A Parent's Guide to Safer Childbirth w/ Author Gina Mundy
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Welcome to Dula Tips and Tips. This podcast is a place where we answer one question about Dula work, both to support you and to help you support your clients. I'm Kaylee Harad. I've been supporting families in this perinatal space since my oldest was born, 12, nearly 13 years ago.
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I am a birth and postpartum Dula childbirth educator, La Leche League leader and a Dula coach. I love guiding and supporting Dulas as they work out their Dula business. It is a tremendous joy to be trusted in this way.
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Thank you for joining us on this journey. Hello and welcome back to Dula Tips and Tips. I have another guest here today with me, Gina Mundy, who is a lawyer and a bestselling author. And I'm going to let her tell you a little bit about who she is in her background and her book.
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I'm very excited for you guys to learn a little bit about her today. So Gina, please introduce yourself. Thank you, Kaylee, for having me. I'm excited to talk to you today. So I am from Michigan. I have three kids.
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Mine are a little older now, 19, 15. And then actually I have my little man. He's nine, my first two are girls. And then I have been an attorney specializing in childbirth cases for 21 years, just so your audience understands.
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And I'm sure you guys get it. But basically these cases that I'm involved in involve the birth of a baby when something goes wrong. Baby is not born healthy. Baby passes away during childbirth or mom will pass away during childbirth.
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I am the attorney who comes in and finds out what happened, what went wrong, why. And probably the most important thing I have to figure out is what should have been done. So baby would have been healthy mom around to raise her baby.
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Those questions have taken me all over the United States many times almost every healthcare system hashing out these cases with labor and delivery teams, experts, everybody. And And so I took that knowledge, I'm 21 years deep today, but at 19 years deep, I took that knowledge and I wrote a book called A Parents' Guide to a Safer Child Birth.
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So instead of getting involved in the aftermath of something going wrong, I'm trying to get involved beforehand to help parents, prevent these mistakes and complications I've seen for 21 years, because many of them are reoccurring issues.
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And I love that because I think that that is how we make birth safer, you know, is to know some of this knowledge ahead of time and not just be reactionary afterwards. So one of the things that I want to dig in with you is what do you think doulas would benefit from in your work and your book in terms of working with their families?
02:50
I know that we were discussing before we hit record that part of our work is a lot of education and preparation before childbirth. And so when I saw your book, I was thinking, you know, this is probably something that has a ton of information that doulas would benefit from in terms of sharing with their clients and having some backup for the things that we already share with our clients, right?
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Some deeper information about those things. But I would love to hear your perspective on what you think would be the biggest benefit to doulas in your book and your work. Oh, yeah. So let me, I'm going to answer that question.
03:27
Let me tell you a little bit. I got to tell you the first lesson. Yes. So this and then it'll all tie in, I promise. So, fine. Chapter one of my book are all of the lessons from the baby cases. These are lessons from the families, the medical experts, the delivery team.
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These are lessons as lessons we can learn from these events in order to help prevent mistakes from happening in the future. Lesson number one is from the families. It is they must get ready and prepare for childbirth.
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That is absolutely huge. And one of the best, one of the things I love about doulas is you guys do a really good job on preparing your clients, on educating them. So they are ready for childbirth and they do know what to expect.
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The families in my cases roll up to labor and delivery hoping for the best. We're all guilty of the mindset. Bad things only happen to other people and they just roll up and then all of a sudden they got to make some big decisions.
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They're not ready. Wrong decisions are made. And obviously they have to meet somebody like me. So where doulas can really benefit from my book is when you're educating your clients, there's great information in my book.
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I get asked all the time on podcasts, TV shows, why is this information just surfacing? I wish I had a better answer, but literally I don't think a childbirth attorney ever thought to write a book. So you know, you as a doula, you get to see the good, probably the good, the bad and the ugly.
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Right? I only see the ugly. I see the worst of the worst. I see the preventable mistakes. So, you know, my experience with childbirth is obviously very, very different than most people. And not only that, I got to sit everybody down and find out what the hell happened.
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So I took all of that knowledge, all of that experience and I wrote chapters like chapter, you know, chapter one is huge. These are the lessons. So if you know this stuff, you're going to be like, okay, I got to make sure my client understands this stuff.
