Doing It At Home - The Home Birth Podcast

In this episode we're talking with mom of 4 Jenny DiPietro, who has had multiple home births, a home birth turned hospital transfer, a water birth at home, and who performs placenta encapsulation for families. We get into a lot in this one!  Oh yeah, and we’re also entering a new phase of the podcast! In addition to our episodes that feature Matthew and me discussing some topic related to home bir...

In today’s episode we address the question, “Is home birth messy?” It's a great question that I know crossed my mind once or twice during pregnancy, because let's be honest, many depictions of birth insinuate that it can require lots of cleanup. But here’s the truth on mess during a homebirth: yes there are parts of it that can be messy (as I’m sure you can imagine fluids can go everywhere), but y...

Today’s episode was inspired by a listener email. Leonie, listening all the way in Australia, reached out to share her birth story. She had planned for a minimal intervention birth in a midwife led public hospital program (way to go Australis!) but things didn’t go exactly as anticipated. Her email was amazing - raw, honest and transparent - and at the end she had a few questions for me about home...

A lot goes into creating a badass and powerful team. You want a team that works together and has synergy. You want individual members who can hold their own yet contribute to the totality of the group. You want to be able to trust everyone’s competence and commitment to the overall goal. These teams win championships, seal the deals, and set the example for all other teams. Now when it comes to ch...

In this episode, I invite you into a precious and intimate moment. You see, during the early parts of birthing time (labor), we placed a recorder in the room - to capture the experience and be able to listen back to it later on. While I was moving through my birthing waves (contractions) in the bathtub, Matthew tended to me by bringing me water and snacks along with affirming me and contacting our...

I had always heard pregnancy can be a vulnerable time. You’re dealing with a lot of changes - physically and emotionally. Not to mention, the more pregnant you become, the more obvious your circumstance is to anyone who lays eyes on you. And for some reason, actually lots of reasons - there’s something about a big, beautiful belly that attracts a lot of attention. There comes a time when you can’t...

This is it, folks! The episode you’ve all been waiting for….our birth story! Matthew and I sit down (in bed, as always) with our first guest - less than a week old baby Maya. She lies quietly (for the most part, you might hear some coos and little grunts in the background at times) on Matthew’s chest while we recount the story of our home birth, while it’s still fresh in our minds. We take you fro...

“We are not a culture that waits for anything, nor are we believers in normal birth; waiting for a baby can feel like insanity.” This is a powerful quote from an article that had a profound impact on Matthew and me. The article is about the “in between” stage of the last days of pregnancy before moving into birth, a period that the author of the article calls zwischen (pulling from the German word...

Today we’re talking about our top 10 list for prepping for our home birth. We found that these were the things that helped us throughout pregnancy - from the mental prepping to physical activity to some natural products and even spiritual and energetic exercises. We’ve been very keen on having the most powerful and peaceful home birth experience possible. And we know for that to happen, it require...

Let’s talk about sex, BABY! Not just the kind that makes the babies, but the kind you continue doing while the bun is in the oven. There’s plenty of topics around pregnancy that receive just the surface level of attention paid to them in the blogs, books, and classes. Sex was the big thing for me that I experienced ambiguity around. Everything I saw depicted one of two extremes - you either want i...

When you’re expecting, it’s very common to hear the question, “Where are you delivering?” If not that specifically, people generally ask about your doctor or your doctor visits. Whether it’s close friends and family or total strangers, most will insert some sort of advice or personal experience to whatever birth plan it is you’ve chosen. It can be even more interesting when you share that your bir...

Remember the horrible films you’d watch in sex ed classes featuring a scary, screaming, bloody mess of a woman giving birth in total agony (probably because she had sex before marriage and was birthing the baby out of wedlock - I went to Catholic school so I’m convinced those videos were purely to warn off pre-marital sex rather than educate on the miracle of childbirth)? Well until becoming pregn...

