The Birth Geeks' Podcast

What does doula work look like in Istanbul? In this episode, we talk to doula and translator Ayşegül Boz Baltacı about her work both in Turkey and in the European Doula Network. Ayşegül is a connector and an incredible advocate for families and doulas around the world. Shortly after we talked for this interview, a Turkish law banned all non-medical support for birthing parents, essentially closing...

Welcome to another insightful episode of "The Birth Geeks"! Today, Dr. Hillary Melchiors sits down with Ania Freitas, a passionate doula originally from Madeira, Portugal, now based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Join us as Ania shares her journey from helping her sister in Northern Ireland, discovering her calling as a doula, and navigating different cultural landscapes. We'll dive into Ania's uni...

Welcome back to another exciting episode of The Birth Geeks! Today, hosts Dr. Robin Elise Weiss and Dr. Hillary Melchiors are joined by the insightful Darcy Sauers , a seasoned doula and business expert, for a deep dive into the intricacies of running a successful birth-related business. In this episode, we'll explore strategic blogging to attract local clients, the critical role of consistent tha...

Welcome back to another insightful episode of The Birth Geeks ! Today, we're thrilled to be joined by Elizabeth Mosley, an exceptional birth doula and advocate committed to systemic change in birth care. Our host, Dr. Hillary Melchiors, delves deep into the intricacies of trauma-informed care, the importance of culturally congruent support, and the ongoing challenges in doula certification and rei...

Join Dr. Hillary Melchiors as she dives deep into the enriching journey of Debbie Mitchell, an integral part of the European Doula Network. Debbie shares her insightful experiences and the remarkable collaboration between organizations like DONA, ICEA, and Red Mundial de Doulas that brought the "doula corner" to the FIGO Conference in Paris. The discussion shines a light on the enormous impact tha...

Welcome back to The Birth Geeks ! In today's episode, your hosts Dr. Hillary Melchiors and Dr. Robin Elise Weiss delve into the intricate world of rebranding and visual updates. We'll explore the importance of networking and leveraging connections within the industry, the necessity of updating visuals like logos and fonts across platforms, and the challenges of the rebranding process itself. Hilla...

Welcome to another enlightening episode of The Birth Geeks, where we delve into practical and essential topics for doulas. In this episode, TBG 56, join hosts Dr. Hillary Melchiors and Dr. Robin Elise Weiss as they navigate the complex world of setting and raising doula fees. Discover why it's crucial to understand your value and charge sustainably, how cost of living impacts your rates, and the i...

Welcome back to The Birth Geeks podcast! In today's episode, hosts Hillary Melchiors and  Robin Elise Weiss catch up after a long break and dive into a range of exciting updates and developments in the birth and doula community. They talk about Hillary's upcoming trip to France for the European Doula Network conference and reflect on their busy year, including Hillary's rebrand of her doula agency...

How do you stay awake on the drive home at 3am after leaving a long birth or postpartum shift? In this 47th episode of The Birth Geeks Podcast we talk about scream therapy, streaking through your house, our go-to meals and self-care routines. After helping our clients, a post-shift ritual is so important to shift your mind out of work mode and actually contributes to helping stave off burnout. Our...

How do you define confidence for yourself? You may have a supercomputer in your pocket, but that still doesn't mean that you have to know all the things or that all the things you can know are in there. In this episode we talk about "doula dysmorphia" and mastery development. There's always something more to learn as a birth geek, but there are more important confidence boosting ways to learn than...

This episode is all about MONEY! We talk about all different ways that childbirth educators and doulas feel about money. What is your money mindset? Do you have an abundance mindset too? We talk about shortcuts to keeping good records and a few key moments that you need to recognize that you should ask for help from people who've been there. We also delve into multiple revenue streams and passive...

In 2020, birth professionals were all navigating all kinds of shifting policies and ideas about how to keep safe while continuing to serve families as a novel virus and resulting pandemic emerged. As we close in on the 3rd year of learning and pivoting through it all, we're seeing some things go "back to normal" and others remaining changed. In this episode of The Birth Geeks Podcast, Robin & Hill...

In 2020, birth professionals were all navigating all kinds of shifting policies and ideas about how to keep safe while continuing to serve families as a novel virus and resulting pandemic emerged. As we close in on the 3rd year of learning and pivoting through it all, we're seeing some things go "back to normal" and others remaining changed. In this episode of The Birth Geeks Podcast, Robin & Hill...

New recommendations, old complaints, products, & all the evidence based resources our doula hearts could muster are packed into this episode with special guest Ann Grauer. We're so excited to be back to podcasting & thankful to Ann for being our first guest to return. It's time to get back to upgrading the conversation & renewing your birth professional moxie! 

New recommendations, old complaints, products, & all the evidence based resources our doula hearts could muster are packed into this episode with special guest Ann Grauer. We're so excited to be back to podcasting & thankful to Ann for being our first guest to return. It's time to get back to upgrading the conversation & renewing your birth professional moxie! 

Mallory Emerson and Sharon Muza from Creative & Confident join us today to talk about tech in online educational spaces and making the most of it to spice up your online offerings from childbirth classes to doula trainings, conference presentations to zoom meetings - don't get caught with dull CE again.

2020 has pushed all childbirth professionals to pivot so much of what we have done before to adapt to the circumstances that most of us weren't really expecting. This whole year I have marveled at Robin's ability to pivot to teaching online, and this episode is full of resources for you to do the same and laughs at the trial and error that we have all been challenged to do this year. Bonus: lots o...

Robin interviews Tia & Shannon two east coast doulas with a new podcast: Doula Sense. They both have an enormous amount of experience and expertise when it comes to childbirth education, birth, postpartum, and breastfeeding, and don't shy away from the hard topics and laughs.

Nurses and doulas working together for culture change is a dream team, and we're breaking down what needs to change about hospital birth in this episode as well as career pivots, online teaching, and so much more in the birth world. 

Elizabeth M. Johnson talks to Dr. Hillary Melchiors about trauma informed care, empathy vs. kindness, and shifting her When Survivors Give Birth course online in this 38th episode of The Birth Geeks Podcast. 

Kelli Brien talks about the many aspects that drew her to birth work and how she's moved within the system to help make it a just an equitable place for all birthing people.

Dr. Amy Brown discusses working with families around choices for infant feeding, breastfeeding grief, and more! 

Ever dreamed of what you would say if someone asked you how to change things to improve maternity care? In this episode, we talk about being asked that exact question as doulas and scholars, and how we approach those answers. Hint: it doesn't just involve changing the pictures hanging on the walls. 

Darcy Sauers is the founder of  The Postpartum Doula Academy  and has been a DONA certified postpartum doula since 2010.  She talks to The Birth Geeks today to emphasize that we need to band together as birth workers – it's about collaboration NOT competition. And Hillary and Darcy lament about how we spend a lot of time trying to explain what doulas do before we can ever get to the "hire me" phas...

Training nursing students to be doulas helps them no matter where they end up working according to Barbara Hotelling. She talks all about the Duke-la program she helped start, creative ways to test for anemia in resource constrained places around the world, and so much more. You'll love this conversation between her and Robin on this 33rd episode of our podcast.