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And then like chapter 11, that chapter is absolutely huge. It's the reoccurring issues and reoccurring mistakes in my cases. So you as a doula can help, you know, teach this stuff to your clients and that will give your clients and you.
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a heightened sense of awareness. It'll turn on your client's intuition. It'll activate it because you don't know what you don't know. So now if they know, for instance, Potosin is the number one most common fact and issue in my cases.
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I typically, if a case comes in, I typically read the first words I read, our mind is being induced with Potosin. This is huge. So if you have a client undergoing a Potosin induction, you have to read chapter 11 because not only do I identify, okay, you know, yes, Potosin is number one common issue.
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This is how you have a safe one. So actually, chapter 14, it's the very last lesson. It's the lesson is Potosin is the number one most common fact in a legal baby case. So I wrote chapter 14, how to have a safe Potosin induction.
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And, you know, I know you guys are always walking this fine line with the medical, you know, you're not medical, so you can't give medical advice, blah, blah, blah, take my book in and point to my book.
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I don't care. You know, I'm a medical attorney. I can't give medical advice, but I definitely, I'm like, all right, based upon everything I have seen gone wrong, you know, this is what this is how to have a safe Potosin induction.
07:07
So Potosin, I'm a slow and steady, hit your sweet spot kind of chick with Potosin, right? That's my chapter 14. Listen, the doctor, you know, your, your client's doctor may be completely the same way or their nurse or what not.
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Great, awesome. But as you guys know, different doctors, different nurses, different hospitals, different way they administer it. So you can literally, if you think Pitt's getting jacked up too high, but you don't want to, you know, under any medical advice, if you can open my book, Gina says, just throw me under the bus.
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Because I'll tell you, you know, the reason I wrote this book and the way I wrote it, you know, when I had to sit down with the families and I have to talk to them about the day they lost their baby, the day they lost their mom, their wife.
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It is so hard. This is what I see is so incredibly hard. And I wrote this book to help other families spare them from enduring the pain that these families have suffered. So do not be afraid to waltz in with my book.
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Give it to your head client then. Be like Gina said, and listen, you can go on my, you can literally go on my website, GinaMundi .com and email me and it goes directly to my phone. Call me then if there's an issue.
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I don't care, you know, but I'm out there right now. I know I have the information and the knowledge to help, you know, like you guys bring babies safely into this world. So please read the, read what's in the book and then just take it and then point to it.
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If you don't want, if you're, if you're, think you're walking the fine line with medical advice, just throw me under the bus. Yeah. What I love about about your work is that I think I hear sometimes doulas say things like, well, you know, that hospital like, they don't always do an amazing job.
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I'm like, no, no, the practices they have are dangerous. Like that is all like the impatience they have with the labor process can can cause people their life. Right? Like this, this is what we're talking about.
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It's not just like, well, you might have a better experience at this other hospital. But actually, this hospital like does inductions, for instance, while we're on that topic, aggressively in a way that is actually harmful, you know, and I think that I talk about advocacy so much in my work, right?
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And one of the things I talk about in my childbirth class is your first step of advocacy is firing a doctor that doesn't listen to you and having a team that is evidence based in their care, patient centered in their approach, and is going to approach your labor like a labor they've never seen, right?
09:46
Rather than being like, all labor should go XYZ. And I just apply this recipe to anybody who's in labor. So I love that you are highlighting some of the things you've seen in part because I think you probably feel similar to me that like when we when we support someone in the midst of a loss, we're hoping that it's the last time ever like obviously your work, this isn't the last time you're ever going to see this kind of case, right?
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But also when you see the same mistake over and over, you're like for the love of God, I'd much rather not have this client and have them have their parent alive, have their baby alive, right? Like that would be an ideal scenario here and not that once again, this doctor did this same thing.
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And here we are, you know, yeah, Kaylee, I love it. You're gonna love my book. I'm telling you, I have baby I have the baby advocate chapter. Yes. Yeah, for basically firing the doctor, I have a section on patient specific care versus generic care.
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So if anything, it's going to re for us what you guys are teaching and whatnot. So I will say this, this is the only thing that I regret in my book and I actually just got my manuscript. So Amazon, for instance, will let you add a section into your book as long as you don't change too much, it can stay, it happens it is.
