May 28, 2026 · 37 minutes · Episode 502
About this episode
Originally from Sweden, Emilia Davis discusses her three dramatically different birth experiences: a highly medicalized first delivery, a planned home birth with a midwife, and going nearly 42 weeks with her third baby before a last minute decision changed everything.
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Key quotes
“I actually had two miscarriages before I had my first, which was a shock, right? Because I didn't even think about miscarriage as being an option.”
“And then I basically said yes to every intervention and every drug and like everything that they suggested or like proposed or even offered. I was like, sure. Yes, let's.”
“I'm never going to let anybody break my water again, because it was scary.”
“I think the universe kind of just aligned for me to do what I wanted to do in like the weirdest of twists.”
Related episodes
- Ep. 514 Before Baby #4 with Kara Sutton
- Ep. 520 Before Birth with Kea-Sophie Stack
- Ep. 493 In Conversation with Esther Friedman Schwartz
- Ep. 500 The Unexpected with Dr. Elliot Berlin Part 1
Transcript
AI-generated transcript with speaker labels — may contain errors, especially names and medical terms. Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC appears in blue; Emilia Davis in orange.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [0:00] My guests today move from Sweden to the United States at age 18 to pursue dance, eventually building a career in advertising and brand development here in Los Angeles before shifting her focus to motherhood. She's now a mom of three girls and has experienced three dramatically different birth experiences from a highly medicalized first delivery, where she trusted every intervention offered to a planned home birth with a midwife. But then going nearly 42 weeks before a last minute decision changed everything. I'm Pregnancy Focus Chiropractor, Dr. Elliot Berlin, and you're listening to the Informed Pregnancy Podcast. Amelia Davis, welcome to the podcast.
Emilia Davis [0:56] Thank you so much for having me.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [0:57] I'm excited to hear your trio of stories. So let's start at the beginning. You're from Sweden.
Emilia Davis [1:04] Yes, correct.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [1:05] Wait, is Linkchen Pell, did I say that wrong in Sweden?
Emilia Davis [1:09] Linkchen Pell?
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [1:10] Linkchen Pell, yes.
Emilia Davis [1:11] Yes, Linkchen Pell is from Sweden. Or it is a city in Sweden, rather.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [1:15] We had a guest from Linkchen Pell.
Emilia Davis [1:18] I heard her story.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [1:19] Aha, okay. But you're from Sweden.
Emilia Davis [1:21] There's a lot of Swedes. There's a lot of Swedes in the United States.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [1:24] I noticed that. It seems like almost more here than in Sweden, but also you're from southern Sweden.
Emilia Davis [1:30] Correct.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [1:31] Like right near Copenhagen.
Emilia Davis [1:32] Yep. Yep. So I'm from Malmö, which is the third largest city, but it's south. Yeah. And then I went over to Copenhagen, which is cool. You can jump over.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [1:43] What was that upgrowing like in Sweden?
Emilia Davis [1:46] It was really nice. It was very calm, tons of outdoor play, lots of freedom at your early age, lots of independence that came with that. But it was nice. I remember it being like almost too calm, which is why at 18 I was like, and I'm out.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [2:08] Freedom. It depends. I guess your mother's not Jewish.
Emilia Davis [2:11] No.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [2:12] And then you moved to the U.S. in age 18. Pretty young. What brought you out this way?
Emilia Davis [2:18] I think I just wanted to scratch an itch of going in like a little bit of a higher tempo and, you know, growing up, I danced my whole life. There was a lot of dance in the U.S. I was like, I'm just going to go see what happens kind of thing. And then I really like the U.S. and I think California specifically. So I decided to pursue a bachelor's degree here. And then shortly after I graduated, I got a job at an advertising firm and simultaneously I kind of, you know, met my boyfriend who's not my husband. And then we got married and now we have three kids and I didn't think I would be here. But here I am.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [2:58] Here you are. I feel like you kept going further and further west, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, any more west and you have to swim.
Emilia Davis [3:05] Yeah.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [3:06] So I guess you're not going to Hawaii. You're sticking it out over here. Yeah.
Emilia Davis [3:10] Hawaii is a little too far for me.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [3:12] And then you had a career here and then you shifted into motherhood. Was it always your choice to like stop the career and pick up motherhood or were you thinking about doing them together?
