Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:00:00:
Hi everyone. On today’s podcast, we’re going to talk about self-hypnosis and an unmedicated birth story with chiropractor and EBB childbirth class graduate Dr. Emily Guilfoy and her husband Doug as they share their birth story. Welcome to the Evidence Based Birth® Podcast. My name is Rebecca Dekker, and I’m a nurse with my PhD and the founder of Evidence Based Birth®. Join me each week as we work together to get evidence-based information into the hands of families and professionals around the world. As a reminder, this information is not medical advice. See ebbirth.com/disclaimer for more details. Hi everyone and welcome to today’s episode of the Evidence Based Birth® Podcast. I’m so excited to share with you today a birth story from our graduates from the EBB childbirth class. We have with us today Dr. Emily Guilfoy and Doug Guilfoy. Emily is a chiropractor and acupuncturist with a passion for supporting women from preconception through postpartum. Upon completion of her undergraduate studies at Washington University in St. Louis, Emily went on to complete her doctorate of chiropractic at Logan University. She maintains her certification in the Webster technique and is a diplomat of the American Board of Chiropractic Acupuncturists. Emily is married to Doug, a financial analyst, and together they were graduates of the EBB Childbirth Class with EBB Instructor Anna Zukowski. Emily and Doug live in St. Louis, Missouri with their son, Theodore, and they are here together to share their birth story with us. Emily and Doug, welcome to the Evidence Based Birth® Podcast.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:01:40:
Thank you. Thank you for having us.
Doug Guilfoy – 00:01:42:
Yeah.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:01:43:
We’re really excited to be here.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:01:44:
I’m so excited to hear your story because I feel like it touches a lot of points that people are interested in. And I was wondering if you could kind of take us earlier in your story to how you found out about the Evidence Based Birth® childbirth class and when you started deciding to educate yourself in this way.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:02:02:
Yeah. We, or I guess I had heard about Evidence Based Birth® through some of my chiropractic continuing education during Webster Certification and other seminars like that. Evidence Based Birth® is very much promoted as a resource and as a website to go to to offer patients just more information who might be. Interested in whatever topic pertaining to birth. But I hadn’t really known about the childbirth class until we started kind of interviewing and selecting a doula. So this became really important to us, I think, as like just kind of a stepping stone as background information that we wanted our doula to have and to have that, that groundwork in EBB. So we found Anna and she became our doula as well as our EBB Instructor.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:02:54:
That’s awesome. And so both of you. We’re interested then in having a doula and getting educated as much as possible.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:03:02:
Yeah. Definitely.
Doug Guilfoy – 00:03:03:
We’re lifelong learners. So this was right up our alley. It was perfect.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:03:08:
Yeah, that’s awesome. What was your experience like taking the class with Anna?
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:03:12:
Yeah, we loved the course. We found, I think, the videos and the coursework to be really educational. And very informative. We took, being the lifelong learners that we are, we took multiple childbirth classes from various resources, various avenues. But we really found like EBB to give us the most data and most information to really empower us in conversations with our care team and our provider to really make the decisions that were best for us and to create that birth plan. I think like one of my And I mean, like the best takeaway I have from the course itself was really that. And with our like our cohort meetings weekly. Everyone in those discussions, I mean, we created a lot of thought provoking questions, but it was also very nonjudgmental space. So that if we had differing viewpoints, that was very much okay. And if someone viewed or needed their birth to look a little bit different than the next person, that was definitely okay. But it was a really beautiful time to have those conversations and see. What other parents were thinking about.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:04:28:
That’s good to hear because I know we try to build that into the culture of EBB, but it’s good to hear. Like it definitely filters down through the individual classes that you’re taking. And Doug, what about you? Was there anything that stuck out at you as you were learning that maybe you didn’t know before taking the class?
