Down to Birth

"I don't have time for this today. My son has a soccer game. I am going to say that her baby's heart rate is decelerating and we need to do a c-section."  This is just one of the many things Shelby, a nurse in Arizona, heard from doctors in labor & delivery when she worked on the maternity ward.  This episode brings to light the very real fact that providers don't alwa...

Dr. Rachel Reed, PhD, is a midwife and author of Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage. Since earning her doctorate, she is inarguably now among the world’s leading experts on placentas. The publication of her book has come during an era in which women are often told placentas can “fail”, “calcify” and “stop working”, or even cause stillbirth. This rhetoric - all of which we discuss in the ep...

We are back with our February Q&A episode! Today we are answering your questions around: Whether or not it is ok to eat in labor, leaking (or not leaking breastmilk), how long it takes to feel good in your postpartum body and relationship again; whether or not you need an OB in order to get prenatal ultrasounds if you are having a home birth; understanding ovulation postpartum; why not to birt...

Today we are joined by Diana Marks , a social media influencer and coach, who is deeply passionate about bringing awareness to women on how and why to consider egg freezing for fertility preservation. If this is a topic you've been curious about, today's episode will answer your questions from, "When should someone consider egg freezing," to "How much does egg freezing cos...

How do you know if you are carrying generational birth trauma? And if you identify it, what can be done about it prior to giving birth? Today we meet with  Stefanie, whose mother had a traumatic obstetrical experience while birthing to her second daughter, resulting in permanent brain damage and disability to Stefanie's little sister. Stefanie was five at the time. For nine months, she had ex...

Lizzie Bolliger of Fiercelizzy doesn't consider herself necessarily a fierce  person but very much a fierce advocate for autonomy and informed decision making in childbirth.  Today, she joins us as a guest host to discuss what it actually means to be fierce in your birth planning and preparation. Guess what?  According to Lizzie, it's not about having the most detailed birth plan because...

Our January Q&A is here and has a special treat! In addition to your more in depth questions we've add a "quickies" series to the end of the episode.  Be sure to check it out and send in your feedback! Today's Q&A begins with induction and hypertension: when is the right time to be induced (see our episode on Pitocin )? Next we touch on setting boundaries with passive-a...

How is yoga like birth? They both ask us to get uncomfortable and sit with that discomfort. How long can we sit with it? Where does our mind go when we get uncomfortable? How quickly do we reach for distraction? Yoga prepares us for birth not only physically but also by integrating the mind/body connection and strengthening our intuition and our physical body. Today, Deb Flashenberg of the Prenata...

Can you be so firm and stable in  your boundaries around pregnancy and birth that it doesn't actually matter who attends your birth because you know exactly what and what not you will let into your birth space?  In this conversation with HeHe Stewart of Tranquility by Hehe, we dive into hard boundaries versus soft boundaries; how to set them; and why they matter so much in our birth planning...

Molly had a textbook first pregnancy and went into labor just at 37 weeks. After an uneventful labor, her baby was born with an APGAR score of one.  Despite a successful resuscitation, her baby was put into an intentional state of hypothermia for seventy-two hours to prevent or reverse any potential brain damage. During this time, Molly knew very little about why this was happening, what caused it...

New Year's marks exactly two years since we launched our first episode of Down To Birth. While we didn't know what to expect, we never dreamed so many people from every single (inhabited) continent would become avid followers of our show, and we are deeply grateful  you find our show worth your time, attention and dedication.  Today we're going to delight you with a brief conversati...

Our December Q&A is here and loaded with entertaining and informative questions: We begin with a question around increasing supply without pumping: Is it possible? Next we dive into expectations around pushing as it relates to hypnobirthing and the urge to push. We discuss Cervadil and the subsequent cascade of interventions and what happens with a posterior cervix? How do you know if you have...

Writing your birth story seems like a simple thing to do, yet so many of us struggle with where and how to begin; and many of us never get it on paper at all. We can also opt to skip the writing and record ourselves telling the story. Writing  your birth story is not only creating a beautiful memory to be shared and passed on,  but it can also be a necessary and important part of healing from a di...

