Labor, delivery, and postpartum are filled with a roller coaster of activity and being informed about this process is crucial. I welcome my friend and social media powerhouse, Liesel Teen, who is a labor and delivery nurse and founder of Mommy Labor Nurse to educate you about 5 things she wants you to know about labor, delivery, and postpartum

She joins me to discuss:

• Fear women have about pooping in the delivery room
• Tearing during vaginal deliveries
• C-section misconceptions
• Just because you want an epidural, timing doesn’t allow it
• Sizing for babies and vaginal deliveries

Thank you to our episode sponsor, Philips Avent. Check out Philips Avent products by visiting Philips.com/avent and using promo code ParentYourWay20 for 20% off today!

Get the Free Birth Prep Workshop or find out more about Liesel and Mommy Labor Nurse on YouTube, Instagram or TikTok @mommy.labornurse

00;00;01;02 – 00;00;24;26

Liesel Teen

Because if you think about anatomy and where your baby’s head is in relation to where your rectum is, they’re kind of just side by side, right? And baby’s head is rather large. So as it comes through that vagina and as you’re pushing and as baby is born, it’s gonna push up against the side of that rectum and push out anything that is in that rectum is just going to come on right out.

 

00;00;24;28 – 00;00;50;02

Dr. Mona

Hello and welcome to the PedsDocTalk podcast. This show’s success is largely due to you and the way you share the podcast with others and leave reviews and show up every week. So thank you so much for joining us today. I’m so grateful to have the most amazing guest to guide you in your parenting journey. Topics about all things parenting, child health, child development, and also parental how parental mental health and preparing for baby.

 

00;00;50;06 – 00;00;55;25

Dr. Mona

So today’s guest is one of my repeat guests and one of my favorite people on social media.

 

00;00;56;00 – 00;00;56;17

Liesel Teen

Oh, thanks.

 

00;00;56;19 – 00;01;14;07

Dr. Mona

Yeah, it’s Liesel team. She is a labor and delivery nurse and founder of Mommy Labor Nurse. Many of you may already know her. Many of you may have found my podcast through her podcast or her Instagram. And she’s joining me to talk about things that a labor and delivery nurse needs you to know about labor delivery and postpartum.

 

00;01;14;13 – 00;01;17;01

Dr. Mona

Thank you so much for coming back on the show, Liesel.

 

00;01;17;03 – 00;01;26;14

Liesel Teen

Yeah, happy to be here. I know we’ve done this a few times. You’ve been on my show a couple times. I’ve been on your show a couple times. I just we just love podcasts. It’s, you know, we get real and.

 

00;01;26;20 – 00;01;48;08

Dr. Mona

We love the podcast. I know we’ve done some lives on Instagram, really just trying to figure out where people need us connecting. Obviously, as a pediatrician, labor and delivery nurse, there’s so much overlap of what we want people to learn. So I’m excited to chat with you on things that I may not even know that you would want us to know, which is things that a labor and delivery nurse would want people to know about their experience.

 

00;01;48;08 – 00;02;09;17

Dr. Mona

So we we’re going to chat about just 5 to 7 things or whatever you think that you wish people would know or maybe things that you have. People come in and they’re like, oh my gosh, I had no idea that this is supposed to happen. But before we get into that, for anyone who’s not familiar with who you are, just introduce yourself and how and why you started mommy Labor nurse.

 

00;02;09;19 – 00;02;40;15

Liesel Teen

Yeah, so for those of you who don’t know me, my name is Lisa. I’m a labor delivery nurse from Raleigh, North Carolina, and I’m also the founder of Mommy Labor Nurse. I’ve been a labor and delivery nurse now for almost nine years this year, which is crazy to think about. Still, the bedside working with patients. Just had a shift last week, so I started mommy labor nurse, about five years ago now, just to kind of bridge that gap like you talked about in the beginning, because there actually wasn’t a whole lot back then, five years ago.

 

00;02;40;15 – 00;03;07;07

Liesel Teen

Online health care education has really kind of taken off since then. So I like to say I was kind of the pioneer. You were online birth education. So yeah, we get really creative and we do a lot of fun things. Over at Mommy Labor Nurse on Instagram and about to start up on YouTube, I have a TikTok. I like I said, I have a podcast and we’ve got online classes too over on Mommy Labor nurse.com.

