In today’s episode we speak with Dr. Sarah Buckley on the science of natural and undisturbed birth. Dr. Buckley is the author of the best selling book Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering, the author the report Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing, and all around natural childbirth expert.

We are honored and grateful to have Dr. Sarah Buckley join us on the Doing It At Home Podcast for many reasons.

To start, her book "Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor's Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices" was a huge influence on us during our pregnancy. Sarah (our Sarah...Sarah Bivens that is) started reading Dr. Buckley's book while we were still planning for a birth with an OBGYN in a hospital. We learned about Dr. Buckley from her appearances in a DVD series called "Happy Healthy Child" (another resource we highly recommend and link to in the show notes.) Dr. Buckley's extensive research and evidence based information on pregnancy and birth, along with her own accounts of her 4 home births left quite the impression on us. It got the wheels turning and prompted us to think about the elements we wanted in our birth. Overtime we found that the best way to experience all of that would be at home. So we're very grateful to Dr. Buckley and the work that she does, because it's like she's been a part of our journey.

Dr. Buckley integrates what would seem like differing philosophies at first glance: in the mindset of a medical background, training, practice and care, and natural, holistic, unassisted, physiological birth.

Dr. Buckley talks about physiological birth as the type of birth that's in alignment with how the body is designed to work. And low tech models of care support this process. Home birth is an ideal situation to allow for this.

We also talk about the core requirements for birth and what a woman needs to feel private, safe and unobserved. And if you didn't know or fully understand the hormonal cocktail that a woman experienced in natural birth, you will by the end of this episode.

Want to know what ecstatic birth is? Listen to this episode.

One of the key takeaways here is the potential to reclaim power in the experience of birth. That with a healing birth, we can heal the earth!

Links from this episode:

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