Have you, or someone you know, conceived a baby during a time in your cycle that didn’t fall within the normal, ovulatory window? As someone who listens to a lot of birth stories, I’ve heard it happen many times. I always attributed those occurrences to the inherently mysterious nature of pregnancy and birth. But what if there is another explanation? Medical astrology has been in development for thousands of years, greatly predating our modern understanding of medical science. And through years ...
Oct 03, 2023•42 min•Season 4Ep. 37
Milena, the daughter of a licensed German midwife, grew up around babies, pregnancy, discussions about birth, and even attended births with her mom. When it came time for her to give birth the first time, she chose a midwife assisted home birth. But the second time she became pregnant, she was strongly drawn towards having a wild pregnancy and to freebirth. In addition to hearing her two birth stories, we talk about why there’s really no such thing as a “normal” labor pattern, and what it was li...
Sep 26, 2023•48 min•Season 4Ep. 36
Stephanie shares her two birth stories, both of which took place in a hospital staffed only by midwives, in rural Australia. Her first birth experience cracked her intuition wide open, and she says that it initiated her into the person she was meant to be. Her second birth was a different kind of initiation, which included a complication at the end. During both experiences, she felt very cared for and supported by the midwives. We also discuss how much our relationships shift and change when we ...
Sep 19, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 4Ep. 35
Nina was dropped by her midwives at the end of her first pregnancy due to high blood pressure, and had to give birth to that baby in the hospital. The second time she became pregnant, she decided not to engage with the medical system at all. Her blood pressure remained elevated during this pregnancy, but rather than immediately pathologize it based on the numbers alone, she decided to tune into how she felt, and trust her body. Her healthy, perfect baby was born after a whirlwind fast labor, in ...
Sep 13, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 4Ep. 34
After becoming pregnant through the intensely medically managed experience of IVF, Kelli planned to step away from that model of care, and birth her baby at home. But after five weeks of exhausting on and off labor, she felt like something was wrong, and agreed to transfer her care to the local hospital. It was there that they discovered the reason for her confusing labor pattern was a previous, commonly performed, medical procedure to her cervix. Despite how traumatic this experience was, Kelli...
Sep 05, 2023•29 min•Season 4Ep. 33
With raw emotion and beautiful vulnerability, Mallory shares her three birth stories, and the life circumstances that shaped them. Her first two births took place in a hospital - one quite traumatic, and one not. Her third baby was born at home, with just her husband present. She says that it was this birth that catalyzed her transformation from maiden to mother. And that she wants to share her powerful story not to fix the system or change anyone’s mind, but in service to other mothers. I want ...
Aug 22, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Season 4Ep. 31
Clancy spent three and a half years calling in her second child. Swimming in sacred fertile waters, speaking desires into the ethers, dreaming, ritual, ceremony, creating altars, writing letters, journalling, setting intentions, kinesiology, acupuncture, medical intuitive session, not trying, psychics, therapy, family constellations, womb work, chi ne tsang massage, herbs, and vaginal steaming. You name it, she did it. Often with pure hopeful intentions, sometimes tinged with desperation and som...
Aug 15, 2023•59 min•Season 4Ep. 31
Jodi is a postpartum registered nurse and lactation consultant who works at her local hospital. After two very medically managed, in-hospital births, one of her friends shared the concept of freebirth with her, and that there were women choosing a totally different way to walk through their pregnancies and birth their babies. At first, she thought this idea was crazy, but the seed was planted. By the time Jodi was pregnant with her third, that seed had sprouted, due to the combination of what sh...
Aug 08, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Season 4Ep. 30
Kristen is a former nurse of 14 years, who spent most of her career in the NICU. She once believed that home birth should be illegal, and that doctors always knew best. But in 2015, with the birth of her first son, she began to see things differently. She is also one of the co-founders of Canadian Frontline Nurses. In that role, she has been a powerful, public voice advocating for medical freedom and true informed consent. Follow Kristen @Kristen_Nagle www.kristennagle.ca Do you have a story you...
Aug 01, 2023•42 min•Season 4Ep. 29
Neena’s first baby was breech at term, so she was given no other option but a planned cesarean. When she conceived again, she knew she wanted a VBAC, but even at her local “VBAC-friendly” practice, she was coerced, gaslit, and shamed, at nearly every interaction with them. Neena’s story is an excellent example of how even a highly informed, confident, and, perhaps most importantly, perfectly healthy woman can end up with medical interventions and birth outcomes that are unnecessary and traumatic...