Doug Guilfoy – 00:04:46:
You know, I’m have a lot of, a strong business background. So this is really not in my wheelhouse. I’m a pretty novice in most of these, this areas. This is what, you know, I, I delegate to the expert over here. But I felt the courses were fantastic for me as a novice and that it took, you know, medical concepts can be very complicated, but it kept things in very common sense language, very applicable and, you know, simple for us so that we could understand, you know, all of the different stages of birth and everything that comes along with it. And I really appreciated how the concepts were brought forward and that simple nature. And also, you know, didn’t make it elementary or kindergarten for me. You know, it was still like the proper level of detail so that I had the confidence during birth. To understand what was going on, what Emily needed. And I think that EBB really did, you know, fit all those boxes and was just a, for myself, like the, exactly what I was looking for to give myself more confidence during birth.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:05:51:
Mm-hmm. Yeah, sometimes we see that a lot where, you know, one partner has a lot of experience in health care. Either personal or work, and then the other doesn’t. And it’s almost like you both take the class mainly for the partner who doesn’t have the experience, but then you both end up learning a lot about each other and yourselves and your preferences. So speaking of your preferences, what kind of birth were you planning?
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:06:20:
We kind of envisioned, as we kind of dove into the information, we really envisioned that kind of spontaneous, unmedicated, natural birth. But we really wanted the safety net of a hospital setting. Very long story, but I’ve had like some musculoskeletal issues, which led me to chiropractic, a hip replacement. And so I wasn’t sure, how my body would tolerate birth and what that would look like for me. And I wanted to have a safety net. In place, but I still really wanted to really try for that spontaneous unmedicated birth. So that was really kind of like our vision going into it. And I think as we learned more, there were certain things that we became more open to, in a kind of a medical sense of like, we became, you know, maybe opened the idea of using nitrous oxide if we needed it. And we also, we did actually end up wanting like Pitocin in third stage of labor, just as something that we had learned and then giving my like previous kind of medical history that we thought would be. A good option for us to have in place. So I was kind of like the plan, the general plan, but definitely wanting something that. In terms of environment, was very calm, very warm, inviting kind of space.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:07:44:
You kind of knew what your preferences were and what options you would be willing to consider if things didn’t go as planned. And you kind of had, it sounds like a mix of like you wanted some things more holistic, you know, using your body and other things. You wanted some medical intervention. So. And the hospital was the best fit for that. I don’t think we’ve had anybody on the podcast yet who’s had like hip or pelvic surgery or anything like that. So do you mind just telling us a little bit about how you, you know, what were your concerns about your hip replacement and how that might impact? You’re giving birth.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:08:21:
For sure. So obviously planning for birth was not… It was a long, long plan to even like preconception, get ready for pregnancy and for birth. So I had a hip replacement in, gosh, 2016 now. And knowing I wanted to become a mom and kind of starting to think about, or I had started to think about, you know, what were the implications of like hip surgery, particularly the total hip replacement with birth. Are there any higher risks? Are there greater Cesarean rates? What does that look like? You know, I had talked with both like my orthopedic surgeon. About, you know, if there’s any risks of dislocation or something like that with a hip replacement. And typically there really aren’t because most of the time you’re not in the positions that would. Create a dislocation, but it’s not outside of the realm of like. You know, things to kind of keep. Keep in mind and keep on that, keeping the back of your mind as you’re kind of going through this process. So I think like I started digging into research in terms of. What were some of those rates of like, were there any dislocation stories that were out there in the data? Are there what are the Cesarean rates for women who’ve had hyperplacements? What I had found, which was really helpful for me and kind of eased my concerns, eased my worries, was that the rates are no different. For women who’ve had hyperplacements versus those who have not. And there really weren’t reports of high rates of dislocation or other issues. So I felt pretty confident that… This would go relatively according to plan. And with all of that information, too, I kind of talked to my OB and she as well, kind of. She hadn’t birthed, I think, with anybody with a hip replacement before or didn’t at least kind of acknowledge that for us, but felt pretty confident that. The body would do what it was designed to do and that there wouldn’t be any big issues?