 

00;03;07;09 – 00;03;26;29

Dr. Mona

Well, I can agree completely that you are a pioneer not just in health education, but just in education in general. I’ve mentioned this on another episode or even on your show that, oh, when I joined, a lot of people were like, not a lot of people are educating on social. I’m like, look at her. She’s educating. So one of my best friends followed you, and then she was like, you need to follow this educational account.

 

00;03;27;04 – 00;03;49;11

Dr. Mona

And I’m like, yeah, that’s doing it. I can find a way to do my education, too. So you are a pioneer. You’re an inspiration. I love knowing you. And also just besides all the things that you do for education, you’re just such a delight to know personality wise. So if anyone doesn’t really know Liesl, she’s just such a kind person, you know, wants to help others, but also just really wants to help just people get educated but also work with other collaborators.

 

00;03;49;11 – 00;03;56;24

Dr. Mona

And I know you have worked with me in many different ways and helped me actually start my journey on social. So really appreciate for all you do.

 

00;03;56;27 – 00;03;59;00

Liesel Teen

Thank you. You’re so sweet.

 

00;03;59;02 – 00;04;08;05

Dr. Mona

So let’s get to it. So again, just kind of chatting about things that you wish people would know about labor delivery and postpartum. And you can start anywhere in that sort of time frame.

 

00;04;08;08 – 00;04;30;02

Liesel Teen

Yeah. I was going to say I think this is all kind of chronological, but maybe, I guess maybe it’s not. I’m not sure. It doesn’t matter. But I’m going to start off with pooping because you got to start off with pooping. We’re going to be talking about pooping today. So you got to start off with pooping. So one thing I think that I would want people to know, this is one of my most common questions that I get.

 

00;04;30;02 – 00;04;48;27

Liesel Teen

Or, you know, when I put out a story box, people are afraid of, like pooping. Like, what’s it going to be like? How do I prevent it? That sort of stuff. So I like to just kind of talk about it so it doesn’t sound as scary. So number one, you probably will poop if you have a vaginal delivery as you’re pushing your baby out.

 

00;04;48;27 – 00;05;05;21

Liesel Teen

I would say about two out of three ish women poop at least a little bit during delivery. And that’s the next thing that I like to bring up to is that if you do poop, it’s not going to be like the kind of poop that we think of. Like when we’re going poop right in the toilet. It’s not like a whole poop.

 

00;05;05;28 – 00;05;26;18

Liesel Teen

Now, some people I’ve seen, it’s quite a lot of poop. But I would say 99% of the people 95, 99%, it’s just a little bit. It’s just like a little bit, you know, kind of on the back end kind of coming out. Because if you think about anatomy and where your baby’s head is in relation to where your rectum is, they’re kind of just side by side, right?

 

00;05;26;18 – 00;05;52;02

Liesel Teen

And baby’s head is rather large. So as it comes through that vagina and as you’re pushing and as baby is born, it’s going to push up against the side of that rectum and push out anything that is in that rectum. It’s just going to come on right out. And then the last thing that I like to tell people about pooping while pushing is that we do a pretty good job of not like, making a huge fuss out of it.

 

00;05;52;02 – 00;06;13;22

Liesel Teen

You know, usually the first thing I do is just I have a chucks pad right there that I can just kind of wipe it and make it go away. And I don’t talk about it now. You know, you kind of have to read the room too. I’ve definitely had patients who are a little bit more comical, and they are like, they’re talking about pooping as they’re pooping and they’re like just laughing and giggling about it.

 

00;06;13;22 – 00;06;30;19

Liesel Teen

And then I’ll, we’ll talk about it. But like, that’s kind of our rule. Like we don’t talk about poop unless you start talking about that sort of thing. Yeah, yeah. That is a checkbox in orientation as a labor and delivery nurse. This is how you wipe and get rid of the poop. It’s just goes over here and it’s gone and it’s fine.

 

00;06;30;21 – 00;06;35;09

Liesel Teen

So yeah, hopefully that makes it just a little bit less scary.

 

00;06;35;12 – 00;06;51;18

Dr. Mona

So I can say from my experience in medical school and also when I was in residency, you know, doing Nicky rotations. So obviously if there’s a need for the Nicky to come down the number, it’s so amazing how many people start panicking when they’re like, I feel like I need to poop. I feel like I need to poop more, like, just go ahead and poop.

