Healing Birth

When Samantha became pregnant with her first baby, she was already working as a doula and felt more familiar with birth than most first-time mothers. She planned a home birth with a midwife, but after a long labor she transferred to the hospital. There, her experience was deeply impacted by a nurse who yelled at her during the pushing phase. Although her baby was born healthy, Samantha struggled w...

Liz is a death doula, medium, and spiritual guide. She is also a mother who has walked intimately with grief. On her first appearance on this podcast, she shared the heartbreaking and beautiful story of her daughter's pregnancy and stillbirth, which you can listen to here . Even while still grieving her loss, Liz felt the presence of another baby who wanted to come through. And as soon as she and...

This is part two of Kirsten's story. If you haven't already heard part one, check it out here .  By the time Kirsten became pregnant with her second baby, her family had followed a dream and moved off grid to a tiny cabin in the Maine wilderness. Living without running water and facing a long, solitary drive up a mountain to reach their home, Kirsten felt fortunate to find a midwife willing to wor...

When Kirsten became pregnant with her first baby, she and her partner knew they wanted a home birth. She hired a team of midwives to support her care, but her plans hit a bump when an ultrasound suggested her baby was too small. Deep down, Kirsten felt confident her baby was fine, and, after multiple follow-up scans, her baby's growth was shown to be on track. Kirsten went on to deliver at home as...

Jackie entered her pregnancy with an unquestioning faith that the medical system knew best how to manage her care, and ensure the safe delivery of her baby. During prenatal discussions with her doctor, she made it clear from the start, before she had ever felt a single contraction, that she wanted an epidural. When labor began, she opted for the epidural as soon as she was able, but experienced a...

Shiloa returns to the podcast to share the story of her fifth baby's birth, a deeply intimate homebirth with only her husband by her side. What started as a joke early in pregnancy—"maybe I just won't call the midwife"—quietly revealed itself as truth. She was craving something raw, primal, and entirely her own: the experience of bringing her baby into the world held only by love, trust, and insti...

After leaving an unhealthy relationship, Theresa made a solemn vow to herself: she would never again say yes when her intuition told her no, or no when it told her yes. So when she became pregnant with her first baby, she knew the conventional, conveyor-belt obstetric path wasn't for her. Instead, she sought out bodywork, worked with a naturopath, and developed a deep relationship with her body an...

Joli sat down with me in person to share her incredible first birth story, a first for this podcast! Raised hearing her mother speak so positively about her own home births, Joli always envisioned a similar path for herself. When it came time to welcome her first baby, she felt deeply committed to a physiological birth and chose to work with a midwife at home. After a smooth, uneventful pregnancy,...

Taylor sat down with me to share her story just twelve weeks after her second homebirth. She says she felt reborn after both of her birth experiences, but describes this most recent one as especially healing. It came after an early second trimester miscarriage and a traumatic D&C, which led her to explore femininity, softness, loss, spirituality, and more. Fear emerged at different points during t...

Why do so many women leave birth feeling overwhelmed, unheard, or even traumatized? And what actually helps create a better birth experience? In this episode, I'm joined by Erica Manto Paulson, a certified doula, childbirth educator, and certified clinical hypnotherapist who has supported families in birth for more than 20 years. Erica's passion for this work began after her own VBAC experience, w...

Eva was working in a maternity home, a residential program that provides housing, prenatal care, and support for pregnant women in need, when she became pregnant with her first baby. Clear in her vision for birth, she chose midwifery care and planned a physiological, unmedicated birth at a midwife-run birth center. Her labor was smooth, relatively quick, and deeply supported. But the weeks that fo...

At the end of her first pregnancy, Celine's plans for the birth unraveled. Her baby was breech, and the natural birth she had envisioned was replaced with a scheduled cesarean. Though the surgery itself wasn't traumatic, it shook her confidence. She was left wrestling with painful questions: Why didn't my baby turn? Is my body broken? Her healing began in the presence of women who believed deeply...