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:10:41:
Thank you for sharing that with us. And I can also imagine that in addition to hip location, the fear of hip dislocation, you could have some scar tissue or other things that kind of create some unknowns in the process.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:10:54:
Definitely. Definitely. And so I think that was part of our preparation too. Anna was really helpful in kind of instructing us in certain like myofascial techniques. We brought like a lacrosse ball with us to birth, things like that to just keep like that hip more mobile since it is a little less, mobile in terms of range of motion.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:11:17:
Okay. So, take us, you know… To the day your birth story began, like how, how did your experience begin?
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:11:29:
We had reached 40 weeks in one day. And I found myself to be. I wouldn’t say I was frustrated that birth hadn’t started yet, but I was starting to feel pressure from people around me that birth needed to get started. And so we had been doing acupuncture. We had been doing, having a dates and doing primrose oil. And we were doing mile circuits every day. And then I talked to a friend who’s a chiropractor and also just a very like intuitive healer. And she had said, you know, I really think you need to be in water. Like, I really think you need to get into water. So that evening, got in the bathtub. Nothing really eventful. Got out, Doug and I had like some kind of seemingly like meaningless conversation on the couch and then decided, okay, I think it’s time to go to bed. And, I had been preparing myself in terms of mindset with hypnosis. And so one of my nightly rituals was to put on my pregnancy affirmations track. As I go to bed. So I went ahead and did that at all comfortable, you know, all the pillows, everything that you’re doing at the end of pregnancy. And I hadn’t been laying down for probably more than two minutes and all of a sudden felt this huge pop. And my water had broken and everything got wet. And all I could do was laugh hysterically. And my laughing woke up Doug. And we proceeded to just laugh hysterically for a while.
Doug Guilfoy – 00:13:08:
I thought you were kidding. I thought you were pulling the plug.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:13:11:
It was a joke.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:13:12:
Yeah. So we kind of. So without any sleep, no, we had called our doula, called our parents just to get everybody kind of on board. I, you know, because we didn’t know how quickly then like waves would actually start after my water breaking. So we were just kind of hanging out. The first like 20 or 30 minutes or so, but it really did pick up quite quickly. So we started kind of packing up all the bags and… And making our way to the hospital. We took like a quick 30 seconds to kind of stop in our son’s nursery before we left and just kind of said to ourselves, like, okay, let’s go meet our son. Here we go.
Doug Guilfoy – 00:13:59:
Next time we’ll be here, we’ll have extra baggage.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:14:01:
Yeah, live our baby with us.
So I took a minute or two just to get myself into hypnosis. And then we jumped in the car and really, got to the hospital, which was a pretty easy. I know some people have a very exciting like travel. To the hospital or to the birthing center. We did not pretty uneventful. And, we got checked in and into our room. And that was probably, I think, the first hour that we were there is when I actually experienced probably. More discomfort, which was kind of interesting to me. Arriving to the hospital. Part of the policy was that they needed to take… I think it was about an hour of continuous monitoring before I could go on to intermittent monitoring. And I had to be stationary in a bed, and I didn’t realize how uncomfortable that I would feel really being static. Not like unmanageable. I could use hypnosis to help me through it, but it was really challenging. So as soon as that hour was up, I felt much better. We got to get into the shower. I was able to get in the shower. Labored on the toilet, labored in the tub. I, because my water had broken, I found the fact that my legs kept getting wet to be very distracting and kept kind of pulling me out of hypnosis throughout the process.