11:04
I wanna add to my section on doulas. Here's the deal. I'm so incredibly sad about this. So, okay, first of all, I'm gonna throw this out there. We talked about it in pre -show. As a child birth attorney, I love doulas.
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Doulas are advocates, you educate your clients, you are 100% helping to bring babies safely into this world. So I see the bad, only the bad. I have never had a doula in my case. I have reviewed millions of pages of medical records and listen, a doula would be in my case if a doula even spoke to a mom during her pregnancy or labor and delivery.
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I've never had a doula in my case. This is where I'm sad, like super sad. six months before it's publishing my book, my cousin's a doula. And she goes, Gina, what are you including about doulas? And back then, you know, I'm just book crazy in my book.
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I'm like, I don't know any. I don't know much about doulas. Yeah. And I'm like, OK, I'll put them in the book. And what should I say? You know, and whatever she said, it's like two sentences. And that's what I left in the book.
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And then I published the book. And I'm meeting all of these amazing doulas. And I am like, how could I not say more about doulas? Yeah. I'm not really helping to bring baby safe things to the world. I don't know any doulas.
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I don't know anything about doulas. I'm a childbirth attorney. This is a really good thing. So, you know, I apologize. I am putting another book. And it's because I'm having a whole doula section in there.
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I want to know. And then also, and I just talked about this yesterday. And I did it on a podcast. It was an OBGYN doctor. And she says, she goes, what resources would you recommend for expecting parents?
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And I'm like, there are so many doulas with amazing childbirth education classes. I'm like, you know what? I'm like, that's it. I'm going to put a section up in my book, a section in my website. So I do have a section right now.
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It's called Expecting Parents. And they have different things that they can help them. But I'm going to put, you know, GINA -approved resources, GINA -approved classes, something like that. So if you guys, if you're out there, you're listening to this podcast, and you have a class or what I would love to talk to you, let's go back and forth.
13:27
And I will put, you are GINA -approved with a link to your course. Because definitely, I can definitely say from what the doulas I have talked to, like they have education courses, the way you guys educate your clients.
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And then like my book together is is probably the two best things an expecting parent can do. So yeah, no, I'm so keely, I'll talk to you too. I was like, why would we talk to you about that? Yeah, I want, you know, and I got to know you on pre -show, I know you're me.
13:59
And then the way you talk, I'm like, oh boy, we're, I'm always on the same page as Doola's. Yeah, I love Doola's and I'm even like literally changing my manuscript just to get some more Doola, just a couple more sentences like Gina loves Doola's, you know, or whatever, and they are helping to bring babies safely into this world.
14:17
So I'm getting it in the book. And then obviously I'm out there advocating for you guys too. Yeah, I love that. So I know that Doola's can get your book. Do you have other resources that, I mean, it sounds like your website has resources for parents.
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What other resources would you say you want the Doola's listening to know about from you? I don't I think that's it. I mean, I'm just getting into the Dula world. So, you know, I know like, like podcasts like yours, I went to your podcasts, and you know, you're teaching them and you're, you know, this is this, I loved it, because you were like, no such thing as TMI.
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I'm like, I'm like, I'm gonna like this, Dick. I mean, this is in the podcast. Yeah, no, like listening to podcasts like this, reading books like mine, just keeping yourself educated, because I feel like sometimes, you know, you guys, you guys deserve a lot of credit.
15:12
I don't think you give yourself enough credit, because you know, you have this, you know, I don't hopefully the doctors are okay, but I can imagine I mean, I represent them I've represented doctors for 21 years.
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So, you know, you may have a doctor who's like, Oh, I know everything. I'm the OBGYN, or, you know, a an experienced labor delivery nurse, you know, and maybe yes, you guys don't have that, you know, edu, you don't have the certification, like a piece of paper or whatever, but you're out there.
15:41
I know you guys are out there learning everything you can, and doing everything you can, you know, to help your patients and or I'm sorry, clients, I know I was safe. You know, clients, clients, I'm like, yeah, but just now, you know, in terms of podcasts like this, but yeah, just getting out there and learning and just keeping yourself educated.
16:03
And don't be, you know, I hate to say, go head to head with a nurse or a doctor, but you know, yeah, figure out, you know, communicate and, you know, advocate for your clients. Well, and I think I mean, this is we could talk forever, because I am very aligned with what you're saying.
