🌿 Episode Summary

This conversation explores the current state of midwifery, highlighting the wisdom of traditional practices and the importance of reconnecting with the roots of the CPM movement. Sophia and Lisa discuss how honoring elder midwives and learning from minority and LGBTQ+ communities can enrich the future of midwifery. Together, they reflect on the challenges and opportunities in integrating traditional, community-based care into modern models of practice — reminding us that the field is at a pivotal moment for change.

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✨ What You’ll Learn

• How traditional midwifery informs and strengthens modern practice

• Why inclusivity and cultural humility are essential in midwifery care

• The unique needs of minority and LGBTQ+ birthing communities

• The wisdom elder and granny midwives bring to today’s birth landscape

• How the CPM movement is rooted in traditional, community-based care

• Ways to restore informed consent, autonomy, and choice in birth

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👩‍🍼 Guest Bio

Lisa Rawson, LM, CPM, MA-MCHS has been serving families for over 25 years as an educator, midwife, and advocate for equitable access to midwifery care. She has worked in rural community-based home birth practices, unlicensed midwifery, and licensed birth centers.

Lisa is passionate about restoring informed consent and true choice through education, social justice, and equitable human rights. She views advocacy as a central part of her midwifery and social justice work.

A mother of eight and wife of 28 years, Lisa is also the proud matriarch of a multigenerational family. When she’s not catching babies, she enjoys cooking, swimming, playing games, exploring new places, and sharing her infectious sense of humor.

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🌐 Connect with Lisa Rawson

• Instagram: @lisa_rawson_lm

• Facebook: Mountain Valley Midwifery

• Website: www.mountainvalleymidwifery.com

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📚 Links & Resources Mentioned

• CPM Movement History – NACPM

• Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA)

• Granny Midwives: A Legacy of Community Birth Work

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🌳 Connect With Us

Instagram:

@sophiabirth

@bayareahomebirth

@bornwildmidwifery

Stay Wild 🌳

In this episode, we sit down with ultrasound technologist Karen Han, whose career path took her from banking and medical transcription to discovering the beauty of birth through the lens of ultrasound. After years working in hospitals, her first home birth experience opened her eyes to the incredible possibilities of physiological birth outside the medical system. Today, she brings warmth, skill, and connection to families seeking both medical reassurance and emotional bonding through ultrasound.

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What You’ll Learn:

• How an unexpected career pivot led to a lifelong passion for ultrasound

• The contrast between hospital imaging and the intimacy of home birth care

• The story of starting a 3D/4D ultrasound business and growing into a trusted partner for midwives

• How ultrasound can strengthen family bonding and deepen the birth experience

• Insights from a professional who bridges medical imaging and holistic maternity care

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Karen Han’s journey to ultrasound took many twists and turns—through careers in banking, catering, and medical transcription—before finding her true calling in the late 1990s. She trained for four years and became a registered diagnostic medical sonographer after assisting at St. Helena Hospital and Sutter Lakeside Hospital. Married to a chiropractor and a mother of two, she later founded a 3D/4D ultrasound business in 2011 that grew organically as midwives discovered her work. After attending her first home birth in 2012, she fell in love with the beauty and empowerment of birth outside hospital walls and now devotes her work to supporting families with compassion, connection, and high-quality imaging.

📱 Cell/Text: 707-337-8308 (preferred)

📧 Email: [email protected]

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Links and Resources Mentioned:

• Learn more about Karen’s services or schedule an appointment: Text or call 707-337-8308

• Email inquiries: [email protected]

• Born Wild Midwifery: bornwildmidwifery.com

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If you loved this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your birth-loving friends. Your support helps us amplify the voices of those changing the birth world—one story at a time.

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Connect with Us:

Instagram: @sophiabirth • @bayareahomebirth • @bornwildmidwifery

Stay Wild 🌳

In this episode of the Born Wild Podcast, host Sophia Henderson, LM, CPM, interviews Lily Nichols, a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist, Certified Diabetes Educator, researcher, and author with a passion for evidence-based nutrition. Together, they explore the critical role of nutrition during pregnancy and postpartum, the gaps between current dietary guidelines and modern research, and the importance of combining traditional wisdom with science.