So, it was when our doula arrived and she immediately kind of knew exactly what to do. And she said, well, we need to get you into water because. It’ll take away that distraction. You won’t feel that. And you’ll be much more comfortable. So that’s where getting into the shower and then into the tub really became incredibly helpful. From there, like, we… I mean, our team was just amazing. We were… Everybody kind of knew their role and I felt pretty confident. It was amazing to feel like. The confidence in my own body that, even though I hadn’t experienced any of this before and hadn’t experienced any of these different discomforts, that I very much felt comfortable and like at ease and confident in the process as it happened. We had gotten A few checks for dilation kind of throughout as well. But really that was done like. Just whenever we felt necessary. They offered it kind of, I would say, probably every hour. But, definitely didn’t take them up on every option. I think there was a moment too where I was, had gotten out of the water and then was laboring in bed again.
And it was just incredible. Just the discomfort level kind of definitely increased outside of the water. Because at one point I really thought that I was ready to have a baby and they checked me and I was only four centimeters. So back into the water we went. Just create some more comfort. And very quickly went from like four to seven, reached finally like nine and a half centimeters after a while and had an anterior lip. And that was probably the most challenging point of labor for me, in that we kept being kind of encouraged or I was being encouraged to go onto my hands and knees, to help with that to create that last little bit of dilation to help with that anterior lip. But for whatever reason, that was one piece of labor that just never felt intuitive to me. That did not feel right. My body just really didn’t want to go into that position. But I kind of, I tried different things myself that really hadn’t worked. And so I really had to kind of follow some of that recommendation from our nurse, to go ahead and take that position. And sure enough, it worked. Everything resolved. And then we were really ready to meet our son.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:18:01:
And what time point in the process was this? So your water broke right when you were going to bed. You went to the hospital without any sleep. So when did you get to the point of pushing? So we were at the point of pushing about 15 hours later. Okay. So, like the next afternoon? Yeah. Okay.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:18:23:
So it was about probably three o’clock the next day that we were ready to start pushing.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:18:29:
And Doug, how had you been like coping through this process or helping Emily cope?
Doug Guilfoy – 00:18:35:
I was the DJ, so she had all of her hypnosis tracks. She had her Bluetooth headphones on, at least in the bathtub and shower. Obviously, it’s a little different.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:18:48:
Mm-hmm.
Doug Guilfoy – 00:18:50:
But, you know, every 20, 30 minutes would be making sure the next track was going on. Emily would kind of come out of her hypnosis ever so slightly, mumble out like next track or something of that nature. And, um, between Emily’s mom and myself, we were making sure that the tracks kind of were smooth. While she was in the tub. We took turns, you know, either rubbing her back or taking washcloths and kind of putting those on your shoulders just to help regulate temperature and just give you some comfort there, and, you know, outside of the tub was there to just support whether it’s, you know, different stretching or exercise techniques while you’re on the bed, just to again, sort of, distract your, you from the discomfort and give you, you know, as much, you know, comfort as you can in that moment. So that was kind of the main, main responsibilities. Um, I had definitely the- The main responsibilities were with Emily, but I was there kind of filling in. And, giving you sips of coconut water when you needed a little hydration.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:20:06:
And Doug, since you kind of had this firsthand view of Emily and self-hypnosis, some of our listeners might not have witnessed someone who’s using self-hypnosis in birth. Can you describe a little bit about like what Emily’s demeanor was, what she looked like, what it was like? Look like from an, as an observer, like maybe when she’s in hypnosis and then maybe when she was distracted, like during that first hour in the hospital, getting in the tub, getting out of the tub, like how could you tell it was working?
Doug Guilfoy – 00:20:37:
She, I mean, it’s kind of, you know, she definitely had a very strong zen vibe where, you know, she’s very, very silent and very introspective and, you know, it’s just very heavily focused on breathing. Her eyes are closed. So you could feel the ultra focus that she had. When she’s in the, you know, in the, the depths of the hypnosis, I mean, obviously she’s still, you’re still conscious. You’re still, it’s not like she’s, she’s off somewhere else, but, um, definitely it’s just the, your technique to, to manage the pain and discomfort. But when you’re kind of on the edges of between tracks or you’re in a, I’m having a moment of discomfort on the bed. You know, you could just tell breathing was different. Usually your eyes were open and things of that nature. So that was kind of the, the Yang-Yin and the Yang of her, her hypnosis experience. But, you know, we’ve been practicing this for, you know, several weeks going through different hypnosis scripts and, you know, getting prepped on the, you know, which songs at what time, and tracks of that nature. So, um, it was definitely, I was well prepared. Again, something wrote I had little experience with, not that you had either, but-
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:22:06:
Yeah.
