Sarah’s journey includes multiple losses, two cesareans, two VBACs, and births both in and out of the hospital. Her story encompasses so much richness, that I had to break it up into two parts. In this part two, you’ll hear about her third birth, a traumatic cesarean, and her fourth birth experience, a total reclamation of her power. Be sure to check our instagram page this week to see photos of this amazing birth and her perfectly huge baby! We are @healingbirth. There are also a few resources ...
Feb 14, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Sarah’s birth journey includes multiple losses, two cesareans, two VBACs, and births both in and out of the hospital. Her story encompasses so much, that I had to break it up into two parts. In this part one, you’ll hear about her first birth, which ended in a cesarean after the classic cascade of interventions in the hospital. Despite that experience, she still felt that people who gave birth at home were crazy, and planned to VBAC her second baby at a different hospital (spoiler alert: she wil...
Feb 07, 2023•41 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Corinne shares the story of giving birth in a birth center during the height of Covid. After the birth, her baby was transferred to the NICU where she spent her first few days, seemingly unnecessarily. Thank you for supporting brands that help support the show! Treat yourself with Puffs for the Public. They make high quality, CBD & CBG products that I absolutely love. As a listener of this show, you get 10% off at check out with code “healingbirth” (one word). Here’s a link to Soothe the Sou...
Feb 01, 2023•39 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Nelson and Alison were so inspired by the home birth of their first baby, that it lit a fire in them to share what they learned through this experience with others. They believe that conception, pregnancy, birth, motherhood and fatherhood are all sacred experiences and should be honored as such. Five minutes into speaking with them, I fell in love with their passion, their light, and infectious energy. It was also a real treat to get to hear, for the first time on this show, a male partner’s per...
Jan 26, 2023•46 min•Season 4Ep. 4
After a birth experience that left her feeling trapped and traumatized, Sian developed severe postpartum anxiety and depression. Realizing she needed help, she turned to the National Health Service (UK) for mental health support, but the therapy she was received was nearly useless to her (and, delivered over the phone no less). Sian found her way out of the dark place from spiritual, rather than cognitive, solutions, and the joy she now feels from her new son. We also talk about the importance o...
Jan 19, 2023•58 min•Season 4Ep. 3
After a long labor, and, feeling like she needed some relief, Emily transferred from her midwife-attended home birth to the hospital. The classic cascade of interventions ensued, beginning with an epidural, ending in a cesarean. At several points during her labor experience there, surrounded by total strangers and overwhelmed by the sensations in her body, the staff failed to support her in the ways that she needed. Emily connects the experience of being sexually violated at an early age, and th...
Jan 10, 2023•1 hr 37 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Welcome to SEASON FOUR! Christina is a coach, doula, and childbirth educator, who helps new parents with the transition when a new child is born. Like so many of us who get into birth work, her passion for it comes from her own experiences giving birth, which she shares with us today. After two births in German hospitals, the second of which left her traumatized, she knew she wanted to birth her third baby at home. That birth was the powerful, healing experience that she knew she needed. We also...
Jan 05, 2023•41 min•Season 4Ep. 1
An end of year message from my heart to yours. Thank you so much for listening! I love you! Send me a note at www.healingbirth.net We're on Instagram @healingbirth Diana
Dec 22, 2022•11 min•Season 3Ep. 45
Unhappy with her previous experience birthing within the medical system, Saphron decided to simply stay home and free birth her second baby. Leading up to the birth, she had constant, vivid dreams with visual representations of transformation. Reflecting back on the two birth experiences, she’s says that physiological birth is what helps us cross the transformational threshold, ushering us into our full power as a mother. Having experienced both ways of birthing myself - I fully agree. We wrap u...
Dec 13, 2022•28 min•Season 3Ep. 44
Jackie shares the story of having her first baby via unplanned cesarean at 35 weeks. After the NICU stay, and very tough first year, she found healing in getting answers from a spiritual perspective to the “what, why and how” of that birth experience. When she was ready, she and her daughter had a rebirthing ceremony that also helped to heal the trauma of the birth. Be sure to check out our instagram page @healingbirth for a bunch of photos that accompany this episode! Jackie is a listener who r...
Dec 07, 2022•57 min•Season 3Ep. 43
How do you ravish a mother? In this vulnerable conversation, Lisa and I share our experiences coming back to our sex lives after a traumatic birth. I strongly suspect that feeling shut down sexually after giving birth, especially a traumatic one, is something that is way more common than is openly discussed. The reasons can be myriad. Our relationship to our bodies change, our very identity changes, some of us have complicated physical healing to do, and many of us have experienced medical rape ...
