Home Birth with a Doctor! In this episode, we have Rashmi Ramesh speak to us about having her first baby at home supported by family and a doctor! Divya Kapoor is often bomabarded with questions of is Home Birth safe? Is it legal? Is it better than birthing in the hospital? This episodes helps answer some of these with a parallel being drawn between traditional midwifery care from time to time to help listeners know their options! We delve into 1. The idea of Pelvic Exams being a must in Pregnan...
Aug 07, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 105
Back from a Break The entire next year now will have stories of Divya brings to you the new addition of Hospital birth stories to draw the distinction between what to expect in a system vs The Home Birth stories The Free Birth stories Educative episodes on Episiotomies Ultrasounds and more! There are more updates in here , tune in now! Support the show Sign up for Childbirth Preparation Programs! visit www.birthagni.com/birthclasses This episode is supported and made possible by podcast recordin...
Jul 17, 2024•10 min•Ep. 106
"Birth" encompasses a multitude of social, cultural, and political dimensions. Whether considering human rights, power dynamics in families, bodily autonomy, government schemes, hospital protocols, reproductive rights, or policies, all the macro and micro aspects of our existence that constitute 'Life' impact a woman's birth. Today, I'm joined by Sanjana Krishnan, a Political Scientist by profession, with a passion for regeneration. She is the co-founder of the Beejvan Biodiversity and Collabora...
May 05, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 104
Sign up for the Free Birth Awareness Session: https://www.birthagni.com/contactus - Select 'upcoming free birth awareness' in the form Direct Registration: https://forms.gle/kYeTcRPMzZvWKcYA9 Contrary to her previous experience (EP 102) of a quick birth at the birth center, Sanjana manifested a slower transition this time and knew instinctively that she wanted to give birth at home, with her daughter as a witness to the simplicity of life and birth. We are often presented with the narrative of a...
Apr 26, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 103
Every woman sheds a part of herself as she goes through the rites of passage - Menarche, Birth, and Menopause - the life-altering experiences that hold huge significance. We all arrive in pregnancy with something we have learned from our life experiences, which helps us visualize our birth in a certain way. Some of us desire it to be a breeze, some of us desire it to be painless, some of us desire it to be with friends and family, some of us want to avoid surgery at all costs even if we do not k...
Apr 18, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 102
Unnecessary Cesarean sections are common in India for unjustified reasons and poorly read overdiagnosed factors which in many cases have not been proven to be emergencies. The lack of application of basic evidence based information once applied can in itself lift our rates of natural birth high up. The maternity system today needs to keep up with atleast the guidelines in place as a starter and the experience if not the outcomes may improve. Listen to Lavanya's story to learn about : Story of Ch...
Apr 10, 2024•59 min•Ep. 101
Google tells me that the idea on Gentle Parenting has been around since 1930. The internet is now leveraging on its popularity including big media houses like the Times of India who recently , well , precisely on 26th March '24 published a photostory with the title that goes ' Why Gentle Parenting is not for Indian Kids'! This one poorly argued photostory had many FB groups and mom channels in uproar with the complaint of how rigid the idea behind this photostory has been. Gentle parenting has b...
Apr 03, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 100
Pre eclampsia in late pregnancy is often arrived at with one episode of High BP, two episodes of High Blood Pressure or a case in previous pregnancy without any symptoms in the current one. We see how the current care dynamics in the medical world is quick to categorise a symptom which may need further diagnosis to confirm if someone really has a condition or not, Pre -eclampsia being one of them. While only 6-8 % of women statistically are at high risk of pre-eclampsia or further issues, the mi...
Mar 29, 2024•20 min•Ep. 100
Dr. Brewer's pregnancy diet, also known as the Brewer diet, was developed by Dr. Tom Brewer in the 1960s. It emphasizes the importance of nutrition during pregnancy to prevent complications such as pre-eclampsia and to support healthy fetal development. The diet focuses on consuming a variety of whole foods to ensure adequate intake of protein, vitamins, and minerals. The key principles of Dr Brewer's Pregnancy Diet are shared in the episode. Tune in now! We briefly discuss Diuretics which will ...
Mar 20, 2024•22 min•Ep. 99
This is Anjali's story. She attempted to birth all her three children at home and lives right behind my house. First two were in the village and the youngest is in the city. The second birth was a transfer after laboring at home for quite a while, the baby was 1kg. If you are interested in enrolling for the two 'Childbirth Classes' with me , register your interest from https://birthagni.com/contactus and you will be sent a link for a 30 min FREE Discovery call! The first time I met her was when ...
