Today’s episode is full of love. Meagan’s doula partner, Christin Carlson, joins as co-host today to hear their client, Janelle, share her beautiful VBAC story. Janelle’s first baby was determined to stay frank breech even after two ECV attempts. Her water broke on its own before her scheduled date. In prep for her surgery, Janelle unexpectedly experienced vaginal cleansing. Though the surgery went well, it was not the introduction to motherhood Janelle was hoping for. She was also hit hard with postpartum depression.  Janelle shares how she found The VBAC Link and became obsessed with all things VBAC prep. Surrounded by the most loving and empowering team, they helped her stay steady when labor was most intense. Even though it was harder than she imagined it would be, Janelle was able to dig deep and achieve the unmedicated VBAC she desired.  Vaginal Cleansing Article Postpartum Depression Article How to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for Parents Full Transcript under Episode Details  02:40 Janelle’s PPD experience 07:25 Janelle’s stories 12:06 Arriving at the hospital 14:05 Janelle’s C-section 17:00 VBAC preparation 19:24 Appendicitis and second pregnancy 24:22 Going into labor 27:35 Laboring at the hospital 30:30 Transition 34:21 Achieving her VBAC 38:47 The power of a supportive partner 43:53 What is vaginal cleansing? 50:26 Symptoms of postpartum depression Meagan: Hello, everybody. You guys, today I have a very special episode to my heart because this is one of our own doula clients here in Utah and another even more special thing is that this is my partner, Kristen who ended up attending her birth, is co-hosting. Hello, Christin and Janelle.  Janelle: Hello.  Christin: Hi.  Meagan: How are you guys today?  Janelle: So good, so good.  Meagan: Before we started recording, we started talking about time and how fast things are going. You guys, I mean I think you probably know if you are pregnant or have a newborn in your arms how fast time goes, but really, holy cow. We were with Janelle, we just talked about, 8 months ago from the time we are recording which is wild to think about.  Janelle: So weird. So weird. It’s crazy.  Christin: It seems like it was a couple of weeks ago.  Janelle: Yeah, it’s not fair.  Meagan: I know. How have things been? How have you been going with postpartum? Janelle: Things have been really good and I think that’s one of the things that pushed me to want a VBAC so badly is I was hoping for a better postpartum experience. I had pretty severe postpartum depression with my first baby and I felt like having the VBAC would be some sort of heavenly gateway into not having postpartum depression. In the beginning, that was true, but I ended up still having some of it. Things are good now, though.  Meagan: Good. I actually love that you touched on that because I think that sometimes especially after a traumatic Cesarean or a traumatic experience that did lead to postpartum depression or anxiety or anything like that, that can be a big motivator for a different experience. I love that you talked about, “Well, it was a better experience, but I still had this a little bit. I’ve had to work through that.” I’m glad that you’re good now, but even sometimes when we have a different experience, we have similar things.  So it’s important to recognize that. I love that you just pointed that out.  Janelle: Yeah, for sure. Yeah.  Meagan: Before we get going into the episode, do you have any tips on tackling that the second time around too? How were your feelings about things when you were starting to feel it and see it creep in?  02:40 Janelle’s PPD experience Janelle: Well, with both experiences, it did creep in just like you said, but with my daughter, it felt really dark really fast. She was my first baby and then with my first son, the VBAC, it was kind of a little bit sneaky. I guess just having someone on your support team. For me, it was