Through untold eons mammals have evolved a beautiful birth-giving physiology based around a complex cascade of hormones that are released during labor. We give both mother and baby the best chance at a peaceful, ecstatic birth and postpartum period when we remember and respect this ancient dance.

IN THE INTRO:

• Complex parenting topics: sleep, immunity, birth

IN THE INTERVIEW:

• Sarah’s mainstream doctor grandfather and how she got interested in natural birth
• The exquisitely designed ancestral/mammalian hormonal blueprint of labor 
• The impact of (unnatural, external) stress on a laboring woman and how it disrupts the optimal hormonal flow
• Creating optimal conditions for birthing and for bonding
• The hormonal consequences of bypassing the natural physiological onset of labor (such as by induction or scheduled C-section)
• How feeling unsafe (at a subconscious, limbic system level) disrupts the flow of birth
• The irony of how we treat animals in labor v how we treat human women in labor
• The ecstatic, altered state of mind we enter into during labor 
• What first time mothers need to know but are often not told
• Fear and mystery in birth
• The body is designed to transcend the (natural, intrinsic) stress and pain of labor and they play a critical role in bonding
• The role of vocalization in labor
• Newborns need placental blood: cord clamping and how our cultural beliefs around that have changed over time
• What “No hatting, no patting, no chatting” means for the postpartum period
• Ancestral family sleep and motherbaby biological regulation: the many reasons that co-sleeping is best for babies and the science that backs it up
• The fascinating phenomenon of some birth attendants being able to smell the moment before the baby is born

LINKS

• Dr. Buckley’s website
• Dr. Buckley on Facebook
• Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!)
• My website MythicMedicine.love 
• Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering book
• Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing report
• Medicine Stories Podcast Episode 30: The Innate Intelligence of the Immune System with Cilla Whatcott
• Medicine Stories Podcast Episode 48: Matriarchy in Action & Ancestor Assisted Birth with Emilee Saldaya
• Jeanine Parvati Baker
• CO-SLEEPING RESEARCH- James McKenna’s Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre-Dame
• Sara Wichkam’s website
• Midwifery Today’s website 
• Take my fun Which Healing Herb is Your Spirit Medicine? quiz
• Medicine Stories Facebook group
• Mythic Medicine on Instagram
• Music by Mariee Sioux (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)