16:20
But one of the things that I discuss with the doulas that I coach is advocacy is actually life saving. And you have to learn to advocate in a way that utilizes the fact that you have a louder voice often than the patient does in that room, like as a professional, you have a different kind of stance than the patient in the medical system that we have right now, right?
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And so if the patient's giving birth for the first time and has literally never done this, and you've seen even a dozen babies come, right? Like you have a different kind of ability to say, hey, have we considered this option and having the bravery, the courage to say that in the midst of a room of providers or nurses who are suggesting something that you know is dangerous.
17:07
I think we have to have the space to do that. And it's terrifying sometimes, you know? But as doulas, protecting our clients is one of our number one roles. And it is frustrating that that's ever necessary to me, right?
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But also it is necessary. And when it's necessary, we have to be willing to step into that space. So we can put it for some. Yeah, we can put it on a ball. Okay. And listen too, with my book, like I have a full...
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chapter on fetal monitoring. I wrote too. I'm like, oh yeah, medical community wants to keep it to themselves. Hell no. Yeah. And I'm like, nope, I wrote it all down. So I know that because I'll talk to Doola and I'm like, yeah, we can't read the fetal monitor.
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I'm like, hell yeah, you can. What you talking about? I can. Yeah. I'm about Willis. So literally, like, no, you can read the fetal monitor. And again, if you're feel like you're walking a fine line, then just look to take my freaking book.
18:07
Doctors and nurses already know about it. They, you know, they're fine with it. And then, you know, I've pointed different parts of my book or anything that, you know, like, oh, this is in the monitor.
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And this is what Gina says about it. I'm not this is not cool. You know, but yeah, and then advocate like you have to. Yeah. Yeah. I absolutely love it. Yeah, well, I will have a link to the book in the show notes and also a link to Gina's website so you can go and learn more about her there.
18:36
And then Gina, I'm so grateful for you taking the time to be on the podcast. This has been lovely. And your book is going to make birth safer, which is ultimately all of our goal. So I love it. Kaley, you're awesome.
18:49
Thanks for having me. And by the way, on my website, under expecting parents, I do have chapter one on there for free. Oh, yeah. So if you guys, if you're clen- go check it out. Those are your lessons from the podcast.
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It's huge chapter. And also the introduction of the book, why I wrote the book, like the more detailed story. So anyway, thanks for having me. It was a great talk. Of course, I'll see everyone in the next episode.
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Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Dula Tips and Tits podcast. If you learned something today or had an aha moment, we'd love for you to share that on Instagram and tag us at heradula so we can celebrate alongside you.
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If you found this podcast helpful, we would so appreciate you taking a second to leave a rating and a review on your favorite podcast app. That helps other Dulas find us as we do this work together. This podcast is intended as educational and entertainment.
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It is not medical advice or business advice. Please consult your own medical or legal team for your own needs around your health and your business. We'll see you again soon.
Today we are joined by Best Selling Author Gina Mundy to discuss her book: A Parent’s Guide to a Safer Childbirth. Tune in to hear how this book could be a learning tool for both you and your clients!
More about Gina:
Gina Mundy is an attorney specializing in childbirth cases. For over 20 years, her focus has been investigating and analyzing mistakes that arise during labor and delivery. She has spent countless hours meticulously scrutinizing childbirth cases, conducting interviews with delivery teams, and thoroughly examining medical records to gain an in-depth understanding of every decision made during labor and delivery. Throughout her career Gina has traveled nationwide, engaging with healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses, and midwives to explore all aspects of labor and delivery. These interactions have provided her with invaluable insights, enabling her to appreciate the diverse perspectives prevalent in different regions of the country.
In June 2023, Gina's book "A Parent's Guide to a Safer Childbirth" was published. The book helps parents to avoid the mistakes during childbirth and have a healthy baby. Instead of getting involved after a mistake was made, Gina is getting involved before childbirth to help prevent the mistakes.
CONNECT with Gina:
https://www.instagram.com/ginamundy
CONNECT with Kaely on TikTok or Instagram
https://www.tiktok.com/@doulacoach
https://www.instagram.com/Harroddoula/
If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @harroddoula
Kaely Daily is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services
It is sponsored by The Birth Prep Blueprint Childbir
