BirthNotes Podcast

Mandi Murrow thought she was entering perimenopause. She was pregnant at 46. Already a mother, she never expected another baby in her forties. Her pregnancy with her daughter, Allove, changed how she saw motherhood, birth, and this season of her life. In this episode, Mandi shares the moment she found out, what pregnancy after 40 felt like, and why she chose a home birth with a midwife and doula....

Brooke planned a birth center birth with midwives, but at 42 weeks pregnant, she found herself at an induction, a hospital transfer, and more than 30 hours of labor before finally meeting her nine-pound, six-ounce son. In this episode, Kristin sits down with doula Brooke to talk about going past her due date, using the Cook catheter and Pitocin for an induction, and unexpectedly transferring from...

Maia went into pregnancy knowing exactly how she wanted to give birth: at home, surrounded by trusted support, just as she had grown up seeing it. She spent her pregnancy preparing through research, reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth , working with her midwife, and doing pelvic floor physical therapy. Then labor lasted three days . In this episode of BirthNotes , Maia shares the story of he...

Dr. Stefanie is a chiropractor, Webster-certified practitioner, and mom of three who has experienced three very different home births. In this episode, she shares the stories of each birth, from her first water birth to a fast second labor and an unexpected third birth where her husband caught their baby before the midwife could even arrive. We talk about what led her to choose home birth, what sh...

Arielle went into her second birth planning for a birth center birth. She left with an unexpected hospital birth, a 13-minute pushing stage, and a deeper understanding of what it means to let go of the birth you planned without letting go of your power. In this episode, Kristin sits down with birth doula, therapist, and mother of two Arielle Korn to talk about her unexpectedly fast labor, the mome...

Planning a home birth often comes with one big fear: What if I have to transfer to the hospital? In this episode of BirthNotes , birth doula Jessica Allison shares the powerful story of how a planned home birth unexpectedly became a hospital birth after her water had been broken for more than 24 hours. What could have felt disappointing instead became a peaceful, empowering experience that reminde...

What does it look like to choose a home birth in a new country, far from family and familiar healthcare? In this episode of BirthNotes , Sweetu shares her incredible journey from Florida to rural Panama, where she and her husband built a farm, welcomed their first child through a peaceful home birth, and ultimately created a motherhood community for other women navigating pregnancy, birth, and pos...

Naomi Mitchell shares her remarkable 20-year journey from an unexpected C-section to six successful vaginal births after cesarean (VBACs) and the home birth she'd always dreamed of. In this episode, she opens up about navigating a healthcare system with limited VBAC support, changing providers, learning to advocate for herself, and discovering the difference a supportive midwife can make durin...

This week, it's just me. Before BirthNotes, before doula work, and before supporting families through pregnancy and postpartum, there was chronic illness, unanswered questions, and a search for healing. In this episode, I'm sharing how a functional medicine doctor and home birth midwife changed the course of my life, how I found my way into birth work, and why I felt called to create Birth...

Amber came into her birth with a plan. She left with an emergency C-section and a tangle of grief, fear, and joy she needed time to sit with. In this episode, Kristin sits down with therapist and mother Amber to talk about what it was like to give birth at the height of COVID restrictions, navigate an emergency intervention she never saw coming, and carry the quiet weight of a birth story that loo...

In this episode, I sit down with my friend Morgan as she shares her full journey into motherhood, from an unplanned pregnancy and unexpected gender disappointment, to a hospital birth that left her doubting her body, to a redemptive home birth with her daughter, Evelyn, that changed everything. This one is for every mother who has ever left a birth feeling like she failed. You didn’t. Your body al...

What happens when your entire labor lasts just two hours? In this first episode of BirthNotes, Morgann, a mom of five, shares the story of her second birth, the arrival of her daughter Dillan eight years ago, during a precipitous labor that moved faster than anyone expected. What began as a planned hospital birth quickly turned into an unexpected home birth, reminding us just how powerful and inst...

Welcome to BirthNotes , a podcast where women share their real birth stories. The raw, the emotional, the unexpected, and the deeply transformative moments that shape the journey into motherhood. After years of supporting women through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum as a birth and postpartum doula, I saw how every birth carries more than just a medical outcome. Each story holds growth, fear, str...