 

00;06;51;18 – 00;07;09;11

Dr. Mona

Like they’re so scared about pooping in the delivery room because of course, that’s not where people normally poop. Oh yes, let’s normalize that. It’s going to happen based on just a mere pushing and bearing down. And it’s totally normal. And if anyone makes you feel like it’s not normal, well, then we may want to figure out if they really need to be in the room.

 

00;07;09;11 – 00;07;26;10

Dr. Mona

But it’s not the clinician or the nurses or anyone else. But it is completely normal. And I love that you just talked about that. And that’s amazing that we’re starting this conversation talking about pooping, because it shouldn’t be a taboo topic, and it ends up being so there. Like I can’t believe it’s happening. Oh my gosh. Or it’s embarrassing or even just passing gas.

 

00;07;26;10 – 00;07;27;05

Liesel Teen

Like it’s.

 

00;07;27;05 – 00;07;39;20

Dr. Mona

So funny. I’m like, yo, you’re about to deliver a baby. Yeah, this is great. Like, focus on the baby. Your gas snorts. Any other sounds that come out of you? Yeah. Perfectly reasonable. And I get we get self-conscious. But don’t be so gosh, it’s.

 

00;07;39;22 – 00;07;45;21

Liesel Teen

Yeah, yeah, it’s going to happen. I mean, kind of the way to get through it is just accept it that it’s happening sort of thing.

 

00;07;45;21 – 00;07;48;23

Dr. Mona

And that everyone that sort of happens, I love it. That’s a great first one.

 

00;07;48;26 – 00;08;08;22

Liesel Teen

Right. Exactly. So the next point is I want to talk about tearing a little bit, because that I would say, is my next most common question that I get from people in my question box is how do I prevent tearing? Or like, what’s the deal with tearing? I’m so afraid of tearing. Oh my gosh, tell me, what’s the deal?

 

00;08;08;29 – 00;08;30;17

Liesel Teen

So again, like pooping, most moms tear when they have a vaginal delivery. At least a little bit. But it’s not the kind of tear that you think of when you think of like, ripping a paper. Right? It’s kind of more your vagina’s very, I don’t even know. Right. The right word to describe it, but it’s not level, right.

 

00;08;30;18 – 00;08;50;00

Liesel Teen

It’s like there’s a lot of just tissue. So when you’re tearing, it’s not like a clean cut now. So you have an A piece of me that’s more of a clean cut. Right. So when I talk about tearing, I like to kind of set the stage and say that. And then I like to talk about the degrees. So there’s a couple of different degrees of tearing.

 

00;08;50;03 – 00;09;09;03

Liesel Teen

First degree is the least severe. And that’s kind of just like getting a rug burn, almost like just kind of skimming that surface of the skin and a little bit underneath the skin. And then a second degree is where you’re kind of going a little bit deeper into your perineal muscles. And that one is the most common one that we see among first time moms.

 

00;09;09;03 – 00;09;32;23

Liesel Teen

And I think just moms in general, most people will get a second degree or a first degree tear. Now, I think the stat is like 93 or 95% of people will either have a second degree or first degree. Now, of course, there are third degrees and fourth degrees that do happen to some people. So I don’t want to say like, don’t worry about getting a third or fourth degree, because you might be one of those 3 or 4% of people, right?

 

00;09;32;23 – 00;09;53;04

Liesel Teen

So a third degree is essentially we’re just going a little bit deeper and you’re tearing muscle, you know, around your rectum and you’re kind of just going into that muscle. And then a fourth degree is where you’re going all the way through. And if you have a third degree or a fourth degree, it’s going to be more of an extensive repair in the delivery room.

 

00;09;53;04 – 00;10;08;06

Liesel Teen

We’re going to be talking to you more about how to take care of it afterwards. But a lot of people think that it’s like the scariest thing in the entire world to tear your vagina. And I get it, like, think about when you stub your toe.

 

00;10;08;06 – 00;10;09;01

Dr. Mona

Are you.

 

00;10;09;04 – 00;10;15;04

Liesel Teen

Hurt? Anything else? You’re like, oh my God, my vagina. That’s the place that is most sacred to me. I don’t.