Many pregnancy and birth resource focus on the mother or the baby, for reasons that are quite obvious. But there’s typically another partner involved who is feeling all sorts of things, but isn’t always asked or encouraged to share and express the roller coaster of thoughts, fears, hopes, beliefs that they’re experiencing. I wanted to change that in today’s episode, and so I interviewed my husband...

When we began our pregnancy adventure, home birth was pretty far from our mind. We kicked things off the traditional way: going to see an OBGYN at a great hospital that would usher our baby into the world the way that 98% of families in the US do it. But three months later we parted ways with our OBGYN, partnered up with a midwife group working out of their home, and began our home birth journey....

“We’re doing it at home!” That’s the response my husband and I gave when people asked us about our birth plans. 3 months into our pregnancy we decided to ditch the traditional hospital birth with an OBGYN, for a birth that aligned more with the experience we wanted to create for ourselves and our little one. Home birth suited us well, and we dove in. But not without fears, judgements, conversation...

Here we are, folks. This is the final new episode that we’ll be putting out for Doing It At Home. It’s been a magical 8 years. We sat down to share some of our thoughts, memories and takeaways with you all. Thank you for supporting this space, whether you’ve listened to every single episode or this is your first time tuning in, we’re grateful that you’ve been along for the journey. Much Love, Sara...

What influences your birth choices? It’s helpful to look at this, to see what matters to you when it comes to birth, and how you can create a birth environment and culture around you that supports you best. Today we’re chatting with Martina Cifiello about her birth journey. From a hospital birth with her first child to a birth center with her second to a home birth with her third, Martina walks us...

Marissa is a mom of 2 from Utica, NY, with both a hospital and home birth story.  Marissa experienced intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) with her first pregnancy. That, along with some early signs of labor made for a hospital birth that included a lot of intervention and fear. The way she sees it, baby Maxwell just wasn’t ready yet.  She planned for a home birth again with baby number two, Mil...

When asked a question by a care provider, do you have to respond right away? Most of us don’t know or realize that we have choice. And especially when it’s not an emergency, we can take time to process and decide what we want to do and even refuse what doesn’t work for us.  This is a powerful message from our guests in today’s episode, who experienced this firsthand during the birth of their son w...

Where will you hear about home birth story details, the difference between modern and traditional midwifery, what to do when you are inspired to enter birth work and the connection of birth with sexuality and spirituality? This episode of the podcast, that's where! Today we’re joined by Blyss Young, LM CPM. Blyss is a home birth midwife, teacher, circle facilitator, energy healer, reiki practition...

How can you utilize the power and intention of prayer for your birth? Regardless of your faith, setting intentions for your birth experience can be a big part of preparation for the experience. Today’s guest, Josephine Breen, weaves her faith into her birth story of her daughter Myriam. Josephine was born at home, and always remembers her mother being positive and open around the topic of birth. T...

Melissa Thormahlen knows how to give me “all the feels.” I knew her story would impact many when her first email to me about her birth story had me tearing up. She experienced most of her birthing experience at home with her first baby Emeline, before transferring to a hospital and having a beautiful birth.  For Tyler, baby number 2, she knew she wanted to go for a home birth again because she tru...

“Is my body able to give birth?” This is one of the questions that Christina Winsnes asked herself as she prepared for the home birth of her second child, after an unplanned cesarean birth with her first child Emma. With the support of her husband Yeti and the rest of her team, Christina took time during her second pregnancy to deal with fears and concerns. Also to come to a place of peace and acc...

How does the experience of one birth influence the plans for births that follow? Today we chat with Emilee Petrill, and we pack a lot into a sub-hour conversation. Emilee has experienced a hospital birth with her first son Corbyn, a birthing center for her son Penn and finally a home birth for her son Moxy. She walks us through the processes and decisions around each of those experiences.  Then we...

Can you approach birth from both a statistics and research-driven mind as well as with an intention to connect more deeply spiritually? YES! And our birth story today is an example of that. Ashton Parker shares her home birth journey with us. First with a good hospital birth for her first child, which included 5 hours of pushing. Then considered another hospital birth for her second child, but aft...