Doing It At Home - The Home Birth Podcast

How do we take disabilities into consideration when it comes to birth? Lo Nigrosh of The Milk Making Minutes podcast joins us to share details of her 2 birth experiences. Her first was in the hospital and her second was at home.  Her decision to home birth was largely influenced by the policies and care she encountered in the hospital.  When asked, “Why home birth?” Lo responded with: “I needed to...

What happens when birth doesn’t turn out the way you planned? Today’s story is an example of what it can look like to move through a hospital transfer situation, when it’s the last thing you desired or intended for. Brittni Mitchell shares her birth story of her son Cole. She and her husband Elliot planned for a home birth preconception. They utilized resources like DIAH podcast and “Business of B...

How many of us feel a sense of failure after a birth experience? We’re clear that it’s far too many. In fact, one is too many. We’re grateful for stories like this who can help with the healing and rescripting. Our guest, Kara Lambert, shares her birth journey. After her cesarean birth with her son Theo, as she puts it, “I felt like I failed.” Great resources like ICAN helped Kara in her process o...

How often do you think about how your birth will unfold? Today’s guests, Adriana and Tim Keefe, share the details of their two home birth stories.  After a hospital birth for her first child, she decided on home birth for babies 2 and 3.  Adriana and Tim both talk about the preparation process for their home births as well as helpful resources and the sequence of events in both births.  From Adria...

Do you believe that you are built to birth? From today’s guest Soni: “I was absolutely amazed that I actually did it, I’m one of those people everyone always thinks is just not tough.” Soni shares her home birth story with us. Things we talk about in this episode: 8-year TTC journey  Fertility challenges Marathon sex An empathic partner Switching from OBGYN hospital care to midwife home care Fears...

How do you use your instincts during birth? Today’s story features a combination of birth intentions, intuition and instinct.  Lauren Smith shares her birthing journey with us. From 2 hospital births to 2 birth center births to 2 home births. Things we talk about in this episode: Some challenges in pregnancy including connecting with baby Surrendering to God Considering unassisted birth Long prodr...

Have you wondered about the first birth story we ever shared on this podcast? Well, it’s our story! And today we’re bringing you the classic episode “Star Wars, Kiddie Pools, and Hypnobabies: Our Home Birth Story”. In this episode, Matthew and I sit down (well actually, lay down) with our first guest - less than a week old baby Maya. She lies quietly (for the most part, you might hear some coos an...

How is the second trimester going? Glad you asked!  In this episode we’re giving updates on our second trimester, just as we’re about to enter the third. We talk about: Body changes Magical moments and milestones Matthew’s perspective on the dad side of things Intentions and visions for birth Yogurt sex…yep What’s next Links From The Episode: Previous pregnancy update episodes: Weeks 11-14 of preg...

Do you have faith in your body to give birth? Today’s episode dives into this topic. Brandi Jack joins us and shares details of her 4 birth stories, each powerful and unique. From her first birth in a hospital to 3 home births, Brandi gives us an authentic and heart-centered storytelling. Also note that we talk about the experiences of multiple miscarriages and an unhealthy marriage dynamic in Bra...

Is birth something to be managed? No. Birth is intelligent divine design come to life.  Today’s episode encompasses this idea. We welcome back Katie McCormick to the podcast for the 3rd time, talking about her 3rd home birth - an unassisted home birth. Katie walks us through her wild pregnancy and the intentions she set for her birthing space. Plus how her husband Ryan was involved and how she had...

“Does that count as a home birth?” That is the question Marissa found herself asking after her planned home birth shifted to a non-emergency hospital transfer towards the end of her labor.  Marissa walks us through her process of choosing home birth, which happened before conceiving, navigating feedback and opinions from friends and family and then setting intentions for the birth space and includ...

Ever wanted to know more about the history of Doing It At Home or some of the behind-the-scenes life of running the show?  In this bonus episode, we’re sharing the interview we did on the Birthing Outside the Box podcast with Jani and Dr. V. Last week we shared an episode (no. 394) where we interviewed them. So this week we thought it’d be fun to share the conversation where the roles were reverse...