 

00;10;15;06 – 00;10;15;14

Dr. Mona

Want.

 

00;10;15;19 – 00;10;39;18

Liesel Teen

No, I don’t want to tear that thing. You know, it just sounds so, so horrible. So I like to kind of talk about the degrees at first. And then also tearing is the kind of thing, like as you’re tearing, you’re not usually thinking about tearing as it’s happening. You’re more thinking about the baby coming through. And then we kind of see, did you have first grade and you have second degree?

 

00;10;39;24 – 00;11;01;05

Liesel Teen

Did you not tear at all? I would argue now, I can’t say from a personal standpoint, but I would argue that not the third and fourth degrees can’t say that. But like a first, maybe even a second degree when you’re delivering, especially if you’re delivering unmedicated, you just feel the uncomfortableness of the baby and the ring of fire.

 

00;11;01;07 – 00;11;23;16

Liesel Teen

There’s not really something that’s like, oh, I just tore really deep, you know? So I didn’t know that to going into it. It’s not like this moment that you knew you just tear now. I mean, maybe some people I’m sure maybe they’re more in tune with their bodies or something. I don’t know, but I certainly know that all I felt was my baby coming out of me, and I just didn’t know if I could.

 

00;11;23;16 – 00;11;47;20

Liesel Teen

I just it hurt because the baby was coming through, you know? So yeah, tearing. It’s definitely one of those ones that people get nervous about. There’s been some evidence out there to show that a couple things you can do to prevent tearing. One of them I really like is using a warm compress during pushing. So that just kind of helps, blood vessels dilate down there and gives it a little bit more elasticity.

 

00;11;47;24 – 00;12;02;05

Liesel Teen

So a nice warm, warm compress down there as you’re pushing. And you can talk to your labor and delivery nurse about that. I don’t expect you to actually get a warm compress and hold it down there yourself. I want your nurse to do that, or you do a lot to do that or somebody to do that. So that’s a good one.

 

00;12;02;05 – 00;12;19;24

Liesel Teen

And then perineal massage is the other one. People who are doing perineal massage are also doing these other things. And is it really these other things or is it the perineal massage. So but I do think it is something you can actually do to feel like you’re doing something, maybe to prevent things. Right. And basically paranormal massage, it’s pretty easy.

 

00;12;19;24 – 00;12;37;19

Liesel Teen

You just kind of put your thumbs or your two fingers, use some lube down there, and you just kind of widen until you get to the very not edge. But like you stretch kind of as far as you can until it starts to get a little bit uncomfortable. And the sweet spot is actually not to do it every single day, I think.

 

00;12;37;19 – 00;12;50;14

Liesel Teen

I can’t remember off the top of my head, but I think it’s about once or twice a week, starting at 35 weeks, something like that. It’s a sweet spot where they saw that this group didn’t care the most. So yeah, that is tearing in a nutshell.

 

00;12;50;17 – 00;12;57;00

Dr. Mona

And so recovery I mean obviously so even for first second, but definitely we know three and four they’re going to need stitches like repair.

 

00;12;57;02 – 00;12;57;13

Liesel Teen

Right.

 

00;12;57;17 – 00;13;13;08

Dr. Mona

And so the recovery does it depend on the degree like how many weeks. Well they had stitches. And also just to is it usually I mean it could be different at your hospital versus others. Is it usually dissolvable stitches or stitches that have to be removed? I know the answer, but I just I’m curious if you have differences.

 

00;13;13;10 – 00;13;16;18

Liesel Teen

Yeah. We are not going to go in there and remove anything. I do not want.

 

00;13;16;20 – 00;13;17;23

Dr. Mona

People to remember that. Yes.

 

00;13;17;23 – 00;13;19;02

Liesel Teen

Thank you. I’m like, I really hope.

 

00;13;19;02 – 00;13;30;10

Dr. Mona

That there is dissolvable. Yes okay, okay. All the stitches are really important, which means that they just dissolve. You don’t need to get any go back to have someone clip them back out. So this is such an important I love that we’re talking about that.