Mar 12, 2024•37 min•Ep. 98
Hear me out on a morning with sore throat . Had a good cup of tea today while I bring things again. If you have any questions, a hi goes a long way . Reach out through https://www.birthagni.com Support the show Sign up for Childbirth Preparation Programs! visit www.birthagni.com/birthclasses This episode is supported and made possible by podcast recording and hosting tool Zencastr, it is impeccably made! Use my link : https://zen.ai/vxmuJUgYKKGTF3JuTuFQ0g to sign up and record flawless remote po...
Mar 07, 2024•1 min•Ep. 98
The various aspects of birth being a spiritual experience than mechanical or purely biological comes across through Mubina's Birth and Post Birth events. Mubina says towards the end, ' A beautiful birth and a beautiful death'. When we surrender to that one power there is no looking back, the answers always come around. It is when we fight the will of that one , we are left miserable. Listen to the story now! Please note that this episode can be healing for some and yet disturbing to some. We are...
Feb 26, 2024•47 min•Ep. 96
They say whenever you start looking for the path, the path arrives, eventually. Mubina's homebirth story after four cesareans is a testament to the immense power of the body. Mubina was unaware but looking for answers right after the first cesarean but like they say babies come the way they are supposed to we have no control on life. However, we all find the power eventually , Mubina found it in her home birth. Part I is about the events that led to the decision of homebirth and leaves you at th...
Feb 17, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 95
Vinita Mansata's journey towards advocating for natural childbirth at home is a testament to the power of personal experience and determination. Disappointed by a typical caesarean delivery years ago, this with a vertical scar, Vinita ji found herself yearning for a different birthing experience, one that honored the natural process of childbirth and empowered women to make informed choices about their bodies. Vinita ji intuitively went on to look for people, the Aam Admi who in her own words we...
Feb 08, 2024•53 min•Ep. 94
The keyword is who is going to 'Sit with you' through it all with your choices and decisions and be nurturing in your journey! That's where the foundation is laid! As a trainee midwife and a practising doula as well as a lactation counsellor, I do a lot of home visits, have pregnancy support group meetings where women physically meet and discuss pregnancy, postpartum , breastfeeding and more. I began calling my way of serving women as community care , an established term but i often have to expl...
Jan 31, 2024•23 min•Ep. 93
Why a home birth , you may ask? Why a home birth despite risks? What if you have worked in the medical system and chose to home birth realising that is the best option for you? That's Baneen Karachiwala , a Public Health Researcher, Baneen has been associated with various organisations at the national and international level for the last 19 years, providing support in research, documentation and programmatic interventions in the fields of health and development across India. Her special interest...
Jan 18, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 92
We all like to see things as linear so as to find a conclusive way to work at them. In the product and consumption world , we are taught how to plan to achieve a desired goal, to achieve something exactly how we want it! This is the opposite of how 'Birth' works. It is uncertain. It is unknown. It is being in the moment and the moment as your guide. All the knowledge helps and should be directed to teach you to surrender! It is pretty much a way of living 'Life'. I wish this wisdom was taught to...
Jan 05, 2024•44 min•Ep. 91
As a first time mother, Aparna knew that she wanted a Normal Delivery but did not know what decisions could maximize her chances. Register for Prenatal Village here https://forms.gle/a5cAyPgoLaXwz2K88 Instinctively, she knew she did not want to choose a fancy hospital , she was wary decisions would be made to increase the bills and it may not necessarily be based on her health. She even enquired at a government hospital knowing it has better rates of normal birth than the major private hospitals...
Dec 25, 2023•44 min•Ep. 90
This episode is a part of our conversation on Obstetric Emergencies which are critical situations during pregnancy, labor, or the postpartum period that require immediate medical attention to safeguard the health and well-being of the mother and/or baby. But are these really emergencies or is there more to it? In Part I of this episode we discussed, Large for Gestational Age babies and its link with Gestational Diabeties with Senior Midwife KL Goode who is a Hawaain traditional midwife with over...
Dec 03, 2023•44 min•Ep. 89
Obstetric emergencies refer to critical situations during pregnancy, labor, or the postpartum period that require immediate medical attention to safeguard the health and well-being of the mother and/or baby. But are these really emergencies? Many women today are being told they either have a Large for Gestational Age Baby (LGA) or Small for Gestational Age Baby (SGA). IUGR is another term thrown around independently that needs fixing. It is important to note that these issues are often figured o...
