Aligned Birth

Send us Fan Mail We’ve talked a lot about how movement and exercise are important during pregnancy.  It helps with sleep, digestion, cramping, bloating, energy levels, back pain, and lots more.  But if fitness hasn’t been a part of your life before pregnancy, it can be daunting to figure out what to do.  And sometimes the hard part also is figuring out how to fit it in.  In this episode we chat ab...

Send us Fan Mail The time immediately following birth, where you can snuggle skin-to-skin with your baby is often called the golden hour.  It’s an important time because having uninterrupted close contact with your baby can lead to better stress response of mom and baby, better immune function for baby, promotes bonding of mom and baby, can help with uterine contractions, and so much more.  But, i...

Send us Fan Mail Birth has a way of transforming us.  Bringing forth new life requires us to dig deep, to find a part of ourselves that is bigger than ourselves, that you may not even know you have, that asks you to surrender and turn inward and trust.  This episode is loosely based on a Pathways to Family Wellness Article - titled The Treasure Box.   Where a midwife discusses with a client how tr...

Send us Fan Mail During labor, there’s this beautiful dance between oxytocin/endorphins and adrenaline/cortisol.  The innate wisdom of the body craves calmness and peace and safety and security during labor.  When those feelings are achieved, labor has an easier time progressing and the hormones dance more efficiently.   Sometimes the sights, sounds, and smells of hospitals can interrupt the flow...

Send us Fan Mail As you near the end of your pregnancy, and if you’re planning to birth at a hospital, then you might be wondering “when during my labor, do I need to go to the hospital?”  In this episode, Dr. Shannon and Doula Rachael chat about the benefits of laboring at home as long as possible as it pertains to potentially avoiding interventions and using the comfort of your own home to move...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we have a prenatal and pediatric chiropractor, Dr. Danielle Drobbin.  She not only joins us today to chat about prenatal chiropractic care including some things she wishes people knew about how impactful adjustments can be during pregnancy ( helping the birthing community find faith within their body and trust that their body was designed for birth), but we also t...

Send us Fan Mail In today’s episode, Dr Shannon takes the prenatal chiropractic conversation down a different avenue.  A lot of times, she deals with patients who are seeking care for aches and pains related to pregnancy and fetal malposition issues (and we have tons of episodes about how adjustments impact those issues), but chiropractic care impacts how our nervous system functions - it’s not ju...

Send us Fan Mail We recently had doula/photographer/videographer Maegan Hall on the show, but now we’re having her back with one of her clients to talk about the healing power of birth photography.  We always say on this show, birth is unpredictable.  Emma, a local psychotherapist so graciously shares her birth story via a blog with Maegan as well as this interview.  She writes, “ Birth brings us...

Send us Fan Mail One key element to an empowering birth experience is carefully creating your birth support team.  Who are those people you want around you?  How do you want to feel?  What are your birth preferences?  Maybe one of the most important decisions that has the greatest influence over birth outcomes is provider choice.  In this episode, Doula Rachael and Dr. Shannon go over some ways to...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we take a deep dive into Hypnobabies Childbirth Education with Milène from Harmony Birth Services.  She experienced 4 very different births (emergency cesarean to homebirth), and as she describes her journey as a birth worker, you see how her own birth experiences help her help her clients to advocate for themselves and take charge of their birth experience.    We...

Send us Fan Mail Feeling seen, heard, and supported during your pregnancy can impact your emotional and physical well-being during pregnancy, labor, birth, and beyond.  Today we talk about 8 ways your partner can show up with intention and meaning.  This goes beyond just showing up to doctor’s appointments!  From being an active participant in childbirth education classes to working on the birth p...

Send us Fan Mail During pregnancy, there’s a lot of focus and planning that goes into prenatal health, pregnancy support, childbirth education, and labor and birth support, but our postpartum time period needs just as much emphasis and focus (if not more!).  In today’s episode Doula Rachael and Dr. Shannon break down a very small aspect of postpartum: the physical healing, which includes: Common p...

Send us Fan Mail Today, we're exploring a crucial aspect of childbirth: informed and shared decision-making. Join Doula Rachael as she discusses the significance of understanding options, advocating for one's preferences, and fostering a sense of control during the childbirth journey. She shares a comprehensive exploration of how informed and shared decision-making during pregnancy, chil...

