Birth Matters

Personal trainer Leia wanted a homebirth, but because her husband wasn’t comfortable with that idea hired hospital midwives instead. She did lots of prenatal education and prep, and hired doulas who were the perfect fit for her. In hindsight she’s very glad she did that because she knew how to both advocate for herself and had an advocate there to help her navigate the unexpected twists and turns...

Taylor and her husband never expected to have kids, and if ever maybe around 40. Then one day when Taylor was only 30, surprise! She was pregnant. In today’s episode, Taylor, who identifies as a biracial Black woman, shares how she went from working with a hospital OB to planning a homebirth with midwives and a doula. Her beloved doula, Chana, joins in today’s sharing, too. Taylor shares how getti...

Ellen, who shared her first two babies’ birth stories in Episode 26, returns to share her son’s preterm birth story following a relocation from NYC to California where they are now homesteaders growing toward self-sustainability. She had wanted an unmedicated birth with midwives, but due to her history of two premature births, she stays with a high-risk OB who provides midwife-like, compassionate...

Donna and Sandy share their 7-year-old daughter’s birth story. They had hopes for an unmedicated birth, and investigate switching from a hospital OB to a homebirth midwife toward the end of pregnancy. Ultimately, due to it being so soon before baby was coming, they end up sticking with their OB despite increasing signs of misalignment. Fortunately for them, they labor at home and arrive at the hos...

Today, a Nigerian-American doula based in New York named Theresa Lasbrey-Peters shares her two experiences giving birth in her 40s in a hospital without medication or interventions. As she narrates her journey through two pregnancies, she explains how important research, informed decision-making, and self-advocacy were for her. She exudes a refreshing level of confidence in refusing medical interv...

In a bustling city teeming with ambition and dreams, Alexis - an actress, dreamer, and now mother takes us on her journey into motherhood. From the grand stages of New York City to the intimate confines of a 5-story Harlem walk-up, Alexis prepares for the role of a lifetime. As she immerses herself in prenatal yoga, pores over all the books, and engages in birth classes, her transition is magnifie...

In this 2nd episode of a 2-parter, Kaitlin shares her 2nd and 3rd babies’ birth stories. After having a traumatic first birth, Kaitlin finds her voice and makes every effort to help things go differently. This includes finding a VBAC-supportive provider since she was aiming to have a vaginal birth after cesarean, seeking out lots of education and hiring a doula for support. She contrasts the ways...

Today’s story is the 1st episode of a 2-parter. In it, the founder of Be Her Village, a baby registry that provides a way to give the gift of support instead of far less important baby gear, shares her first of 3 babies’ birth stories. Kaitlin’s 3 births couldn’t be more different from each other. In this episode, Kaitlin shares planning for a birthing center birth with midwives that shifted to a...

Melissa had her first baby as a teen but second baby 15 years later with a different partner and with an early pregnancy loss in between. Each journey was very different, and she shares in today’s episode how and why she made quite different choices for her most recent birthing process. This included switching from obstetrical care to hospital midwifery care to, ultimately, have an unmedicated bir...

In part 2 of this 2-episode birth story, Jessica shares the rest of her unmedicated birth story with midwives in an NYC hospital. She details the contrast of her very positive birth experience to the postpartum care experience, discusses some initial breastfeeding challenges in which an IBCLC provides stellar support and addresses a lip tie & tongue tie her son had. She also shares how importa...

Jessica learned about midwives and doulas in a college class, which planted the seed for her desire once becoming pregnant for an unmedicated birth. As a runner, she made connections between how empowering and satisfying running a race can be to her desire to have an unmedicated birth. In this episode, Jessica shares her story of alternative conception while planning a wedding, switching care prov...

Bettina prides herself on being a thorough researcher. She carries that into pregnancy and  interviews 6 doulas before choosing one, switches from an OB to midwifery care when she doesn’t feel aligned, gets prenatal breastfeeding support due to having inverted nipples, and more. At the end of pregnancy, talk of induction arises due to concerns of fetal growth restriction due to baby measuring smal...

Following an early pregnancy scare, Taylor proceeds to have a healthy pregnancy. Feeling frustrated when she passes her due date and isn’t showing much change toward going into labor, Taylor tries all the things to start labor and avoid induction. Once her water breaks, she has a super efficient unmedicated birth in which she labors at home for as long as possible until she starts feeling pressure...

