Birth Words: Language For a Better Birth

In this episode, I talk with Carla Belliard, a bilingual doula serving Utah. We discuss her linguistic background and how it affects her work as a doula.

In this episode, I consider the power of drawing on imagery and symbols during the birth experience.

In this episode, I pick the brains of Julie Francom and Meagan Heaton of The VBAC Link. We discuss the important way that the words we choose affect the experiences of women giving birth after a previous cesarean. URLS mentioned in this episode: www.thevbaclink.com

In this episode, my friend Crystal discusses her two birth experiences and how she felt supported through positive language.

​In this episode, Sara considers some complexities of communication. When we speak, we're not only producing phrases or sentences. Our speech also communicates our underlying beliefs and assumptions. In a birth setting, this becomes especially important. Sara unpacks several utterances produced by a variety of speakers in various birth stories to discuss their underlying beliefs and assumptions.

In this episode, I unpack a personal experience with miscarriage to shed light on some factors that make miscarriage a difficult experience. I use an autoethnographic lens--Dell Hymes' SPEAKING framework--to consider a communicative interaction that occurred during a personal miscarriage experience.

This episode explores an important and sensitive topic. I unpack my own experiences with infertility in light of related linguistic and psychological work. REFERENCES: Blommaert, J. (2005).  Discourse: A critical introduction . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jaffe, J., Diamnod, M.O., and Diamond, D. (2005).  Unsung lullabies: understanding and coping with infertility.  New York, NY: St. Ma...

In this episode, my friend Joanie tells the story of her first birth. Joanie says that if she had to describe her birth experience in just one word, she'd call it  ​transformational.

In Episode 5, I tell the story of my life-changing VBAC and how I prepared for it by immersing myself in positive narratives and language practices. URLS mentioned in this episode: www.summitbirthutah.com/birthwords REFERENCES: Gaskin, I. M., (2003).  Ina May's guide to childbirth.  New York, NY: Bantam Dell. Austine, F., Axman, L., Farrell, H., Allgood, R., & Ripley, S. (2012).  The Gift of Givin...

In episode 4, Sara explains the linguistic concept of discourse (and Discourse) and what that looks like in a birth setting. Listen to this episode to learn more! URLS mentioned in this episode: www.summitbirthutah.com/birthwords   TRANSCRIPT: Hello and welcome to Episode 4: Discourse. We are going to talk today about a man named James Paul Gee. He is a notable linguist--he's still around today, a...

In this episode, Sara tells the story of her first birth experience: an emergency c-section with twins. She considers the role that her self-imposed identity labels played during pregnancy and birth. URLS referenced: http://www.summitbirthutah.com/birthwords

In this episode, Sara gives an overview of the different branches of linguistics and coins the term "perinatal linguistics" to describe the work at the intersection of birth work and applied linguistics. As a perinatal linguist, Sara uses the knowledge, theories, and frameworks of linguistics to describe situations and experiences within pregnancy and birth and aims to improve the pregnancy and bi...

In this episode, Sara tells the backstory about how the Birth Words podcast came to be. URLS mentioned during this episode: www.summitbirthutah.com/birthwords