Emilia Davis [3:22] I don't think I ever thought about it. I think I was just rolling with it. I really liked working specifically at the latest agency that I was at when I became a mom. I was there and then right when my oldest was born was kind of when COVID hit.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [3:41] Oh, interesting time to have a kid.
Emilia Davis [3:43] And since I was leading business development, there was no business development. It was kind of just retaining the clients that we had. But there was no pitching, there was no traveling, there was kind of nothing of nobody was spending money. So that kind of was a blessing in disguise, right? Because there was no work to be done. I kind of took an extended maternity leave.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [4:05] So did the COVID hit right after you have your baby?
Emilia Davis [4:08] Yeah. So my oldest is born January 2020 and then March 2020 was kind of when the whole world shut down.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [4:14] That's when I got it. OK, so that pregnancy when everything was just sort of peachy in the world pre-COVID, because we talked about in the intro how you had this big shift in your approach to birth. What was your approach for the first one?
Emilia Davis [4:29] I didn't have one. I wasn't informed, so to say. I was thinking like, oh, well, you know, got to get the baby out somewhere and others. I went the hospital route, as I think you do when you don't know different. I went into it kind of blindly. You know, I found a great OB that I really liked and trusted her fully. And she was great. And I didn't know much about birth. I actually had two miscarriages before I had my first, which was a shock, right? Because I didn't even think about miscarriage as being an option. So very early on with both of my first two pregnancies, there was no heartbeat. And I remember coming in into the ultrasound and being like, what do you mean
[5:15] there's no heartbeat? Like, of course there is, check again. So, yeah, that was devastating, like crushing, like no percent of my brain had even thought about that being a possibility. So after I got pregnant for the third time, I was actually in Mexico spending my 30th birthday and I was like, ah, whatever, I'm pregnant, but it doesn't matter, what's probably going to happen. Yes, I was kind of feeling like depleted and defeated at that point, being like, you know, I get pregnant, but they kind of don't stick. And I was kind of angry with everything at that point. But anyway, some part of me obviously still held on to hope, at least a little bit, but then I had that ultrasound and there sure enough was a heartbeat.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [6:04] So third time's the charm. I feel chills, but that pregnancy, I mean, a lot of people just don't think about it. Was that you meaning you have a doctor, you have a hospital? The assumption is when it's time, you figure it out and go to the hospital and have your baby. Totally, totally. So the pretty common in the USA birth plan was your birth plan.
Emilia Davis [6:24] Yes.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [6:25] How did it go? How did the labor start? How did it progress? How did it go for you?
Emilia Davis [6:28] It didn't. So, um, it didn't start. I was 40 weeks and like a couple of days, I think like two or three days. And my OB was like, you know, I'm leaving town next two days. So if you want me to deliver your baby, you have to be induced like tomorrow. And I didn't think twice of that. I didn't really read up on, you know, the side effects of induction. I was just like, well, I obviously want you to deliver the baby because now I have a relationship with you and I trust you, so I will do that. If you think I should do that, I will do that. So I got induced at like 40 plus five, but I was like zero centimeter open. When I came, there was like nothing showing that I was even remote to
[7:14] going into labor at that point. So we did the Foley balloon and then we did the Foley balloon. I got fentanyl because the Foley balloon was so bad. So I was knocked out like completely out of it.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [7:27] Would the actual placement of it or once it was in or both?
Emilia Davis [7:31] I remember like crushing pain and nobody had even warned me that it was going to hurt, but for me, it was so bad. And then I basically said yes to every intervention and every drug and like everything that they suggested or like proposed or even offered. I was like, sure. Yes, let's. And that would ended up being a very, very long labor. Like that was, I think like 25 plus hours.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [7:59] Well, once you got the drugs, no pain.
Emilia Davis [8:02] No pain.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [8:03] Okay. I mean, for a first baby, 25 is not so long. I always tell my patients to expect 24 on average.