Sierra envisioned a waterbirth for her baby, but was disheartened to find it’s hard to find a birthing location where that’s possible and also hard to find birthing center options in NYC. With the help of her doula, she finds the one birthing center in all of NYC and switches her care. Working with midwives, Sierra immediately feels much more cared about, seen and heard than she ever did with her...

Despite the fact that EmJ has always had a self-professed low pain tolerance, she finds instinctive coping mechanisms that work for her to have the unmedicated birth that she had hoped to have in a Manhattan hospital. Part of what helps this happen was how EmJ receives uncommonly doula-like support from the nurses that helps her to manage well when things were at the most intense points. After the...

As a teenager, Crystal learned she has a bicornuate uterus which significantly affected her menstrual cycle. So it’s no small miracle years later when she conceives naturally twice after being told she’d probably need to use IUI or IVF. When her son doesn’t seem to have room to flip from breech to vertex (or head up to head down), and because doctors are rarely trained to deliver a breech baby vag...

Cally’s hopes were high for an unmedicated birth. She gets thrown a curve ball when her membranes rupture as the first sign of labor. Knowing that an important strategy for a healthy birth is to labor at home for as long as possible, she doesn’t rush to the hospital. When she does go many hours later, she bravely signs an AMA (“against medical advice”) form in order to go back home after learning...

As a doctor of physical therapy specializing in pelvic health, Nidhi is quite well-informed during her pregnancy, and had hoped to have an unmedicated birth with limited or no interventions. As her pregnancy develops, Nidhi learns she has gestational diabetes and goes on insulin and baby has an abnormal quad screen. In light of these things, her OB pushes to induce at 39 weeks, but she advocates t...

In today’s episode, Jewish doula and mental health therapist Chana Diamond returns to share her 2nd and 3rd babies’ birth stories. She shares the details of two more unmedicated, uncomplicated vaginal births in a hospital attended by the same midwife as her first. Her babies were born healthy, despite a bit of concern due to identifying the rare Kidd antibody for both her 2nd and 3rd pregnancies....

Millennials & die-hard Queens natives Suzanne & Edgar share the many smart things they did to prepare for the journey into parenthood and in hopes of having a healthy pregnancy & unmedicated birth: pre-conception couples therapy, going back on mental health meds in the journey to conceive, physical prep with exercise including yoga, nutritional support, chiropractic, acupuncture, medit...

Hallie and Eric had a long 3-year journey to conceive their son. Along the way, previously undiagnosed conditions PCOS and Hashimoto’s are identified. Hallie eventually decides to seek out complementary therapies in her pursuit to conceive such as acupuncture, which seems to make a big difference. She conceives on the first IVF transfer and immediately seeks out doula support and an OB who special...

Whenever Hannah tried to reconcile her background as a professional dancer with the idea of pregnancy and birth, it felt like the two were incompatible. Yet when she does get pregnant, she finds ways to beautifully integrate the two. While pregnant, Hannah obtains a grant to both create and perform a dance work that tells the story of her journey into parenthood and to hold dance & journaling...

Kelly eagerly educated herself and prepared for giving birth in all the ways – prenatal yoga, hiring doulas and a midwife, taking birth class, strategic nutrition, acupuncture, seeing a pelvic floor therapist. Because she’s a self-professed “jaded” professional working in the medical field, she made very intentional choices surrounding her care provider and support team. Kelly’s surprised when, ju...

Kaley did everything she could to maintain a healthy, active lifestyle throughout her pregnancy. She continued her running habit, then around 20 weeks she needed to shift to swimming and also did prenatal yoga.  Toward the end of her healthy pregnancy, she’s told that her cervix is already 4 centimeters dilated and 90% effaced, yet her labor wouldn't start for another 3 weeks. When she experi...

Mara & Dylan did lots of great prep for birth in pregnancy – acupuncture, massage, birth class, hiring a doula, yoga, and more. Having heard her stepmom share how beautiful her own home birth was, this planted a seed of trust in the birthing process. When the time comes for her own baby’s birth, she feels most in her element laboring at home, using the shower for hydrotherapy almost nonstop. I...