When Maya was 18 or 19 she got pregnant for the first time and had a miscarriage early on. She conceived again a few months later. She had never really considered what decisions she would make during pregnancy and birth, and had no idea how to deal with the medical system. Maya said “Nowhere up until that point had I been put into so much medicalized terminology and constant appointments…That whole world was a little jarring.”

Maya ended up delivering her first baby with the same doctor that her mom had when delivering her. When Maya went to the hospital in labor, she immediately felt on edge in the hospital setting. During her labor she heard the staff whispering about her age, and behaving as if they had authority over her because she was young. After the birth they didn’t let her go home when she wanted because they said they had to do testing, and that made her feel a little captive.

Maya said “I think there’s a severe lack of knowledge, especially in first time moms about what birth entails. I think it’s not a generational thing anymore where moms explain everything to their daughters, and grandmothers are there, and sisters.” 

After her first, Maya became a baby-wearing educator. She got turned on to home birth during the 2011/2012 baby-wearing craze because there was overlap between the baby-wearing world and the home birth world. When Maya got pregnant with her second baby, she decided on a home birth and didn’t give her husband much say in it. Her second baby 's birth was a pretty uneventful homebirth. Two weeks after her this baby was born, her husband left on a deployment. She was by herself with two little kids in a state with no family, and very little support. She said it was during that time that she realized there’s nothing she cannot do. 

Maya discovered doulas and birth support work during her second pregnancy and attended several births before they moved away from the military world. With Maya’s third baby, she interviewed 10-12 midwives and nobody wanted to take her on because she was far along and midwives were booked up. Eventually she found a midwife and had her third at home.

Between her third and fourth baby, Maya found out she was pregnant but had a gut feeling that something was off. She went in to get it checked out as soon as possible, and they discovered an ectopic pregnancy. She got a shot to end the pregnancy, and she thought the situation was over. Shortly after that, Maya woke up in the night in extreme pain and her husband took her to the ER. They did an ultrasound and discovered internal bleeding because the ectopic had ruptured. Maya was then air lifted to another hospital to have surgery.

Maya found out she was pregnant with her fourth baby shortly after they moved to New Mexico. She hired a midwife for this birth, but she didn’t make it because it was only 45 minutes! Her fifth and sixth births were also quick, around 2 hours each.

Maddie always thought that she would have a freebirth, but after experiencing the birth of her first daughter, she realized how intense birth can be. Maddie decided that she values having another woman there for support. 

For her second pregnancy, Maddie hired Hallie, a matrilineal midwife at Wild Born Wellness. Maddie sings her praises, and can’t recommend her enough for holistic, woman-centered care through the journey of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. 

Maddie’s labor pattern was quite different the second time around, with contractions starting and stopping for several days. Her contractions were 20 minutes apart and not very painful for most of her labor. After a while, Maddie’s midwife left to get a homeopathic remedy to try and get things moving. During that time, she got to reconnect with her husband, open the windows, and move the energy. After that, things started to pick up on their own. 

In this conversation, we discuss becoming a mother of two, how Maddie cultivated trust in herself and birth, and the importance of mindfully choosing who is going to care for you in pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. 

Maddie is the oldest of eight kids. After her mom brought her youngest sibling home from the hospital, she said “That was so easy, I should’ve just stayed home and done the bathtub!” Something clicked in Maddie that made her realize birth is normal, and home birth is an option.

At only 18 years old, Maddie immersed herself in the world of free-birth and devoured every episode of The Free Birth Society podcast. Maddie knew that when she had children in the future, she would have them at home. 

For Maddie’s first birth, she chose to hire a birth keeper. She stayed completely out of the medical system, and to this day, has never been to an OB/GYN. 

You can find her on Instagram @raddiemomberg

Growing up, Melissa was never into western medicine. When she found out she was pregnant, she knew she would be open to an unmedicated birth. Her first birth in the hospital felt crowded and miserable. Melissa’s second birth experience at a birth center was 10 times better. Melissa describes her third birth at home as the most painful of the three. Even though it was the most painful, it was still easier for her to handle this challenging birth at home than it was to handle her first birth in the hospital.