Emilia Davis [8:11] Yeah. Yeah. It just felt long, I guess, because you know, you were just there. And I mean, I didn't feel anything really, because I had epidural starting at like five centimeters after the Foley balloon came out. Kind of, you know, within two hours, I got the epidural and then was kind of just like a weight game, but I wasn't really in tune with my body. So also coming from a dance background, that just felt so crazy to me. Like I didn't feel what my body was doing. So I didn't like that experience.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [8:45] I do find athletes, dancers included, oftentimes find it weird to be so disconnected and so numb and your brain is sort of screaming, get up and move around when you're in labor and you're like, I can't even feel you. Totally. Sometimes takes people by surprise. All right. Let's take a little break because then you had another baby and your thoughts already started to shift. We'll be right back. All right. We're back talking to Amelia Davis. So you have this sort of very common birth plan. Just go to the hospital and have your baby. Also you have a common birth situation, which is you go past your due date, and we sort of treat it like an expiration date instead of like a
[9:32] sell by date, it's more like a use by date. And then you're like, Oh, we got to get the baby out now. And then you had the whole cascade of interventions, which, you know, I guess once you had that really uncomfortable Foley balloon, which also looks like it's all over the map. Some people don't seem to even really feel much at all. And some people find it excruciating, but then more intervention was sort of welcome and you went down the whole cascade, but you had a vaginal birth.
Emilia Davis [9:58] Yes. Yeah, I did.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [9:59] So the second time around, what did you learn or want to do differently?
Emilia Davis [10:05] So the second time I kind of expected to go over. So, you know, 40 weeks comes along. I was like, whatever, you know, this is just what it is. And I told my OB that I don't want to be induced, that I really want the labor to start naturally. And she was like, I won't let you go past 41 weeks, but if you want to wait until 41 week work, like let's so, you know, I'm kind of doing everything for that last week to get baby to move, but nothing like not even the slightest little cramp, like, you know, pregnancy is moving along, like babies hanging in there. And there was like no signs of labor at all. So 41 weeks rolls around, my induction date comes and I'm like,
[10:54] oh crap, you know, I really wanted. This to go differently, but I come to the hospital. I was not even again, not even remotely there, barely one centimeter, you know. So we did the Foley balloon again. This time I was like, I want nothing. Like I want to feel fully present in my body. So the same reaction to the point. I didn't actually. And maybe, maybe I did, but my mentality around it was stronger or maybe my body just actually felt better this time around. I really don't know, but it didn't hurt as bad. It still is pretty bad, but it wasn't even remotely to what the first one was. So anyway, so then I, you know, started laboring with the pitocin and basically got to seven centimeters and, you know,
[11:46] had my headphones in was feeling it was moving around in a room. I had my husband there and at some point the midwife came in. And I think her name was Margo, but I'm not a hundred percent sure. She owned a birth center in Pasadena and she retired and she only had like one night shift at Cedars, like every blue moon, like every month. And she just happened to be there that night and I loved her. Like I told her I wanted to try it to go natural and she was fully supportive and she advocated for me when they were trying to, you know, check me every hour. And I said, I want like as few interventions as possible and try to do this just on my own time, obviously granted with the pitocin and she
[12:29] was checking in on me all the time. It was so nice. And at six, seven centimeters, I was like, I don't think I can do it. Like I am so tired. I've been now, you know, in so much pain for so many hours. And I told my husband at that point, I said, I wish I was home because I know if I was home, I could have done this without epidural, but here I want this to stop, you know, I want the baby to just be out. The room felt very cold. I had blankets on top of me. No matter what kind of music I put in my headphones, nothing really got me into the head space anyway. Got the epidural and then Margot actually told me, she said, look, you don't have to have that girl in the whole time.
[13:12] Just have a little dose of it and then take it out. And that way you will still feel the sensations. You will feel your legs, which was my biggest concern that scared me the first time and then they can just take it out and you can still have, you know, the pain away, but you can still feel things. And so it's just a lower dose basically. So she advocated for me to have them take the epidural out so I still had the feeling. And then they broke my water. And when they broke my water, the baby's heart rate just plummeted, like dropped. So apparently then quickly within like a minute, they pumped the water back because her umbilical cord was wrapped so hard that when they pulled the
[13:52] water, she was kind of choking. So then I was thinking in my head, obviously I didn't really say it at the time, but I was thinking, I'm never going to break my water again. I'm never going to let anybody break my water again, because it was scary. Anyway, then literally the baby flew out. Like shortly after that, you know, the epidural got me to 10 within a couple of hours. And then I pushed twice and the baby was out.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [14:18] That part sounds nice.
Emilia Davis [14:20] That was very nice. That was very nice.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [14:23] Well, congratulations on number two at this point in our story. Was the major take home there? Like, I don't want that intervention breaking my water, or it sounds like you almost started to envision yourself at that point as a home birther.
