Hello there, Mighty One. Right now we are having a birth story filled summer, and so we are going to

continue sharing some of our favorite stories that you probably haven't listened to yet for the next

few weeks. And then in September, we'll return to our topical series. The story we have for you today

is courtesy of Allison Spath, and it is one of the very first

stories we shared on the show. I think it was the second one. So I wanted to mention that since we

spoke, there's been more research on the effectiveness of castor oil to induce labor,

with the results being more conclusive that it does help. I even have an episode with Rebecca Decker from Evidence-based Birth on the topic,

and so we've included links to the episodes and the research in the web page for this episode at birthful.com.

Also, we have some other great topical episodes that were not included in the original show notes

for this episode simply because at that point they didn't exist so for example the episode on

rethinking the pushing stage with wapio and our episode with rabina calid where we talk all

about home birth those two have happened since we recorded

with Allison. So we've updated those in the resources on the episode webpage as well.

Now, one thing I cannot believe I didn't ask Allison about when we recorded was how much

her son weighed at birth. The answer is 8 pounds 14 ounces, and that will be important

for you to know toward the end of the episode. The other thing that came up for me when

re-listening to this story is how even though there tends to be a broad apprehension towards

homebirth in our culture, we rarely hear about what the

process of transferring to the hospital actually looks like. So I really appreciate hearing

how that process was for Allison, including the interactions that she and her family had with

all the different providers and the comparisons she's able to make between

the two locations and also seeing that even during time sensitive circumstances, a transfer

...