In this episode, Karen is joined by Amanda Johnson, a mama of 4 beautiful babies. Despite all odds and one baby even being breeched up until delivery, Amanda had a successful home birth with her twins for her most recent pregnancy. Today we’ll get into all the nitty gritty of Amanda’s experience with hospital versus home births, how her pregnancies varied, and how her most recent pregnancy was a massive surprise up until the very last minute of delivery! After Amanda’s first labor and delivery experience that was less than ideal in the hospital, she knew she didn’t want to experience that again. With her second child, she successfully gave birth at home and knew she would repeat the experience when she fell pregnant the third time… little did she know, this home birth experience would be quite rare and one to remember!

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

• Amanda found out she was having twins at 32 weeks and decided to have a home birth, despite concerns from family and the traditional health system


• Going into labor at 40 weeks 3 days with an intense but smooth 2-hour labor, delivering both twins vaginally at home


• Her faith and trust in God's plan helped her through the physical and financial challenges of a twin pregnancy and homebirth


• A home birth with twins is possible with the right support team 

MORE ABOUT AMANDA JOHNSON:

I’m a SAHM to 4 babes ages five and under. We are a military fam currently stationed in Monterey CA! My first birth was an induction and after that whole experience, I knew it could be better. My induction was not traumatic as I truly believe I was on the brink of labor (11 days past my guess date) but the whole process from start to end felt very unnatural. When I got pregnant with my 2nd I knew I was going to have a homebirth, this was October of 2019. Luckily my midwife (Lindsey Meehleis) and I were totally aligned and she shut her office down for maybe a month during Covid. It was crazy, my husband was overseas and I thought I was going to have to deliver without him. I had my 2nd at home at the height of Covid in June 2020 and had a totally different experience than my hospital birth in the best way. When I got pregnant in 2021, I of course opted for home birth again. I didn’t find out until 32 weeks that I was having twins and I truly wasn’t surprised - the pregnancy felt totally different! I carried them to 40w3d and had a beautiful labor and delivery under 2 hours!!!

Follow her on Instagram: @therealamandajohnson

Check out her website: https://www.therealamandajohnson.com/

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Karen's Pain Free Birth Course: https://painfreebirth.com/pain-free-birth/