Nov 29, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 42
Two births in the Finnish medical system left Anahel angry and knowing, in her words, “something is not right here.” She planned to have her third baby at home. That whirlwind birth experience completely healed the pain of the past two. Anahel is a listener who reached out to me to share her beautiful story. If you have a story you’d like to share too, reach out! Send me a note at the contact page at www.healingbirth.net If you love the show, support us on patreon! www.patreon.com/healingbirth...
Nov 24, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 41Ep. 3
After years of working in hospitals as a midwife, being a part of the broken maternity system that causes 1 in 3 women to experience birth trauma, Anna chose to step out on her own, become a whistleblower and actively work to speak the truth about the power of natural physiological birth. She exposes the over medicalized maternity system for the harm it is causing women, babies, families and the world at large. Follow Anna @the_spiritual_midwife Anna has some amazing offerings including a course...
Nov 17, 2022•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 40
Julia was planning for a peaceful home birth with her third baby, but plans changed when her labor began at 34 weeks gestation. Even though she gave birth in an environment she didn’t want, she did an amazing job advocating for herself and her baby during his subsequent NICU stay, and medical complications. She truly believes that the circumstances around his birth were exactly as they should be. I am always amazed at the miracles that happen when we honor our maternal intuition, and listen to g...
Nov 10, 2022•1 hr 29 min•Season 3Ep. 39
Juanita’s story begins with the heart wrenching experience of becoming pregnant at 14 after a sexual assault, and giving that baby up for adoption. Later in life, the birth of her second child was a re-traumatizing experience for her, as it commonly can be for survivors. The third time, Juanita used mindfulness tools, meditation, a trauma-informed team to support her, and super strong boundaries to have exactly the birth she desired, even in the midst of a time of national chaos. She says that y...
Nov 03, 2022•1 hr 27 min•Season 3Ep. 38
Mandy was induced for all of her births, until her fourth. She was told by medical professionals that her body just “didn’t go into labor on it’s own” and she “needed a little help.” The resulting distrust in her body was something she carried within her until, after having had enough with the conveyer-belt style standard maternity care, she sought out a midwife who would support her to birth at home. And after three previous births, all induced and two of them, cesareans, she birthed this baby ...
Oct 25, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Season 3Ep. 37
Leah’s first daughter was born still, but this isn’t the story of trauma you might be expecting. Supported at home with just her husband and best friend, she says that the somatic experience of that birth was so intact, that it left her feeling the fullness of her power, full of oxytocin, even ecstatic. Leah quickly conceived again after her loss, and under rainbow filled skies on the island of Kauai, freebirthed her second daughter. This one feels really special for me to share because as you w...
Oct 18, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Season 3Ep. 36
Last season, (episode linked below) Natalie shared the truly jaw-dropping story of giving birth via cesarean with completely failed anesthesia - she had full sensation of the procedure. We talked about what it looks like to heal from an experience like that, and the total lack of accountability from anyone at the hospital where this birth occurred. This year, Natalie reached out to me to let me know she’d had another baby, and I’m happy to say, this time it was different. You can hear her first ...
Oct 11, 2022•25 min•Season 3Ep. 35
The best definition I know of trauma goes something like this: Anything that was too much, too soon, and too fast for us to process and integrate. It causes elements of the past to get stuck in the biology of our bodies and our subconscious experience. This story is a perfect example of how that can show up in birth. You can follow Katie @clairehaven_farm and @littleonedoula Please consider supporting the show! www.patreon.com/healingbirth Visit our website! www.healingbirth.net...
Oct 05, 2022•1 hr 27 min•Season 3Ep. 34
Dr. Sarah is a chiropractic physician, birth educator, and mother of three. She became entrenched in the birth world after a traumatic, unnecessary cesarean led her to have a subsequent, healing freebirth. In this episode, she shares the stories of both of those births. Sarah is an advocate for bodily autonomy and human rights in childbirth, and believes that you deserve to be in charge and have a birth that transforms you. You will hear us talk quite a lot about that! Follow Sarah @birthuprisin...