Lily shares insights from her best-selling Real Food series, emphasizing the value of high-quality protein, mindful carbohydrate intake, and nutrient-dense foods for fertility, pregnancy, and recovery. The conversation also covers gestational diabetes testing, caffeine consumption, postpartum nourishment, and the need for better education and support for women throughout their childbearing years.

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What You’ll Learn

• Why evidence-based nutrition is essential during pregnancy and postpartum

• How traditional wisdom aligns with current research on maternal health

• The importance of high-quality protein and micronutrients for fertility and pregnancy

• How to approach gestational diabetes testing and dietary management holistically

• Postpartum recovery foods and the value of meal prepping

• How to discern the quality of food sources for optimal health

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Lily Nichols is a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist, Certified Diabetes Educator, researcher, and author known for her evidence-based, sensible approach to maternal nutrition. She is the founder of the Institute for Prenatal Nutrition®, co-founder of the Women’s Health Nutrition Academy, and the author of three influential books: Real Food for Fertility (co-authored with Lisa Hendrickson-Jack), Real Food for Pregnancy, and Real Food for Gestational Diabetes. Her work has influenced prenatal nutrition policy internationally and is used in university-level maternal nutrition and midwifery courses.

When not writing or teaching, Lily enjoys spending time with her husband and two children—most likely outdoors or in the kitchen.

🔗 https://lilynicholsrdn.com

🌿 Real Food Postpartum Recovery Meals

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Links & Resources Mentioned

• Real Food for Pregnancy

• Real Food for Gestational Diabetes

• Real Food for Fertility

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If you loved this episode, follow and share Born Wild Podcast with a friend who’s passionate about holistic pregnancy and women’s health.

Leave us a review to help more families find this empowering conversation. 🌸

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Connect with us:

@sophiabirth @bayareahomebirth @bornwildmidwifery

Stay Wild 🌳

In this episode of the Born Wild Podcast, host Sophia Henderson speaks with Sarah Thompson, MAOM, LAc — a licensed acupuncturist, certified functional medicine practitioner, and birth doula with over 20 years of experience in maternal health. Together they explore the importance of nutrition in pregnancy, the role of functional medicine in supporting mothers and babies, and the barriers families face in accessing integrative maternity care.

Sarah shares her journey into functional medicine, her evidence-based approach to clinical care, and how nutrition, herbs, and traditional therapies can transform outcomes for expecting mothers.

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What You’ll Learn:

• How functional medicine identifies the root causes of health challenges.

• Why nutrition is foundational to pregnancy health.

• Understanding iron dynamics and the risk of deficiency or toxicity.

• How herbs and supplements can safely support pregnancy and postpartum recovery.

• The importance of informed consent and individualized care.

• Practical ways collaboration among providers enhances maternity outcomes.

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Sarah Thompson, MAOM, LAc is a licensed acupuncturist, certified functional medicine practitioner, and birth doula with more than two decades of experience in maternal health. She specializes in integrating functional medicine, nutrition, and traditional therapies to optimize pregnancy and childbirth outcomes.

Sarah is the author of Functional Maternity and Beyond Results, and she offers MEAC-accredited continuing education through her Functional Maternity Academy and Kolibri International Birth Institute, empowering healthcare professionals with evidence-based tools for clinical practice.

🌐 www.functionalmaternity.com

📸 Instagram: @functional.maternity

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Links and Resources Mentioned:

• Functional Maternity by Sarah Thompson

• Functional Maternity Academy (MEAC-approved CE)

• Kolibri International Birth Institute

• www.functionalmaternity.com

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If you loved this conversation, please rate and review the Born Wild Podcast — it helps more families and birth workers find us! 🌿

Share this episode with a friend or colleague who’s passionate about holistic maternity care.

