Healing Birth

Abby spontaneously went into labor at 24 weeks, and on the ride to hospital, her baby was born into her best friend's hands. This is the truly miraculous story of how her baby, and Abby, survived. If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on   Spotify or Apple Podcasts !  Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would lik...

Ashley's first two babies were born in the hospital, and both experiences left her traumatized. By the time her third baby was conceived, Ashley had been through an awakening to many truths, among them, the truth about birth. That was a natural birth with a midwife, but still not without interventions that were harmful. Finally, after serving as a doula for free birthing women completely outside o...

Maggie shares the story of having a natural birth in a birth center, after two unnecessary cesarean births.   The experience led her to become a local ICAN volunteer, and to create an online course for other women desiring to VBAC. You can find Maggie and her offerings on instagram @vbacroadmap In this episode you'll hear us talk about how ICAN helped us both along our journeys to VBAC. You can fi...

Busy with graduate school, and pregnant with her first child, Christina carefully chose her birth team and planned a to have a home birth. But her birth experience took an unexpected turn when, deep into her labor, her midwife decided they needed to transfer. Her baby was born only fifteen minutes after arrival at the hospital, but not before the doctor, without consent and against her will, gave...

Emily shares the story of experiencing the rare event of a shoulder dystocia, while birthing her first baby at home, with a midwife. They were able to safely resolve the dystocia, and her baby was born, but as a precaution they visited the hospital after the birth. What followed was a series of events including encounters with good doctors, one very bad one, and CPS.  This experience initiated Emi...

After a traumatic first birth experience that ended in a cesarean, Amber knew she would never give birth in a hospital again. She quickly conceived again, found a midwife she loved, and had a completely different experience the second time.  In her words, this second birth not only showed her that she could do it, but that it was what she had always truly wanted.  Be sure to check out our instagra...

A big story in a lot of little ways, the end of Sonja's pregnancy was a rollercoaster of minor "complications" which led to her being induced at 42 weeks. The classic cascade of interventions ensued, ending in a very unwanted c-section. One of the hardest things for Sonja to cope with in processing this experience, is that there was no external villain in her story, but on a level, she let it happ...

Anisa shares her story of having a midwife-assisted homebirth with her first baby, and a freebirth with her second. She says that birth can just keep getting better when we take back more of our autonomy, and especially when intentional preconception preparations for mind, body, and spirit are made. Anisa Woodall is a holistically-minded Certified Nutritionist and natural mama of 2 adventurous boy...

Yolande Norris-Clark is a leader in the freebirth, birth-freedom, self-healing, and health liberation movements. She is a spell-breaker, way-shower, whistle-blower, trailblazer, and beloved guide to women all over the world who are awakening to the possibility of giving birth in peace and power. Her mission is to dispel the myth that birth is an ordeal from which women must be "delivered," and to...

Brittany described herself as a "good country girl" when pregnant with her first child. Her wishes for that birth were to merely make it out alive with her baby, and she completely deferred to her private care obstetrician when it came to the birth experience. Now, pregnant with her third baby, Brittany is free birthing, on a cattle station in the middle of the Australian outback, miles from anyon...

Brittany describes herself as a "good country girl" when pregnant with her first child. Her wishes for her birth were to merely make it out alive with her baby, and she deferred to her private care obstetrician when it came to the birth experience. In this part one, she shares her first two births within the Australian medical system, one with OB care, and the second time, with midwives. These two...

After a pregnancy loss, and a history with an eating disorder, Kelly was not in a relationship of full trust in her body when she gave birth to her first baby. She agreed to be induced when her obstetrician pressured her into it, feeling that, her baby was safer outside of her body. Kelly went on have her next two babies at home. Both experiences showed her how trustworthy, indeed, perfectly desig...

In her former role as a newborn photographer, Laura had witnessed plenty of births before having her own. She intuitively felt that something about the experience, as it occurs for most women, was wrong. When it came time for her to have her own first baby, she chose to have a wild pregnancy and free birth, deep in the Peruvian jungle with only her husband present. Recorded at just four months pos...