 

00;13;30;13 – 00;13;52;09

Liesel Teen

Yeah. Well I’ll add one more thing to before I go on to the next point to moms who have epidurals. If your epidural has been working, we usually don’t have to numb you up any extra down there. If you have a tear and you need it repaired for moms who go and medicated or they don’t have epidural, there is usually your doctor will just or your midwife will give some lidocaine and it’s just a little.

 

00;13;52;13 – 00;13;58;14

Liesel Teen

Yeah, the needle needles actually not even that big. You just push out a baby. So the needle, it’s just.

 

00;13;58;17 – 00;13;59;21

Dr. Mona

Like I think it’s.

 

00;13;59;24 – 00;14;00;04

Liesel Teen

True.

 

00;14;00;05 – 00;14;01;13

Dr. Mona

I guess it’s.

 

00;14;01;15 – 00;14;17;17

Liesel Teen

It’s. There you go, there you go. So it just gets it nice and numb down there. And then your provider can stitch up what he or she needs to stitch up. And to answer the question about, like how many stitches. That’s the other thing with remember I was talking about how the vagina is not like a smooth surface.

 

00;14;17;17 – 00;14;28;03

Liesel Teen

It’s kind of hard. I also don’t do the stitching, so I can’t really explain exactly how they do it. I just know that it takes a lot longer for them to do a fourth degree than a first degree, correct?

 

00;14;28;05 – 00;14;47;21

Dr. Mona

Many different layers. Obviously the degree of what’s coming down. Yes, yes, of course. Understood. But yeah, in any of them it is dissolvable. And obviously the recovery has a lot to do with like pain management. I afterwards as well like how you would even if there was no tear. Just some like pad circles like putting up on there and making it so it doesn’t get, you know, swelling and all that.

 

00;14;47;21 – 00;14;50;17

Dr. Mona

That can happen after just any vaginal delivery for sure.

 

00;14;50;19 – 00;14;53;22

Liesel Teen

Right? Yeah. Regardless of if you tear or not. Correct. Yeah.

 

00;14;53;29 – 00;14;56;06

Dr. Mona

This is so important I love it.

 

00;14;56;08 – 00;15;31;02

Liesel Teen

So next point is about C-sections. And this one is don’t be too afraid of having an immediate C-section when you walk in the door. Okay, now let me elaborate on that. So usually what happens during labor okay. If we deem that, you know, you’re probably going to have an emergency C-section, it’s not like we don’t know beforehand, a little bit like we’ve been seeing the baby’s heart rate is a little bit unstable, and you’ve had to have some interventions done to help that, or you have been bleeding a little bit more.

 

00;15;31;02 – 00;15;54;20

Liesel Teen

You have something else going on that, you know, kind of in the back of your head. You know, I’ve signed that consent for the C-section, and I know that it might happen. Right. So there’s usually like an anticipatory period. It’s not usually you walk in the door and you have a C-section. Obviously there are those cases that come in if you’re having an abruption or something and like you’re bleeding all crazy.

 

00;15;54;20 – 00;16;14;15

Liesel Teen

And that’s the only thing we can do is get you in the door and get you in the o.R. Right. But for the most part, if you’re going to have a true emergency C-section like we are putting you to sleep or your epidural is working good, and they’re just dosing you up super quick, and we’re rushing you. We usually are trying to at least prep you a little bit beforehand.

 

00;16;14;15 – 00;16;28;02

Liesel Teen

It’s usually not an instance where everything’s been going great and no problem. And we’re progressing and great like, okay, oh bam, go out the door. That’s really number three is that it’s more of a process.

 

00;16;28;04 – 00;16;45;19

Dr. Mona

Oh yeah. And you’ve had two vaginal deliveries. I’ve had one C-section and I can say it’s only been one. But there was an understanding that things are here. There is a possibility. So it wasn’t completely a surprise. Of course I will see from a C-section, mama, like you kind of hope that maybe maybe we’ll go that way if you can avoid a surgery.

 

00;16;45;19 – 00;17;02;16

Dr. Mona

But it can happen. And sometimes knowing that it’s a possibility can kind of help you just mentally prepare understanding. You’ll have to go in, but I love that you kind of debunk that sort of reality that it’s not always like what we see in the movies, you know, like in the movie. Yes. Like you said, there’s a small percentage of emergencies like that are true.

