The beautiful Natasha Batsford with her youngest daughter Olive (1). Natasha is also mum to Alfie (4) and Esme (2). Natasha and her husband had to try a bit longer than expected to get pregnant. By the time she was able to conceive Alfie, she was pushed to be heavily monitored which she fought against. She had planned a homebirth with the National Health Service in the UK, but went post dates. She fought an induction to 43 weeks before agreeing to have one, but he wasn't ready to come, and she ended up with a cesarean. It wasn't until she got pregnant with Esme that she realized how much grief she carried with her from the birth. She had a healthy pregnancy and hired midwives to attempt a homebirth. She went post-dates again but went into labor naturally. On the first exam, it was discovered that Esme was positioned very poorly. They tried to reposition her to no avail, so Natasha made the choice for a repeat cesarean. Just after, Natasha went into what is known as, Postpartum Cardiomyopathy, or heart failure. She was transferred to the cardio ward for two weeks and had lots of testing which all came back fine. She was finally discharged and recovered about three months later. Her third child came along a bit sooner than expected. She was very closely monitored by the heart center through her pregnancy and chose to have a "Woman Centered" cesarean for Olive's birth which was only attended by herself and her friend and doula who had been present for Esme's birth. She said it was an amazing experience, and it was the first Lotus birth via cesarean the hospital had ever performed. Best of all, her heart stayed healthy. It's not the journey she expected, but Natasha says it was an amazing journey. Her breastfeeding journey has been unexpected but amazing as well. Alfie wasn't able to latch, so she pumped exclusively for him. With her heart failure, she needed a lot of help and support. She was able to have a friend wet nurse, used donor milk as well as supplemental nursing system (SNS). She has been able to successfully breastfeed Olive with the use of an SNS as well.
Natasha has chronicled her journey at The Maybe Diaries.