Sep 26, 2022•1 hr 20 min•Season 3Ep. 33
Amana is a mother, birth keeper, death keeper, and host of the show The Heart of the Soul. Recently she invited me onto her podcast as a guest, and the conversation we had was so epic we decided to release it to both of our audiences! In this part two, Amana shares the stories of her journey with birth and loss, including that of her daughter Hartly, who passed shortly after her birth at home. From working as a hospice nurse, to the ways death has touched her as a mother, I have rarely met someo...
Sep 21, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Season 3Ep. 32
Amana is a mother, birthkeeper, deathkeeper, and host of the show The Heart of the Soul. Recently she invited me onto her podcast as a guest, and the conversation we had was so epic we decided to release it to both of our audiences! In this part one, Amana interviews me. I share both of my son’s (very different) birth stories, and if you are a new listener and not familiar with my story, I think you will understand why I am so passionate about birth and birth trauma. Next week, in part two, you’...
Sep 12, 2022•41 min•Season 3Ep. 31
Jessica’s first baby was born in a hospital in Australia. Although she had the natural birth that she desired, some interventions happened that, in retrospect, she realized were not necessary. Her second baby was born in Bali, at home, attended by Balinese midwives who barely made the birth. That birth helped her to realize she never needed to outsource her power to give birth. She had everything she needed within herself all along. Jessica is the founder of Mothers of All, a wife and a mother o...
Sep 06, 2022•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 30
Bella shares the birth story of her first baby, after multiple pregnancy losses and multiple rounds of IVF. She speaks candidly about the experience of infertility, loss, and how best to support others going through it. She serves as the assistant director of Empty Cradle, a loss support group local to the southern California area. They offer in person and virtual support, and hold several events annually honoring the lives of babies who have passed. You can connect with her, and Empty Cradle, b...
Aug 30, 2022•37 min•Season 3Ep. 29
Nicole shares her three, epically different, each beautiful in their own way, birth stories. They include a cesarean, a powerful hospital transfer VBAC, and a free birth. The daughter of a midwife herself, Nicole grew up attending home births, tagging along with her mother. She is now a traditional birth witness, postpartum keeper, and embodied motherhood guide. She is offering a coupon code for listeners of this podcast for her postpartum course, NOURISHED! You can purchase it through the link ...
Aug 24, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Season 3Ep. 28
Laura’s first baby, born in 2020, came with the most severe birth complication I have personally ever heard of. While she was postpartum, trying to heal, and figuring out how to be a mom, she was left almost completely alone due to fears from the community of spreading covid. This left her in a postpartum depression so dark, she attempted to take her own life. After recovering emotionally and physically, she had a second child under much better circumstances. To say the pregnancy was rough is a ...
Aug 16, 2022•1 hr 35 min
Sian was 12 weeks pregnant when the United Kingdom announced a national lockdown, and she shares what it was like navigating her pregnancy, the birth, and the NHS during this strange time. Her second baby was born just two months ago at the time of this recording, and overall her two birth stories are not at all what I was expecting to hear (which is always my favorite kinds of stories to share!). Sian is now training to be doula, and you can find her on instagram @diaryofmrsk and at @sacredmagi...
Aug 09, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Season 3Ep. 26
Ali shares her experience giving birth at home with a midwife, and navigating a hospital transfer during covid, for post-partum blood loss. While the transfer was a scary thing to happen to Ali, her partner was the most traumatized by the experience, which was exacerbated by pandemic protocols that kept him separate from her for a time. Her story also includes hands down the most unique pregnancy symptom I have ever heard - comment on our social medias if you have ever heard of it too! Support t...
Aug 02, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 25
Sondra, a former healthcare worker herself, shares her experience of navigating the healthcare system, and giving birth, during the covid pandemic. Her story is such a beautiful example of what is possible when we are spiritually prepared for birth. Even when the outcome is not what we desire (or perhaps, even what we fear the most), we can emerge from our birth experience empowered and avoid trauma. Sondra now works as a doula, and you can follow her on IG @maternalintuition, and find her at ww...
Jul 28, 2022•45 min•Season 3Ep. 24
Every now and then a story takes a twist I am not expecting during the interview - and it always makes for an even better story than the one I thought I would hear! This episode is a perfect example of that. Rebecca shares two birth stories with us. First, a traumatic, unnecessarian (major kudos to whoever coined that term), and a redemptive, led by faith freebirth. It is the extraordinary experiences around that second birth that gets us into talking about spiritual warfare, the spirit realm, a...
Jul 20, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Season 3Ep. 23