Doug Guilfoy – 00:22:07:
You know, I think you, you did a great job of trying to bring me along and not pressuring me into doing this, you know, trying to bring about the benefits of it and trying to explaining why, why you feel like it’s important for your, your birth experience. And definitely made sure I was, I was there with you and that it wasn’t like you off by yourself. So. I felt like, you’re doing so much, like the very least I can do is support, you know, this choice you’re making again, it’s, it’s not the, as I feel like you’re doing. A lot more of the heavy lifting. Yeah. So, um-
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:22:47:
Yeah.
Doug Guilfoy – 00:22:47:
That was our hypnosis experience.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:22:50:
And what was your doula doing all this time?
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:22:53:
Our doula was… I mean, she was, all kinds of things. I think for me, it was less. I was less aware since I was in hypnosis so much, but she was just offering a lot of suggestions about, whether it was getting into the shower, getting into the tub. Or giving me like little cues for relaxation, putting. A hand on a shoulder, a hand on a forehead of like where to just release tension. Or even at other stages, giving us cues about using some of like the spinning babies techniques to help with. Comfort and alignment. And then likewise, she was also our birth photographer and taking lots of pictures for us so that we could document the experience. But it was really great to have really the full team and just to have kind of that. Our doula, I felt like, was just like our coach, like was there to give. Just to coach everyone else to make sure Doug was where he was needed to be, where my mom was where she needed to be. And that we were all kind of unified and on the same page. Having a doula is absolutely invaluable to a birth experience.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:24:10:
And how did you all work then to create this environment? Like, Doug, you described it as very zen. So that people didn’t come in the room and maybe interrupt your focus or start throwing out words or, you know, sentences that could bring fear and anxiety into the situation.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:24:31:
Yeah, we. Had one kind of occurrence of that where I think someone had kind of walked into the room and hadn’t. Seen all the signage that we had put on the door and kind of walked in like very much, ,happy as could be, but just very boisterous. Which was not quite the energy in the room. So we did. We had signs that we had put up on the door before people had entered to let them know that I would be in self-hypnosis, that I wouldn’t necessarily be available to answer questions right away, but maybe I could at the end of a wave or once I came out of hypnosis. Also, I think like having dim lights, and even some of like the tea lights and twinkle lights and things like that to help kind of like create that ambiance in the room. Was really helpful for everybody who was kind of walking into the space to know that it was more quiet and more serene.
Doug Guilfoy – 00:25:29:
I think the nursing staff was very, very supportive and, you know, they, they definitely, you know, took our birth plan, saw the environment that we were choosing. And I think they did a good job of, you know, socializing it amongst their floor to make sure everyone knew kind of just how we were approaching it and there was no, no pressure, are you sure you want to do that or, you know, they, they pretty much took us at our word, saw what we wanted to do and supported us, which is, um, not everyone may have that situation. We are very lucky and blessed to have a good staff with us to make that happen.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:26:08:
Definitely.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:26:10:
And you mentioned when you wrote into EBB that the hospital staff there might not have seen many unmedicated laborers. So, you know. Were they in awe? Doug, maybe you noticed more of what was going on. Were they just, you know, respectful? Were they kind of like, you know, what was their reaction?