Emilia Davis [14:40] Yeah. So I knew if we would have another one, if we would be so lucky, I want to do it at home and with a midwife.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [14:48] At that point, were you already listening to the podcast?
Emilia Davis [14:51] At that point I was.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [14:52] Yeah. That must be why it was so much less painful. Maybe I take full credit.
Emilia Davis [15:00] Yeah.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [15:01] I mean, we do have a lot of home birth episodes to kind of take you into it and give you a sort of a visual of what it could be like.
Emilia Davis [15:08] Totally. You know, that was definitely informative.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [15:12] At this point, I guess it's a couple of years after COVID, still not a lot of biz dev going on. So are you mostly focused on the family?
Emilia Davis [15:20] Yeah. So I actually worked all of my seconds. So my two first ones are actually just 20 months apart, so they're closing age and I basically came back to work only to work for like a month before I told them that I'm pregnant again. And I remember one of my coworkers looked me dead in the eye and he goes, come on, I know, sorry. And that was a surprise though. That was not a planned pregnancy. I actually thought there was something wrong with my prescription sunglasses that was giving me a headache and making me feel nauseous. I had just gotten my ice check and I was bearing prescription sunglasses all the time I was out and about with my almost one year old.
[16:02] And I was complaining to my husband every night. I said, just feel like crap. There must be something wrong. They must have tested my eyes wrong. And then like two weeks later, he's like, sure. You're not pregnant. No way. You know, oops.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [16:18] Okay. Good surprise.
Emilia Davis [16:20] Yeah, it was a fun surprise.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [16:23] One question before we go to break, do you know if it's the same type of system in Sweden? For what birthing, for example, the, I will not let you go past 41 weeks type of statement. I mean, it sounds like everything was a little bit more free and open.
Emilia Davis [16:40] Yeah. I think they definitely do let you go past 41 and there's also midwives working in every single hospital. So it's a little bit of a different care system and they are, I mean, my sister had a baby just a while ago and just sounded a lot calmer. Like they're not intervening as much. They're not rushing as much. She was there and kind of, they were just like, well, you're going to have to work and you're going to have to work and you're going to have to do the labor at your own time and you have the room. And I kind of felt like, and this is just my take on it, but I kind of felt like I was a little bit in the way, and maybe it's just like,
[17:18] I'm naturally kind of like, oh, skittish about these things. But I was like, ah, I just like, I want to be happy here. You know? So, and Sweden, I feel like it's a lot more encouraged to take your time not constantly being checked on. I think it's a lot slower.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [17:35] The, uh, the non-observed pot. All right. Well, luckily you had another chance to, as your arc continues from very medical and not really having wants and desires on how birth goes to a bit less medical and having more thoughts on how you'd like a future birth to go, there is one more. Let's take a break and when we come back, we'll find out what happened with baby number three.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [18:12] Welcome back. We're talking to Amelia Davis. Okay. So during your second birth, it sounds like you became determined that if you have another baby, you'd be entertaining home birth. Was that something that you made a conscious choice of before you got pregnant or early in the pregnancy? How did it go down?
Emilia Davis [18:30] It was early in the pregnancy. I actually had the first visit with my OB because I wasn't really tapping into the route yet of finding midwife. I was like, well, let's see what happens. You know, let's see if this is even a viable pregnancy. So I went to my OB and I actually, in that first meeting, I said, I think I'm going to do the route of home birth with a midwife. And I remember she looked at me. She goes, well, you know, as a medical professional, I cannot advise for against anything, but she's like, if there's a candidate for a home birth, cause she delivered my previous two, it would probably be you, but I cannot really say that on record.
[19:12] So God bless, you know, go ahead. And I was like, great, cool. Like I have your sign off. Perfect. So we kind of parted ways there. And then I was just trying to figure out who would be a good midwife fit for me and actually on your podcast, I had heard about Abby Vidikin and she just sounded really sharp and like completely knowing what she was talking about. So I pinged her and then we, I think our first call was like two hours, like an hour and a half. Like we just were talking about everything from like Europe to babies, to motherhood. So I actually didn't even talk to anybody after that. She was the first and only one.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [19:57] Did you have in your mind pros and cons to home birth? You were just totally excited.
