In today's episode we're talking with Marissa Olivera, a mom of 2 from Utica, NY, with both a hospital birth story and home birth story.

Marissa experienced intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) with her first pregnancy. That, along with some early signs of labor made for a hospital birth that included a lot of intervention and fear. The way she sees it, baby Maxwell just wasn’t ready yet.

She planned for a home birth again with baby number two, Miles. With positive reinforcement from resources like Ina May Gaskin and Birth Without Fear, Marissa went into her second birth tuned in to her intuition and gut feeling (and we’re not just talking about the contractions!).

Marissa’s candor and detail with her birth stories compels you to listen and engage. She’s a great example of how to plan the birth you’re intending to create - like finding midwives even when you’re far away from a big city with more options.

We even get a little cameo from surprise guest Maxwell!

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In today's episode we're giving you nine questions to ask yourself to decide whether home birth might be an option for you and your family.

This podcast is all about providing resources, stories and empowering around the home birth conversation. We personally chose homebirth to welcome our daughter into the world, but we realize that home birth is not the best option for some families. There are so many factors to take into consideration when making your birth plans. Our number one priority with this show is to help you ask the questions, have access to the resources, and find the information to help you make the best decision for you.

This episode was inspired by an article on Fit Pregnancy called "3 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Giving Birth At Home". I read that article and immediately felt there were more things to ask, and felt inspired to record this episode. 

These are the 9 questions covered in today's podcast: 

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In today's episode we talk to mom Lindsay Bonnar about her home birth story. Lindsay planned a home birth for her first baby, but circumstances required a transfer to a birth center. Now pregnant with her second, Lindsay and her husband are planning a home birth again for the second round. 

Lindsay is another beautiful face of home birth, sharing her plans for home birth with her daughter that eventually shifted into a transfer to a birthing center.

Now pregnant with baby number two, Lindsay is planning another home birth, a decision that we are totally inspired by and know others will be as well.

For Lindsay, birth was the most spiritual experience of her life. And she talks about trusting herself and her body in such a way - it’s an amazing example to women everywhere to empower themselves to choose in alignment with what’s best for them.

Another aspect of Lindsay’s story that really resonated with me and Matthew was the role of her husband Kevin and how awesomely he showed up for the birth experience. Dads and birth partners, take notes from this one!

You can learn more about Lindsay and the resources mentioned in the show below.

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In today’s episode I’m sharing my postpartum story.

I get into the nitty gritty details of the very first postpartum stages after my home birth. I also talk about what I experienced with postnatal visits with my midwives, healing a perineal tear, breastfeeding, diastasis recti (aka ab separation), postpartum sex and more!

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Today we're talking with Maria Mengel about her 2 birth stories. Maria's first daughter was born at a birthing center with a midwife, and her second was an unassisted home birth (also known as "freebirth"). In this episode Maria gets honest about her two birth experiences and shares some of the things she learned during the process.

Maria reached out to us after listening to the show and felt inspired to share her experience of home birth.

We love stories like these - full of candor, vulnerability and humor. Maria has the experience and perspective of giving birth in a birthing center as well as at home, so we were really excited to sit down and pick her brain about it all.

We learn about the birthing center experience and why Maria was certain on the drive home with her new daughter that she’d never do it like that again. We also hear about the process of home birth, and what can happen when your waters break and you don’t go into labor that day...or even the next day!

Birth was such a transformational experience for Maria that it ignited a passion that would shift her career. She became a doula and now owns a business dedicated to birth work which includes placenta encapsulation and childbirth education.

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In today's episode we talk about 6 comments and questions that you absolutely don't want to say to a home birth mom or family! We heard these things as we prepared for our home birth and can say from experience that they are not helpful at all.

Some things are better left unsaid, and that applies to commentary on someone’s decision to have a home birth.

In this episode we share 6 big statement/topics to avoid when you’re talking to a mom who’s planning a homebirth. While they may be well-intentioned, these are the things that don’t help the process.

And if you are a home birth mom, we talk about ways to address these comments and how you can deflect them like Neo with those slow motion bullets in the Matrix.

Let’s leave the fear and judgement out of it. Because we all know birth could use less of that.

So steer away from these 6 things, please. And if you must comment then simply tell the mom how much of a badass she is! (that'll win you some brownie points)

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Continuing our work to bring real and honest stories of home birth to you, we sat down with Debbie Schneider, CPM extraordinaire.

Debbie is actually our midwife! She delivered Maya, and has become a very important part of our lives.

We’ve known we wanted to interview Debbie since we started the podcast. She’s an amazing and wise source of information and support of all things home birth.

Her story in becoming a midwife is an inspiring one, deciding to shift into her life’s passion at 44. Now 18 years later and some 700 births attended, Debbie talks about “normalizing birth again,” that is, putting it back in the hands of mothers and families to choose the birth plan that aligns best with them.

We could’ve talked with Debbie all day, but for the sake of time, we kept it to about an hour. And you won’t want to miss one minute of it. You’ll get some of the history of home birth, obstetrics’ attempts to “make birth more efficient,” and the differences in the experiences of home and the typical hospital birth.

Here are some of the resources Debbie mentions in the episode:

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In this episode we're talking with mom of 4 Jenny DiPietro, who has had multiple home births, a home birth turned hospital transfer, a water birth at home, and who performs placenta encapsulation for families. We get into a lot in this one! 

Oh yeah, and we’re also entering a new phase of the podcast!

In addition to our episodes that feature Matthew and me discussing some topic related to home birth, we’re publishing our conversations with moms and families who have experienced home birth along with professionals and thought leaders on the subject.

First to kick off this endeavor is our chat with Jenny DiPietro. Jenny is a mom of 4, who has experienced both home and hospital birth.

In our talk, we cover things like:

We’re very excited to bring other stories and perspectives of homebirth to you. Enjoy! 

For more on Jenny and her work, you can check her out on her website here.

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In today’s episode we address the question, “Is home birth messy?”

It's a great question that I know crossed my mind once or twice during pregnancy, because let's be honest, many depictions of birth insinuate that it can require lots of cleanup.

But here’s the truth on mess during a homebirth: yes there are parts of it that can be messy (as I’m sure you can imagine fluids can go everywhere), but you do not have to make a mess while giving birth at home. I repeat, you do NOT have to walk away from your home birth with your house looking like a crime scene. With the right supplies, preparation, and team, you can have a completely comfortable, mess free home birth. I guarantee it!

Listen as we share tips to keep your home birth as mess free as possible, give you a list of the things you’ll want to have on hand and set up before hand to ensure your birth is as pleasant as possible. 

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Today’s episode was inspired by a listener email. Leonie, listening all the way in Australia, reached out to share her birth story.

She had planned for a minimal intervention birth in a midwife led public hospital program (way to go Australis!) but things didn’t go exactly as anticipated. Her email was amazing - raw, honest and transparent - and at the end she had a few questions for me about home birth, my connection to Maya, and more.

So when we received this email we knew we wanted to record an episode with our response.

Leonie, and every mom and family out there with similar stories and questions, this one is for you!

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