IF MAMA AIN’T HEALTHY (AIN’T NOBODY HEALTHY) - Christian Wellness, Metabolic Health, Functional Health, Christian Women’s Functional Health Coaching - formerly YOUR BIRTH, GOD’S WAY

Our medicalized maternity system has turned birth into a list of computerized checkboxes.  "Healthy" means good vitals to the neglect of all the aspects of motherhood that no checklist can contain.  Childbirth is the birth of a baby, of course, but it is also the birth of a new mother.  It should be a beautiful and transformational experience, not a medical checklist complete with machines and tec...

How does a person like me go from being a fully medical, died-in-the-wool labor and delivery nurse to an all-natural midwife?  This episode tells the story of the transition I underwent as I learned more and more about birth and the realities of our overly medical maternity system.   ** Sign up for the FIRST EVER Your Birth, God's Way LIVE Childbirth Education Course HERE --> https://yourbirthgods...

Our culture has normalized medical birth.  Over the last 100 or so years, somehow we have been convinced that the best way to have a baby is in a hospitaltal with a tube in your arm and your back so you're numb from the waist down and some monitors strapped to your belly while you lay on your back in a bed.  Our ancestors would roll their eyes.  Anyway -- if you DON'T want that kind of birth, but...

Our culture has terrified most women in America (and plenty of other places) to believe they can't labor without an epidural.  They have convinced women that going natural means you're crazy and there's no way you can handle it.  Of course, nobody really LIKES pain, but is you are afraid of pain, does that mean natural birth is not an option for you?  Let's talk about that today.   SHOW NOTES   **...

When you find out you're pregnant, it's a very exciting time....but that excitement quickly turns into a feeling of overwhelm for many mamas, especially first-time mamas.  I'm willing to bet that you were overwhelmed once it soaked in that you had a baby on the way.  One of the first big decisions you make when you find out you're expecting is who you will see as your provider.  Back in episode 5,...

I know you believe in God and I know you want to trust Him and His perfect design for our bodies to give birth.  But in this day and time, is that enough to help you navigate the maternity world?  Do you really need a childbirth education class while you're pregnant?  That's the question I'm going to answer for you today.   Inside this episode, I talk about what childbirth education classes are cu...

SHOW NOTES Join us HERE --> facebook.com/groups/yourbirthgodsway   Answer a few membership questions, and your approval will come soon!  The announcement will be LIVE in the group on Monday 5/29 at 3pm central time!   Helpful Links:   Book Your PERSONALIZED Pregnancy Coaching Midwife & Me Power Hour  Here   Be heard! Take My Quick SURVEY --> https://bit.ly/yourbirthsurvey   Got questions?  Email l...

We have become convinced that prenatal nutrition comes from a prenatal vitamin and without swallowing a pill or chewing a pill or gummy, there's no way to be properly nourished during pregnancy.  But is this really true?  For thousands of years, humanity managed to obtain its nutrition from food.  Is that just a thing of the past, or does the food God provided us from the beginning sustain us like...

We have become convinced that prenatal nutrition comes from a prenatal vitamin and without swallowing a pill or chewing a pill or gummy, there's no way to be properly nourished during pregnancy.  But is this really true?  For thousands of years, humanity managed to obtain its nutrition from food.  Is that just a thing of the past, or does the food God provided us from the beginning sustain us like...

We have become convinced that prenatal nutrition comes from a prenatal vitamin and without swallowing a pill or chewing a pill or gummy, there's no way to be properly nourished during pregnancy.  But is this really true?  For thousands of years, humanity managed to obtain its nutrition from food.  Is that just a thing of the past, or does the food God provided us from the beginning sustain us like...

We have become convinced that prenatal nutrition comes from a prenatal vitamin and without swallowing a pill or chewing a pill or gummy, there's no way to be properly nourished during pregnancy.  But is this really true?  For thousands of years, humanity managed to obtain its nutrition from food.  Is that just a thing of the past, or does the food God provided us from the beginning sustain us like...

Your body and your baby's body are made from the food you feed yourself.  If you are feeding your body empty nutrition through junk food and thinking that you can make up for it with artificial, synthetic prenatal vitamins, you will miss the mark of giving yourself God's best.  The best nutrition comes from real, whole foods that God gave us to nourish us.  Today we'll start to dig into ways you c...