 

00;17;02;20 – 00;17;18;15

Dr. Mona

Gosh, you got to get this baby out. And I’ve been there, obviously on the other end. But yeah, that’s a super small percentage of the drama that you see. And I love that you’re talking about that, because then I think that adds a little bit of fear. Then people are like, oh my God, I’m going to walk through that door and they’re going to drag me into the O.R..

 

00;17;18;16 – 00;17;40;16

Dr. Mona

Most doctors, I will say the goal is to do vaginal delivery if we can avoid a surgery, if we can. But everything’s about the health of the baby in the mom. So, if it’s deemed necessary, then from the medical standpoint, then I understand, even from my own experience, that it had to happen. Even though I was so heartfelt on having a vaginal, I understood that I wasn’t delaying or taking a long time.

 

00;17;40;16 – 00;17;46;11

Dr. Mona

And I got to go into that O.R.. And so, yes, I love that you’re showing that love for the C-section mamas out there to.

 

00;17;46;14 – 00;17;55;22

Liesel Teen

Yes, yes, absolutely. You guys need some love, too. And I always say, you know, a C-section is just as much of a birth as a vaginal delivery.

 

00;17;55;24 – 00;18;17;01

Dr. Mona

And it’s child. Yeah, I talked to a lot of women. I never had to push that. I talked to women who have had to do the pushing, and then they ended up with the pushing. They had to go to a C-section. So they had vaginal involvement. So maybe they had a tear or they experienced already what you said about pooping worries, but they had the tear or they had all that, and then they had the C-section and they’re like, oh my, it’s the double of it.

 

00;18;17;01 – 00;18;33;20

Dr. Mona

And double whammy, double whammy. Just know that there’s so many different ways that the baby needs to come out. But yes, I love your resources and I love your page and obviously all your courses as well for wherever you may end up finding yourself, you know, knowing and being informed. I get it. It can seem scary, but it’s not scary.

 

00;18;33;20 – 00;18;37;17

Dr. Mona

And yeah, just understanding that this is why it’s happening. And I love that you’re doing that.

 

00;18;37;20 – 00;19;02;26

Liesel Teen

Yeah, that’s really what we’re all about at mommy labor nurses trying to decrease some of that anxiety because yeah, birth can be really, really scary, especially if you don’t know what you’re going into. So for is you might not be able to get an epidural. They are not 100% like if you decide you are in at team epidural, there is a small chance that you might not be able to get one.

 

00;19;02;26 – 00;19;21;03

Liesel Teen

It’s not the kind of thing that you know, everybody gets one and they’re also not perfect. Okay, so let’s go through this kind of point. So have a lot of moms who come in and especially if they’ve had a baby before, maybe it’s their second or third baby. And they come in and they had an epidural with their first one.

 

00;19;21;03 – 00;19;44;20

Liesel Teen

They plan on getting an epidural with their second one, but their labor goes crazy fast, and by the time they get to the hospital, they are almost about to deliver this baby. Or we’re prepping them for an epidural and they’re like, I have to push a quiet guy. So, you know, you go a little bit too quickly. And the thing with epidurals too, is it’s not the kind of thing that it’s just a one time shot.

 

00;19;44;20 – 00;19;57;02

Liesel Teen

You know, we just give it to you right quick. When you get in, we put your I.V. in and there bam! You’re good. It’s a procedure that we have to prep for, and we have to give you fluid, and we have to have you sign a consent form, and we have to get some supplies. We have to call anesthesia.

 

00;19;57;02 – 00;20;22;05

Liesel Teen

They have to come up and do the whole procedure. It’s not just this one little thing. So that’s why this happens a lot of time because it’s not immediately you can’t get it immediately once you come into the hospital. So what I always tell people is, even if you are gung ho team epidural, I don’t want to even think about pushing a baby out of my vagina without that epidural and just put it in the back of your head, okay?

 

00;20;22;05 – 00;20;42;00

Liesel Teen

And because it might be a but it just might happen. Okay. And learn some pain coping techniques just in case you have to use them. Okay. I have a lot of pain cupping techniques in our online classes. Learn some breathing techniques. One of the ones I have it right here. Actually, one of the ones that I love to tell people about is pack a comb.

