Unschooled Homebirth

I have a guest wisdom holder who is bringing a unique view of the pelvic floor and how the practice of grounding can be a powerful tool for pelvic floor function. My guest here is Jenn Lormand of the duo that is Tighten Your Tinkler, two women who are authors, researchers, and moms on a mission to help people live with functional pelvic floor health whether that's after having children or any...

Welcome to the last, but far from least, of the wisdom holder episodes I have for you so far this year. I have been eager for this episode to come out for you because it is so relevant and packed with insightful information from a courage coach named Brittany Wittig. Brittany and I met in a business program we both attended and after meeting her, I was so intrigued by her work I started listening...

In this episode, my guest, Kristen Stevens of Discover Yoga and I talk about why the pelvic floor is so important, how it's so much more than just thinking about the cervix, and we'll share a bit about a workshop we will be hosting in June of 2023. If pelvic floor health is of interest to you, find the link to register below before June 4th, 2023. This is a live workshop with real feedba...

Take a tour of the pelvic floor, learn why a reflexive pelvic floor is more important than a tight pelvic floor, and learn the first steps to increase the suppleness of scar tissue in this interview with wisdom holder Pauli Hannan, PT of @beyondthev.bypauli. This episode of the Unschooled Homebirth podcast will have you looking at your pelvic floor from a whole new perspective and Pauli has great...

My dear friend Laura Otter of Birthing Mamas will be sharing stories of her forthcoming album, Birth and Beyond: Sacred Songs for Mother and Baby, she will share how this album came to be, how the songs came to her, how they are impacting the families she works with, her own birth stories and how they were the portal to the music, and how music is such an important tool for birth. If you are liste...

My guest for this episode, Courtney, had two very different out-of-hospital births to share and each one brings so many lessons.  Courtney's first birth is a beautiful story, that also taught her a lot about who she was, who she wanted to become, and what she needed to do to become that woman for herself, for her family, her new little daughter, and for her next birth when that time came.  An...

Today I have an episode to share about a topic that I know is on the minds of just about every expecting mom, and that is the pelvic floor and postpartum recovery. Christina Walsh of Tighten Your Tinkler, will share her wisdom of functional pelvic floor health. This episode is definitely for you if you want to hear about why and how to use functional movement and non-invasive techniques to experie...

I am honored to share the birth story of one of my past students who had an extraordinary amount of growth and revelations of her own power and agency in her pregnancy and birth. This is one of those stories that really gets to the heart of the change I would love to see in our birth culture.  In this story, you’ll hear my guest share: How she navigated a system where she wasn't feeling that...

I am so excited to bring you  a guest expert episode today with on of my mentors in birth work, Rachael Jean of Elemental Birth Rites. This conversation was so much fun to record and I know if you've been a listener of this podcast, you are going to love what Rachael shares here.  Rachael Jean is a midwife and wise woman birth keeper who offers birth teachings and awareness programs that take...

What happens when birth doesn't go as you planned, when things are more challenging than you expect? As a birth worker, one of the comments I hear frequently is about a birth experience that didn't unfold smoothly, maybe there was a stall in dilation or the baby had decelerations, or maybe mom and baby experience dystocia and hard decisions have to be made, and families always want to kn...

When it comes to homebirth, safety is always the number one question on everyone's mind.   Today, I have a wisdom holder who is no stranger to the question of safety in birth, homebirth in particular. Dr. Stuart Fischbein is an obstetrician who left the conventional medical system decades ago after being exposed to the nature of the midwifery model of care. He went on to assist families and t...

There are probably few things, if any, that could be more of a blessing than a new baby being welcomed into the world. While we spend a lot of time focusing on what a blessing a baby is, I think it's important to remember that the experience of pregnancy and birth is seeped in blessing. I wanted to spend my time on today's episode talking about the blessing of birth, which might take, us...

TLDR : Get the full Stillpoint Prenatal Breathwork Worshop Recording for free at NaturalBirthCompass.com/BreatheFree . As I've probably mentioned before, one of the most common things I'm asked about is how to breathe for labor and it's always a difficult question for me to answer because, when you're in labor you should breath in the way that feels most natural to you rather t...

I think it's time we asked the question, how can we continue improve the state of birth and prenatal care for families? I'll start by asking you the question, who are your prenatal visits for? When you set up your visit schedule with your midwife, who was that ultimately for? You, your baby, your midwife? I know this might sound like an odd question and you may not even be sure how to an...

Welcome to a birth story episode on the Unschooled Homebirth podcast. It's been awhile since we've had a birth story, but one of my students, Sarah, who is also a birth wisdom keeper herself, was so gracious to share her birth story with us and I was thrilled to bring this story on the podcast because Sarah had such a simple and straightforward birth. We don't hear a lot of simple b...

Today's episode is all about cervical dilation as we explore the energetics of expansion and openness, some of the most important aspects to understand for birth and a natural progression to last month's episode on transition.  ______________________________ Further info & opportunities: Learn how to awaken the magic of homebirth with Circle Magic for Homebirth: A Mini-Birth Preparat...

Transitions are abundant in birth in so many ways. The most obvious is the stage of the physical labor process referred to as transition, which is a stage that preoccupies many mothers in their preparation for birth. But what isn't talked about, what women aren't taught is why this is normal, why she feels this way, the significance of the intensity of what is happening here, and therefo...

As May comes to an end, we are deep into spring energy, and I thought it might be time to talk the energetics of spring, of the East guiding direction, which is all about breath and all that uplifts us in life and for birth. Whether you have explored birth from the energetics of the cycle of nature or not, there is still a good chance you have at least explored the energetics of breath in regard t...

Welcome to this quick update about the podcast. It's been a couple years since I started this podcast to create a space for sharing ideas about birth that were a little unconventional. While it has been a journey so far, I have recently been feeling called to rebrand this podcast to something that resonates more specifically with the range of concepts I talk about here, and I was struck with...

Today’s episode is all about the cycles of birth and pregnancy, and life and parenting, because living and birthing naturally, the way Nature intended, is all about bringing these cycles into your awareness on a deep level so the magic of life comes alive and can be the center of your birth. This episode will explain how the magic of circles and cycles shows up in birth and the result of forgettin...

Time is a complex phenomenon and may not be what you thought it was, especially when it comes to prenatal care during your pregnancy and how time relates to birth. In this episode, we will dive deep into the two types of time, linear time and elemental time, and how to understand the flow of time to support optimal prenatal care and birth as you prepare for homebirth. _____________________________...

After over a decade of supporting families in homebirth, I can clearly say three of the most common mistakes I see made are:  Thinking that gathering information is the first step Foregoing discernment when gathering information Deferring to experts or authorities And in the current birth culture we are used to, you may not even realize how much you might be doing these three things!  But there ar...

In this episode with special guest author of Functional Maternity and practitioner Sarah Thompson, we talk about what functional nutrition and functional medicine are, why nutrition matters for pregnancy and for mothers and pregnancy and birth outcomes, she touches on some cultural dietary wisdom that supports maternal physiology, and we hear how Sarah breaks down nutrition into easy to follow ste...

What happens during prenatal care doesn't stay in prenatal care, it actually follows you right into your birth and even predicts outcomes for birth. So today in the first week of 2022, let's talk about making a resolution to manage 3 aspects of your prenatal care as part your birth preparation for a better birth outcome. ______________________________ Further info & opportunities: Le...

Can you have a natural birth without really understanding nature or your connection to nature? One of the core pillars of my approach to teaching about homebirth is to help the families I work with become aware of nature's cycle and attuning to nature's rhythms and when this is done, you can start to connect your inner world with the external nature around you, and this is how holistic h...