Midwifery for the People

In this episode I sit down with a friend to talk through her birth story and the years it took to really make sense of it. We talk about the powerful influence of Free Birth Society teachings, the pressure and dogma that can exist in birth spaces, and what it was like for her to navigate a breech baby, a c-section under general anesthesia, and the long process of untangling what she had internaliz...

In this episode, I coach Trisha, a birth worker navigating how to best use a recent financial windfall. We dive into balancing big decisions—like investing in a marketing program—against other priorities like organic strategies, childcare, self-care, and creating business momentum. We explore actionable tips tailored for doulas and birth workers, including leveraging local Facebook groups, improvi...

In this inspiring episode of Midwifery for the People, I sit down with Daniel White, Co-Founder of QNTMLY & The CRD Challenge, and Founder & NPO Chair of Sleep Better Live Better. Nikko Kennedy, long time friend of Indie Birth introduced me to Daniel recently when she suggested I might want to be an ambassador for the CRD challenge (ti is so good, go sign up for free! Link down below). N...

In this reissued episode, I sit down with Isa Gucciardi to talk about her powerful book, *The New Return to the Great Mother*. We explore the deep connection between spirituality and birth, and how reclaiming that connection can profoundly change women. Isa shares her insights into shamanic practices, birth rituals, and how tapping into the wisdom of the Great Mother can transform the entire birth...

In this episode of ‘Midwifery for the People,’ I allude to our new Sacred Birth Certificate Program which we are launching September 15th :)! For this first one, I’m joined by Stacey Ramsower, a contributor to our brand new, soon to be launched program, who shares her personal journey with pregnancy loss and how she has woven those lessons into her extensive training as a doula a...

In this episode of ‘Midwifery for the People,’ I had the pleasure of interviewing Nicole Morales, a home birth midwife based in San Diego, California. Nicole shares insights from her diverse background, which includes teaching, co-authoring books on midwifery, and training others in breech birth techniques. She discusses the various roles and internal conflicts midwives face while emph...

Wowee wow wow I have gotten to talk so some cool people lately on the podcast. This week I have Mel from the Great Birth Rebellion Podcast on and we really get into some good stuff. I invited her on after I saw the clip that the birth world was resharing like crazy, where some official looking Australian folks were talking about limiting homebirth access (or so it sounded) to ultra low risk women,...

I was so blessed to record this conversation with Hannah Penaluna that was a long time coming! She is an experienced midwife who moved from state controlled midwifery landscape of Australia to the wild west (ok she is in the south but still) of Georgia, an unregulated state in the U.S. The episode delves into her journey, exploring her midwifery practice in rural Australia, how vaccine mandates le...

This episode is SO MUCH FUN. I have really enjoyed stepping out of the normal birth circles and talking about birth with “non-birthy” people lately. The same old conversations are tiring and frankly boring. So this episode is an interview Jake and I did on Mother’s Day for the spiritual community called Aldea that I have been a part of since moving to Tucson. He asked me so many...

In this episode of Midwifery for the People, I’m sharing a recording of an interview where Kristen Nagle of the Reclaiming Birth Conference asked me about my journey into radical midwifery! Different things come out when different people ask me questions, so this was a lot of fun I chat about my background in women’s and gender studies, my shift from studying domestic violence policy t...

In this episode of Midwifery for the People I have a quick chat with doula Elisha Anderson about her experience trying to accept state medical care funds for her doula services in Oregon. She had reached out to me about midwifery school and shared a little about her experience, and I invited to come on and share more fully on the podcast because I think this topic is SO IMPORTANT. I am not profess...

On this episode I wanted to share a reading from our book Indie Birth: A Story of Radical Birth Love, and in keeping with the recent theme, I’m sharing the complete story of my first miscarriage. This is one of the most “popular” pieces of content I’ve ever created. I wrote it in 2013 when there were almost zero stories like this available. Even now, there aren’t many...