What does it look like to follow your instinct when it comes to birth? Today we’re chatting with Lindsay Robinson about the details of her second and third home births. Lindsay joined us back in 2018 to share her first home birth story. Now we’re talking about her desire to have a freebirth for her second, but she really loved her midwives and was still open to having them there for the birth. Spo...

What are some of the main contributors to stress and anxiety around pregnancy and birth? What are the main contributors to having peace and joy around your pregnancy and birth experience?  Today we address both of these angles to birth with our friends Jani and Dr. V from Birthing Outside the Box. Jani and Dr. V are a dynamic duo of a doula and a chiropractor who are passionate about empowering an...

Today we’re chatting with Emily Freimuth about her 3 births and how they are connected with each other.  Emily was always fascinated by birth. After her first in a hospital, she was inspired to have a home birth for her second and third.  We talk about some of the big differences amongst the 3 births. Plus Emily is a doula/birth keeper and placenta encapsulation specialist, so that ties into her e...

How do you create the pregnancy and birth experience you desire? First thing - let’s acknowledge that YOU ARE a powerful creator who is capable of doing this. Looking at your “whys,” reflecting on what matters to you and getting intentional about the process makes a huge impact as well. Our guests today are Erica James-Strayhorn and Anthony Strayhorn. We’ve known Erica and Anthony for over 7 years...

How does meditation improve pregnancy outcomes? Today’s episode is a powerful conversation with Nathalie Walton, CEO/Co-Founder of Expectful. Expectful is a meditation and mental health app for before, during and after pregnancy. We’ve been friends with the folks over at Expectful for a few years now, and we’re very excited to team up for this episode to bring important topics to light. Nathalie s...

Welcome back to another Baby Bivens 2, aka BB2 aka Baby Jo, update episode! This week we’re covering weeks 11-14 of the pregnancy. Some highlights:  Lab work Training for birth Differences in preparing the second time around Getting into 2nd trimester Emotions and feelings! The end of the nausea Lots of great links to check out in the show notes for this episode! Links: The Home Birth Hub: www.dia...

What happens when your baby arrives before your midwife does? For our story today, according to DIAH mama Summer, she says that her midwife had a feeling she might not make it to the house before baby was born. Summer first joined us on the show back in 2019 to share the story of her first birth (link is below!). Now she’s here to talk about giving birth to her second child at 41 years old. Things...

If your first birth didn’t go the way you wanted, what would you do to change things the second time around? In today’s episode we’re chatting with Jessica Cotter about the details of her second birth, her first home birth. After her first birth with her daughter Grace, Jessica felt disappointed by the circumstances and felt that it could have been prevented. She felt defeated, and like her birth...

“Why doesn’t everybody do this?” That’s the question that David, Ellen’s husband, asked after the home birth of their daughter Willow.  Ellen walks us through her journey to home birth -- from her doula work for 6 years before her birth and what inspired it, to changing care from a birthing center to home birth, to getting her husband on board with the decision. Ellen also shares some of the postp...

In this episode, highlighting more of our pregnancy journey as we prepare for our second home birth, we’re covering weeks 7-10. Just some of the main topics you can look forward to in this discussion: Ebbs and flows with nausea and fatigue Sore boobs Shifts in exercise and running Looking into a birth photographer Wardrobe changes And special announcement for this week: The Home Birth Hub is now o...

How can having a home birth change your life? We’ve heard lots of cool examples of folks having big life changes as a result of having a home birth. Sometimes it opens the doors to other new things or experiences, creates projects or businesses or even influences career choices like going into birth work. Our guest today, Tori Smith, can relate to this. Her experiences inspired her to write a book...

How do we prevent birth worker burnout? This is one of the great topics we dive into this week with Martha Lerner, birth doula and photographer.  Martha shares her wisdom with us around the following topics: some of Martha’s memorable moments from home births she’s attended in the birth worker role tips for those who want to get into birth work best practices for staying in birthwork long term how...

Where do you feel most safe to give birth? Ultimately, that’s one of, if not the most important question to consider when it comes to your birth plan.  When it came down to it, home was the answer for today’s guest, Porshe Turner.  This was Porshe’s third pregnancy. Influenced by COVID-19 and circumstances related to it, Porshe and her husband Jeremy switched to a home birth plan at 25 weeks pregn...