 

00;20;42;03 – 00;21;06;07

Liesel Teen

Squeeze a comb during labor because that, like a Tens unit, can help to actually decrease that contraction pain because it sends your brain sensory information and helps to close out the pain information to your brain. It’s kind of crazy. So learn pickup techniques regardless of if you want an epidural or not. That’s the biggie there. And then I’ll also just say quickly epidurals are not perfect to.

 

00;21;06;10 – 00;21;25;20

Liesel Teen

So even if you get one, sometimes it takes a while for its kick in because initially you got the wrong dose, or sometimes they’re one sided and we have to kind of flip you around and you’re not super comfortable. Or sometimes you have these little things, we call them hot spots where you have some pain that kind of like just reoccurred on the side and it’s bothering you.

 

00;21;25;27 – 00;21;45;27

Liesel Teen

I don’t want you to go into this with the expectation that it is 100%. Once I get my epidural, I’m going to be 100% good. Like I’m not going to feel anything like, you know, they’re not perfect, right? They’re not perfect. And a good working epidural should relieve your contraction pain evenly on both sides, but you still should be able to move your legs and your feet around and have movement.

 

00;21;45;29 – 00;22;02;00

Liesel Teen

And you also still should be able to feel the pressure of baby’s head. And that sometimes takes people by surprise. Yeah, because they’re like, I feel something and it doesn’t feel so good. You’re still going to be uncomfortable with the pressure of the baby’s head as waves getting lower and eventually coming out of you.

 

00;22;02;00 – 00;22;30;13

Dr. Mona

Yeah, because pain and pressure are different receptors. So of course people are like confused. And that’s like, oh man, that is a very important misconception to debunk because that can provide so much confusion. And I think I would love to have you back on to talk about medicated births. You know, I know you have resources on medicated and unmedicated birth, and I love that you do the diversity C-section, vaginal, unmedicated, medicated because depending on what people choose or find themselves doing right, sometimes you could have a plan on doing, like you said, wanting an epidural, and then you’re like, whoa, okay, here we go.

 

00;22;30;13 – 00;22;46;05

Dr. Mona

No epidural. You went in thinking, I have all my breathing techniques, I have all of the pain management. And you’re like, give me that epidural. So you provide these resources because it’s so great that you could change your mind or find yourself that it’s happening for you. Like the twins, right?

 

00;22;46;07 – 00;22;51;15

Liesel Teen

Yeah, absolutely. Well, let me go over one last tip, if that’s okay, if I still have. Okay.

 

00;22;51;15 – 00;22;53;08

Dr. Mona

Yes. Let’s do the.

 

00;22;53;08 – 00;23;11;01

Liesel Teen

Last one is if you have a natural delivery, your baby will sit through. I get it, okay? It looks like a watermelon going through a straw kind of situation. Right? I’ve done rails on this before. And when you think about a baby going through your vagina, you’re like, how does that even work? Like, my baby is 9 pounds or 8 pounds or whatever.

 

00;23;11;01 – 00;23;35;20

Liesel Teen

Like, how did that even happen? Okay, so what I will say is, remember we’ve talked a little bit about elasticity with your vagina as when you’re doing that warm compress, your vagina is very elastic. It’s like a big old rubber band or something. And it can expand a lot during labor. And as you’re pushing, and it actually does expand during contractions, that oxytocin helps to expand it as baby gets lower.

 

00;23;35;20 – 00;23;59;16

Liesel Teen

So it gets really, really big. I’ve never seen anybody not be able to push out a baby because they had too small of a vagina. Okay, because the vagina will always stretch. The pelvis is sometimes the issue is sometimes what will trip you up is your pelvis is shaped in a way, and your baby is shaped in a way in their coming down.

 

00;23;59;16 – 00;24;20;06

Liesel Teen

And it’s just not able to come through in any way, shape or form. Like it’s just not coming. Vagina is vagina. It’s going to stretch. Your pelvis is just different. So that’s kind of a little bit how it works. I promise it’s going to fit through. And then guess what? It goes. It’s not like it’s there’s there’s this big hole.

 

00;24;20;08 – 00;24;39;09

Dr. Mona

Yup. That’s happening. And it it doesn’t it doesn’t, it doesn’t baby it gets the job done. And then. But I want to get your differentiating the pelvis. Yeah. Because yes there’s a reality that if the pelvic anatomy so that support that. But that’s different than the vaginal area which I think people everyone could maybe use a refresher on female anatomy.