At 41+1 weeks Katie was pressured into an induction beginning with a foley bulb followed by forcefully rupturing her bag of water,  high amounts of Pitocin,  restricted movement due to fetal heart rate abnormalities, a maternal fever resulting in an urgent need for a forcep delivery  to "save her baby," and a six hour separation from her baby for monitoring after birth. Left traumatized...

Today on the show we have attorney Hermine Hayes-Klein, a fearless legal advocate for sexual and reproductive rights with a particular passion for defending women’s human rights in childbirth, which, she says, are routinely violated in maternity care systems. We’re also grateful to have her her clients, Lillie and George, whose birth experience we will be focusing on today. By the end of this epis...

When Kassidy was preconception, she had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)  and was told she would never conceive. But she did. When she told her providers her conception date, they refused to listen, and determined her due date based on her last menstrual cycle. This insistence on method over mother caused them to overstate the gestational age throughout Kassidy's entire pregnancy, which res...

Our Q&A is here again!  We open with some interesting survey results on how long mothers spend in the waiting room versus in the actual prenatal appointment. This month we had excellent questions from our community on whether or not you should have a membrane sweep in late pregnancy, how to avoid experiencing a postpartum hemorrhage, how and why postpartum hormones influence baby blues versus...

Breastfeeding women have been having a difficult time knowing whether to get the Covid vaccine, given that the vaccine is new and neither the CDC nor vaccine manufacturers have studied whether vaccine ingredients make their way into breast milk. Meanwhile, pregnant and breastfeeding women have been told to get the vaccine despite this lack of research. It has been the historical norm for vaccines...

Did you know that Pitocin is said to be the most abused drug in the world today? Did you know it is used 97% of the time for off-label purposes?  Did you know it is not FDA approved for labor augmentation or the elective induction of labor? And that  Pitocin is not the same as Oxytocin? Join us as Cynthia and Trisha talk through all the things you probably don't know about Pitocin but wish yo...

When Julie was 40+4 she had a slow leak but no contractions. Eagerly, she went to the hospital where she was admitted and encouraged to "get things going" by breaking her water.  She started Pitocin and when it came time to push, her baby was born with meconium and shoulder dystocia and was helicoptered to a nearby hospital with a NICU. Devastated, poorly treated by hospital staff, and l...

It's that time of the month! We are back with our October Q&A. Today, we begin with a recap of fundal massage and postpartum bleeding as Trisha shares a story of postpartum hemorrhage at a recent home birth. Next we jump into our questions including: Can midwives help with pre-conception care and fertility, especially when it comes to PCOS? When should I start kegels after giving birth? I...

This week's mini-side  provides a scope into dozen of emotions we can feel, especially when home with baby postpartum. Cynthia provides an explanation of Nonviolent Communication - the communication method developed by clinical psychologist Marshall Rosenberg - for better connection in our interpersonal relationships. It's about feelings, but it's ultimately about needs.  * * * * *...

It is a rare OB or midwife who will support a twin home birth. When Krystle learned she was pregnant with not one but two for her fourth and fifth babies, and after having her third baby at home, she knew she was not going back to hospital birth. Instead, she found Dr. Stu Fischbein of @birthinginstincts to assist her in birthing her twins in the comfort of her home. Today we share her inspiring t...

The third in our series of provider red flags episodes is here. Today,  Cynthia and Trisha talk about the words, behaviors, and "recommendations" that concern us most around third trimester pregnancy topics such as: elective inductions, big babies, due dates, failure to progress, and vaginal exams.  How your provider thinks about, discusses and manages these topics tells you a lot about...

Dr. Stu Fischbein is an OBGYN in California and one of the very few providers who will attend home breech and twin birth.  Breech babies make up about 6% of pregnancies at term but few women will experience a vaginal breech birth.  98% of providers will not support a vaginal breech birth, not because it is dangerous (because it is not); but rather, because OBGYNs and most midwives no longer have t...