Doug Guilfoy – 00:26:30:
There, definitely, I think as the day progressed and I guess the word got out the scuttlebutt amongst the floor, I think there, there may have been a few more, a few more visitors near the tail end, I think one aspect of the tub room was that it did provide you kind of a somewhat of a barrier between the outside noise and, you know, which was good to help you maintain kind of your focus. So during kind of the main, as you’re going through your phases and your dilation, you were pretty kept to yourself. But once you kind of hit at the, you know, pushing stage, I think there was a little bit more excitement that came in, but again, folks were respectful and that people weren’t poking and prodding you. I think folks were there, giving you your space and us our space.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:27:32:
Yeah. There was definitely like a general excitement. With the staff to be able to kind of, and I think the excitement definitely came about after he was born where they like realized like, wow, I actually got to see this like full like, full spontaneous kind of unmedicated like really just like natural childbirth and so we were kind of, everyone was very kind of, yeah, like kind of golden retriever, like excitement over it, which is really exciting for us to see that people. Really enthusiastic and really wanting to like experience that and it wasn’t um Wasn’t looked down upon at all.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:28:15:
Yeah. Well, it’s pretty amazing that you two were able to, you know, with your mom and your doula, create that environment that made them feel like the staff were part of this experience and on the same team as you and wanting the same goals in a hospital setting where this is not the norm. You know, you were kind of like an unusual spectacle. And I don’t encourage people to say, I’m going to go in and show them how it’s done.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:28:44:
Right.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:28:44:
Because first of all, you don’t know how things are going to go. And second of all, it’s not their birth. Like you’re not doing this for them.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:28:52:
Right.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:28:53:
But it’s always lovely when afterwards you can say you were part of like an experience of opening people’s eyes to different options and ways of birthing. And so that’s a really cool aspect of your story. So take us to, you know, the pushing phase, the second stage of labor. You worked through that cervical lip. You know, how did the pushing phase go? What was it like?
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:29:18:
So right before we started pushing was when I had voiced the first time and the only time throughout the entire process. And I had finally said a full sentence and I said, I can’t do this to my birth team. And every single person around me immediately said. You can do this. You are doing this. Like, keep going. And that was the first time, too, where I started to explore, like, maybe I do need some nitrous. Maybe I need something to just kind of, like, help me through this last little bit. But that was essentially when they came in and had said, you know, you’re 10 centimeters. Like, we can either start pushing or we can wait for nitrous, which would, you know, which often. And so I said, of course, like, let’s just go for this. Let’s just start pushing. And truthfully, like, I mean, it’s, I know people talk about this a lot, but it is so true that transition is the hardest transition transformation is the hardest phase. The pushing, I wouldn’t say is easy by any means, but is definitely more gratifying like, there’s something for you to be doing during that so it feels feels much better than that transformation transition phase. I had started kind of pushing. I was in bed and I was pushing on my side for a while. I wasn’t quite making progress that way. And in my brain, like in my birth plan, I had thought I’m going to push on my hands and knees, which like we had already found out that didn’t feel intuitive at that point, which is very interesting.
So I ended up pushing on my back. I was pretty tired at that point. And we had a little bit of kind of coaching that kind of came out a few times from hospital staff, the counting. Which kind of was disruptive to hypnosis. Everyone was very like respect. I mean, we asked them to kind of stop doing that. And that was very easy conversation. And they’re very much agreeable to it. We had our hypnosis track playing out loud for everyone. In the room when pushing started. I pushed for probably 90 minutes. And our son was born and it was amazing. Like it was, most incredible experience. Our doula, like, captured this amazing photo of… Theodore crowning and you can actually like I have the biggest smile on my face. I’m just so excited that he’s here. We’re going to meet him. OB, I was so just grateful for that she really had a more, I mean, we talked about this with Anna at like our postpartum kind of session with her that our OB really had like a hands-off kind of approach to birth and really did like allow Theodore to kind of like birth as he was intended to kind of in that like innate process and those. The cardinal signs.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:32:11:
And OB wasn’t rushing anything.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:32:14:
Not at all. Just really let it happen as it should. And she really made me feel like I was the star of the show. And I was very, very appreciative of that. Because I think at least like, and like television and movies aren’t a good depiction, but I think sometimes you’re always left to think that. The care provider comes in in the end and they’re like. The hero, like, delivering the baby. And, like, absolutely not. Like I birthed my son. I did that. And she absolutely made me feel like that was my accomplishment and that this was our accomplishment really as a family.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:32:55:
Doug, what feelings or thoughts were going through your head when your son was born?