 

00;24;39;11 – 00;24;39;21

Liesel Teen

You know.

 

00;24;39;26 – 00;24;59;05

Dr. Mona

So yes in grade school and maybe you know, but if you don’t it’s always nice to know, okay, this is what it is. And obviously educate yourself on how it is very possible. And sometimes I would hear mom say like that I have to deliver a C-section because my babies just pound. But no, like, it really doesn’t mean that x baby weight dictates that they need a C-section.

 

00;24;59;05 – 00;25;05;14

Dr. Mona

It’s really more what is happening in the delivery. What’s the pelvis like? You know, like you said, I love that you’re talking about that too.

 

00;25;05;16 – 00;25;06;19

Liesel Teen

Yeah. Yeah, sure.

 

00;25;06;20 – 00;25;08;06

Dr. Mona

Oh, this is great. I love it.

 

00;25;08;06 – 00;25;10;01

Liesel Teen

I love it. Well that’s my five tips.

 

00;25;10;05 – 00;25;28;06

Dr. Mona

So tips. I know you have so many more resources as we’ve discussed already on your Instagram account, mommy labor nurse. But where can people find you connect with you. So your Instagram handle again and also your website and what resources you all have. Because I know you already mentioned you have a bunch of different courses and resources that people can get educated with.

 

00;25;28;08 – 00;25;48;28

Liesel Teen

Yeah. So you can find me most of the time on Instagram and my stories on the feed we post on there, do lots of silly reels sometimes, and lots of demos. Lots of reels. Yeah. So I’m on Instagram. It’s just at mommy dot labor nurse on there. There is a dot after mommy labor nurse because somebody took mommy labor nurse when I was choosing something somebody.

 

00;25;49;00 – 00;25;53;27

Dr. Mona

To do the dot yes. There we go. Yeah I mean yes there we go.

 

00;25;53;27 – 00;26;11;24

Liesel Teen

So mommy dot labor nurse on Instagram and then the same handle on TikTok. If you’re more of a TikTok person and I kind of just post the same stuff on Instagram that I post on TikTok, and then, like I said, I do have a podcast as well. It’s just the Mommy Labor Nurse podcast, so you can search on any platform you know, wherever you listen to your podcast.

 

00;26;11;27 – 00;26;29;06

Liesel Teen

And then we’ve got the site Mommy Labor nurse.com, where we have a big blog full of articles that you can read about pregnancy, birth, postpartum, breastfeeding, newborn stuff, just an array of knowledge there. And that’s where we also have our online birth courses too.

 

00;26;29;08 – 00;26;45;07

Dr. Mona

Yes, and I’m going to be linking all of these resources on the show notes. And if you know, obviously you’re watching this, if you do put it on YouTube, I’m going to be putting that as well on our show notes or caption as well. But thank you so much. It is so nice always chatting with you and connecting with you not only professionally but also as a friend.

 

00;26;45;07 – 00;26;47;03

Dr. Mona

So I love that you were able to join me today.

 

00;26;47;05 – 00;26;49;08

Liesel Teen

Yeah, thanks so much for having me, Mona.

 

00;26;49;11 – 00;27;08;19

Dr. Mona

And for everyone listening. If you love this episode, remember leaving reviews and ratings really helped the podcast continue to grow. And if you loved what Liza was talking about, call her out, see how much you love our conversation and I will be having her on again because she’s one of my favorite guests on the show, providing so much education both on podcast as well as on her Instagram and other resources.

 

00;27;08;19 – 00;27;12;09

Dr. Mona

So thank you for joining us and I can’t wait to chat with another guest next week.

 

00;27;12;09 – 00;27;17;00

Dr. Mona

Thank you for tuning in for this week’s episode. As always, please leave a review.

 

00;27;17;03 – 00;27;18;16

Dr. Mona

Share this episode with a friend.

 

00;27;18;16 – 00;27;26;26

Dr. Mona

Share it on your social media. Make sure to follow me at PedsDocTalk on Instagram and subscribe to my YouTube channel, PedsDocTalk TV.

 

00;27;26;28 – 00;27;27;28

Dr. Mona

We’ll talk to you soon.