This is part two of Natalie's story. Be sure to listen to Part One if you haven't already. After the devastating second-trimester loss of her second baby, Natalie entered her third pregnancy carrying a lot of fear. Labeled as high risk, she once again had to navigate frequent interactions with the medical system, the same one that had dismissed her concerns so many times in her previous pregnancy....

Content note: This episode includes the story of infant loss. If you are not in a space to hear about this topic, I trust you know what to do.  From the very beginning of Natalie's second pregnancy, she felt that something was wrong. As early as the first trimester, she experienced breathing issues, swelling, and eventually severe headaches. When she brought these symptoms to her care providers, t...

Emily's first pregnancy at twenty came in the midst of heroin addiction and an abusive relationship — and became her path to sobriety. She had an unmedicated hospital birth that, while fast, came with the usual interventions: coached pushing, an unnecessary episiotomy, and IV fluids that made breastfeeding a struggle.  Years later, after a stint as an L&D nurse left her disillusioned with the syst...

Lindsee's first birth was a fairly typical hospital experience—and it left her feeling there had to be a better way to bring life into the world. When it came time to choose where her second baby would be born, she opted for a midwife-run birth center, and the difference was profound. The experience was respectful, empowering, and deeply positive. Like so many after a redeeming birth, Lindsee beca...

Carly's husband, a medical doctor, shared that there were two things he didn't feel comfortable with as they approached the birth of their own children: waterbirth and homebirth. One fateful day, while celebrating her mom's birthday at her home, Carly went into labor - thinking she had much more time than she actually did. Her husband was suddenly there to witness a birth that would force him to c...

Gloria found out she was pregnant at just sixteen years old. Her pregnancy and hospital birth were fairly uneventful, but navigating postpartum life and caring for a newborn—all while still in high school—was extremely challenging. Ten years later, Gloria welcomed her second baby. This time, she was married and working in the medical field herself. She was able to truly enjoy the pregnancy without...

All of Maddison's births were peaceful, easeful homebirths. Even her third birth—an early loss of twins—unfolded gently at home and left her feeling at peace. Her postpartum experiences, however, were extremely challenging. Freshly out of an abusive relationship and pregnant for the fourth time, Maddison shares how she completely rewrote her postpartum story. With the right nourishment and support...

Welcome to Season 7 of the podcast! When today's guest, Jordan, reached out to me to explore what it looks like to move forward when birth isn't healing—when it feels unresolved or leaves lingering questions—and how to find your own healing by integrating your lived experience, I knew I had to have her on the show. Jordan shares her journey through three very different births: a long, challenging...

Brigid is a mother of five who began her motherhood journey knowing little about birth and fully handing her experiences over to medical professionals. By the time she was pregnant with her fourth child, she knew she needed something different. She had done a great deal of internal work, finally educated herself, and was ready for change. Brigid chose a home birth with that baby, and it was a trul...

By most standards, Keelee had a straightforward first birth experience with a midwife at her birth center. But something about it troubled her enough that she wanted to debrief the birth afterward—and when she did, the midwife said something shocking. This sparked a deep dive into the world of freebirth, which she soon came to believe was the only "right" way to give birth. She even enrolled in a...

This is part two of Kristin's story. I highly recommend  listening to part one first if you haven't already! After a long and difficult preconception journey with her first child, Kristin was elated when she conceived her second with ease. This time she hired a midwife and planned the home birth she had always wanted while also receiving co-care from her medical doctor. Her doctor did not approve...

Kristin was never sure she wanted to become a mom until she attended a friend's birth, which catalyzed something deep within her. But getting pregnant didn't come easily, a struggle she partially attributes to her long-term use of birth control. She experienced several miscarriages before turning to IVF. Her fertility doctors told her she had less than a 5% chance of conceiving on her own. When IV...

After two home births with midwives, which were beautiful but still full of compromises she didn't want to make, such as repeated ultrasounds and intense pressure to induce, Lauren chose to birth her third baby without hiring any outside medical management. This pregnancy and birth pushed her to the brink. She confronted a profound fear of death, her baby remained breech until the very end, and th...