Doug Guilfoy – 00:33:01:
I think I was, it was somewhat of an overwhelming process just thinking about, how all of the steps we had taken to get to this point. You know we’re very very much planners like we’ve been thinking about this moment for years and getting ourselves, our bodies and our, our minds prepared for this. And I think it was just like, I’ve had a rush of, I felt just overwhelmed by the fact that we’re, we’re finally there. You know, that’s the moment you’ve been. Thinking about and it’s kind of captures your whole psyche, you know, in those, those months leading up to birth and, um, it was somewhat overwhelmed, somewhat relief knowing for Emily’s sake, you know, it’s very hard as a partner to see. This person you love, like giving so much and you feel like you’re, you know, it’s, we just have different roles, but being able to see, you know, knowing that you’re, through the majority, the largest part of your discomfort and pain was also something that I was just grateful for to see. Just grateful to see her see our little boy and I mean, it was kind of hard, indescribable moment too as well. But just, you know, lots of emotions, lots of happiness as well.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:34:35:
Well, thank you for taking us there in that, you know, moment so we can kind of. Hear what it was like. What was your postpartum experience like?
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:34:45:
Postpartum was the single most challenging and rewarding experience of my life. I mean, more challenging than any… Board exam, any, I mean, you know, and I’ve taken lots of board exams, but more challenging than anything I’ve ever done in my life. And we had said between the two of us, we like, it was kind of a common theme throughout postpartum, we would say to ourselves, like, we have how many advanced degrees between the two of us? And like, this, this is the hardest thing we’ve ever done. It was a challenge. It was a blur. But I was so excited and so grateful to really like, bond as a family in such a new way and also to like kind of face some different or like unexpected challenges and really come out and see ourselves come out stronger on the end. We had a lot of like, more difficulties than I think. We had some difficulties with breastfeeding and with latching. And so that was a big challenge throughout postpartum, was kind of a big theme of postpartum for us more than anything else. One of like the biggest tools that I think was really helpful throughout that time period was that. Are my perinatal counselor had kind of recommended like before birth she said hey i want you to take You know, just make a list, aanywhere of like things that you think might be issues kind of in postpartum or like challenges you might face. And I want you to just list out all the people that you can contact about that single question or that issue.
So maybe it’s housework and laundry, or maybe it’s meals, or maybe it’s lactation, or maybe it’s questions about your health or whatever it is. Make the lists of people who have either have had kids recently or have also breastfed or make, you know, avalanche Or an IBCLC or whoever you have like in that. In that list. So when you’re in the haze and the fogginess of postpartum, when it’s challenging to like think through solutions that you have a very like quick reference guide to say, you know, this is what I’m having a problem with. Like, let me call this person and just see if they can offer any guidance for us. And that was incredibly helpful. It was so simple. But then in postpartum, it was great when I was having these issues with latching and breastfeeding that I had my resources kind of ready to go. And so I was making appointments with people, you know, at 2 a.m. You know, as I’m doing it, trying to do a feed and like can do it on my phone while I’m feeding. To get things in place when I’m facing these, like, these challenges. So that was a really helpful tool. And I think, like, you know, we were- As prepared as we could have been not knowing what we were going to face. I mean, we had all of the lists, all of the meals in the freezer. I mean, we, we had our, our kind of toolkit ready, but I don’t think you’re ever going to be quite like, you’re not going to walk into postpartum feeling like I can ace this. Like you could like a test.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:37:59:
Especially when you’ve never done it before. It’s like-
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:38:00:
Yeah, right, right.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:38:01:
What you don’t know and you’re learning your baby and they’re learning you and life. And-
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:38:06:
Yes.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:38:07:
And you’re learning each, you know, how each other is coping with this huge challenge. So.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:38:13:
Definitely.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:38:13:
Love the tip with having everything at your fingertips ready to text for help or call for help. You’re going to need help.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:38:22:
Yep.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:38:23:
We do know that much.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:38:24:
Yes, yes.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:38:26:
And what was the hypnosis program you used?