Yesterday something really cool happened at my house -- BOTH of my cats gave birth to a total of 7 babies!!  It was such a neat thing to witness and some very unexpected things happened that I just had to share with you in a quick BONUS EPISODE.  I'm going to share with you 4 lessons I learned from watching our cats give birth that you can apply to life and to labor.   Helpful Links:   Book Your P...

Cervical ripening.  Cytotec.  Cervadil.  Foley bulb.  Pitocin.  Epidural.  More Pitocin.  Decelerations.  Fetal distress.  C-section.  Sound scary?  Well, there are some very real, tangible trends in modern American maternity care that anyone who's being honest will acknowledge.  One is known to many as the "Cascade of Interventions" and that list of things at the beginning includes a lot of the p...

The time of pregnancy can bring on more fear for mamas than most any other time.  All the "what ifs" flood in and if you're not careful, you'll drown in them.  In every other area, we women tend to just get about the business of getting it done because if we don't, it won't get done.  But this is one area that thinking we can "make" something happen is an illusion.  Today we're going to talk about...

When you are pregnant in America, you are going to be offered a ridiculous number of tests.  Every visit is some new test it seems.  But do you really need them all?  That is for YOU to decide, so I want to walk you through some steps today to help you determine which tests you want to consent to have done and which you can pass on.   **Book Your Midwife & Me Power Hour Here **   Make Your Voice H...

Have you ever had a provider feel around on your belly to find your baby's position?  I hope you have, but you might not have in today's world where we rely way too much on technology and not enough on our own hands and brains.  What they're doing is called Leopold's Maneuver which helps them determine position and also gives them an idea of where it will be easiest to hear the baby's heart.  They...

If you are being seen by a traditional provider, when you start getting into the 3rd trimester, you are likely going to start having them mention checking your cervix (and hopefully they'll ask first).  Today we'll talk about whether you should consent to letting your OBGYN or midwife check your cervix and if so when should you consent.     Book Your Midwife & Me Power Hour Here   SURVEY --> https...

Once upon a time, you found out you were pregnant and all anybody wanted to know was "when are you due??"  And you probably had some date to give them and maybe you circled it on your calendar.  Well...when that date gets close and nothing's happening, or maybe it's even in your rear view mirror now, that little date is no longer a point of excitement but a point of stress.  So what do you do when...

Around 80% of moms in America report that they intend to breastfeed, but less than 25% actually nurse their babies as long as they plan to.  So clearly something is going wrong to cause them to quit before they are ready to quit.  Inside this episode, we'll look at the top 4 reasons moms report as the reasons they quit breastfeeding, but we won't stop there because I want YOU to succeed!  We'll al...

If you've had a baby before, you are probably very familiar with the question in the title of this episode....WHY am I crying??? I'm supposed to be happy!  If this is you, I'm glad you're here so you can know you're normal and if you have more babies, you'll be ready.  If you haven't had a baby before, I'm so glad you're here because you need to know this ahead of time -- AND you need to talk to y...

It's so hard to know what to do when you have a provider telling you that you "have to" do something and you really don't want to do it.  What if you say no and something bad happens?  What if you say yes and it wasn't needed and it leads to other things that could be harmful that wouldn't have happened if you'd stuck to your guns?  It's overwhelming and intimidating so today I'm going to give you...

Are you having trouble getting your husband on board with what you want for your pregnancy and birth? Sometimes it can be hard to get on the same page. Husbands deal with a lot of fear surrounding birth like we women do. They've heard all the bad stories just like we have and they are afraid something terrible will happen to us or their babies. God made husbands to be protectors, so this is a natu...

So many moms are terrified that they won't be able to nurse their babies. They've seen failure all around them from people who gave up or maybe never tried. They want to exclusively breastfeed, but they really don't think it's possible these days. If this is you, I'm talking to you today. We're going to face that fear head-on by identifying it and facing that elephant in the room. And then we're g...

Inside of today's episode, we address fear head on. We will talk about where that fear around pregnancy, birth, the postpartum period, and breastfeeding comes from, and we will address it with truth from God's word. Be sure to take a minute to fill out the quick survey in the link below so that I can know what YOUR fears are and address them in a future podcast.     SURVEY --> https://bit.ly/yourb...