Jul 23, 2023•42 min•Season 4Ep. 28
Neena’s first baby was breech at term, so she was given no other option but a planned cesarean. When she conceived again, she knew she wanted a VBAC, but even at her local “VBAC-friendly” practice, she was coerced, gaslit, and shamed, at nearly every interaction with them. Neena’s story an excellent example of how even a highly informed, confident, and, perhaps most importantly, perfectly healthy woman can end up with medical interventions and birth outcomes that are unnecessary and traumatic. T...
Jul 17, 2023•49 min•Season 4Ep. 27
Ada’s first baby was born at home, attended by a midwife. The birth was uncomplicated, but she realized in retrospect that the way her midwife handled the birth of the placenta was problematic, and could have caused serious complications. She knew when she conceived again, it would be just herself and her partner at the birth. And that’s exactly what happened - in an off grid home, with no electricity and no running water! A testament to what’s really the most important thing to have while givin...
Jul 05, 2023•42 min•Season 4Ep. 26
After a hospital birth, then a midwife attended home birth, Brenna was ready the third time to follow the call she felt in her heart to choose freebirth. She describes it as the longest and hardest birth, but without a doubt the most peaceful, redemptive and transformative. Her daughter was born into the arms of her father, into a room full of sunshine, with the sounds of happy tears and rejoicing in the goodness of Yah. She says, she will never be the same. You can follow Brenna on instagram @b...
Jun 28, 2023•52 min•Season 4Ep. 25
After a birth with many interventions, ending in a cesarean, Tamika’s first baby spent a harrowing time in the NICU. When enough time had passed for Tamika to process this experience and heal, she was able to release the heavy weight of guilt she carried. With a deeper trust in her body, she chose to conceive again and gave birth to her second baby, at 43 weeks, in the comfort of her own home. Do you have a story you’d like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the...
Jun 14, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Season 4Ep. 24
Kaylee’s first birth experience ended in a cesarean, after having been dropped by her midwives’ care for going over 40 weeks. She partially credits the events of 2020 as being a huge awakening for her, so when she became pregnant again she knew she no longer wanted to engage with the medical system, and planned a free birth. When she went into labor with that baby, what transpired was a six day long ordeal, with many twists and turns, reasons and opportunities to give up, but she never did. This...
Jun 05, 2023•53 min•Season 4Ep. 23
After two hospital births, Danielle decided she wanted her third to be born at home. However, she happened to live in one of the five (now four) states which do not allow licensed midwives to attend VBAC births at home. Listen to find out how she navigated this, and if she got her home birth! Danielle is also a fellow podcaster. You can find her show @birthjourneyspodcast Do you have a story you’d like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.h...
May 30, 2023•57 min•Season 4Ep. 22
After the unplanned, but not traumatic, cesarean birth of her first child, Danielle felt a sense of grief she didn’t understand. Despite having a successful VBAC in the hospital subsequently, that same feeling of grief and failure found her in her postpartum time. She eventually experienced post-partum depression severe enough to need medication. Something inside her knew there was a better way. This is part one of Danielle’s story. Be sure to tune in next week for part two! Danielle is also a f...
May 23, 2023•42 min•Season 4Ep. 21
After a traumatic, unnecessary cesarean in an Australian hospital, Rebecca knew that she’d get pregnant again, and would not enter the medical system. She had a completely wild, peaceful pregnancy, and free birth with just her family present. (Be sure to check out our instagram page this week @healingbirth to see photos of this birth, and the “potato embryo”!) Do you have a story you’d like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth....
May 16, 2023•38 min•Season 4Ep. 20
Rebecca’s first experience with birth was a miscarriage, which, in her words, left her with the beautiful message that “we are mother nature.” When she conceived again, she was hit with the firewalk of hyperemesis, an initiation all of its own. She gave birth to that baby in an Australian hospital with midwives. Her story, sadly, is a perfect example of the ways that defensively practiced medicine, intervening in the natural process that is birth, is leaving so many of us with unnecessary surger...
May 08, 2023•55 min•Season 4Ep. 19
Leah shares her four birth stories with us. Her journey includes suffering a serious birth injury, a devastating second trimester loss, a hospital birth after that loss, and finally, a blissful home birth. Of that homebirth Leah says, “I trusted my gut, my lived experiences, and the team that I had. I instantly felt this release of all of the trauma I had experienced. It was exactly the experience I needed.” Photo Credit: Courtnee Pirozzini, @courtneepphotos Do you have a story you’d like to sha...
