Every pregnancy and birth experience is different. That is true for everyone, but especially for Kristen. Kristen joins us from Provo, Utah, and shares her experiences with an initial vaginal birth, a diagnosis of omphacele with a Cesarean and infant loss with her second that left her with a special scar, an induced, medicated hospital VBAC with her third, and she is currently expecting twins! Kristen’s journey has not been easy, but she has learned and grown so much. She talks about how a safe and supportive birth team truly makes all the difference. Your intuition will help guide you to the best provider for you. When you know, you know! Meagan concludes the episode by touching on some myths and facts about doulas.  The VBAC Link Blog: Myths and Facts About Doulas The VBAC Link Blog: Special Scars Special Scars, Special Hope Needed Website How to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for Parents Full Transcript under Episode Details  01:50 Review of the Week 04:02 Kristen’s first vaginal birth 09:41 Coping with grief and hospital communication issues 15:17 A low transverse incision with a J extension 19:59 Finding VBAC support in Salt Lake 23:10 Foley induction at 41.5 weeks 29:29 Changing plans 30:37 Myths about doulas 38:55 Facts about doulas 41:05 Kristen’s advice to other women with special scars 43:26 Listening to your intuition when choosing a provider Meagan: Hello, Women of Strength. Thank you for joining us for another amazing episode here at The VBAC Link. Today’s story is from someone who is local to me which I think is always kind of fun to have someone who when they are telling the story, I know the birthing place, I know the provider, and here I even know the doula so that is super exciting.  Welcome, Kristen to the show.  Kristen: Thank you, Meagan.  Meagan: Thank you so much for being here and I’m excited for you to share your stories. I would like to get into a review really quickly so then we can do that.  Kristen: Sure.  01:50 Review of the Week Meagan: Okay, we have a reviewer from Apple Podcasts and it says louuuuuhuuuu. I think that’s how it is and it says, “Very Inspirational.” It says, “I knew I wanted a VBAC with my third pregnancy, but I wasn’t sure if it was possible. However, I knew I didn’t like being flat-out told no at my first appointment. Listening to the podcast was definitely the start of me really researching birth and looking into my options. I ended up with a successful HBAC” which is home birth after two Cesareans, actually HBA2C, “and I definitely don’t think I would have had the courage or believed it was possible without the podcast. Thank you, Meagan, for all of the work that you do to provide this information.”  And thank you, louuuuuhuuuu. I don’t know how to say it. I’m just butchering your name. If you are still listening, thank you so much for your review, and as always, we love your reviews. They really do help the podcast. They help Women of Strength find these incredible stories and information just like she was able to receive. You can drop that review at Apple Podcasts or Google or wherever you listen to your podcasts.  04:02 Kristen’s first vaginal birth, Cesarean, and infant loss experience Meagan: Okay, Kristen. Thank you again so much for joining us. I would love to turn the time over to you to share your stories.  Kristen: Well, thank you. It’s hard to know where to start. There are a lot of details to mine.  We had our first little boy in April of 2018. That was its own experience. That was a vaginal birth honestly. That was as hard as it was as a first-time mom and a first-time pregnancy/birth. It had its own set of interesting details to go along with that but we soon found ourselves unexpectedly pregnant with our second one just four months later after he was born.  Meagan: Really soon.  Kristen: Yeah, they would have been 11 months apart. I say would have been because my daughter who I had via Cesarea