Community Birth Story: An Empowering Cesarean Birth with Sophie Saltonstall

Today we have one of my favorite type of episodes, a community birth story. Truly one of my favorite things is hearing the experience of someone going over the threshold into parenthood. I got to know my guest for today’s episode of Yoga| Birth| Babies Sophie Stalton, through 2 pregnancies. Her first as she crossed that threshold into parenthood and then coming back, seeing how she’s a different person and how she’s now navigating her 2nd pregnancy. At PYC we’ve had that honor for so many people, second, third, fourth, sometimes even fifth and sixth pregnancies. It’s incredible watching how that person continues to evolve so it’s really wonderful having Sophie back.

One really special thing that we talk about, people often say to me “How far can I practice prenatal yoga in my pregnancy?” and I say as long as you want. Something that happened during Sophie’s first pregnancy, I got an email in the morning right before I was about to teach one of my 10am classes, and she said “My water broke, can I come to class?” and I said “Absolutely.” And she did. It’s something that I share all of the time, so Sophie is often in my brain as I talk about prenatal yoga.

In today’s episode, Sophie shares her first and second birth experiences. She had an unplanned cesarean for her first and was hoping to have a vbac for her second. We talk a lot about how she made the decisions about vbac and cesarean, but also a lot about how people view cesarean. Sometimes cesareans are pooh-poohed upon or it’s almost like a runner up, and some people are traumatized by the idea of a c section, but what I really love about Sophie’s conversation is that we removed the stigma and celebrated that a cesarean birth or as some people call them belly births, its another option, another way that babies are born and families are made. We can celebrate modern medicine instead of thinking there’s a problem with it or your body failed you in some way. I really appreciate Sophie’s exploration of that idea and I hope that you appreciate it too.

In this episode you will learn:

About Sophie:

Sophie lives on an organic fruit farm in New Hampshire where she grew up. Her role on the farm is to manage their barn venue, Air BnB, and to start the fruit popsicle side of their business. She has a masters in Sustainability from Harvard and is an Emmy nomiated filmmaker. Sophie likes dark chocolate and is a board game enthusiast.

To connect with Deb and the PYC Community: 

Instagram & Facebook: @prenatalyogacenter

Youtube: Prenatal Yoga Center