Emilia Davis [20:03] I was just excited. Well, it was also my third, right? So the other two were not like quote unquote, easy deliveries. You know, I had to be induced and there's interventions, but they were, you know, they were came out perfectly healthy and like nothing crazy happened during those deliveries. So I wasn't really scared of anything. I was just like, my body's going to know what to do. So I just felt like it was more for me, like a mental preparation of doing a home birth, like not having the interventions, not having, you know, the options for the pain release and that kind of stuff. So I kind of just went in to prep my mind for it more so than being
[20:48] scared of the actual, you know, birth or delivery of the baby.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [20:53] And your pregnancies tend to go a little long. Your babies prefer late checkout. Is that something you talked to Abby about before you got there? What was that conversation like?
Emilia Davis [21:06] She was like, it's fine. They're chubby and they're good, you know? So she was like, don't worry about it. Like I have my ways, like, you know, and there's not even think about the due date as a due date. You know, she reframed that for me very nicely. So she was like, we'll just estimate that the baby is going to be here by a certain date and then we'll take it from there, but like kind of type A with these things. So I'm like, oh, but we do need a day, you know, a day. And at that point, you know, I was already chasing my other two around. I was so big and so heavy. I was like, I don't know. Yeah. I was red D like capital R, you know, I was so over 40 weeks.
[21:54] Yeah. So we went into 40 weeks and I was like, Abby, we need to do some sweeps. The sweeps did nothing. And no, okay. And she's like, are you sure this is not hurting? Like, I'm very aggressive. I'm like, can barely feel it.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [22:12] Came a long way from that first balloon.
Emilia Davis [22:14] I did. I did truly at one 80. So yeah, we did a couple of sweeps. We did a couple of more sweeps. We did a couple of more sweeps. And then Abby was like, you know what? Let's try midwife's brew. So it's basically castor oil with, I don't even know, almond butter and peach juice or something like that. Yeah. I cannot even say the word castor oil really before it like kind of flips in my belly. Affected badly. Oh, it was foul. It sat in my mouth for a good couple of seconds. And my husband's like, you need to swallow it. Aye, aye, aye. But did that when I was 41 plus two.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [22:58] Did it stimulate any contractions or just upset stomach?
Emilia Davis [23:02] It did. Well, the upset stomach for sure, which was a pretty terrible side effect, to be honest, that was not fun, but it also gave me really good contractions. So after I leave the bathroom, right. Cause I was there for a good while. Yeah, yeah, I did. I was like, you know what? I need to get out of here. But I came out and then right after that, like shortly after that, like within 30 minutes, I think my contractions started kicking in. And I was like, Oh my God, you know, it's happening. Hallelujah. I was so excited. And then they pick back and they picked up and they picked up and they were getting close and they were pretty intense really fast.
[23:45] So what we did, my mom was actually here from Sweden. So we sent my mom and my two other girls off to my sister-in-law's house. Cause it was like 6 PM. So I was like, let's just send them off and have them sleep there. This baby is coming. So then after we sent them off, I go, you know, back, I send them off. I go back to the couch and I'm really like having really strong contractions and I, you know, sit with my husband. He was very, very nice, but like right after they leave within like 20 minutes, such a cool joke, the contractions stop.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [24:18] No. Are there things you try to bring them back on?
Emilia Davis [24:23] I tried. Yes. So we basically did the peanut ball between my legs. I was up and walking, doing squats, like kind of testing it all out. And now in afterthought, when I was thinking about like, why did he go away? Maybe it was because I sent my kids away and I need that they're off toasting level around me. I don't know. It's just, it would make sense in my head to justify it like that. Cause right after they left, make attractions. Just stop the peanut ball.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [24:55] What else?
Emilia Davis [24:56] The peanut ball. I kept on moving around. I actually tried jumping even. Like I tried truly everything to get this baby to go. I did not take any more cast royal.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [25:09] Okay. Good, good.
Emilia Davis [25:11] And Abby came over around 8 PM and she already knew that contractions had stopped, but she was like, she gave me a check and she was like, you're six, seven centimeters, you're basically fully effaced by call me tonight. Like I'll see you at 2 AM. This baby is coming. So, you know, I went to bed and we were just sleeping. I actually slept with the peanut ball between my legs that night, just to try to kickstart the contractions again. And then I wake up the next morning and nothing. And I was just like, ah, all that for no baby.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [25:48] Do you try pumping?
Emilia Davis [25:50] Pumping? Yes. I did do that. I did do a lot of pumping.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [25:55] All the things, no contractions. No, that must be frustrating.
