19 Teagan

In Your Own Kin

In this week's episode Teagan shares her parenthood journey and life with her husband Aaron and their son Xavier.
Teagan talks about life pre parenthood, and the decision to start a family. Teagan was very excited and shocked to discover that she was pregnant only weeks after having her Mirena removed on their six month wedding anniversary. 'It was a shocking surprise for both of us, but obviously a very welcome one. It took us a little bit to get our heads around.'
Teagan felt quite well during her first and second trimesters. In her third trimester, Teagan began to experience dizziness and fainting. She raised this with her care team, and they ran some tests, and they picked up that she had a tachycardia, and she was referred on for an ECG. The ECG did pick up the tachycardia, but the team said that her symptoms were in line with pregnancy symptoms. They did request an echocardiogram, but the waitlist meant that Teagan got that a month after Xavier's birth day.
Teagan is an avid Australian Birth Stories listener, and spent a lot of time during her pregnancy preparing for the birth and immediate postpartum period. Teagan and Aaron knew that Xavier was in a breech position, and that a vaginal breech birth wasn't possible at their local hospital. Teagan was feeling really confident and planning for a positive caesarean section. 'I wanted to mentally prepare for a really positive c section if that was to be the case. That was a real shift for me. Trying to keep open that he may flip, but as those weeks ticked by, I shifted to finding really positive c section stories, and planning for what we could do afterwards like lots of skin to skin to make that as positive as possible.'
The evening before the birth day Teagan and Aaron celebrated with a special dinner together. At this stage, they were already in lockdown. ' We had a really lovely meal delivered to our door, and had candles going. I look back on that night really fondly. It was a really beautiful time. We were so excited.'
Teagan speaks so openly about her birth day, reflecting on the memories she has. During her planned caesarean section Teagan began to feel really unwell. It was later discovered that she had peripartum cardiomyopathy, which is a form of heart failure. Teagan speaks so openly and honestly about the challenges she overcame in the coming weeks and months. Her story is raw and powerful, and her strength and resilience shines through. Teagan was flown from Broken Hill to Sydney with Xavier, where she stayed in a critical care unit for two weeks.
Teagan speaks with such warmth and generosity about her challenging hospital stay, her mental health journey, the power of connecting in with a support network, and family life now as a mama to a toddler. This episode is so beautiful, and it was such an honour to listen to Teagan's story.
You can see photos of Teagan and her family on instagram @kinbycharlotte, and on the In Your Own Kin website
Juju Sundin's Birth Skills
Physio Laura
Australian Breastfeeding Association
Gidget Foundation