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Connect with Us:

@sophiabirth @bayareahomebirth @bornwildmidwifery

Stay Wild 🌳

In this episode of the Born Wild Podcast, host Sophia Henderson speaks with Dr. Stuart Fischbein, an obstetrician with decades of experience advocating for physiological birth, midwifery collaboration, and informed consent. Dr. Stu shares his journey from medical student to outspoken advocate for respectful maternity care.

They discuss the importance of understanding the risks associated with various birth methods — including breech births and VBACs — and emphasize the need for individualized care in obstetrics. This conversation shines light on the challenges within the maternity care system and the importance of trusting women’s bodies during childbirth.

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What You’ll Learn:

• How Dr. Stu’s journey into obstetrics began unexpectedly

• Why informed consent is often misunderstood in the medical system

• The importance of midwives in supporting physiological birth

• Why VBAC should be viewed as a standard variation of normal birth

• How “high risk” is often defined by provider comfort rather than evidence

• The decline of breech and twin birth skills — and why they matter

• The dangers of profit-driven maternity care

• How to rebuild trust in nature’s design for birth

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Guest Bio:

Stuart J. Fischbein, MD is a community-based obstetrician and an Associate of the American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology. He is the author of Fearless Pregnancy, Wisdom & Reassurance from a Doctor, A Midwife, and A Mom and several peer-reviewed papers including Homebirth with an Obstetrician, Breech Birth at Home, and Twin Home Birth: Outcomes of 100 Sets of Twins in the Care of a Single Practitioner.

After completing his residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Dr. Stu spent 24 years assisting women with hospital births before transitioning to homebirth obstetrics for over 12 years. Since retiring from attending births in 2022, he has focused on teaching and advocacy — traveling internationally to reteach breech and twin birth skills, promote respect for physiological birth, and uphold informed consent.

He co-hosts the Birthing Instincts Podcast with Blyss Young, offering hope, reassurance, and evidence-based guidance to families who understand that pregnancy is a normal, healthy function — not a medical condition to be feared.

📍 Websites:

birthinginstincts.com

birthinginstinctspodcast.com

📸 Instagram: @birthinginstincts

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Links & Resources Mentioned:

• Birthing Instincts Podcast

• Dr. Fischbein’s Research Publications

• Fearless Pregnancy, Wisdom & Reassurance from a Doctor, A Midwife, and A Mom

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Call to Action:

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share the Born Wild Podcast to help more families discover empowering conversations about birth and beyond.

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Connect with Us:

Instagram: @sophiabirth | @bayareahomebirth | @bornwildmidwifery

Stay Wild 🌳

In this episode of the Born Wild Podcast, host Sophia Henderson speaks with Lindsay Gretch, a mother of six from Sebastopol, about her diverse birth experiences ranging from hospital births to birthing centers and ultimately to home births. Lindsay shares her journey of empowerment through each birth, highlighting the lessons learned from her hospital experiences, the transition to birthing centers, and the profound impact of home births on her sense of agency and healing from past trauma. The conversation explores differences in prenatal care across these settings as well as the emotional and physical aspects of labor and delivery.

What You’ll Learn:

• How Lindsay’s first two hospital births left her feeling unempowered

• Why transitioning to birthing centers offered more support but still had limitations

• The empowering transformation she experienced through home births

• The importance of advocating for yourself in medical settings

• How home birth care fosters a more mother-centered and supportive environment

• Insights into how home birth helped heal Lindsay’s past birth trauma

Lindsay Gretch is a married mother of six living in Sebastopol. She and her husband run a small farm, and her husband owns his own construction company. Lindsay homeschools her children and holds her faith at the center of her family life. She has experienced births in hospitals, birth centers, and at home, and is passionate about helping women know that birth does not have to be one-size-fits-all. Lindsay believes women deserve the option to birth at home if they choose.

Instagram: @six.doodle.bugs

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the Born Wild Podcast, leave us a review, and share it with a friend who might find encouragement in Lindsay’s story.

Connect with us:

@sophiabirth | @bayareahomebirth | @bornwildmidwifery

Stay Wild 🌳

In this episode of the Born Wild Podcast, host Sophia Henderson speaks with Karma — a woman devoted to supporting women outside of conventional systems through full-spectrum doula care, women’s circles, and financial wellness guidance. Karma shares her transformative journey into birth work, her commitment to holistic support for women across all stages of life, and her vision of weaving financial empowerment into women’s wellness.