Emilia Davis [26:00] Yes. It was very frustrating.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [26:03] Especially after the castor belly.
Emilia Davis [26:06] Oh yeah. That, oh yeah, that was rough.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [26:10] So what options do you have at that point?
Emilia Davis [26:13] So basically Abby was like, let's give your body rest today. Right. Cause that was a lot. And then we'll try another round of the midwife brew tomorrow. And that's surely going to get you there. You know, you're so close. Like all you need is like one good contraction and this baby is coming. So we did the casserole again and then I had all the lovely side effects, but zero contractions at least the last time you had contractions. I know. So that was so sad. That was just crushing. And I was like, Oh my, like, what do I do now? So then Abby's like, don't worry. Like baby's going to come. She kept on reassuring me. Like we got this, you know, we still have time because legally in California,
[27:07] you can't do a home birth after 42 weeks with a midwife.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [27:11] Correct.
Emilia Davis [27:12] Yeah. Yeah. So I was like, but what are we going to do? Like what's plan B? And she's like, baby's coming. Like, trust me, we've got this. So then that was on Thursday. And then I, again, did everything. I pumped, did the peanut ball between my legs all night. And then that night I told Abby, I said, I am running out of patients. I can feel the baby's head kind of coming down. Like I feel so heavy down there and I'm so uncomfortable. And if there's no contractions tomorrow by noon, I'm just going to go to the hospital. And she was super supportive of that. And she said, I totally get it. She's like, we could wait one more day, but then I would be 41 plus six.
[28:01] I was like, in my head, I was like, a day is not going to get us there. So I would much rather suffer for one less day than that. Anyway. So noon comes around. I was like, let's go. So my husband and I drive to the hospital. Then I get checked at triage and they're like, wow, you're like almost eight centimeters and fully a face. They're like, why is this baby not coming? Oh, you tell me progress. Yeah. Yep. So then they were like, well, obviously we'll get you a room. So I got checked in and then the resident doctor comes in. And since I didn't have an OB, so she comes in, she's like, I want to check you. I was like, but they just checked me.
[28:44] And I explained to her, I said, listen, I wanted a home birth. I'm here because I lost my patients. I have another two days to go. I technically could be waiting, but like I'm here because I'm running out of patients and I really, really, really want to try to do this without minimal intervention. I really want to try to do like the home birth in the hospital kind of thing. And she's like, ah, kind of skeptical to that whole approach.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [29:07] Why just not having an epidural?
Emilia Davis [29:09] You mean, or I just didn't want checks.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [29:12] I knew you, but what was the doctor's skeptical on?
Emilia Davis [29:16] I think she was skeptical to home birth. I think she was also pretty young. So I think she was, you know, the type that kind of followed the protocol, like the way that she probably should have. And, um, she wanted to check me. And then she wanted desperately to break my water because she was like, listen, you're so far along. Like we break that water and the baby comes. And I said, I absolutely do not want you to break my water. And I actually explained it to her. I said, listen, when my second baby, I had a scare with the breaking of the water, so I really, really don't want to do that. And she was like, well, we might have to. So then I call Abby.
[29:51] Abby's like, I'm coming. Don't let them break your water. So she came and then the nurse kind of left Abby and us were chilling. We were watching like, love is blind. We had like a good time for an hour and then they wanted to come check me again. At that time I was really starting to have extremely painful contractions. So like, you know, we shut down, love is blind. Yeah. It was kind of like, it progressed really quickly at the end. I mean, all of this is in the span of four hours. So everything is happening quickly. That little dose of pitocin seemed to be all I needed.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [30:30] Okay. You didn't have that much more to go.
Emilia Davis [30:33] No, no, exactly. I was so close, but I was on the toilet and Abby's like, listen, if you don't want to birth this baby on the Cedars toilet, you got to do that. So we moved into bed and at that point, I'm kind of, you know, shutting my eyes and lose the ability to speak. And the nurse comes in again and she goes, or not the nurse, but the resident doctor, and she comes in and she goes, seems like you're progressing, but I still want to check you and I can't speak. Like I am pretty much dying at this point. I feel like someone is pulling at both hit bones. Like I'm in so much pain and Abby looks at her and she goes, you know what, she's progressing beautifully.
