In this episode we're talking about mommy guilt, comparison and shame.

We're kicking off a brand new series on the Doing It At Home podcast. Normally we talk about home birth, healthy pregnancy, and share home birth stories. But we also want to bring conversations about new parenthood because that's extremely relevant to many of our listeners (and also to ourselves). 

On episode 45 Matthew and I interviewed new mom Monica Smith, and me and Monica really hit it off. So much so that we started having weekly phone calls where we opened up to one another about the challenges we were facing in new motherhood. The conversations were so honest and raw that we decided to record them for you all, because we know we're not the only ones with these feelings.

So what you're hearing is a recorded conversation between Monica and myself. There is no structure to the call, we're simply sharing from our hearts how we're feeling in the moment. In this episode we talk about mommy guilt, comparison and shame.

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In this episode, we’re chatting with Kim Newing - a teacher, intuitive coach and creator of hypnotic meditations for women who want more from their lives.

I found Kim from a Facebook post of a video of her home birth (link to video is in our show notes on our website). This video brought me to tears and I knew we had to have her on the show. The video was the home birth of her third daughter, Harper. Kim is mother to two other girls, Charlotte and Page. Kim, her husband Jess and their girls live in Brisbane, Australia (if you haven’t noticed, we’ve had quite a few amazing interviews with women from Australia - it’s rising steadily to the top of our list of places we need to visit!).

Kim was a life coach for 11 years, and then her business took a slightly different trajectory after experiencing a miscarriage. Since then, she’s found a way to acknowledge the divine synchronistic events of life, and to birth something beautiful from the experience. Then, Mama Goddess was born!

Mama Goddess is Kim’s movement - a way to address the lack of nurturing many women have towards themselves. It’s also an awakening for women to love and honor themselves.

Kim’s goal is to help women feel whole and empowered in the preparation and experience of birth. To do this, she has just launched her Sacred Birthing Program, an audio series for conscious women to want to experience a “divine and empowered birthing experience.” In this program, Kim is there with you to say, “I see you and I know what you’re capable of.”

Kim is really about the spirituality of birth, and her experiences and knowledge are so valuable and we’re grateful to share it with our listeners.

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We’re launching a special series of episodes, each centered on one powerful theme in the home birth journey. This first set — Water Birth Stories — gathers real experiences and insights to support, inspire, and immerse you in the magic of water birth!

Today’s birth story features Briahnna Roy and Jerry Scott, a couple sharing their journey to home birth. 

For their first baby, Briahnna and Jerry chose to deliver in a birth center. The experience wasn’t everything they wanted, and when it came time to decide on the location for baby number two, they opted for home birth. 

From Briahnna:

“The second birth was incredible. It was the most unreal, beautiful experience. Everything was so calm. I was very quiet and so in control. I was surprised by myself. I can honestly say that it was not painful. It was everything I ever wanted.”

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We’re launching a special series of episodes, each centered on one powerful theme in the home birth journey. This first set — Water Birth Stories — gathers real experiences and insights to support, inspire, and immerse you in the magic of water birth!

How can you take your power back after it feels like a previous birth experience took it away?

Today’s story with Karine Halle features details of trauma from a hospital birth for her first child and how she was determined to have a home birth for her second. 

In between her first and second birth, she felt called into doula work and became passionate about supporting families in the birth experience. 

For her second pregnancy and birth, she did everything she could to put the odds on her side to have her dream birth.

*Please note that this conversation contains mention of suicidal thoughts

Things we talk about in this episode:

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We’re launching a special series of episodes, each centered on one powerful theme in the home birth journey. This first set — Water Birth Stories — gathers real experiences and insights to support, inspire, and immerse you in the magic of water birth!

How does your first pregnancy and birth experience impact your second?

In today’s interview, we’re chatting with Carolyn about her pregnancy and birth story of her son Solomon, while pregnant with her second child.

We go over her decision to have a home birth as well as the intense first trimester sickness she experienced. Also the denial around labor starting, which we’ve heard quite a few times from mamas on the show.

Carolyn shares that while the birth went very well, it was still different from what she imagined in her mind. Following her birth, she experienced postpartum anxiety that involved separation anxiety and trouble sleeping. Addressing the anxiety and getting help around it has supported and encouraged her in preparation for her next child, due this fall.

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We’re launching a special series of episodes, each centered on one powerful theme in the home birth journey. This first set — Water Birth Stories — gathers real experiences and insights to support, inspire, and immerse you in the magic of water birth!

In today’s episode we’re talking with Kimberly Huck, a mama who used the Bradley Method during her water birth at home.