Send us Fan Mail Maegan Hall joins the show today to talk about her work as a doula, photographer, and a videographer.  She describes how her background in art led to photography work and eventually birth photography and then ultimately tied into becoming a doula to provide labor and birth support.  She feels deeply, cares immensely, and provides images and memories for families to tell their stor...

Send us Fan Mail In today’s episode, we chat with Certified Professional Midwife Paige Beckett. She’s been heavily involved in the Georgia birthing community for many years now and started out as a doula and lamaze and Baby Steps childbirth educator.  From there, she assisted with many homebirths and continued her birthing education to become a CPM as well as earn her Bachelor of Science in Midwif...

Send us Fan Mail In today’s episode, Dr. Shannon interviews Imani Byers-Quaterman who is the founder of Rebyrth Wellness, co-founder of Your Rebyrth Tribe, a full spectrum-doula, and a licensed social worker certified in perinatal mental health.  Our conversation includes: How her doula work began How she was informed about birth growing up How her faith plays a part in her work Her current traini...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Dr. Shannon and Doula Rachael share what's new with the podcast, what's happening in their businesses, and how they are navigating the summer with the kiddos and camps and all the things they wanted to do but haven't done yet. Support the show Want to show your support? Want to help us continue doing this important and impactful work: Support the Sh...

Send us Fan Mail It’s always an honor and such a treat when moms share their birth stories on the podcast.  Today Dr. Shannon chats with Jessica Patterson about her four different births.  To hear how each birth unfolded, how she created her birth support team, what research she did for each birth, and how her last birth was an unassisted homebirth, will leave you inspired, empowered, and informed...

Send us Fan Mail Certain types of stress (eustress or good stress) can be beneficial for the body. Chronic stress is what can be detrimental to your overall physical and emotional health.  In this episode, Doula Rachael and Dr. Shannon discuss 7 Ways to Manage Stress During Challenging Times (a blog Dr. Shannon wrote several years ago.) They share how these practices and tools can be used to handl...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Brittany Zis is a physical therapist and founder of Mother and Baby Wellness Collective and she joins us on the show to talk about pediatric physical therapy.  She’s passionate about caring for mom as well as baby, and she does this through in-home 1:1 pediatric physical therapy, gross motor play classes, virtual Breath and Core series and so much more!  We talk about: What is...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Doula Rachael is interviewed by Gigi Vera Vincent on the Ready For Baby Podcast. Doula Rachael, Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator, shares all about the Lamaze Method.  Gigi is a postpartum doula, newborn care specialist, lactation educator, and mother to three amazing kids. The conversation includes: What are the Lamaze Six Healthy Birth Practices? How can we f...

Send us Fan Mail In today’s episode, Doula Rachael and Dr. Shannon discuss managing expectations as it pertains to birth (and beyond). As a doula and a prenatal chiropractor, we are intimately involved in helping women navigate not only the physical side of birth, but the emotional aspect too. In this episode, they cover: Diving deeper into how you were informed about childbirth. How to prepare fo...

Send us Fan Mail We have two birth stories from Ashley Lingerfelt. Ashley is a former doula, an infant and perinatal mental health counselor, and cherished friend and client to Doula Rachael. These stories shed light on the unpredictable path to giving birth and the ways you can feel empowered, confident, and supported through it all.  In her first birth, she navigates an induction at 42 weeks and...

Send us Fan Mail “Childhood is tricky to navigate. Emotions are big. Self-regulation is little”  Today we chat all about infant and early childhood development with licensed professional counselor, Ashley Lingerfelt.  Parenthood has a way of stretching us mentally, physically, and emotionally, and sometimes we need support.  In this episode, we dive into: What is playtime therapy as it pertains to...

Send us Fan Mail It’s Birth Story day on the podcast! Doula Rachael chats with a dear doula client, April West. April shares how she prepared for her home birth including: How she chose to have a home birth, how she chose her home birth midwife, how she prepared for giving birth prenatally, the tools she filled her tool bag with, her husband’s incredible support along the way.  April also shares a...