[31:16] Can you just give us just 20 more minutes? And if there's still nothing, if we still in the state, then why don't you check her then, you know, but let's just see what happens here, cause you can see that she's laboring beautifully. So she is like, fine. Okay. I'll leave you to it. And then, so shortly after she leaves, it's just Abby and my husband and me in the room. And the baby comes like the head comes together with the water. So like the water, two strong contractions and with the head, the water breaks, nobody from the hospital was in the room. No, they had just left and I declined the check at that point. Cause last time they checked from like a slightly different
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [32:02] setting, that's kind of the birth. You want it anyway, right? You and your husband and Abby.
Emilia Davis [32:07] Exactly. I think the universe kind of just aligned for me to do what I wanted to do in like the weirdest of twists.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [32:17] Wow. Cool. What was it like?
Emilia Davis [32:19] And was that like, it was amazing. It was beautiful. And I remember like my eyes were shut in the hospital bed and I was picturing myself in my own bed and I literally had like a handful of really strong contractions and then the head came with the breaking of the water and that feeling was like, Oh Eureka, it was so good. I'd like the pressure of that. And then after her head, Abby is like, Oh my gosh, press the button, press the emergency button because the next action, this body is going to fly out to my husband in panic, you know, presses that emergency button and they says, baby's coming. You know, but at that point, I'd be already, you know,
[32:59] pulled her up on my chest.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [33:02] Oh, so they missed the whole birth.
Emilia Davis [33:03] They missed it.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [33:04] Oh, that's so cool.
Emilia Davis [33:07] I mean, it was, nobody really could have predicted what happened, you know, so we call it the home birth at the hospital.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [33:14] Yeah, literally with a little of this and a little of that.
Emilia Davis [33:17] Yes.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [33:18] Oh, that's just so exciting for you.
Emilia Davis [33:21] It was, it was truly really nice. It was very, very few interventions and, and very calm. And it was the two people I wanted in the room and somehow we did it, you know, and eventually one more, eventually one.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [33:35] How old's the baby?
Emilia Davis [33:37] She's going to turn one in a few weeks.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [33:39] Oh, happy birthday.
Emilia Davis [33:41] Oh, thank you.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [33:42] Um, are you done? Uh, I don't know. That's the big question. Let's say if there's another one, do you have a vision for how you would do that one?
Emilia Davis [33:52] Yes, I do. I would still want to do it. Like I did my third. I would still want to do it. I would probably do, you know, sweep starting at 39 weeks and, and midwife sprues starting at 40 weeks. No, I'm just kidding, but I would do everything I did, but like faster and harder to try to get the baby move in. Yeah.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [34:13] Coming sooner. And of course then you'll have three little ones jumping around at home waiting for you and needing your attention in those last weeks of pregnancy. What a great story. Thank you so much for coming on and sharing separate from this. You don't do dance. You don't do marketing. You do 35 millimeter photography. Tell me more about that in a nutshell.
Emilia Davis [34:32] Yeah. So after I had my second, I got really into film photography. I started capturing a lot of photos of my own two ladies. And then I just thought it was so rewarding, you know, film is different than digital and it's beautiful. And I feel like I was very in the zone when I was doing it. And I caught like a crazy passion for it. And then I started sharing the photos with my friends of the kids. And they started asking me to capture their kids. And I love motherhood. I like love families. I love kids and babies. And I also really love photography and, you know, the creative aspect of that. So the two kind of merged and it naturally unfolded.
[35:12] And then it was all kind of word of mouth. And all of a sudden I was shooting and getting paid for it. So it was a very natural evolution of things. And, you know, it's still me and it's, you know, it's small, but I absolutely love it. I absolutely love it. It gives me a lot of fulfillment and joy. And I love being around families and getting like a little snippet of like sneak peek of like what their family is like, you know, inviting me to their home and seeing the chaos that everybody has with toddlers in their house, which is kind of a fly on their wall. A hundred percent. It's very sweet.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [35:50] Sounds cool. Where can we find your work online?
Emilia Davis [35:53] So it's an Instagram Amelia Davis photo.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [35:57] Perfect. Amelia, thank you again for sharing your story and congratulations. And cool to watch the progress from one to two to three. If there is a fourth, I guess we'll have to have you back.
Emilia Davis [36:08] Yes, we'll see.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [36:09] We'll see. Thank you again. And at home, thanks for listening to the informed pregnancy podcast for more pregnancy and parenting information. Just like this, visit us online at informedpregnancy.com.
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