Happy Homebirth

Have you ever been so certain about a decision that, even when everyone around you questioned it, you knew deep down it was the right path for you?   My friends, today’s conversation is a fascinating look at conviction, trust, and what it means to take full responsibility for your birth experience. This week, we're speaking with Gabrielle Lacey, a wife, mother, welder-turned-farmer, and soon-to-be...

Have you ever looked back on a past birth experience and realized… “Wow, I didn’t actually know how powerful my body was”?   This week, we're speaking with Melissa Gurd, wife to her husband Jason and mother of six children living on a family homestead in Florida. Melissa shares the progression of her birth experiences over the last decade—from medically managed hospital births, to a frustrating ce...

What happens when the birth you prayed for…doesn’t happen? And how do you move forward when the thing you prepared for so carefully ends in grief, disappointment, and questions you never expected to ask?   This week, we're speaking with Raylee, a homeschool mother of two from Texas who is passionate about Montessori education, physiological birth, and intentional motherhood. Raylee grew up in a la...

What happens when the person working inside the hospital system… still chooses homebirth for herself? And… what does it look like when years of witnessing birth— the beauty of it, the interventions, the emergencies, the physiology— leads someone not further from instinctive birth… but deeper into trust? This week, we're joined by Alehson Treadwell, a labor and delivery nurse, IBCLC, and mother of...

Can hope return after something painful changes the way you experience motherhood?   This week, we're speaking with Lydia Ashford, a flower farmer, worship leader, wife, and mother of two daughters born at home on the Northern California coast. Lydia and her family live and work together on a flower farm with her parents and sisters, raising babies alongside one another in a deeply connected commu...

Have you ever reached the point in labor—or honestly, in life—where you truly didn’t think you could keep going?   This week, we're speaking with Faith Robinson, a stay-at-home mom from Kansas City, wife to her husband of three years, and mother to baby Ezekiel. Faith grew up around birth through her mother’s work as a doula, but despite always wanting an unmedicated birth, she initially viewed bi...

What does it look like to re-build a family legacy?  And how do birth, motherhood, healing, and even hardship become part of that restoration? Gabrielle Manier is a wife, homeschool mother of four, homemaker, gardener, and passionate homebirth mother living in Michigan with her husband Dustin and their children. Since her first appearance on the podcast, their family has welcomed two more babies w...

We all know that life is unpredictable in many ways, but when you’re experiencing extreme unpredictability in the midst of your pregnancy, how do you imagine you’d feel?  Would ‘peaceful’ be the first word that comes to mind?   This week, we’re speaking with Sarah, mother to two babies– Timothy and Lydia.  We’ll hear Sarah’s extremely difficult experience during her most recent pregnancy and birth...

Coincidences– How many of them can you experience before you stop thinking they’re coincidences and start realizing that they are a beautiful divine gift?   This week, we're speaking with Kaylee, a mother of 3 living in Athens, Georgia.  Kaylee and her husband experienced struggles with infertility before becoming pregnant, and they are now in the process of raising the large family they always dr...

What happens when you know too much about birth… and you’re experiencing pregnancy and birth for yourself?   This week's episode, I’m joined by Emily—a labor and delivery nurse who found herself navigating pregnancy and birth as both a provider and a patient.   We talk about how working inside the hospital shaped her first birth… what shifted in her mindset the second time around… and how she ulti...

What happens when your first experience of birth leaves you shaken… and the providers you’re supposed to trust tell you not to try again?  Where do you go from there?   Sarah Marie is the owner of Entering Motherhood, a wife and a mom of three who spends her days soaking up life with her little ones, whether that’s through slow mornings at home, time in the garden, or exploring a new coffee shop....

When your body has experienced legitimate physical trauma during two back to back births, what do you do for your next experience?  What would it look like to play it safe– would that be a planned cesarean?  Or… What if you swing the other way and bring it home?   This week we’re speaking to Janie Hobbs,  a stay-at-home wife and mom of three littles. She is happily married to her husband Sam, and...

What if the discomforts we’ve been told are “just part of pregnancy”  are actually signals  that something needs support?   This week, we're speaking with Whitney Sippl, a pelvic physical therapist who works closely with women in pregnancy, postpartum and beyond.     In this episode, Whitney walks us through what pelvic physical therapy really is, why it matters in all stages of life, even before...