May 03, 2023•46 min•Season 4Ep. 18
Audrey shares her three birth stories, all quite different, and all of which reflect her powerful nature. You can connect with Audrey on instagram @ajoyfulbirth and at www.ajoyfulbirth.org Do you have a story you’d like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net. PLANNING FOR YOUR VBAC EVENT! On Sunday, April 30th, 2023 @5PM EST Join Healing Birth and Dr. Sarah (@birthuprising) for a women-centered approach to planning for your V...
Apr 24, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Season 4Ep. 17
During her first pregnancy, Chaya was dropped from her midwife’s care for the sin of going past 40 weeks. She gave birth to that baby in the hospital, an experience that left her feeling a lot of anger. When she quickly conceived again, a series of life circumstances (and some slight denial), led her to have a wild pregnancy, and to freebirth her baby. Do you have a story you’d like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net. PLA...
Apr 18, 2023•46 min•Season 4Ep. 16
Only in recent years has there finally been a recognition that birth trauma, affecting about one in three women in most Western countries (I would argue that number is much higher), has profoundly deleterious effects on a mother’s mental health. But to my knowledge, there is no formal study or discussion about how traumatic births can affect our babies, who experience the birth right along with us. My guest Amber shares the dots she connected between the traumatic birth of her second daughter, a...
Apr 10, 2023•48 min•Season 4Ep. 15
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...
Apr 05, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Season 4Ep. 14
Nelia was assaulted during her first birth experience at her local hospital. Stories like hers are tough to hear, but unfortunately, common. What is uncommon is that she understood immediately what happened to her was wrong, and sought legal counsel to get justice and to heal. The second time she gave birth, she took back her power in a massive way. We mention @birthmonopoly as a great resource for anyone who has experienced obstetric violence. You can find the map of obstetric violence, read ot...
Mar 29, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 4Ep. 13
Carla’s planned home birth with her first baby ended in a hospital transfer. Two years later, she conceived again. Armed now with more knowledge about the birth, she hoped and planned for a physiologic birth, without interventions, at home. This is part two of her birth stories. You can find Carla on instagram @carla.sage.birthwork Her website is www.traditionalhealingbirthwork.com Use the link below to purchase amazing CBD products from Puffs for the Public. They are offering 25% off your order...
Mar 22, 2023•40 min•Season 4Ep. 12
Carla’s mother passed away on her first baby's due date. A week later, still grieving, she went into labor. She had planned for and desired a home birth, but was transferred to the hospital. This is not, however, the traumatic story it could have been. While there it was evident that her mother’s spirit was present, protecting Carla and her baby. And this birth experience, in the miraculous way that birth can, allowed for deep healing of her matrilineal line. This is a truly magical story. And i...
Mar 15, 2023•50 min•Season 4Ep. 11
Lynsi Eastburn is the world’s established expert in the field of hypnosis to promote fertility. She began professionally using hypnosis to facilitate pregnancy before anyone else had actively considered or pursued its benefits. Blending the scientific with the spiritual, she is also gifted with the intuitive capacity to sense spirit babies around their mothers. In this fascinating conversation, we talk about: How spirit babies come through to her Do we all have spirit babies around us? How do th...
Mar 08, 2023•38 min•Season 4Ep. 10
After the devastating loss of her first pregnancy, Sharna became acutely aware of the lack of professional support for, and understanding of, the uniquely painful experience of pregnancy loss. Sharna is now a pregnancy loss life coach supporting women through miscarriage or pregnancy loss. She has also founded The Institute of Healing through Pregnancy loss, out of the need for there to be other perinatal and coaching professionals who know how to truly support women going through pregnancy loss...
Mar 02, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 4Ep. 9
The power, mystery, love and rawness surrounding pregnancy and birth have intrigued Carla since childhood. In 1998 she became New Zealand’s youngest graduate from the Direct Entry Midwifery program, and began work as a midwife. Her experience as a midwife was eye-opening, to say the least. She became aware that the power and mystery of birth had, for many it seemed, been flipped on its head, with medical minds, hands and machines seeking to control, categorize and sanitize the innately unique an...
Feb 22, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 4Ep. 8