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:38:29:
I used Hypnobabies®.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:38:30:
Okay.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:38:31:
And I just did their home study course.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:38:36:
That’s good to know. I think, you know, I thought that’s what you were saying from what you were describing, but I think it’s good. It was interesting to hear how the EBB, kind of you were able to weave it together with the hypnosis training to kind of create the best of both worlds.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:38:51:
Definitely.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:38:52:
Yeah.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:38:52:
They very much complemented each other for sure.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:38:55:
Yeah. And then I have one last question. Emily, this one’s more for you. How did your training and experience as a chiropractor, you know, impact your journey through pregnancy and birth?
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:39:09:
Yeah, I think kind of from a practical perspective, it definitely lended itself towards, you know, understanding body biomechanics, understanding good nutrition. Understanding. The different kind of tools or tactics that are available to me for different like musculoskeletal complaints. But then I think like from a broader sense or like from a philosophical sense, chiropractic is very much based in, really trusting like that innate intelligence within our bodies. And so I think from a philosophy standpoint, it really led me to trust, really the entire pregnancy, the entire birth process, to really understand that pregnancy is not an illness. It is a natural state of being. It’s a healthy state of being. And that our bodies can do this without any kind of conscious effort from ourselves. That we can kind of sustain another life and we can birth another life without a lot of, extra, um, additives to it. Um, and then likewise, kind of from that same philosophy of really looking at my baby and saying like, I, my baby has their own innate intelligence too. Um, and I can trust my baby to also go through pregnancy and birth well. So I think of a few things of like that, that physical being and like taking care of like good nutrition and good, good movement, but then also from that really like philosophical.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:40:42:
Yeah. Well, Emily, and that’s a great lead into next week because next week we have Dr. Lisa Vawter, a chiropractor who’s going to talk about how chiropractic care can help with the aches and pains of pregnancy. And she talks a lot about managing the load of pregnancy and all of the demands on your body and how chiropractic helps with that. So I think your birth story is a great lead in to discussing more in depth about chiropractic care. And also, if you’re interested in Hypnobabies®, our listeners, you all can check out episode 322, which we talked with the founder of Hypnobabies® actually about. About how she created that curriculum and what it all involves. So this has been really like educational and inspiring Emily and Doug, and to see like how birth and pregnancy has strengthened your relationship. And it’s just like really visible, the love you have for each other and for your son. And so we’re really grateful that you were here today.
Dr. Emily Guilfoy – 00:41:43:
Thank you for having us. This has been such a pleasure.
Doug Guilfoy – 00:41:46:
Thank you so much.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:41:48:
This podcast episode was brought to you by the Evidence Based Birth® childbirth class. This is Rebecca speaking. When I walked into the hospital to have my first baby, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Since then, I’ve met countless parents who felt that they too were unprepared for the birth process and navigating the healthcare system. The next time I had a baby, I learned that in order to have the most empowering birth possible, I needed to learn the evidence on childbirth practices. We are now offering the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class totally online. In your class, you will work with an instructor who will skillfully mentor you and your partner in evidence-based care, comfort measures, and advocacy so that you can both embrace your birth and parenting experiences with courage and confidence. Get empowered with an interactive online childbirth class you and your partner will love. Visit evidencebasedbirth.com/childbirthclass to find your class now.
