and vibrancy. And I know that they’re going to be a lot of people who are interested in in learning more about you. So thank you so so much for coming on.
Jasmin Niemiec 41:58
You’re so welcome. Thanks for having me and know mama that you can do it. You can do the home birth. And if you want to ask me any questions, I’m most active on Instagram. So hit me up over there and love to answer any questions you have. There you have it, my friends, what
Katelyn Fusco 42:11
an amazing episode with jasmine. As we do our episode Roundup, I had a few thoughts about this episode that I wanted to bring up to you. And if you hear any weird noises, that would be sweet little alien in the sling right now. She’s just snoozing. So the first thing that I was thinking about was how Jasmine mentioned Okay, her mom had a home birth, but she still thought it was kind of crazy growing up. It wasn’t until other women that she surrounded herself with started piping in and saying, Hey, I had a successful home birth, oh, I had a home birth. Here’s my story. So that just really encourages me in particular, but hopefully you guys to to, to stand up and and shout it from the mountaintops if you did have a home birth or even if you had a natural childbirth and another setting. Really, you know, let’s embrace that and tell other people about our stories and how incredible our births were, it can obviously really impact people. The other thing that I thought was really interesting was how jasmine and her midwife kind of had this come to Jesus moment of like, okay, you gotta do it, you know, she, she was kind of holding back and not ready to push and, and that, quote, stalled labor. So the fact that her midwife was able to say like, Listen, this is it’s now or never and I know that you can do it. And then Jasmine went and did it. So that was a really, really cool point of the story and pretty neat to see how we can buckle down when it’s time and Jasmine sure as heck was not wanting to transfer to the hospital. So that’s it for this week. What an awesome episode. I hope you guys are as excited as I am for next week’s podcast. We’re going to be interviewing Ashley Keller from glow body PT, you can go ahead and start checking her out right now. She is incredible. She is an amazing fitness Mama. And she’s got so much to bring to us next week. Until then, if you haven’t signed up for my email newsletter subscription, or whatever you call it, I don’t even know. Go ahead and sign up because there’s some really fun stuff coming your way, especially if you like Michael Scott GIFs or just, I don’t know how to say it. But if you like that kind of stuff, you’re going to really enjoy the email list. So I cannot wait to see you there and I can’t wait to see you back here next week.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