Nov 24, 2023•42 min•Ep. 88
Does your baby have fussy evenings? Are you concerned about you baby or toddler's sleep ? If you are looking at the internet for answers, know that the Internet is flooded with inappropriate information about training babies to sleep. The various methods that include crying of the baby are suggestive of treating a baby , a whole human , like a machine, incapable of thinking for itself or feel in the least. This is not gentle and it is not developmentally healthy as well. In this episode, we sit ...
Oct 27, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 87
A woman never forgets her birth experience. This has more to do with how she was made to feel than the sequence of events or the mode of birth. Sometimes when it is the events leading to a traumatic Birth experience, it deeply affects her . Trauma gets stored in the body and has physical expression as well . In this episode, we see that trauma is not necessarily a result of one event. It is an amalgamation of the entire history of a woman's life. It has to do with the culture, the life experienc...
Oct 15, 2023•41 min•Ep. 86
In the first part of Sara and Khan's Birth story , we went over their decision to free birth , the factors influencing it and the entire experience of labor and birth. If you have not heard the first part , hop on to EP 84 and come back to this In this episode: We go over : Placenta tinctures Breastfeeding Postpartum Care Parenthood and more.. Tune in to know more... Support the show Sign up for Childbirth Preparation Programs! visit www.birthagni.com/birthclasses This episode is supported and m...
Oct 07, 2023•28 min•Ep. 85
Sara conceived Zion at the age of 35 , a perfectly healthy young woman , active and a firm believer in the universe's power on us humans and everything life. It was the time of the Covid fading in 2020, she had to renew her visa to continue her stay in India. She chose to go to the hospital to help with paper work but she was seen as a high risk case almost decided for a surgery after a shortwhile, slowly being compelled through subtle coercion. Sara and Khan decided to take things in their auto...
Sep 29, 2023•47 min•Ep. 84
Induction is offered to every mother routinely in the urban hospitals in India. The various issues are big baby, small baby, past due date , one episode of high blood pressure, all of which are not medical emergencies but perceived problems that are being brought to fit the solution to it. It is not a problem based solution scenario but more a solution based problem making. Induction as a procedure comes with its own set of risks, it is a pseudo attempt at 'supporting normal births' Oh we tried ...
Sep 18, 2023•36 min•Ep. 83
Nisha, had her first born at Birth Village, Kerala, India. She is from Bangalore and moved cities to birth. She had a vaginal / normal birth there however, something within her felt rushed, unheard and ordered around . It did not sit right with her. She longed to know more and by following the Free Birth Society Podcast and other resources she realised not everything she experienced was in alignment with physiological or natural birth. Her birth space was hampered . Listening to stories of posit...
Sep 09, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 82
Chhavi Mittal is an Indian Actress, model and producer who is also a mother of two beautiful children. The story of her two births was covered in CNA Insider's documentary , 'A million cuts - India's C-section Epidemic' which is an attempt at blowing the gaff on India's rising C-section rates in the hospitals. In hushed voices, we all know it. We all talk about birth and women's bodies being used as a money making machine for corporate hospitals. Chhavi revealed on Instagram on her 5 page Birth ...
Aug 11, 2023•47 min•Ep. 81
My childbirth classes mothers wanted a recorded audio for Birth Affirmations. We practice affirmations and visualization in the class and they are suggested to do it as a meditative exercise on their own. This episode is a product of this request and here you can use it too. It has everything you are suggested in your birth classes about labor and birth. This can be your ally. Your encouraging partner. This can be your voice in labor and birth Practice playing these everyday. August'23 Childbirt...
Aug 06, 2023•16 min•Ep. 80
It is becoming painfully sad that despite the best preparation the obstetricians/gynaecologists are able to pursue the parents to choose Surgical births like they are selling candies. The language is usually this, 'this is just the trailer, do you think you want to take it further?' Oh even after you take so much pain, you may have to undergo surgery , then why do you think you want to take it any more. It is you choice , yes you may have natural birth after waiting but it is still a risk . It i...
Jul 28, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 79
Sameha was waiting for her labor to begin as she was already past 10 days of her estimated due date. Little did she know her labor would be a quick one and she would have labored majorly at home only rush to the birth center when she felt the first pushing sensation. Her water had already broken and there was meconium . Now you may want to know if her hospital was close or far off. What happened when she reached the birth center? Was everyone worried about the meconium and reeled her into an eme...
Jul 16, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 78