Together, Sophia and Karma explore the power of community, the importance of honoring traditional practices, and the challenges of navigating systems that often limit women’s choices. This conversation highlights the resilience of women supporting women, and the call to heal the sister wound through connection and empowerment.

What You’ll Learn

• How Karma began her journey into birth and women’s support work in 2019 after a transformative experience.

• Why she believes women’s circles and community connection are essential to healing.

• The significance of financial wellness as a form of empowerment for women.

• The challenges of practicing outside of regulated systems in Canada.

• The role of full-spectrum support across menstruation, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.

• How she blends her work as a doula, women’s mentor, and financial guide.

Karma is a devoted guide for women across the full continuum of life’s passages. She facilitates women’s circles, works as a full-spectrum doula, and supports women in cultivating generational wealth and financial wellness as a “Financial Midwife.” Her work is rooted in community, sovereignty, and healing the sister wound. Karma is also the host of Freebirthing in Color, a podcast uplifting diverse voices in the freebirth movement, which she is relaunching soon.

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Karma on Instagram: @primal_woman_

• Karma’s Links: linktr.ee/primal_woman_

• Freebirthing in Color Podcast: linktr.ee/freebirthing_incolor

• Book a complimentary financial wellness session: Financial Wellness Session

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the Born Wild Podcast, share with a friend, and leave a review so more families can discover empowering stories of birth and beyond.

Connect with us

Instagram: @sophiabirth | @bayareahomebirth | @bornwildmidwifery

🌳 Stay Wild 🌳

In this inspiring conversation, Dr. Victoria Flores shares her rare expertise in supporting twin and breech births safely at home. With decades of hands-on experience and a deep respect for the body’s wisdom, Dr. Flores walks us through the nuanced risks, benefits, and criteria she uses to guide families. She also reflects on how spirituality and faith ground her confidence in this sacred work, and why reviving the art of physiologic breech and twin birth is so essential today.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why breech and twin births don’t always need to be managed as “high risk”
• The rigorous criteria Dr. Flores uses to assess safety for out-of-hospital birth
• How spirituality and faith support confidence in birthwork
• The challenges of navigating “forbidden territory” in maternity care
• Why skilled, spiritually attuned practitioners are needed now more than ever

Guest Bio:

Dr. Victoria Flores, MD, is a trailblazer in home birth and holistic obstetrics. She brings rare expertise in the vaginal birth of twins and breech babies in the home setting, safely guiding many families through births often deemed too risky for outside of hospitals. With a passion for restoring dignity and spirituality to childbirth, Dr. Flores speaks powerfully about honoring both the body’s wisdom and the faith traditions families hold dear.

Links and Resources Mentioned:

• Dr. Victoria Flores IG: @victoria_MD_birthing
• Website: victoriamdbirthing.com
• Podcast mentioned: Birthing Instincts with Dr. Stu

Call to Action:

If you found this episode inspiring, share it with a friend who is exploring their birth options. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Born Wild Podcast so you don’t miss future conversations with leaders in birthwork.

Connect with Us:

@sophiabirth @bayareahomebirth @bornwildmidwifery

🌳 Stay Wild

In this episode of the Born Wild Podcast, Sophia Henderson sits down with Rachael, midwife and creatrix of the Elemental Birth Rites course journey, to explore the profound intersections of loss, birth, and personal transformation. Drawing from her own experiences with miscarriage and witnessing challenging birth stories, Rachael shares how these moments shaped her approach to midwifery and deepened her reverence for the sacredness of birth.

The conversation touches on the importance of addressing the “mother wound,” embracing rites of passage, and integrating ancestral healing into the birth space. Rachael also speaks to the significance of self-care for caregivers and the need to normalize discussions around loss in pregnancy.

