Wise Birth Radio

Honestly, this is the kind of episode you can't write a description for. Our beautiful friend Ixchel Prisma talked with us today about the depths and beauty of her second trimester loss with her spirit baby, River Nova. This story goes back at least a decade to her initial connection with a baby spirit. Ixchel has spun lead into gold, experiencing death and grief in pregnancy as a profound portal...

When asked about their postpartum plan, so many women say "Well, my husband is taking 3 weeks off work...". While thats great (although we'd be more into all fathers being given paid paternity leave for at least a month), that alone should not be your postpartum support in an ideal situation. We talk about: How we envision the ideal postpartum time to look and feel How sinking into this design can...

Postpartum care provider and educator, mother to 4, this postpartum was probably perfect, right? Beautifully, postpartum is an ever deepening, ever challenging, ever incredible spiral into yourself. With the opportunity for new lessons, new messages, and new challenges each time. Sara and I had a lovely walk and talk about her fourth postpartum after the birth of her son, Akiva. We talk about: She...

Agreements: - I am not obligated to do dishes - I will avoid lifting heavy things - I will be mindful of eye contact, and utilize tools of energetic protection - I will avoid heated discussion - most things that I think NEED TO BE TALKED ABOUT RIGHT NOW actually don't... - I give myself full permission to not cook if I don't feel like it - I will keep my body, especially my feet, head, and womb, w...

What if SOUND HEALING (insert feathers and crystal bowls here) didn't have to be a big complicated thing, but was actually woven into your every day life? What if you could be constantly working with frequency and vibration as tools for health and balancing in your body, mind, and spirit? Oh wait, YOU ALREADY DO! I loved our talk with Adrian DiMatteo; musician, author, sound healer, and genuine, d...

With all of the birthy support roles I am currently holding, it may be a surprise that I am not, and have no intention of being a birth doula.   But once, long long ago (or at least that's how it feels!), I was! I thought that being a birth doula was path through which I wanted to serve women... at least until I started doing it.   I talk about how: - The sister wound has made it's presence known...

Out lovely friends Ashke and Ian join us today from the end of their sacred window to tell us the story of their son, Cedar's birth. It is such a joy to hear their story of conscious conception, Ashke's new adventure into studying birth education with Birthing From Within , how Ian's relationship with home birth interfaced with his job as an EMT (such a special crossover), culminating in a fast an...

Aiste Gazdar (and her husband Joel) are wellbeing pioneers, community magnetizers, conscious entrepreneurs and full spectrum alchemists leading a movement of transforming humanity’s relationship with nature, food, and ultimately, themselves. They are authors of the innovative plant based and wellbeing book “WILD: Plant Based Recipes & Rituals to Nourish your Wild Essence”. We talk with Aiste t...

We live in such a time based culture. We need numbers to validate everything. We need to "know" when babies are going to be born, when they need to nap, when we are allowed to eat our next meal. But what if this is all fake? Can we throw away the clock and just listen to the flow of our bodies? Lean in to the movements of the sun, of the seasons, of our baby's subtle (or not so subtle) communicati...

Nikko Kennedy is a perinatal quantum biology practitioner and certified labor and postpartum doula. She has a B.S. in Biopsychology from the University of Oregon and is the creator of Brighter Days, Darker Nights, a Substack publication dedicated to promoting circadian rhythmicity and quantum wellness in pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Nikko created a discount for you lovely listeners on her Sub...

We've talked a lot about how modern midwifery fall short of truly supporting the physiology of birth, and honoring the sacred aspect. You can hear my personal experience of this in my birth story (and here's part 2 ) . It's subtle, but after Olin's birth, I know I want something different next time. So I decided to think out loud for you today: why do I still want a midwife at my future births?  ...

We have a lovely guest today, Stacey Ramsower! Through somatics, Ayurveda, and depth psychology, Stacey helps women navigate the shadowlands of Motherhood. In this episode, we explore the archetypes of motherhood, our own personal relation with creating community and connecting with other women, and so much more. You can find more about Stacey and her work through her website , Instagram , and hea...