Melissa also shares the differences in care between the birth center/ home birth midwives and the medical nurses/ doctors. When interacting with the medical system, Melissa was often told that she didn’t have a choice, or that there weren’t alternative options to their standard routines. Some medical professionals even went so far to tell her that it was illegal for her to opt out of certain procedures. This was a night and day difference compared to the freedom she felt when walking through her pregnancy journey with midwives. Melissa believes that women who are expecting should be able to listen to their bodies, and advocate for themselves. 

Emily found out she was pregnant again a couple of months after going through a miscarriage with her first pregnancy. Emily and her husband hired the only homebirth midwife in their North Carolina town, where homebirth midwives practice in a legal gray area. 

Emily’s labor started in the middle of the night. When she knew things were really happening, she called her midwife. Then she called her again, and again, with no answer. Instead of feeling safe and supported during this vital moment, she felt abandoned. Emily and Parkes had to pivot, and they drove to the hospital. Her birth didn't go as planned, but as Emily put it “It’s such a beautiful experience no matter what your birth story looks like.”

Kayleigh has had a wide range of experiences with pregnancy and birth, including several losses. She’s had two hospital births, one birth center birth, one home birth, and lastly a healing, unassisted hospital birth. 

When Kayleigh was pregnant with her daughter, she felt the impression that her daughter was going to be born in the hospital. Kayleigh however, wanted another home birth, so she fought this feeling due to past negative experiences in the hospital. Once this feeling got to the point where she couldn’t ignore it anymore, Kayleigh told her home birth midwife how she was feeling. She was so supportive of Kayleigh’s intuitive feeling that she needed to have this baby in the hospital. Kayleigh’s midwife was able to attend the hospital birth as her doula. 

Kayleigh is a Childbirth Educator and you can find her on her website at: kindacrunchykayleigh.com

Or on her Instagram: instagram.com/kindacrunchykayleigh/

Kayleigh told her first four children’s birth stories on the podcast “Healing Birth.” Her episode was posted on June 1st 2025, and is titled “Homebirth as a Family Affair” 

When Emma found out she was pregnant she was so excited, but she couldn’t tell her husband yet because he was away on a river rafting trip. She was so overjoyed that she decided to share the news with her coworkers.

When Emma was exactly at her 40 week guess date, she started to have some cramping but it went away towards the end of the day. Then, Emma was awoken at 2 AM to some consistent cramping. She got in the bathtub which helped her relax, and pushed her further into labor. Around 5AM Emma and her husband made it out of the house to head to the hospital. When she got there, she found out she was already 8cm dilated. She hadn’t realized she was in full blown active labor.

After pushing for about 40 minutes her baby boy was born at 9:10 AM. After the birth, Emma was so happy that she couldn’t sleep while her baby slept for a week! Her heart was so full that she would just stay up and look at her baby. Emma describes the birth of her son as the most empowering thing she has done in her life. Emma’s natural birth helped prepare her for the difficulty of motherhood, and she was able to draw strength from her experience with pregnancy and childbirth.

She recommends hiring a doula, and said she loved having a doula to help keep her grounded, give her ideas for positions to try, etc. After Emma's personal positive experience with birth, she decided to become a doula herself. She had several people approach her and tell her that she would be a great doula, and that felt like confirmation that she should do it. For Emma, becoming a doula was a calling.

You can find information about Emma's doula services at birthwithem.com and on Instagram @birthwithem

In this episode, Madison shares the epic story of her daughter’s conception followed by her empowering home birth. During her pregnancy, Madison was labeled as high-risk due to having a hip labral tear. She had planned to have surgery on it and was hesitant to take herself off the surgery list, because so many of her friends had experienced miscarriages. Eventually she felt that she had a strong and vital pregnancy and took herself off the surgery list.Due to some medical trauma she had experienced with her hip, she decided to work with a doula.

Then, Madison began interviewing OBGYN’s. Their offices and billing departments did not make it easy for her to conduct interviews. Shortly after, her doula referred her to some podcasts about birth and home birth. With her husband’s support and encouragement, she decided that she wanted a home birth. Madison said that giving birth to her daughter was the most empowering experience of her life. She advocates for women to trust their bodies, and be mindful of where they get their information and who they hire as their providers.

Madison is a stay-at-home mom, dance instructor, and international house-sitter. You can find her on Instagram @madmancini101

In this episode, I share my own story about realizing I was pregnant for the first time, and choosing to give birth at home with a midwife. I also share my intentions and hopes for the podcast. You can Follow the Podcast on Instagram @BirthwithHopePodcast