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What You’ll Learn:

• How personal loss shaped Rachael’s path into midwifery

• Why miscarriage and loss must be openly acknowledged and supported

• The role of ancestral healing, shadow work, and earth-based spirituality in birth work

• Understanding and healing the “mother wound”

• Threshold tending and rites of passage in pregnancy and birth

• Why self-care is essential for midwives and birth workers

• How death and birth are interconnected as sisters

• The vision and offerings of the Elemental Birth Rites course journey

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Guest Bio:

Rachael is the creatrix of the Elemental Birth Rites course journey and founder of Elemental Midwifery in rural Maine. Her background in alternative healing—massage therapy, sound healing, herbal medicine, and more—deeply informs her approach to midwifery. Since graduating in 2015, Rachael has provided home birth care in the mountains of Colorado and beyond, witnessing firsthand the impact of unprocessed trauma in the birth space.

Determined to address the emotional, spiritual, and ancestral dimensions of birth, she created the Elemental Birth Rites course journey, a synthesis of ancestral healing, transpersonal psychology, and earth-based spirituality. Through her work, podcast (Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine Arts), and community offerings, Rachael supports families and birth workers in honoring the full spectrum of the birth experience.

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Links and Resources Mentioned:

🌐 Websites: elementalbirthrites.com | elementalmidwifery.com

📸 Instagram: @elementalbirthrites

🎧 Spotify Podcast: Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine Arts

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Call to Action:

If this conversation resonates with you, share it with a friend or fellow birth worker. Don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the Born Wild Podcast to help us continue bringing you real, raw conversations from the birth world.

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Connect with Us:

📸 Instagram: @sophiabirth | @bayareahomebirth | @bornwildmidwifery

🌳 Stay Wild

In this powerful episode of the Born Wild Podcast, Sophia Henderson talks with Jordan Phillips (@jordaninthesun), a health and nutrition educator specializing in women’s hormones. Jordan opens up about her own years-long journey of hormonal disregulation, nutrient depletion, and the challenges of navigating fertility. From losing her menstrual cycle for nearly a decade to regaining her health, conceiving, and giving birth to her first baby boy, Jordan’s story is one of persistence, self-advocacy, and deep transformation.

We dive into her pregnancy and birth experience—including parallel care with Kaiser, the physical and emotional demands of postpartum recovery, and lessons learned from navigating mastitis, nutrient needs, and the business of birth control.

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What You’ll Learn:

• How birth control can affect hormonal balance and long-term fertility

• The role of nutrient-dense foods like beef liver and organ supplements in recovery

• Why menstrual cycle health is a key indicator of overall well-being

• Tips for preparing for breastfeeding and postpartum healing

• The connection between stress, cortisol, and hormone health

• Jordan’s insights on veganism, low-carb diets, and their impacts on fertility

• How to approach postpartum recovery with rest, protein-rich nutrition, and high-quality supplements

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Guest Bio:

Jordan Phillips is a mother, teacher, and women’s health educator focused on hormonal balance and fertility. She is passionate about simplifying science and helping women understand the nuances of their bodies, the impacts of nutrition and lifestyle, and the ways to restore balance after hormonal disruption. After facing her own hormone crisis—nearly a decade without a menstrual cycle—Jordan committed to healing herself naturally. Within months of regaining her cycle, she conceived and welcomed her first child. She now shares her knowledge to empower other women on their fertility and postpartum journeys.

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Links and Resources Mentioned:

• Instagram: @jordaninthesun

• Substack: jordaninthesun.substack.com

• Books & Resources:

• Nourishing Traditions — Sally Fallon Morrell

• Deep Nutrition — Dr. Cate Shanahan

• Real Food for Fertility — Lily Nichols & Lisa Hendrickson-Jack

• Health and Light — John Ott

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Call to Action:

If you enjoyed this conversation, share it with a friend who is navigating hormones, fertility, or postpartum recovery. Follow, rate, and review the Born Wild Podcast to help us keep bringing you empowering birth and motherhood stories.

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Connect with Us:

📸 Instagram: @sophiabirth | @bayareahomebirth | @bornwildmidwifery

🌳 Stay Wild