Episode 287 Suzzie's HBAC + A Note From a Childbirth Educator The VBAC Link

"She was in my arms while she took her first breath and she was just so calm and beautiful. It feels like time just stops at that moment. It was so, so special to me."

From turning down the opportunity to take a childbirth class during her first pregnancy to now passionately teaching her own classes (She Births Bravely) as a childbirth educator and attending births as a doula, Suzzie shares how birth has changed her. 

Located in Seattle, Suzzie talks about how her birth team created a safe place for her to have a peaceful home birth that was still very intense but didn’t feel that way. 

Meagan and Suzzie discuss pushing, continuous care, the importance of education, and their best tips on what to do during pregnancy to have an empowering birth experience no matter the outcome. 

Suzzie’s Childbirth Class
Suzzie’s Website
What Does Your Birth Plan Say About Your Personality Quiz
Real Food For Pregnancy
Needed Website
How to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for Parents
Full Transcript under Episode Details

02:28 Review of the Week
03:53 Suzzie’s molar pregnancy
06:27 Beginning labor with fear and doubt
09:01 “It has been over 24 hours. It’s time for you to have a C-section.”
10:51 Making friends with a student-midwife
14:41 Suzzie’s second pregnancy and labor
18:50 Baby Hazel’s birth
27:06 OBs attending home births
30:40 Continuous care during home birth
36:23 Birth preparation tips
43:29 Knowing what questions to ask
48:18 Waters being broken for 24 hours
50:31 Checking in if labor stalls


Meagan: Hello, hello Women of Strength. How are you? This is Meagan, your host here at The VBAC Link. I’m excited to talk a little bit today about what can we do before we have our baby or what should we do when we get pregnant to start preparing for birth. 

We have our friend, Suzzie, with us today. Hello, Suzzie. 

Suzzie: Hi. 

Meagan: She is actually a doula and childbirth educator who has a lot of passion in sharing a message of what to do and how to prep and how to navigate through this amazing journey that we call pregnancy and birth and motherhood. She had an unexpected Cesarean just like a lot of us. If we go through most of these stories on the podcast, you’re going to hear that trend of it wasn’t expected. It wasn’t planned. It maybe wasn’t desired. That’s a common thing in our VBAC community. It’s important to know what to do and what to know because most of us just didn’t know what we didn’t know. 

02:28 Review of the Week
Meagan: So we are going to dive into a little bit more of how to prepare and a message from our darling Suzzie, but of course, we have a Review of the Week so we are going to get into that before we get into the next part. 

This is from kimberlyspair. Thank you, Kimberly. We love her. She says, “Thumbs up from us! Sharing such an essential message with love and compassion.” 

That is exactly what we are going to do today, sharing another message with love and compassion. As always, if you have a minute, we would love your review. You can leave it on 
Apple Podcasts, Google, message us at info@thevbaclink.com. Remember VBAC is V-B-A-C and let us know what you think about the show. 

03:53 Suzzie’s molar pregnancy
Meagan: Okay, cute Suzzie. So we were talking right before we got on the episode. You guys, she had her C-section birth at a hospital local to me here in Utah then went on to have an HBAC. Was your HBAC in Washington? Where was your home birth? 

Suzzie: It was. I live in Seattle and it was here in Washington. 

Meagan: Okay, cool. So Seattle, Washington mamas, listen up if you are looking for options for a provider. Yeah, so you talked a little bit about how birth taught you how much more capable you really are than you thought. I think that is something that happens a lot with us, right? We walk through this birth journey and we are like, “Dang, we are amazing.” We really, really, really are. Yeah, so Suzzie, tell us about your stori