Kimberly is mama to Henry and wife to Dan. And we have a special connection with Kimberly. We live near each other and...we used the same midwives! So the same women who helped deliver baby Maya, delivered baby Henry just a few months earlier.

Kimberly and I connected after she posted a cool home birth related article on Facebook that happened to make its way into my awareness (article link in the show notes).

Kimberly grew up in a natural home, being unvaccinated herself. She became interested in home birth after working for a chiropractor in her early 20s who had a home birth in their family.

So for she and Dan, home birth is just a part of the world they live in. In their environment it’s “normal.”

Kimberly’s story highlights the concept of honoring the body’s natural process and timing. Also - birth is not an exact science. Enjoy her journey and story!

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In this episode, we’re talking with Catherine about her home birth. Catherine is a spunky, energetic mom of 2 from Canada. You can feel her enthusiasm through the speakers. Her lively nature and passionate storytelling captivates you.

Catherine has a the perspective of hospital birth and a home birth. Cool fact: she got to use the same midwife for both births!

And we’re honored to share that our show helped influence and support Catherine and her husband Carmen (who wasn’t so convinced to start off with) to choose a home birth.

Their preparation process involved a lot of trust-building with the intention to protect the reverence of the birth experience. Isn’t that beautiful?

And get this - Catherine and Carmen strategically chose not to tell anyone of their intentions to home birth. So everyone found out after baby arrived! We find this to be totally badass - being bold and true to yourself and going about things the way that resonates most with you.

Catherine talks about how her home birth gave her the opportunity to open up and surrender more than she had in her first birth. Quotable from Catherine, “birth is reflective of your life.”

Listen to how Catherine did what she calls “conquering pushing,” what it feels like to have a bowling ball between your butt and vagina (yes, we’re getting real, folks), and how your home birth can have lots of sandwiches.

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In today’s episode we’re talking with Natalie Bancroft and Laura Fifield, two amazing women who are linked with a quite famous recent birth story. You see Natalie, a birth photographer and doula as well as a mama of 3, gave birth to her third baby earlier this year at home. And baby Simon weighed 11 lbs. 2 oz!!! And Laura, Natalie’s friend, birth photographer and mama of 2, was there to document the experience.

Some of the amazing photos from the birth, namely one that features Natalie holding her newly birthed bundle of adorable squish with this elated, shocked, goddess-like expression of “wow!” has been featured far and wide. Publications like Today Show, Hello Giggles and even People have featured the image on their sites. 

We were so grateful and excited to speak with these awesome women. They share insights from the birth photography community, which is small in their city of Spokane, WA. We get to hear about some of the memorable births they’ve been able to document.

Natalie talks about her journey to home birth, having her first in a hospital, and deciding that she wanted a different experience for future births. Her second was a beautiful home birth, and she knew she’d have another one for her third.

It wasn’t long into the pregnancy that she realized baby number 3 was going to be larger than the others. Natalie’s belly was so much larger, in fact, that they went for an ultrasound towards the end of the pregnancy to find out if she was having twins! Turns out, she wasn’t. This baby was just that big.

When birthing time came around, everyone was prepared and peaceful. And the whole experience was only about 4 hours!

Both these women are total rockstars and inspiration for the birthing community. We’re honored to have them join the DIAH podcast and share a story that has reached so many. Enjoy!

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In this episode we’re talking with Katie Holman about her two home births at The Farm (yes that The Farm...the one founded by Ina May Gaskin).

Meet Katie. She lives outside of Nashville with her husband, Jimmy and her two sons Cash and Elon.

Katie is our first DIAH mom to have a birth story from The Farm! If you’re not familiar with The Farm, prepare to get acquainted. Founded in 1970 by a group of powerful and conscious people, looking to return the natural and sacred act of birth to the family, and have it in an environment that supported women and families. Ina May Gaskin, a juggernaut in the natural birth, home birth and midwifery world, was a founding member. Most anyone who explores natural or home birth has heard of Ina May Gaskin and has been influenced by her work and her writings.

Back to Katie. Katie had watched The Business of Being Born documentary and read Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth. The message of Ina May really resonated with Katie, and that lead her to the decision to have both of her children at The Farm.

Katie and her husband drove 2 hours to get to The Farm for both births...and while she was in labor, by the way. What a woman! She talks about how having her boys in this home type of atmosphere changed her life.

One of my favorite things Katie said, “Birth is not something that happens to you, it’s something you get to experience.”

So listen in on what it’s like to have a birth at the world-famous Farm. There’s also conversation around placenta planting and placenta encapsulation.

Another fun fact about Katie that just has to be mentioned: her great-grandmother had 17 babies at home! Seems like mama power is in the genes!

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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!

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