In this episode of ‘Midwifery for the People,’ host Margo Blackstone shares deeply personal experiences exploring her evolving relationship with death, both in her personal life and professional work as a midwife. She reflects on the profound impact of attending a birth where a baby unexpectedly died, which contributed to her first panic attack and a journey into understanding her fear...

Join Margo on this exploratory first part of a series on death and navigating our relationship to it as birth workers. If we want to shift the cultural narrative so that we honor birth as a right of passage, we will also need to reimagine death as a right of passage. The Western medical perspective is that death is the ultimate defeat. That often means there is someone or something to blame. On ou...

In this candid episode, Margo discusses her spiritual journey and how it intersects with her work at Indie Birth. She discusses her shift away from conventional religion towards a more earth-based spirituality that embraces elements from different practices such as earth prayers, shamanic journeying, and tarot. These approaches provide a crucial context for understanding the spiritual dimensions o...

I’m sharing a lesson from my new project Mindful Money Magic because we are also offering a new program called Midwifery Magic, a comprehensive mentorship, up-leveling, magic infusing experience for midwives (or advanced midwifery students). A lot of what I offer in Midwifery Magic crosses over with my work as a financial wellness coach, and I wanted to give a little taste of the kind of con...

Thousands of women have contacted us over the years expressing their bone deep desire to be a midwife. BUT BUT BUT…they are afraid they will go to jail, be criminalized, or be put on trial. We have addressed their fear of persecution in lots of ways, but in this episode, I talk to Angee Hock, a midwife we have known for a long time now. She shares her story of…..you guessed it! Being c...

Listen in on a recent conversation I had with midwives Jessica and Bethel! We talked about the difficulties of educating midwives, why we should focus on educating more awesome birth assistants then, how mandatory MEAC education is crippling Alaskan midwifery, and how Alaskan regulation is restricting women’s access to midwifery care. These two midwives are really lovely, passionate women an...

This is a unique episode where you can listen in on a section of our Answering the Call to Radical Midwifery Retreat from April 2022 where Maryn and Margo share the origins of Indie Birth and answer questions from attendees about licensing, underground midwifery, what happens when clients aren’t a good match, fear of persecution and more! SHOW NOTES AND TRANSCRIPT Answering the Call from Rad...

Listen in on this coaching and consulting session where Margo answers questions and talks all things preceptorship with a lovely Greek midwife. She had trained in the UK where the apprenticeship/hands on learning looks quite different than the model we teach. One of our students reached out to her about the potential to apprentice and she wanted to pick my brain about how that might look. It was a...

Join me for another awesome discussion (best one yet?!) with Jennifer, whose work I admire so much. As a midwife I have seen how mental health, overcoming limiting beliefs, and tapping into your own power is essential if we are going to reclaim birth. Jennifer’s nervous system focused approach feels like it is an essential piece in prepping for birth, and also in reintegrating after birth. L...

I’ve been talking to some really cool midwives lately, and this episode is no exception. Jessica, affectionately known as the Combat Midwife, tells us about her origin story, her work teaching birth skills to military medics, and midwifing in a refugee camp. Her energy is contagious! I was so excited to explore some unique ways that being a midwife can look in the world, and Jessica did not...

I changed the name of my podcast! Now it is called Midwifery for the People and in this episode I will tell you all about why that is, and some of the history of this podcast and how it reflects my evolution as a midwife. I hope to provide even more aligned content that feels like it stokes the fire of the birth revolution now that I have a clearer vision for how to do that. Tell me what you want...

Jennifer graciously shares her origin story with us, including her own birth experiences (2 midwife attended and one freebirth), her journey of learning about birth from Gloria Lemay, Jeannine Parvati Baker, Whapio and Michel Odent, two birth center apprenticeship experiences, and the multiple initiations and reckonings she has experienced that have brought her to a more nuanced place around birth...

Doula Training and Midwifery Training: Is Having Kids a Requirement? Description: “I want to be a doula or a midwife, but I haven’t had kids yet. Does it matter?” This is a question I hear constantly from aspiring doulas and midwives. In this exciting episode, I finally address this topic that has been on my mind for a while. Join me as I share my personal journey through differe...