Birthing Outside the Box

Elisha, the woman behind @bringinguptheburns, joins us and shares her four daughters' birth stories - two of them in a birth center and two of them at home. For her first birth she was under the care of a "medwife" and vowed to never go that route again. Her second birth was a wonderful experience but still chose to birth her next two at home. Elisha also enlightens us with what kind of inner work she did to prepare for birth.

A Raleigh local joins us "in studio" to disscuss the births of her three boys. One hospital, one birth center and one at home - all of which were uncomplicated. Her most recent baby was born in 1 hour, at home.

BOTB hosts disscuss Jani's most recent freebirth, which did include some community support from women she cherishes. They each shared their perspectives and reminisced over the night Gabie was born. Jani shares the struggles she experienced postpartum, including breastfeeding and having covid.

Jeanne is a birth doula who attended many hospital births before going on to have 4 home births herself. For her first three babies she used a midwife who she had chosen before even getting pregnant and for her last she chose to freebirth. Jeanne shares that while pregnant with her fourth, her mother was diagnosed with cancer and ultimately passed away shortly after giving birth. Her last baby shares her moms birthday - what a gift!

Amanda had the shock of a lifetime when she unexpectedly found out she was pregnant. Being a nurse she chose to birth at a local hospital because that felt most comfortable for her. She did decide to switch OB's at 30 weeks due to the lack of care. Her now husband was a railroad engineer and for him to be present they opted to be induced a day before her due date. Although all of her births were less than 8 hours she felt this birth was intense, full of verbal insults and threats. She felt traumatized specifically from an episiotomy that was done without consent. She knew she wanted to do it differently the next time and focused not just on the physical aspect of birth but her mental state as well. She found a midwife she fully trusted and decided to birth at her house instead of her own because her husband still wanted to be close to the hospital. Ten days after her expected due date her second baby boy was born in the most loving and magical environment at her midwifes home. For her third pregnancy her midwife had retired so she had to find a new one all while dealing with the complications of birthing during a pandemic. At the time of her third birth they were fostering 7 kittens, had two small kids, and she just felt like their home was too cramped. She knew she would need peace and quiet to focus on working through the birth process so she decided to again birth at her midwifes home. During her third birth she took things slow during the pushing phase and waited until the fetal ejection reflex took over. Her third son was born en caul within two hours of arriving at her midwives home.

Dr. Emily was still a chiropractic student when she became pregnant. She explored a birth center but ended up choosing a home (on campus) birth with a midwife who she really connected with. She walks us through the beautiful (and sometimes challenging) moments of her birth and postpartum. Dr. Emily's practice, Chiro One, is located in Eauclaire, Wisconsin.

Alyssa so beautifully shared about her pregnancy loss that she chose to experience at home at 12 weeks gestation. This birth happened in between a not so ideal birth center birth with a "medwife" and a very quick family birth at home. We were so honored to have had Alyssa on the podcast to share this very intimate and beautiful story.

Amber had planned on having a natural hospital birth for her first baby but that unfortunately ended in a traumatic c-section. She had to seek out therapy for a year just to be able to talk about her son's birth. When she became pregnant with her second she knew she would be doing things completely different. She had the most redemptive, healing Free Birth. We also discuss what obstetrical violence looks like, gestational diabetes and preeclampsia.

Katelynn is a first time mom who decided to free birth at home. She experienced several different variations including her water breaking at 36.5 weeks and passing out multiple times after her daughter was born.