Have you, or someone you know, conceived a baby during a time in your cycle that didn't fall within the normal, ovulatory window?   As someone who listens to a lot of birth stories, I've heard it happen many times. I always attributed those occurrences to the inherently mysterious nature of pregnancy and birth. But what if there is another explanation? Medical astrology has been in development for...

Milena, the daughter of a licensed German midwife, grew up around babies, pregnancy, discussions about birth, and even attended births with her mom. When it came time for her to give birth the first time, she chose a midwife assisted home birth. But the second time she became pregnant, she was strongly drawn towards having a wild pregnancy and to freebirth. In addition to hearing her two birth sto...

Stephanie shares her two birth stories, both of which took place in a hospital staffed only by midwives, in rural Australia. Her first birth experience cracked her intuition wide open, and she says that it initiated her into the person she was meant to be. Her second birth was a different kind of initiation, which included a complication at the end. During both experiences, she felt very cared for...

Nina was dropped by her midwives at the end of her first pregnancy due to high blood pressure, and had to give birth to that baby in the hospital. The second time she became pregnant, she decided not to engage with the medical system at all. Her blood pressure remained elevated during this pregnancy, but rather than immediately pathologize it based on the numbers alone, she decided to tune into ho...

After becoming pregnant through the intensely medically managed experience of IVF, Kelli planned to step away from that model of care, and birth her baby at home. But after five weeks of exhausting on and off labor, she felt like something was wrong, and agreed to transfer her care to the local hospital. It was there that they discovered the reason for her confusing labor pattern was a previous, c...

With raw emotion and beautiful vulnerability, Mallory shares her three birth stories, and the life circumstances that shaped them. Her first two births took place in a hospital - one quite traumatic, and one not. Her third baby was born at home, with just her husband present. She says that it was this birth that catalyzed her transformation from maiden to mother. And that she wants to share her po...

Clancy spent three and a half years calling in her second child. Swimming in sacred fertile waters, speaking desires into the ethers, dreaming, ritual, ceremony, creating altars, writing letters, journalling, setting intentions, kinesiology, acupuncture, medical intuitive session, not trying, psychics, therapy, family constellations, womb work, chi ne tsang massage, herbs, and vaginal steaming. Yo...

Jodi is a postpartum registered nurse and lactation consultant who works at her local hospital. After two very medically managed, in-hospital births, one of her friends shared the concept of freebirth with her, and that there were women choosing a totally different way to walk through their pregnancies and birth their babies. At first, she thought this idea was crazy, but the seed was planted. By...

Kristen is a former nurse of 14 years, who spent most of her career in the NICU. She once believed that home birth should be illegal, and that doctors always knew best. But in 2015, with the birth of her first son, she began to see things differently. She is also one of the co-founders of Canadian Frontline Nurses. In that role, she has been a powerful, public voice advocating for medical freedom...

Neena's first baby was breech at term, so she was given no other option but a planned cesarean. When she conceived again, she knew she wanted a VBAC, but even at her local "VBAC-friendly" practice, she was coerced, gaslit, and shamed, at nearly every interaction with them. Neena's story is an excellent example of how even a highly informed, confident, and, perhaps most importantly, perfectly healt...

Neena's first baby was breech at term, so she was given no other option but a planned cesarean. When she conceived again, she knew she wanted a VBAC, but even at her local "VBAC-friendly" practice, she was coerced, gaslit, and shamed, at nearly every interaction with them. Neena's story an excellent example of how even a highly informed, confident, and, perhaps most importantly, perfectly healthy...

Ada's first baby was born at home, attended by a midwife. The birth was uncomplicated, but she realized in retrospect that the way her midwife handled the birth of the placenta was problematic, and could have caused serious complications. She knew when she conceived again, it would be just herself and her partner at the birth. And that's exactly what happened - in an off grid home, with no electri...