Learning about what optimal postpartum support looks and feels like can often leave women feeling overwhelmed and like it may be an unreachable goal. We are here today to break it down. We talk about how to logistically craft your plan, the wells of resource you can draw on that you may not have even considered, and how we structured our own postpartum support. We also go into the more energetic a...

We welcome Sara’s fourth baby, her third son, into the world with the story of his birth. A beautiful simple, yet powerful and profound story. The whole family gathered around to witness the incredible power of their mama in what is both an incredibly powerful and awesome experience and at the same time the most natural, every day thing: physiological birth. The way her midwife supported her gave...

We’re diving in today on a subject we've been meaning to cover for quite some time. Join us as we go for a walk and discuss some considerations for a vegetarian pregnancy, and how Sara nourishes herself. We are coming from two different perspectives (I chose not to remain a vegetarian at around 6 months postpartum) and we recognize that this can be somewhat of a loaded topic. We hope you can remai...

Today's intentionally provocatively named solo-cast is about... well, exactly what the title says. I had a small revelation the other day where a series of stories led me to understand the conditions under which just picking a date and having surgery instead of experiencing the mystery of birth is a more appealing option. This is not a judgement on anyone's choices, but rather my discussion with m...

We've been meaning to record an episode on the topic of pain, sensations, whatever you want to call it in birth for quite a while. That's often one of the first thoughts/fears that someone who has never birthed before has "but what is it going to feel like? How much is it going to hurt? Will I be able to handle it?" We share a bit about our own birth stories and how sensations changed throughout,...

Today is a very special episode - I got to sit down and talk with Nicole (@seedofjoy_) about... well, whatever came up! This was such a rich conversation on all the ways she knows this life can be FOR US. We talked about becoming more boundaried as a mother, how to create structure for a deeply restful, healing, and (dare we say) blissful postpartum time (this goes far beyond "freeze some soup, as...

Sara is back today! We wanted to share a bit about this deep mother-wisdom that we see activate in women when they are pregnant and become mothers, and that we ourselves have experienced. You could call it mother's intuition, spidey senses, just deeply knowing and noticing her children, or a mother's ability to tune into a universal wisdom of the feminine and specifically of motherhood.   You'll h...

Sara put together this list to get clear on her desires, values, and priorities for herself, her partner, and her midwife. Keep in mind that this is very individual, and you will probably want different things. We thought it might be helpful for people to see some things to consider discussing with a midwife in preparation for birth.   Here's the list that we talk through in this episode:   PLEASE...

Placentas! I was deep in placenta land after creating this free Powerful Placenta Guide and felt excited to record this episode on placentas.    So often not thought about unless there’s a problem. Thrown away without a second thought. “Medically managed” because labor is over at that point so it doesn’t really matter how this part of the birth goes, right?   Wrong! Traditional cult...

Today’s episode is a special one! Sara and I are back together to interview the lovely Ixchel. We talked with her and her partner during her pregnancy back in episode 4. Now, almost 2 years after their birth, we finally recorded their incredible birth story of their firecracker son, Makoa. This is the story of the "what ifs". But not "what if something goes wrong", instead it's "what if something...

Did you know that birth is only one of the three parts that make up the rite of passage that is the childbearing year? When in first heard this concept spoken by Kimberly Ann Johnson in MotherCircle , I deeply knew this to be true even though I’d never heard it before.    First articulated by anthropologist Arnold van Gennep in a book he published in  1908, these phases are separation, transition,...

Demystifying the nomenclature of the birth world! What is a midwife vs a doula vs a birthkeeper? Starting with obstetricians, we work our way through the “food chain” of people who attend birth; what their roles and responsibilities are; what they fundamental beliefs MAY be; and how they might practice. But don’t be fooled by labels! Each care provider comes with their own stories, backgrounds, be...

Feeling inspired by my recent launch of a postpartum cooking service for local mamas, I wanted to share a bit today about the underlying principles of postpartum cooking. There are some basic tenants across the world to help women ground and heal in this time, and food can be such a beautiful medicine for this period. It can set the tone for the start of a nourished motherhood, and give the body a...