[adinserter block=”2″]
First Pregnancy and Preparing for a Birth Center Birth
Elizabeth remembers feeling excited about becoming a mother even though pregnancy itself wasn’t necessarily her favorite experience. She chose a birth center for her daughter’s delivery and prepared extensively using hypnobirthing techniques.
A 40-Hour Labor and Water Birth
Her first labor lasted approximately 40 hours before culminating in a water birth at the birth center. Despite the length of labor, Elizabeth remembers the birth as an amazing and deeply positive experience.
Her daughter entered the world calm and serene, which became one of Elizabeth’s strongest memories of the birth. On the way home afterward, the new family stopped for Chipotle—a wonderfully ordinary ending to an extraordinary experience.
Second Pregnancy and GBS
Elizabeth became pregnant again relatively soon after her first birth, this time preparing for labor while also caring for a one-year-old. During the pregnancy, she tested positive for Group B Streptococcus (GBS), which affected how she approached labor at the birth center.
She made repeated trips to the birth center to receive antibiotics, but each time she arrived, her labor seemed to stop. The pattern became increasingly frustrating and anxiety-provoking as labor continued.
A Race Through Los Angeles
After around 20 hours of labor, things suddenly became much more intense. Elizabeth and her husband headed through heavy pre-Christmas Los Angeles traffic toward the birth center, and she began to feel her son descending while she was still in the passenger seat.
As it became clear that the baby might arrive before they could get inside, Elizabeth shifted from disbelief into instinct. Her husband continued navigating traffic while they raced to reach the birth center.
A Parking Lot Birth
They made it to the birth center parking lot, but there was no time to go inside. When the car door opened, Elizabeth’s son was born almost immediately.
Within moments, Elizabeth was holding her newborn outside the birth center after a birth that had unfolded nothing like she expected. The experience was fast, surreal, and memorable—a striking contrast to her first baby’s long, calm water birth.
Elizabeth Laime Bio
Elizabeth Laime is a podcaster and television writer/producer. She co-hosts the weekly podcast Nobody’s Listening, Right? with her husband, Andy Rosen. She and Armchair Expert’s Monica Padman also created the true-crime podcast Beth’s Dead, which reached #1 on the Apple and Spotify charts and was featured by Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and Audible as one of the 20 Best Podcasts of 2025.
Elizabeth’s previous podcasts—Totally Laime, Totally Married, and Totally Mommy—have been recognized among the top comedy podcasts by iTunes, USA Today, and Los Angeles Magazine.
As a television writer and producer, Elizabeth most recently served as the #2 on ABC’s A Million Little Things, where an episode she co-wrote received a prestigious Sentinel Award. Her previous television credits include TruTV’s I’m Sorry and NBC’s The Village.
Resources
Motif Medical
This episode was sponsored by Motif Medical. Motif designs insurance-eligible products for busy moms. With a focus on innovation and empowerment, Motif’s line of breast pumps and maternity compression garments are sophisticated, yet discreet, and made to support mothers as they navigate new motherhood. Discover why moms are reporting more milk in less time with the Luna breast pump, and see how you can get it covered through insurance at motifmedical.com/birthhour.
📖 The Birth Hour Is Now a Book!
After more than a decade and 1,000+ episodes of sharing real birth stories, The Birth Hour is becoming a book! The Birth Hour: Real Birth Stories to Inform, Inspire, and Empower brings together 41 real birth stories spanning a wide range of experiences, choices, and paths to parenthood.
Preorder your copy before October 27 and get $297 in bonuses, including The Birth Hour Conversation Cards, a guided Birth Story Reflection Journal, the private audio series What Thousands of Birth Stories Taught Me, and free access to our six-module pumping and feeding course, Beyond the First Latch.
👉 Preorder The Birth Hour + Claim Your Bonuses
ABOUT THE BIRTH HOUR
The Birth Hour is a birth story podcast hosted by Bryn Huntpalmer. With over 1,000 episodes and 27 million downloads, it is one of the longest-running pregnancy and birth podcasts in the world. New episodes publish every week — unmedicated, epidural, home birth, hospital birth, C-section, VBAC, and everything in between.
🎧 Listen: Search “The Birth Hour” on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
📚 Course: thebirthhour.com/course
💛 Patreon: patreon.com/birthhour
[adinserter block=”2″]
Credit : Source Post