You’ve done it- you’ve decided to give birth at home, and NOTHING is going to stop you, right?    This week we’re speaking to Heather Whitehead, a mother to 5 living in East Tennessee.  We’ll hear how Heather and her husband settled on homebirth for their most recent pregnancy, and how they navigated certain obstacles that arose after their decision.  You know, like the realization that they were...

Pregnancy is the height of creativity– you are literally creating a brand new human… from scratch?  But have you noticed that sometimes the creativity of pregnancy moves into other aspects of your life?     This week, we’e speaking with Khylir Patton, a mother of two and a homebirth mom based in Tampa Bay, Florida. After navigating an unexpected late-pregnancy loss of care and ultimately experienc...

Have you ever found yourself wanting something to happen so desperately, and at the same time realizing you have absolutely no control over its happening?   This week, we’re speaking with Erica: a wife, mother of two, one of nine siblings, and a woman who entered marriage already having seen family members give birth beautifully at home.   Episode Roundup: 1. Generational Trust in birth is a GIFT ...

When you want to give birth at home, but the local midwives are overbooked and not taking new clients, what are your options?    This week we’re speaking to Regan, a mother to two kiddos in the Manitoba area of Canada who knew that she wanted to give birth at home, but had to think outside the box to make it happen for her.     Regan is a wife of 7 years and a stay at home mom to her two beautiful...

How do you feel about the specifics of your upcoming birth? Are you clinging to particular desires and feeling like things MUST happen a certain way for you to feel successful? Or do you feel the peace of flexibility? This week, we're speaking with Pamela, a homeschooling mother of 3 precious kiddos, who decided to give birth at home with her third child. Throughout the end of her pregnancy and la...

Have you ever done everything right…and still watched things unfold in a way you never expected? This week I’m joined by Daryl Hogan — a nurse, nursing professor, wife, and new mama — who navigated a laundry list of unexpected aspects of pregnancy that she certainly wouldn’t have excitedly chosen…. And yet her story doesn’t end in suffering, but in a powerful, physiologic homebirth that left her s...

Have you ever wondered how much the environment and the people around you shape the way birth unfolds?   Hey there Happy Homebirthers, and welcome to episode 314 of the Happy Homebirth Podcast.  I’m your host Katelyn Fusco and today, we’re speaking with Caroline Hendel, a mother from France whose story beautifully illustrates the difference between being managed through birth vs. being trusted in...

Have you ever noticed how each birth teaches us something different—no matter how many times we’ve done this before?   Today, I’m welcoming back a dear friend of the show, Madeline Murray—midwife, mother of four, and someone whose story has unfolded alongside this podcast over the years. Madeline has been here before to share her first and second homebirths, and today she’s bringing us into her th...

Which is more important when it comes to birth: preparation or intuition? In this week’s episode, we’re hearing from Kaylee Matthews, a first-time mom from the mountains of Southern California whose story is a reminder that intuition and preparation can coexist beautifully with surrender. Before she even met her husband, Kaylee was learning the fertility-awareness method, studying midwifery podcas...

What if understanding midwifery care didn’t require convincing—but simply seeing? This week on The Happy Homebirth Podcast, I’m joined by Caleb Phipps, filmmaker and father of four, and Midon Wingo, licensed midwife and passionate advocate for family-centered birth care. Together, they’re creating a documentary called Birthing Revolution—a film designed to show what midwifery care actually looks l...

Do you have any highly specific desires in regards to your upcoming birth? Maybe that it will be at a certain time of day, or that you’ll labor for a specific amount of time…? What happens when those desires are unfulfilled and you’re given a very different experience instead? This week we’re speaking with Jamie, a first-time mom from Chicago who had some very beautiful ideas of what she wanted he...

What does it look like to walk through birth with deep peace — even when things don’t go exactly as planned?   This week we’re speaking to Paige Schwickerath, a young mom from central Iowa whose life has been beautifully transformed through marriage, motherhood, and her first home birth. Paige and her husband welcomed their son, Boaz, at home in an experience that tested their faith, strengthened...